Breastfeeding, while natural, can still be a bit of a mystery! The Australian Breastfeeding Association's counsellors have put together their top 7 secrets all mums should know to help make breastfeeding easier.
1. For babies, breastfeeding is an instinct. Babies are born with the instinct to breastfeed, they breastfeed more easily when given the opportunity to follow their instincts.
2. For mothers, breastfeeding is a learned skill. It's normal to need plenty of help and for it to take a few weeks to feel confident breastfeeding.
3. