Were you ever scared you would not be successful?

[UmmInayah]

Hi,

As the topic asks: Were you ever worried you wouldn't be successful at breastfeeding?

[NibbleCurlynBub]

I tried not to think about it. :o

[UmmInayah]

lol. I tried not to think about it either because I was so keen on it, but with my second I am starting to worry :( I'm worried that the way I feel about formula will kick me up the ar$e. lol.

[melaniec]

Absolutely. It was what I was worried about most when I was pregnant - I don't know why. I guess because it was something that I thought was really really important to me and I was petrified I wouldn't be able to do it or that my boobs would have no milk. I think that stress added to the fact it took a little longer for my milk to come in. Now I know I can do it, I know I have enough milk for my baby to thrive, if I have another baby I'm sure I'll be more relaxed.

But in answer to the question, yes.

[UmmInayah]

So, if you breastfed your first okay and your milk came in okay, does that mean it will be okay with the second too?

[sockstealingpoltergeist]

No because I do not see it as a success/ failure type thing. It isn't black and white to me, to many grey areas. I think it is a wonderful thing to try and do for your baby. I Gave both my babies breast milk, for different amounts of time, so I just see that as a bonus.

[Leisa21]

I remember when I was pregnant I just said I will breastfeed. There was never a doubt in my mind that I couldnt lol. I thought well my breasts are leaking so they work just fine. hahhahahahha silly girl!

I'm still breastfeeding but I am a lot more open minded. I always wondered why dont women breastfeed, its a little selfish if they CHOOSE to forumla feed. Now after experiencing it for myself I understand what women go through and its a b!oody hard thing to do. I am very glad as that I was able to as I think if I couldnt or didnt I would have been in a lot of trouble mentally as, as far as I was concerned I was going to breastfeed and that was it. No one talked about how hard it was thats for sure.

[NibbleCurlynBub]

Not necessarily.

But I would say the more successful BFing you have done the more likely you are to have the knowledge to do it again. :yes:

I BFed DS for 4 mths. I felt awful but educated myself and now DD at 15mths is still a boob girl even though I am expecting.

[Mummaholic]

No because I do not see it as a success/ failure type thing. It isn't black and white to me, to many grey areas. I think it is a wonderful thing to try and do for your baby. I Gave both my babies breast milk, for different amounts of time, so I just see that as a bonus.

Me too

[melaniec]

So, if you breastfed your first okay and your milk came in okay, does that mean it will be okay with the second too?

I guess there are many factors that can influence this. My thoughts are that I know now that my boobs produce milk - I've seen it with my own two eyes. I don't imagine that they'll forget how to produce milk anytime in the future. So as far as my body coming to the party, I know I can do it. Then the only thing left is baby's suck and whether they can get that right, but that's nothing that a little perseverence can't fix :)

[Lollie86]

Not really. I was a bit naive and just thought that it was easy and thats what people do.

When DD was teething a bit later on and would fuss at the breast, thats when I started to worry that she was weaning herself. Luckily we're still going strong. :)

[eastofeden]

With my first child, I think that I was a bit naive. I never thought that breastfeeding could be painful or difficult. I simply thought that it was something that everyone could do.

So before I had children, I guess I never really thought about the fact that I may not be successful, or that people really viewed breast feeding in terms of success or failure.

I think that the experience I had with #1 probably tainted my views of breastfeeding #2. Both of my children got breastmilk for some part of their life, so in my eyes I guess I was successful in feeding them for as long as I could (whatever the reasons)

[naiwen]

Not until I knew he was coming so early and then I knew I would be expressing for a while! I was right to worry because BF directly was a near tragedy (his lungs).

But I am very glad I pumped.

[sam's mum]

with the first two I just assumed that it would all be fine. DD1 never had a problem, at all. DS had silent reflux and so until we got that sorted we were doing a lot of comfort feeding, but no real problems.

DD2 started on the ng tube so it was expressing rather than sucking to get my milk going. she was quite small and had formula through the tube. she pulled out her ng tube before we got started feeding. her first feed she attached fine but was still needing formula top ups because my milk hadn't come in yet. I ok'ed using a bottle rather than putting in another ng tube (:doh:) after this it was progressively harder and harder to get her to feed from me until we were expressing and bottle feeding every feed.

there were a few times that I nearly broke though. I was getting very panicked that I wouldn't be able to get her to attach and that I wouldn't be able to breastfeed. I hated all the work that came with not being able to just put her on the boob, I hated the time it took me away from DS, I hated how hard it made going out anywhere...

after a couple of months I managed to get her back on the boob and I will never take it for granted again.

