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Top 10 Breastfeeding Tips
Here are my top 10 breastfeeding tips for a successful start to a satisfying breastfeeding relationship! Because breastfeeding, in addition to all its advantages, is supposed to feel good. Addictively good, in fact. But in the beginning, certain problems, such as low supply or sore nipples, are relatively common. If you manage to avoid the early pitfalls, you can look forward to a uniquely satisfying experience. Please note: The information below applies to normal, healthy newborn babies who are not premature and have no health problems. If your baby is a special needs baby, please consult with an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) for breastfeeding advice. Réka's Top 10 Breastfeeding Tips1. Nurse your baby within an hour of birth, or as soon thereafter as possible Breastfeeding tip #1: Nurse your baby within an hour of birth, or as soon thereafter as possible In the initial hour after birth, babies tend to be bright and alert, especially if they were born from an unmedicated labor. This is one of the advantages to natural childbirth, that the babies tend to do better at breastfeeding, at least initially. Put plainly, if you manage to successfully breastfeed your baby within this alert period after birth, you are more likely to succeed at breastfeeding. At this time, mother and baby are both primed for bonding and imprinting on each other. This is a unique hormonal state that will happen once in the life of that motherbaby pair. Babies are capable of actually crawling up the mom's belly and finding her nipple by smell, and latching on all by themselves. Babies imprint on their first feeding experience, so breastfeeding them in that initial alert period after birth makes a successful breastfeeding relationship later on more likely. By nursing a baby first thing, you assure that the first bacteria your baby encounter are friendly bacteria from your skin, not hospital-grade, pathological bacteria. You also ensure that with the same swallow, your baby not only gets the friendly bacteria to colonize his or her gut, but also colostrum, which contains immune protection against those very same bacteria. Don't despair if you missed your opportunity for this breastfeeding tip. Put your baby on the breast; many will accept the breast with no problems.
Newborns signal their interest in breastfeeding by smacking or licking their lips, stuffing their fists into their mouths, turning their heads with their mouth open to find a nipple. Crying is a late cue for nursing. Do not wait until your newborn is crying before putting them on the breast. A crying newborn is more difficult to latch on correctly, and they may swallow a lot of air crying, which contributes to gas pains. Some newborns are very sleepy, especially if they were born before 40 weeks or you had pain medications in labor. Pain medication will make the newborn less coordinated and more sleepy. If you have a sleepy newborn, they may not be able to get themselves to wake up to nurse, but may signal their interest in nursing by wiggling and moving about in their sleep, fluttering their eyelids, etc. Within the first 24 hours after birth, make sure if you have a sleepy baby that you put them to the breast at least 8 times within 24 hours. If your newborn cannot latch on or suckle effectively within the first 24 hours, express your colostrum into a spoon, and feed your baby that way. Some newborns are very vigorous and not only do they wake up to nurse regularly, they skip all the quiet breastfeeding cues and jump straight to hollering. If your newborn is like this, don't despair. It's actually more reassuring than the sleepy newborn. Your baby knows what she needs and she's not afraid to ask for it! Don't make her wait by changing her diaper or other distractions. Put her to the breast to calm her, then mess around with other newborn care tasks. Chances are, she'll be a lot more tolerant then. This breastfeeding tip is vital especially in the first few days after birth. As your baby gets older, you will learn to recognize your baby's hunger cues, but in the beginning, you may mistake a sleepy baby for a well-behaved baby.
Breastfeeding isn't supposed to hurt. With that said, in the first few days and weeks, while you are both learning how to do it, some pain and soreness may be normal. However, if thepain is unbearable, or your nipples are damaged, make sure you ask for help from a lactation consultant on how to improve the baby's positioning. Most of the nipple pain in the first days comes from positioning problems, with the nipple not going far enough back in the baby's mouth to be comfortable. I can describe some tricks to help you get the positioning right, but an in-person consultation with a lactation consultant can do wonders. First, find a comfortable position where you are fully supported, including your back, your arms, your feet, your head. You don't want to have to strain your muscles supporting your own body weight, not when newborn babies can (and do) nurse up to 12 hours out of a 24 hour day. Next, make sure that your baby is well-supported, too. Use pillows and rolled-up blankets or towels to support your baby's body so that neither you nor the baby have to strain during nursing. Your baby should be belly to belly with you, pulled in close. Your baby's body should be lined up so that her ears, shoulders and hips are in a straight line, with her legs tucked in to curve around your body. Her head should be slightly tipped back, and your nipple should be aimed at her nose or upper lip. When she opens her mouth wide, as if yawning, pull her close with your nipple still aiming at her nose and upper lip. This will result in an asymmetric latch, which means that she will take in more of the breast toward her chin. You can recognize a good latch by these signs:
This breastfeeding tip is important because a good latch is not only more comfortable for you, it is better for the baby because they get more milk from a nice, deep latch. If your nipples are abraded or have open wounds, that makes you much more vulnerable to infections such as mastitis. So if nursing is still painful after the first couple of weeks, be sure to get an in-person appointment from a lactation consultant!
