Andrew was a guts, he brought my milk in but I couldn't keep up with him at 3 weeks we had to introduce formula topup jsut to get him to grow. I had tried expressing but it didn't increase my supply. He thrived on formula.

Josh on the other hand, after advice given to me about waiting for him to search for food and then feed him and not to turn him on his back to weigh him. I did that and he latched perfectly and brought my milk in after 36 odd hours (I was in hospital till Friday morning and had him Wednesday night, I didn't want to leave till feeding was extablished). We did have a hicup at 4am on Thursday when he guts a heap of colostrom and chocked on it and brought it all up again. I was able to exslusively BF him till 6 months when we introduced formula and he started weaning off me.

Michaela refused the breast first time it was offered shortly after birth but within about 20 mins she wanted it and from then onwards we were attached at the nipple/mouth. 

That was my only BFing problem but it was a huge one, she wanted to be on the breast all the time (no exageration).  I had no issues feeding and could feed in any position, even in my sleep, but I couldn't do anything else because she was always latched or wanting to be, I would sit in bed cuddling my suckling baby and bawling my eyes out because I felt so incapable as a mother and wife because I could barely get washed and dressed let alone do housework, cook meals etc.  I felt that there must be something wrong with me and my milk because I couldn't satisfy my child.  She was always suckling so I never got full so when my friends would talk about engorgement I would think that obviously I wasn't producing enough milk and then they'd talk about their babies sleeping 3 - 6 hours in a row and I could have cried.

DH was very supportive.  In our AN class the lady had told the parents to be that it's very important for mums to relax and focus on feeding.  With her first child she'd tried to do too much (housework etc) and her milk had dried up so she impressed on us how important it is to rest and relax, and what an energy consuming job producing milk is.

I spoke to 2 midwives and 3 plunket nurses about it and none of them seemed to think anything of it which just confirmed in my tired mind that the problem was with me.  It's only with the view of hindsight and experience that I realise that Michaela probably had colic or similar and was suckling for comfort not nourishment.

I was in such a state over my BFing inadequacies that DH suggested we switch to formula but I was determined to BF past 12 months for health reasons.  A friend of mine from my AN group was the first one to suggest that I shift Michaela into a routine, so at 8wo I started getting strict and wouldn't let Michaela feed for 3 hours after her last one.  The next problem was she'd make feeds last for ages by feeding on one side for 40 mins, throwing up then feeding on the other side.  The healthline helped with this by telling me the canary yellow vomit (which frightened the heck out of me) was the cream of my milk (which until then I didn't believe I had) and I had to restrict the amount of time she was allowed on each side to 20 mins.

From then onwards it was plain sailing - but it took us about 10 weeks, a lot of stress, and very little sleep to get there.

I went back to work when Michaela was 5mo and tried expressing during the day which didn't work for me.  That was the first time I felt 'engorged' (and began to understand why on baywatch they have to run in slow motion).  I was in awe, I'd still had these nagging feelings I didn't produce enough milk but the truth was my baby was so efficient at extracting the milk and such a guts I never had a chance to get full until I didn't have her with me.  I would get home from work in the afternoon and it was such a relief to sit on the couch and feed/express.  I would express 200-300mls (sometimes more) off one side while feeding my baby on the other side.

Despite our early problems and my own insecurities I loved breastfeeding, even at the start when I was getting upset over doing nothing but BFing I loved it.

Could I please make a suggestion that this becomes a 'sticky' topic like the birth story one? I think it would be great to have a place where everyone can record their breastfeeding experiences, share what they have learnt, how they've found it, what they'd do differently next time etc. People could come back and edit their posts over time and when they have another baby.

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I desparately wanted to breastfeed, and struggled for 12 weeks unsuccessfully - even though I had heaps of help and support along the way. DS was not interested in latching, despite having 1.5hrs of skin-to-skin time immediately after the birth. He also had jaundice for about 10 days, wouldn't wake for regular feeds and when woken would fall back to sleep within minutes. We spent a whole week in hospital trying to get him to latch on, to no avail. We didn't want to use a bottle, so tried everything else: syringes, nipple shields, supplementary feeding lines and nipple shields together, cups....nup, nothing worked.

By the end of day 5 in hospital, when we thought he was going to choke to death trying to feed him from a cup (which was the only way to get enough milk into him as he didn't have enough energy to suck it through a tube for long periods of time), we caved in and gave him a bottle. Ironically, DS took to this like a duck to water. In some ways that was a huge relief, but I mainly felt like a dismal failure, an unfit mother and suffered from feelings of guilt for weeks afterwards.  

I continued to try latching DS before/during every feed up until he was three months old. He eventually did become a little bit more sucky, but not until he was 10 or 12 weeks old - by which time my supply had almost completely dried up. Only once did he ever latch correctly without the nipple shield, but for less than a minute ... probably because I didn't have much milk by then.

I expressed from day 1 until DS was 10 or 12 weeks old, but had a really low milk supply which took much longer than usual to come in (in fact on one side it didn't come in for 14 days!!) and I think the most I ever managed to express at one time was 80ml. Tried hand expressing and all sorts of breast pumps, and borrowed the powerful hospital one for the first month. We had to give DS formula as I could never produce enough EBM, but he probably had half of each for the first few weeks and then 1/3 EBM and 2/3 formula up until he was 3 months old. At which stage he became fully formula fed.  We were incredibly lucky, in that we were also able to give DS some EBM that was donated from another mother who had a bountiful milk supply (her baby is one week younger than DS). She pumped every day for us for about 10 weeks, which was an overwhelming gift.

