Breastfeeding Tips 101 for New Moms: Latch, Positions, Pumping, Nipple Care, Colostrum

Hey everyone,

it's Sarah at the RegisteredNurseRN.com. And in this video,

I'm gonna be talking about breastfeeding,

specifically what to expect during those early days.

So, after you give birth to your baby,

your breasts are actually ready to feed your baby because they

have been preparing through your whole pregnancy for this moment.

And the first type of milk that your breasts are

gonna have ready for your baby is called Colostrum,

and colostrum is a unique-looking substance.

It's like this yellowish orange liquid

and it is jam packed full of nutrients that your

newborn needs during those first few days of life.

One thing it has in it are like immune

cells that's going to provide immune protection for your baby

from those outside germs.

So, you want to make sure that your baby is receiving this colostrum.

Now during this time,

your baby's stomach is extremely small.

It's like the size of a blueberry.

So you could just visualize how small that is.

That means they don't need a lot of colostrum,

but as the days go on,

the stomach's going to stretch to a bigger size.

So, your breasts know that.

And so, whenever you feel your breasts,

you may notice

they feel soft,

do I even have any milk in there?

You may be wondering,

am I even

producing milk? And you are the colostrum is in there.

So,

this is like a really crucial time.

This is when you want to be bringing your baby to your breasts as much as possible.

You want that skin-to-skin contact.

You want to be

undressing your baby,

placing them directly on your chest,

cuddling your baby,

letting them suck at your nipple as much as possible. Because

that is telling your body,

"Hey,

we need to be producing milk." Because as the days go on,

your milk supply will start to come in and this is

where you're training your baby how to feed at the breast,

but you're also training your breast

to make milk.

Now the thing about newborn babies is that

they're a little bit sleepy during those first

few days and they have to be coaxed into coming to the breast to nurse.

Some, not so much,

but some they do.

But you will notice after a while whenever you hit about day two or three,

all of a sudden they're gonna start waking up,

especially at night whenever you're trying to sleep.

And they're gonna want to they may be cranky

and they'll be wanting to come to the breast more often

and nurse a lot longer,

but this is a good thing, you want to give them lots of time

to do this to be at the breast because it's building your supply.

Now whenever I had my sons,

I have two sons.

My first son,

I actually

pumped exclusively breast milk for him for almost about

two years and then for my second son,

I exclusively have breastfed him for almost two years.

We're about to hit the two-year mark

pretty soon. We're actually in the process of weaning but

whenever they were first born

with my son who was exclusively breastfed,

I would bring him to the breast at least every 2 hours,

mornings and nights throughout the whole day just getting them there.

Now whenever I was

pumping

with my son because he had some latch issues and he just wasn't latching

and I wanted to make sure that my milk was going to be coming in.

I would use a breast pump that the hospital had and I would pump

all throughout the day every two hours including nights just to make sure

I was pumping him some colostrum that he could take

and to help build my supply.

Now if you do choose the pump,

here's some tips I recommend.

Number one,

that you get a

good quality pump.

In the hospital,

they have awesome hospital grade pumps

and you want a pump that's going to be able to remove the milk from your breast

and to make sure that you can keep up your supply

if you are going to do it for the long haul.

Because during my time breastfeeding my first son,

I went through a lot of pumps and it was very frustrating because

they were just low quality and it was affecting my milk supply,

so I got with a lactation consultant and she recommended that I go with

a hospital-grade pump.

Now they can be expensive,

but there are companies that will actually rent them out to you.

Sometimes insurance plans cover them,

but I recommend that you look into that.

A pump I use was called Ameda,

and it

worked great and I really loved it.

And one thing I want to point out is that whenever

you are starting to pump during those first few days,

you're gonna notice that not a lot is really coming out because again,

it's the colostrum and your body is not making ample amounts of it at that time,

because your baby's stomach is extremely small.

So, don't let that defeat you,

make you

think,

"Okay,

my breasts don't work."

I don't make enough milk because that is

what you're supposed to be making.

Now,

after a few days after your baby is born,

your breasts know that,

"Okay,

we're gonna have to start making milk," because

this baby's stomach is increasing in size and so

is its caloric needs.

So, your breasts are gonna transition from making colostrum

to milk.

So, this is the period where

your milk is gonna start coming in.

And again,

this can vary between women,

it can be three to five days.

For me,

every time with my children it was day three,

so you're gonna notice this change.

Your breasts are going to start to feel heavy.

They're going to be

large,

larger than before,

and they're gonna start leaking milk.

