i would really like the help of breastfeeding mothers?

Question

i'm appealing to all mothers who breastfeed!
when my son was born (8yrs ago), breastfeeding was the only thing i was certain of. i thought it was the natural and right thing to do for my child, and if i could provide the best start to his life, then i was going to.
however, the reality was so different. he wouldn't settle, he wouldn't sleep, he fed constantly, i was critisized by family. i was critisized by friends. i was critisized by strangers.
i expressed concerns to my GP, who gave me really bad advice.
now, i am a breastfeeding peer. i try to give help and support to breastfeeding mothers, so that their experience is an enjoyable one, and so that they are informed and supported in their decision.
next month, i have a display to produce for my community and the local counsellors. will anyone be willing to share any of their breastfeeding stories, so i can add it to my display? any experience is valid. all experiences welcome!!!!!!

Answer 1

good 4 u!
a big round of applause from me.
my experience from breast-feeding my daughter, was the calming, the bonding and providing the ideal food 4 my tiny daughter.
the only problems i ever had were from backward, repressed, dare i say, jealous women and some very opinionated sad men.
whilst breast-feeding, in public, i was almost treated like a leper and an exhibitionist!
i was always descreet and did my best 2 stay out of sight, but there were always silly people determined 2 spoil my quiet moment.
how wrong they were, it was essential 4 my daughters thriving and growing in2 the strong beautiful woman she is now.

Answer 2

I am a brestfeeding mom. My experience has been very positive. While I was pregnant I was determined that I wanted to try breastfeeding. I am one of 4 children but my mother breastfed me but not my siblings. My brothers and sister have athsma, exema, and hayfever but i have always been healthy. I am convinced this is because I was breastfed so I wanted to brestfeed so that my baby could have the best start.

I didnt have any friends or family who could support or show me the tricks of breastfeeding so I made sure I had all the help I could get at the hospital. I made sure I had skin to skin contact from the beginning and called the midwives in the ward when my baby wanted to feed, even in the night, to help with latching on and positioning. The hospital staff were really supportive and helpful.

3 months on and I am still breastfeeding. I have been very lucky in that my baby is good at breastfeeding. I havent had any problems such as sore nipples or not enough milk. The only problem I have encountered is as result of society's perception on breastfeeding. I find that if I go into town shopping, there really is nowhere suitable to feed my baby. Some supermarkets are great in that they have a feeding room which is brilliant. However, I often find myself feeding my baby in the car if were out.Im also quite a young mum at 20 and my friends and family have found it strange that Im breastfeeding. They look at me as if im strange. I think that breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the world though. The bond it gives you with the baby really is something special, and i think all women should at least make the effort to try it, at least.

Answer 3

My breastfeeding experience has been so positive that I have no hesitation in breastfeeding any other children I have.

I didn't have any problems with soreness or cracked nipples, the only discomfort I had was when the milk came in, but even then it was only a little tenderness.
If ever a particular feeding felt like it was painful, I took my daughter off, and relatched her.
It helped that I was given good advice from a Sure Start Breastfeeding course, but the staff looking after me in hospital were amazing, making sure that they guided me through the positioning.
They told me to make sure that my daughter was brought up to the breast, rather than getting uncomfortable by lowering my breast to the baby, and that her mouth position was right- with the bottom lip curled outward.
I made sure that she got a good mouthful of the areola, and this all helped to ensure that I didn't get any pain.
Also, I knew that breastmilk is a natural antiseptic so after each of the many feeds that I did in those early days, I squeezed a little out and rubbed it into the skin that she had had contact with.
I don't know if this had anything to do with not having any soreness or not though.

I have absolutley nothing negative to say about my breastfeeding experience and always recommend that mothers try it...I never even considered using formula.

The only thing that made me doubt whether I was doing the right thing was my family who were trying to make me stop, from about the age of six months- then when I was still feeding at nine months, they upped the campain to make me stop, but I didn't listen. I continued with breastfeeding until my daughter was 18 months old. I have the memories of being able to get her back to sleep in the middle of the night without having to go to the kitchen to prepare bottles, I didn't spend lots of time in the kitchen sterilising bottles, or worrying about whether I had made the milk up properly, or whether it was the right temperature or not... all her milk came out at the right temperature, hadn't gone off, and was giving her the right quantities of nutrients and things- and I enjoyed this great experience!

Answer 4

I think it's wonderful what you are doing. I have a 17 month old who has breastfed since birth. She was born at 8 months and was very underweight. She lost more than the normal amount in the hospital and was very slow to gain back. She nursed constantly. I was so concerned that I wasn't producing enough milk, which is really common misconception of new mothers. Many people told me to supplement. I did not want to. Her doctor recommended that I seek the advice of a Lactation Consultant. She came to my home and really set my mind at ease that my daughter was getting enough milk and thath she nursed so often because she just really seemed to enjoy it. I never questioned myself again. My daughter suffered from reflux and I knew that nursing helped her. She nursed every 2 hours for that first 8 months. She was late to take an interest in solids and was exclusively breastfed for 8 months. I always thought I'd wean her at a year. A year came and went and here we are, 17 months and still going strong. We don't nurse while we are out anymore. There's no need. But we still have our morning snuggle and nursing throughout the day, and at bedtime. I believe that education and support is so important in helping new mothers breastfeed that I am now considering becoming a Lactation Consultant myself so that I can help new mothers get through that period of self doubt, the same way my Lactation Consultant did. I am also going to begin working with my State Representative about refining the breastfeeding laws in my state. Bravo! I think that you have chosen a VERY important field! Someone mentioned something really important earlier. If you need photos of nursing mom's we can send you one. Post your e-mail. I can send nursing her as an infant or a toddler, whichever you could use for your display.

