What bfing myth have you debunked?

[onthefly]

Well I'm feeling ripped off in the booby department now. As soon as DS started droping some feeds at 14+ months they were gone

[Ryatha]

I haven't lost weight bfing
I have overcome an operation on one breast, and fed from the other one for 4 weeks, then re-established in the other one
I have fed on the operating table after a c-section
I have fed a toddler when ever and where ever
It is possible to work full time express only once per day and not give formula bottles

I was also told when I dropped one feed that my milk would dry up, but it didn't

This thread is great

[Nai]

I have debunked

- You will have trouble feeding after a c/s (14m and 15m BF respectively)
- It hurts (it never hurt me if they were attached properly)
- You will end up with saggy boobs (the nipples still face out )

[STARRYSKY]

I really TRY to debunk these myths whenever I encounter them, but it's very HARD when so called "well meaning" friends and relatives are in the ears of the person i'm trying to give info to.
one friend in particular, heard most of these;
"your milks not good enough"
"your milks probably sour"
"you dont eat healthily enough to BF"
"youre going back to work, better put him on formula"

I tried....but oh well.

The biggest thing for me lately is that Im trying to cut down DS feeds (he would feed all day/night constantly If I let him) when I explain this to people, they say "why dont you just put him on toddler formula?" pffft, I say "why???" he eats very well, drinks cows milk, has yogurt etc, he doesnt need more sugar and flavourings in his diet!

I think that most people/family I know were too scared to say anything to me about BFing at all earlier on, I made out like I knew it all, lied to the MWs at the hospital, saying my milk had come in when it didnt until I left hospital, I only ever asked for help once and regretted it, so I was very lucky that DS was a greedy little guzzler and I just persevered until it felt RIGHT.

[MummaSue]

Yeah, the weight loss one is annoying. Everyone told me the weight would "fall off" when breast feeding. What rot!! I am soooo hungry all the time and am struggling to get the last 3kg off!

Oh well......

[Lulu]

I'm not sure breasts being smaller after children is consistently a myth. But then I'm not sure feeding has much bearing on breast size at all - so perhaps that's the myth.
I find my breast size is more connected to my overall size. And perhaps even that's genetic, or based on other factors.

I do think this is true as well. Same with weight "falling off". It will for some, but not others and I'm sure it's nought to do with nipple attachment! I have a photo of me when DD was about 5 months old. I looked like a crackhead with DD boobs, I was THAT thin. I've evened out now...and the boobies still rock. I bet if I dropped weight overall again, those precious boozies would get smaller as well as my butt.

[*Beema*]

DD1 VB
DD2 CS
That you can't have colustrum after a CS... DD1 expressing colustrum after delivery was like getting water out of a stone (VB no drugs), with DD2 the Colustrum was dripping out (CS)
That a photo of your baby is as effective as having your baby next to you when expressing.... I always got a lot more milk if I expressed when DD1 Or DD2 were next to me and not in SCN.That you can't stand up for your and your baby's rights, I was threatened with DD2 with a bottle of ABM sitting on her isolette, and if she didn't suck long or well enough that they would give her the 20ml of ABM, I quietly begged and pleased with DD2 and she did excatly what she was supposed to do, coming out of the isolette on O2 and she sucked for 30min and her saturations, HR and Resp Rate all IMPROVED

I should have more... might have to come back after DD2's first weighin since discharge to prove the next one

[Manhattan]

That breast fed bubbas dont sleep through the night - DD generally sleeps 10 hours overnight.

That DD is throwing up because my breast milk is too thin - no, actually she has reflux, and as her tummy has matured and solids have been introduced, she hardly throws up at all now.

[TeniBear]

Okay, I know I don't really qualify since I haven't breastfed and I expressed for a week (then dumped it in the garden ) but my boobs were floppier before they filled with milk And you should see them now I'm pregnant again! I swear I've gone up a cup size since yesterday

[Early Kids]

I got the 'your milk isn't good enough' and isn't 'nutritious enough' (because Tristan wasn't gaining weight well) idiots... LOL

And the sleeping through the night thing too! Tristan was sleeping roughly 6 hours from about 3-4 weeks old and then by 10-12 weeks was sleeping 8 hours (wish he would now )

[Early Kids]

Sorry double post

[Wonky]

Yeah, the weight loss one is annoying. Everyone told me the weight would "fall off" when breast feeding. What rot!! I am soooo hungry all the time and am struggling to get the last 3kg off!

Oh well......

agree but i wish it was only 3kg i had left lol

also all the midwifes in hospital making me feel abnormal that my milk didnt come in, in like a day or two ( i dont even know when it came in i ended up taking medication and never had the whole engorgement thing)
I found out later its normal to that it can take longer, annoying midwifes

[UntoldAngel]

That breast fed bubbas dont sleep through the night - DD generally sleeps 10 hours overnight.

Yep.... Mr P sleeps between 10 and 12hours per night and has for at least the last month and a half, before that it was 8hours... he is exclusively breastfed

[AJC]

Excellent thread thank you! I was told when I had DS at 34+4 via c/s that he would not be able to BF and would have to be tube fed. The midwife that bought him into my room 12 hrs after birth (from SCN) placed him onto my chest and quite bluntly said it was just skin on skin time...... Then her jaw dropped when DS started nuzzling towards my breast and had his first feed of colostrum.

Now that we have stopped I don't think they are smaller or shrivelled as people say, they look and feel just the same to me, in fact they fill my bras even better than before

One other thing....... When I was pg my Mum swore black and blue that if I didn't rub vaseline into my nipples that they would get cracked when bub arrived and I started feeding. Another busted myth.... i trusted my own instinct and did nothing pre-bub and just bathed them in BM and let them air dry after feeding in the early days. I never once had cracked nipples.

[maz]

NICU nurses told me he wouldn't be able to breastfeed for at least a week (that's the only reason they put in the tube - an excuse if you ask me)!

OMG I had the SAME problem and I made them take the tube out!

CP kids latch on just as well as a normal baby after birth and CAN breast feed successfully, no matter what the nurses tried telling me.

[Nai]

Oh and another

- Being vegetarian will affect your milk, well I managed to grow 2 healthy babies without meat so why should making milk be any different?

[HotI]

You can't breastfeed and take medication.

We all know that it is best to take no medication whilst pregnant & breastfeeding but sometimes Mums need medication. Too often women believe that they won't be able breastfeed and continue taking meds. Sometimes this is cos their family members or friends tell them this, and other times it is health professionals who don't research and just advise it is better to not breastfeed. Breastfeeding is important to me, the health of bub is important to me and my health is also important. Through a combination of my own research, talking to Rodney Whyte (a drugs in pregnancy & BF specialist) and observing my bub, we have made it work.

[Persephone1]

Oh and another

- Being vegetarian will affect your milk, well I managed to grow 2 healthy babies without meat so why should making milk be any different?

That's crazy! My mother was told in 1979 that she was starving her baby because she was vegetarian! I thought that was just some crazy 1970's hogwash - but some people still think that obviously! Bah!

I haven't quite had the opportunity to dispel any myths yet, but I'm looking forward to the one my FIL believes in - that my milk will be "bad" after 6 months so I won't need to BF beyond then.

Oh, and some of my MG have started FF their bubs in the hope of getting them to sleep through the night. Seemingly now their babies are FF and still don't sleep through I can't quite dispel that myth though cause my DS also doesn't sleep through, but I think their own experiences speak for themselves.