Does anyone have a good site/advice for breastfeeding?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi

I have decided to breastfeed my newborn. I dont know anyone friends, family, or peers that have breastfeed their child. I'm in the dark here. To make matters worse the hospital i went to didnt have a lactation consultant. I would like help finding places, websites, even personal experiences with people to help me with my process. I have been having some minor issues that i want answered because i cant stand to wait another two days before seeing my doctor. If you have any ideas please place it here or if you personally breastfeed and can help me, please feel free to email me.

Specializes in chemical dependency detox/psych.

LLL is good. I also liked kellymom and BREASTFEEDING

La Leche League is an amazing tool for successful nursing relationships. If you go to the website, you will find when the next meeting for your area is. But, my group only meets once a month, and there are no others anywhere near us. If you find that true for your area too, you probably will get a LOT of phone numbers listed for leaders. Most leaders are happy to help over the phone, and SOME will make house calls---free of cost---to help you in person. One of our leaders won't go to homes, but will meet in public places. Our local Maceys has a seperate "sitting room" by the dressing rooms, and she uses that quite often. Sometimes you read things, that you think make sense, but when you try to apply them, you have no clue. This is when the voice--in person or on the phone--helps.

I am not sure how old your baby is, but I just had my first plugged duct. I couldn't figure out how to get his chin in the proper position, so I laid him on his back, and got on all fours and rotated around him until it cleared. He was much older, but the point is that sometimes to have to get creative. Maybe you can side lay in bed, but reverse, and have babies feet go up by your head. If you have a removable shower head, let that run on your breast, directly on the "hot spot" if you can pinpoint it.

Just call a leader, and keep us updated!

Congratulations on your baby! Some great reading material for you La Leche League's "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" is an awesome resource. Also, I love all of the Sears books. Their "The Breastfeeding Book" is great. So is their "The Baby Book." You can get all of them at your local library or order them from amazon. Breastfeeding is wonderful! Best wishes to you and your baby.

Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, LTC.

I also suggest kellymom.com

Mothering.com is a forum on natural parenting. There is a LOT of help there for breastfeeding!

Specializes in Acute Rehab, IMCU, ED, med-surg.

"The Nursing Mother's Companion" by Kathleen Huggins totally saved my sanity when I was having trouble feeding our first. . .Amazon has it, or you may be able to find it locally at a book store. I had a consult with the hospital lactation consultant, but for some reason, this book helped me put it all together. My son had been keeping his tongue on the roof of his mouth, and that was why nothing was going in. Stick with it, it's worth it!:redbeathe

Specializes in maternal child, public/community health.

La Leche leaders are very well trained and you should be able to get contact info and at least talk to someone and perhaps meet with them in person. You need to get the milk out but when you get over full it can be difficult. Having someone who can talk you through it will help a lot. Sometimes a hot shower, etc don't work and you need someone with a lot of experience to help you continue to troubleshoot until you get it solved. If you have signs of mastitis (fever, red area on breast, and feeling like you have the flu), you need to see your doctor but in most cases a lactation consultant or LLL leader know more about breastfeeding.

It IS worth sticking with it. The first couple weeks can be a challenge but you can do it. Breastfeeding is best for you and your baby. Eventually, it does get way easier. Congrats on your new little one!

I breastfed two babies and got a lot of clogged ducts with the first which it sounds like you may have. It definitely makes sense though to go to the doctor and find a lacatation specialist that can actuallly look at you and see what is going on. For clogged ducts a baby nursing is a lot better than the pump-although sometimes I would pump the problem breast while the baby nursed on the other breast because it helps the milk flow. Then massage around. After awhile you can discover which parts of your breast flow out of which ducts, notice where any hard spots are and sometimes see a white spot on the nipple where it is clogged. To avoid them in the future I learned to nurse baby on one side until it was completely soft, burp baby, then offer the other side. Often mine weren't at all interested in the other side but regardless of how long they nurse on the second side-offer the second side first at the next feeding and do the same thing-feed off that breast until it is totally drained. Alternating breasts (every 10 minutes or so) works when you don't seem to have enough milk because it keeps stimulating them, but when you've got plenty and you're not getting them adequately drained it doesn't make sense to encourage over production. Also don't wear tight fitting or underwire bras and don't let yourself get too run down-these things all contributed to clogged ducts for me with the first baby. Also I wasn't real comfortable nursing in public so I'd find myself nursing in uncomfortable places like in a changing room, cramped in the car or even a bathroom stall-none of which helps with relaxing and getting the breast drained real well. It was better for me to hold off on those kind of outings until the nursing had become well established. Anyway, I hope you get some advice that helps and stick with it because it can be so wonderful when it's going well.

@momof3

You give great advice, and express it very well. Do you work post partum or lactation? If not, maybe you should consider it.

Specializes in chemical dependency detox/psych.
"The Nursing Mother's Companion" by Kathleen Huggins totally saved my sanity when I was having trouble feeding our first. . .Amazon has it, or you may be able to find it locally at a book store. I had a consult with the hospital lactation consultant, but for some reason, this book helped me put it all together. My son had been keeping his tongue on the roof of his mouth, and that was why nothing was going in. Stick with it, it's worth it!:redbeathe

I just had to comment that that book is wonderful! It saved my sanity, too. :)

Specializes in CVSICU, Cardiac Cath Lab.

You've gotten great advice so far. I just want to add some encouragement-- once you and your little one have your routine down, it is the easiest thing ever. Congrats!

thanks everyone for the wonderful advice. i just gave birth last friday and it has been difficult but i will stick with it. i have looked and read the websites suggested by all of the commentors.

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