[kymmy]

I assumed that all would go well as breastfeeding is natural. But didn't realise how painful it would be initially.

[SuperGranny]

hi, my mother breastfeed all her children so i just thought that i would be able to do the same. when first baby came all was smooth sailing. This was back in the old days when mothers stayed in hospital to establish breastfeeding before you went home. Then I had twin daughters, that was a different story all together. Without the help from the maternal/child welfare nurse, and the support of my hubby, im sure i would have given up. Getting established was very hard, took a few weeks of sleepless nights. but once we had worked out my supply, it was good. last baby was a piece of cake, fed him until he was nearly one. To answer the question, yes i thought I would be able to do it, but didnt think there would be a set of twins to complicate matters.

[Hollywood]

Not at all. I was always prepared to work through any problems. It took me by surprise how much it hurt, and I wish the breastfeeding workshops had covered problems in more depth. They really skimmed over them :mad: and gave us all the impression that they were no big deal.

But other than that I just assumed I'd be ok, and we're still going strong at 18 months :thumbsup:

[shed]

I was a bit worried because I had my heart set on it and put a lot of effort into making it happen. I read about ten books on breastfeeding and did all the old wives tales preparation.

It went well for us and I am very grateful. I would have been pretty upset if it hadn't and would have been pretty hard on myself because I always knew I wanted to do it.

It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I was very lucky compared to a lot of other people. No idea why, just lucky.

[our little treasures]

I wasn't:no: I was told it can be painful from a friend and my mum so I was ready for that. It never crossed my mind I couldn't do it.


With DS I did have a brief minute where I wondered if I would be as successful as I was with dd1. I think that was due to a few on BH who said they had trouble with subsequent children:yes:

[Missus S]

No, not scared and for me it was a shock that I wasn't successful with my 1st..............I never thought that I wouldn't be BF'ing her. Luckily things all went beautifully the 2nd time around :thumbsup:


So, if you breastfed your first okay and your milk came in okay, does that mean it will be okay with the second too?

I have a girlfriend who BF her 1st no problems............but her 2nd child failed to gain enough weight and to her shock she had to put her on formula.

[stellarella]

I didn't think about it. In my mind it was simple. My baby would be BF.

I honestly knew nothing about FF...I had never given it a thought...it was something other women did for reasons I didn't understand.

I guess I was pretty naive because I knew everything about child birth but nothing about BFing. But I am also thankful for my naivety because BFing is such a feel as you go type thing. If I had over thought it I might not have pushed through all the many many struggles I encountered.

[lotti]

No, I just knew that I would try my best and if it didn't work out it wouldn't be the end of the world.
I actually attribute that relaxed attitude and the fact that dd seemed to know what to do, when I didn't lol to my success.

[Laksa]

yes, i worried when i was pregnant but when the time came i was very stubborn and refused to consider FF.

and now i have done it, i am completely confident for next time :)

[UmmInayah]

I always knew I WANTED to breastfeed my bub, and I always thought that I would be able to get through whatever problems lay ahead..

I was very very lucky with my first. I never had any pain when feeding, even the initial pulling feeling I never really got. So I was lucky in that respect. DD was a sleepy baby and a lazy attacher, though.. So it took us both a while to get into a rhythm with breastfeeding. I am so glad I perservered (spelling!?)

Anyway, DH was always there when I was feeding her in the early days. Even during the night he would sit up with me and ask me how it felt, look at how she was attached etc. I don't think I could have managed without him and my midwife who was probably at my house every day for a month after DD was born! My sister breastfed all her children too and she made it seem like a piece of cake! I think she is the main reason why I really wanted to do it. I wanted to give my child the goodness she gave hers :)

I am really lucky to have breastfed my DD and I still am. I hope so badly that I can do the same for my next one and don't encounter any problems we cannot get over!

Thanks for all the replies :) It's good to hear other stories!

[Areca]

With my first - no. I didn't care if I could breastfeed or not. It was something I only became passionate about once maternal instinct kicked in and I overcame a lot of hurdles I said I'd refuse to overcome 'just to breastfeed.'

I was sooooooo determined second time round and I knew I could do it but was worried that I'd suffer the same in the early weeks and I didn't want to go through that again. So I booked myself in to a antenatal breastfeeding class and we skipped the pain and suffering of those first few weeks.

I'm not worried about breastfeeding our next baby (when the time comes). I am far more knowledgable now than I ever was, and my sheer determination will be what I need to deal with whatever might be thrown my way. If I couldn't, it certainly wouldn't be from lack of trying so I'm at peace with that.