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The caffeine limit is actually a bit higher than through pregnancy and not all babies have reaction to it. I had to cut it but b/c P was intolerant to the actual coffee bean, not the caffeine.

As for the learning curve, G was already quite a bit older so it was easier for me to have time the time to work through bf'ing that I needed. I'm sure with the right support you'll be fine on getting the balance!

@googly-eyes: And yea... I was so glad to get caffeine back! The recommendation is 200 mg for pregnancy & 300 mg for breastfeeding.

I totally agree about getting familiar with normal behavior long before your next bub gets here. And next time print out Kellymoms "breastfeeding a newborn" posts to the hospital with you so you know that you have accurate info on your side! I was incredibly surprised how inaccurate the hospital & RN LC's were.

Maybe a book might be helpful in addition to other resources? I read The Nursing Mother's Companion while pregnant and felt like it provided a good foundation. I didn't find it "preachy" if you are worried about that. There are lots of directions, diagrams, and troubleshooting lists. Good luck!

I felt the same way as you in that I would be going through bf for the first time, even though I had attempted bf for four months with DD (with much difficulty). The learning curve was not as bad as I had hyped it up to be in my mind. Reading a Nursing Mother's Companion would definitely be helpful, and making sure you have an LC lined up would be great (especially if your hospital offers it). And the best advice I could give is to set a reasonable goal for yourself and just feed on demand in the first 6 weeks at least. The energy comes from pure adrenaline..

Caffeine doesn't seem to affect my LO, and I have read (on kellymom and possibly somewhere else) that if you consume caffeine while pregnant (within recommended amounts, of course) then it's less likely to affect your LO while BFing. So basically, just don't give up your coffee!!! I took a BFing class while pregnant and thought it was really helpful to be prepared beforehand instead of waiting for the hospital LC to stop by...since she came by when I was in the shower and didn't return until the next day!

@googly-eyes: I've done loads of research during my pregnancy and I totally agree with what you said about kellymom coming across as really preachy and judgey. I struggle to see through that to the (really good) info underneath. Its like "unless your child is actually dying, do not let anyone put anything near her mouth except your nipple. Not a paci and definitely not a bottle. If your ped recommends formula, punch him in the face quickly. Breastfeeding is the most important thing ever ever ever, sleeping is for fools and if your husband wants to help with feeding he can darn well fetch you snacks and be happy about it". Agh!!! It actually puts me off trying!! But once you get past that, the factual info is really useful!!

@Cherrybee: I guess at the end of the day, Kellymom is a website solely dedicated to and focused on supporting and promoting breastfeeding. It's run by an IBCLC and I guess mixed or formula feeding is not her focus or purpose. And like her website says, it's up to us as parents to wade through all the info and pick what's going to work for our families!

And for me personally, formula, bottles and pacifiers would have been disastrous for our breastfeeding relationship and it was a very pro-breastfeeding pair of midwives that pushed me through those awful first few weeks.

I will say that I had trouble reading kellymom in the first few months. sooo uppity and judgey!

I took a BFing class run by my midwives group. It was so helpful, and I promptly forgot EVERYTHING within a week. I wish I had made DH come with me, because he's always so much better than I am about remembering random bits of helpful information.

when LO was a newborn what helped me was watching videos of women latching on youtube so i could see how someone else did it, rather than reading/looking at cartoon diagrams of the ideal.