Breastfeeding - How to guide

A simple guide to Breastfeeding:

• Sit comfortably
• Un-wrap your baby, this helps your baby to use her/his natural rooting instincts. Holding baby in skin-to-skin helps to calm baby and get baby ready to feed in the first few weeks.
• Bring baby to the natural resting position of your breast (do not lift or move the breast to meet your baby, bring baby to where your breast falls naturally)
• Hold your baby behind the back and shoulders, this will allow baby’s head to tilt back (NB* Very important that baby can tilt her head back)
• Baby should be snuggled in close (“super glued”) to your chest.

The way a baby takes the breast is very like the way we take a large mouthful of a hamburger. We tilt the hamburger up to put the underneath in our mouths first. We tilt our heads back & open our mouth wide to position our jaw under the hamburger. The further we place our jaw under the hamburger the bigger the mouthful we take. This is what your baby needs to do in order to get a full mouth of breast tissue, and feed correctly.

• Keep your nipple above the baby’s top lip & opposite baby’s nose, this will tease baby to start gaping his mouth wide open
• WAIT for VERY WIDE mouth, with tongue down! If baby is crying, calm her first and try again. A crying baby will have her tongue up and will not be able to attach to breastfeed correctly.
• When baby opens his mouth really wide to feed, ensure that baby’s head is also tilted back with the nipple pointing up to the palate. (see picture below – nipple pointing up to roof of bubs mouth and chin touching the breast because baby has tilted his head back to attach)
• Firmly push between baby’s shoulders, bringing baby on to the breast quickly.

• Baby will then begin sucking.

If you experience any pain, wait 30-60 seconds to see if it fades. It can be normal to experience some discomfort at first when you are still learning to breastfeed. If the pain continues after a minute, you are likely causing nipple damage, take baby off the breast and try again. Note that babies with a very strong suck can make breastfeeding painful for the first few weeks, however do not damage the breast tissue (even though it feels like they are!).

If you have sore or cracked nipples baby is NOT feeding correctly — seek breastfeeding support from a qualified breastfeeding specialist, preferably a Lactation Consultant.

Early nipple damage is a sign that baby is not taking in enough breast tissue and rather sucking on the nipple only. If baby keeps feeding like this, your nipple will become terribly sore and damaged and it will reduce your overall supply.

Try to watch when your baby sucks and when she swallows. A well-attached baby will suck once or twice only and then swallow (once the mature milk is in). A baby nipple sucking will often have to take many sucks to get a full mouth of milk before she swallows. This baby is working two or three times as hard to get the same amount of milk. These babies often fall asleep at the breast before they are finished. These babies tend to feed a lot! These babies never fully drain the breast, which leaves your breasts thinking you don’t want as much milk and therefore starts to reduce your supply.

Nearly all problems with breastfeeding are caused by poor attachment of baby to the breast. Seek help early on to prevent further issues.