I was refused any help in hospital with a jaundiced and sleepy baby post em cs. They just offered formula repeatedly. The woman who changed the beds heard me crying and came and sat with me. She was a Mum and came back several times that day to help me feed dd. I owe her my breastfeeding relationship with dd.

I found mw a pain also when ds was attached they would come over tell me I am doing it wrong because too much nipple is showing so they would pull boob out of ds mouth and then put it in so that the attachment was text book.

But due to my large nipples he would choke they would try a second time and then give up and tell me they wouldn't let me home until they had seen me do it properly.

In the end I attached him the way they wanted to even though it was agony and smiled and said no pain when I took him off I had a big red welt but they let me home where everything was great. Considering my attachment was so wrong I fed him for 21/2 years without many problems.

I definitely found the hv and family more supportive as in while I was stuck to settee they brought me things and entertained me.

Just had DC3 and the hospital seems to have improved since DC1 and 2 6 and 5 years ago. I have been lucky with 3 good feeders but I noticed a lot more support for 1st time mums this time. The midwives are busy, but there were more HCAs and nursery nurses, and even 1 of the domestics was like having a helpful aunt / granny starting by making encouraging comments, then I saw her sitting with someone offering a bit of advice.

I think it would be great if any member of staff who has bf or wants to support bf could be trained on hospital policy and could then help rather than everything being left to a small number of midwives who have so many other things to do too,

Brilliant thread, I want to bf dc2 who is due in January. I ff dd as that is what I wanted to do but this time I really want to try bf.

If any midwife grabs my boob and shoves it in dc2's mouth they will be shouted at!! I am hoping to do research and ask people before hand about how they did it. I want as little help as possible.

I must say that when I had dd my choice to ff wasnt questioned once and the midwives happily bought me in as much SMA as we needed - I wonder how helpful they would have been if I had been breast feeding...

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences! x

I had very good support in the hospital and was happy with that. I did not want to be discharged early-hadn't been feeling so good myself in either pregnancy, so felt I needed support.

There were problems- dd was not very well- but hospital was dedicated to overcoming them.

Things did go bad after we got home- again, not due to lack of support, midwives and HVs ere excellent, but because of dd's genetic condition, which we did not know about at the time.

Also, had support from hospital breastfeeding counsellor (at home and after we got admitted to hospital for failure to thrive)- again, very good and helpful.

Have to say, they were all very good, and I couldn't put one lot over the other.

My first experience was horrendous. My DS was a ventouse delivery and barely latched on yet my notes say that he was feeding well. We were not allowed to leave hospital until he was given formula for jaundice and were told to top up all feeds with formula. My milk didn't come in for 6 days and by day 8 he was FF.

My DD in contrast latched on immediately, fed well and the midwives left us to it and we went home 10 hours later with no mention of formula but most of that was due to research I had done when pregnant and I went in armed with info that if she needed any artificial feeding it was only to be with consent from me and had to be via a tube.

This time I am having a private delivery and am planning on spending 2 days in hospital in my own room doing nothing but feeding and I have chosen a midwife with good BF experience so am confident that my wishes will be supported.

With DC3 we actually stayed in hospital 5 days after his birth due to him having an infection.

I must admit I found him the easiest of the three to establish bf with. I think it was because all I had to focus on while in hospital was feeding him. Help was there if I needed it but I did have to be assertive about them giving him formula.

Because he had an infection he was too drowsy to be awake enough to latch on so initally they gave him a bottle (it had been several hours since his birth and his blood sugars were dropping quickly). A few hours later they appeared again with another bottle - I had to tell them I didn't want him to have it as I was going to bf. So they then gave him a feeding tube until the anti-biotics kicked in and I could get him to latch on.

Other times I would say the amount of support was about the same in and out of hospital. Not much in either place really ime. I just worked it out for myself! With a bit of help on the phone from NCT/Le Leche League.

I wasnt pushed into FF'ing by the mw's-quite the contrary. I had support in hospital and at home and still struggled. Being at home was better though as my sofa was comfier

DD1 was a CS as she was undiagnosed breech. She was latched on by the tried and tested 'grab mums boob and babies head and shove together' routine. I was also offered formula to keep her quiet as she was keeping the other mothers awake (all ffing)
I heard one mother gently persuaded into giving up bfing as it was 2am and her stitches hurt, the MW kept offering formula until she gave in.
Was very difficult and stressful but I managed to feed ehr for a year, mainly due to me being stubborn in the hospital as I had no practical support at all.

DD2 was natural birth, born onto the bed and I was the only one to touch her for the first 10 minutes. Immediate skin to skin, immediate feeding and I fed her for 20 months with no issues. I didn't ask for or need any advice as I knew I couldn't depend on having it.