Now this can be uncomfortable and if you've never experienced it before,

you may be wondering what in the world is going on.

I know for me I was like,

"Am I doing something wrong?"

But with my second one,

I was a little bit more prepared.

And over the next few days,

your breasts are going to regulate themselves and

that heaviness and the leaking will decrease,

I promise. It's not gonna be like that forever.

So during this time,

you want to make sure that you are bringing your baby to

your breasts as much as possible and that you keep pumping.

And when you are pumping and you notice that as those days pass,

you're producing a lot more milk than baby can actually take in,

this is actually a great time

to build up a freezer stash for whenever your baby's gonna need it later on.

So, I really recommend that you get some

special bags that are made specifically for breast milk

that you can actually use to freeze in your freezer.

So, here's some things you want to remember about breast milk if you are pumping.

Freshly pumped breast milk generally lasts for 4 days in the refrigerator.

So, if you pump it fresh,

you need it to go on the refrigerator,

just label it and know it's good for 4

days. And then if you want to put it in the freezer,

it can stay in the freezer for up to 6 to 12

months, and if you're gonna keep it out in room temperature,

you can keep it out for about 4 hours and then it needs to be refrigerated.

But let's say that you need to warm or thaw the

breast milk you're ready to use it. To warm it up,

you never want to microwave it,

but you want to take it and put it under warm water for a few minutes

to allow it to get warm.

And one thing I want to point out is that if you have

frozen your breast milk and then you go and warm it up, you'll probably notice

that it's separated like you have the water content and then the fat contents there

on the top, there's nothing wrong with it, it's just separated during the freezing

process and you'll just want to give it a gentle shake to mix it again.

Now after you're into a few days of breastfeeding,

whether you're nursing strictly at the breast or you're pumping,

you're gonna notice that your nipples are starting to feel a

little uncomfortable because they're being used like every hour and

so they're having to really toughen up in a sense.

So, during this time,

you want to make sure that you're paying

attention to your nipples and that you're taking steps

to protect your nipples. Because your nipples can become

cracked,

they can also become damaged if you have a poor latch,

which I'm gonna talk a little bit

about here in a moment.

So, here's some tips that you want to keep in mind with nipple care

during those early days to help really make it feel more comfortable for you.

You want to make sure that you allow your nipple

to air dry after every feeding.

You

want to avoid cleaning your nipples with any

type of soaps because that can dry them out.

And every time before you feed you need to use a good nipple cream and

this is especially true if you're using a

pump and then whenever you're done feeding,

you want to make sure you apply this nipple cream again,

this helps keep them moisturized. And you want to make sure that if you

do choose to wear a bra that you're wearing a bra that is not tight

fitting and that it's comfortable and preferably wire-free.

So, now let's talk about breast rotation.

Whenever you're feeding your baby at the breast,

how do you rotate breasts?

Because this is one thing for me with my second son,

I was thinking,

"Okay,

how should I rotate the breast during feeding so I'm not neglecting one breast,

I'm affecting my supply,

or he's not getting enough milk or something like that."

So, there're many different opinions out there,

but I'm gonna just share with you my experience of

what worked and we did really well with it.

So, whenever a baby goes to feed at the breast,

that first initial feed

is like foremilk,

and this is like a watery type milk and it's really

helping them quench their thirst and get that meal started.

And then they keep sucking and sucking

and you'll notice as they're feeding that their

sucking motion will be fast at first and then once they get into it,

it's gonna be slow and

a lot of times they fall asleep.

But as they keep going,

it's gradually gonna go into what's called hindmilk. And hindmilk is like

the fatty type milk. And I think of it as a dessert they're getting

that good fat and then they're gonna be done and it'll help keep them for a while.

So, I found that the best thing for my son was

that I would let him completely nurse on one breast,

finish it off,

get happy

and satisfied with that and then I would offer the second breast.

Now whenever he was young,

during those first months of life,

he only wanted one breast like that was good enough for him.

But as he got older and he got more hungry and hungrier,

he would

completely empty one breast and then he would go to the second

breast and then he'd even go back to the other breast.

So,

that

could be a method you use.

Now how you keep track of that though is you want to write it down.

You can keep it in an app.

There are great free apps out there that'll

help you keep track of it or write it down. And

just remember that,

you know,

at 8 o'clock you fed on the left breast and then with the next feeding,

you need to make sure that you go

to the right breast.

Now,

if you're pumping,

you want to make sure that you keep the same concept in mind about the

foremilk and the hindmilk because you don't want to pump from your breast,

right and left breasts,

a bunch of foremilk and then you just mix that together in

this bottle that's supposed to be a complete feeding,

it's just a bunch of foremilk because I made that mistake with my first son.

