Preparation and Getting Started

1.  Preparation during pregnancy

  • Advance breast preparation is not necessary.
  • Things to know about your breasts.
  • Helpful supplies to have at home for breastfeeding.

2.  Getting started breastfeeding

  • Newborns are not born hungry, but need to suck.
  • Breastfeeding issues on your birth plan.
  • Baby's first food: Colostrum.
  • Promoting early breastfeeding success while in the hospital.

3.   Positioning and Latch On

  • Demonstration of positions for breastfeeding:
  • (football, cradle, across the lap, lying down).
  • The how-to's of latching on.
  • Signs of a good breastfeeding in both Mom and Baby.
  • Positioning and posture tips for Moms to make breastfeeding comfortable.

4.  Breast Care while breastfeeding

  • Soaps and creams on your breasts.
  • Bras and breastfeeding.

5.  Mother's Diet while breastfeeding

  • No special diet needed.
  • Figuring out what may be making your baby fussy.

6.   Sore Nipples

  • Breastfeeding shouldn't hurt.
  • Tips for nursing when your nipples are already sore.

7.   Feeding your Newborn

  • Healthy newborns feed 8-10 times in 24 hrs.
  • Waking the baby for adequate feedings.
  • How to wake a sleepy baby.

8.   Engorgement

  • Why does engorgement happen?
  • Working through engorgement and staying comfortable.
  • Use of ice packs, cabbage leaves, pumping and showers.
  • When will engorgement end?

9.   Support for the breastfeeding Mother

  • Mom's responsibility is only to feed the baby and rest.
  • Dad can help support breastfeeding too.
  • Ideas for family members that want to help.

10.   Two Weeks to Six Weeks

  • Adjusting to life with your baby.
  • Appetite Spurts, when they happen, what they are.
  • Nursing in public.
  • What to do about leaking milk?

11.  Dealing with a Fussy Baby

  • Use of pacifiers with breastfed babies.
  • How babies get over stimulated.
  • Caffeine, nicotine, and others drugs in mother's milk.
  • Fluoride, vitamins, and iron supplements.
  • Medications that may help relieve gas in baby.

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Did You Know?

A Few Facts about Breastfeeding

  • Nursing babies need no other food for at least 4-6 months...not even water!
  • A little breast milk is better than none.  Even one feeding of mother's first milk (colostrum) is helpful for the baby.
  • Most nursing mothers do not have to avoid favorite foods, and they do not have to drink milk to make milk.
  • Sore nipples are not caused by the length of feeding.
  • Breastfeeding should not be painful - if it is, please contact us or an IBCLC Lactation Consultant for help
  • Completely breastfed babies rarely get constipated.
  • Women who have breastfed a baby have a reduced risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer.
  • Pregnancy may cause breasts to sag - breastfeeding doesn't.
  • There are many ways to combine working and nursing.  Moms do it every day!

Why Should I Breastfeed?

Reasons That Breast Milk is the Best Milk!

  • Breast milk is the ONLY complete source of all the nutrients your baby needs.
  • Breast milk is free and always ready.
  • Breast milk is ideal for brain growth.
  • Nursing encourages proper alignment of teeth and good speech development.
  • Breastfed babies have fewer ear infections, stomach upsets, tooth decay, allergies and other illnesses than formula-fed babies.
  • Breastfed babies are less likely to develop juvenile-onset diabetes (Type I diabetes) and certain kinds of cancer.
  • Nursing hormones are soothing to the new mother.
  • Breastfeeding helps the mother's body return to its pre-pregnant shape and burns extra calories every day.
  • Breastfed babies can be nursed discreetly anywhere.

 

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