help newborn tips

[Kelskiii]

Hi

I am due our second child in almost 9 weeks and was wondering how I could prepare for our breastfeeding journey?

So I fed R for 19months but we got off to a really bad start. She was born mid December & all the local bf support was closed until she was 5 weeks old. R was constantly on the breast, she was losing weight yet her latch / tongue tie was checked & was found to be fine. If she wasn't feeding/using me as a dummy, I was unsuccessfully pumping milk, I was eating right, taking fenugreek & using heat pads to help the milk flow. Yet my daughter either lost weight or gained very little. I was fighting to breastfeed with my husband who obviously just wanted his daughter to thrive (I can see this now I couldn't then). Due to the weight loss we were supplementing with small amounts of formula, feeding with small cups. R wouldn't go anywhere near my husband as he had no breast to suck she used to scream if he touched her.

Once we got past 4/5months it did get a lot easier but I never trusted my body due to our poor start. This time round I will have a 4 year old to take care of too & I don't want the same arguments with my husband. I know have more experience this time but I really don't trust my body.

My plan was to make sure the baby feeds every 2 hours from birth, which I didn't do with my daughter as she was very sleepy & wouldn't latch on for feeds. To eat lots of oats, take fenugreek & cut caffeine out. Pump after every feed.

Is there any more tips out there? thanks

 

[noon_child]

I had a very similar situation to start with too, and I never figured out quite what was wrong. Maybe this time around, now that you have a bit of time, contact breastfeeding support NOW and talk through what happened last time, your fears and hopes for the second baby. They can let you know what support is out there (breastfeeding groups, one-to-one in your house, helplines etc.) when and where it happens, opening times etc.

Also you might consider seeing if you can express colostrum now and freeze it. This means if you have another sleepy baby (many are) and you are stressing about trying to get enough liquid in to her, you'll have a little reserve supply. This will keep you calmer, and medical professionals calmer too. Being calm and reassured will increase the likelihood that breastfeeding will go more smoothly.

I also think you need to talk to your OH about how much support you will need. Most cultures have a period of about 40days after birth where family and friends will rally round and take over housework, food cooking, childcare of older siblings etc. so that mum and baby are just concentrating on each other, skin-to-skin all the time (look in to how to create safe sleeping situations if you think you might fall asleep with baby) learning how to feed with no other interruptions or responsibilities. We don't tend to have that in many Western societies and it causes so much stress for mum and baby. Do you have family to help? Will OH be taking time off - how much? Do you have any money to pay for childcare if you need it?

The professional help available may be dependent on where you live - where are you?

 

[Kelskiii]

Thank you for your advice noon_child.

I will definitely look into what support is on offer, I know there is a Monday group but once a week might not be enough support when baby is here.

I have thought about expressing colostrum as I can get a little bit out now depending on what time of the day I try. I could get some syringes & put small amounts in it to freeze. I used to have to give R small sips of formula & put it on my breast in order to get her to feed as I couldn't express any. Hopefully the colostrum I have now is a good sign.

I really do think it is completely different for us in the Western world!! I am in the north east of England. I do have support from both sets of parents who will be able to take / pick my daughter up from nursery but my daughter is a mummys girl and will always want to be with me and I struggle to let go - I am hoping she will see it more fun being out and about with grandparents rather than sat in the house with me. My husband works long hours & will probably only be able to take 2 weeks off depending on when the baby comes. Baby is due 1st January i'm hoping baby comes a week early then Dh will be able to take longer off and help out

 

[noon_child]

OK your based in the UK - this means that till baby is 28days old you can get help from the hospital infant feeding team (even if you don't have baby in hospital). You can call them and they can arrange to visit you at home. As well as this (depending on volunteers in your area) you can get home visits from Breastfeeding Counsellors from either NCT or LLL (or both - I rang both. At one point I was getting some kind of home visit every other day!). There may be other organisations in your area too but those were the most active where I live. The National Breastfeeding Helpline can give you details I'm sure. A lot of breastfeeding groups based at Children's Centres are closed over school holidays, but not all - so worth finding that out now. Good luck!

 

[Kelskiii]

Thank you for the information I will most definitely look into it. I am at the hospital for a routine scan tomorrow so will ask for some contact numbers.

I will make a list of numbers to ring to make sure I can get as much help as possible this time.

Thank you again!