Breastfeeding — a light-hearted approach to SUCCESS!
Breastfeeding seems like it should be so easy, right? The web is filled with idyllic photos of mothers and their feeding babies. Everyone looks so happy, and natural! Moms are meant to breastfeed — how hard can it be?
But the truth is, breastfeeding can suck. Anybody who tells you that breastfeeding is easy is lying. The first two weeks can be awful — you are running around topless, trying to figure out if your baby is hungry, if they are using you as a pacifier, why it hurts, and why you are now carrying leaky cantaloupes on your chest. Your hormones are everywhere and you are sleep deprived. The first two weeks can feel like torture.
But it gets better! If you know going in that breastfeeding can be difficult, you will be prepared for challenge. The first goal for breastfeeding success should be setting realistic goals. A prenatal consult with a Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC) can be very helpful in identifying potential obstacles. You will also know that breastfeeding is an evolving journey, with many paths to success.
Here are some tips to breastfeeding success:
Skin to skin is crucial. The first hour after birth is dubbed “The Golden Hour”.
If possible, have your baby on your bare chest as soon as possible after birth as this has been shown to increase your milk supply for all of the following months.
Your baby is wired to seek out sustenance. In the hours and days following birth, take the time to put your baby on your chest, and allow your baby to wiggle their way to your nipple. It takes patience to not help them — but they will find their way to sustenance! This will help “prime” your baby and “prime” your body at the same time.
Think of your body as a pump — the more it is “primed”, the more milk you will produce.
There are many ways that your body is primed — but to mention a few — your baby’s cry is a primer! For many people, it is hard to hear their baby cry. But in those first few days, that cry will help bring in your milk! Your baby sucking at your breast, possibly frustrated because there is not yet enough milk, will bring in your milk! As long as it is not painful (uncomfortable is to be expected), let your baby hang out and suck!
Anticipate that you will be spending several hours every day sitting and laying with your feeding baby. Once breastfeeding is established, feeding sessions will typically be about 15 minutes. But those first few weeks, the feeding and sucking can last for hours. If you can have someone wait on you, awesome!
In some ways, think of yourself as a cow with udders that can be milked. You can milk your own breasts, starting at the outside quadrants and massaging in towards the nipple before feeds and in between feeds. This will serve to get milk flowing — and can often produce colostrum in the first few days (as George in Seinfeld would say, “That’s gold, Jerry! That’s gold!”).
If it is painful to breastfeed, seek help promptly! There are many Lactation Counselors who can help with positioning and latch. Typically, a good latch consists of your baby grasping a majority of the areola from below, and not just the nipple. A wide open mouth on the baby’s part, is key to getting a good latch.
Above all, have patience and humor. Everything will be ok!!!!!! If your goal is to breastfeed, let’s try to get you there.
If for any reason, breastfeeding is not working out, that is ok, too. Formula is not a sin — it is a legitimate, alternative and supplemental form of sustenance. Mothers’ in my mom’s generation all fed us formula while they chain-smoked, and we turned out ok. Right? At the end of the day, the goal is to have a happy and growing baby and a happy mother. There are so many ways to achieve that goal!
As a Certified Lactation Counselor, I offer in-person breastfeeding support and knowledge, in your home (if desired) when you and your baby need it. Prenatal consults are recommended.
Personalized Pediatrics of Maine strives to be the best Pediatric office in the state of Maine!
