Establishing BF with DS was really tricky and we encountered quite a few problems in the first couple of months. But, overcame each and every one and went on to BF for 22 months.

This time around I'm hoping to avoid those issues, or at least be prepared for them. To give you an idea, here's a bit of a summary of how things went with DS.
• emergency CS delivery after 12 hours of syntocin induced labour. DS was separated from me while I was in recovery and wasn't put to the breast until 1.5 hours after birth.
• I had inverted nipples on both breasts and we struggled with attachment from the first feed. The MW's hand expressed colostrum to give DS the first couple of days cos we couldn't attach.
• Day 3 - DS developed jaundice. Saw LC and got nipple shield which allowed DS to attach for pretty much the first time. She also advised me to express after every feed to help bring milk in faster, which I did. Paed had us doing top-ups (colostrum & EBM when available and formula when not) for a day or two to help clear the jaundice.
• Day 4 - milk began to come in, was pretty much fully there by day 5.
• Day 6 - went home. The top-ups had been stopped by this time and we were exclusively BF'ing with nipple shields most of the time. I continued expressing to stimulate milk and help draw the nipples out.
• Week 2 and 3 - saw LC a couple more times to try and get DS to attach directly to the breast. Despite having what looked like 'perfect' attachment on the outside I developed terribly cracked nipples. Eventually I decided to feed exclusively with nipple shields.
• Week 8 - began weaning DS from the nipple shield
• Week 12 - nipple shields completely gone. Went on to feed to 22 months.

Despite having BF until about 9 months ago, I am worried that I might struggle again with inverted nipples. I'm also likely to have a scheduled CS, so am keen to do everything I can to get my milk in as fast as possible. So far my plan is:
• have skin to skin and first BF in recovery (providing we're both healthy)
• bring my own electric pump to the hossy with me so I can start expressing Day 1 and hopefully get milk in faster

I'm hoping that if my inverted nipples cause problems again, I can express for a minute or two to draw them out and then try to attach bubs directly to the breast. But if that doesn't work, I think I will also make sure I have a nipple shield on hand JIC.

I'd really appreciate any advice or tips you can give me, so that this time round I can be that little bit better prepared for the hurdles we might have to jump. TIA