As a first time Mom, I really wasn’t sure if I would be breastfeeding or not, at first.
But then, well, I started reading. And reading, and reading, AND reading about how it’s so amazing and it’s best for baby, blah, blah blah.
SO, after lots of research, I decided about halfway through my pregnancy, I would be breastfeeding my baby!
And I have to say, that watching a baby you birthed grow from 8 lbs to 20 lbs from breastfeeding alone is such an amazing thing to me.
It’s so awesome that all a baby needs to survive and grow is breastmilk for their entire first year of life!
Breast Milk is the best option for baby because it carries all the nutrients they need as well as antibodies from you to fight germs that could make baby sick.
My baby had one cold a month after he was born, and a bout of thrush for around the same time (which can happen, it’s normal). He overcame these things super quickly, and he didn’t get sick again for his entire first year!
Breastfeeding was so challenging. But knowing that my baby was getting everything he needed to get through any possible health challenge quickly was so reassuring. It made it all worthwhile.
Here is a guide for first time Moms, or Mom’s who will be breastfeeding for the first time.
Breastfeeding Preparation + Support
I made sure I let Hubby know this was something I really wanted to do about halfway through my pregnancy. He was onboard with knowing this was the best thing for him. He didn’t know what to expect (neither did I) but he was super supportive the whole way through.
It can be lonely sometimes when you’re going through the challenges of breastfeeding, but having family give me advice was awesome. I also had lots of support from WIC by taking the breastfeeding class they offered before baby came.
After you have your baby, they call you and ask you how its going and ask if you need help. My office was very persistent in checking in with me every few weeks to see if everything was still going okay. Having all that support made it not as difficult to make it through, and keep at it for my baby’s health.
If you’re not able to breastfeed you’re not alone, never be ashamed of that. It’s not for everybody. It can be difficult but I would encourage you to push through the difficulty. You will feel like a superhuman that God is using to literally sustain a life.
Being able to feed him anywhere at anytime without the hassle of bottles was great too. When you need childcare it’s important for baby to know how to drink from a bottle because you’re not there to feed him. This involves pumping your milk and finding bottles baby likes, which can be a challenge. But I promise you the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.
SOME AMAZING BENEFITS OF BREASTFEEDING
Oxytocin – The Love Drug
Oxytocin blocks cortisone, which is the stress hormone. Every single time you nurse your little one, oxytocin is released into your system.
It’s actually nicknamed “the love drug” because it’s also released when you experience loving feelings. It has a calming effect and for some it induces sleep.
Newborns eat every 1-3 hours and on demand, so you’re constantly getting a steady stream of oxytocin 24 hours a day, all day, every day. For more info on Oxytocin and Breastfeeding, click here.
I’d always heard about postpartum depression, and I honestly was worried that this may be something I’d end up dealing with. I’m predisposed to depression as it’s something I’ve had challenges with in the past.
However I have a theory that since I breastfed my baby for one year postpartum, the steady stream of oxytocin helped me tremendously to get through lots of first year difficulties.
Lose Baby Weight Fast
Breastfeeding can burn 200-500 calories a day! This caused my postpartum weight to go down super fast, probably within the first month or two.
I was back down to my original weight in no time. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect but yes, this was a great perk! It’s true, your baby weight will fall off super quickly.
Uterus Shrinks Faster
Because oxytocin causes the uterus to contract, it shrinks down pretty fast. It goes down right along with your overall weight. It’s not a fun part of your postpartum journey because uterine contractions equal cramps. And you experience them all day, every day.
This is a huge reason why I think breastfeeding helped so much. I was constantly in a lot of pain, so I think having that steady stream of oxytocin in my system got me through a lot.
No Visits from Aunt Flow For a While… Maybe
This is an amazing benefit if it happens for you! When breastfeeding, the hormone prolactin is released in order to stimulate milk production, and it also inhibits ovulation. Which in turn inhibits your period.
This did not happen for me, mine started right away. Yep. After my initial postpartum shedding, Aunt Flow came for her visit right after that ended.
Honestly I was not happy about that because I was looking forward to a few more months of no period! But it’s said that if you ever have to use bottles (which I sometimes did), it could cause your period to begin sooner. And then once baby starts with solid foods (at 6 months), you’re not breastfeeding quite as much so the effects of breastfeeding are not as intense.
