so this is probably going to be the first of many questions with this bub

with the other two, my bf failed. with bel it was because the milk just didnt come in and i didnt have any support or even a good dr, so knew nothing and just seemed to get no support whatsoever
with liam, he had bsl problems due to my gd, so was fed a high calorie formula in hospital to get his bsls stable, which meant that he wasnt feeding properly when we got home, and it was nearly two weeks before he had his tongue tie fixed. i was on the maxalon (sp) for three doses as well as other meds and it did nothing, he was loosing weight fast and i was told that he had to be formula fed or they would take him back to hospital.

so that is my background with bf. with this pregnancy, from about 16wks i was getting pain in my boobs and from about 20wks i have had leaking. now, in the last week, it gets really painful, like they are bursting and they are rock hard, and the only way to get rid of the pain is to hand express about up to 5ml each side, otherwise just breathing hurts. so is this a good thing? or should i just be putting up with the pain and not hand expressing anything? is it normal in the 3rd pregnancy to have this happen, especially if bf failed both times before? with both as well, i have expressed as much as i could up until about 6-8wks, so they were fed ebm as well as formula

if you managed to read all of that, do you have any advice? i have checked out the aba, but cant find an answer, so hope you ladies can shed some light on it. just dont want to be causing any premature birth, that is my main concern, coz thats all the info i can find on the net, is that it causes premmies

hey nic :)

bfing can be different for all babies, just like all pregnancies and births and babies are different, your body can react differently each time.

i was leaking from abouty 25 weeks with my first baby ans well, went on to bf for a fairly long time. so i would definitely say that leaking now is a good sign! as for expressing- do whats comfortable for you. if its only a small amount it should be fine, but remem,ber that prolonged continued nipple stimulation can bring on contractions so you should try to only do it for small amounts of time, but enough for you to relieve the pressue/discomfort or pain will probably be harmless. it wont *cause* premmie babies, unless you like sat there for an hour or more expressing iygwim. 5 mins or so at a time wont do you any harm.

as for milk coming in- well, we successfully bf with all the girls. but that said, it felt like it took a lot longer with dd3 for my milk to come in. i had her friday night, and my milk didnt come in til monday night- i went home tuesday with her. but it felt like it was sooner with zoe, i had zoe thursday arvo and my milk was in by saturday morning, and well with rhianna i was still bfing zoe at birth so my milk just changed to colostrum for about half a day then it was milk again by 24 hours after birth, and lots of it. i'd be looking at milk increasing foods you can have as often these things can actually help a lot more than medications can. maybe look at making lactation cookies before the birth and packing them in your hospital bag if you get a chance, or having them stored and getting DH to bring them in when you have bubba

brooklyn, was also my only baby to actually lose weight before we left hospital while being BF. she lost about 100grams i think it was, so i panicked, but even still those first few days of colostrum were good for her and eventually the constant feeding made the milk come in and continuing helped my supply keep up.

i think though with you having milk oproduction, you might have it a little better this time around. it can take up to a week for your milk to come in after birth, some babies do lose a little weight in this time but mostly they told me my baby wont starve and didnt need anything else (my baby was healthy though, had no bsl etc issues so for other things it might not be as ok) just to keep feeding as the colostrum would keep oming til the milk did. i really hope things go smoothly, i would check out and see if there are any LC's around as sometimes they are the people who do birthing classes, so you might be able to find if they will be around when you are due or at the hospital often so you can call on them for help if you need it.

I expressed pre-natally while pregnant with Coop and froze down the expressed colostrum in syringes. Do you have a history of prem labour? If not, I don't think expressing now will do you any harm.
I *think* it's the nipple stimulation that they say can cause prem labour but from what I understand you need to be pretty much be sitting there all day twiddling your nipples for it to actually occur!! (if I am incorrect someone please correct me!!) Cole was prem so while pregnant with Coop I only started expressing at 36 weeks.

As for the pain, I have no idea sorry! You could try ringing the ABA as Raff suggested and having a chat to them. They are really helpful :)

Nic I think you need to stimulate your nipples A LOT to trigger labour, so expressing is fine. I think that the breastfeeding clinic at KEMH is the best place to start, I'll be heading straight there if I have any questions this time.

Try and get to an ABA meeting down your way, it's great to chat to the other ladies. The ABA also run breastfeeding classes so that's something to consider too.

Every pregnancy is different, with DD I was bursting with colostrum, and used to wake up with wet patches. This pregnancy I've had no leaking at all so far though.