The baby makes milk by suckling. This is the cardinal rule of breastmilk production. If you limit the baby's time on the breast, either by limiting the length of breastfeeding sessions or the number of times a baby can go on the breast, you are essentially lowering your supply. It's that simple. A normal, healthy newborn baby will nurse a minimum of 8-12 times within 24 hours, and may spend as much as 45 minutes on the breast at a time. So in the early weeks, expect to breastfeed as much as 12 out of the 24 hours of the day. Your breast is still undergoing biochemical changes in the first 6 weeks that make it more sensitive to the stimulation of the baby's suckling. What this means is that nursing on cue (or on demand) is especially important in the first 6 weeks so you establish your supply. From 1 month to 6 months, the amount of breastmilk your baby requires essentially stays the same. So it is vital to get up to that level before you introduce anything (such as schedules, bottles, pacifiers) that may compromise your supply. Breastfeeding is a learned skill, for both you and the baby. You both need to practice. Breastfeeding is more than just food for your baby. The act of cuddling and nursing is your baby's expression of love. It regulates his blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, immune response, blood sugar levels, it lowers stress hormones and increases relaxation, releases painkilling substances and sleep-inducing substances. Incidentally, it does all of these things not just for your baby, but you as well. Being in physical, skin-to-skin contact with you is your baby's physiologically normal, healthy place to be. Limiting the baby's time on the breast is the first step towards weaning. That's fine if your goal is to stop breastfeeding, but is counterproductive if you want to continue to breastfeed your baby. So this breastfeeding tip is essential for maintaining your supply.
In the first hour or two after birth, a newborn is alert, has his eyes open, may be crying, and is ready to suckle. After this initial hour or two of alertness, the baby falls into a deep sleep, and will remain sleeping for much of the first 24 hours. An active baby will wake up to nurse, but a sleepy baby may well sleep through the first 24 hours. Make sure you get some colostrum into your baby during these first 24 hours. If your baby is too sleepy to suckle effectively, express a few drops of colostrum into a spoon, and spoon-feed your baby. The second day, your baby will wake up and realize that he is HUNGRY. Babies are typically very active on the second day, and want to nurse extremely often, even non-stop. He may also be cranky and fussy. You will be tired and worn out, so expect the second day of your baby's life to be a bit of a challenge, and make sure that you allow your baby to nurse as often as he would like. This is how he tells your body to step up milk production, pronto! A normal, healthy newborn will nurse a minimum of 8-12 times in a 24-hour period. This is normal and desired in the first 6 weeks of life. It is also very tiring for mom, so make sure you have all the help you need in order to be able to spend your days nursing. Most babies fall into a pattern where they sleep for longer stretches in the morning hours, get very cranky in the evenings, and then go into "night-time mode" for the night, where they only wake up to nurse. Your baby may or may not develop a regular schedule. The most important thing is to allow your baby to set the frequency of feedings in order to maintain your milk production. Expect growth spurts - periods of increased appetite and fussiness - at 3 weeks, 6 week, 3 months and 6 months of age. In reality, a baby can have a growth spurt at any time, when they are fussier and hungrier than usual, but with a day or two of more frequent nursing, they will automatically adjust your milk supply to suit their needs. This breastfeeding tip can be useful when trying to interpret your new baby's behaviors.
In the first day after giving birth, your body produces about 1-2 ml (about 1/2 - 1 teaspoon) of colostrum. This is normal! And this tiny amount of colostrum is still very important for your baby. It packs all the nutrition and calories your baby needs, and it is also chock full of immune factors that protect your baby from all the illnesses your body was ever exposed to. This tiny amount of colostrum increases in response to your baby's suckling, and to the additional hormonal "push" on day 3-5 postpartum when the hormones produced by the placenta finally leave your system, and milk production soars. After this hormonal push, though, it is all supply and demand. That means, the more milk is removed from your breast, the more it will make. The less milk is removed, the less milk it will make. So to increase your breastmilk production, nurse or express milk more often! Over the first 6 weeks, your breastmilk production will increase from a teaspoonful to about 600-800 ml (20-30 oz) per day, thanks to the baby's suckling and to that initial hormonal push between day 3 and 5 after the birth. So let me reiterate that: The baby regulates the amount of milk you have, by how much and how often she suckles. If you want to increase your supply, your goal is to keep your breasts as empty as possible by frequent emptying. You don't need a special breastfeeding diet, and it doesn't matter what sort of magic pill you take, if you don't empty your breasts by nursing or pumping, your breasts will slow down and eventually stop milk production. Why? Because when your breasts are full, this sends a signal to your body to slow down or even stop milk production. This is a protective mechanism so your breasts won't burst. When your breasts are empty, this sends a signal to your body to increase milk production. This breastfeeding tip is essential for understanding how your milk supply works and how you can increase it.
