Breastfeeding issues!

I had the worse time at breastfeeding, but I stuck it out. Sometimes I think I was not in my right mind and maybe I should have quit...

My advice:

1). Do it, if you can.
2). If it stresses you out, stop
3). It gets easier. For me, it took awhile but at 3months, I felt like it was easier.
4). It's a learning process for mom and baby. Babies don't just have this instinct naturally, although you think they would. It takes time for them to learn. They do get faster at drinking the milk, but at first you will have to wake them a lot (more on that in another post).

I was stubborn, since I paid a lot of money for a breast pump, etc. I wanted to make it work.

Here I am at 10m6d and I'm still breastfeeding. I had to supplement from the start.

What works:
1) Feed on demand.
2) Feed every 2-3 hrs at first. It takes awhile for your supply to establish. Breasts work by supply/demand.
3) Drink a ton of water.
4) Eat good stuff.
5) Oatmeal
6) One beer right after BFing session - slam it. It helps increase supply...I'm not advocating getting drunk. ;)
7). Take blessed thistle and fenugreek at the same time (get the right amount by talking to your obgyn and/or a lactation consultant.
8). Get a lactation consultant. After talking to a ton of women on breastfeeding, most needed 'help'.
9) Reach out to other moms who have breastfed. I could never BF in public as my son is easily distracted. Some things won't work for you, but talking to people will help!

Even now, at 10m I still have to feed him every 3-4hrs usually. Babies have to eat a lot since they have a small stomach.

We had to supplement from the beginning and all the above items didn't work for me (100%). I had to take a drug to stimulate my brain to make more. It only helped slightly. Reglan is what I took and it didn't help me much. It can cause depression in some, so talk to a dr when taking this.

I frequent 'breastfeeding' forum on the bump.com. I talk to a lot of moms about breastfeeding and baby items. It's important to have someone to talk to - I know if I didn't ask people on a forum (A LOT), I would be clueless. This is where I get some/most of my breastfeeding advice. ;)

I'm passionate about breastfeeding, so look for more posts regarding the topic. I don't think formula is poison at all and I've had to supplement from the start. Some days I supplement ZERO oz, but sometimes he gets 6oz a day of formula.

Breastfeeding is the hardest thing that I've ever done, period. My original goal was 6-9 months, before I knew what I was getting into (had the baby). I'm so proud that I've surpassed my original goal! I hope to make it to 1 year - if all continues well.