FEEDING YOUR BABY
What women say
"To be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to breastfeeding my baby, but as an ex-nurse I knew it was the definitely the best start I could give and also the cheapest."
"I had planned to bottle feed, but she wouldn't take a bottle, so my cousin suggested I try breastfeeding. One of the midwives came to help me. She was great. She helped me to get comfortable: I had a lot of stitches and had been very uncomfy when bottle-feeding. Melanie fed beautifully at once. She took to it like a duck to water."
"I just thought I'd be able to do it - no problem - but it was hard at the beginning with my first baby. My nipples didn't stick out enough and she couldn't get a grip. Her little mouth kept sliding off and then she'd scream - with milk spraying all over her face! I'm glad I persevered because there's nothing like feeding a hungry baby yourself and watching her grow bigger. It's just so satisfying."
"Soon after my partner and I discovered I was pregnant, we discussed how we would feed the baby and I was encouraged to hear that he was strongly in favour of my breastfeeding. I would have been far less enthusiastic if he had been indifferent."
"I felt totally unprepared for breastfeeding. Most books I looked at were illustrated with soft-focus photographs of a naked mother and child. Although problems like cracked nipples, and an inadequate milk supply were listed, the heartache and pain associated with these were never described. A breastfeeding counsellor gave me so much help."
Topics In This Article:
- Bottle feeding for breastfed babies
- Mixing breast and bottle
- Established breastfeeding
- Weight gain/growth
- Understanding centile charts
- Expressing and storing breastmilk
- What women say
- How breastfeeding works
- How to get your baby to 'latch on'
- Feeding positions
- Help with breastfeeding (including feeding twins)
- Breastfeeding problems
- Bottle feeding: sterilising and making up a bottle
- Back to Introduction