My Best Breast Feeding Tips

Hi moms and moms-to-be! I see a lot of posts with questions on breast feeding and latching. I thought I would write a little post with some of my best tips. As you know, I breast fed Sophia for 2 years and have experienced many of the pitfalls. As soon as she was born they placed her on my chest and she latched on right away. At first the feeding went very well. But then my milk began to come in the day I was discharged. My breasts became two large hard boulders overnight! 

Engorgement: The engorgement from my milk coming in made them hot and hard. Every time I went to nurse Sophia the milk would squirt out like a fire hydrant and she would get milk all over her. I was leaking literally 24/7 and I thought it would never end. Because they were so full and hard it made latching so difficult. My nipples just seemed so large for her tiny mouth. In those early days the only way she would open wide enough was when she was crying. And thanks to the latching difficulty my nipples were getting so much abuse. 

Breastfeeding should NOT hurt and you should re-latch if it hurts after the first 20 seconds (before 20 seconds this is residual pain from damage done in a previous bad latch). I was re-latching several times every session. Also, expressing a little by hand before feeding (just to make the boob pliable) made latching a lot easier since I could compress my areola better than when they were hard and full of milk. Thankfully, as the books promised, the engorgement only lasted a max of 2-3 days and latching gradually got easier as my milk supply evened out.

Some Common Breast Feeding Positions. My favorite was the Sidelying.
Very easy on back and for sleeping while feeding!

  

Example of a good latch. Note: You don't need all of your
areola in baby's mouth if you have large areola's. Just get
enough areola in to force the nipple far back in baby's
mouth to prevent pain and nipple damage.

Latching: Try many different positions but always bring baby to your breast and not the other way around. You should never be hunched over baby. Instead use pillows to support your baby in the position. In order to latch well I used the "hamburger" method. Basically, squeeze your areola and nipple together and begin by inserting the bottom areola first, then the nipple, and finally the top areola. It takes lots of practice to get good at doing this quickly. Eventually you won't need to do this when baby gets big enough and learns how to latch on their own. It's easier for them when their mouths get bigger.  

Example of start of "hamburger" squeeze.

"Hamburger": Start with bottom areola.

Lansinoh Soothies Gel Pads

Helping Nipple Pain and Healing: Using vitamin e oil (I bought the gel pills and broke them open to use the oil inside) and Lansinoh’s Soothies Breast Gel Pads helped tremendously. I tried lanolin cream too,

Medela Breast Shells

but didn't like it as much. I also had plastic Breast Shell cups from Medela to put in my bra to keep the fabric off my sensitive nipples. I rubbed breast milk on my nipples after every feed and let them air dry for at least a few minutes. The breast milk trick is probably the best one of all of these. There are antibacterial properties in breast milk which aid the healing process and also lower your chances of getting an infection like thrush or mastitis. You should never wash your nipples with soap. Washing with water when you normally shower is all that is necessary. Washing your nipples after every feed is not recommended either as it can damage your nipples and wash away the natural substances excreted by the glands on the nipple which keep them clean and moist (this is why soap is especially bad).

Breast feeding and Uterine Contractions: You will experience uterine contractions while breast feeding for the first week or so, they will start out strong and get weaker with each feed as your uterus slowly shrinks back down to its original size. This is obviously ideal as it will help you return to your pre-pregnancy size sooner and also reduces postpartum bleeding. Some ibuprofen is a good way to ease the pain.

Supplementation: It is fine but not until after your milk supply is established. If you supplement before that time your body will not know how much milk to make for your baby and this can sabotage your breast feeding ability. This is because breast feeding is a supply and demand system. The more your baby demands, the more your body will produce.

Is My Baby Getting Enough?: It's hard for first time mom's to know if their baby is getting enough from the breast. Here are the main signs to look for; 4-6 wet diapers a day (starting from the 4th day of breast feeding), baby is nursing frequently (8-12+ times in 24 hours), hearing baby swallowing while nursing, baby is allowed to nurse as long as they want from one breast (this is especially important so the baby can get the rich fatty hind-milk - let baby nurse until they "pop" off on their own. This can be anywhere from 20-45 mins during a growth spurt), baby is gaining weight. 

The more you have baby at your breast the better for your supply.

Which Breast Do I Use? How do I alternate?: What worked for me was 1 breast per feeding (alternating each breast at each feed) unless my dd was going through a growth spurt and then I would offer the 2nd breast and start with that same breast at the next feeding. This allows maximum hind milk. Also, it is normal for one breast to produce more than another. For me, it was my left breast. This didn't change the way I fed my dd though. And yes, you might look slightly lopsided but it won't stay that way. ;)

Bottle Feeding: Starting bottle feeding too early can also interfere with breast feeding because it can make your baby a lazy nurser since breast feeding requires more work to get milk out than bottle feeding. Yes, there are bottles on the market that claim to work more like breast feeding. However, it's not true. There are no bottles like breast feeding. It's the special tongue movement on the nipple that can't be duplicated with a bottle. A good rule of thumb is not to introduce a bottle until after the 3 week mark. Of course, there are some babies that don't have a problem going between breast and bottle from day 1. But you never know what you will get so, in my opinion, it's better to wait the 3 weeks until breast feeding is established so you don't have any possibility of sabotaging your breast feeding ability.

