Breastfeeding your Newborn Tips

Things seemed to go so well in the hospital with breastfeeding your newborn. Baby slept well, had a good latch, and you got the hang of changing diapers. Then you arrived home. Everything that you thought you had down in the hospital just got more difficult. Why? You have now gone a few days with little to no sleep (thank you nurses) and will continue to get no sleep for a few more weeks. Plus, you no longer have a team of nurses to help out at a moments notice and your spouse may have headed back to work, so you are truly on your own (for some of the day at least).

With each of my children, breastfeeding became really difficult after the first few days. Day three was a little sore and by day 5, I wanted to quit. It’s not enough that your body is sore and you are exhausted, but your little one seems to want to nurse constantly. The baby wants to breastfeed when they are hungry, but also when they are tired and want to sleep. They also want to nurse when they need comfort and even when they are bored. It seemed that they would nurse for an hour, spend 10 minutes getting a diaper change and visiting daddy, then want to nurse again.

Find Support For Yourself when Breastfeeding your Newborn

While I cried, plead, and begged for assistance wherever I could, I did not quit. Yes, it was not comfortable. Yes, I had scabs and bled. But baby and I found our way through. I sought out the advice of many lactation consults. Funny thing, they all wanted to help with latch and positioning. Yet, whenever they helped latch the baby, it felt exactly the same as when I was doing it. In fact, it looked exactly the same too. But these women were very helpful in other ways. I complied lots of advice and tips and tricks to keep me going.

So, first, know that you are doing the best that you can for your baby. Your body will heal and the baby doesn’t mind. Seek out a lactation consultant. Even if they do nothing more than hold your hand, reassure you, and offer some helpful advice, these women are a contact and life line. I saw a lactation consultant with all four babies. While I may have gained some experience and tricks, each time my little one was new to breastfeeding.

Plus, if it ever becomes too much, you can always use formula. You haven’t failed if you do, you have shown great strength to put aside ideals and truly take care of yourself and your baby. For some women, breastfeeding just isn’t the best option for the health of both mom and baby. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my breastfeeding must haves.

My Favorite Breastfeeding Newborn Tips and Tricks

For those who wish to continue the breastfeeding journey and know that their little one is getting enough milk (either doctor’s visits or owning a baby scale), I will share the tips and tricks that got me through breastfeeding in the first month with all four of my children.

First, allow your nipples to breathe. Walk around your house without a shirt on and definitely ditch the bra. My nursing bra didn’t usually make an appearance for the first month of breastfeeding. If you must, wear an open robe, unbuttoned shirt, or unzipped shirt. I loved the zip up shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies. They were easy to get presentable quickly if the need ever arose. Sit in the sunlight and let the sun help to heal your nipples and your state of mind. Sunlight has so many healing properties and just all around makes us feel better.

Next, be sure to take care of your nipples. When baby switches sides, be sure to express some breastmilk and rub it on the side baby has just finished nursing. The expressed breastmilk helps to soothe and heal as well. After finishing a feed and letting the breastmilk dry, I would always apply lanolin cream. I started this from day 1, feed 1. No need to wait until it’s too late. Around day 5, when things hit their peak, I would use Lansinoh soothes gel pads to help alleviate the soreness between feeds.

My Nursing Areas

For your piece of mind, set up a relaxing nursing area in each room you plan to breastfeed your baby. I had two areas in my house: the family room and the bedroom. These were just mine and my older children, husband, and family knew to stay far away form these areas. In my family room, I set up a recliner rocking chair and commandeered the corner next to the chair. In the bedroom, I have a rocking chair and the window sill.

For each area: I keep the remote, a large bottle of water, some chocolates, my nursing pillow, lanolin cream, chapstick, my phone, and tablet. While I don’t particularly care for chocolate, it does have special relaxing effects and can help you to relax and get the milk flowing. Plus, it can help distract you from the pain of the first few moments of the latch. Whenever, I started nursing my little one, I would grab a piece of chocolate and suck on it. By the time the chocolate was gone, often the baby would be nursing happily and the uncomfortable time would have passed.

My phone, tablet and remote were necessary for keeping me sane during my hour long marathon nursing sessions. These gave me something to do, something to distract my mind, and something to keep me happy while my little one pacified while sleeping. Be sure to stock each area with everything you will need to nurse the baby and relax yourself. The only thing that I would bring with me was my nursing pillow as I was only fortunate enough to own the one. Having the two well-stocked areas helped me to be more relaxed and as soon as I sat in my nursing chair, I could feel a difference in my body.

