I've been breastfeeding for 10 days now, and it's been really frustrating (seemingly endless feedings, sore nipples), but it keeps getting easier.

Don't buy formula if you plan on breastfeeding! You will be giving yourself an easy out, and there won't be any turning back if you feed your baby formula by bottle. The baby will get nipple confusion.

Breastfeeding doesn't make your breasts sag. Pregnancy makes your breasts sag because of the changes they go through.

Think of breastfeeding as a learning process for both you and your baby. It takes time for each of you to learn what you need to do, but it's a lot more likely that you'll figure it out than not.

I think it really is an individual thing. Some people do struggle with breastfeeding and others find it easy. The best thing to do is give it a try when LO is born and then decide from there

The first 3 weeks breast feeding are the toughest and there are times when you wonder what the hell you are doing!! DD was a big girl and I didn't have the best supply so I gave her top ups for the first few weeks which gradually became less as my supply caught up with her. I BFed for 21 months which was brilliant.

It can hurt even if the latch is correct but if it the latch is wrong it is horrific!! DD mangled my right nipple in the first day I had her as I struggled to get her onto my left breast (Some babies have a bias for one or other side to start with) and one of the MWs in hospital encouraged me to keep her on the right one for 2 hours straight which was the wrong thing to do which I found out later.

The best thing to remember is, a happy mummy makes a happy baby, if exclusive BFing, combination feeding or Formula feeding is what it takes for you to be a relaxed happy mummy then that is what you do and there is no guilt to be had if you aren't exclusively BFing and anyone who says otherwise is being an idiot.

The hardest part is what they call 'cluster feeding' where baby seems to want to feed endlessly and you feel like you can't possibly have enough milk. Apparently the reason they do this is that bfing is all about supply and demand do their constant feeding (evening times usually) is telling us to make more milk.

I have been bfing for nearly 8 weeks now and have recently started to introduce a bottle of formula at bedtime to combat the endless evening cluster feeding that could go on into the early hours.

I have had no nipple pain/damage BUT this is because I got as much help as possible from midwives in hosp and stayed in 3 nights to make sure I cracked it before coming home.

If you definitely want to bf I would say make the most of your hospital stay. Ask midwives for support. Everytime I was going to feed I asked a midwife to come and at first help and then later observe to see I was doing it right. That's why we pay our taxes remember - get your money's worth out of them :-)

Gonna be frankly honest, which is something women rarely are. We're told breastfeeding is lovely and beautiful and natural, and every woman goes into it thinking it should be easy enough.

It's HARD. It's the hardest thing you'll probably ever do. (Including labor. I've done military boot camp, and I'd still say the first month of nursing is harder.) Your nipples will be cracked, bleeding, and you'll cry at the thought of yet another feeding. You will spend the first 4 weeks of your baby's life without putting your boobs away. (Or so it will feel.) You'll take the painkillers that were given to you to get over the birth, and dole them out based on when baby is going to feed next. You will go through so much lanolin that you'll start wondering if the baby is getting more lanolin than milk. When your boobs aren't out, you'll be spending time analyzing diapers, trying to decide if they're really getting enough to eat. Going a few hours with a dry diaper will have you in tears firmly convinced you're starving your baby. Her wanting to eat every 30 min will have you convinced you're starving your baby. Doctors, nurses, health visitors, etc... will often try and convince you you're starving your baby.

It's HARD.

It's also probably one of the most fulfilling things you can do, if you can get past that 4 weeks or so of pure hell. You will learn to love the ease of just flipping out a boob when baby is hungry, rather than having to make bottles. (They're really inconvenient.) You'll love the closeness you get. You'll love knowing there's something you can do for baby that no one else in the world can do for them. You'll love the health benefits. You'll love knowing that when the going got tough, you did it.

Yes... it's hard. It's incredibly hard. But, like most things that require you to fight for them... it's more than worth it in the end.

I bf my dd until 16.5 months when my supply dried up due to this pregnancy. We opted there not to continue with dryfeeding as it was a natural cut off and she was great with it. I had VERY LITTLE issues with breastfeeding but I think it does take a lot of determination and patience to keep going with it when you're adjusting to all the new around you. I did not have an overflowing supply, but had good support and had done reading and therefore knew what could help increase the supply...I had a week or two where I did get one blister, but again, committed to feeding through it and after that did not have any issues. As a previous poster said I think if it's really something you want to do it's best to surround yourself with as much support as possible and definitely look into the community for some of that extra support (for example here we have the la leche league). I remember in the beginning there were times when it did just get too much emotionally and physically for me (and I had it relatively easy by many standards) but once that first month or so it was so worth it. In the end...as some others have said...you will do what's best for YOU and YOUR LO, and i'm SURE it will work for the both of you. Good Luck!

