Written by Andrina Wilson - Registered Midwife & Certified Holistic Sleep Consultant
Breastfeeding your baby can be one of the most incredible and rewarding experiences of your life. It isn’t always easy, but it is almost always worth it.
Patience & Perseverance
Although breastfeeding is one of the most important things you can do for your baby, it isn’t always easy from the get go. It takes time for both you and your baby to figure things out, but with a bit of perseverance, patience and our top tips below, you’ll be breastfeeding like a pro in no time our way again.
My #1 tip for any expectant mother who wishes to breastfeed is: Have realistic expectations.
How to establish successful feeding
Prepare before the birth
Before your baby is born, take the time to do a little research - talk to friends who have breastfed before and ask their experiences. Hopefully they are positive experiences but don’t be frightened if they tell you their “horror stories” - those are their stories and will not necessarily happen to you. Ask them about any challenges they faced and how they overcame them. It’s more than likely they will tell you that the first week or two was hard, but things improved from there.
You could watch a few breastfeeding videos, or learn how to express colostrum. Stanford Medical School has some great information about hand expressing breastmilk. You can give it a try yourself if you are over 36 weeks gestation, but unless your Lead Maternity Carer has suggested you express colostrum before your baby is born, avoid stimulating too much as this could lead to premature labour.
Skin to Skin
Before your baby is even born, ask your Lead Maternity Carer to put the baby skin to skin right away. This means that your baby will be delivered and immediately put onto your chest. Your midwife will dry the baby on your chest and only take them away if medically necessary. Keep your baby skin to skin for as long as possible, at least an hour and until well after your first breastfeed. This close contact helps babies to regulate their heartbeat, breathing and temperature and adapt to life in the outside world. It also stimulates your baby’s interest in feeding and you will often find they begin mouthing and looking for a nipple shortly after birth.
The First Feed
The first feed is very important. Ask your midwife to assist you to get a good latch, so you avoid any nipple damage from the word go.
Babies are often very alert and feed well at this first feed, before having a longer ‘recovery sleep’, so this feed (as well as the delivery of the placenta) stimulates your body to begin making milk.
Feed on Demand
Feeding on demand will help to bring in your milk and establish your milk supply, which means your baby will be satisfied at each feed and not fuss. There are of course reasons that your baby may fuss at the breast but if you have a good supply, you can rule out hunger.
Babies should be fed on demand rather than on a schedule. Midwives often suggest three hourly feeding as a minimum, but if your baby is hungry before then you should absolutely feed them. Three hourly is the maximum amount of time a newborn should go between feeds and this is three hours from the beginning of a feed to the beginning of the next feed.
So if your baby feeds for 45 minutes then you will put them to the breast again 2 hours, 15 minutes later (or earlier if they are interested). The exception to this is if you have established your breastfeeding relationship and supply and your baby has been gaining good amounts of weight, overnight you can let them sleep for a little longer.
Feeding on demand will help to bring in your milk and establish your milk supply, which means your baby will be satisfied at each feed and not fuss. There are of course reasons that your baby may fuss at the breast but if you have a good supply, you can rule out hunger.
