Top 5 Breastfeeding Tips
By Marie McCausland, PhD, MPH
It is World Doula week and I think it’s time to talk about THE #1 topic I get asked most about as a Postpartum Doula….Breastfeeding!
Today I am going to share with you my top five breastfeeding tips and also share a bit of my own breastfeeding journey with you!
Tip 1: Don’t expect your baby to eat every 2-3 hours
You may have heard you will “feed your baby every 2-3 hours”. That’s not really what happens in reality.
Your baby is going to be hungry and want to eat a larger amount sometimes, a smaller amount other times, and especially when they are young may cluster feed-meaning they seem to be at the boob constantly for a few hours. All totally normal.
Tip 2: Know the hunger cues and latch early
I’ve found that the best time to try to feed a baby is before they have started actually crying. By the time they start crying they have already been showing you some signs they are hungry, as shown in the video below, but now they are saying “Heyyyyyyy I’m really hungry over hereeeeeee!!!”. You may find when they get to the crying stage it’s harder to get them to latch. That’s ok! Just try to notice some of those more subtle signs and try to get them to latch a bit earlier next time.
Tip 3: See a Lactation Consultant
I know this one seems pretty obvious, but seriously having the support of someone who is trained to help breastfeeding parents goes a long way!
If you are in Northeast Ohio you can check out Breastfeeding Medicine of Northeast Ohio, Love and Wellness Lactation, and of course Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, and Metro Health all have wonderful lactation consultants as well.
The gold standard and “Boob Doctor” is an IBCLC, as they have had the most hands on clinical training and have had to pass an exam (you can read more here about what they do and how they are different from other lactation consultants). They can assess your baby for a tounge tie or lip tie and generally have had the most experience, though having anyone trained in lactation help assess you will be helpful.
I personally had three lactation consultants help me throughout my journey. Two in the hospital and one after I came home. In the hospital they helped me with my sons latch and positioning and gave me advice on how to hand express to help my milk come in. I distinctly remember the moment my milk really came in while hand expressing in the hospital and having it spray everywhere and just bursting out laughing with excitement…like “Oh! That was my milk coming in! That’s what they have been looking for!”.
Tip 4: Go to a Breastfeeding Support Group
Another tip I have is to join a breastfeeding support group either in person or virtually. With the pandemic, many in person breastfeeding support groups went virtual to keep everyone safe, since babies can’t receive the vaccine.
HIP Cuyahoga has a great resource list for local support groups, and also great virtual resources! Just call ahead to any of these support groups because with COVID things change so rapidly, and you don’t want to drive all the way out there only to find out their in person meeting was cancelled that week. One of my clients had that happen to them, and it was very discouraging and frustrating, so definitely call ahead!
When I had my son I went every week to a local breastfeeding support group. There was a lactation consultant available for specific recommendations, a scale to weigh your baby before and after a feeding (so you know how many ounces you fed them!), and lots of moms with babies! It was so wonderful to know I wasn’t alone and to get an idea of how much I was actually feeding my son. When you are bottle feeding, you know how much they eat, but when you breastfeed you can’t be certain of how much they eat unless you weigh them before and after. For me it was a great way to ease my anxiety.
Tip 5: Call the Breastfeeding Support Hotline
Did you know we had a 24 hour breastfeeding support line in Ohio?!?
Call 888-588-3423 or text BFHOTLINE to 839863 to speak with one of their lactation professionals!
This 24 hour hotline will get you to a trained person no matter the time of day and they have an IBCLC on-call if you need more support than they can offer. This is an AMAZING resource I wish I had known about when I was breastfeeding.
Experiment of the Week-Hunger and your Babies Stomach
Did you know a newborn stomach when first born can only hold about 1/3 of an ounce of liquid or the size of a grape? Meanwhile, an adult stomach (on average) can expand to the size of a quarter of a gallon or 32 ounces.
I know mine expands more than that give the amount of Chips, Guac, Tacos and Sangria I can consume at a Mexican Restaurant….
To understand a bit more about the expectations we can have for our babies, lets try an experiment!
You will need:
A bag of grapes
A Quart of Strawberries
A bag of Mandarin Oranges
Notebook or note app
Experiment (Make sure you are hungry when you do this! It’s a good breakfast activity!!)
Take a grape, a strawberry, and three Mandarin Oranges and line them up like the image below.
Take the grape and hold it in your hand. That’s the size of your baby’s stomach when they are born. Ask yourself: Do you think it’s a lot? Would that satisfy your hunger?
Eat the grape. Feel satisfied? I’m guessing not! That’s because your stomach is bigger than a grape!
Do the same thing with the strawberry. Hold it in your hand and then eat it. Feel satisfied? Maybe a little more than before but you are probably still hungry right?
Now put the Mandarin Orange in your left hand and a grape in the right. Feel the weight of the orange in your hand compared to the weight of the grape. Your baby has had their stomach grow from the size of a grape to the size of a mandarin orange in a week! Isn’t that crazy!?!?
Pick up another Mandarin Orange with your left hand (so now you have 2 in your left hand) and keep the grape in the right. Feel the difference in weight again. This is how big their stomach is at one month.
Now the most fun part….eat some fruit until you feel full! Count the number of grapes, fruit, and mandarin oranges you eat. When I did this I had 31 grapes, 7 strawberries, and a Mandarin Orange. That’s a lot of fruit! Certainly a lot more than it takes to make a baby feel full!
Bonus! An hour later, have some fruit as a snack! I bet you ate less this time but you still feel full right? That’s what is happening when your baby is cluster feeding. They are feeling hungry and eating small amounts to feel full versus having a large meal.
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Remember you are loved! I love you! Have a great day! <3