So, whenever you pump your left breast,

take the milk,

put that in the bottle,

that's for that feeding. And then for the right breast,

take that milk,

put that in the bottle.

Because with him,

I didn't know any better and whenever I went to pump,

I pumped

my first part and it was the watery foremilk. And you can tell over time

what it looks like because foremilk is like more

watery looking and the hindmilk is more creamier looking.

So, in that bottle

was a bunch of foremilk and I went to give it to him,

and he drank it and then within like I wanna say 10 to 20 minutes all of a sudden

his stomach became really bloated

he had really bad tummy pain started crying and then

he had a bowel movement and it was like this greenish

watery diarrhea and I looked it up and that

can happen if they receive too much foremilk.

So, just keep in mind that concept whenever you are pumping.

Now whenever you're breastfeeding specifically where the baby is nursing

at the breast,

how do you know that your baby is actually receiving milk or receiving enough milk?

Because whenever you're pumping,

you're pumping that milk out,

you're able to measure it out.

You can measure how many ounces the baby took in so you

can get a good idea how much your baby is taking in.

But whenever you're breastfeeding strictly at the breast,

it's like,

"Huh,

I don't see it.

I don't know."

So, you need to look for some signs that your baby is getting enough milk.

One thing is that you know your baby's getting milk is to

listen to them at the breast.

Listen to them swallow.

My son is a loud swallow and I can hear him just gulping and gulping.

Some babies you have to really listen very subtly to tell that they are getting milk.

Another thing is that their little ears will wiggle

whenever they're swallowing,

you'll see jaw movement. And then whenever you put them on the breast,

a lot of times their hands are clenched and they're just ready to eat,

but as they're drinking,

they start to calm down and the little hands will open up and they'll just

be sucking there and

be falling asleep.

That's a good sign that they're getting good milk.

And a big indicator that your baby is getting

enough breast milk is that they are gaining weight.

So, you'll be going to the pediatrician a lot,

they will be weighing your baby

and you can also weigh your baby at home.

So, during those 1st 4 months,

they should be gaining about 5 to 8 ounces per week.

Now,

another thing you can look at which tells you that

your baby's getting enough milk is that they have

wet diapers.

So, during those first couple of days after birth,

remember their tummy's small,

they're not taking in a lot of milk.

They'll have maybe about two wet diapers

a day

and it may even be hard to tell there's urine in there.

You'll have to look at that little wet indicator on the disposable diaper.

But after a week,

once your milk production has increased,

they're drinking a lot more,

they should have about six to eight wet diapers a day.

Then you can look at their stools,

how many bowel movements are they having?

So within

48 hours after birth,

your baby should pass what's called meconium.

This is a dark green, sticky, tarry-looking stool that is a good thing that they pass.

But after that,

the stool is going to transition in how it looks.

And with breastfed babies,

they have a very unique looking stool.

It's like this yellowish,

slimy diarrheal-looking stool,

and they can go quite often throughout the days for those first 6 weeks,

four times or more.

But then after six weeks,

some breastfed babies may,

if they're exclusively breastfed,

not receiving anything else,

they may go

maybe once a week or may go a whole week without going.

So, now let's talk about breastfeeding positions.

So, in those early days,

you're gonna notice as a new mom that you're gonna spend a lot of time breastfeeding.

So, it's essential that you find a comfortable position that works for you and baby.

So, these positions are the main positions recommended,

but you're gonna notice that as your baby grows and you get more

comfortable with breastfeeding that you're probably

gonna invent your own positions.

So, whenever you go to feed your baby,

you wanna make sure that you pick a spot that is very comfortable and

that it has good back support because you don't want to be hunched over,

bent over feeding your baby.

You wanna make sure that you are bringing the baby to the breast,

not the breast to the baby.

And one thing I have found that's really helpful,

especially whenever you're first starting out with breastfeeding,

is that you have some like nursing pillow or

blankets or support to help support the baby,

support you

while you're feeding. And that you make sure that the place that

you are going to be feeding at has everything that you need,

like burp cloths,

your drink,

remote control,

diapers,

anything that you need because there's nothing like feeding your baby.

You have the perfect latch,

your baby's almost asleep and you're so comfortable that you need something.

So, you want to be able to easily reach it.

Now,

if you haven't had your baby yet

and you're wanting to practice these positions,

I'm about to go over,

what you can do is you can get

a doll,

a stuffed animal,

and just practice holding

the stuffed animal or doll in these positions so you can feel

what they feel like because at first if you've never done it,

it does feel a little awkward so it takes practice over time.