It’s Best for Baby; Breast Milk is Dubbed “Liquid Gold”
Breastfeeding provides every single nutrient baby needs to survive for his/her first year. Every. One. All the vitamins, fats, proteins, everything is in your breastmilk. It contains antibodies, living cells, enzymes, and hormones that cannot be added to the formula. It only comes from you.
Nursing your baby helps fight infections and builds your baby’s immune system. It’s been coined “liquid gold” for many reasons. The composition of your Breast Milk actually changes to meet your baby’s needs, throughout your breastfeeding journey! I think that’s pretty amazing.
Unique Connection Built With New Baby
There is a connection that is built between you and baby that’s so amazing. I feel it really helps with separation anxiety because you’ve gone so long with this little being attached to you for 9 whole months. Now he/she is completely detached from you and is out in the world, in your arms.
It’s a crazy feeling of detachment that can be depressing for some women. Nursing creates a new bond between you and baby, that’s exclusive to only the two of you, which is so helpful. Baby is still super close to you, and you’re still providing everything it needs to survive, as you were when he/she was en utero.
Feed Baby Anywhere at Anytime
Nursing allows you to feed baby anywhere, anytime, any place. There is a feeling of freedom you have when nursing that is a tremendous blessing. It’s one less thing to worry about when you’re out and about.
No worrying about whether you have enough formula, did you remember to bring the bottles, are all the bottles dirty, do you need to wash bottles, sterilize them? Nope! For the first 6 months, it’s all you!
If you’re a new Mommy and you have to return to work right away, you’d likely need to pump your milk (unless you work from home). But it can still provide some freedom for you once you return home from work.
The Blessing of Bountifulness
Yep, I’m from the itty bitty committee. So I’ll be transparent and say it was nice to have fuller boobs for a while. Albeit they came with a price. But it was nice!
Seeing Babies Milk Wasted Face
There will be times when baby is so super hungry, whiny and fussy. You’re tired, and you’re doing all you can to make sure you’re producing enough milk. After nursing with you, you’ll peer down at baby’s little sleeping face and see this completely satisfied look of contentment that only happens after nursing with you.
My little one would smile in his sleep, so a little smiling milk wasted face would be so completely satisfying after all the hard work I did to keep my milk flowing for him!
SOME CHALLENGES YOU MAY EXPERIENCE
No Private Place to Breastfeed
In my experience, the best family restroom that provided a seating area was at a large outlet mall about 20 miles from my home. No place where I shopped nor ate close to my home offered anywhere for me to nurse my baby privately.
That was a really frustrating thing for me because when I was just starting out, I was a complete and total klutz with it. So I was deathly afraid of exposing myself by mistake.
Baby will get hungry wherever you take him. In a restaurant, at the grocery store, at church, anywhere! I thought for sure as long as I could find a family restroom we’d be fine.
Wrong! Even Target’s family restroom is literally a toilet a changing table and a sink. I was at Walmart once and there were chairs near the restroom so I was able to drag one inside their family restroom to nurse my baby.
Although it’s hard for me to admit I had to nurse my baby in the bathroom. Ugh. But it was either that or sit in the Subway food court. Thankfully the restroom was pretty large so we were nowhere near the toilet.
I’d say just right off the bat, get comfortable with the idea of sitting in a public place with a blanket or cover over baby. Except my baby didn’t like having his face covered up. It was so hard sometimes!
I’m not one of those women who are like, ready to whip out the boob without a cover out in public because it’s my body so onlookers need to deal with it. That’s totally not me. So I just did the best I could, and I did what was comfortable for me. Sometimes I was able to nurse him in the car. You do figure it out over time.
Stuck Without a Pump All Day = Face to Palm!
One time I had a concert to sing at. There was a sound check early in the day, and then the concert was later on. I left my baby with my Mom for the duration of the day so I could attend the sound check and the event. The only thing was, because I was away from the baby for almost an entire day, that meant I needed to pump my milk.
No big deal through right? I brought my breast pump, bottles, everything I needed so I could just pump at the location where the concert was. Wrong! It was a big deal.
The location had only 2 small restrooms as private areas, one for women, one for men. The restrooms had only a toilet and sink, and no running water. Yep. No. Running. Water. And nope, no electrical socket for my breast pump. At the time I didn’t have a manual pump, and I hadn’t run into a situation where I needed one. Until now.
I could not afford not to pump because there was no way I was going to let my boobs engorge. So I had to do what I had to do. I had to hand express my milk into a diaper. Let me tell you, this was the messiest, most frustrating experience I ever had in my breastfeeding journey. I mean, it was a mess!!!
