Should I try to breastfeed again?

Egan2012

Hi,
I'm looking for some help on breastfeeding, I am due baby number 6 in July and would love to try breastfeeding as I am certain this is my last baby. I bottle fed my 1st 3 kids as i was unsure how i felt on the whole breastfeeding issue. When i had my 4th baby, a boy, i decided to breastfeed him. I found it very sore but thought this was normal and carried on. I got to day number 4 when the pain was terrible, I was dreading feeding him and broke down, I ended up in the doctor on call as it was a Saturday evening and my GP was closed. The doctor advised me to stop the breastfeeding as he was going to give me pain killers for the sore breasts, also he told me go to my GP Monday. When i saw my GP on Monday she dioganosed me with mastitus and i had an infection gone rite into my breasts, they were both purple in colour and extremely heavy and the pain was so bad I stopped the feeding and he went onto bottles and i ended up on antibiotics and pain killers for 2 weeks. So when i had baby number 5 i just bottle fed him. I was so scared to take the chance of even trying to breastfeed and was happy with my decision but now I would love to try to breastfeed this baby but again I,m so scared that history will repeat itself and I will end up the same way as with baby number 4. Has anyone any view or experience on this? I would really appreciate any views that could help me make up my mind
regards,
Deborah.

LilMrsDahamsta

Egan2012 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm looking for some help on breastfeeding, I am due baby number 6 in July and would love to try breastfeeding as I am certain this is my last baby. I bottle fed my 1st 3 kids as i was unsure how i felt on the whole breastfeeding issue. When i had my 4th baby, a boy, i decided to breastfeed him. I found it very sore but thought this was normal and carried on. I got to day number 4 when the pain was terrible, I was dreading feeding him and broke down, I ended up in the doctor on call as it was a Saturday evening and my GP was closed. The doctor advised me to stop the breastfeeding as he was going to give me pain killers for the sore breasts, also he told me go to my GP Monday. When i saw my GP on Monday she dioganosed me with mastitus and i had an infection gone rite into my breasts, they were both purple in colour and extremely heavy and the pain was so bad I stopped the feeding and he went onto bottles and i ended up on antibiotics and pain killers for 2 weeks. So when i had baby number 5 i just bottle fed him. I was so scared to take the chance of even trying to breastfeed and was happy with my decision but now I would love to try to breastfeed this baby but again I,m so scared that history will repeat itself and I will end up the same way as with baby number 4. Has anyone any view or experience on this? I would really appreciate any views that could help me make up my mind
regards,
Deborah.

When I did the breastfeeding class before I had my lad, there was a lady there in a very similar situation to yourself. It was going to be her 5th and last child and she wanted to give it another go.

Nurse didn't see any reason it wouldn't be possible, but did warn about two particular, related, issues.
1. Frequency of bf needs to be much greater than formula feeding she was used to; every 2hrs, not every 4.
2. Bf is time consuming when you have other kids. You won't be able to hand the child off to siblings for feeding. Make sure the other kids understand about the time Mum has to spend with the new baba.

How Strange

Egan2012 wrote: »

Hi,
When i had my 4th baby, a boy, i decided to breastfeed him. I found it very sore but thought this was normal and carried on. I got to day number 4 when the pain was terrible, I was dreading feeding him and broke down, I ended up in the doctor on call as it was a Saturday evening and my GP was closed. The doctor advised me to stop the breastfeeding as he was going to give me pain killers for the sore breasts, also he told me go to my GP Monday. When i saw my GP on Monday she dioganosed me with mastitus and i had an infection gone rite into my breasts, they were both purple in colour and extremely heavy and the pain was so bad I stopped the feeding and he went onto bottles and i ended up on antibiotics and pain killers for 2 weeks.
Deborah.

I'm so sorry you received such appallingly bad medical advice and care. Your milk comes in on day 4 and it's a very difficult time even if you know what you're doing. The worst thing a gp could tell a new mother with engorgement is to stop feeding. Doing that will inevitably lead to mastitis. What he should've done was refer you to a lactation consultant or even looked up the la Leche league or ciudiu and got contact details for a local counsellor.

I was pretty much in the same position as you at that time; a bad latch so when my milk came in I was engorged and in pain so much so I cried as I fed him. I went back to the Coombe at day 6 with flu like symptoms and got antibiotics for mastitis. I never cried so much as I did that day. I felt like a total failure because I couldn't feed my baby.