The first position is called the cross cradle and this is where you lay

the baby across your chest with their stomach against you and you will hold the

baby in the bend of your arm and support their head and back with the

arm that is on the opposite side of the breast you were nursing from.

Then there is the "cradle hole."

This is very similar to the "cross cradle,"

hence its name,

but you're holding the baby in the bend of the arm that

is on the same side that the baby is nursing from.

Next is the "football hold" and it gives its

name from how a football player holds a football.

So, I use this position a lot with my second son because I

had a C-section and it kept his body away from that tender incision.

So with this,

you hold the baby so they fit by your side and the bend of your arm with their tummy

against your side and use one hand to hold

your breasts and the other to support their head,

neck.

Now for this position,

I found that using a pillow was really helpful to

help support the baby and made it easier to do.

Then there's a "side lying,"

and this is where you lie on your side while the baby

nurses from the breast closest to the surface you're lying on.

For me,

this position took time and was not something I used in

the early days because my son was small and uncoordinated,

but as he grew up,

this

actually became one of his favorite positions and it's quite comfortable too.

Now one thing about this position is that you always have to be aware of

your baby's position

and not to fall asleep before placing them in a

safe place to sleep so they don't get hurt.

And then there's the "laid back position."

This is where you lay back with support and have your baby lay across you.

Even

though I had a C-section,

I had to start using this position as well.

I would try to protect my side,

make sure he didn't hit it because my milk flow was really fast

for him in the beginning and he was actually starting to choke.

So, I figured out this position and it helped out quite a bit because from where

he was on top of the breast,

he was able to control more how the milk

was coming out rather than just drowning on it.

So, if you have a baby,

maybe they are having issue with your fast flow of milk,

you could try this position.

And as a side note,

he actually outgrew this once he got bigger,

he was actually able to tolerate the faster flow of milk and actually prefers it.

But in those early days,

he didn't like it.

So, now let's talk about latching.

Whenever you're gonna be having your baby nurse at your breast,

getting a good latch is essential.

It's essential for you to be comfortable during nursing

and it's essential for them to be able

to remove as much milk as possible because if you don't get a good latch,

what's gonna happen is that you're going to experience a lot

of pain while breastfeeding and you won't want to do it.

It will damage your nipples to the point where you've got to let

them heal and you really can't let them nurse because it's got to heal

and you can get mastitis because the baby is not removing milk from

your breast so it inflames your breast tissue and it can be infected.

And then the baby is not gonna get as much milk as they need,

so they can be cranky and have poor weight gain and things like that.

So, the thing with latching that I really want to stress and help motivate you

about is that this takes time, this is hard for a majority of women.

For me, it took time.

I remember during those early days, my nipples were just really sore.

I wasn't getting the greatest latch,

but I really,

really wanted to breastfeed

this way.

So, we just kept with it and if you keep practicing with your baby,

you keep working with your baby,

your baby's gonna learn how to properly latch

and you're gonna go on to have successful breastfeeding.

Now,

if you're having a lot of problems getting your baby to latch,

this is a great time to consult with a lactation consultant.

Some labor and delivery units will have

lactation consultants if not at your pediatrician's office,

they should

have one and these people are great at identifying what's

wrong and helping you find out how you can improve.

Now sometimes it may be a nipple issue, some women may have inverted nipples

or maybe the baby has like tongue-tie they can be evaluated for that.

One thing that I found that was helpful,

it's called "LatchAssist" and it's this device that

you use right before you feed your baby.

And it looks like a little bulb and you take it and you put it on your nipple and you

squeeze it and it draws the nipple out, so it

makes the nipple more readily available for the baby.

It's

good for women who have inverted nipples or not even inverted nipples because

in a sense it just primes the nipple,

makes it easier for the baby to latch on.

And I use this in the early days with my son and he

really did a great job latching because that nipple was already there ready

for him to go on to, instead of having to draw it out himself.

Now with latching,

it's important that your baby latches on to as much breast tissue as possible.

We don't want them just latching on to the nipple of the breast.

The nipple is the pointy part that comes off of your breast.

Your baby is not going to just latch onto that part and suck out milk.

Instead,

they need to open their mouth wide enough to get in the areola as well,

which is the dark-pigmented

part of the breast. And the reason we want them to do this

is because whenever they draw in all that breast

tissue, it draws the nipple out and pushes that

nipple up into the palate of the baby and

whenever the baby sucks they can easily express and draw

lots of milk out rather than if they were just latched on to a little part

of the areola and a little part of the nipple they wouldn't be able to draw

as much milk out.

