Anyone else getting themselves worked up about breastfeeding?

[Hellodoris]

Hey,

My little one is now 6 days old and establishing breastfeeding has not been easy at all, after a long and traumatic labour and birth my body did not have the resources to sustain me let alone a LO.... so we're currently combo feeding. It's not at all what I wanted to do but it's what works best for us currently, my LO has a tongue tie too which means BF is harder (getting that fixed soon). We're currently working to wean her off the formula and now we're at 80:20 in favour of breastfeeding.

I have felt so guilty and cried and cried and cried (till the snot ran down my face) about my failures as a mother, but having a chat with my midwife and my OH I've come to realise I am not a failure for making sure my daughter is well fed and happy.

Overall I would say go with the flow, don't make a decision now see how you feel at the time. Your life is going to change in so many ways putting pressure on yourself now when pregnant is simply not necessary... because lets face it being pregnant is stressful enough.

We're all good mummys no matter how we choose to feed our children, and no one should be made to feel bad for making that choice no matter what that may be.

 

[Faerie]

Yeh i must admit, its gonna be weird once LO is here, i have had a big, hard belly for so long now i cant remember what it was like. Feels like ive been pregnant forever even tho the time has gone fast, does that make sense? haha

Sleeping on my back and tummy again is gonna be heaven tho, hate sleeping on my sides and all the aches and pains too.

Can i ask a Q to those who have breastfed.....You would have to wear a bra and breast pads to bed right?

I ask cause i have been unable to sleep in a bra while ive been pregnant as they just irritate me. My boobs have been soooo sensitive

I leaked a lot at first and had no choice but to wear a bra. I had a towel under me too. I think my supply was all screwy as I was expressing so much whilst dd was in nicu.

Anyway the most comfortable thing I found was a soft cotton crossover type, would not recommend a drop-front night bra, the crossover style kept the pads in place.

In the UK medela sell one in Gap (can't remember whether Australia has Gap). I've just ordered these, to give you an idea what I'm talking about https://www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/sp+Underwear-Tights-White-2-Pack-Maternity-Sleep-Bras+A9252

 

[Faerie]

Bigbetty, I wouldn't compare yourself to anyone you know because you will be completely different! Honestly, something my Dr keeps telling me - don't even compare pregnancies (as in my two) let alone babies.

Educate yourself as much as possible as to positions for bfing, local support groups etc and then the best you can do is just give it a go and see how it works for you, if that's what you want, you might be surprised.