I've been thinking about this one for a while now, and wonder what others thoughts are on this.

I had planned to nurse Josh, went to a class on it, bought nursing bras and a Boppy, etc. When he was born, he just would not stay latched. We left the hospital and he still was not doing well with it. The Ped helped and he did well in the office, but poorly at home. He was losing too much of his birth weight, so I started pumping and eventually moved to formula.

I see the other b/f-ing Moms out there, and sometimes wish I would have stuck with it. I was SO tired and Josh was screaming all the time, so I just gave up.

We'd like to have another child in the next few years, and I think that I'd try it again, maybe get more help from a Lactation expert. But, I think it's also a case of big boobs, small nipples. (TMI?)

So, for those of you who have tried it or not...would you try again? Any succeess stories out there?

I would definitly try it again Miori.

I nursed Jonathan for just a short time too as it was just not working out at all, he was constantly screaming and wanting to nurse and I just didn't have the energy and wasn't feeling well at all.

Than came Owen and I knew I wanted to try it again, I was suprised that with all his issues with reflux that it was such a success. I nursed him for 14months and I'm glad that I did give it a try.

Remember that every child is different and you might have no problems at all with the second one. If there are any problems you can definitly get some help from a lactation expert.

Miori, I'm almost in the same exact boat as you. Aubrey did OK in the hospital, but horrible at home. By the 2nd or 3rd day home, I was pumping (I can barely even remember breastfeeding at home). That lasted about a month or so, I felt like all I was doing all day long was either pumping or feeding Aubrey. People would come to visit and I always had to run and hide to pump in the bedroom as I would try to pump after Aubrey ate to keep up a good supply and be on her schedule. I was so sad when I switched to formula, I remember crying for a couple of days just thinking about it before I actually did the switch.

Anywhooooo...I too, think about it all the time. I think I would def give it another shot. I too am bigger "up top" and felt like I was suffocating the poor kid. She was probaby scared to death, LOL.

Unfortunately, I don't have a success story for you, but I DID try again with Michael even though I could never get Jack to latch on properly. I kept trying to nurse Jack (the pain was awful) and pumped for 3 weeks until my doctor deemed that EVERYONE was too miserable for me to continue. I had also worked with lactation consultants in the hospital and called the lactation department multiples time from home, to no avail.

Michael couldn't latch on properly either, but he also couldn't keep my breastmilk down (pyloric stenosis and I think it was too thin). So after 3 days, I stopped because my doctor said to go with formula. I've often wondered if I would have been able to pump and give it to him after his PS was rectified by the surgery, but then he had the whole infection saga, blah blah blah. So for whatever reason, I apparently just wasn't *meant* to nurse my boys. :sad5:

However, I also had a problem with overproduction both times. I was constantly engorged and SOAKED because I leaked practically non-stop! So I also think they had trouble latching on/getting milk because there was too much pressure behind the boob. I think I even got a minor case of mastitis with Jack because I remember my breasts feeling like they were on fire internally and to the touch.

But I STILL tried again! ;-)

And you should probably also know that I was the biggest "BF-phobe" prior to having kids. It just seemed "creepy" to me...until my guys were born and that maternal instinct kicked in! So then I was REALLY disappointed that I couldn't BF after having gotten over my "issues" about it and being excited to do it for them!

YES definately!! I have a success story for you!!

with my firstborn, Jonah breastfeeding was a nightmare, whether this was due to the horrific birth/ceasarian experience and the 10 ton boobs i don't know, but he couldn't latch properly and would suck so hard and tore me apart literally. i only lasted 2 weeks. Then with Hannah, the same thing happened and i was so emotionally scarred from the first experience that i switched after about 5 weeks. i couldn't stand the pain anymore.

When Naomi was born i vowed to try again and as she wasn't really feeding well at the beginning i think it gave my nipples time to adjust and she was a light sucker and so she did ok. i used a nipple shield for her to latch to as i have flat nipples but eventually she did just fine with me and is still breastfeeding at 14months. I really love it. I don't really want to stop but might soon due to a few reasons but i am glad i stuck at it this time.

When Naomi was born i vowed to try again and as she wasn't really feeding well at the beginning i think it gave my nipples time to adjust and she was a light sucker and so she did ok. i used a nipple shield for her to latch to as i have flat nipples but eventually she did just fine with me and is still breastfeeding at 14months. I really love it. I don't really want to stop but might soon due to a few reasons but i am glad i stuck at it this time.

A friend of mine had success with the nipple shields too. I recall buying one, but I think I was so exhausted that I never tried. :sad5: That does give me good inspiration to try it again. :)

Feeding ELliot was a nightmare, he was extremely unwell as a newborn and so we really struggled, eventually we both came out the other side and I ended up feeding him past a year.

