Breastfeeding Facts

1. They breastfeed, they don't nipple feed. Their tongue sticks out a bit and they use it compress the boob skin together. So It's boob skin in between tongue and top lip. This means pretty much your whole areola is not visible. That's a good tip to know baby's got a good latch.

2. Their head should be looking slightly up (at you) - chin up. This means the nipple is completely out of the way of the top and bottom of their mouth, so it cannot be (painfully) pinched.

3. Height - they should be looking up at the nipple. You might want to use a breastfeeding pillow to help bring baby high enough in the early days - literally place it around your waist (for some reason I seemed to put it under the side I was feeding from which didn't really help!). Avoid using after the first few weeks because it can actually make the latch harder, as they don't need lifting up so high when they get bigger, otherwise they end up looking down on the boob and start nipple feeding (ouch!)

4. They say nose in line with nipple - it's easy to place them too high with their nose past your nipple, so shunting them along so their head is further towards your centre and in line with the nipple is key. We often have a picture in our heads of a baby feeling whilst in the mothers arms and we naturally place a baby to rest its head on our elbow, but for a newborn and for feeding this is too far out of the centre of your body.

5. By lining them up nose to nipple it encourages them to open their mouth wide in order to get the nipple into their mouth, meaning a nice mouthful of breast, keeping the nipple out of the way of compression.

6. A good latch should create a seal and mean they get a proper mouthful of breast (meaning your nipple is out of the way).

7. Clicking suggests air is getting in and the seal is broken.

8. I would get often get my daughter latched on and be holding her head in my hand and then sort of get stuck! I couldn't work out how to sit comfortably and do it, I could literally just keep sliding my hand down until her head rested on my forearm and sit back - phew! There's one thing getting it right and another getting comfy. try to get comfy as soon as possible to avoid back pain.

9. Remember you can lose a latch half way through a feed so keep an eye. Some baby's get a bit lazy and doze off quickly meaning the aren't paying attention and lose the latch. Making baby a bit less warm and have a few prods to keep them feeding well for a bit longer can help.

10. You are both learning something new so it takes time, patience and commitment and it will take several weeks before feeding is completely established.

11. It should be comfortable.

12. Be prepared to feed basically constantly, in the first weeks you will be a milking machine!

13. Feeding your baby on demand is the best way to encourage sufficient milk supply and ensure your baby gets as much as it needs, when it needs it.

14. A good latch, breastfeeding on demand with lots of skin to skin and general contact, communication, self confidence, interaction and cuddles is the key to making plenty of milk for your baby.

15. Your baby will feed until you feel like there is only dust left, this is to encourage your body to make more. This is not a sign of not having enough milk.

16. Your body will prioritise providing nutrition for your baby, meaning that if nutrients are not available they will be taken from your stores; however it is ideal to eat a nourishing and sustaining diet to avoid you feeling low in energy and mood. The key is fat and protein! See my tips HERE

17. Understand about some of the below breastfeeding issues BEFORE you have your baby so you have strategies to help yourself before you even have your baby.

18. Try other positions. With a newborn there are two nice positions to do first up that you may find easier than the classic position described above. Firstly, the rugby ball and secondly lying back with baby on your chest. See below for videos.

19. Cuddling your baby, holding them, using a sling instead of a pram sometimes, using a bedside crib are all way to keep your baby close to you to, helping to establish breastfeeding.

20. Breastfeeding is 90% determination and 10% knowledge. Use the resources you have an get help and support, don't wait to be helped go out and get it and don't leave hospital until you feel confident and if you do, know where to get support. Ensure your partner is as on board with breastfeeding as you are.

21. Your milk won't come in straight away and baby will be ratty! This is NORMAL, especially in the first 5-7 days. You won't feel like your breasts are full, you won't leak, you won't be able to express much initially; this is NOT a sign of low supply it is NORMAL. Colostrum will keep them going, it's extremely energy Dense. If there is a genuine delay in milk production or you need to hurry it up use a proper pump (like the one in hospital they can lend you)

Here are 10 videos provided by the lovely lactation consultant Lucy Webber covering topics such as how to latch a baby, increasing supply, pain free feeding, frequent feeding and positions. See her website here: https://www.lucywebberbreastfeeding.co.uk

Please note I don't offer a lactation consultancy, but I can work with you one to one if your baby is struggling with reflux, skin problems, or you have a condition such as low thyroid function that is affecting your milk supply.

Book Your Initial Call Now!

Help! It's Not Going To Plan

Being told, don't worry just bottle feed doesn't help a mother who wants to breastfeed her baby. Women are often affected by feeding challenges for the rest of their lives and feel guilt and inadequacy. If someone has wanted to feed their baby and hasn't been able to the most likely reason is lack of information and support. The truth is our information and support is just not good enough and that's why I want to help the boobs of the future. If a mother wants to breastfeed her baby I will do all I can help her.

Below are some reasons why you may be struggling and what to do about it.