I was leaking milk all over the floor, all over me, all over everything in that tiny bathroom, trying to hand express my milk. And remember, there was no running water, only hand sanitizer! OMG it was horrible! Funny now, but horrible then, ha!
That day I learned the importance of having a hand pump. You can get them from anywhere, really. Here’s the one I got: Medela Harmony Manual Breast Pump
I would say a hand pump is a must. It will save you in ways you never thought possible! Definitely invest is one, yes, even if you already have an electric pump.
Engorgement + Clogged Milk Ducts
Engorgement is something I won’t ever forget. It happened to me twice, and the 2nd time I almost gave up breastfeeding.
Engorgement happens when your boobs get packed so full of milk because it’s stuck inside. The milk gets stuck because your milk ducts can get clogged. Usually it happens in the beginning because it takes a while for your body to get used to the cycle of milk production. Once it gets used to the cycle, it doesn’t happen anymore (at least for me it didn’t).
It is so painful, OMG! This was some of the worst pain I’ve experienced, and it’s in a location that doesn’t usually cause you pain so it’s so weird! Your boobs are just swollen, tight, and they hurt like crazy.
How to release a clogged milk duct
The advice I was given was take a Tylenol for pain, get in the shower and let the hot water soften the plug, and then pump. Then keep pumping every hour until the clog releases. Mine took a couple days to release. I had to sleep on my back and use an ice pack for the pain.
Finally the plug released while I was pumping and you could see little curdled bits of milk in the bottles of pumped milk!!! I’m sorry for the description but it was so gross! I was so relieved when the clog broke up, you have no idea!
Thankfully the second time this happened was the last time. And this happened early on, probably in my first or second month. So it’s worth it to stick with it because it gets better over time. It just takes your body a while to get used to the process and then things smooth out.
Random Let Downs + Leaky Boobs
A milk let-down is a sudden surge of milk that happens after your baby latches on, and starts to suckle. After they start to suckle, a sudden surge of milk begins to flow for baby to take in, and it lasts for a few minutes. Sometimes you’ll have several let-down’s in one feeding, sometimes you’ll have only one. It varies.
This is usually when you experience a let-down, but your milk can actually let-down at any random moment. They can happen when you least expect it, so it’s pretty important to make sure you keep nursing pads in at all times, unless you want big wet stains on the front of your shirt at any given moment. Which you do not want!
Some women say if they hear a baby cry they have a let-down, even if it’s not their own baby. Say on a tv show, or out it public. This didn’t really happen to me though.
Sometimes your boobs just leak, not even from a let down. They just leak. Or they may leak because they’re too full. Sorry, there’s no way to control this! But you can definitely prepare for it ahead of time.
It’ probably a good idea to keep an extra shirt and bra with you at all times if you have to return to work right away. Maybe just keep a little just in case bag in the trunk of your car with items you may need.
You Have to Drink So Much Water!!
In order to keep milk flowing you have to drink a lot of fluids. Definitely drink water, but sometimes I drank juice too just to make sure I could get as much fluids in my body as possible. The more you drink, the more milk you produce.
Newborns eat every 1-3 hours, 24 hours a day, and on demand.
I knew newborns ate every 1-3 hours, but for some reason that didn’t really translate to me that it means 24 hours a day. Meaning I’d have to wake up every 3 hours to feed my baby. All. Night. Long.
Thankfully by 6 months, when you add solid foods they sleep longer at night. But that first 6 months, phew chile! It was rough. It was worth it! But it was rough not getting much sleep.
Baby May Not Drink From a Bottle with a Caregiver
Since baby is so used to your milk, he may not drink from a bottle if you need to leave him with a caregiver. This would give me a little anxiety not knowing whether or not he’d eat. Sometimes he wouldn’t eat until he saw me! And then other times he would.
Eventually they usually get hungry enough that they’ll drink from the bottle, depending on how long they are with the caregiver.
Have to Watch Your Diet
The same energy you used to watch your diet during pregnancy, keep that same energy for breastfeeding. No spicy foods, no alcohol, no heavy onion and garlic dishes. All those things will affect your breastmilk and change the taste. Which may in turn repel baby from nursing.
Some Mommies find ways to still have alcohol. I think I may have tried to have a glass of wine once, but the anxiety of trying to make sure there was no chance the milk he consumed had alcohol, and needing to supplement with bottles of breastmilk was too much. It just wasn’t worth it to me. But if you’d like more info on this click here, and here.