Answer 5

I have been breastfeeding my son for 10 months now. He is still exclusively breastfed (hasn't shown much of an interest in solids yet) and is THRIVING! He weighs a whopping 36 lbs. and is wearing 2T-3T clothes. His pediatrician says he is "off the charts" in both length and weight... and that he is "just a VERY big and HEALTHY boy". In fact, he has never had an ear infection and has only had one small cold that consisted only of a runny nose for a couple of days after being exposed to my 2 year old niece who ended up having a VERY BAD cold that last for well over a week. Breast has been so much easier than I ever imagined it would be. There are no bottles to sterilize, not formula to measure out, no water to warm. We always have food at the ready whenever he is hungry... it's always the perfect temperature... and there is no possibility of contamination! I won't lie... in the beginning I experienced about a week of soreness (cracked nipples and all!) because of improper latch-on... but the problem was quickly rectified and I have stuck it out since... and am SO HAPPY that I did. I feel it's a gift that I am giving my son.... and I'm so grateful I've been able to do so.

Answer 6

I would urge anyone who wants to breastfeed to persevere, its hard-going to start with! I found the first 6-8 weeks traumatic, with cracked nipples, constant feeding, problems latching on. It was almost too much after a difficult delivery, but I had brilliant and supportive midwives (HV's not so much, they always seem surprised that I'm still breastfeeding at 5 months! Their answer to everything is "have you tried giving her a bottle?"), and made use of the SureStart breastfeeding advisor. Now, at 5 months, I'm glad I persevered and picked through the conflicting advice - dd is contented, happy, healthy (not even a cold yet), bright, reaching her milestones sometimes earlier than her peers, and I don't have to wash, sterilise and carry bottles around!

Sometimes it is helpful to talk to someone 'on your side', sooooo many well meaning people have unhelpful ideas. Even my mum thinks its time we moved onto bottles!

I have found myself not being able to leave dd, as she will now not take a bottle. This is the only thing I regret, and perhaps next time will offer 1 feed a day by bottle from the word go.

I would be more than happy to help 'the cause', please e-mail [e-mail] if I can help any further...

Answer 7

I knew from day one I was going to be breastfeeding. There are SO many breastfeeding. My son was born at 35 week, although premature we were able to take him home right away. He was not feeding at all from the breasts. I had to pump. It was not the way I had ever hoped for it to go. He just refused to latch onto my breasts. It was very depressing at first and I even cried. But I also knew I could not let him down. I had to stay determined and hope one day he would latch on. I pumped every hour on the hours 24 hours a day for 3 months. Every day, at least once a day I would try to get him to latch but he would refuse and become fussy. We moved to a new state and of course changed pediatricians. Our new pediatrician said it was so great that I was so determined, but I needed to not give in anymore. She suggested throwing out all bottles and not giving in. He was old enough to know where food was. When he was hungry enough he would latch. She was right. Later that same day he latched for the first time EVER. It was a joyous moment for me. I felt all the sleepless nights and sore nipples were now worth it. I weaned him at 18 months, once I was comfortable with him being without the milk. He now still carried the immunities I give him. Tomorrow he will be 3 years old.

Working on baby number 2 and I will NOT give up. I will breastfeed all my children.

Answer 8

I have a 5 month old who had a lot of difficulty getting started. For the first 3 or 4 days she only wanted to sleep and wouldn't latch on to the breast. With the help of nurses and midwives, I learned how to get her to do so, but for a few days I felt like a failure. Now she is really breastfeeding beautifully and getting nourishment from the milk. She is more than double the size she was when she was born (2 kilos and 610 grams).

Answer 9

I am still breastfeeding my six month old daughter. In the beginning I didn't have any milk. I became very discouraged that by the end of the first week, my milk didn't come in. I was devistated that I wouldn't be able to nurse. We had to suppliment with formula and I HATED the thought of that unnatural liquid coursing through my baby's body. A friend told me about Mothers Milk Tea. I don't know if it was the tea or the power of suggestion but my milk finally came in. I was so relieved. Later, a couple months down the road, I woke up one morning to have my husband informed me, one breast was larger than the other one! Needless to say I freaked out, I was a freak! It turned out I wasn't paying attention to feeding equally on each side. My daughter still perfers the right breast but I pay attention to which side she feeds by using a small hairband. I put it on my wrist on the side I just nursed. I went back to normal after about a week.
Hoped my stories helped.

Answer 10

well, i have kind of a weird one...

my son was very difficult to latch. it sometimes took me an hour to get him latched on. and he didn't latch reliably until he was two months old. and before anyone says that i must have been doing it wrong, i AM a lactation consultant, and had years of experience before i had a child. i used to tell him that if he were not the child of a lactation consultant, he would be bottlefed.

we finally got going really well, then at six months, my milk supply began to decrease. i tried everything. i pumped incessantly, tried teas and herbs, nursed more often. but it only seemed to get worse. by seven months, my baby was getting frustrated, and thin, and i was forced to start supplementing with formula. of course, i had to supplement more and more as the baby got bigger, and by nine months, my milk was nearly gone.

i felt awful about it at the time, despite everyone's reassurances. about a year later, i had to have mammograms and it turns out that i was born with only a few milk glands in each breast. it was a miracle that i ever had enough milk for him.

it is a pretty rare thing, i guess, but it does show that anyone can have trouble. and sometimes, no matter how much you know, or how much you try, it doesn't work. and you shouldn't beat yourself up about it, because some things are out of your control.