More Breastfeeding Tips

Put Baby to Your Breast: Take your baby in your arms with his front lying horizontally across your body, facing toward you from his head to his feet. In this way his head will lie in the crook of your arm; his lower arm will be at your waist. Let the hand with which you hold your baby safely cup and support his bottom or thigh. Pull your baby close to you so he is in the best position to find your nipple.

Lift your breast with your other hand: Arrange your fingers under your breast, your palm to the side and your thumb above. Rest your fingers outside the areola because your baby must be able to grasp quite a bit of it. When you hold your breast this way, you can "tickle" his lower lip with your nipple easily. He will turn toward you and open his mouth wide.

Be patient if you have to tickle for a while. If you press the baby's head firmly against your breast, he will not recognize this as stimulation and will not open his mouth. Or he will get confused and turn toward the pressure on his head. He will also tend to arch away.

Sooner or later your baby will open his mouth wide, like a hungry baby bird. This is the moment to place your nipple, which should be waiting exactly in front of his open mouth, right in the middle, above his tongue. At the same time, pull him in close to you so the tip of his nose touches your breast (he will still be able to breathe) and his knees touch your body. His gums will be able to grasp far behind the nipple to reach the areola.

With a good latch, he can reach the milk reservoirs underneath the areola and suck the milk toward the nipple effectively. Your baby will draw your nipple to the back of his mouth, elongating both nipple and areola. If you think he can't breathe freely, pull his bottom closer to you or lift your breast a little with the hand that is supporting it.

Don't press with your finger or thumb on the spot where your baby's nose is. You might pull out the nipple or make it slip so it gets uneven pressure on one side. That can make your nipple sore. Also, you may compress a milk duct this way.

Sore nipples can also happen if the baby sucks while his body faces the ceiling and he has to turn his head to the side. Just imagine yourself drinking with your head turned completely to the side! Ear, shoulder, and upper arm should form a straight line.

If your baby gets a bottle from time to time (which requires completely different mouth movements and much less of the baby's initiative), he may only open his mouth wide enough to grasp your nipple when he is back on your breast, instead of the nipple and areola. This position easily leads to sore nipples. In addition, many bottle-supplemented babies become nipple-confused and have all the breastfeeding problems that go along with that. If you will return to work outside the home, and your baby needs to receive your milk from a bottle, it's best to wait at least until your milk supply is established and your baby is sucking with ease.

If your breast is too full and your baby has difficulty grasping your nipple, express a little milk in a warm bath or shower before the next feed. If he has difficulty getting milk out of your breasts at first, use massage and nurturing touch to help stimulate the let-down reflex. You can also activate the let-down reflex by centering and focusing your total awareness on your breasts.