I know its early but I really want to breastfeed-tips?

[34me]

Hi:wave: Im only about 6 weeks so I know I am asking early but I REALLY want to breastfeed my baby. For at least a year. I have no clue where to look for advice and information though. Does anyone have any good books, tips or websites they could recommend? Anything at all would be great:thumbsup: Thank you

[melissa.r]

www.breastfeeding.asn.au (http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au)
This is the link for the Australian Breastfeeding Association. They have all the latest information and support with breastfeeding. They run Breastfeeding Education Classes that are specifically focussed on pregnant women and those with newborns so you might want to attend one of these.
Good luck.

[shed]

Join the ABA, they have a book library and you can go to some meetings and get to know some of them before the time comes. Its about $50 to join and they send you a book called Breastfeeding Naturally when you join.

[LG]

Your hospital might do breastfeeding classes, I recommend going to them. I did and they were very helpful. Once bub is born you can contact the ABA or lactation consultants if you have any issues.

Also one thing that I wish someone had said to me at the start was that BFing gets faster and easier as time goes by. In the beginning it seems like the baby is feeding CONSTANTLY, and it's so time consuming. But rest assured that it DOES get better if you persist. The information I had said "The baby should be fed and settled again within 1 hour" :eek:. Gee, I wish! At the start one feed would take well over an hour, if not 2 hours to resettle! But now it's a totally different story. DS is 10 months old and he typically feeds one side only per feed and takes about 5 - 10 minutes (at the most), maybe a little longer if he stays for a comfort suck, which is what happens in the evening when he's dropping off to sleep.

Good luck!

[punkbaby]

I would contact your ABA and do a few classes. its important to remember though the first few weeks are the toughest, if you can get past them they are the worst. They do get better though thats something to focus on! It does happy :) Research all you can, find out what to expect so you are aware of everything. I even know with this bubs with the burning sensations after the first week i was thinking Hmm what am i doing!! THankfully after a week or 2 they passed and now 5 week later my boobs dont hurt at all my nipples arent sore and i feel like have been doing it for years :)

[jamb]

join the aba and go along now, network and build friendships.

first bub tonguetied and i had no knowledge, no support and no idea struggled with bf and lasted till 4 months.

second bub, same TT but i had joined aba and knew the counsellors and other members, was still incredibly hard but i made it though to the otherside!!

i can honestly say without the aba i would not have been as successful

[stellarella]

I could write a whole bloody book on BFing but I wont...:laughing:

My only tip right now is.....PLEASE please please don't buy a tin of formula 'just in case'...do not allow well meaning relatives to buy you bottles 'just in case'....do not take the advice of well meaning relatives or CHNs or midwives or GPs to supplement with formula so baby will sleep longer or be more settled.

In preparation now just get it into your head that you will succeed, you will make heaps of milk and formula is not an option, it will be hard but you will get there in the end. Thats what I did.

Happy lactating! :sunshine:

[mummymimi]

Contact the ABA. I had so many problems breast feeding my first two children and had to stop at 3 and 4 months (tongue tie, mastitis,breast refusal you name it we had it). With my third child I am still breastfeeding at 7 months with no plans to stop. In the beginning I still had the same problems with my third child the only difference was I contacted the ABA and got the most wonderful helpful advice. The women that volunter on their helpline are angels. I found that other Lactation Consultants and Health Care Nurses gave me outdated and conflicting information and made some of the problems worse.

[~Bec~]

Definately what all the others have said re joining the ABA. I believe they have classes where you can watch to learn how to latch the baby properly. If you can learn to do that and somehow practice at home (not sure how though :detective: ) I think it would be a huge benefit. Don't let well meaning midwives do the attachment for you :no: Just because they are midwives does not make them experts in BF. Get an LC too!

I bought a breastfeeding pillow too which helped a lot (didn't stop my nipples bleeding but heh, we live and learn!).

I would spend time reading though the "Breastfeeding, the good, the bad and the ugly" section too. Not to frighten you but to get an understanding of the realities and pain many woman face. Next time I am going to assume it's going to be difficult and painful - if it's not, bonus!!!!! If it is then I'm more prepared!

[shed]

My only tip right now is.....PLEASE please please don't buy a tin of formula 'just in case'...do not allow well meaning relatives to buy you bottles 'just in case'....do not take the advice of well meaning relatives or CHNs or midwives or GPs to supplement with formula so baby will sleep longer or be more settled.


oh, and to add to this...you don't need to supplement with formula before your milk comes in. bubs can thrive on the small amount of colostrum, their stomach is as big as a marble and the colostrum is very thick and rich. The more bub sucks the more your brain gets the message that you need to start making milk (comes in on day three or four, sometimes five).

Sometimes new mums get told to give bubs a bottle while they wait till their milk comes in, so bubs doesn't go on the breast enough, so the brain doesn't send the message to the body and hey presto, low supply.

[Herchy]

Tip # 1 - have a few bottles of water right next to you so you can drink when you feed. I found I get really thirsty and I can't get up in the middle of a BF!

Tip # 2 - familiarise yourself with the dfferent positions/holds. They may come in handy. I also have a pillow I can use.

Tip # 3 - It DOES hurt when you begin, and I dont care what anyone says lol. my DS had perfect attatchment. It hurt for me in the first few days as I wasn't used to my nipples being stretched. I have (had!!!) sensitive nipples before I gave birth. Now I think I could hang a truck from them and I wouldn't even know. The pain subsides quickly and it does get very comfortable.:)

All in all just go with the flow. Ask questions. Take the advice of qualified LC's. Listen to everyones opinions about everything and decide for yourself what is right;)
It really is a bit of trial and error to begin with, but once you do get the hang of it (which is early on;)), you will love it!!:)
good luck!