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Breastfeeding Basics

Breastfeeding made easy

Breastfeeding Basics

If you've decided to try breastfeeding, start as soon after your baby's birth as possible.

First, find a comfortable position for yourself. You can nurse your baby while lying on your side or sitting up. If you are lying down, cradle your newborn's head in your arm. If you are sitting, make sure your arms are supported. You can use a firm pillow to cushion and support the arm that is holding the baby. Try to stay warm and comfortable when you nurse. Your milk flows more easily if you are warm and relaxed.

Baby Doctor

The size of your breasts has nothing to do with the amount of milk you can produce. So don't fear that you might be inadequate just because your breasts are smaller than your sister's or your friend's.

Your baby feeds and digests better if she's not lying flat, so hold her up at a slight angle with her head resting in the crook of your arm and her back nestled along your forearm.

Remember, your baby has never done this before; you have to teach her what to do. Start by taking advantage of the rooting reflex . To get your baby to turn toward your breast, gently stroke her cheek with a finger or your nipple. When she turns, lift your breast and gently guide your nipple into her mouth. She'll know instinctively what to do next. As she sucks, make sure she takes most of your areola into her mouth. If she sucks on just the nipple, she won't get the milk she needs, and your breasts will soon be sore, sore, sore.

During the first few weeks, while your baby gets used to feeding from your breast, feed her as little as possible from a bottle. Formula (or breast milk) flows much more easily from a bottle than from your breast. (You may find this hard to believe once your milk starts flowing-and leaking onto your shirts.) Bottles may confuse your baby and make it more difficult for her to learn how to draw milk from your breast.

No Need to Count Calories

Q-tip

Try to alternate the breast that your baby feeds from first, because he is likely to suck longer on the first breast than the second. Use a safety pin on your bra strap as a reminder. Or start every morning with the same breast. Chances are, you'll know exactly how many times your baby has fed throughout the day, so it will be easy to remember with which breast to start (the first breast of the day at all odd feedings and the other breast at all even feedings).

At first, your baby nurses as often as every two hours or even more frequently. By the time he's two months old, though, he slows down to about once every four hours. He will, however, be eating more at each feeding than he did as a newborn.

Let your baby determine how much you feed him. Though you should switch breasts after 5 or 10 minutes, continue to feed him until he stops showing interest in sucking on the second breast.

Don't worry that you may run out of milk. Because your baby's sucking stimulates further milk production, your body makes as much as your baby needs. If he eats a lot, your breasts produce a lot. Only if your baby wets fewer than six diapers a day should you worry that you aren't producing enough milk or your child isn't eating enough.

When your baby has finished eating, release him from your breast by gently slipping a finger into the corner of his mouth. This action breaks the suction and makes it much easier-and a lot less painful-to slip your breast out of his mouth.

Calories and expressing milk

Still Eating for Two: the Nursing Diet

To maintain your milk supply, avoid dehydration, and get the nutrients you and your baby need, you need to eat and drink more (and more carefully) while nursing than you usually do. Follow these guidelines:

• Eat 500 more calories a day than you normally would.
• Maintain a well-balanced diet, high in protein.
• Avoid very spicy foods, which may give your baby an upset stomach.
• Drink plenty of fluids (between two and three quarts a day). Fluids with caffeine or alcohol, both of which dehydrate the body, don't count-and in fact require additional fluid supplementation.
• Drink extra milk or take calcium supplements to up your calcium intake.
• Drink little or no alcohol.
• Ask your doctor whether you should take iron or vitamin supplements.

As long as you are still eating for two, these dietary guidelines will keep you-and your baby-thriving.

Pumping Up: Expressing Breast Milk

Some breastfeeding mothers find it convenient to "express" milk from their breasts between feedings. Expressing your milk allows you to store your breast milk for later bottle feedings. You can maintain your baby's primary or exclusive diet of breast milk and still manage to take a break while other caregivers feed her.

You can express breast milk manually or with a manual breast pump. (Many women find the suction of electric breast pumps painfully strong.) Whichever you choose, you will want a quiet, private, relaxing place to do it. No matter how comfortable you feel breastfeeding with other people around, expressing milk will definitely not be something you want to do in public. So if you have returned to work and want to continue feeding your child primarily breast milk, ask your employer whether it's possible to arrange for the time (one or two 20-minute breaks) and space (ideally a quiet room) you need to express your milk.

To express milk by hand:

1. Cup one breast in both hands with your thumbs on top.
2. Massage your breast with gentle but firm squeezes to stimulate the flow of milk. Start with the outer part of your breast, and then massage closer to your areola. After placing the thumb and fingers of one hand near the areola, press them gently and rhythmically against your ribs. This pumping action should stimulate a flow of milk.
3. Continue pumping for about five minutes, collecting the breast milk in a bowl or small pitcher. Then start all over again with the other breast.
4. Continue expressing milk until the flow slows down from a stream to drops.

To express milk using a manual pump:

1. Place the funnel-shaped shield over your nipple.
2. Rhythmically squeeze and release the handle to create a vacuum that should draw out a flow of milk and transfer it directly into a bottle. If the pump is painful or doesn't seem to work, try another kind. Not all pumps work alike.

Baby Doctor

DO NOT thaw or reheat breast milk in a microwave. Microwave heating may destroy the immunities that would otherwise be transmitted to your baby.

Whether using your hands or a pump, it may help stimulate the flow of milk if you first take a warm bath or shower or place a warm washcloth over your breast. Whichever method you use, stop and try again later if expressing your milk causes any pain. It should be a painless procedure.

As soon as you have finished, put the milk into a sterile jar or bottle and seal it to keep it germ-free. Refrigerate or freeze it immediately so that it won't spoil. (Breast milk lasts up to 24 hours in a refrigerator; frozen milk lasts up to six months.) When you need a bottle, thaw or warm the milk by running it under warm water or letting it sit in a pan of warm water.