Top Tips to Help Establish Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is a learnt skill which can take time and practice.
Although we think of it as ‘natural’ or ‘normal’, so are many other things in life, for example sex! And most of us find that this can take time to master. It is a relationship, and you need to know how you and your baby’s bodies fit together. Most new skills take around six weeks to feel comfortable with, so be kind and generous with yourselves. Here are my top tips for families entering into parenthood.
Antenatally, it is great to visit a breastfeeding drop in or cafe that is run by an experienced practitioner.
Being with other families who are feeding their babies makes a big difference. Most of us grow up never having seen a newborn feed, so how can we instantly be expected to do this? Visiting a drop in will give you a realistic picture of what to expect, and means that you know where to go for help if you need it. I love working in my own feeding clinic and get enormous pleasure from how generous families are with each other, and how they share their knowledge and experiences. It is such a bonding and supportive environment, full of oxytocin. If you don’t have a local drop in, find out if there is anything you can join online, or surround yourself with friends and family that have had positive breastfeeding journeys. Breastfeeding is a learnt skill, and you really need your cheerleaders and people that believe in you.
Learn how your body works and how incredible your boobs and breastmilk are.
Your milk is tailored perfectly to your little one’s needs and your environment. It changes with their age and developmental needs. It also boosts their immune system and provides antibodies for any viruses that you may have come into contact with. It really is a personalised medicine and a living tissue. We often don’t learn about our mammary glands and lactation in school, and know twice as much about erectile dysfunction and tomatoes!
Most antenatal education is around the birth, and the small amount of time reserved for breastfeeding generally is around how natural it is, and its benefits, not around the realities of baby feeding and what it entails. Often families I see remark on how they were shocked by this, and felt like a failure because they had no idea of how challenging and frequent early feeding can be.
You can prepare your body by hand expressing or harvesting colostrum before your baby arrives.
Sometimes there can be contraindications for doing this (such as placenta praevia), so it is something you can discuss with your midwife or health worker'
This is a great way to learn about your body and how you make milk before your baby arrives, and can be started from around 36 weeks. There is so much to learn in the early weeks of becoming a parent that anything that can be done before they arrive can really help.
Have skin to skin contact with your baby.
Try to do this immediately after birth, until at least the first breastfeed, but it can be for as long as you would like and as often as you want.
Skin to skin not only feels wonderful, it:
Promotes the release of hormones that help with bonding and stimulates instinctive feeding behaviours.
Helps to calm and soothe baby(s) and Is associated with less distress and crying
Stabilises the baby’s sugar (glucose) levels
Regulates their heart rate, respiratory rate and temperature
Helps raise your oxytocin levels to help calm you and aide in your healing
Enables colonisation of the baby’s skin with parents’ friendly bacteria which helps protect against infection.
Helps to calm their immature nervous system and grow their brains
Get support with positioning and attachment to help you feel comfortable and confident while feeding and explore any concerns you have.
Explore all your options before your little one(s) arrive. You may have peer support groups locally, have an infant feeding team that make home visits or like to ask an IBCLC Lactation consultant to visit you at home. Be prepared to practise, practise, practise! Babies have tiny stomachs and need to feed frequently (minimum 8 times a day, but often more like 14 times in 24 hours) Babies don’t only come to the breast for nutrition, breastfeeding is also for comfort, pain relief, pleasure and developmental reasons. It is a magical place to soothe and settle a little one.
Get familiar with your baby’s nappies, they are a great indicator of how things are going.
We often use the phrase ’if it’s going in, it’s going to come out’. Babies have black sticky, tar-like poo (meconium) to start, that is copious and very hard to clean. This then transitions to an easier to clean pesto-like loose stool, and by day 5 it should be heading towards a chicken korma type stool. It is normal for a baby to have a minimum of 2 loose stools in 24 hours (more is great) for the first 6 weeks - sometimes at 6 weeks, they may stool less frequently. A baby’s urine will increase from 1 wee on day 1, to 5/6 on days 5/6 and then stay around this amount. In the very early days, the blue line that some nappies have to indicate a wee, may not show up as the amount they pass is tiny. If you are worried, place some cotton wool or a breast pad in that area to show you more, as nappies are incredibly absorbent.
Ask friends and family to make you tasty and nutritious meals that you can freeze or easily heat up.
You may also want to restrict visitors in the first few weeks until you feel confident and comfortable. Getting to know your baby is a really important time and so many families I meet regret having to entertain or pass their baby around well-meaning visitors. It is your baby and you are totally allowed to keep them all to yourself, if it feels right for you. They don’t change very much in the first few weeks, but how you feel does, and is incredibly important. If you are worried about this and are not sure how to say anything, keep your little one in skin to skin when visitors arrive, with a big dressing gown or cardigan around you, people often don’t ask to hold a baby if they think you’re naked.
Learn all about engorgement and how it can feel when your milk is coming in.
It can be quite shocking and scary if you don’t know that your breasts may become VERY full and heavy when your colostrum is transitioning to mature milk. If your baby is feeding frequently, you might not feel this. But if your little one is sleepy, and goes for several hours without a feed, it is possible that you could wake up with breasts that feel like concrete. If this happens it is vital to keep feeding normally and to keep your breasts cool, A cold compress can be very helpful and often feels really soothing. Please do not use anything hot, as this will make the swelling worse.
Remember that babies wake a lot at night, especially in the early weeks.
This is partly due to your body resting and being quieter during pregnancy at night, but also to do with milk making. The milk making hormone, prolactin, is highest between the hours of 1-4 a.m. so a healthy term baby is prone to ‘farm’ at these times to ensure a robust milk supply is available for as long as you choose to feed them. Often, they are calm and sleepy in the mornings, so this is a really good time to sleep. Afternoon naps also help to make night ‘farming’ more bearable, as are several cat naps across the day, so try and practice napping before your little one arrives.
Familiarise yourself with the phrase ‘supply and demand.’
Once your milk has transitioned from colostrum to mature milk, the more milk removed, the more is made. It is a lovely feedback system between parent and baby, where the baby is signalling what they need and the parent’s body is responding. It is also important to remember that soft breasts make milk quickly and easily, and full breasts make milk slowly and are more likely to become congested or blocked. This is how a milk supply becomes regulated over time.
I hope these suggestions help you to feel more confident with normal baby behaviour and physiology, so that you can feel empowered to understand your unique baby and body.
