h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: A Guide to Breastfeeding - A3462130
Author: Miloso - U224935

At this point, this is just a centre for discussion; there is nothing of "Entry value" on the page. It is a list of subjects that might be included in an Edited Entry on Breastfeeding.

Discussion can take place here or on the page itself, if you'd like to join the discussions please be sure to subscribe to the page (not just this conversation).

Thanks in advance for all contributions!

Okaaayyy let's get this rumbling people!
admittedly I have NO reason to talk about breastfeeding. It's not something I've done or ever plan to do...but I'm interested.

Breastfeeding...why do it...
well many women feel that having babies is the ultimate thing that they can do in the world. Continuing the human race is the ultimate thing. And so breastfeeding automatically follows on from this and makes them feel as if they are fulfilling the purpose they have been given. Which is often why so many women get upset when they have difficulties with breastfeeding, they feel like a failure.
Also they say that breast feeding gives the baby some of your bacteria and therefore helps them to develop their immune system...and erm they say that they can get a taste for your food...so if you eat a lot of curry and breastfeed then your baby is supposed to grow up to like curry. I don't know how real that is though.

Umm...okay that's my start off, now everyone else with much more know-how can carry on now that I have started us off.

wow, that was quick!
well, first I guess I have to lay out my credentials for speaking on the subject: my children are now 6 and 8 and I bf the first for 11 months (6 months she lived exclusively on breastmilk) until I got pg with #2 who I then bf for around 17 months (again, 6 months exclusively)

I'm very keen on bf but not an overly fanatical evangelist. But one subject that we could cover is something I could have done with when I wanted to stop bf #2 at around 12 months was: how to stop doing it!

right, I'm off to ponder - I'll be back!

One very very good reason to do it is because some children have problems with cows milk. I introduced a powdered milk bottle in the middle of the night so that my son's father could help out at 6 weeks (I was shattered and just couldn't do it any more) and I've never regretted anything more. Why didn't I just express milk for those feeds? Laziness, that's all. My son couldn't have any milk at all for the next 9 years, and at the time spent 6 months projectile vomiting while the doctor tried ineptly to work out what was wrong.

So that's a bloody good reason. Not smelling of sick all the time.

so that's a fairly good reason for a prominent section on expressing and involving the partner I'd guess

(also for pushing my pet tactic, which I know is Deeply Frowned Upon in the UK, of letting the baby sleep in bed with the mum. I did that with #2 and she acted as though the self-service-milk-bar was open all night)

Kat, I'm curious... do you never expect to breastfeed because you choose not to have children, or would you not breastfeed eve if you did? If it's the latter, why?

Oh well I'm gay so if I had kids I would choose to adopt rather than do fiddly expensive fertilisation things. Therefore wouldn't be doing any breastfeeding. However if I DID have a baby then I would breastfeed.

When I was a baby I was allowed to sleep in my parents' bed and it never did me any harm.

Excuse me Kat, I'm not answering your question, rather a question from the Entry.


IMO whether or not to breastfeed is a personal choice. I chose not to breastfeed my son for the pure convenience of being able to bottle feed him at anytime, anywhere. (Providing I'd made up the bottles, and had one with me )

I'll admit that was probably selfish of me, but bottle milk (formula) has done him no harm. He's 17 now, and apart from chicken pox which nearly all children get, he's hardly had a day of illness.

He must've been satisfied with the bottled milk, he slept through the night from around two and a halve months.

Emmily

simul-post I made a cup of hot chocolate in between clicking 'Reply' and 'Post Message'

Emmily

*rolls eyes* i did wonder Is that hot choc made the proper way or with instant hot choc? Ohh actually maybe I'll make some too!

Anyway...

My friend is currently breastfeeding and is having problems with inverted nipples. Has anyone else had this problem? What have you done to solve it? Anyone had any other problems with breastfeeding?

Actually, it is possible to breastfeed if you adopt. I've never had a child, but have actually begun lactating twice in my life, just from being around hungry babies and pregnant women so much. Apparently for most women it takes a bit more work -- sometimes meds and/or pumping to get the letdown started -- but it can definitely happen.

Erm...thanks for that wonderful image.

If I adopted I'd adopt an older kid because babies tend to get snatched up quickly...unless they're annoying beasties I suppose and even then they are likely to go faster than your average 11 year old.
Anyway that's not to do with breastfeeding sorry

First things first -
This account and Miloso are the same person, in case I forget myself and post from the wrong account and don't appear to be making sense. (Too late?)

My oldest child is nine, I'm due with my second in April. I breastfed my first exclusively for the first six months when I spontaneously stopped producing milk and switched him to powdered formula. As for childhood illnesses, he's had Chicken Pox (despite the vaccination) and Scarlet fever, both since school age. He has a lot of environmental allergies (but no food allergies) and a touch of asthma, the latter I contribute to having smoked during my pregnancy and his infancy. I quit smoking 4 years ago.

I fully intend to breastfeed my new baby for *at least* the first 6 months, although this time I will be returning to work after two months.

With the first one I tried bringing baby to bed with me to nurse, but was afraid I'd fall asleep and smother him. In the end it was much more comfortable for me to just get up and nap in the recliner while he fed.

