I was a bit nervous about the unknowns, but overall I thought I was prepared for my breastfeeding journey. I took an in-person course with a local lactation consultant and a 6-course online series on breastfeeding and pumping prior to my daughter’s arrival. However, like most things in life, you learn on the job. I want to share the most valuable tips I learned from the very helpful labor and delivery nurses at the hospital and during my first few days at home.
Lesson 1: Things may not go as planned. I had painted a beautiful picture of how I would experience the “golden hour” of skin-to-skin right after my baby’s birth. However, after some glorious moments of holding my baby girl in my arms after the delivery, I was quickly passing her off to my husband to hold her safely as my midwife focused on controlling my excessive bleeding. It took about an hour until I was able to hold her again. With the help of a labor and delivery nurse, Alana was able to be guided to the breast, latch on, and take her first feed. Alana was not provided the opportunity to find the breast herself, but she was nourished with colostrum as her first feed, which was most important.
Lesson 2: A deep latch is key. When it becomes time for skin-to-skin, the nurse helped me guide Alana to the breast, aligning her nose to my nipple to encourage her to open her mouth wide to get a deep latch. She also helped align her head straight (her neck was not turned, which would make swallowing milk more difficult)
Lesson 3: Help the baby find the breast. To help the baby find the breast, I was provided the tip to express some colostrum with gentle hand massages and squeezes before guiding the baby to the breast. It also helped to hold the breast “like a sandwich” and hold it to the baby’s mouth until she latched on.
Lesson 4: Take breaks from breastfeeding. I learned feeding “on demand” does not mean baby should be sucking indefinitely on one or both of the breasts. My nurse explained Alana was losing valuable calories being kept on the breast making non-nutritive sucks, meaning she was not gaining milk when sucking. To remove the baby from the breast, I was taught a to sweep the pinky finger in her mouth like a hook, which helped remove the nipple from her mouth without any pulling.
Lesson 5: Your baby won’t follow a strict schedule. Newborns eat 8-12 times a day, which is about every 2-3 hours. Feeds should last about 30 minutes, or 15 minutes per side. However, these feeding timelines are a guide and timing them with a clock or an app just caused added stress. Every mom and baby dyad are unique and feeding times may vary greatly. Babies may be full after a short 5 minute feed or require much longer feeds when they are very sleepy.
I hope these shared lessons can help you avoid some of my first difficult moments with feedings. Please share any tips you learned during you first week of feedings!