Breastfeeding In Hospital After Debacle First Time Around - Tips

[fionas]

Okey dokey, I'm having a caesar on Tuesday and DD2 will most likely get whisked off pretty much straight away to test blood sugars as I have gestational diabetes.

Not ideal but not something I'm going to kick up a stink about.

Anyway, with DD1 breastfeeding was a debacle and my determination to breastfeed actually worked against me because I just got more and more stressed out. Picture midwife after midwife coming in and trying to attach her for 90 minutes at a time, grabbing my boob and shoving her mouth against them. Really, NOT NICE not to mention exhausting.

So, I've read up a little bit on the ABA's stuff and my approach this time will be to keep my top off as much as poss for skin to skin and basically do baby-let attachment or try to attach when baby wakes up.

I guess what I'm asking is whether babies do often do baby-led attachment each time or whether you need to point them in the right direction by offering the boob as much as possible when they wake up.

Also, DD1 rarely stayed on for more than a minute at a time. Obviously trying for 90 minutes was way too long so what's considered an acceptable feed before milk comes in? A few minutes? Ten minutes? Twenty minutes? I'm not going to watch the clock but I do want to have a bit of an idea.

[onthefly]

I presume your hospital will have lactation consultants on staff? The best thing might be to call for their help early on. Regular midwives are often worse then useless, unfortunatley.

Skin to skin and baby-led attachment are great ideas. Try and let your baby do it themselves - it'll take some time at first, but once they get the knack it should (fingers crossed) work well. If your baby is unwell for any reason or especially sleepy, it might not work so well at first - so again, getting advice and assistance from an LC might be very helpful.

As for the length of feeds, every baby is different. If the baby-led attachment goes well, you should just be able to go with whatever your baby does. Most newborns take awihle to feed, but some are very quick from teh start, and it often just depends. One feed might be 20 minutes, the next an hour. There's no real right or wrong, just watch the nappies. One wet nappy per day of life until your milk comes in, then you want 4-5 heavy disposables (or 6-8 cloth). That's the best indication of whether enough is going in.

Good luck and all the best for Tuesday!

[fionas]

Thanks Marcellus - I've already lined up the lactation consultant to visit me asap after the birth but the LC I saw in my previous hospital was also quite useless so I'm not relying on getting great advice. I'm also taking my expresser in with me because if I have to do it, I'd rather have my own than midwives expressing me or being hooked up to electric pumps (been there done that, won't be doing it again).

[onthefly]

Sounds good! So does this LC come recommended? I admit, while LCs are generally more helpful than midwives for breastfeeding, they are not all created equal. Hopefully you can get a good one this time.
Don't forget to hit the ABA helpline 24/7 if you need advice or reassurance too.

[Kmn]

A couple of hours after my caesar I was able to roll onto my side-ish and the midwife put DS on his side and helped him wriggle and find a nipple - we didn't have to shove anything around that much, he did it himself.
Later feeds were much trickier as he kept falling asleep, but that first one was very easy - so I would recommend trying the lying down approach!
Put a folded up towel over your tummy, because even a day old bub can kick and hurt.
My hospital had me trying for 20 minutes then expressing and bottle topping up. But DS was little and a bit jaundiced and very sleepy. I initially preferred the expressing - but after 6-8 weeks he was back BF for most feeds.
Also - the middle-of-the-night nurses often have much more time. My best BF "lessons" were at 2am, when I had a midwife to myself for a while.

[fionas]

It's 'just' the hospital LC Marcellus but my local MCHN centre is really good and they can refer me to a local one once I'm out if I'm having problems.

Unfortunately Kim, I'm not a fan of the lying down feeding after trying it with DD1. I have pelvis problems too and find it really hard to move if I'm lying down so once I'm in position I feel 'stuck' plus it hurts my hips to be on my side and ... OK, I've whinged enough

I did the feeding, expressing, top up too and expressed for about two months but I'm hoping to avoid all that this time around - as you know, it's a bit draining (pardon the pun).

[fionas]

It's 'just' the hospital LC Marcellus but my local MCHN centre is really good and they can refer me to a local one once I'm out if I'm having problems.

Unfortunately Kim, I'm not a fan of the lying down feeding after trying it with DD1. I have pelvis problems too and find it really hard to move if I'm lying down so once I'm in position I feel 'stuck' plus it hurts my hips to be on my side and ... OK, I've whinged enough

I did the feeding, expressing, top up too and expressed for about two months but I'm hoping to avoid all that this time around - as you know, it's a bit draining (pardon the pun).

[kungfubecca]

have you got an aba group nearby. mybe you could go to meeting before bubs is born and see if they have a trained lactation consultant in the group. they might come visit you in hosi if you ask nicley and help you out?? just a thought hospital don't need to know who they are, for all they need to know it is a visitor.