Chapped Nipples
Yep. It’s a thing. Your nipples will go through some things. They get extremely sore and develop some scabbing, and it’s a real process you go through with getting used to nursing.
After you do it for a while, it gets easier, and it doesn’t hurt anymore. I would say by month 3 all was well and there was no more pain.
I will be honest and say, I wasn’t sure I wanted to nurse because no one ever talks about whether they go back to normal. Do they get tough and rough for ever and ever? Well I can answer for myself and say no, mine are now back to normal, no hint of roughness anywhere at all.
I have heard and seen women boast about nipple shields and how they help sore nipples. I was so tempted, but I knew it would be best if I just buckled down and go through the process. The shields may help the pain but eventually your nipples just need to adjust, and I felt like it just prolonged the process. According to KellyMom.com, here are some of the things that can happen with nipple shields:
- baby may get less milk if the shield is used incorrectly
- mom may be more at risk for plugged ducts and mastitis (if the shield causes reduced milk transfer)
- it can be difficult to wean from the shield
That second point was enough for me, I didn’t want any chances of causing plugged ducts. But do what’s best for you! I definitely don’t shame anyone for using them, I say do what you have to do. If you have to use them for a little while, by all means use them. But if you can clench your teeth and power through it, things will get better over time.
Not Producing Enough Milk
I did sometimes not produce enough milk for baby to feel satisfied after we nursed. Through researching online, asking my Doctor and family, I found the things that worked for me.
Oatmeal, and water.
Yep, those two things! Sounds too simple to be true right? But it’s true! Lots of oatmeal and fluids did the trick for me.
Some women make lactation cookies and drink Mother’s Milk Tea (I wasn’t aware of this at the time), take certain supplements etc. But I found just eating oatmeal once a day and drinking lots of water helped my milk production pretty much immediately.
My favorite thing to do was make oatmeal cookies. Yum! The only thing is they tasted so good I would often eat one too many, but for me it increased my milk production every time I’d eat them. So after you try and few things, you’ll figure out what works for you.
Here’s a good article on how to produce more milk: click here.
Pumping Milk
It is a hassle to pump milk. At least for me it was, but it’s a part of the process! You’ll find your groove and it will get easier over time.
Because I worked from home, I didn’t necessarily have to pump every single day. But if I knew I had an appointment or I’d have to leave my baby with a caregiver for a while, I’d have to do what I needed to do to get extra milk flowing so they’d have milk to give him.
I also would pump if I wanted my Hubby to help me with feedings.
It was all still worth it to me because I knew it was best for my baby, so I would push through it. I will be honest and say sometimes I did supplement and leave formula for him if I just didn’t feel up to pumping extra milk.
Don’t by any means feel guilty if that’s what you have to do. No need in stressing yourself out over it. If you’re still nursing the majority of the time, he’s still reaping the benefits of your milk.
BREASTFEEDING MUST HAVES + TIPS
Nipple Cream
In the process of dealing with chapped sore nipples, I used Lansinoh Lanolin Cream. Yes, the lanolin eventually stained my bras and night shirts. But it helped so much that I didn’t care! It’s VERY thick, and I slathered it on constantly. It’s safe for baby, and didn’t affect nursing at all.
Some ladies are able to remove the lanolin stains, but I didn’t bother with that. I just washed my things like normal. I mean I wasn’t going out in my nightshirts during the day, ha! So it was okay.
Nursing Pads
I used the Lansinoh and Medela nursing pads, both seemed to be kind of itchy to me. And it got kind of annoying changing them all the time. But I ended up really liking the reusable pads by Bamboobies!
I wasn’t sure I’d like them due to the reviews, but I really did. I’d wash them by hand every day and let them air dry over night. I bought several pair and always made sure I had a dry pair to use.
Nursing Bra for Sleep + For Daytime
You do need nursing bras for sleep as well as daytime. I don’t enjoy sleeping in a support bra, and I couldn’t go around with a non-support bra during the day. And you need to wear a bra so your nursing pads have something to hold on to.
I found these nursing bras from Target were awesome for sleep. My day bras I actually found in a second hand maternity shop because the ones I was finding were looking really expensive.
The ones I liked were similar to this one from Target. Check and see if you have a second hand maternity shop in your area if you’re a thrifty, frugal girl like me! If you live in the Metro Detroit area, this one was great!
