I always thought that breastfeeding is the natural way of feeding babies so it must be easy and should come naturally. My God! I couldn’t be more wrong. I agree it’s natural way of feeding baby but establishing a smooth breastfeeding journey takes around 8-9 weeks. There were times where I thought of giving up or doubting myself if I was producing enough milk or during the cluster feedings when baby was feeding in every half an hour. Those were tough times but my husband knew how important it was for me so he kept motivating me and I also owe it to my Lactation Consultant.
Direct Breastfeeding:
If you choose to breastfeed and would like to directly breastfeed then try from Day 1 if possible. Get help from your midwife or consultant or doctor. Hire a Lactation Consultant. I loved direct breastfeeding as then I didn’t have to worry about packing bottles when going out all the time. I wanted to do both but my kid didn’t want to try bottles. I tried many different brands of bottles but of no use.
Also in order to avoid nipple confusion, I was meant to practice paced bottle feeding and also was meant to introduce bottle after baby was 4 weeks but before baby turned 6 weeks (as by then baby establishes it’s feeding ways and baby becomes lazy to change its ways). I missed that window and baby didn’t take on to it. Luckily, I worked out well for me.
Direct breastfeeding is brilliant. It has so many benefits that I can’t even fathom. If you can please go through this journey, it has great benefits to both the mother and baby. Some that blew my mind, I have mentioned below:
- When baby directly breastfeeds, women’s brain gets signals about what nutrients the baby needs and then it gets added to the milk (just wowwwwwwwwww)
- It builds immunity, bones, muscles in baby
- Every feed can be different as it is produced specifically for your baby
- It is a supply and demand rule. When your baby goes through leap or growth spurts and needs more milk then your body just produces more milk and when the baby doesn’t need much milk then supply reduces.
- If you breastfeed your baby before vaccinations, it does some magic which comforts them during those injections.
- It is a natural pacifier, it can soothe the baba from come what may – anxiety, fear, and so on
- Breastfeeding releases oxytocin hormones in both baby and mother so the bond grows stronger
- It generates or regulates melatonin hormones in babies and mommies that makes them sleepy and helps them regularise their natural sleep cycles
- Reduces the chance of certain cancers in mommies
- It is for free
- And so on.
At the same time there are disadvantages as well:
- You are kind of in a house arrest for the first couple of months until the breastfeeding is established, and you are comfortable with it
- It is challenging and painful at times, especially during the start of the journey. Believe me it gets easier.
- You will need to get used to public feeding as people have sexualised breasts so much that they have forgotten that the primary role of breasts is to nourish babies
- You can feel like cow may be, I know I did
Below are links to get more information on this:
Essentials for establishing direct breastfeeding:
Lactation Consultant
Sometimes if baby’s birthing journey wasn’t smooth like use of forceps or vacuum birth or even C-section or even in some no interference births, it could be difficult to establish breastfeeding. Get help early as the initially part is tough. Hire a Lactation Consultant as they can help a lot. They can help you diagnose if baby has tongue tie or need osteopath or recommend a specialist if need be.
Find an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant
Supplements and Tricks
Traditionally, mothers would eat the below supplements to help them enhance their milk supply:
- Drink loads of water
- Oats
- Fenugreek
- Fennel
- Dates
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Healthy whole meal diet
More information: Lactation Supplements and How They Work
Calcium: A pregnancy and breastfeeding would take away years of calcium from a mother’s body so please ensure to take your supplements after consulting your doctor. Remember to be able to digest calcium, body needs zinc, magnesium and Vitamin D3 at the same time too. Bones.nih.gov gives good information on bone health.
Iron: It’s important to have iron levels checked and ensure that you have enough and have recovered from child birth blood loss and also baby takes iron from mum’s body in last trimester of pregnancy. Breastfeeding mom’s get their periods very late after child birth naturally and this kind of protects mums to not have iron loss. If you get your iron level checked with your doctor, it can help you decide if you need to take iron supplements or increase iron rich food. Remember in order to digest iron you need to have Vitamin C.
Vitamin D3: This is so vital, this helps in digestion of Calcium, increase immunity, keep your energy high. Check with your doctor if you need to take the supplements. Most people need this but they aren’t aware about it. Lilly.org gives good information it.
The below article deals with vitamin and supplements:
Vitamins & other supplements for breastfeeding mothers
Tricks
These are some little tricks that helped me to establish direct breastfeeding and reduce the discomfort during the initial stages:
- It is crucial for baby to directly breastfeed for the first 4 weeks at least.
