I never knew about the difficulties that could come along with breastfeeding until I got pregnant and my friends started to share their journeys with me. Because of that I've prepared myself by doing tons of reading, research, attending breastfeeding classes and surrounding myself with a great group of supportive women who have been through difficult parts of breastfeeding. I'm hoping to stick to it and be successful once baby comes and I'm SO glad that many people have shared their stories with me cause I had NO idea that there could be so many struggles! I have a whole different perspective for ALL mamas who stick to it, those who need to supplement or have to move on to formula.
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YES. I'm the first among my friends to have a baby and I found it really hard going. I think it's great that you're benefitting from their experiences and making an effort to learn everything you can early on. I left it until after LO was born and I was soooo overwhelmed with just the day-to-day stuff that I think it hindered my ability to set up a successful nursing relationship with her.
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Yes! I knew some babies had trouble latching but I figured they eventually "got" it. Not my LO so I was pumping instead, and that is work too. Next time I hope I have an easier go at it, but if not I'm okay with a formula fed baby.
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I think I overestimated, if that makes sense. I was so convinced it wouldn't work, and terrified of everything (bleeding, cracked nipples - thrush - mastitis - oversupply - undersupply, you name it) that I was like, I'll give it a shot for a week or two then go with formula. I even bought formula to keep in the house!
Lo and behold, I hit every one of those speed bumps but for some bizarre reason, instead of me thinking "ha, I was right" I was ticked off and determined to overcome it. We are still EBFing (and solids!) at 7 months. I honestly never, ever thought I'd make it past a week!
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I want to add that I don't mean that to sound as though it were easier than I expected - It was every bit of what I thought, and I thought it was going to be scary and crazy hard! Haha.
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Our little guy isn't here yet, but it was definitely a shock to me to hear about how hard it was when I started reading about it online. I knew about poor latches, but as someone else mentioned I kinda thought they'd just get it eventually. I also knew about under supply and switching to formula because that happened to one of my cousins. However, I had no idea about the general struggles to breastfeed that just happen, bleeding, cracked nipples, the infections, even that your milk didn't just happen once the baby was born, etc. Real eye opener.
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Kinda. I knew it would be hard but I would not let myself give up! And it was so difficult! The first 10 weeks were hell.
We had so many problems. I hated breastfeeding and I didn't think it would ever get better, but of course it did. Once it did I started to love breastfeeding. (And luckily we didn't have many problems with DS2)
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I though I was prepared for it to be tough, but I never thought it would take us 3 weeks to get it. And now that he is finally latching and sucking, it's hard all over again. I am glad to not be stuck to the pump, though.
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Definitely. I'm not the type to unnecessarily stress out in advance...but honestly I should have done way more reading and preparing beforehand. When I was in the thick of the challenging newborn days and needed to know the mechanics of breastfeeding better, I didn't have time or energy to sit down and read books. So, because of that, I made some mistakes that permanently hurt my supply. I wish I had a knowledge base prepared from while I was pregnant.
I did take a breastfeeding class, but it was not enough. We are still breastfeeding now at 5 months, but we've had to supplement the entire time. I always wonder if I would have been more educated if I wouldn't have made the same choices in the early days and might have a full supply now.
ETA: I also didn't have any close friends or family members to consult with. My mom didn't breastfeed me. And my MIL did, but didn't want to say anything to upset me so she was just an ear to listen (which I'm thankful for!)
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Like @sorrycharlie I overestimated. Like birth, people shared a ton of nightmare stories. I was like, "hope I can do it. we'll see." My advice is to be confident but prepared. Don't worry unnecessarily because I think the silent majority don't have huge problems.
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I did a ton of reading and research and felt like I was terrified of all the things that could go wrong but was determined to overcome them. I had an LC come to my house in the first week as well and she was very kind but basically said uhhh keep doing what you're doing!
Definitely be prepared and armed with knowledge but also know that you might have zero issues and love it (like I do
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I thought it was going to be rough, until I took a breastfeeding class. They made it seem easy peasy and painless. And then LO came and proved me wrong.
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@artbee: Exactly!! The only thing that sounded intimidating in the bf'ing class was that you had to bf every 2-3 hours for so many weeks. (Didn't say anything about switching to on demand which could be every 4-5 at night..) But otherwise I thought I might not LIKE it and I might quit for that, but I never thought I would dislike and even hate it because of the problems we encountered. It never even really occurred to me that I could actually try and fail.