  

Growth Spurts: Your baby will nurse even more frequently and for longer (and can be irritable) while going through a growth spurt. In my experience this can last anywhere from 3-7 days. It can make you feel like baby isn't getting enough when they suddenly want to nurse more but this is actually a good thing. It's natures way of increasing your milk supply to accommodate your growing baby. The typical growth spurts are 7-10 days, 2-3 weeks, 4-6 weeks, 3 months, 4 months, 6 months and 9 months (there are some after that but less frequent). The best thing you can do is nurse nurse nurse during a growth spurt!

Will It Get Easier? When?: I’d say breastfeeding for me significantly improved after 2 weeks and then became completely second nature around 2 months. 

A great resource for your breast feeding questions is Kellymom.com I cannot tell you how much I used that site when I first started breast feeding! It was a lifesaver. 

I really fell in love with breast feeding so I wanted to share my experience to help other moms be successful breast feeders too. 

The Breastfeeding Bond

I wanted to start this post with the history of how I came to be a breastfeeding mommy. When I was a little girl some of my fondest memories were of my mother breastfeeding my siblings. Thankfully, I was the oldest girl in my family so watching my younger siblings being breastfed seemed completely normal and natural to me. I realize now what a blessing it was for me to grow up with a breastfeeding role model.

Naturally when I found out I was pregnant I wanted to breastfeed my baby. My whole pregnancy I was the woman who read all the books. In fact, my friend got pregnant a few months after I did and she refused to read any books because she said she would get all her info from me! Haha

This hunger for information led me to Ina May Gaskin’s books. I fell in love with her naturalistic ways and I read her Guide to Breastfeeding. I also took a short breastfeeding class but that was not nearly as informational as this book. I highly recommend it to all those who are or plan to breastfeed. I firmly believe that it was the techniques for latching and information in this book that saved my nipples and solidified my relationship with breastfeeding.

As soon as Sophia was born they placed her on my chest and she latched on right away. I still remember how surreal the experience was. All through my pregnancy I’d had dreams of breastfeeding but the real thing was so much better than all those dreams. At first the feeding went very well. All the nursing staff commented on how naturally it came to me. But then my milk began to come in the day I was discharged. My breasts became two large hard boulders overnight! I looked like Dolly Parton with the worst boob job in history. I remember looking in the mirror topless and saying to my sister ‘God I hope these don’t stay like this!’

The engorgement from my milk coming in made them hot and hard. Every time I went to nurse Sophia the milk would squirt out like a fire hydrant and she would get milk all over her. I was leaking literally 24/7 and I thought it would never end. Because they were so full and hard it made latching so difficult. My nipples just seemed so large for her tiny mouth. In those early days the only way she would open wide enough was when she was crying. And thanks to the latching difficulty my nipples were getting so much abuse. I knew breastfeeding shouldn’t hurt and to re-latch if it hurt after the first 20 seconds. I was re-latching several times every session and I’m sure that is what helped save my nipples in the long run. Also expressing a little by hand before feeding (just to make the boob pliable) made latching a lot easier since I could compress my areola better than when they were hard and full of milk. Thankfully as the books promised the engorgement only lasted a max of 2-3 days and latching gradually got easier.

Using vitamin e oil and Lansinoh’s Soothies breast pads also helped to save my nipples. I also had plastic nipple cups to put in my bra to keep the fabric off my sensitive nipples. I rubbed breast milk on my nipples after every feed and let them air dry for at least a few minutes. The breast milk trick is probably the best one of all of these. There are antibacterial properties in breast milk which aid the healing process and also lower your chances of getting an infection like thrush or mastitis. You should never wash your nipples with soap. Washing with water when you normally shower is all that is necessary. Washing your nipples after every feed is not recommended either as it can damage your nipples and wash away the natural substances excreted by the glands on the nipple which keep them clean and moist (this is why soap is especially bad).

I’d say breastfeeding for me significantly improved after 2 weeks and then became completely second nature around 2 months. I would just hear her hunger cries and automatically start undoing my nursing bra. I always enjoyed it but after a short while I really fell in love with breastfeeding Sophia. I attribute our deep bond to breastfeeding.

The only downside (if you can consider this a downside) is that Sophia will not take a bottle. It is one of the reasons I quit my office job and got a work from home job. She is now 6 months old and still refuses them. I absolutely bought every bottle and nipple on the market. No matter what the fancy marketing suggested none of them were remotely like my breast and Sophia screamed at all of them (as if we were trying to give her poison). I tried being in the room… being out of the room, out of the house, etc… Nothing worked. I came to my breaking point and my mom suggested I take away the breast during the day cold turkey and it took 3 days to get her to take a bottle. Let me just say it was the worst experience ever. But I got lazy with the bottle again and she had a relapse. I refuse to go through another 3 day battle of the wills. I am attempting to get her used to a sippy cup for the occasional times I need to be away from her. So far she either lets the water dribble in and out of her mouth or she chews on the top. I hope she catches on soon but we will see!

Ultimately breastfeeding has given me a very happy and healthy baby and a deep appreciation and trust in my body. :)