Welcome to Born's Throwback Thursday, where we select a favourite or useful article from the Born blog archives and re-share! First published in 2013, this post with top tips for preparing to breastfeed generated a lot of feedback and proved extremely helpful for many families...
Just as you would prepare for birth, there are things that you can do to prepare for a smooth breastfeeding journey.
Relax
Listen to some relaxation recordings before the birth; this will also help with labour, and will help you when you are feeding your baby too. On our website, we host some Hypnosis for Childbirth recordings by Tracy Holloway that you can listen to for free.
Relaxed Birth and Parenting also have a lovely CD, Arrival, to help you relax and connect with your baby.
Consider a relaxing massage or Shiatsu (Acupressure) from a practitioner specially trained to work with pregnancy and post-natally. Most practitioners on the Well Mother Register offer home visits for the first month. They can also teach self massage of the breast, which is extremely useful in helping to prevent blocked milk ducts.
Trust
Trust your body, trust your baby - when the two are put together frequently, comfortably and effectively, breastfeeding can become easier. Any form of bodywork, like yoga, Shiatsu, massage, meditation will support you to trust in your body and give you the mental space to just 'Be' with your baby.
Learn
Attend a class with a Lactation consultant or breastfeeding counsellor before your baby arrives. Breastfeeding is a new skill to learn, and because we don't see it in our culture every day, it is worth investing in a training session with your partner too. Supported mum = happy baby. Relaxed Birth and Parenting offer wonderful weekly mother-to-be classes and couples workshops to help you prepare for your baby's arrival.
Read about breastfeeding! There are plenty of informative books, including 'The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding', 'Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding' or 'The Food of Love'
Understand
Your breasts will change when your baby is born; if you know what to expect, you won't be caught off-guard. See the PDF and videos on our Bravado Designs page.
Nurture yourself
Buy a comfortable nursing bra. We've yet to find a range that beats Bravado. Get measured around the 36th week of pregnancy.
Drink pregnancy well-being tea and have a packet of Mama's Nursing Support Tea in your cupboard. It's not just that these teas contains fantastic vitamins and minerals, the very act of making loose leaf tea will help you to relax, and drinking it will calm you. Think of it as your 'calm down for feeding' ritual, where nothing else matters but giving your body and your baby some TLC. Amanda, the Herbalist from Welcome World who makes these teas, also makes a tincture that may help to boost milk production.
Find Breastfeeding Buddies
Speak to other mums who have breastfed. Find out if there is a breastfeeding support group close to you that you can go to before your baby comes so you can meet other breastfeeding mums. These groups LOVE having pregnant mums visit.
Attend a Baby Calm or Relaxed Birth and Parenting ante-natal class where you can meet other mums to be to share your journey
Make it comfortable
Try a good nursing support pillow, for those first few weeks it may be your best friend and it will end up having lots of other support uses too! In the first few days of breastfeeding, getting the positioning correct is important to prevent your baby latching incorrectly. Sitting upright and with your feet and back supported makes this easier.
Buy a tube of Gold Cream, to protect and care for the nipples and breast during breastfeeding.
Keep help at hand
Know where to get help if things don't feel right, or if you need help. There is a lot of support out there. Better to ask a silly question than suffer in silence. Visit Lactation Specialists of Great Britain for skilled local help and keep your local contacts handy so if you need to contact them you can do that straight away. Pain and/or slow weight gain is an indicator that attachment needs experienced and speedy attention.
Set yourself up for success and enjoy this precious time!
Have you considered having a 'Baby Moon'? Think about the needs of you, your baby and your immediate family during this special bonding time.
Your baby will need to feed at night, and it's recommend by Unicef/Baby Friendly that baby is in your room for at least the first 6 months. This can be in your bed (follow the guidelines for safe bed-sharing or co-sleeping) or in a crib, cradle. cot or Moses basket next to your bed.
Find an Osteopath or Chiropractor you can take your baby to after birth for a check over. Regardless of what kind of birth you have, it's a good idea to do this to make sure there are no issues that could impede good attachment or can cause discomfort to baby or you. Visit Born Together for contact details of some trusted practitioners.
Read positive articles about breastfeeding, read websites that support breastfeeding mums such as www.normalfed.com.
Print these Positive affirmations for breastfeeding and read them every day in the last month of pregnancy, and after your baby arrives:
Visit Born's range of Breastfeeding Products and Accessories that may help with your breastfeeding journey
This article was written with the help of the following contributors:
April (Believe in Breastfeeding)
Amanda (Welcome World Cafe),
Becky and Eva (Born)
Dominique (Relaxed Birth and Parenting)
Juliana (The Family Practice)
Suzanne (Wellmother.org)
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