As for the taking the baby to bed with you and smothering it...my sisters in law in the UK were so horrified that I did that they were almost begging by not to "let me do it" because two prominant cases of a baby being smothered had been all over their local papers.

turns out that in both cases the parents were blind drunk. Apparently it's normal in Japan and Korea (my colleagues are mostly Korean and I asked around and they all take their kids to bed with them until they stop bf) and it is very rare indeed that a parent smothers a baby by accident.

But I guess each parent has to work out what's best for them. I didn't do it with Gruesome #1 because she was a really sound sleeper, and from about 6 weeks went for a 6 hour night time stretch. (bliss!)

she was 19 months when #2 came along, and I was so tired, and #2 was a very wakeful (nocturnal) baby, so in self preservation I tried it, it was great. Only you have to experiment with different positions, or else they feed only from one side.

I have one child, my first. She's 10 weeks old today. I wanted to breastfeed exclusively because of the health benefits for myself and the baby - reduced risk of cancers for me and reduced risk of asthma and other illness for her. I thought I was getting her to latch on properly but after a visit from the lactation consultant found out differently. I have one nipple that wants to invert when suction is applied and one that tries to stay flat. I started pumping to get my milk supply going and we let Peanut have formula for the first few days of her life. After my milk came in, it was very convenient to pump when I needed to and then feed her a bottle when she needed to eat. We've also supplemented with formula as needed. The convenience works for both of us and she still gets food made specifically for her needs.

Forgot to include the full list of problems I've had while breastfeeding:

1 inverted nipple, 1 flat
blisters (hurray for lanolin!)
cracks (ditto)
mastitis (antibiotics are good)
low milk supply (remedied by Reglan)

I had severe mastitis both times - too much milk and only the one baby, apparently!

I found that when it was at the early stages I could catch it by putting cold cabbage leaves down my bra... Quark on the affected parts... massage with oil and a hairdryer to keep it warm.

I'll put the details of the cures in the article, I think, when I get round to writing my bit.

I'll try to update the page over the weekend to include the things we're talking about

sorry, I've hardly been around, and finding time is difficult at the moment (kids party at the weekend, swiftly followed by Karneval)

But I'm thinking about this... will you put a message on the other one so that we can see when you've updated it?

Have just found this, and must have my say!

My only problem with breast feeding has been bad advice. AS my kids were born in 1981, 1983 and 1988, I hope that this doesn't happen so much now. I had them all in Germany, too, which is usually about 10 years behind Britain in this sort of thing. There is no National Childbirth Trust or equivalent in Germany. You're left on your own or you join a local, independant group.

Without wanting to go into my own details, as they would not be relevant to the article, I would advise

- avoiding any drugs during labour if possible. If you must have an epidural or anything, then make sure the drugs will leave your system very soon and will not get into the milk. I had a full anaesthetic for my first son, and was really groggy myself for at least 2 weeks afterwards, so I hate to think what it would have done to him, if I'd been allowed to breast feed him.

- Breast feeding is far more convenient, so if you are out and about a lot, don't bother with bottles. Believe me, I've done both, and bottles are far too much hassle. Please explain to me why bottles are "convenient"

- When the children are getting on for about 6 months, the only way to cope is to stack a pile of paperbacks next to the bed and go to bed with baby for most of the day. I did this with my 3rd one, and, to some extent with my second, too. Basically, I am very lazy.

- I have heard of inverted nipples and can imagine it is awkward. Sorry, though, I've had no personal experience. Aren't there special thingies you can get to wear over your nipples during pregnancy to prevent this? Don't they work?

- My doctor said I could have a drink of or while breast-feeding. I did that once, and littl'un slept so long all through the night and into the next morning that I was worried. This probably didn't do any harm in the long run, but you can't say it doesn't have any effect. Of course, if the baby's been depriving you of rest for a while, it might be an idea to resort to this method to get yourself a night's sleep. (postscript: that baby is now 21 and definitely not an alcoholic - if anything he's more of a wine connoisseur)

- Be very strict with yourself about what you eat. As a rule of thumb, if there are any foodstuffs that the child reacts unfavourably to (my youngest had trouble with bananas - screamed blue murder if I'd eaten one) the reaction is magnified rather than softened when he gets it through the mother's milk. So,while the effect of alcohol (above) is to make the child sleep for unduly long time, wind caused by onions or something similar will also affect him more than it would you.

- Don't hesitate to wake the child to feed him if you're bursting. This can be soooooo painful (there is no pain like it). If he's tired enough, he'll go back to sleep afterwards again.

- Don't give up. It takes six weeks (in words: SIX weeks) to get over the initial pain, and even then you can get cracked nipples, or mastitis. Stick at it. If it still hurts after a year, then you can think about cutting back.

- Let the child take what it wants. Only he knows how much he needs.

- As Mikey says, if you hear a baby cry, whether you are breast-feeding or not, it may be that you will feel a pull in your breasts, just as if milk is coming in. Even post-menopause or post-hysterectomy (although it's less often then) Even writing this, I can fell the nerves beginning to twitch. Perhaps I can do some wet nursing when I retire!