I am very passionate about breastfeeding and very grateful to have been able to breastfeed our 10 babies. I talked about reasons for breastfeeing in Why Breastfeed. While I was nursing our last baby I earned a certificate as a breastfeeding specialist so I can help other moms and babies reach their breastfeeding goals.
This will be the first of 7 posts taken from emails that I wrote to a sweet mom-to-be to help her with breastfeeding and give advice for being a new mom. She soaked up the info I sent and did a great job nursing the baby she was expecting then, and a second baby who proved more challenging than the first.
This post is about establishing a Good Milk Supply. The others will cover:
- Signs that Baby’s Getting Enough
- Latch and Positioning
- Will it Hurt?
- Taking Care of Mom on Baby’s Schedule
- Safe Sleeping
- Making the Most of Pumping
I hope they can be of help to you, too.
A Good Milk Supply
Dear Mom-to-be,
Congratulations on your coming baby and your decision to breastfeed! To be successful at breastfeeding you’ll first need to help your body establish a good milk supply. To do that you’ll need to nurse your baby early and often. Here’s some information that can help:
- Speak up to your healthcare providers where your baby will be born to let them know you will be breastfeeding and you don’t need any formula.
- Have skin-to-skin time with Baby as soon as you can after birth. This stimulates the baby and your milk-making hormones, as well as keeping Baby warm and being precious moments. Make sure someone’s close by to help keep and eye on Baby, because you’ll probably be pretty worn out.
- Breastfeed baby within an hour after birth. Once again, it’s good milk stimulation and precious moments.
- Most babies can tell you when they’re hungry, so watch for cues like rooting, hand to mouth, panting, grunting, etc. Feed baby right away when you see these cues. If Baby gets really upset before they get fed it will be a lot harder to help them latch on.
- For babies that aren’t good about telling you when they’re hungry, feeding 8-12 times per day, or every 2 hours except one longer break are good guidelines.
- If something should get in the way of breastfeeding, you’ll need to express milk, by hand or pump, as often as baby would have eaten. This keeps up the milk supply. Ideally, Baby would be able to drink any expressed milk and not have formula, but that’s not always how it goes.
How to hand express – massage breast to encourage let down. Squeeze gently but firmly just behind the areola (darker part of the breast) to express milk. Repeat several times and rotate your hands to get as much as possible. You can stop when milk stops flowing. The colostrum in the first few days will be harder to get out than milk that comes later, and there won’t be much, but that’s ok. Colostrum is filling and Baby’s stomach is tiny.
I hope I’ve said this in a way that makes sense. I hope you got to put your feet up while you read this. Feel free to contact me with any questions.
Your friend, Anne
Click here for the next email about signs baby’s getting enough.