- Avoid using bottles or pacifiers for at least the first month
- Keep Lanolin nipple cream handy. It is okay for babies to feed from breasts after apply the cream (definitely check the brand of the cream and what it says. I used Lansinoh).
- Buy Multi Mam compresses. My God they are so good. You keep them in fridge and use them on nipples as and when you need it, and they soothe and comfort so well. I would cut one into two and then apply on my nipples, it saved me from wasting those compresses.
- I would use Hakka Silicone pump to catch the excess milk from one breast while the baby would feed from the other.
- For the first few months breasts can engorge and feel painful if baby doesn’t feed on time, you need to take a hot shower or apply hot towel compresses and release the extra milk to feel comfortable. Do this before feeding baby as milk will be overflowing and flow can be fast.
- Babies for the initial 4 months can be colicky (every baby is colicky to some extent) or wind can be trapped so make sure that when you feed the baby his/her head is higher than the tummy and keep the baby upright for 15-20 min before putting them on bed. Keep their head part of mattress on bed higher if possible. I literally put books under the co-sleeper.
- Breastpads are helpful as they absorb the excessive flow. You will need it for the first 6 months or until your supply and demand is established.
- Breastfeeding is on demand. You do not have to keep a tab on time, your timer is when baby starts crying for food.
- Good nursing bra is such a great thing to have. Get yourself measured properly.
- Have a support group of new mums either in person or online.
- Nursing pillow is good to have in initial days. You need a lot of cushion so that you can relax back and bring the baby to feed.
- I used nursing cover until I felt I felt comfortable nursing in public.
- There can be Clogged ducts or milk blisters and they can be painful. You should apply hot compress on it and let the excess milk flow. Also let your baby feed in different positions to clear the ducts even though it is painful as that’s the only way to clear them. If you stop feeding, then it may lead to mastitis and you might have to have antibiotics.
- When the baby goes through leap (mental development) or growth spurts, they will feed constantly, it will be tiring but just go with the flow. They will be clingy, crying and cluster feeding. Please buy the book ‘The Wonder Weeks’ or download that app they are lifesaving. They can indicate the next period of leap and help you indicate the developments happening within your baby.
- If your baby is colicky, keep your baby upright and feed the baby with head above the tummy. Also give good amount of tummy time, they do not enjoy it but may be play with them or interact with them with a toy when they are in tummy time. It does not need to be on floor all the time, it can on you too. See the below videos for reference:
Five Essential Tummy Time Moves, How to do Tummy Time (Video)
Some video links are mentioned below to help you understand how to latch properly and different positions to feed the baby safely:
How to Breastfeed – Deep Latch Technique (Video)
Breastfeeding Position and Latch (Video)
Below is a video for Breastfeeding Masterclass by UNICEF
Breastfeeding master class | UNICEF (Video)
Different positions of breastfeeding: There are so many different ways to feed the baby. See what works for you. I used to feed my baby through cradle position or football position or side lying.
Breastfeeding Tips: Common Breastfeeding Positions
I personally did not get the opportunity to pump as:
- I was comfortable feeding my baby in public,
- I never got the opportunity to go out anywhere on my own and
- most importantly my kid never took on to bottles (trust me, I tried my best). So basically, I had no other choice, but I was happy with it.
I used Hakka silicone pump to catch the excess milk and store it away if we would ever need it. Hakka is great for that purpose.
If one can breastfeed and bottle feed their baby successfully then life of a mother will be easier and both mommy and baby get the best of both worlds. You are living my dream.
Benefits of Pumping:
- You know how much your baby is eating
- Others can feed your baby you do not have to be around all the time.
- Your nipples will not be as sore as it gets when exclusively breastfeeding. Neither they will be bitten or chewed upon by the teething babies.
- You will always have emergency stash for baby
- Most of the bottle-fed babies sleep for longer time at night than breastfed babies. It varies from baby to baby. My kid would wake up in every 2-3 hours.
- You can go back to working or just having sometime to yourself without worrying about baby being fed
Disadvantages:
- There is so much work involved like maintaining hygiene and sterilising bottles and equipment.
- It is expensive
- It can be painful
- You may have to carry your pump around and find a place to pump. People in western countries are getting used to breastfeeding babies in public so hopefully soon pumping in public will be normalised.
