Can you do anything before baby is born to make BFing easier?

[OwlBump]

I'm just curious as i'm expecting my first baby in almost 6 weeks is there anything i can do to make breastfeeding easier? I'm not sure if easier is the right word but is there anything i can do or take supplement wise before baby is born?

 

[dairymomma]

I'm not sure what you can do beforehand but I would recommend talking to a lactation consultant if you have questions.

 

[Feronia]

The best thing you can do is read and learn about breastfeeding beforehand. LLL's Womanly Art of Breastfeeding or Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding are great resources. It's nice to know what is normal, what isn't, and certain things you can expect ahead of time.

Having a few people you know you could call with questions is also nice. For me, I had a neighbour who knew a lot about breastfeeding and offered her support day or night before my daughter was born. I ended up calling her in the middle of the night and she came over and helped me with my latch. It was soooo helpful!

 

[Rachel_C]

Nothing you can do physically but lots you can do to prepare yourself mentally! Read as much as you can, watch videos of good latches and different positions, get the contact details of your local support groups and stick them on your fridge - go to them before LO arrives too if you can. Hang around in here and have a read of the 'problem' posts because people post a lot of questions where the answer is basically the same so it might help you later on. Read about normal newborn behaviour too and watch out for 'formula baby' info e.g. people would like you to believe that newborns need feeding every 3 hours but it's more normal for them to feed every hour or more! Look into safe co-sleeping and consider how you might make it work for you - lots of people say 'never' but find they decide to do it later as it can make BF so much easier.

Get in (borrow) some good DVD boxsets or subscribe to Netflix or similar and find loads of stuff you might like to watch in the middle of the night. Buy in a stash of chocolate too.

 

[TCK_Runner]

I also recommend mental preparation and reading the commonly posted questions on here. I wish I had read through these threads beforehand. I had so much propaganda shoved down my throat about the importance of breastfeeding that showed photographs of beautiful women with beautiful boobs smiling with their perfect babies in their arms... and I had virtually nothing *nothing* that laid out the potential problems, issues, etc that one runs into. I SO wish I had been mentally prepared for those ahead of time. Because of that, breastfeeding for me has been more difficult than any part of pregnancy, labor, childbirth, or taking care of a newborn (for real).

 

[Here_we_go]

The best thing you can do is prepare yourself knowledge wise for anything. Not everyone is helpful while you are in the hospital and sometimes bad advice is given that can hurt your chances of successfully breastfeeding your LO.

Don't feed on anyone's schedule but your baby's. When you see those little fists going to that little mouth and hear sucking, if your LO starts "rooting", searching for a nipple, offer it. Feed completely on one side until your LO loses interest, burp, then offer other side. If he/she doesn't nurse on the 2nd side, offer that side next.

To latch, place your nipple between index and middle finger to flatten and attempt to put as much in that lil mouth as possible. If there is still pain after the initial latch, place your finger inbetween your nipple and baby's mouth to break the seal and try to relatch.

Don't worry about how much he/she is getting, don't worry about how long he/she is feeding or how often, just feed on demand. Watch for dirty diapers. As long as you are changing dirty diapers, you know something is going in. Also, what you get out with a breastpump is no way to measure how much your baby is nursing. Baby will always be able to get more out than a breastpump.

Just remember it's not only you who are learning this breastfeeding thing but that sweet little newborn as well. It's as new to that lil bundle as it is to you and you will have to learn together I got lucky with my first as he took to the breast naturally and easily. I didn't have any pain at all. My daughter did not though and it took a good 3 weeks before things finally started to click for her (and I could feed her without crossing eyes, curling toes and gasping in pain).

There were times when she would get frustrated, frailing her little arms and screaming at my boob and I would put her on my shoulder to burp her. Sometimes that all she needed, othertimes it served as a breather for both of us to soothe and calm outselves before tackling it again.

The more boob time, the better for milk production. I made sure to take my prenatal vitamins, algae omega 3 pill, drink plenty of water and had a bowl of oats every morning.

The first month is the hardest but it is so worth it! It becomes a lot easier. I had to switch to formula when my son was about 4 months because of returning to work and believe me, I missed being able to just whip a boob out instead of staggering half asleep into the kitchen to prepare a bottle to the tune of a screaming child (formula does NOT mean better sleeping, btw. My daughter started sleeping 5-7hr blocks at 6 weeks. Son? Not even when he was on formula and starting solids at 5 months ).

Good luck

 

[Popples1]

I definitely recommend going to a local breastfeeding support group before LO is born. I wish I had. I thought breastfeeding would come naturally and put so much pressure on myself when we had a difficult start. I spent a lot of the first two weeks in tears. If I'd known how many people struggle I'd have felt much less of a failure. I know I worked really hard to even get us breastfeeding at all, I couldn't have done anything more except give myself less of a hard time. Keep an open mind and know that every single feed you get into LO is something to be proud of. Good luck

 

[Bevziibubble]

I recommend lots of research beforehand as there are a lot of myths out there that even doctors spread. I've been surprised at the lack of knowledge even doctors and midwives can have with breastfeeding and I know that this can stand in the way of success with breastfeeding.


I would also get some Lansinoh if you haven't already, to help in case you get sore nipples

 

[RaspberryK]

Prepare yourself and your partner and support network.
Get them behind you too.
Don't buy any bottles or formula. Xx

 

[TCK_Runner]

Prepare yourself and your partner and support network.
Get them behind you too.
Don't buy any bottles or formula. Xx

I wish I had prepared for using bottles, including looking into pumps and sterilizers. Instead I naively thought everything would go smoothly from day one.

 

[Popples1]

Bottles are handy anyway because even if you ebf you'll probably want to express at some point. I'd definitely buy some because if you have issues with bf the last thing you want is added stress from scrambling to buy bottles.

 

[BigAl]

Yeah I bought a manual breast pump, that came with one small bottle. And I bought 2 small cartons of ready made formula. Enough to get me through one feed, but not enough to tempt me to switch. People do tend to carp on about giving them a bottle though, so I didn't want to make it easy for them to talk me into it either. I never needed them though.

Mental preparation is the only thing, have a look on kellymom too. It will definitely help ease your worries, and put interfering relatives straight too.

 

[OwlBump]

Thanks ladies It's been really helpful reading what everyone suggested and i'll be sure to make sure i do try to mentally prepare

I've got a Medela swing breast pump that my mum bought as a gift that i intend to use at some point and a tommee tippee elec sterilizer from OH's mum that came with 6 bottles (i think) so i've got some about, got a tub of formula today just incase; certainly feels like abit less pressure knowing theres a back up just incase