Episode 243 Breastfeeding problems the first Day
Welcome to AAB, the place where the girls hang out. I am your host LJI, IBCLC and I help moms with breastfeeding. Please feel free to check out my website:
allaboutbreastfeeding.biz to learn more how to schedule a lactation consult so I can help you with breastfeeding.
So glad you are here for our Breastfeeding Bites. The place where we give you small bites of good information that you can take in, a little at a time.
In my daily work as an IBCLC, I meet with moms on a regular basis and I hear some of the same things many times over and over again.
One of the most common advice that moms are given that is poor advice is that if your baby is not breastfeeding, for whatever reason – Do not pump. Leave the milk there for the baby when they do latch on.
The typical hospital stay is between 1-3 days. If mom does not pump during this time, she may become engorged from lack of removal. She may also have the opposite problem – struggling to increase her supply. Her body has received a strong message that it does not need to make milk for her baby.
I believe that it is important to supplement a baby, if your baby cannot get milk from the breast. The problem that I have is to not get on a regular milk removal routine, whether it be hand expressing or breastpumping. The milk needs to be removed each time your baby gets a supplement.
I share the story of a mom I recently worked with. She was given poor advice as far as latching her baby on, as well as for how to supplement her baby and for milk removal. With t his particular mom, I had the pleasure of meeting with her the day after discharge. I was able to provide a full evaluation and observe her feeding her baby.
At this point her breasts were filling with milk, but felt she had none because when she pumped, she got just drops. We worked together as I demonstrated some adjustment she could make. This helped quite a bit and she was very happy to see her baby latch on for the first time since he was born.
The rest of our consult focused on her practicing position and latch. I showed her several positions so she could experiment on her own. It total, her baby transferred a normal volume of milk and appears satiated when done. I reviewed normal newborn breastfeeding behavior and answered a lot of questions that she had.
I have a handy checklist that helps you figure out what you need to do if your baby is not breastfeeding well. Just go to:
www.allaboutbreastfeeding.biz
Lori Jill Isenstadt, IBCLC is a huge breastfeeding supporter. She has spent much of her adult life working in the maternal health field. Once she became turned on to birth and became a childbirth educator, there was no stopping her love of working with families during their childbearing years. Lori became a Birth doula and a Postpartum doula and soon became a lactation consultant. She has been helping moms and babies with breastfeeding for over 25 years. Lori founded her private practice, All About Breastfeeding where she meets with moms one on one to help solve their breastfeeding challenges. She is an international speaker, book author and the host of the popular itunes podcast, All About Breastfeeding, the place where the girls hang out. You can reach Lori by email at: [email protected] or contact her via her website: allaboutbreastfeeding.biz/contact