Firstly, if you have to express colostrum because latching has not happened within enough time to feed baby hand express it. Do not use a pump, the colostrum is too thick and will be wastes as you can't get it out the bottle the machine has expressed it into. Hand express with the help of a health professional and feed baby with a syringe. Later, if still expressing (will be with a machine at this point) when your milk comes in feed from a cup not a bottle to discourage nipple feeding techniques establishing in your baby.

1. Mucousy Baby

When my daughter was born she was full of mucous and couldn't breathe very well through her nose. In order to breastfeed the baby has to breath through its nose, so she found it hard to latch because she couldn't breath! She cleared this within 24 hours but initially I had to hand express, but kept trying to latch her all the time and have lots of skin to skin cuddles.

2. Tongue Tie

This is an increasingly common issue and is poorly picked up upon, so you need to know about it so you can ask for it to be dealt with quickly. If you wait util you have left hospital for example you will have to wait for an appointment meaning several weeks of uncomfortable feeding. many women stop before their baby's tongue tie has been snipped because it hurts too much, so acting quickly is key. Taking the right supplements (not synthetic folic acid) in pregnancy can massively reduce the risk of tongue tie. If your baby is struggling to latch and or feeding is very painful tongue tie may be a cause. This is where the baby's tongue has grown attached to the base of the mouth in one or more places, meaning the tongue is not free to move around. You can check this by seeing if baby if able to stick their tongue out, or if you can move your finger freely under their tongue. If it is tied, it can be cut and the sooner the better.

2. Poor Latch

This can lead to pain, decreased supply and increased wind in baby. Get support from the info on this page or find a lactation consultant that you can work with in person, or walk into your local midwife clinic. Buy yourself time by expressing, initially by hand and then wit the electric pump

3. State of Mind

Be relaxed - I know this is hard when you want to feed your baby and things are not going to plan, but you WILL get there. Be kind to yourself and your baby as you are both learning. If you are stressed, baby will pick up on it and find it harder to learn a new skill.

4. Skin to Skin

Being close to you helps the baby smell the milk and learn to understand its hunger queues. It also helps you make more of the love hormone called oxytocin which encourages you to make milk. If baby is in its cot or pram a lot it can reduce feeding queues and reduce the chances of breastfeeding becoming established. This is most relevant in the fist few weeks.

5. Eating On The Go

Feeding yourself well whilst feeding your bay can become less of a priority at a time when your needs seem to be very much second or third on the list. However, if you are fed well you can feed your baby well. The best thing a visitor or partner can do is to cook for you. See HERE for pointers.

6. Sore?

If you have got to the point where you are already sore using creams and airing the area can help to heal you up nice and quickly. Walking about with your nipples out may look funny but if it works who cares! This cream is very very good: https://www.odylique.co.uk/organic-nipple-balm.html

7. Thyroid Problems

Having an underactive thyroid can reduce milk production. The majority of thyroid problems are not detected on standard medical tests. Meaning many women have thyroid problem before conception and may have had fertility issues as a result. If reproduction has just been forced without looking at what is going on, the problem may then affect her ability to feed her baby. Symptoms include hair thinning, neck pain/stiffness, hoarse voice weight gain or loss, irregular cycle, feeling the cold, fatigue, skin pigmentation, swelling, muscle aches for example. See your GP if you think this is relevant to you. Fixing this is possible but is too complicated to highlight here, get in touch HERE to work with me.

8. Social Anxiety

Remember that stories about people saying horrible things to breastfeeding mothers make better stories than ones about people who didn't comment or think anything, or even thought about it being great. Very few people actually have a problem with it. Most tops you lift up to feed meaning nothing can be seen anyway. It sometimes feels like everyone is looking at you but in reality no one has noticed (they are all looking at their phones!). You are feeding your baby not doing a strip tease, boobs have a function to feed babies, a separate role from a sexual one, in a completely different context. They are just boobs, society needs to grow up.

9. Fear of Failure

Some women would rather not try than fail. In my experience, this seems to be especially common for healthcare professionals due to the extra pressure to know what they are doing. This is an unfair assumption, I had a kind midwife tell me it took her 3 weeks to establish breastfeeding when she had her baby, but she got there and told me I could too. It is really important that you see your feeding journey as unique from others' experiences and not a reflection on your abilities. Parenting is all about doing the best you can and getting things wrong is an essential part of that. It is important our children see us make mistakes, because that is how we learn! They need to see us cope and create solutions to problems, they will never see this if we breeze through with no challenges. No on ever did anything amazing without a failed attempt. You are enough!

10. Baby Has Reflux

Getting your gut environment, emotions, diet and supplements right before baby arrives is a very powerful preventative. However there is so much you can do if you do find that your breastfed baby is uncomfortable. Our focus is to change the types of bugs in your gut and therefore also your baby's gut and remove any foods that could be causing irritation, as well as ensuring the presence of soothing foods. See HERE for more guidance.