If you are pumping successfully and/or exclusively then great. You can follow the below guidelines to be successful in breastfeeding and pumping or go exclusive pumping:
- Everyday you need the baby to directly breastfeed to keep the supply up
- Use the paced bottle-feeding style so that baby doesn’t get the nipple confusion
- Breastmilks need to be labelled and stored in freezer properly
- Follow the instruction manual of the pumping device properly and invest in an electric pump so that your hands can be free.
- Set aside time to pump -be it at work or home as you need a quiet and relaxed place
- Maintain hygiene, wash hands, sterilise the bottles, clean the pump.
- Pump after feeding the baby or in mornings.
These links have great tips on pumping:
Ameda.com – This link gives tips on how long to pump for.
Below link from Kelly Mom gives great tips and tricks on pumping.
Resources: Working & Pumping Tips
In short, it’s your baby and it’s your choice, to exclusively breastfeed or exclusively pump or both or exclusively formula feed as long as you and your baby are happy and healthy and that is what matters the most, isn’t it?
The idea is to get all relevant information and then make an informed decision. 😊
Below are links to further read to help you through your journey as a pumping mum:
If you want to read more to help you decide what is the best solution for you, read the below articles:
Moms loves best – On pumping vs Breastfeeding
IrishTimes article on breast milk and pumping
TruthAboutNursing discusses on direct latching and pumping
Video demonstrating how to pace feed bottle which is helpful when you want to avoid nipple confusion and/or continue to have direct breastfeeding along with expressed bottle feeding:
Paced Bottle Feeding For The Breastfed Baby (Video)
Some video links are below to get tips on pumping:
Top 5 Doctor Mom Tips for Pumping Breastmilk at Work
Tips for Increasing BREASTMILK SUPPLY | How to POWER PUMP | Foods to Produce More Milk | Birth Doula
Below links to articles provide great tips on pumping:
Winding / Burping:
After feeds it is essential to burp your newborn as sometimes if the latch isn’t correct then air can go in and also that tummy of the newborn isn’t very strong so they might be in discomfort so burping them is essential.
- Below are the videos for winding and some baby hacks
- Some exercises to help release gas in baby:
- You can also massage the tummy of the baby with a little pressure. Make sure your hands are warm and then put it on the baby’s tummy and do some circular motions in clockwise motion. You can also pretend to write, ”I Love U” on the tummy massaging the tummy.
- Some more burping techniques
Breastfeeding Support Groups / Mothers Support Groups
Being part of a like minded support group is very crucial. This gives you the opportunity to see that you are not alone in this journey and most of the mothers are going through the same kind of issues.
It used to be easier in olden days and still to some extent if you are from Eastern part of the world where you have a whole village to help you take care and raise your baby. Grandparents come to live with the new parents and provide them all the support they need until they are comfortable with the whole new world. Then this gesture is paid forward. I understand, in modern world it is impossible as most of us don’t live near your parents.
I had the privilege of having my parents with me for the first 9 weeks of the baby. It was heaven, my baby would sleep on me while my mum would feed me. If I had to go out for walk or just even take a shower my father or mother would put the baby to sleep on their shoulders while rocking or walking.
When they left for their home I was lost, depressed and unhappy so I got in touch with friends that I made during my pregnancy yoga and we formed a What’s app group. We will discuss our issues and get advices or just vent out if we were having a bad day and it helped. We would meet once a week. I would try and make it there. I wasn’t very confident bringing my baby anywhere out of the house, but when I forced myself to do for the first time, I felt great as I did it all on my own.
After that I joined Cuidiu and Facebook group for Breastfeeding mothers and I would ask my concerns and get views or suggestions from other mothers and it was so comforting.
I also asked around my neighbourhood if there were any new moms who would like to meet up with their babas. We started meeting for playdates and for coffee or walks, it was just life changing. I started feeling myself again.
Check with your Public Health Nurse to know about your local breastfeeding support groups or just new parents meet up.
You just need to push yourself, get help from anyone and everyone, be shameless.
Some links to breastfeeding support groups:
Some Online Support groups for Breastfeeding mothers are:
Extended Breastfeeding Ireland
If you are interested below are some more great articles to read on breastfeeding:
HSE advice on newborn breastfeeding
La Leche League
Some common Myths busted:
The below link deals with the in general myths like doubting yourself if you are producing enough milk as baby is feeding in every couple of hours and so on.
FamilyEducation – on common myths and realities on early breastfeeding
If you think you are not pumping enough milk:
