If breastfeeding is important to your friend, I would tell her to not give up. It took me 6 weeks to get my baby to latch on properly. I had to supplement with pumping milk and bottle feeding it to him, but he is OK now. He was a preemie and was started on formula and pacifiers in the NICU without my permission. Even if the baby can't latch on, she can pump the milk from her breasts and bottle feed. You can get a manual pump for about $30. WIC will even pay to rent a hospital grade pump. Their is no substitution for breast milk. Formula is basically life support to keep a baby alive until they can eat solid food. Read the ingredients... you can't say most of them. That is not food. But, then again, I don't eat stuff I can't pronounce (unless it is ethnic food made with ingredients I can pronounce). Most people don't think about food and what it really is and don't mind giving their babies formula. Of course this is a personal choice, but if the desire is there to breast feed a baby, it will work out for them eventually. I had 6 weeks of very frustrating times, but my baby gets real food only nature can create.

My mom had a terrible experience with a clogged duct and had to have multiple procedures to clear it up. I remember her having gauze crammed in an incesion in her left breast. They left the end of the gauze dangling out like a sick candle wick of sorts so they could pull it out and change it untill the infection had cleared.....scary! I very clearly remember her picking a scab off of it once and having LITERALLY a gallon of puss come pouring out of it. It was off putting to say the least. Doodledoo, when I was taking childbirth classes the instructor was excellent, and really knew what she was doing. At the end of our last class she told us this, "Breastfeeding does not hurt if it's done properly. If the nurses tell you it hurts, make sure you see the lactation consultant because it should not hurt." But when I had my baby it hurt like he!! to say the least. The lactation consultant was on vacation, but her fill-in told me, "Honey, it just hurts some people". Every nurse, every visitor, every doctor told me the same thing - sometimes it just hurts. So I just assumed the childbirth instructor was wrong, until one nurse came in toward the end of my stay (I had some problems and stayed longer than some moms). She told me it hurt her really bad, too, but the regular lactation consultant helped her, and it doesn't hurt if it's done correctly. This nurse couldn't tell me how to do it (it had been awhile), but when she was on duty she'd come in while I nursed and hold my hand and cry with me (yes, it hurt that bad). At the end of my third week, I couldn't stand it any longer. I called the hospital crying and got the regular lactation consultant. She told me to come in, and I packed the baby up (even though I wasn't supposed to drive yet) and went in. It was an amazing experience. Everyone else (except the one nurse) acted like I was a whiny baby. But the lactation consultant didn't even ask to see my chest. She stuck her finger in my baby's mouth, her eyes teared up, and she said with the deepest compassion I've ever heard, "Honey, I know you hurt, I know you hurt. Let me see your chest." By this time my nipples were cracked, bleeding, scabbed and infected. Just the weight of a light summer shirt hurt. I had to bite my knuckles and hands to keep from screaming when I nursed. The lactation consultant leaned over, took my wrist in her hands and pressed it gently. She said, "That's what it should feel like when you nurse. Let me show you." As she positioned my baby, I flinched and prepared to bite myself to keep from screaming. She positioned the baby at my breast and held his tongue and jaw in place, and it felt like a butterfly landing on my arm. Absolutely no pain. It turned out my son had a problem with the way he sucked. I gave up breastfeeding anyway. I was going to have to have a helper every time I breastfed - one who would learn how to position the baby's tongue and jaw and hold it in place. My family didn't have any more vacation time, so I quit. I don't regret quitting - I was exhausted and needed to get well more than my son needed to breastfeed. Anyway, when I had my second child, I knew better. I had her at a different hospital, and she hurt me, too. Again, the nurses and the lactation consultant said, "Honey, it just hurts, you just have to toughen those nipples." I smiled sweetly and said okay, and had my husband make me an appointment with a private lactation consulting firm. As soon as I checked out of the hospital we headed straight for the private consultant. They didn't have the absolute amazing genius of the one who helped me with my son, but they gave me a lot of help. I nursed her through her first year and started weaning her at 13 months. My nipples never got very sore, never bled, never cracked, never got infected. My daughter had a problem with her palate that caused the problem, but no one at the hospital even checked. Here are my suggestions if you want to breast feed: First, the vast majority of doctors don't know beans about the comfort issues of breastfeeding. They are great about illnesses, diseases, etc., but not breastfeeding. Second, if you use nipple shields (I did with my 2nd child), just be aware that you can get mastitis more easily that way. The lactation consultant I had with my second child told me after I finished breastfeeding to make a circle out of my hands and encircle my breast with both my hands at the very top (like way up under my arm). Starting at the top is very important. Then slide the circle of your hands down your breast, squeezing gently. I can't remember exactly why, but I think you're massaging the milk out of your ducts. Also, another thing you can do is this: before you start to nurse, do the above-mentioned massage. This should get the milk massaged down so you will let down faster. I don't know if I'd do that right away, but after the first week I would. This shortens your nursing time a little, because the milk lets down earlier. I'm glad I breastfed my daughter. Our budget was tight and it's lots cheaper. It was also way easier in the long run (I was a SAHM). A few diapers and wipes and we were ready to go, no bottles, no formula. Breastfeeding is also an enforced rest time for the mom - I would have been up cleaning and doing laundry while everybody else bottle fed the baby. If I had had more children, I would have breastfed them even if I worked, because I enjoyed it. I never thought I would - I always thought it was a little icky, but I enjoyed it after the first 3 months. It is pretty icky to me at first - all the leaking, etc. till your body gets used to it is just unpleasant (to me). I am a firm believer that every mom should do what she thinks works best for her situation and her family's. If you ever decide you don't want to breastfeed, then don't. My oldest is just fine and he was bottle fed after the first 3 weeks. But please don't put yourself through the he!! I went through and your mom went through because people tell you it just hurts sometimes. If that nurse could put my son on my breast without hurting, then I know breast feeding doesn't have to hurt. I will say that my breastfed daughter has a much better immune system than my bottle fed son. That may just be coincidence. Anyway, I still don't regret quitting breastfeeding him. That was just too much pain to endure when there are bottles and formula. I tried not to write a book here, but my heart just goes out to any woman who might hurt so badly while breastfeeding, and if I can spare somebody a part of the agony I went through, I want to do that. I wish you a safe childbirth and a healthy, happy baby.