Awww Menelly... I've never found it like that. I'm on my third breastfeeding baby now, having fed the first for 14 months and the second for 18 months.

I've never had cracked or bleeding nipples or been worried about the contents of nappies. It seems from the responses here I've been VERY lucky.

For the first 2 weeks each time, I've had soreness in the few seconds between when baby latches on and the let down reflex kicks in, but at just under 3 weeks that has gone now. I am also lucky that this baby (the first of all 3) will take a pacifier between feeds without suffering nipple confusion so I am not being used as a human dummy.

The cluster feeding in the first few weeks can be tiring and challenging but its sort of just slotted in with our routine.

I do think breastfeeding babies use up more nappies tho which isn't great. All the poops are really runny and each fart she does is a wet one lol

I think a lot of people have made up their mind not to breastfeed then it's pushed on them a bit in hospital and those people are more likely to struggle. It really is rewarding if you can stick the initial discomfort. This baby took 4 days in hospital after a section to learn to latch. I was expressing colostrum into a syringe and feeding her on that at first till she got the hang of it. A lot of ladies stop in the first few days thinking their baby "can't latch" when it just takes some longer to learn. Same goes for milk production. You need to give it up to a week. It WILL kick in in most cases by then and till it does there is high calorie colostrum

It's worth doing if you want to and are prepared to battle through at the beginning, it seems not many ladies are as lucky as me in terms of BF

Breastfeeding is hard for most women. I think I was very lucky, it was so painful the first 3 days. Cracked, blackened, scabbed nipples that were also red and very tender. I almost gave up the first day from the pain. Day 3 my milk camein and become so engourged and it was pretty painful. Its all been up hill from there. I don't have any pain anymore, he's had a perfect latch since day one (he just got latch happy at first and made it hurt) my milk supply is very good. What makes it hard now is that he feeds so often, I have a baby attatched to my boob for atleast 6 hours a day feeding, he feeds every 2 hours for atleast 30 minutes but usually longer. Its hard working around feeding times while going out, usually I have to stop driving and park ina parking lot to feed him cause he eats so often. But its sooooo worth it! The look on his face during his feeding, he looks sohappy, and so pleased. I have instant comfort for him when he's crying. And he's having amazing weight gain. Did I also mention I have been getting back to prepregnancy weight fast? I have been losing about 1 pound a day now. Some warnings that I didn'tknow when starting after birth. Breastfeeding makes your cramp for about4-5 days like really bad period type cramps, and it made me bleed ALOT when I did it at first. This is totally normal and the nurses told me that its helping my uterus go back it didnt last and now its cramp free. The first few days I would get so tired during feeds for some reason. I could be having a conversation while feeding and out of nowhere fall asleep without realizing..aparently thats normal also and that too only lasted the first few days. When you get very sore nipples in the early days, nipple creams work miracles. I put it on before and after feeds and before and after showers and it was a life saver. After day 4 I have no used it at all. Taking a hot shower and massageing my breast helped also with the pain and when I was engourged. Now engourgment only last about 1-2 days when your milk first comes in. Combine feeding is okay but Idon't think its recommended till atleast 6 weeks.

100% agree with you, but I've had it very easy also since day 3-4. The pain went away, he has perfect latch since birth except when he first latches on, hes so happy he looses control but then slows down and I have a very good milk supply, but I know this is not the case for all women.
PS...I thought my LO was the only one that pooped himself a little with every fart!!!

From my experience yes, and that was with a baby who latched on well from the beginning. IMO it's not true that if baby is latched on correctly it shouldn't hurt, at least in the early days your nipples may need to 'toughen up' to being suckled (what feels like!) constantly. I found Lansinoh lanolin really helped and I applied it religiously after every feed, also changed breastpads every feed to help prevent any infections. I found for the first 2 weeks I wasn't doing much other than feeding the baby, and that was with introducing one formula top-up a day on day 4! (my milk hadn't come in and Nancy was screaming her head off and showing signs of jaundice and dehydration) We now combination feed for a variety of reasons (3 bottles per day, 2 being ebm/formula mix and the other being just formula and 4 breastfeeds per 24 hours... I have a hungry girl!) and it's working out well as I didn't/don't want to give up breastfeeding altogether just yet. My hospital wasn't very forthcoming with the breastfeeding support so I would say if you need help ask for it (sounds obvious perhaps but it may not be something you think about after the birth, I know I didn't) I honestly think it's one of those things where you don't know how it will work out for you until you do it, even with all the good intentions and research in the world.