| Breastfeeding Fundamentals
Prenatal preparation for breastfeeding
Whether you are planning to breastfeed or not, your breasts begin to prepare
for breastfeeding during pregnancy. Breast enlargement continues throughout pregnancy
with production of colostrum beginning as early as the fourth month.
Here are a few pointers:
- Read as much information as you can about breastfeeding. Ask your prenatal caregiver for
pamphlets or books about how to breastfeed. Public libraries have many books about
breastfeeding and may have videos available.
- Talk to women who have breastfed for six months or longer. Be careful about taking
advice from women who tried to breastfeed but didn’t make it beyond the first few weeks.
- Sign up for a breastfeeding class by your 34th week of pregnancy. That way, if your baby is
born early, you will have had an opportunity to learn about breastfeeding in a class setting.
- Ask your doctor or midwife to check you for breastfeeding around the 32nd to 34th week of
pregnancy. A simple pinch test will determine if your nipples are inverted. This condition is
easily corrected with the help of a lactation consultant.
Beginning to breastfeed
- Your baby will be ready to nurse soon after birth. The baby needs to begin breastfeeding
within one to two hours of being born. This first feeding may last from 15 to 45 minutes.
- Position your baby so his face and body are fully turned towards your breast.
- Encourage him to open wide by stroking your nipple against his lips. Wait for him to open
wide. It may take several minutes. Soothe him if he is crying.
- Bring him close so he gets a lot of areola as well as the nipple in his mouth. Continue to
hold your breast for one minute until you are certain the baby is actively nursing. A good
latch-on is a sure way to prevent nipple soreness.
- When the baby stops sucking, stroke your breast towards his mouth. This breast massage
will start the baby sucking again. Do not keep stroking when the baby begins sucking again.
- To take him off, insert your finger between his gums at the side of his mouth and wait for
him to stop sucking before easing him away from the breast.
- During the day, offer the breast often. It is normal for the baby to nurse every two to
three hours for 15 to 30 minutes on one breast. However, the sleepier baby may need to be
wakened. Most mothers need to nurse eight to 12 times per 24 hours to get a good milk
supply established. If the baby has nursed well and is wetting plenty of diapers, you
can let him wake you at night after he has regained his birth weight.
Successful breastfeeding techniques
- Breast compression
This technique is used to enhance breast emptying and is great not only for filling
your baby more, but also increases your eventual milk supply.
Use your thumb on top of your breast and place four fingers underneath the breast. Watch
for the baby to slow down or pause during sucking. Then, squeeze your breast firmly by
bringing your thumb and four fingers together, squeezing toward the baby’s mouth.
This is a slow, deliberate squeeze over a three-second period.
- Manual expression
Hand expression works just as well as an electric pump, especially during the
engorgement phase (three to five days after birth). It is possible to express ounces
from your breast by this technique and does not cause excessive areola swelling
like breast pumping can.
Place your thumb about 1˝ inches from the tip of your nipple on top of your breast.
Place your forefinger directly opposite on the underside of your breast. Do not squeeze
yet, but first gently push into the breast to flatten. Once the breast is flattened,
bring your thumb and forefinger together and ease forward. At first you
will get drops of milk, but within two to three minutes, you will spray milk.
- Power-pumping
Power-pumping is used to increase the mother’s milk supply when the baby does not
appear satisfied with the amount of breast milk available in two breasts at a feeding.
It simulates the stimulus that a natural growth spurt puts on the breast – more vigorous,
more frequent and longer suckling to trigger increased release of prolactin by the
pituitary gland.
It can be repeated as often as once every seven days and usually produces extra milk
within 48 hours of finishing one cycle.
- Pick one hour, three days or nights in a row.
- Pump 10 minutes, then rest 10 minutes. Pump another 10 minutes, then rest 10 minutes.
Pump an additional 10 minutes.
- This provides approximately 30 minutes of pumping in a 50-minute period.
- Using a bulb aspirator
Using a bulb aspirator works well when the baby is not able to breastfeed very long
because he has blocked nasal passages. Clearing the baby’s nose helps him breathe
easier and thereby breastfeed normally.
- Gently compress the ball end of the aspirator away from your baby’s nose (squeeze
out the air from the ball). Gently pressure one of your baby’s nostrils with
your finger while inserting the tip of the bulb aspirator in the open nostril.
- Release the pressure from the ball end of the aspirator. You will then feel the
ball fill up with air and hopefully, a little solid or liquid mucous. Repeat
entire procedure two to three times, then switch to the other nostril.
Information
For more information about Maternal/Child Services at Shands AGH,
please call 352.733.0165. |
