79: Top 3 Tips to Successfully Initiate Breastfeeding
Takeaways
Get your baby skin to skin ASAP for better outcomes.
Skin to skin helps regulate baby's heart rate and temperature.
Feeding early and often is crucial for milk production.
Cue-based feeding allows babies to take what they need when they need it.
Avoid strict feeding schedules to prevent hangry babies.
Seek help immediately if nursing is painful or uncomfortable.
Temporary solutions can lead to more problems without support.
Have a contact person ready for breastfeeding support.
It's better to address issues early than to wait.
Today I want to share the top three most important things to remember when it comes to initiating breastfeeding successfully from day one. Now, there are as you can imagine, many nuanced and varied situations but if you remember and implement these three things- you will have better success with your breastfeeding goals.
They are: get your baby skin to skin asap, feed early and often, and get help at the first sign of a problem or uncertainty.
Skin to skin is physiologically regulating for both mom and baby. Everything from baby’s heart rate, breathing, ability to calm, temperature regulation, and even how they digest their milk are all measurably improved when the skin of their body is in contact with the skin of your body. So tell your birth support team you want your baby to be put on you immediately (or asap), and to be kept there while they do their initial newborn assessment. And if your baby has a medical reason to be assessed elsewhere, then no matter how long it takes- even weeks for extreme cases- get back to skin to skin when you can.
When babies are put skin to skin on their mother after they’re born, they use their senses and newborn reflexes to get to your nipple to latch. It’s really cool when a baby is put skin to skin after birth, does a breast crawl (which can take like an hour bc it includes rest breaks), and then self latches. Sometimes depending on the birth they need some help, sometimes they don’t need help but handsy helpful nurses like to attach them but, just do your best and simply remember skin to skin is baby’s best friend.
Feed early and often. This means cue based feeding. For super sleepy babies they may need a little rousing but most full term infants stir, stretch, and eventually cry if they aren’t fed right away. But feeding early and often means your body is getting the signals it needs for you to produce more milk and it gives your baby lots of practice to get really good at latching and nursing. When we push clock schedules too soon, it can mean trying to feed an over hungry baby and I don’t know about you but I don’t learn new skills well while hangry. So skip the clock schedule for now and feed early and often.
And lastly, get help as soon as you suspect things aren’t going well. Nursing with pain or discomfort will likely end up in nipple damage and possibly other feeding problems. For some babies that means they aren’t getting what they need in calories, others may be growing well but nursing becomes dreaded for the mom. Neither are sustainable or what you want.
All too often moms are given a temporary Bandaid like a nipple shield, supplementation recommendations, or triple feeding suggestions- without proper explanation or follow up support. This leads to more work, more exhaustion, and without the right plan it can lead away from your actual feeding goals. So have that contact in your back pocket and call asap if there’s a bump in the road. Better to call and things are okay, then to wait and things were not and now they are worse.
So there you have it, the top three most important things to remember when it comes to initiating breastfeeding successfully: get your baby skin to skin ASAP, feed early and often, and get help at the first sign if you have a problem or uncertainty.
If you have a question or need a little more info on a topic. Please reach out at Barbara@feedingbyjanuary.com, and I’ll see you next week!