For me, the whole experience made me dislike the physical act of breastfeeding (to put it blandly) and I didn't enjoy expressing either as I found it so difficult and frustrating.  When we were debating whether or not to use a bottle I realised what mattered the most to me was getting as much breast milk into DS as possible, and when it came down to it, the method of getting it into him didn't really matter - as long as it worked for him.  That's not to say that I won't try to BF my next baby - I'm definitely going to give it my best shot.  

In terms of how this breastfeeding saga affected my bonding with DS? Hmmm..... To be honest, during the skin-to-skin time I felt completely stunned and exhasted from the birth and all I wanted to do was go to sleep. No overwhelming feelings of love, just a feeling of detachment really. The first week was even more exhausting and stressful. And from weeks 2-6 I hardly ever got to feed DS myself - I'd be pumping instead while DH fed him his bottle. I think our bonding began once the last of our visitors left - a day when DH was at work and DS gave me his first real smile. My heart melted and our bond has grown exponentially since that moment.

Oh, and I also wanted to say that from DH's point of view, the five weeks he spent bottle feeding DS in the early days really helped with their bond. Which is awesome, as he is now a SAHD while I've returned to work.

Gosh!  Reading these stories makes me realise how lucky I was.  I was determined to feed Tom as formula seemed so complicated and "too much hard work"  Well, Tom was whisked off to NICU when he was born and I was left in major pain from a huge clot that I h ad to pass ( noone knew why I was screaming more than labour).  I was given pethidine for the pain but the clot passed at the same time and I was happy then...but a bit out of it.  As a result I was taken to my room and when asked if I wanted to go to see Tom I was still so beside myself from the pain I felt I couldnt cope and said no (WTF???).

As a result I ended up in my room alone, DH was with Tom.  So I sorted myself out and decided I wanted my baby.  When I asked the megabitch MW to take me, she said I had to use the toilet first.  Well I was still very drowsy and the room was spinning so she wouldnt let me go to see him "lights on but nobody home" was what she kept laughing to herself....I wanted to hit her.

It was 9 hours before I saw and held my boy.  I crashed out on that a few weeks later feeling as though I had abandoned my boy.  However in that time, a nicer MW came to my room, grabbed my boob and expressed collostrum into a cup to take to NICU for Tom.  She then showed me how to express it.  At 3am Tom was brought up to me for a feed and I had a lovely MW that helped me latch him on andhe fed well.  The next morning I was taken down to NICU to feed him again and again I had a really lovely MW who helped me. 

But Tom developed Jaundice and needed to feed often to help clear it.  He didnt want to feed off me all the time so I was expressing and feeding inbetween feeds with the expressed milk.  My MW was great and she told me he needs to be feeding every 2 hours during the day and when he wants at night so I made a point of feeding him little and often. 

My milk came in on day 3.. WOW!!!!! They stood up all by themselves....I totally didnt expect that.  I also thought they would always be like that in between feeds and I needed a field of cabbages etc.  Thankfully a MW set me straight on that and said it will only last a few days, do what you need to, feed when you need to and take panadol.  She was right.

By the time we left hospital (8days later) we had this feeding kinda sussed.  A good friend of mine has a baby 11 weeks older andI had seen her go through the inital pain of BFing so I understood that that was normal and would count back from 10 (or 20) when he latched. 

My supply was excellent.  Too good.  He struggled with that for a few weeks until he learnt to cope.  I had one megaboob and one sore boob.  Lansinoh was my friend.  The crazy thing was that eventually it was the sore boob he ended up latching better on.  And....it wasnt until a few months on that I realised his latch hadnt been brilliant at the start because one day he latched and I thought "Ah, this feels nice, no pain, and he is sucking well". Penny's can take a while to drop.

So even though they say the latch is important...I would say the latch is CRITICAL.  An ok latch doesnt cut it...you want a perfect latch.  Thats when he settled right down.  I was a bit like busymum and put up with an "ok" latch as I was too embarrased to say anything and he fed, so what was the problem.

I hope it goes as easily this time.  Stubborness and sheer determination have a lot to answer for.

I have been pretty fortunate that my 3 babies have all loved boobie, and taken it fine. 

Of course, with Rico, it was pretty hard & not so easy, being first time.  He would feed from one side fine, but the other he had trouble latching onto for the first few days.  I left hospital on day 2, with him not feeding from it, but once home he latched on fine and I was stoked!!!  I had badly cracked & bleeding nipples for the first few weeks, and one day one side was too sore to feed off, so i only expressed off that side and bottle-fed it to him.  The next day it was much better & he able to feed off it again.  I never had any problems after that.

Gia was great from day one.  The nipples were a bit tender for the first few days, but then no problems.

Jett also has been a great b/feeder.  The only thing that happend was I got mastitis for the first time when he was about 2 months old.  Otherwise, no sore or cracked nipples what-so-ever.

I was the "lucky" one out of me & my sisters.  Both of them had trouble with b/feeding their children.  My oldest sister, with her first she had to use a nipple shield for the 19 months she BF her boy, but her 2nd child, a girl, fed fine.  My other sister had tremendous trouble BF.  She would be in tears from the pain and dreaded each feed, and this went on for months with her 3 girls.  She was also getting mastitis, and her nipples were badly cracked.  I'm so surprised she stuck at it, but it can right for her eventually & she was able to BF her girls til she decided to wean them around 1 yr old.

Hi cuppatea - just wanted to wish you all the best for your second BFing experience (see you are due soon) and hope you get the help you need to get BFing established .  Have you got in touch with a LC yet? Our local one encourages people to meet with her before the birth if they need to, and she also runs BFing antenatal classes ... not sure what happens in your area but it might be worth investigating?