A healthy newborn who is nursed on cue does not require any additional fluids or any soothing devices other than the breast. Giving a newborn fluids other than breastmilk simply takes up space in their tiny stomachs, and decreases the amount of breastmilk they can take in. Using pacifiers or any artificial bottle nipples may create a preference in the baby, and they may start rejecting the breast. Sucking on a pacifier or a bottle nipple requires different muscles and a different technique from the baby, so if they try to suck on your breast the same way as they would on the bottle, they may damage your nipples. (Just one example: the way to stop the flow from a bottle nipple is to clamp down on the nipple. You surely would not like your baby to clamp down on your nipple to stop the flow of milk...) This breastfeeding tip is mainly important in the first weeks.
Prolactin is one of the hormones responsible for milk production. Prolactin levels are higher at night than during the day. This means that nighttime nursing is even more effective than daytime nursing for increasing your supply. Conversely, if you night-wean your baby or your baby starts sleeping through the night, you may see a very noticeable dip in your supply. Nighttime waking is more a function of the baby's temperament and their stage of development than hunger necessarily. Many newborn babies start sleeping through the night (defined at 5 hours of sleep at a stretch) in the first few weeks of life, only to start waking up more frequently again when they are 3-4 months old. This is a developmental milestone and may occur regardless of your nighttime parenting habits. Make sure you maximize your own rest at night. Consider co-sleeping with your baby, or having them in the same room with you, to cut down on the amount of wandering you have to do during the night. This breastfeeding tip can help a flagging supply.
For a healthy newborn who is feeding effectively, there is no need to weigh and keep track of individual feedings. It is usually plenty to weigh your baby once a week to see whether they are gaining. If you are not particularly nervous about it, you could simply go by outgrown clothes instead of the scale. If there is a question about your baby's development and weight gain, first use the number of wet and poopy diapers to judge whether your baby is getting enough to eat. Day 1 - one poopy diaper Those are the minimums. If your baby is not producing enough poopy diapers, or soaking their diapers every few hours in the first 6 weeks of life, please consult a lactation consultant because they may not be getting enough. A lactation consultant may ask you to do test weights (weigh your baby before and after feeding) to determine how much they take in during a nursing session. Please be aware that a baby who is nursed on demand may take in half an ounce in one feeding, and 3 ounces in another. So their intake is highly variable, and it is more meaningful then to look at the total intake during a 24 hour period. It is normal for babies to lose up to 7% of their body weight after birth. They should regain their weight and achieve their birth weight again by 2 weeks of age the latest. If your baby has not regained his birth weight by 2 weeks of age, please see a lactation consultant. Breastfed babies gain differently than formula-fed babies. Usually, breastfed babies gain a lot of weight in the beginning, then their gain tapers off and slows down. The weight gain of formula fed babies is much more even.Formula fed babies require more formula than breastfed babies need breastmilk in order to gain the same amount of weight. In other words, because breastmilk is easier to digest, and babies have to expand less energy on digesting it, breastfed babies take in less than formula-fed babies. Normal weight gain for breastfed babies: 0-4 months: 150-250 g / week This breastfeeding tip is useful for understanding the expected weight gain of your baby, and for your peace of mind concerning their development.
It is never too late to bring your milk production back. Most breastfeeding problems are easier to solve if you ask for help early on. If you have specific questions and problems, find an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) in your area. If you have general questions and need support, find a breastfeeding mother-baby group you can attend, such as a La Leche League group. If any health care worker suggests weaning as the solution to a medical condition, please consult an IBCLC. More often than not, they can offer you breastfeeding tips to help you find a way to maintain your breastfeeding relationship in the face of medical challenges. This breastfeeding tip is essential if you run into problems. (All of the above apply to healthy, term newborn babies.) A great resource for breastfeeding tips and information is www.kellymom.com.
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