okay so can i get the "truth" about breastfeeding. what's it really like? is it really that painful in the beginning? how'd you get through it

It hurts for the first couple of weeks. But then it gets better. Also there is no point in trying to toughen up your nipples because of none of those things they tell you to do mimic the action of nursing. And can make the early weeks of nursing more painful.

ETA~ I got through it by thinking of all the great benefits it provides my children and that I have always wanted it to be that way. The bonding is such a great experience too.

With my first, no one told me exactly how to breastfeed, and the hospital's lactation consultant didn't show up for 24 hours. Let me tell you the damage that can be done to your tatas in 24 hours, yikes! I had even taken a breastfeeding class, but no one actually explained "the latch". So the first 5 weeks were just horrible, the pain was excruiating every time I nursed, I cried a lot and wanted to quit. I finally bought a pump and only pumped and bottle fed for a weekend to give my boobs the chance to heal. After that it was smooth sailing.

With my second, it was great. I knew what I was doing, and that made all the difference. I never really got past "uncomfortable", I hesitate to use the word pain at all, b/c it really wasn't bad.

Here's the most important things I learned, and it saved me a lot of pain with my second child:

1. Baby must latch on to as much of your breast as possible, try to stuff as much of your breast in his mouth as possible, if you can see aereola, it's probably not enough. If baby only latches on to your nipple, it will hurt immensely and the baby won't be getting any milk!

2. Most important!! Once you latch baby on, do lip check. Baby's lips should resemble fishes lips when latched correctly, if you can't see your baby's lower lip, gently pull on the skin to pull the lip out, since the baby is sucking on your breast AND his own lip, not effective and again can cause much pain!

Good luck with your breastfeeding venture, I hope it goes well, it's really a wonderful way to feed your baby, rewarding and best of all IT'S FREE!! :lol I'm probably the cheapest woman alive.

It does hurt, my nipples only hurt for a few days then they got used to it. Dont expect the baby to tke to the breast right away. My daughter actually refused the breast she fought it, I remember in the hospital she would suck then scream because apparently she didnt like the taste (its funny now how she will take the breastmilk bottle from ryan when he is finished and drink it with this "omg this is nasty" expression on her face).

Just stay calm when trying to get the baby to latch, if you get frstrated so do they.

And it is SOO much better for the baby, my son hasnt had a cold yet, by the time lauryin was 3 months old she had atleast 2 colds. And you dont stay engorged forever! It feels like it but you wont just buy lots and lots and lots of nursing pads

My mom told me this, and I believe it really helped. It may sound gross, but don't wash your nipples with soap, only warm water, and don't scrub them, just gently wash them. You may not notice, but soap will give them a gross taste, like a badly rinsed cup in the kitchen.

Don't let your breasts get too full, otherwise they will hurt, it's more painful to nurse with an engorged breast than one that's still filling up.

Lansinoh is your friend, well any kind of lanolin, but I think Lansinoh is the best.

The first 6 weeks were HORRIBLE for me. He had a hard time latching, I ended up with mastitis because of it. It hurt, it was just miserable, lol. BUT he finally got the hang of it and it was smooth sailing from there. I was just determined to breastfeed. That was the only way I got through it. My extreme stubborness came in handy then. :yes

The first 6 weeks will be tiring, time consuming and fursterating. It usually takes a full 6 weeks to establish supply, baby to get the hang of it and you to get the hang of it. Yes it will probably hurt at first. I had cracked and bleeding nipples at 1 point. But you still have to feed em. Feed on demand and try to not let your breasts get too full. Lansinoh will help tremdously as will soothies. Ask for help, go to a breastfeeding class and make your hubby go with you. It helped me so much with mine going because he could help me with the latch and such

Uh, everything everyone said was perfect!

Honestly, I had in my mind it was going to be some easy thing "Attach baby at nipple and she eats" but with my first I was in shock with all that was involved.

Best advice I ever got about breastfeeding? Don't be afraid to ask for help.

Good luck!

I really never had a problem with feeding mine. I had so much milk all they had to do was open their mouths and it would shoot in there. Hardly any sucking at all....lol........ But everyones advice seems to be right on. Hopefully I will have an easy time this time too.

thank you soooooo much ladies. i'm just afraid of the pain i think. labor doesn't scare me but i think just having my nipples in pain scares me kwim?

Well, the "truth" is it is different for every woman - and even with every child for the same woman.
I never experienced any discomfort while nursing either of my children. DS had some problems with latching and nursing because of his muscle problems (those were only diagnosed at 4 months, though, so prior to that it was just a lot of wondering WHY we were having a problem since I never did with DD) but even those were not much more than an annoyance/frustration vs. being painful.
Everyone has offered some great advice.

