How to Breastfeed

So you have your new bundle of joy and you have the daunting task of trying to breastfeed without any assistant. In the hospital you probably had plenty of help, and learned the basics. First of all, just relax. If you're stressed out or anxious your baby will sense it and it will cause your baby to be anxious and stressed out. One of the best things that will help you out is a Boppy. When you first are home you may not be able to use it right away though due to your swollen stomach or stitches from a C-section. Pillows work great for those first few weeks while you are still healing. You may need two or three pillow stacked on top of each other. You also have to figure out which "hold" you like best for you and baby. The football hold is really nice, especially if you had a C-section and can't put pressure on your stomach area. You only know by experimenting, so just try the different hold until you find one that works.

The key to any successful feeding is a successful latch on. This isn't hard to achieve you just have to be patient with your baby. While holding your baby simply guide the nipple into his/her mouth. You want your baby to get a good part of the areola (brown part) of the breast as well. This is what draws the milk out of the breast. If you don't do this, you will end up with extremely sore nipples that can crack and bleed.

If it doesn't work the first time, keep doing it until your baby is probaberly latched on. One way to know if it's correct is you shouldn't feel any pain. If you do, your baby isn't latched on properly.

To take your baby off the breast, put your pinkie into the side of his/her mouth. Do not just pull your baby off, this will cause extreme pain for you. Your baby will nurse for 5-10 minutes on each breast. Even if your baby gets sleepy after just one, make sure to switch him/her to the other one. It's a good idea to change the diaper in-between breasts. This will cause your baby to wake back up if he/she fell asleep.