How To Breastfeed Like A Pro The First Time

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Breastfeeding is so rewarding and the bond that is created between mother and infant is indescribable.

But there’s no doubt that breastfeeding isn’t easy in the beginning. It’s painful to start and if your hospital doesn’t have a good lactation expert you may be totally lost on what to do.

Most imagine that you just stick the baby on the boob and that’s all that it takes but it’s wayyy more difficult than that.

*You may also be interested in The One thing I did that helped me breastfeed the first few weeks with NO pain.

I should know, I’ve breastfed three babies, each time past two years old and I’ve experienced it all. I have loved every second of it though and I love helping other new moms learn how to do it.

Want Breastfeeding Freebies?! You can get them with the coupon code ” Thislittlenest22 “ that was created with each company just for my readers. Yes! They’re really free so check it out!!

Breastfeeding Pillow Nursing cover Nursing band Reusable breast pads

Read the full post here on how to get even more pregnancy freebies.

So I know a thing or two about the subject. Let’s talk about how to transition into nursing with ease.

In the beginning

When your baby is born it’s good to attempt breastfeeding right away. The baby may not know how to instinctually latch on { Contrary to popular belief } and you’ll likely have to guide her.

It’s a good idea that you research exactly how to do this so you’re confident in what you’re doing. If you don’t know and you keep trying, you’ll cause yourself a whole lot of pain and the baby will certainly sense your frustration. That will complicate the process and you want to make breastfeeding as easy and pleasurable as possible for you both.

Here’s a diagram that will give you a visual image of how to latch your baby as efficiently as possible.

Have Patience

Even if you are properly educated on how to help your sweet baby latch, she may struggle at first. Your goal should be helping her get as much of your nipple in her mouth as possible from the bottom jaw up because mama, If she just grabs at the nipple with her mouth and only manages to get a bit in, it’s gonna hurt and the soreness that comes is unreal.

Once you get a good latch going everything else will start to fall into place so this is your very first goal.

{ Check out my Pinterest Breastfeeding Board here for TONS of info and make sure you follow me for more great stuff! }

There Will Be Pain

I’m not going to sugar coat it, Even with a good latch you are going to get really sore and you may even bleed. But it’s not as bad as some might have you believe.

For the first few weeks when the baby latches on it will burn pretty intensely, but the good news is that it fades after about 20 seconds and you won’t feel that pain again until the next feeding.

After a few weeks, the pain will fade completely. It’s well worth it despite the burn you feel and most mamas endure it well.

How To Get through Postpartum pain without crying

With all that being said, there are some really great ways to help minimize breastfeeding pain. You don’t need to suffer so don’t!

Here are a few things that will REALLY help. You can get them all on AMAZON.

Medela Hydro-Gel Breast pads are an absolute must! These are so very comforting and cooling to and they work like a charm. These Gel Pads from Lansinoh are really great too.

This nipple ointment will help so much too and I couldn’t live without it.

Breast shells and nipple shields will also minimize the pain you feel great so you’ll be able to concentrate on helping your babe more.

But there’s so Much More to know…

So we’ve talked about latching and you understand the importance of this process and we’ve discussed the pain you’ll experience and how to minimize that.

Now that we’ve talked about the basics that will get you started let’s go over a few more tips.

See Nursing in action

If you can, before you have your babe watch a friend or someone else you know and ask them to demonstrate. Hopefully, they won’t be too shy to show you how.

Skin To Skin Is Always Best

Having your baby right on your skin without clothing between you two not only feels really sweet, but it helps you produce more milk and it helps the baby bond and breastfeeds better.

Avoid Pacifiers At First

Babies suck on Pacifiers in a different way then the breast. This can and will cause Nipple confusion and they’ll have trouble establishing a good latch.

Have Good Support For yourself and Your Baby

Having a good way to prop yourself up will make you much more comfortable and your back will hurt less { because holding a baby and nursing does cause your back to hurt without a good pillow! } The pillow down below is what I use and it’s amazing!

Also, a really good breastfeeding pillow like the Boppy is a great option. You can get a free nursing PIllow here with the coupon code Thislittlenest22 as I stated above but their pillows are smallish. If you’re willing to spend a little, Boppy’s are the best!

Avoid Formula At First

If you offer Formula right away it will definitely affect your milk supply. Just don’t do it. Continue to try breastfeeding even if it gets really frustrating. You’ll get it, just be patient.

Don’t Give up!

Yes, it hurts and it can be frustrating if it doesn’t seem to come naturally to you both, but it’s so very worth it. Plus the convenience of not having to fix bottles all night is awesome. You’ll be glad you were persistent!

In fact, breastfeeding makes those first few months that much easier and that’s a really good thing.

Pumping When You Get Home

Using a breast pump like this one right here will help keep your milk supply up really well. It will also relieve engorgement when your breasts get flooded with milk. Be sure to get an electric one because the manual ones are pretty tedious and you’ll be sitting around all day trying to pump. Let’s face it, You haven’ got time for that!

You can freeze your breast milk with these breastmilk freezer bags and use it later when you do introduce the bottle to your baby. Then maybe dad can have a go at holding the baby and feeding her.

So this is pretty much all the things you need to think about when Breastfeeding. I hope it helps, and feel free to contact me or leave a comment below if you have any questions!

I would love it if you would share this post with your friends to help spread breastfeeding awareness and maybe help a new mama out. You can share with the buttons to the left or the Pinterest image below the video. Thanks so much!

I also wanted to add this video from The Yellow Nursery. It is an older Youtube video but I think it’s really helpful. Watching the process can be really helpful.