Breastfeeding Tips for New Mums.

Many women enter motherhood without giving breastfeeding much thought, there is much preparation for the birth, but its also important to educate women on what to expect when they start to breastfeed their new baby, breastfeeding is a skill and requires time and practice to perfect. I've put together some tips to help you get breastfeeding off to the best start.

1/ Skin-to-Skin Contact straight after birth.

Skin-to-skin contact is when your baby lies on you with no clothes and just a nappy. It is so beneficial for your baby to be placed in skin-to-skin immediately after birth. Research shows that this can regulate temperature, breathing, and heart rate and increases the release of the hormone oxytocin which helps with bonding. This time is also crucial as it signals your body to start producing lots of milk.

2/ Breastfeed within the first hour of birth.

Immediately your baby is born they have primal and powerful instincts to seek the breast. Allowing for an undisturbed hour after delivery ensures your baby can move through various newborn stages towards self-attachment at the breast. Allow your baby this time (weighing your baby can be delayed) and resist the urge to hurry your baby by holding their head or putting the nipple in their mouth, it's incredible and precious to watch your baby who will often be alert and wide-eyed and can find the nipple on their own.

3/ Comfortable breastfeeding positions and attachment

Positioning and attachment is the key to comfortable breastfeeding.

Keep your baby really close and tucked into your body and bring their nose opposite your nipple, when they open their mouth with a wide gape, you can bring them quickly to your breast. You want them to have lots of breast tissue in their mouth. If they don’t have enough breast tissue then you will find that your nipples get sore.

The best way to understand good attachment is to watch videos of babies attaching, there are many videos on latching available on youtube and this helps you to understand the things to look out for such as alignment, and wide-open gape.

4/ Keep the baby with you and breastfeed frequently.

Your breasts will make milk on demand: the more milk that is removed from the breast, the more milk will be produced, simple supply and demand. Your baby should be feeding between 8-12 times in 24hours for between 5-40 minutes. Babies have tiny tummies at birth, so they don’t need large volumes of milk, and breastmilk is very easily digested, this is why it's important that your baby is allowed to feed frequently.

5/ Watch your baby and get to know their special cues.

Becoming a new mum is an amazing time in your life, your new baby has arrived and is totally dependent on you. It can be overwhelming but trust your instincts. Allow yourself time to get to know your baby, they are able to communicate their needs and wants from very early on so watch for cues and get to know their signals.

If you would like to schedule a prenatal breastfeeding class where I go into more depth on all these points then send me a message or email. If you are finding breastfeeding challenging and would like some extra support I offer home visits where we can work together to make breastfeeding more comfortable and effective.