I was lucky with Miss K and she did great at first. After 4 weeks so she started not latching on correctly anymore and it just HURT to feed her. What worked for me at that time was to pump and bottlefeed her the bm for a week until my nipples had healed. I still kept bf her but only once a day or so. Afterwards she made she switch back to being bf with no problems and now actually won't even take a bottle.

you ladies rock. i'm going to find out about classes for breastfeeding, labor and delievery, etc etc when i go again on the 30th--the 24th is my big wee wee or pee pee u/s

I was lucky, all 3 of my girls were just naturals. They had no problems latching on and going to town. It is uncomfortable at first, I can't say it "hurt", but it wasn't a completely pleasant experience the first few weeks. Now, getting engorged...that hurts, and it hurts a lot!
One way I would relieve it was to take a hot shower and just let the hot water run over the boobies, it would sometimes bring on the "let down" reflex, and the milk would come out on it's own without me having to express it, which with an engorged breast hurts like heck.

BF takes work, as natural as it is, it does take some getting used to and practice. Now I don't even think twice about it.

With Anya, Schyular and Timmy; I was MISERABLE! I had absolutely NO support whatsoever. I was clueless and since I have flat nipples I never made it past a week with any of them. I was young and embarrassed to go ask for help from anyone.

Now with Sylas, I read as much as I can. I asked hundreds of questions. I sought out an answer to having flat nipples and then did the neccessary steps to pull them out before his birth. The first week was a struggle more on my part then his. I was scared of the whole concept because I had always given up in the past. But this time around I had the support; Travis was always there helping me position sylas, reading books, and being right there with me when I had questions.

The only pain I experienced was when my milk came in. I didn't have a pump at the time and due to me being engorged with flat nipples, Sylas couldn't latch on. So pump buying we did, the Avent Isis manual. I LOVE that thing.

After that the only pain I had was when he turned around 4 months and realized that he could turn his head while still nursing :scared Hmm yeah nipples are NOT meant to be stretched in whatever direction Sy wanted to look :teehee

With my first I had a male nurse teach me how to do it !LOL I had no clue how to and I was too tired to actually care who was teaching me! :giggle DD had a problem latching on. The football hold was easiest for her. With my son it was a little more easier. he latched on and it was all good! With both of them my nipples hurt about a week and then it just didnt hurt. With my last time in the hospital the nurse came in and said wow you have let your milk down, I looked at my boobs and said " really?" I didnt even notice because it didnt really hurt. Good luck with your breastfeeding adventure!

I think everyones experience with breast feeding is different. I always knew I wanted to BF my kids and I never had any missgivings about it until I went to the BF class before I had her. They freaked me out with all the problems that come with it. I was scared to death then.

I have to say I had no problems with BF at all. I never hurt at all until she got teeth (she popped that first one through at 4 months old) and when they latch on those teeth hurt in the beginning. I had to push her into my breast a few times when she would bite me, but besides the teeth it was a breeze for me. I know that is not the case with everyone.

Give yourself little babysteps in the beginning. I did that. Tell yourself you want make it it to... lets say 4 months. Then at 4 months give yourself another milestone, lets say 6 months. I BF my dd until 15 months and it was a wonderful experience. Well worth it. And I never spent a dime on formula since she never even had it.

It wasn't painful for me honestly except uncomfortable when my milk came in and I was engorged. That or when they cut a tooth and bit me, which only happened a few times.

With Madison the most frustrating thing was learning how to get her to latch on properly and with her being early she ate all the time at first (seriously every hour or two). With Hayden it was a breeze!

The only time I was in any pain was the day after we got home from the hospital. She sisn't eat for a whole day and thats when I was going through engorgement. I had cubes on my chest!! We found out it was the hand samitizer I used before I nursed her. I stopped using it and she was fine.

My nipples never really "hurt". THere were some times of discomfort, but not much.

My only advice is to not give up if the baby starts eating very often. If you can make it through the first growth spurt, you can make it through breast feeding. I didn't realize it was a growth spurt and thought she would continue to eat every 2 hours (which is like every 1 1/2 if you take away the time you are actually doing it) and was discouraged with the thought of her "always" being attached to me!! But I know better for the next one.

with my 1st it was so easy and I didn't have any problems at all then when I had my 2nd I thought for sure it was going to be easy but she didn't latch on right so it was painfull and it took us a few weeks to get a hang on it. The best think to do is just stick with it and not use any bottles. I hope it all works out for you and your little one.