The difference between you and me is I got excellent care from midwives and doctors who knew what they were talking about and I had friends and family who'd also breastfed who could support me. A phn friend had given me a la Leche league training manual and when I came home from hospital with mastitis I looked it up and it said to feed every hour for 12 hours or until symptoms decrease. I fed throughout the night and by the time the lactation consultant called the next morning I'd turned a corner and things had improved immensely. I got blocked ducts again at 11 weeks so from then on I was very aware of the signs but apart from that breastfeeding got easier and easier.

If you want to breastfeed then surround yourself with supportive people such as la Leche league or ciudiu counsellors. Find any breastfeeding meet-ups in your area and make contact with other mums because they'll be your lifeline on a tough day.

I don't really see how breastfeeding would be harder than bottle feeding even with a large family. Youll spend lots of time on the soda so the you get children can sit with you and you can read stories or play games together. To compensate for not doing his share of the feeding your husband can make dinners, do the washing, do some house work

It's your decision whether to breast or bottle feed but with the right support there's no reason why you can't breastfeed.

December2012

You should go to a la leche league meeting now while pregnant to establish your support structure. Proper advice a d support is so important in the first few days when you have previously been let down by medical practitioners.

Egan2012

How Strange wrote: »

I'm so sorry you received such appallingly bad medical advice and care. Your milk comes in on day 4 and it's a very difficult time even if you know what you're doing. The worst thing a gp could tell a new mother with engorgement is to stop feeding. Doing that will inevitably lead to mastitis. What he should've done was refer you to a lactation consultant or even looked up the la Leche league or ciudiu and got contact details for a local counsellor.

I was pretty much in the same position as you at that time; a bad latch so when my milk came in I was engorged and in pain so much so I cried as I fed him. I went back to the Coombe at day 6 with flu like symptoms and got antibiotics for mastitis. I never cried so much as I did that day. I felt like a total failure because I couldn't feed my baby.

The difference between you and me is I got excellent care from midwives and doctors who knew what they were talking about and I had friends and family who'd also breastfed who could support me. A phn friend had given me a la Leche league training manual and when I came home from hospital with mastitis I looked it up and it said to feed every hour for 12 hours or until symptoms decrease. I fed throughout the night and by the time the lactation consultant called the next morning I'd turned a corner and things had improved immensely. I got blocked ducts again at 11 weeks so from then on I was very aware of the signs but apart from that breastfeeding got easier and easier.

If you want to breastfeed then surround yourself with supportive people such as la Leche league or ciudiu counsellors. Find any breastfeeding meet-ups in your area and make contact with other mums because they'll be your lifeline on a tough day.

I don't really see how breastfeeding would be harder than bottle feeding even with a large family. Youll spend lots of time on the soda so the you get children can sit with you and you can read stories or play games together. To compensate for not doing his share of the feeding your husband can make dinners, do the washing, do some house work

It's your decision whether to breast or bottle feed but with the right support there's no reason why you can't breastfeed.

thank you so much for your advice i guess it makes sence now that just stopping the feeding suddenly was the wrong decision as i did get worse as that day went on and when it came to bed time i was in bits but i guess i did put all my faith and trust in the doctor i went to see i am going to go to a breastfeeding support group meeting and hopefully get support from other mums there too thank you again

Egan2012

December2012 wrote: »

You should go to a la leche league meeting now while pregnant to establish your support structure. Proper advice a d support is so important in the first few days when you have previously been let down by medical practitioners.

hi thanks for advice i have looked up my local support group and i am going to attend to seek more advice and have extra support for when the time comes

Egan2012

LilMrsDahamsta wrote: »

When I did the breastfeeding class before I had my lad, there was a lady there in a very similar situation to yourself. It was going to be her 5th and last child and she wanted to give it another go.

Nurse didn't see any reason it wouldn't be possible, but did warn about two particular, related, issues.
1. Frequency of bf needs to be much greater than formula feeding she was used to; every 2hrs, not every 4.
2. Bf is time consuming when you have other kids. You won't be able to hand the child off to siblings for feeding. Make sure the other kids understand about the time Mum has to spend with the new baba.

ya i am going to go to a meeting for support hopefully with the right help and support this time round it will be a success and a less painful one thanks for your advice and help:)