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October 2, 2007 | Print

The Realities of Breastfeeding the First Month and Why It’s Not That Bad

Breastfeeding is natural, which means our bodies are ready to nurse, once we get our minds around the how to do it part.

When we start nursing, we crave those small details about how other moms manage–the leaking, the positions, the lots of feeding.

It’s these honest answers that help us keep perspective on our own experience. Like in the beginning it’s normal for breasts to sprout milk without warning, especially during job interviews and sex.

The first month of breastfeeding can be the most intense because of all the adjustments, and of course recovering from giving birth. By the end of those four weeks, we know what works for us and our babies. We’re on our way.

Looking back, it wasn’t so hard–worth all the effort and we discover a new confidence.

A few thoughts about how set the stage for an easier beginning:

Support: Support is key to navigating the early weeks–just because moms can manage on our own doesn’t mean we should. We recommend two in person visits with a lactation consultant. She observes latch on and position, and always offers a few tips we didn’t know we needed. Postpartum doulas can be helpful too.

We also call different consultants and moms until we find the person who’s got the advice for our particular situation/personality.

Latch on: It’s all about the latch on. Watching the latch on video at the Pump Station and meeting with a lactation consultant are the best ways we learn how to lead newborns to good latch ons, so they get milk and we don’t get hurt.

Position: For us as well as our babies. Newborns may feel light to carry, but after a few days of nursing we can strain our backs, necks and arms. We create 2-3 nursing spots in the house where we have good pillows to prop up our arms and backs.

Water: We drink lots of water to help our postpartum recovery and milk production. We keep water bottles at each nursing place so we don’t have to carry one around with us.

Diet: It’s important to eat a lot, and we loosely stick to a breastfeeding diet. Our experience is most newborns are sensitive to some of the foods we eat.

Leaking: Leaking varies for us. With our first babies we had a lot of leaking in the beginning, especially during nursing from the non-nursing breast. We develop a system of either disposable pads (change as soon as wet to avoid thrush) or cotton diapers which we prop under the leaking breast during feeds.

If we keep our sense of humor, the spontaneous leaking (meaning when we’re not nursing) is mostly funny.

Feeding all the time: Newborns like to nurse. Sometimes every half hour which means a half hour from when we finished the last breastfeeding session. We feed our kids on demand and have no problems guiding them towards feeds every few hours as they get older.

That said, it’s important to observe babies’ individual cues and patterns. Crying doesn’t always mean hunger or need to nurse for comfort. They might want to cuddle or walk around the house.

And on occasion we nurse and they keep crying and wanting to nurse until we’re too tired to continue. We give ourselves a break, hold them and let them go through being upset.

Burping: Often newborns fall asleep while nursing which seems fantastic until they wake 20 minutes later because they’re gassy. We try to follow feeds with burping, and if our babies fall asleep, we prop them up on our shoulder and rub their backs a bit to help the air bubbles move through.

Keep perspective: Creating a breastfeeding approach is the best way to avoid the dire predictions that float around when we’re tired and cranky–the ones that try to convince us it’ll be this hard forever. It won’t.

Also helpful:
The Essential Breastfeeding Products for Getting Started
Postpartum Survival Tips

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