Nursing Cover Up
I tried 2 different cover ups, the ones that are like shawls and the ones that are like aprons. My baby and I like the one like an apron best because it’s not a restrictive. He really didn’t like his face covered up, so this allowed his face to get some air without him feeling suffocated.
I found the shawls to be way too constricting and it was so much fabric! My baby was born in the summertime so all that fabric just didn’t work for us. Here is one that is similar to the one I had, it worked amazingly. I had no idea what options were even available! You can also use a blanket of course, but the apron stays attached to you so it prevents mishaps of exposure better.
Breast Pump, Bottles + Milk Storage Bags
The breast pump I used was the Medela Pump in Style Advanced, and it was great! It had great suction and worked really well. It came with 2 bottles, which is definitely not enough. So I ended up buying more bottles from Walmart.
My pump also came with a few milk storage bags to start off with, but I went ahead and got these from Target so I had enough for quite a while and wouldn’t run out.
More Bottles
The bottles that worked on my breast pump didn’t have nipples, so I needed bottles with nipples on them. I remember watching youtube video after youtube video on how to find the best bottle for your baby.
I knew I didn’t want to drive myself crazy buying so many bottles, and besides, as a frugal girl I knew I didn’t want to waste tons of money on bottles my baby didn’t like. Babies take to certain nipples better than others, for various reasons. So the only way to know what nipple baby will like is to try different ones!
So I decided I’d go with about 3 different types and then see which one baby took to the best. I’d heard great reviews from family on the Playtex Nipples, so I tried the Playtex Vent Aire, and Playtex Nurser with Drop Ins (these both used the same nipples). I also tried the Tommee Tippee, and Nuk bottles.
I think he eventually got the hang of the Playtex bottles the most. As he got older, he didn’t mind drinking from the other bottles though (on the occasions when all my Playtex bottles were dirty).
I think for the most part babies just have to learn to drink from a bottle, just like they have to learn to drink from you. I don’t think it’s necessarily that they don’t like certain bottles at all, I think sometimes they just don’t know how to drink from it. And some bottles are just easier than others.
Back to the breast pump bottles, mine did have nipples you could buy at the time, but I didn’t want to buy yet another nipple. And really he did eventually take to the Playtex nipples and drank from them just fine.
Bottle Drying Rack
The bottle drying rack is not a requirement because you could totally just use your own dish rack. But here are the reasons I think it was helpful for me as a new Mommy:
- Full disclosure: sometimes I would wash the dishes and let them stay in the dish rack. As a new Mom I was super tired a lot, so sometimes all I could do was just wash the dishes up, and then put them away at another time. So then when the bottles needed to be washed, I wouldn’t be able to let them dry in the dish rack because it was already full of dishes. I know, I know, shame on me. So it was helpful in that it provided a place just for baby’s bottles to dry that was separate from my regular dish rack.
- Bottle parts, nipples, breast pump attachments, all these pieces can be small and tedious and can get easily lost. Having a separate space for them helped tremendously.
Microwave Bottle Disinfector
The microwave bottle disinfector is not a necessity, but it helped a ton. When you just need a few bottles disinfected right away, and you don’t have time to wait for a pot of boiling water, this was amazing! After you wash them, you microwave them for 3 minutes, then let them sit in the microwave for 10 and voila! Clean bottles.
Bottle Brush Cleaner
I used several brush cleaners over the course of time. They do get a bit crummy after a while so they do need to be replaced periodically. I used this one, and this one the most. I also grabbed one from my local Dollar Tree to see how it worked, and that one wasn’t too bad. But the ones from Target were definitely made a lot better.
I Nursed my Baby for One Year
I had no idea how my breastfeeding journey would go. Out of everyone I know, my Mom was able to do it the longest, she made it to 3 months! So the fact that I was able to nurse my little one for an entire year was such an accomplishment.
I have been a stay at home Mom since my little one was born, so I know that played a huge part in being able to do it. I think I’m pretty sure I would have resorted to bottles and formula had I been working a 9 to 5.
Pumping my milk at work, being stuck in a meeting with leaky boobs wondering if milk is seeping through my shirt, OMG! I don’t think I could do it. So many props to those ladies who have been able to nurse while working.
If breastfeeding ends up being something that doesn’t seem to be working out for you (even though I really encourage you to keep trying if you can), there is no shame in that. Every Mommy is different, and you will figure out what works best for you and your new little one.
For more info on postpartum healing, check out this post:
My First Week Postpartum + Newborn Jaundice
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