[HeavensMom]

Okay, I'll give a short story first and then I'll ask my question....

I have 2 dd's, ages 3 and 1. With my first I breastfed and formula fed for MAYBE 1 week and then after that I went straight to formula. With my second I breastfed only for the first week and then I did both for a few more weeks until I only used formula. My reasons were because I am large breasted and it was really hard to do and also because I had a hard time getting my supply up in order for baby to be full.

Here's where I'm at now. With the awful time I had trying to breastfeed my older 2 I had decided that I wouldn't even try this time, I would go straight to formula. I told df my decision, he was very surprised that I didn't even want to do it for the first few weeks, since I know that's what is best for baby. I've been thinking about this for the last few weeks and I decided that I would like to breastfeed this baby and NOT use ANY formula!!

Here are my questions:

1. For those of you with large breasts, how do you get babies mouth on correctly? The nurses in the hospital tried to show me lots of times, but even they had a very hard time with it. I did use a nipple shield with my second and that helped, should I invest in nipple shields? Will this be the only "easy" way to make this happen?

2. When about does the pain stop from your tummy contracting while breastfeeding? I also had a very hard time with this.

I think that's it for now, I'll come back later as I think of more.

TIA girls!!

[M!che!!e]

i am large breasted (think 40f after i had the baby) and i managed to get her latched on normal. football position works with some but i have found that the cradle hold worked the best. as long as you get some areola into the baby's mouth she will be latched correctly. just make sure the baby's mouth is open real wide, and when latched her lips look like fish lips (aka flanged)

breastfeeding works on supply and demand, so in the beginning before your supply is established supplementing even one bottle can be enough to cause a substantial drop in supply. if your breasts arent being asked to work they wont work, kwim.

if you really want to give breastfeeding a shot i would just breastfeed. no supplementing in the beginning and let the baby nurse on demand (even if its been 5 minutes since their last feeding) nursing constantly is pretty normal in the beginning.

the pain in your tummy is your uterus contracting back to normal size, which helps prevent uterine cancer in the mother down the road. if a woman formula feeds her uterus will never shrink down to its pre pregnancy state. after the first couple of weeks the contractions will stop. i think after 3 weeks i didnt feel it anymore.


congrats on your pregnancy and welcome to our board.

[LaLa]

Hey there!

Not being big chested (quite the opposite in fact), I cant offer much advice there. However, having been a doula to a few big chested moms, I know most of them also used the cradle hold & took a little while getting it together. Most found good success in holding the area just aruond the areola like a whopper (cupping your hand like a "C") and guiding the nipple. I hope that makes sense.

As for the rest - ditto what the others have said. BFing can be a challenge, but no challenge lasts forever, and anythign worth doing takes some substantial effort & determination. Dont supplement at all until your supply is well established. This usually takes AT LEAST 6 weeks for most moms. And then - it could easily take longer or get off balance at any time.

So hang in there with this one. Youll do fine if you stay awaay from bottles & formula at first. in fact, i would even hold off on pumping until 4 weeks unless you absolutely have to.

Good luck!

Lala...

[caitbeans]

I agree with what was said. There are problems with nipple sheilds though, they babies cant get all the hind milk they need. I started off with a nipple sheild, until my daughter could latch on correctly. You can't nurse with them forever, and it will cause problems..so you have to try and get them off of it, but they are good to help getting nursing started.

I am reading this book right now..It is called How my breasts saved the world Here is the link on amazon http://www.amazon.com/How-Breasts-Saved-Wo...TF8&s=books . I'm not all the way through with it but it is soo honest..and I really wish I read it, its just the story of a mother as she nursing her first daughter and everything she had to go through will breastfeeding.

I would also go to a breastfeeding class and be prepared to meet with lactation consultants..they are a HUGE help!

[eoao04]

1. For those of you with large breasts, how do you get babies mouth on correctly? The nurses in the hospital tried to show me lots of times, but even they had a very hard time with it. I did use a nipple shield with my second and that helped, should I invest in nipple shields? Will this be the only "easy" way to make this happen?

I'm with you on the large breasts (38DD) and its actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it. You'll probably want to try the "nipple sandwich" (sounds funny I know) but you hold your breast like a "C" then you squeeze down the areola towards your nipple with your fingers under your breast and your thumb on top. Make sure baby opens his/her mouth very wide and just stick it in. This way you know he is getting more of the areola, which needs to be done in order to breastfeed comfortably! I would say not to use a nipple shield as the baby may get used to the feeling of it and decide to not want to breastfeed directly from the breast. Also with a nipple shield I don't think you get all the milk out of all the ducts so a plugged duct is likely.

2. When about does the pain stop from your tummy contracting while breastfeeding? I also had a very hard time with this.

I only had the contractions, which were quite painful, for about 3 or 4 days after I had Ryan. After that, it was smooth sailing!

[kibby]

I am quite large chested, but only while bfeeding (38 E). Normally I'm a B cup, but I do also have very large nipples.

Firstly, I was not successful at bfeeding my 4 year old son and eneded up pumping for 6 months. The reason I wasn't successful wasn't because of my breast size, but other reasons, largely due to lack of preparedness--

I was very anxious about bfeeding this baby--because I didn't have a good experience with my older one, I thought it meant this would be the same. It hasn't been the same. I was determined to make bfeeding work this time and it has, for almost 3 months now Eli hasn't had any formula.

My advice is get a lot of support (this site is great) and make contact with a lactation consultant while pregnant. If you want this to work, it can!

In terms of breast size, I found the football hold good at the beginning for my larger breasts. Now I can do almost any hold, but at first I used that one.

The uterine contraction only lasted about a week, and then went away. They don't last too long!

Good luck to you!
Kim

[TylerJ1029]

Good luck. I'm just going to ditto what the other ladies said because they gave good advice.

The best way to avoid low supply problems is to feed on demand for as long and as often as baby wants to. Its very normal for a newborn to feed constantly but this does not last forever and will only benefit the both of you. Also do not suppliment at all. In the beginning all your baby needs is colostrum until your milk comes in. After your milk comes in it works on a supply and demand. If you suppliment then you are demanding less milk and your supply will be less.

I also reccomending reading The Breastfeeding Book by Dr. Sears. It really helped to answer alot of my questions.

[HeavensMom]

Thank you so much to all of you. I am even more excited about getting this to work this time! I will keep in touch with all of you, I'm sure I will need the support. Thanks again girls!!