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Making the decision to breastfeed your baby can be wonderfully rewarding, allow for special bonding time with your baby – and can be downright difficult to do! From figuring out how to get your newborn to latch on to dealing with the discomfort and pain, breastfeeding can be confusing to figure out on your own. We asked a handful of moms for their biggest breastfeeding questions and brought them to expert Taryn Mickus to answer, an internationally board certified lactation consultant and owner of Milk Nook Lactation Services in Alameda, CA.
Here she weighs in on your questions and gives her tips, tricks and best advice for finding solutions for your breastfeeding woes.
How can I ensure my baby latches on correctly?
Taryn: Think of your breast as a big juicy burger (it doesn’t matter if you prefer beef or veggie). The first thing you would do if you had to get a double whopper in your mouth would be to squeeze it with your fingers to make it flatter. Do the same with your breast. Make sure that the angle of the breast sandwich matches the line of your baby’s mouth. Tease your baby a little to get her to open wide by resting your nipple on her upper lip. When she gapes, rest the bottom edge of your areola on her lower jaw and roll your nipple in so that it points up to her soft pallet. You probably do the same thing when you take a big bite out of a thick sandwich, without even knowing it. You will know your baby is latched correctly if breastfeeding is comfortable. You should never feel biting, only gentle tugging on the nipple.
Ouch – this hurts! How do I know if it’s a breast infection like mastitis or am just doing it wrong?
Taryn: The red flags for a bacterial breast infection are a hard, painful lump in the breast paired with flu symptoms like fever and general achiness. A fungal infection, also known as thrush, is harder to spot. Your nipple will look slightly more shiny than normal, especially around the base. You may feel shooting, burning pain between feedings. If your baby has white patches on her tongue and/or cheeks, it’s a give-away, but these symptoms don’t accompany every case. If your pain occurs during feedings and it feels like your baby is “biting” you, then it is most likely your baby’s latch that needs fixing.
How do I know if he is getting enough?
Taryn: Diaper counts are the key to knowing if you baby is getting enough. Once your baby is a week old, if you are changing at least 6 wet diapers and 3 poopy ones every 24 hours, your baby is getting enough. In your baby’s first week of life, you only need to see 1 wet diaper per day of age.
Are there things I can do to increase my milk supply? Certain foods I can eat?
Taryn: Every culture has a list of foods to increase milk supply. The most common herbal supplements used are fenugreek, blessed thistle, goat’s rue, shatavari and mulanggay (aka GoLacta). However, the most effective way to increase your milk supply is to increase breast stimulation by adding pumping or breastfeeding session. A typical mother needs 8-12 pumping and/or breastfeeding sessions per day, each lasting at least 20 minutes, to produce a full milk supply.
My 4-month-old gets so distracted when he eats and will only feed for a few minutes at a time. How can I get him to focus?
Taryn: This is a common complaint. Many babies begin to eat more at night to make up for the feedings that they missed during the day. This is fine, but if you prefer your baby to eat during the day, try loading him up before and after naps. Drowsy babies are the best eaters at this age. Draw the curtains to make the room dark and try a white noise machine to drown out any distracting sounds. As soon as you hear him wake up from his nap, lay down with him and nurse as long as he wants to.
Did you struggle with breastfeeding? What were your biggest hurdles?