Gem, I breastfed both of my girls for their first year of life ( a little longer than a year actually) and I loved it. I do have to say though that although I know there are a few differant issues that may impeed on nursing for the first little bit, I truely believe that whatever kind of birth experience you have, you can have a successful breastfeeding relationship. When my first one was born she had to go to the NICU for 2 days because she has a mild form of Spina Bifida, anyways I could not breastfeed very often in that timeframe. They gave her bottles and I was really worried because I had read the Womanly art of breastfeeding and with that knowledge I was sure she was never going to be able to breastfeed. They also had given her a pacifier in the NICU, so needless to say I was a wreck, not only was my baby in the NICU but now I had it in my head that there was no way I was going to be able to breastfeed. Well she got out and we had a great time of it she latched on right away and everything was perfect from there on out.
With my second one I had an easy birth expeirence and she was layed right on my chest and we had a much rougher time with the begining of feeding. I even had a nurse that was trained by the La Leche league tell me I was doing it all wrong and there was no way she was getting any milk. DH finally asked this nurse how long she has breastfed and come to find out she didnt have any kids yet so all she was telling me came from a book. DD #2 was nursing like a champ by day 2 or 3

I guess this whole post is to say that even in the worst of birth expeirences you can have a great breastfeeding relationship and it makes me nervous when I hear people tell woman that the birth expeirence and the breastfeeding one are closely tied together because it gives a lot of woman a huge mental block that can be really hard to overcome. I had a girlfriend whose daughter spent time in the NICU because she inhaled meconium and my friend was such a wreck she never even tried nursing because she was sure it wouldnt work.

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