I also vote for goats milk.You can buy it in a carton like regular milk or canned.My oldest grandson was allergic to regular formulas(possibly soy and just didn't know it).We tried everything.At the time we had a milk goat and started giving him fresh goats milk and he did wonderfully! I don't suggest going out and buying a goat but I DO suggest at least trying goats milk.If you are fearful of the baby not getting the proper vitamins,there are supplement drops to help with that.After being unable to breast feed my oldest son I put him on a formula of Carnation evaporated milk.He was on that until he was about 8 months old and I switched him to whole milk and never had any problems with it.I think if anyone would read the labels on baby formulas and get familiar with all the ingredients added to them,a lot of people would rethink the formula route anyway. Before canned formulas became a multimillion dollar industry women either breast fed or made formulas on their own with cows or goats milk or evaporated canned milk.If one is relatively intelligent and can read they can make up a formula just as good,if not better than the commercial ones with goats milk or any other milk that doesn't contain soy.

I don't know if this thread is dead or not, but just wanted to make a comment about consulting your doctor first (over personal experience). In all honesty, most medical doctors don't really know much about nutrition. For instance, my Vitamin D was extremely deficient and my doctor advised me to take 400 iu's per day. Sorry but this is laughable really. I ended up taking 5000 iu's D3 per day. Every day. (I have Celiac and Hashimoto's so this may not be the correct amount to take for someone with no real health issues.) I have a couple of autoimmune diseases so I need large of amounts of some nutrients that I just can't absorb from food. So, I basically self-treat as far as supplements go, and there are times I educate my doctor on supplements as well. : ) As far as magnesium goes, I take Natural Calm powder, that was mentioned above. I don't do well on hard tablets for any supplement. I mix the powder in my 'supplement' drink. I also use Magnesium Oil from the same company. I apply this oil transdermally (rub it on my skin) liberally throughout the day. Magnesium is highly absorbable this way. I don't seem to have to worry about overdosing, as my body obviously needs this magnesium in a big way. Also, magnesium oil is good for pain (ie. fibromyalgia) so you just rub it on the sore spots. Again, for those of you with no health issues, you probably wouldn't have to take as high a dosage of supplements as I do; but I'm just saying from personal experience doctors do not know everything.