I think the biggest lie is that 'there should be no pain' if the baby is latched correctly.

Uh, wrong....you've got to be seriously dillusional to think that a baby sucking on your nipples for 30 minutes at a time will NOT cause discomfort/pain of some kind.

The most helpful tips I got (because I big-breasted) was to squish the nipple so that the whole thing gets in the baby's mouth, and to make sure that the baby takes in more of the aerola UNDER the nipple than on top.

Every woman's "truth" is different.

For me, Zoe was a natural & latched perfectly minutes after she was born. The only time I was in pain was the night my milk came in & I was engorged. Other than that it's been awesome. No complaints, no pain, nada! We're going on 7 months & she hasn't had a drop of formula! :)

Every woman's "truth" is different.

For me, Zoe was a natural & latched perfectly minutes after she was born. The only time I was in pain was the night my milk came in & I was engorged. Other than that it's been awesome. No complaints, no pain, nada! We're going on 7 months & she hasn't had a drop of formula! :)

I agree with that for me Jacob latching on felt like razors slicing into my nipples it hurt. He was latched properly, I didn't have thrush, but they were sore and had cracked from when he was learning to latch so that caused pain. I used lanolin on them and just kept plugging away LONG after Ihad wanted to stop because the pain Jacob would not take anything else. Slowly the pain went away and things became a whole lot better.

it was never painful for me with ellie... my milk came in... she's been nursing like a champ. somedays it's hard because i don't like to pump and have people give her bottles, i like to feed her myself, and i feel like a cow/milk machine... but it's all worth it. nearly 3 months and not a drop of formula, and only 1 bottle every other week or so (of bm)

I would suggest taking EVERY breastfeeding class, all teach different so you might get lots of good info (as well as some bad) but it's all hit and miss.

I know our WIC program is way supportive of BFing mom's and we have a BF support group and peer counselors (my new job :D) which I think is an awesome outlet for moms!!

I EBF Katrina into her 18 mo (with solids) and Aidan has nursed since 10 min after birth and actually while I've tried solids, has no interest...so we wait it out.

All the tips you got are wonderful tips! I was worried so much because I thought BFing would be AWFUL! I was afraid of the pain and EVERYTHING. I started feeding him a few minutes after birth. He was a natural at feeding for sure and luckily for me I had NO pain. The only thing I will tell you is the first 48 hours are difficult. They don't feed very much sometimes and it's not that they don't like it, it's just the whole newness in the world. The second night in the hospital the nurses pricked austin's feet to check his counts and make sure he was okay, and he was just not hungry yet. I really thought of giving up because he didn't want me(or so I thought) luckily I didn't and for 2 months we've done GREAT! I love it and hate the idea of soon when I get a job he'll get it from someone besides me(BM in bottles)

Keep in mind in the beginning all they do or so it seems is eat eat eat(every hour and if you have a child like austin you will feed every 40 min :lol)

Also, engorgement hurts BAD so try not to get that way. I had ds go to my mom's a few weekends back and went out for a few hours and WOW!!! I never hurt so bad in my life. :(

thank you again ladies. i really want to BF and hopefully i'll be able to. i've already got a pump. how often should i pump? pump every time i feed her or what?

I would really recommend going strong for two months. I didn't pump until then and then I was a good cow. .:bouquet Let's just face it...it hurts. Just like labor. You just get use to this one. Check on base in the family support area. We had an awesome nurse at F.E. that would come to your house and help you with different things.

Also..the 5 S's worked for use awesome!!! Here is the book

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9780553381467&z=y

We learned a lot. Football hold right away "for me" was the easiest. You are going to get frustrated but it is soooooooo worth it

thank you :)

All the advice the ladies gave were awesome. BFing for me did not go well. I got thrush both times and everything they gave me to get rid of it did not work. Quiting was the only thing that made my pain and thrush go away. With Reagan, after 2 weeks of BFing I still had no milk so I gave up. With Rhyann, she was in the NICU and they bottle fed her my BM so she had really bad nipple confusion. That made it really hard to get her to latch on properly. I also got mastitis with her. Very painful. I quit with her becuase of the nipple confusion and the thrush. She could never latch properly even with the help of a LC, nipple shield, and every other thing we tried. I pumped with her for awhile but stopped because it was very time consuming and I have a 22 month old to deal with also. Good luck Jill and remember as long as you try, thats all that matters!

thank you crystal.

I was so lucky Jill-I had no troubles producing milk, no breast pain(nipple cracking etc) or latching on issues etc & my kids both bf-I loved it-It is such a wonderful ,warm experience & time to bond(L)