I've always said I would try breastfeeding, even before I fell pregnant but as the time comes closer I'm getting more and more nervous. The plan is to breastfeed but if it doesn't work, I'm not going to be forcing myself to do it so please no breast is best comments! There is such a debate around what people do with their own bodies and I think that, that more than anything is what makes me nervous. Over time I've had a number of thoughts about it so naturally they all went into a post...
1. How is my nipple going to fit in his tiny mouth? My nipples are huge at the moment, well everything feels huge but I do wonder whether my nipples are going to be too big.
2. What happens first? I have thought this so many times but I'm determined to have skin to skin and get him feeding as soon as possible at the very beginning.
3. Will anyone actually help me? You've probably read about my antenatal care gripes but what I'm worried about the most is will anyone actually have the time to help me? All I keep getting faced with is understaffed and overstretched midwives so I'm not surprised I feel this way.
4. How painful is it when my milk comes in? When asking about this I'm usually met with OW and then that's it, I can't imagine it'll be easy but no one seems to have anything good to say.
5. What if he's not getting enough milk? How will I know? I assume he'll just scream the house down but if I can't keep up supply, at what point do I give up. I want to really give it a go but I also don't want him to go hungry.
6. Why is it so difficult to find Lanolin free nipple creams? Your girl here is allergic and this has been my biggest challenge so far, one I STILL haven't been able to find. HELP!
7. What if I just don't like it? This is something I've thought of a lot, what if I just hate it. Does that make me selfish? Do I just suck it up and get on with it?
8. When can I start expressing? This seems to be a biggy and one that so many different people have answers to or rather opinions on. Some say three weeks, others say six weeks and I'm beyond confused. What advice do I listen to or do I just do what I think is best?
9. Do I have to hold the pumps the whole time? This is something I've wondered a lot, I assume you have to hold them in place or are there bands that do this for you? I need to find this out soon.
10. What does this breast pump do? I have the Medela Swing Maxi double pump and after taking it out of the box I was hit with, omg how does work?! Putting it together was really simple and after reading review upon review since, I think I'm more confident with it. Thankfully Medela have a really helpful team if I do get stuck with what I'm doing.
What thoughts did you have about breastfeeding? Any helpful comments would be very much appreciated.
6. Why is it so difficult to find Lanolin free nipple creams? Your girl here is allergic and this has been my biggest challenge so far, one I STILL haven't been able to find. HELP!
7. What if I just don't like it? This is something I've thought of a lot, what if I just hate it. Does that make me selfish? Do I just suck it up and get on with it?
8. When can I start expressing? This seems to be a biggy and one that so many different people have answers to or rather opinions on. Some say three weeks, others say six weeks and I'm beyond confused. What advice do I listen to or do I just do what I think is best?
9. Do I have to hold the pumps the whole time? This is something I've wondered a lot, I assume you have to hold them in place or are there bands that do this for you? I need to find this out soon.
10. What does this breast pump do? I have the Medela Swing Maxi double pump and after taking it out of the box I was hit with, omg how does work?! Putting it together was really simple and after reading review upon review since, I think I'm more confident with it. Thankfully Medela have a really helpful team if I do get stuck with what I'm doing.
What thoughts did you have about breastfeeding? Any helpful comments would be very much appreciated.
The Medela Swing Breastpump has been kindly sent to me for review purposes - see disclaimer.