Breastfeeding Essentials

Breastfeeding is becoming the norm in today’s society. Moms want to try to give their baby the best start in life and experts agree that breastfeeding is the best for newborns. But it’s only a good start if baby and mom are healthy both physically and mentally.

Before choosing to begin on this journey, start with the mindset that you want to breastfeed your child and do what is best for your little one. What is best might be breastfeeding, but it could also be just feeding your baby. Keep in mind that formula is a great backup for when breastfeeding does not go as planned. It’s always best to have a back up plan.

Breastfeeding Mindset

With this in mind, know that breastfeeding is natural but it is new to you and the baby! Even after the experience of breastfeeding four children, I still found that consulting a lactation consultant was helpful. While I might have experience, this is still new for my little one. So never allow yourself to feel like a failure if things don’t go as planned or you need to seek out the advice of a lactation consultant. Asking for help when you are struggling takes great strengths and determination (and yes, it is okay to get help often).

Having the right mindset makes a world of difference! If means that you can relax and feed your baby (from your breast or the bottle). It also means that you are ready to prepare for your breastfeeding journey. Take the time to purchase a nice robe or some open shirts that you can tie loosely (or just leave open). These were a life saver on my journey with all four of my children.

Sores, Scabs, Oh My!

In the beginning, you may have some soreness or even scabs from baby and mom learning the best positions. For me, these lasted about 3 -8 weeks with each baby. Limiting things that rub where you are sore can help. Also, exposure to the sun can help heal the scabs and make you feel better too. So I would spend many days just sitting in the windows soaking in some sun. Yes, I ditched the shirt.

Get yourself some comfortable clothes that are easy to open. I loved shirts and sweaters that zip up or tie in the front. Wearing your robe is awesome too! Also, if it feels better and you are able, don’t feel like you need to wear a shirt at all, just keep one nearby for unplanned visitors. Moreover, it’s perfectly acceptable to ditch the bra completely. There is no right or wrong answer, just what works for you and your little one.

The Tools of the Breastfeeding

There are so many wonderful products on the market today. And even more coming out as breastfeeding becomes more popular. While you might want everything, you don’t need it all. We’ve included the absolute survival tools that we needed when starting our journey. These were the breastfeeding must haves that were so important to get started. After you have these tools, there are so many more to explore, but we felt they were all optional products.

Lansinoh Lanolin Cream

Stock up on lanolin cream! I usually only needed 1 tube per baby, but it was a life saver. After each feed, I would put a little on my nipples to soothe them. I started this from the first feed even if there was no soreness. Then, I used it regularly for the first few weeks and as needed afterwards for as long as I nursed the baby.

Lanolin Cream is completely natural. It is safe for baby and easy to use. Plus, it dries quickly so you are almost always ready for breastfeeding. This is especially important for the little one who constant wants to nurse with limited time away from mom. We’ve all had those moments and Lanolin was our must have.

My Breast Friend

Get yourself a good nursing pillow that belts around your waist. I love My Breast Friend. It’s great for the baby to lay on and help with positioning and sore arms. Having one that buckles helps to prevent that baby from rolling between your pillow and stomach as well as save your arm muscles. This is a great investment as it can be used whether you breastfeed or not. We loved to lay the baby on the pillow even when taking a bottle or prop the pillow behind when learning to sit.

This pillow isn’t just for baby either. Moms will love this pillow to help them with breastfeeding as well. Not only does the pocket in the front hold many of the things you love to keep nearby when nursing, but it allows you to nurse more hands-free when you become more comfortable breastfeeding your baby. We loved to keep chocolate, lanolin cream, and our phone in the little pocket.

The buckle helps to keep the pillow securely affixed to mom. So, once you latch baby, baby can breastfeed without much support. This allow me to have my hands-free to read, play a game, search on my phone, connect with friends, or any other activities you might need hands-free. And if you little one isn’t quite ready for you to be hands-free, podcasts and TV can be your best friend. Especially during the marathon nursing sessions.

Baby Scale

Next, invest in a baby scale. It helped tremendously with my piece of mind (and especially my husband’s!). With a bottle, you can see how much milk your baby is drinking. The scale let’s you have a little peek into how much milk your baby takes from your breast. In the beginning, we would weigh our little one before a feed and then right after. The weight gain helps tell you how much milk your baby takes. After awhile (and I felt more confident), we would weigh our little one once a day and track the weight daily. After the first few months, we would drop to weighing once every few days or even once a week.

Do you absolutely need a baby scale, no. But I highly recommend one. Before buying this we were constantly guessing on if our baby was getting enough milk and eagerly anticipating with nerves those early doctor appointments where our doctor would confirm that she was in fact getting enough milk and gaining weight. This scale turned those worries into confidence. Consequently, those doctor visits were filled with much less nerves and our focus shifted to helping our baby in other ways.

My Special Area

Finally, be sure to have a special breastfeed area. I would steal our rocking recliner and the nearby corner. Here, I could set up my pillow in this area and have everything I would need to be comfortable. Additionally, I usually keep a blanket, the remote, my phone and tablet, as well as a few of my favorite treats and some chocolates. If you tend to run warm, add a fan to your area to keep your cool. Having a special area helps you to enter the breastfeeding mindset and helps others (little kids, partners, pets, and your baby) relate this area with your breastfeeding too.

A dedicated area helped me so much. Not only did all my breastfeeding items have a place to live, but they actually stayed there. My husband and kids didn’t use this area and they also learned to level my items in the area. It even prompted my husband to start checking that everything was actually there for me. What a sweetheart!

Breastfeeding Reminder for New Moms

Always remember, breastfeeding is one way to feed your child. If everything goes well, that’s amazing! But if you are having any struggles, you have not failed as a mom! I cannot repeat this enough. It was a message I so desperately needed to hear while on this journey. If you breastfeed a month, you have given your child something special. If breastfeeding isn’t for you, you are still giving your child something special.

We need to remember that feeding our child is the priority. You feed your child in the way that works for both you and baby. If that’s breastfeeding, awesome. If you choose to exclusively pump, that’s great too. And if formula works for you, that’s amazing. And if your child wants a different method to eat than you originally planned, that’s okay too. Mom guilt is a real thing and it’s more important to be with your child than lost to the guilt of how you need to feed him.

With your breastfeeding journey just beginning, be sure to read our Breastfeeding: Month 1 to learn some tricks and tips when you are just beginning. If you are struggling with soreness, don’t miss our Breastfeeding Survival: The Nipple Shield to learn to use this incredibly useful tool.

Good luck! And enjoy your little one! They are the most important part of this journey to creating butterflies. Leave us a comment below with your favorite breastfeeding supplies and tips.

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.