And this is going to be more comfortable for your

nipples if your baby was just on the nipple,

you will feel it.

It'll be like they're literally just mashing the nipple, instead,

we don't want them.

We want them

around the areola mashing that part where it doesn't hurt to get that milk out.

So, before you do that,

you wanna make sure that you keep these things in mind.

Before you put your baby on your breasts,

you wanna make sure that their mouth is open as wide as possible.

You can

get them to do this by stimulating the

rooting reflex in younger infants or by taking the

nipple to their mouth and teasing them with it

because it'll get them to open their mouth.

Now when their mouth is open,

make sure that your nipple is lined up with their nose because we want that lower jaw,

that chin to be the one that makes the contact

first with the breast. So, gently bring the baby to

the breast by making sure that their chin comes into

contact first with the lower part of the breast,

which is away from the nipple,

hence it's going to be on that lower part of the areola,

that pigmented part,

and then the upper part is going to go onto the breast.

So, take the mouth to the top part over the nipple

and it'll be on the top portion of the areola.

So, once your baby's latched,

you should not be able to see much of that areola.

Now once your baby has latched onto the breast,

you can tell if they have a good latch.

One way is,

are you having pain?

So, in these early days,

whenever you are getting your nipples acclimated to nursing a baby,

they're gonna be a little sore.

So,

with that first latch,

yes,

you may feel a little uncomfortable at first,

but it's going to ease off and then you should start feeling

just this little tugging sensation,

nothing painful.

But

if that pain doesn't go away,

it continues and you'll know if it's not a good latch because it will sting

really bad,

it will hurt.

It'll feel like something is just grating on your nipples.

So, if that happens,

what you wanna do is you want to relatch.

So, take a clean finger,

insert it in the baby's mouth, and just break suction.

Don't ever just pull the baby

off of the breast because they're gonna take your nipple and

stretch it out and it's gonna hurt it even more.

Now what are some signs that you can look for that tells you, you have a good latch?

Well,

of course,

it doesn't hurt while you're nursing and when you look down at your baby's lips

while they're on the breast, their lips should be flanged out like a fish,

especially that top one and the bottom one may be flanged out as well,

but it may be a little hard to see

because the chin will be resting so closely to the breast.

So, that's another way you can tell that you have a good latch

is that their chin is just really flush up against the breast.

Also you can hear swallowing sounds and your baby's ears

are moving up and down they're wiggling and they're content.

At first they may be sucking rapidly

and then they slow down and it's

more rhythmic and they start to become sleepy. So, as I pointed out earlier,

they may have the clenched fists and really be sucking at the breasts and

then all of a sudden they start to relax and open up those hands.

And whenever you're done nursing,

take a look at your nipples.

Your nipples should not look abnormal afterwards like being squished or bent.

That tells you that whenever the baby's drawing out the nipple,

it's not where it's supposed to be in the mouth.

So, they should appear pulled out like they're a little bit longer

from where they've had suction on them and they should be round,

and your breasts after you feed they should feel empty, they should feel softer.

Okay,

so those are some things that you can expect during the early days of breastfeeding.

And I just really want to just say I know that during those early days,

especially after you've just gave birth,

you're losing sleep,

you're adjusting to caring for a little human being,

it can be really overwhelming and very challenging.

And if you're choosing to breastfeed,

there's so many things you have to learn and just get used to with how your

body is leaking milk,

your breasts are sore and things like that, so I

just want to let you know that it gets easier.

I promise it does.

I remember with both of my sons each time I felt so overwhelmed and I'm like,

I hope I can do this and I would doubt myself,

but I really just stayed with it.

But

I think the hardest time for me was during that first month adjusting to everything,

getting on a feeding schedule with him and just getting accustomed

to just doing everything because it takes a lot of time,

especially in those early days.

But

later on as your baby grows,

if you stay with breastfeeding,

it is really

just the most easiest thing I've ever done.

And I remember hearing other women saying that,

"That,

you know,

those first months are hard,"

but if you just stay with it,

it's gonna be so easy and it

is.

With my second son,

I'm almost 2 years out with breastfeeding him and

it is the easiest thing I've ever done

in my life and I think back

to those early days and how hard it was,

but we got through it and he's done great and I'm

glad that I got to go through the experience with him, so

just keep going with it. If you need help, seek out a lactation

consultant and just keep doing it because breast milk is amazing for your baby.

And I just wanna say, "Congratulations on your baby,"

and thank you so much for watching this video.