How To Breastfeed

When my first baby was handed to me I wasn't sure what to do. Of course
I was thrilled, overwhelmed, ecstatic and emotional but I had told
everyone I was going to breastfeed. Now she was here and I was expected
to get on with it, put her to my breast and nourish her... Well to be
quite honest I was a little bit afraid. I was lying in a room full of
medical equipment and strangers and my husband had just witnessed me in
a state of distress and undress such as never before. All I really
wanted to do was get washed, dressed and go for a sleep. But, there was
a little tiny girl in my arms looking a bit hungry and everyone was
watching and waiting.

Tentatively I showed her my breast and waited. She waited. I poked at
her mouth, then at her nose with my nipple. She opened her tiny mouth
wide and dived forward. Amazed at this tiny wonder of nature I gazed at
her as she began to suckle. I marvelled as she guzzled and swallowed...
I was breastfeeding!

As the days went by it wasn't all that I expected. It was painful and
burned every time she latched on. But I persevered and we made it.
Sixteen months later she decided she had had enough of mummy's milk and
with tears in my eyes I concluded that breastfeeding had been a
wonderful experience and one which I hoped to repeat.

So how do you breastfeed? Here are some tips...

Try to have skin-to-skin contact immediately after the birth,
preferably before the baby has been cleaned up.

Get comfortable and hold the baby in a way that suits you both.

Gently place your nipple under baby's nose, and above her top lip. The
baby should instinctively begin to root about for it.

Wait until baby opens her mouth really wide and gently position the
nipple and as much of the areola (the area around your nipple)as
possible into baby's mouth.

Baby will begin to suckle very quickly at first. As colostrum (pre-milk
rich with antibodies) begins to flow the sucking will become much slower
and you may even notice baby gulping as she swallows this pre-milk.

When baby has had enough she will let go of the breast and may even
fall asleep.

Within about three days the colostrum will be replaced by mature milk.

The first feeds may last a long time or they may occur very frequently
for short periods of time. Just as mum is learning how to breastfeed so
too is baby. Within a few weeks a routine of sorts will have become
established!

Breastfeeding is by no means easy but it does get easier after the
first four weeks or so. At times it is painful but always satisfying.
It's always convenient and requires no advance preparation or
sterilising of bottles! Most problems occur as a result of incorrect
positioning of baby at the breast. Don't let the baby suck at your
nipple - she must have lots of the areola as well otherwise you will
get sore and this is when many new mums give up.

By breastfeeding your baby she will benefit tremendously and there are
numerous health benefits for mum too. Persevere - it's worth every
minute of it.


--
sineadhoben
Posted via newmomsforum : http://www.newmomsforum.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------
A poll associated with this post was created, to vote and see the
results, please visit http://www.newmomsforum.com/advice/s...ad.php?t=32181
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question: Did You Get The Support You Required As A Breastfeeding Mum?

- Yes, the support was excellent!
- I got some support but more would have been better.
- I didn't get nearly enough support.
- I got no support at all.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

PattyMomVA Wrote:
"sineadhoben" wrote and I snipped:

Wait until baby opens her mouth really wide and gently position the
nipple and as much of the areola (the area around your nipple)as
possible into baby's mouth.

That was an unusual first post. Do you plan to stick around and share?
Or
was your intention to post an essay and dash?

I disagree with your statement above on two points. You should put the
baby
onto the breast, not the breast into the baby's mouth. There's a fine
distinction, but doing it that way can avoid some back issues for the
mom.
Secondly, my experience is that "gently" doesn't do it. The more
appropriate word is "ram." As in, rapid arm movement. Ram that baby
on!

-Patty, mom of 1+2

Dear Patty,

I certainly didn't plan to submit an essay and dash! My intention is to
encourage new moms to give breastfeeding a try. As a mom of three fully
breastfed babies I found a lot of the advice which perhaps worked in
theory didn't necessarily work in practice! As with most things in life
there is an element of trial and error. Personal experience can be a
great teacher!

With my babies I did not want to ram anything into their mouths.
I simply gently encouraged my babies to latch on. I touched their upper
lip with the nipple and this encouraged them to open their mouths really
wide. This worked for me.

With regards to placing the breast in the baby's mouth the baby tends
to lunge forward and grab the breast. So in effect I suppose it was an
error to describe it as placing the breast in the mouth. Perhaps on the
breast is a more apt description. I will edit my post to state this.

By aiding the baby I found it prevented a lot of problems with
positioning. I found that if I placed my hand under the breast with
which I was feeding it took some weight off the baby until some milk
was drained. I leaned forward slightly letting the baby do the rest of
the work and once the baby was correctly positioned at the breast I sat
back and enjoyed nourishing my little ones.

This all worked for me and still works as I am currently breastfeeding
my nine month old son and will continue to do so for as long as he
wants!

I hope this helps to clarify matters and I trust you didn't intend to
respond and dash!

All the best, Sinead


--
sineadhoben
Posted via newmomsforum : http://www.newmomsforum.com

"sineadhoben" wrote

Dear Patty,

I certainly didn't plan to submit an essay and dash! My intention is to
encourage new moms to give breastfeeding a try. As a mom of three fully
breastfed babies I found a lot of the advice which perhaps worked in
theory didn't necessarily work in practice! As with most things in life
there is an element of trial and error. Personal experience can be a
great teacher!