Take Care of Yourself

Having a few dedicated nursing areas helps a lot. But nothing helps as much as eating right and drinking plenty of water. Plus, be sure to continue talking your prenatal vitamins or try a nursing postnatal vitamin. This will help ensure that your breastmilk, as well as your own body, has the proper essential vitamins and minerals. Breastfeeding mothers needs extra calories and plenty of water.

Water

Be sure to drink plenty of water throughout the day. To help with this, I had three different water bottles. One water bottle was my traveling around the house water bottle. The other two bottles lived in my dedicated nursing areas. I got into the habit of drinking water before and after each feed and anytime I went to the bathroom, I would refill my water bottles. But DO NOT force fluids. There is no magic number and forcing yourself to drink too much water may actually lessen your supply.

Supplements

As far as supplements go to increase milk supply, try what you feel comfortable putting in your own body. Throughout my journey, we tried a few different supplements and didn’t find much difference with them. Some women swear by the supplements, others found no use. So don’t completely rule them out, but also don’t put all your cards into a supplement either.

What I found that worked best for me was drinking plenty of water, eating healthy (salads, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, well prepared meats, etc) and adding in more oatmeal to my diet. I would eat one bowl of oatmeal daily while breastfeeding my little ones. Oats have a healthy amount of iron and the warm oatmeal can help you to relax, especially if you get a flavor you enjoy with an appetizing aroma.

Special Treat

I always kept a little candy in my nursing area. For example, I kept some Hersey kisses and Lifesaver candies. I loved the chocolate to suck on for the first few moments of breastfeeding while my little one was latching. For whatever reason, the latch was always the hardest part. Then I loved the hard candies for the marathon nursing sessions. Just a little treat to remind myself that I’m important too.

If you have other treats you enjoy, stock up. Send your partner to the store or Amazon some to your door. You are doing something amazing for your little one and you deserve a treat for all your hard work. Because breastfeeding is work. Your body is making the food for your little one and this takes a lot out of you. Right now you are working overtime with little sleep, so you need to be sure to eat right, drink water, and treat yourself.

You are important too! You are a mom, but a woman first. Find the time to take care of yourself.

Side Lying Position for Breastfeeding your Newborn

Lastly, be sure to research the side lying position for breastfeeding. While I never managed to successfully use this position before my little one was 3 weeks old, it always gave me hope that I could get some rest and be able to nurse baby laying down in the middle of the night. This is a wonderful position where you can lay down and nurse your baby from the comfort of your bed (if it’s not too soft).

For this position, you will definitely want extra pillow support (or a willing spouse) so that you can be truly comfortable and relaxed. I would place a pillow behind my back, under my head, and between my legs so that I could fully relax on my side while baby nursed. And yes, I also placed a pillow or two behind my little one just in case I feel asleep with a nursing baby. Sometimes I could sneak my little one back to the crib, but many times we co-slept while breastfeeding out of sheer exhaustion. I would just fall asleep before my little one was anywhere near ready for The Transfer to the crib.

And don’t get me started on The Transfer. This was always a struggle with all four of my babies. We needed to make sure we moved them at just the right moment. If we did, we got a nice long nap, sometimes 4+ hours. But if we missed the moment, it was back to breastfeeding. This was the only way to soothe my little one when they woke from a nap during The Transfer.

Support from Others when Breastfeeding your Newborn

Never be too ashamed to seek out assistance during breastfeeding. Lactation consultants are here to help and there are many breastfeeding mother groups you can join as well. Plus, there are many moms who are willing to share their journeys and offer any assistance that they can. I very specifically remember nursing my third child at Disney World and a mom walking by and praising me for breastfeeding my son in public. She smiled, said, “You go, mom. It’s such a beautiful sight,” and kept on walking. Even that little bit of acknowledgement and encouragement can help you on this journey.

Now that you’ve got your first month of breastfeeding, check out my tips and tricks for breastfeeding in months 2 and 3. Each month brings new successes and challenges and it never hurts to be prepared. You’ve got this! You rock! And your little one thanks you. And if your struggling with soreness, please head over to Breastfeeding Survival: The Nipple Shield for a how to use this incredible breastfeeding tool.

We encourage breastfeeding moms to leave a comment below and let us know how it’s going for you. We would love to offer you support and love. Plus our support grows with your child to help you give your family the practical solutions you need.

Hi, I’m Nicole.

Here at Creatingbutterflies we provide families with practical solutions to real life problems for everything parenting, scouting, dual language, and enjoying time outdoors. We are a family of 6 with 4 wonderful becoming bilingual children who loves scouting, camping, and hiking with their family. Mom is an educator and dad is a firefighter/paramedic.