Lilia was better, I was more confident in getting the latch right. Dominic was even better, didn't even get sore nipples. Unfortunately the boy would starve to death if left to his own devices hence the tube feeding.

p.s. Big boobs and little nipples can make it harder, but there are ways of feeding to get around it, and the longer you do it the more pulled out your nipples become which makes it easier!

I have a success story for you. In fact I was nursing Emma while I read this.

Sebastian was a good latcher in the hospital in fact all he wanted to do was nurse. I finally had to give him a bottle cuz he was so hugry and it was just not cutting it for him. He was eating every half hour and my nipples were killing me.

When my milk came in it was too much for him, he would take one suck and then pull off and scream (the reflux did not help I am sure) I pumped for a month and fed him from a bottle, and I finally gave up when we figured out he had MSPI. It is just too much to do the diet when he was not even nursing anyway.

Emma has done great. She did have some problems with my fast letdown, but never enough to make her not nurse. It was a pain the first few weeks, but now it makes things so much easier. I have enough to worry about with packing foods that Sebastian can eat. It is so nice being able to leave the house and know that all I need are diapers for Emma.

It is also great that I don't have to drag Sebastian in from outside to make the baby a bottle. We don't get out much so I still have not tried nursing in public, but I bought a cute nursing shawl, that is light weight and covers everything.

If you want to do it, I think you should try. Just don't get too disapointed, or blame yourself, if it does not work out again.

I nursed my first and am now nursing corban. I would say to give it a try and you definatly have the right idea about making sure you have the help you need. I would also suggest contacting the laleche league as they will help you for free and probably have much more time for you as lactation consultants are often booked to the hilt. As for the big boobs, its just takes practice. my letdown was so fast and forceful with ian, milk came out of his nose on a regular basis. But we eventually both got the hang of it. Good luck when the time comes.

[quote][I felt like all I was doing all day long was either pumping or feeding Aubrey. People would come to visit and I always had to run and hide to pump in the bedroom as I would try to pump after Aubrey ate to keep up a good supply and be on her schedule. /QUOTE]

LOL...Steph had the same problem......not the to big boobs, the constant pumping to keep a supply up...I remember going to her house one day and when I walked in she was sitting at the kitchen table crying as her dual breast pump was pluggin away (like a cow in the barn)....it was so sad we had to laugh. I have spoke with her about this too, and she says she would definitely try again as she feels they didn't get a fare shake at it.

Oh and if you get involved with Laleeche(sp?) they disapprove of nipple shields and say they can get your child to breast feed no matter what???

another successs story for you....

Like Ashley and Katey, I have a super-fast and forceful letdown, which caused us lots of problems early on. Of course, I didn't know Roman had reflux for the first few months either, and I know now that a lot of his problems were reflux-related. I found the lactation consultant's at my local hospital to be useless. In spite of our trouble, I kept trying with the bfing. Thankfully Roman wasn't ready to give up either and we eventually got through it. Once on Prevacid, breastfeeding became a total breeze. Plus, Roman was older and more coordinated at sucking, and my milk supply had leveled some too. It's actually a really good thing we kept breastfeeding, otherwise I think Roman might have become FTT, since he refused to take a bottle or eat any solids until about a month ago! Anyway, there are definitely inconveniences and hardships associated with bfing, but I would absolutely recommend trying it again. Especially since next time you'll recognize any reflux probs earlier on, which could make bfing easier?!

Miori, I tried to breastfeed each one of my kids. The only one that succesfully latched was Desi(with the help of a nipple guard). I never gave up on trying until I knew it wasn't going to work out. If I were to have another I would try to breastfeed again. I would say go for it and try again.

I would try again if I had a singleton baby. I had a rough time as well, I tried the pumping route as I was convinced I would never get my low birthweight babies to latch on as they had a lot of difficulty latching to a bottle nipple in the hospital, when they were discharged it said "poor feeders" on their papers. They were doing better by the time they were discharged but we had to take them for weight checks every week. It was a very stressful time and trying to pump, feed, recover from a c-section w/complications resulting in anemia just made it all that much harder. I had major overproduction and it resulted in mastisis, extremely painful. So after 3 weeks I called the home health agency and told them to pick up the pump I had rented. It was a good decision for me at the time. I just wasn't myself and the major loss of sleep excacerbated by having to pump every 4 hours and feed babies every 3-4 hours (which took about 45 minutes to feed) was just too much.

But I would definitely try again. I think my situation was complicated by being a new mom w/twins and if I could have afforded an overnight baby nurse that might have helped but I couldn't. I know people that have done it (nursed their twins) but I just couldn't keep up. I still feel a little guilty about it to this day and when the boys' reflux started up at 6 and 8 weeks I really regretted stopping b/c I had read so much about BF'ing helping reflux. Now I know that in our case that probably wouldn't have made a difference.