A more realistic picture of breastfeeding

[sil]

In every article I see, there is a smiling mom with a happy baby drinking from her breast, possibly an older sibling sitting next to mom cuddling up close and everyone is jolly and it's making me frustrated.

My more realistic breastfeeding photo (at least the way thing are going in my house) is mom sitting on the couch with her floppy, nonperky breasts out, hair a mess, and pajamas on. Baby writhing in annoyance waiting for mom's letdown. Toddler either throwing books at mom to read, poking mom's nipple while saying "no touch milk! nipppppleeeee", or trying to pat baby's head while saying "PLAY BABY BROTHER DRUMS!" and mom trying to teach him that baby heads are for gentle pets, not practicing drumming skills (while of course baby is breaking his latch due to the disturbance and crying). By no means are we so put together and happy.

What is your more realistic picture of breastfeeding like?

 

[mumatmadhouse]

My house is a very similar picture to yours x

 

[justplay91]

Lol! This is making me nervous for the arrival of baby #2...

 

[hanni]

Mine was more like
"Can you get me a drink?"
"Can you pass the remote"
"Can you get me the nipple cream?"
"Do you know where my phones gone?"
"I'm hungry"
"Quick! Get me another drink, I'm thirst again"

And my OH looking soul destroyed fetching me everything.

 

[Sarah Lou 80]

More realistic for me would be baby squinting and wriggling, trying to get away from the fountain of milk spraying at her face because of my powerful let down.

There are never any images of milk spraying and the mothers in these pictures never seem to have the need for muslin cloths nearby. I can't feed without one to hand to mop up the milk mess!

 

[misspriss]

Me, lying on the couch as my daughter prefers nursing lying down (oversupply/overactive let down), trying to read on my phone sideways while my 2 year old begs for milk too, I'm telling him he has to wait his turn and fumbling around to put something on the TV for him....

 

[hlynne]

Me, lying on the couch as my daughter prefers nursing lying down (oversupply/overactive let down), trying to read on my phone sideways while my 2 year old begs for milk too, I'm telling him he has to wait his turn and fumbling around to put something on the TV for him....

Sorry, I'm not trying to change the subject of this post but I was wondering if you ever have a problem with green poop since you have an oversupply. I do too and I have had the frothy green poop then it changed to green, sometimes a bit yellow a seedy. I do not know how to get away from the green poop. I have my son drink the whole breast before going to the next one (if he even needs to). My son is 2 months and I have had this problem for almost 2 weeks now. Everything was totally fine in the beginning. Thanks!

 

[MamaLoCo]

Yep. Hair a mess, in pajamas - or whatever I wore for the second half of the day before and "slept" in, sitting on the couch in some funky position because my unwanted CS incision still bothers me.

Squirmy newborn crying because she wants a bottle and not my breast.
Me- frustrated, trying to position my nipple shield because she won't latch on without it. Finding a way to support her head, hold my nipple shield, and push her hands out of the way to keep her from grabbing and ripping the nipple shield away. I probably am holding a syringe full of breast milk or formula in my mouth so when she does latch, I can use it to squirt some in her mouth to coax her into relatching everytime she unlatches.
There's also a bottle nearby because eventually she'll get tired of nursing and start screaming bloody murder, refusing the breast, and I'll give her the damn bottle.

Now that I type it out, it really seems like a hostage situation.

 

[hanni]

Yep. Hair a mess, in pajamas - or whatever I wore for the second half of the day before and "slept" in, sitting on the couch in some funky position because my unwanted CS incision still bothers me.

Squirmy newborn crying because she wants a bottle and not my breast.
Me- frustrated, trying to position my nipple shield because she won't latch on without it. Finding a way to support her head, hold my nipple shield, and push her hands out of the way to keep her from grabbing and ripping the nipple shield away. I probably am holding a syringe full of breast milk or formula in my mouth so when she does latch, I can use it to squirt some in her mouth to coax her into relatching everytime she unlatches.
There's also a bottle nearby because eventually she'll get tired of nursing and start screaming bloody murder, refusing the breast, and I'll give her the damn bottle.

Now that I type it out, it really seems like a hostage situation.

Wow, it really does. I'm sorry you're having such a hard time of it.

 

[apple_20]

Been there (overactive let down) no longer an issue now she's used to it but my new picture of breastfeeding.

Me sitting in sofa with baby feeding big brothers playing on the floor. She's pulling off every min or two to grin abd lunge at her brother then quickly throws herself back on. Just as she starts feeding properly daddy walks in. A very excited shouting baby leaps towards him and I give up!

Still, it's much better than the early days when she was chocking on the fast let down.

My favourite (and much more idealistic feeds) are the evening ones with a chilled mummy and baby feeding in a quiet room while daddy had toddler.

 

[misspriss]

Me, lying on the couch as my daughter prefers nursing lying down (oversupply/overactive let down), trying to read on my phone sideways while my 2 year old begs for milk too, I'm telling him he has to wait his turn and fumbling around to put something on the TV for him....

Sorry, I'm not trying to change the subject of this post but I was wondering if you ever have a problem with green poop since you have an oversupply. I do too and I have had the frothy green poop then it changed to green, sometimes a bit yellow a seedy. I do not know how to get away from the green poop. I have my son drink the whole breast before going to the next one (if he even needs to). My son is 2 months and I have had this problem for almost 2 weeks now. Everything was totally fine in the beginning. Thanks!

Not with this baby. My son was a preemie and I had oversupply due to having to pump to bring in supply while in NICU. He had almost constant green or greenish poops, from yelllowish green to really green during the first 6 months or so. He didn't have any other problems and gained weight fine, there was really nothing I could do about it. I did block feeding and stuff, and it got to where he could handle it just fine, but we had green poop for a while.

With DD, the oversupply is a lot different. I am tandem feeding, so still feeding DS at 2.5 and her, so a lot of the times when I am really full I let DS nurse and take the overabundance of foremilk and DD gets to the hindmilk that comes out slower. I don't think DD has ever had a green poo. She was also a full term baby. The oversupply is not as bad this time. I feel like your supply is partially set for your future breastfeedings when it comes in for your first, so I think I am destined to have a little bit of oversupply every time. This time it is because I'm nursing two babies, but the older one nurses erratically (he could nurse to sleep one night, not the next, wake during the night and drain me, or sleep through, he could take his nap at grandmas and not nurse then she gets more, etc.

Yellow seedy is normal, green is not, but it is not bad per se, especially if it goes back to yellow and seedy.

 

[cooch]

Thanks for posting this. The education I had prior to birth was so poor, I failed to bf successfluly. It left me really upset for a long time. I intend to fb with my next now I am more aware of the reality and how difficult it can be. I also intend to do a lot more research and have my support lined up.

 

[tulip1975]

Me, lying on the couch as my daughter prefers nursing lying down (oversupply/overactive let down), trying to read on my phone sideways while my 2 year old begs for milk too, I'm telling him he has to wait his turn and fumbling around to put something on the TV for him....

That's totally me except I don't have another child. Always lying down on the couch and trying to read my phone.

 

[sil]

Thanks ladies! I just finally got around to reading these responses. It makes me feel a lot better about my own breastfeeding situation