Do you think that you were adequately prepared?

[kirsty_lee]

Good Question. If I hadn't of taken the steps to learn more about bf I would have known nothing. Midwifes/doctors never discussed this with me, if they did it was merely a question of "Are you planning to breastfeed" kwim. Even once dd was born there wasn't any real help. Once I was in recovery they pretty much just opened my shirt put dd on my breast and went on with their way. Then after getting out of recovery it was pretty much everyone giving different advice. "don't hold her this way, don't hold her that way, feed for this amount of time etc... Would of been nice to be better prepared for the world of breast feeding. Maybe I could of gone a little bit longer. Who knows

[Charlyfrog]

I was completely clueless as it never occurred to me that I might actually need information and help. I was under the false impression that a) I wanted to breastfeed and b) it was going to be a piece of cake cause it was all supposed to come naturally wasn't it?? I went to one info session with a midwife and felt embarrassed when I did ask questions as I was made to feel that I really should've known that anyways....... so hence, didn't ask too many more questions for fear of being made to feel like a silly, young new mum - I was already in my twenties when I had my first.

[fionas]

Hmmm ... this is a tricky one. I certainly didn't read as much about BF as I did about labour. BUT, it wasn't like I was clueless. I expected it to be tricky, perhaps painful and very time-consuming.

What I didn't expect was having 20 different opinions on why it wasn't working from midwives and the hospital's lactation consultant. Nothing could have prepared me for how soul-destroying and completely frustrating those differing opinions were.

So if I wasn't adequately prepared then neither were any of those midwives/LC because they couldn't tell me what the problem was and their only solution was keep trying but comp feed with formula and express.