Breastfeeding is a remarkable journey for both the mother and the baby. Looking after a newborn is a hectic thing, especially during the postpartum period. Mammary glands are responsible for the secretion of milk from breasts. The female body already starts preparing for lactation during pregnancy. As birth approaches, the mother can feel her breasts getting heavy. Some might experience thick white discharge from nipples. Nobody can deny the importance of a detailed breastfeeding guide here. So here is it.

A newborn baby has an innate reflex to suck the nipples hence, once the baby is born and begins suckling, the flow of milk gets improved. However, in no way we’re underestimating mothers who chose not to breastfeed their babies. We believe every mother is equal and has all the right to decide the best for her newborn.

Prolactin is the hormone responsible for breast milk production. Even though lactation is majorly regulated by hormones, it also highly depends on “supply and demand” that is the more the baby sucks, the more milk would be produced.

A Complete Breastfeeding Guide

So if you’re a first-time mom and looking forward to breastfeeding your baby, have a look at this breastfeeding guide to assure a safe breastfeeding journey:

1. Colostrum

The “first milk” produced by the mammary glands is called colostrum. Enriched in healthy nutrients; tissue repair factors and essential antibodies; they provide all the nutrition the baby needs during their first few days of life.

Because of their unique properties to normal breast milk, they are small in volume and more yellowish and consistent. Even a few drops are enough for the newborn, though.

2. Feeding schedule

As soon as the baby is born, breastfeeding should be started. A newborn stomach is tiny, so it needs to be fed little but repeatedly. As a general rule of thumb, the newborns must be breastfed after every 2 hours during the day and every 3 hours during the night even if they’re sleeping. That makes roughly 8-12 nursing sessions in a day. However, some infants demand more than that, mostly during growth spurts, and they should be fed accordingly. However, it is quite unlikely to overfeed a baby who is exclusively breastfed.

3. Rooting reflex

Newborns have some inherent reflexes to fulfill their needs. One of them is the rooting reflex that is, they will turn their head towards the side where the cheek or mouth is touched or stroked. This reflex is an important milestone in a baby’s breastfeeding journey.

Other cues the infant gives when they feel hungry are; smacking their lips, sucking fingers or hands, turning their head on the sides to look for the breast, and eventually crying, which is a late cue. So try to nurse before they cry.

4. Breast pump

If the baby cannot suck the nipples directly due to inverted nipples or any other reason, a breast pump should be use. Manual or automatic, breast pumps are supposed to pump out the milk from the breast so that it does not decline the supply.

The pumped milk can be given to the baby, or it can be stored for later use. Besides this, working mothers may also use a breast pump to store the milk for their newborns to avoid feeders.

5. Nipple confusion

Newborns adapt to things rather quickly. If you expose them to feeder and breast, they’ll most probably develop nipple confusion. Sucking from a baby feeder is easier and more convenient for the infant that is the reason they will start preferring the feeder and reject the nipples as its more time taking to fill up their tiny stomach from breastfeeding.

Read more about nipple rejection.

6. Cluster feeding

Fed up with your baby asking for your breast every 15 minutes? Don’t panic. It is most likely they’re cluster feeding. Infants go through a lot of growth spurts in the first few years of their life.

As a newborn, they’re getting familiar with the new world around them and learning something novel now and then. That being the case, they show indifferent behavior patterns during that time. So feed them as per the demand.

Usually, they will ask for it at small intervals and most probably sleep between 2 nursing sessions. It’s surely hectic, but who said being a parent is easy?

7. Breast Engorgement

As beneficial the breastfeeding is for the newborn, as it is for the mother. The female body naturally prepares the body for nursing. In case breastfeeding is not start, it can cause adverse reactions for the mother. Breast engorgement is a condition where the milk is overfilled in the ducts and not pumped out for a long period of time.

The breasts feel heavier, fuller, and tight. They might cause throbbing or aching pain also. To avoid this, constant nursing sessions are recommended. Other methods of excess breast milk removal are hand expressing, use of breast pads, or breast pump. Moreover, offer both breasts one by one to the baby so that both sides are equally nursed.

8. Positioning and latching

A problem most first-time mothers face during nursing is positioning. There are several positions you can try to breastfeed the baby. As far as you and the baby are comfortable, it’s all good. Some frequently used positions by mothers are cradle hold, cross-cradle hold, side-lying position, laid-back position, and rugby ball hold, to name a few.

Another issue new mothers face is baby latching. The correct way for the baby to latch on the nipple is for the mouth should cover the nipple and the areola to suck. If your infant has difficulty latching, try consulting a lactation expert.

9. Tandem feeding

This is relatively a rare topic consultants talk about. But we want to discuss this point in our breastfeeding guide. Tandem feeding refers to when a mother is feeding more than one baby at the same time. This may occur in the case of twins, triplets, or when two babies have a gap of less than one year. The WHO suggests that tandem nursing is completely safe and natural given the health condition of the mother is satisfactory.

Bottom Line

Lactation is overall an overwhelming experience. It does over occupy the mother, yet it transfers all the healthy nutrients and antibodies from her to the baby. A breastfed infant is more likely to have a strong immune system and less likely to develop other health issues. And eventually, weaning can be achieve when the baby is purely on solids, and they have met all the milestones. We hope our little effort of sharing a breastfeeding guide helped you in any way. See More Blog?