--
sineadhoben
Posted via newmomsforum : http://www.newmomsforum.com


Apparently mkb and mkp are being syndicated in the website above! In fact,
there doesn't seem to be any non-mkb content on their breastfeeding forum.

Sinead, this is a very well established group already. Why your group has
chosen to syndicate it rather than establish their own group is beyond me
but I find it rather disturbing.

Jean

--
LeinsterFreecycle Co-moderator
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LeinsterFreecycle/

DD June '02
DS May '05

"Iuil" wrote in message
...
"sineadhoben" wrote

Dear Patty,

I certainly didn't plan to submit an essay and dash! My intention is to
encourage new moms to give breastfeeding a try. As a mom of three fully
breastfed babies I found a lot of the advice which perhaps worked in
theory didn't necessarily work in practice! As with most things in life
there is an element of trial and error. Personal experience can be a
great teacher!

--
sineadhoben
Posted via newmomsforum : http://www.newmomsforum.com


Apparently mkb and mkp are being syndicated in the website above! In
fact,
there doesn't seem to be any non-mkb content on their breastfeeding forum.

Sinead, this is a very well established group already. Why your group has
chosen to syndicate it rather than establish their own group is beyond me
but I find it rather disturbing.

Jean

Uh, it makes me pretty uncomfortable that my posts, although entirely
public, are being spread all over the place...

Betsy

"sineadhoben" wrote and I snipped:

I certainly didn't plan to submit an essay and dash! My intention is to
encourage new moms to give breastfeeding a try. As a mom of three fully
breastfed babies I found a lot of the advice which perhaps worked in
theory didn't necessarily work in practice! As with most things in life
there is an element of trial and error. Personal experience can be a
great teacher!

I hope this helps to clarify matters and I trust you didn't intend to
respond and dash!

Sinead, I've been reading/posting on mkb since about 1996, so the thought of
me dashing made me chuckle. I appreciate your intention to encourage
breastfeeding. It's one I share. However, most of what you wrote in your
OP has been written here many times. Before posting on a Usenet newsgroup
in the future, maybe it'd be better if you'd read what others are posting
and get a feel for how your experience will fit in.

I also don't understand what newmomsforum has to do with this newsgroup.
Maybe you could explain.

-Patty, mom of 1+2

On Tue, 9 May 2006, oregonchick wrote:


Uh, it makes me pretty uncomfortable that my posts, although entirely
public, are being spread all over the place...

Yeah. About two years ago I posed about my daughter's birth. Imagine my
sarcasmJOY/sarcasm to find that post popping up in general google on
some other website I never saw before. Ew.

Nasty, nasty lack of ethics those pages have. "Hey, we can't generate our
own readership, so let's gank in an established group and make it look
like we don't suck!"

"sineadhoben" wrote in message
...

------------------------------------------------------------------------
A poll associated with this post was created, to vote and see the
results, please visit
http://www.newmomsforum.com/advice/s...ad.php?t=32181
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question: Did You Get The Support You Required As A Breastfeeding Mum?

- Yes, the support was excellent!
- I got some support but more would have been better.
- I didn't get nearly enough support.
- I got no support at all.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please remove your advertising headers before posting to this group.

It's really bad form.

"Iuil" wrote in message
...
"sineadhoben" wrote

Dear Patty,

I certainly didn't plan to submit an essay and dash! My intention is to
encourage new moms to give breastfeeding a try. As a mom of three fully
breastfed babies I found a lot of the advice which perhaps worked in
theory didn't necessarily work in practice! As with most things in life
there is an element of trial and error. Personal experience can be a
great teacher!

--
sineadhoben
Posted via newmomsforum : http://www.newmomsforum.com


Apparently mkb and mkp are being syndicated in the website above! In
fact,
there doesn't seem to be any non-mkb content on their breastfeeding forum.

Sinead, this is a very well established group already. Why your group has
chosen to syndicate it rather than establish their own group is beyond me
but I find it rather disturbing.

Jean

--
LeinsterFreecycle Co-moderator
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LeinsterFreecycle/

DD June '02
DS May '05


Me too.

oregonchick wrote:

Uh, it makes me pretty uncomfortable that my posts, although entirely
public, are being spread all over the place...

We do own the copyright to our own posts. What the hell are you
thinking, taking our posts without asking for your own gain?
(whatever that may be)

Not you, Betsy, the website...person.

Michelle
Flutist

It's always interesting to do a Google search on yourself, and see how
many websites you've migrated to.... Try it, with all the names you
post under.

Workingmom wrote:

T Flynn skrev:

On Tue, 9 May 2006, oregonchick wrote:

Uh, it makes me pretty uncomfortable that my posts, although entirely
public, are being spread all over the place...


Yeah. About two years ago I posed about my daughter's birth. Imagine my
sarcasmJOY/sarcasm to find that post popping up in general google on
some other website I never saw before. Ew.

Nasty, nasty lack of ethics those pages have. "Hey, we can't generate our
own readership, so let's gank in an established group and make it look
like we don't suck!"



I found myself there too - nasty!!

Tine, Denmark


--
Cheri Stryker