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I never really thought about the difficulty, just that short of something absolutely medically crazy I WAS going to do it! Ultimately, it was way more difficult than I could've ever imagined & I'm incredibly proud that I may it through severe tongue tie (that our pedi & ent refused to clip, we found someone ourselves) & multiple severe protein intolerances.
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Yes and no. No because I knew I would struggle because of my breast reduction surgery way back when. Yes because I thought I wouldn't be able to produce much for DD (baby #2) so it still surprises me when my breasts are engorged a little because it's been a few hours between feedings.
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@googly-eyes: Yes, they don't say, "well sometimes your milk doesn't come in and then you have to supplement and then the baby doesn't want to go back to the boob because it's easier to take a bottle and they get lazy, etc. etc. etc." And they did say that if it's painful you're doing it wrong. But the LC said I was doing it right, and it was plenty painful.
I feel like I want to go back to the breastfeeding class after I get pregnant again so I can try to figure out how to do better next time.... but I also feel like they'll give me a simple sounding solution that won't actually work.
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Yes and no. I expected the pain but was lucky enough to never really experience any nipple pain so I overestimated that. What I wasn't really prepared for, that was so hard, was the time commitment and the over supply. I had a really fast let down that made nursing the first few weeks a bit frustrating. I also didn't realized I would have a baby attached to my boob almost all day. I stuck with it and I'm so glad I did! Once we got past the first 4 weeks, it just got easier and easier.
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@artbee: Exactly what they told me re:pain. I want to go back to that class and ask all the questions I didn't know to ask back then!
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I think I overestimated how easy it would be. I had some trouble at first because my baby was in the nicu, but I never had anything but faith that it would work out. I just assumed everything would be great. And it did turn out that way, thankfully.
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Thanks to all the blogs I read I heard it was tough and i was accurately prepared for it. I didnt know how bad engorgment would hurt though.
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um, YES! my breastfeeding friends never had any problems, were all SAHMs and never had to worry about work or pumps, being away from baby for longer than an hour or so. any problems that I came into I had no one to turn to except the 'Bee & my LC
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I was like @sorrycharlie and overestimated also. I put a massive emphasis on how hard breastfeeding would be while pregnant and so I knew to expect infections, engorgement, etc. LO turned out to be an awesome breastfeeder and so far (7 months in) I've had no issues apart from initial pain from the newness of breastfeeding. I know a few women who had such difficult times with breastfeeding so I know I'm incredibly lucky.
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I overestimated, definitely. Most of my friends had serious bf issues - bad latch, poor supply, sore nipples, painful engorgement, etc. Not to mention, I wanted it to work SO BADLY that I was convinced that my body would make it impossible to nurse just to spite me. When D latched perfectly from the get-go and it didn't hurt as much as I thought, I was so pleasantly surprised. Not that it didn't hurt, but I was expecting like 10/10 pain and bleeding nipples and all-around awfulness.
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In some ways. I was worried I wouldn't be able to do it, but was very determined to make it work, and I did. I thought engorgement would be worse, but the hardest parts for me were painful latch, the huge amount of time it took, and pumping once I went back to work. Totally worth it, though!
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I sort of expected it to be hard and it has been hard. My LO latched easily and gained well in the beginning, so that was good, but I had a lot of pain. Later on (and currently), I really strugged with supply after going back to work. I do think it requires a lot of support and fortitude. It's worth it though!
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I was completely unprepared! I didn't think it would be a cake walk, but I also didn't realize how hard it could be. There was no HB back then... I did read some materials before hand, but it was no where near enough preparation. I struggle with what I should tell my pregnant friends... I certainly don't want to scare them, but I do wish there had been someone who would have tried to help me prepare...
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Yes, totally! Never thought something that was supposed to be so "natural" could be sooo difficult!
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Definitely. I switched to EP at 6 weeks because it was so frigging hard.
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@MungBean: That's what I've always thought! "It's natural, so isn't it just supposed to happen?!" When friends started sharing the good and the bad I was shocked, lol!
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@T-Mom: I've been very grateful for those who have shared stories about it being super easy and those who have struggled. I guess I feel like either way I'd have someone to turn to and ask for support/help/advice!
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I thought it was going to be easy and the milk would be flowing. I never knew how hard it was and how many tears would be shed.
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I underestimated the pain of the first few days related to my inverted nipple. I wish I had read about it beforehand. I had no idea what I was in for. (I still haven't done any reading so my situation may not be typical for inverted nipples) Other than that, things have been easier than expected.
We had so many problems. I hated breastfeeding and I didn't think it would ever get better, but of course it did. Once it did I started to love breastfeeding. (And luckily we didn't have many problems with DS2)
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31 comments