11. Structural Problems

Having an assisted birth (forceps, cesarean, or ventuce), or an extended down phase during labour can increase the chances of minor injury which may involve altering the shape of baby's head or nose for example. Sometimes it is painful for baby to feed because of this, or it affects their breathing, Seeing a good cranial osteopath can work wonders. You may find that feeding on one side is easier than another and in the short term you may decide to express the milk from one side and feed only from one side.

12. Wrong Advice

You often don't chose who looks after you after having your baby and in our risk averse culture despite woman saying they want to breastfeed the response is often 'give them a bottle'. This advice can be varied from calling it mixed feeding, top ups or just moving onto formula entirely. The obsession with babies putting on weight after 5 days is damaging, I don't know a woman who hasn't been nagged about weight gain which means the expectations are wrong if no breastfed baby is meeting the requirements. If you baby has not lost as much as 10% of its body weight but takes longer to start gaining, this equals out! Tops ups can be a hard habit to break for mother and baby and start a cycle of self doubt. Taking a bottle a after a breastfeed is not a sign of hunger or not getting enough. Get a second opinion, talk things through with friends and family and if you do need to use top ups stop as soon as you can.

13. Difficult Labour

Assisted delivery with forceps can be particularly uncomfortable for baby and hard on your body too, some medications also affect milk production negatively that you might have been exposed to in labour. There's a chance your milk will take longer to come in, so get on the industrial electric pump to stimulate it. Knowing the reason that you may be struggling can be liberating and help you change it. You may want to consider cranial osteopathy ASAP for baby to help with alignment issues which can affect feeding.

Please note I don't offer a lactation consultancy, but I can work with you one to one if your baby is struggling with reflux, skin problems, or you have a condition such as low thyroid function that is affecting your milk supply.

Book Your Initial Call Now!

A Funny Video Mocking Issues With Breastfeeding:

Helpful Resources

Lucy Webber Breastfeeding: https://www.lucywebberbreastfeeding.co.uk

Lucy also has a brilliant and informative Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/lucywebberbreastfeeding/?ref=bookmarks

Human Milk:

https://www.human-milk.com/natural.html

National Breastfeeding Helpline open everyday:

0300 100 0212

The Positive Breastfeeding Book by Prof Amy Brown

Buy HERE

Breastfeeding Myth Busting

There are so many! Where do I start?!

If we remember that we are mammals who have evolved being fed by our mothers, it is easier to feel confident that breast milk is all your baby needs. However, at such a vulnerable time when we can lose confidence and have so many people put their beliefs and expectations on us, it is easy to see why some of these myths have not yet become extinct!

1. Formula will help your baby sleep - babies are supposed to wake up, the method they are fed makes no difference to this.

2. Dads need to bond with baby over food - there are plenty of ways dad can bond with abby, both parents don't need to do the same things. Skin to skin cuddles are a great way to bond in the early days. It's about baby's needs now.

3. You should get some sleep and let someone help you out - when we breastfeed with release a chemical that helps us fall back to sleep quickly.. On paper the frequent wakes can sound awful, but in reality the body can cope better than we think. If someone wants to help they can tidy the house, cook you a meal, put a wash on; not take your baby away from you.

4. Taking a bottle after a breastfeed means the breastfeed did not satisfy baby. It's a bit like managing an ice cream after a steak and chips, it will slide down but we didn't need it.

5. Full breasts mean you have loads milk, 'empty' breasts means not enough milk. Empty breasts are good because they tell the body to make more milk, full breasts suggest over supply. Both are normal. Remember, breasts are never empty there is always some there.

6. Breastfeeding is easy - it can be hard work, but like all the best things that take work, it is very rewarding.

7. Breastfeeding helps you lose weight - In order to prioritise your baby's nutrition your body may need to burn your stores to provide enough nutrition for your baby. Ideally, your body should be slowing its metabolism to protect stores and ensure they are left for a rainy day, rather than everyday needs. This means that actually weight gain is perfectly normal when breastfeeding.

8. Breastfed babies don't need to poo everyday. Not going to the toilet at least once per day may suggest the baby is not getting enough milk and so latching and mother's health need to be looked at and supported.

9. Having a big baby means it will be harder to breastfeed them and you may need to have a pet cow in your house to help you feed your baby. What rubbish! Your body made your baby; it is no harder to feed a big baby than a small baby.

10. Breastfeeding is for babies. Toddlers benefit hugely from breast milk not just nutritionally but for immune support including cancer prevention. It is also a great tool during the 18 month sleep regression!

11. Breastfeeding when pregnant is harmful. There is no risk to the growing baby if you are also feeding your older child. Once you've had the baby your body can detect who you are feeding by detecting the child's salvia and will produce the right milk for the right baby! Tandem feeding is a normal part of human reproduction.

Please note I don't offer a lactation consultancy, but I can work with you one to one if your baby is struggling with reflux, skin problems, or you have a condition such as low thyroid function that is affecting your milk supply.

Book Your Initial Call Now!

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The Baby Revolution

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