A friend of mine is having her 2nd child in a month and with her 1st she finished BF around 6 weeks due to what she thought was lactose intolerance (never diagnosed) and she thought she had supply issues (baby grew off the charts) I think she didn't enjoy it but didn't want to say so (which is fine, BF is not for everyone) . Anyway she said to me the other day that she wants to give it a better go this time and wants my help.
I'm no expert but I am very passionate that breast is best and in any advice I give her I don't want to come across as some over the top breast feeding activist, so how do i help and encourage her through?
her main issues are that her Ds used to scream for most of the afternoon when young (less than 8 weeks) and that he wouldn't go for longer than 5 hours at night (again less than 8 weeks) now for the most part I think these things just come with having kids.
I explained that from what i have heard all babies have the witching hours where the are unsettled and cry/scream for no reason and that in time they will grow out of it and it might be a good time to go for a walk, give bub a bath etc, come round for a coffee if she is feeling like she needs a chat etc. What else can I do?
I should also add that at times I worry that her expectations of her LO's are unrealsitic (like expecting bub to sleep 6 plus hours from 6 weeks) she also introduced solids very early to assist with getting her first bub to sleep through, so any ideas on how to assist or should I stay out of it? I only ever offer her my opinion if she asks for it but don't want to offend or upset with my response.
Sorry if this doesn't read very well, it's kind of hard to explain it all on paper
Thanks