Partner/Others support

[cheezelkat]

You often here when mothers have difficulty breastfeeding that it is the partner who rushes out to get the formula and bottled. I just wanted to hear stories of partners who encouraged and supported the early breastfeeding relationship.

My partner cooked for me every night, layed with me for the permafeeding every day, helped with attachment, encouraged cosleeping to allow me to rest, encouraged time out for me to shower and rejuvenate and to go and see the local breastfeeding clinic.

And the number one thing? He always said he loved what I was doing, he was very proud of me and would support whatever I was doing. His personal mantra became "breast is best" :kiss:
Whenever I contemplated giving up, ie. every second hour, he always talked me through the problem and offering assistance.

I am so lucky!

[ikis84]

I was very fortunate and didn't have any problems breastfeeding, but DH would pass bub to me at night, then take her and burp her... or if co-sleeping, just burp her :) He would cook meals, and bring me drinks. He made it much easier, and made sure he played his part!

[Areca]

DD is 13 months old and to this day everytime I bf DF brings me a glass of water. He has been incredibly supportive the whole way through!

ETA not once when I was in pain or anything did he suggest putting DD on formula to give me a break. Just supported me through the pain and reassured me it wouldn't last long.

[oleander]

The only support I had was from the ABA and the middies at the hospital. DD's father (the ex) asked me why I would want to BF because it "wrecks your tits". Everyone was telling me to bottlefeed because it would be easier for me as a single mother because I would be able to have others feed DD. Well, as usual I didn't listen to their advice:)

[kymmy]

My hubby initially didn't want me to feed when we were preg with our first. Now he thinks its the best. I wouldn't say he is supportive in a helpful way (lucky cheezelkat!) but he is happy that I feed.

[Funkychicken]

Dh has always been supportive of my BFing. He does as much as he possibly can to help with the children when I am BFing and has always done all he could with them as babies aside from the actual BFing!
With our first two, he would let me go to bed at around 8pm and he would have the baby in a bassinette in the lounge and when he/she woke, he would bring the baby to me to feed so I didn't have to get up and I also got a couple of hours undisturbed sleep.
He knows of all the benefits of BF but I also think he is secretly pleased as it is one job he can't help with, hence he doesn't have to get up in the night! :rolleyes:

[Reidymac]

:thumbsup: That sounds like a lovely fella you got there cheezelkat.

Dh has been very supportive from day one. He always makes sure I am well fed and drinking enough, he got up for every night feed to change the children, lay them in bed with me to feed and then to put them back to bed when they finished (sometimes all without waking me :laughing: ). When I was having supply issues he looked up lots of information, bought supplements and even baked me a batch of your lactation cookies. When I had mastitis he did everything including massage and expressing. He keeps me company during the long coma feeds, set his mother straight when she complained about BF being disgusting and how it was unfair that we wouldn't let her feed her grandchildren :rolleyes: . He even says nice things about how I've changed after feeding 2 children for 3 years. What a nice fella. I think we'll keep him.

[mum33]

DP was supportive when i planned to BF and was even more supportive when i couldnt BF and was being hard on myself for it. but he also made me realise that in my case i just couldnt breasfeed and it wasnt so terrible that i couldnt as much as i wanted to.

i really didnt get that much support from the midwives or the CHN that visited us at home after DS was born. it was all breast is best :ecomcity: and made me feel like a terrible mother because i couldnt BF.

hopefully :fingerscrossed: this time around i can breastfeed, and i feel at ease to know that i will have the support of DP either way it works out when i might not have the support from MW and CHN's.

[♥Heaven Sent♥]

When i bf dd,df would get up to dd change her and then wake me to feed her,i had some problems with it so when i had to go to aba he came along to 'support' me.He took her when i was tired and needed some sleep.He would get me a glass of water when i was feeding to keep my supply up he was great.But also my mum was great she helped with attatching him because at times i would just 'give up' it was hard but she was always there to help me.

With ds my mum done the same thing and df helped look after dd while i fed ds mum would help me attatch him if i was having any problems.I didnt really have many problems though with attatchment or anything nothing that i couldnt live with.Df still brings a drink to me when im feeding ds and after a feed if he wakes during the night he burps him after the feed.

[DellaWellaWoman]

I made hubby go to an ABA breastfeeding education class with me while I was pregnant. He wasn't too keen before we got there but he left with the right mindset!

In the early weeks I would feed then he would burp/nappy change, and he was always happy to get me a drink, panadol, etc and he was an expert at setting up the pump for me (maybe something to do with him being an irrigation consultant??)

Even now he cooks about half our meals and probably does more than half the housework - although now it's more due to DD wanting to be held ALL the time than non-stop feeding.

Gotta love supportive other halves!

[dragonflyblu]

My DH loves watching our newborn on my boobs. He has been so supportive, he went back to work today and packed me a lunch so I had lots of energy for feeding bubs. His personal mantra is "eat up baby its free and good" :laughing:

When I was learning how to attach DH sat there and read out the info sheet while Baby and I tried attaching. He kept checking that she was on right and helped me adjust position. He has become quite a BF expert!

[Mum&bubs]

My DF has always been supportive of my breastfeeding. He always tells me I'm doing a great job and doing what's best for our children. If I am having a bad day & worn out from feeding both bubbas he takes Summer and puts her to sleep for me so she won't need the boob for comfort. He also takes bub to burp her for me.

He loves the fact that I breastfeed and there was one point in time when Summer was first born where I wanted to give up because I had attachment problems but he encouraged me not to.

I wanted to give her a bottle because I thought I couldn't do it & would never be able to but he just kept telling me and reminding me that things would get better and easier I just had to give it time. And 22 months later... time has helped! And she is still breastfeeding :D I think without him I would have given up.

[Seekrit]

Chris is very supportive of breastfeeding. Recently - as Cobey gets older - I feel I'm losing support and Chris is righjt there to chant me along. I had a wee teary just recently about that and he gave me a hug and told me he loved and supported me in what I do :)

I lub him I do.