Breastfeeding Tips for New Moms
Plan to breastfeed about eight to 12 times in every 24-hour period. Your baby is good at giving hunger signals: rooting around searching for your nipple; putting his hand in his mouth; and looking increasingly alert. Always feed on demand.
Try not to introduce a bottle or other nipples, including pacifiers, until breastfeeding is well established. The thrusting motion required to nurse is different from that required to suck a nipple, and Baby could get confused.
Stay hydrated to ensure your body can make enough milk. A good idea is to sip from a glass of water when nursing.
Nurse in a calm environment to help your milk let down. After a while, all it will take for your milk to let down is unhooking your bra for your baby, or even just hearing any infant cry.
Common Breastfeeding Challenges
Here are the most common breastfeeding-related problems and how you can avoid them:
Sore and cracked nipples. Check the position of the baby when she latches on; smooth lanolin over your nipples after each nursing session; and let your nipples air dry after each nursing session. Also, alternate which breast you start on for each session. Put a safety pin or plastic bracelet on your wrist on the side of your bra that was just used to help you remember. And limit nursing to 5 to 10 minutes on each side initially until your nipples toughen up (just a few days). You should also not hear any clicking or sucking sound. If you do, the baby isn't positioned right. Bring Baby closer to you, and hold his head firmly so his mouth covers as much of the areola as possible.
Engorgement (overly full breasts) or blocked milk duct. Warm compresses, letting warm water run over your breasts in the shower, or laying cabbage leaves on your breasts can help relieve some of the pressure. You can also try pumping some milk between feedings.
Mastitis or breast infection. If you feel like you have the flu and one breast is red, hot and sore, you probably have mastitis. You'll likely need an antibiotic to clear up the infection. In the meantime, keep nursing and/or pumping on that side as much as you can, even though it hurts. To prevent mastitis, make sure you empty your breasts regularly. If you do take antibiotics, add a probiotic (good bacteria such as lactobacillus) supplement, or eat a container of live culture yogurt every day, to help prevent the next complication: thrush.
