There are MCHN nurses who are also qualified lactation consultants, but not always close to you - the other nurses should know who the qualified LC are and be able to refer you to them, or give you their number.
I have had some conflicting advice, and going with what feels best for me and Oscar. I've had advice to express first (either 20-30mls or for 10 mins, separate nurses!), but I don't do that anymore - if I have a let down before I attach him then I just let it leak onto a towel, THEN attach him, but without concertedly expressing. I am trying to avoid expressing from the sorest side and just keep practising on that side. Oscar takes longer to feed when I have to keep detaching him when he starts to 'pinch', but there are times when it just 'works' and I have some hope to go on! Sometimes he takes less time, the boob feels nice and soft so I get him onto the other side for a bit - he doesn't feed much on it, but it makes him sleepy enough to put down.
I realise that a good sleep is not equivalent to an adult good sleep, so I am happy with a 3 and a half hour sleep before a wake again! Unfortunately, DP seems to think that I should just get up in the morning and have a sleep later in the day...honestly, he says it with such conviction that at the time I feel like I'm a real slacker, but when I eventually get up at about midday (and Oscar has stayed asleep all that time!) I feel heaps better and I don't care that my day doesn't run to a 'normal' person's schedule.
Anyway, I wouldn't consider FF just to get more sleep or to settle Oscar (he rarely needs extended settling, it's usually wind and then he'll drop off after a burp, hiccups or a long fart!), because I feel it's a cheat. It takes longer to digest, that doesn't mean to me that it's better - in fact, that just tells me it doesn't seem right for Oscar. To give my boobs a break I'll go as far as expressing and cup feeding, but I'm not going to mess with Oscar's instinctive sleep patterns to give myself a 'better' sleep. Honestly, no matter when or how often I wake up, when I look at his cutie pie face, I just melt and know I'm doing right by him.
I'm not going to be apologetic and say 'no offence to FF mothers' cos I don't owe anything to anyone else but Oscar. I know that my booby milk is the best thing for him and that nothing else is good enough for him. And that's confirmed by lab tests! No formula could ever replicate the ingredients of breast milk and whilst I've got it I'm going to use it.
I'm writing this to encourage any of us who are breastfeeding who might need the encouragement, not to make FF mothers feel like crap, cos it's not directed at FF mothers!
I'm really lucky that the birth centre I went to is really big on BFing and gives good solid reasoning for 'persisting' with it. They really discourage complimentary feeding and advocate exclusive BFing. It's a "Baby Friendly" accredited hospital and BC, so that may have something to do with it.
If I still haven't got the attachment thing by the latter end of this week, I think I'll go see the LC up the mountain.
Thanks for your posts, Kelly, I feel like I'm still on track with this BFing caper and you confirmed my perspective
To anyone who's been offended by what I have written, that's not my intention. I probably offended some people in the Belly Buddies threads with my insistence on a natural birth, spurning the use of drugs and modern interventions, so I can accept that I'll just rub people the wrong way with my sticking to methods that got the human race this far before medicalisation and formula. There are people who do better with medical intervention and formula, but I have no reason to resort to these, being that everything else is all well with me.
I guess this is my 'vent'. I'm not being a martyr by 'persisting' with BFing, I'm just doing what squillions of other women are able to do, so why should I give up? I'm glad I keep hearing the stories from women who assure me that this part is short-lived and it gets better. I've always been pretty good with delayed gratification, so I can go through this part to reap further rewards down the track
Shower beckons...better get in quick before Oscar wakes for another feed - I can leak in the shower under the hot water and be less full and awkard for him!
Bathsheba - I'll remember that about non-textbook attachment As long as it's not painful...I'll stick that mental note at the front of my brain!