Hellobee Boards

@snowjewelz: I'm one that had a terrible time breastfeeding. Excruciating pain, blood, the works. But my baby was "diagnosed" with a tight jaw by the LC in the hospital and even with multiple LC visits (both at my home and at weekly BFing support groups) and occupational therapy for my LOs jaw, she just could never open her mouth wide enough to nurse without it being extremely painful to me and finally when she was 3 months old I made my peace with the situation and started exclusively pumping.

I hate pumping (like... Really really loathe it for all the reasons listed above) but it has been infinitely tell more comfortable for me than BFing ever was. My LO is 6 months next week and I'm proud I have made it this long.

Honestly, for my next baby I feel like my preferences are in order.; BFing, then formula feeding, then exclusively pumping last. I prefer breast milk for health reasons but if I experienced this situation again, I think I would try formula instead of pumping. I feel like pumping was actually detrimental to my bond with LO as I feel like I spend a lot of time pumping and washing parts instead of paying attention to her.

BF'ing only hurt for a few days before I got LO's latch figured out. Now (at almost 9 mo), I am a nursing addict haha. I'm dreading the day I have to stop nursing.

I found pumping to be more painful than BFing (with shield), and it took forever which took time away from the baby. It depends on your situation. My LO wouldn't latch so and pumping was killing me so I switched to formula after a few weeks (no regrets there). Some things to consider:
- Faster letdown: I would produce *nothing* for the first 20 minutes at the pump and then get a decent amount in minutes 20-40, even when engorged. At the breast it was just a minute or so.
- Pumping basically doubles feeding time: You still have to feed the baby, so instead of just doing it for 30 mins at the breast, you have 30 mins at the pump (putting on nursing bra, pumping, cleaning parts) and *then* 30 minutes to give the bottle, which means either less time for you to sleep or play with the baby, or someone else gets to feed the baby while you pump.
- Inability to respond to the baby: This is what finally made me give up. I'd put the baby down for a nap and start to pump, but then he would cry and I wouldn't know whether to get him or keep producing this "liquid gold." After a few weeks of this I became convinced being hooked up to the pump was not actually the best thing for us.

I know plenty of people EP but it was not for me. Good luck either way!

@snowjewelz: I think it's great that you have heard bad experiences. I heard nothing and was totally shocked when it was so hard and painful. Thought I was a bad mom until I asked around!

I think it's a matter of personal preference. Some people hate the pump, some people love nursing for bonding. For me personally, I nursed my first for 7 months. I was a stay at home mom. I also pumped once a day and he took one bottle a day. Then he went to bottles til he turned 1 because I dried up one day. With my second I nursed for the first 8 weeks and went back to work. I tried nursing while I was home but switched to exclusive pumping and did it for a year. So 8 weeks and on she was bottle fed. My first had mostly formula from 7-12 months but my second only had breast milk.

I preferred exclusive pumping because I don't mind the pump and I never really enjoyed nursing. Neither of my kids were crazy about it either.

Everyone has a different experience! (Oh as for pain, the first time was so hard but everything was fine by 5 months or so.. The second I had almost no pain and engorgement.) I would encourage you to stay open minded and try nursing when the baby comes. If you really feel you can't do it, you could always try pumping.

Oh also, for bonding, I feel no less bonded to my second than my first. But probably because I did not enjoy nursing.

It really bums me out that in a desire to support women and the struggles that some have with breastfeeding, we've perpetuated this notion that it ALWAYS hurts. This just isn't true! Lots of women don't have any pain, lots of women have an easy time with it. I really hate to see people exclaiming that breastfeeding is hell at first. For some, yes, but not for all or even most. I know that I've hesitated to speak up about it because I don't want to be unsupportive, but I hate to see women like you scared off before they've even started.

I really struggled with BFing in the beginning. We went 5 weeks with an undiagnosed lip & tongue tie which made nursing almost unbearable. I sat and cried almost every time he nursed.

For me, pumping was not painful at all. That being said, I still HATED pumping. Hate. Hate. Hate. Once LO's ties were fixed nursing became a breeze. I loved to nurse him and the closeness/bonding was 100% worth the pain for me.

I just dried up due to supply issues that stemmed from those first several weeks and I am absolutely devastated. I will miss nursing so much! I can't wait to pack away the pump though!