Feeling alone? Here is breastfeeding help to see you through!
Breastfeeding your baby can, and should, be a beautiful and bonding experience. But difficulties can arise which are challenging to overcome without proper breastfeeding help. Below are several of the most common difficulties new moms encounter when beginning breastfeeding their infants, and suggestions for how to help:
- Breastfeeding after a c-section
It is certainly possible to nurse your baby after a cesarean, and in fact desirable. However, finding a position that doesn’t put pressure on your incision can be a challenge. Use the football hold when nursing, which will minimize the weight of the baby on you, nurse in the side lying position, or place the Chéri over your incision before nursing in the classic cradle or cross cradle holds.
- Improper latch
Often, a mother doesn’t realize that her baby has latched on improperly. It may be pain that makes her realize everything isn’t right, or hearing from the pediatrician that her baby isn’t gaining weight. In either scenario, learning what a proper latch looks like and helping your baby latch on properly ensures that the issue will be resolved quickly. Hold your baby tightly against your body so that his nose touches your breast. (Don’t worry about him suffocating - look at the shape of his nostrils and you will right away see that he will get air even when his faced is pressed against you.) Hold your breast with your thumb on top and four fingers below. Compress your breast with your thumb and index finger, and center the nipple in your baby’s mouth. Make sure that as much of the areola (dark area) as possible is in your baby’s mouth. Sometimes a mother starts off with a good latch but as her arm tires, the baby slips down and his mouth slips down as well, so he is sucking on the nipple.
Using a Chéri will insure that your baby doesn’t slip down while nursing, and help him maintain a successful latch.
- Sore/cracked nipples
Sore nipples usually result when a baby is not properly latched on, and is sucking mostly on the nipple. Cracking occurs when the situation continues without being dealt with and the damage becomes more severe. Some babies are also very enthusiastic nursers and suck very vigorously. See above for instructions on how to properly latch your baby on. Change the nursing positions you use, so that pressure from the sucking isn’t on the same area all the time. Begin nursing on the side that is less sore. Though your baby should be nursed frequently, avoid regular super long nursing sessions (over forty five minutes).
- Engorgement
Engorgement usually occurs on the second or third day postpartum, and is known as your “milk coming in.” Your breasts swell, and feel hard and painful to touch. Engorgement usually goes away within a few days, and can be eliminated, or at least minimized, by feeding your baby as soon as possible after the birth, and very frequently after that. To relieve engorgement, nurse your baby as often as possible. Using a warm compress before nursing will help the milk flow, and after feeding, a cold compress will provide comfort while reducing blood flow to the breast. It can also be helpful to express some milk before a feeding to make it easier for your baby to latch on.
- Nursing twins
Moms who are nursing more than one infant need to be twice as careful to take good care of themselves, since their time spent breastfeeding daily can be double the time the mom of a singleton spends. Nurse the babies at the same time as much as possible, putting the hungrier baby to the breast first, and then helping the second baby to latch on. Some suggested positions for twins, all with each baby well supported by his own pillow: double football hold; double cradle hold; baby no. 1 on right breast in cradle hold with baby no. 2 on left breast in football hold. Be willing to experiment with different combinations of positions to find what works best for you and your babies.
For more answers to any other breastfeeding questions you may have, look for La Leche League meetings that are local to your area. There you will be able to get support from other moms, as well as find help for other questions you may have.
Don’t give up - enjoying the special closeness with your nursing baby will make you glad you made the effort to overcome the tough times!
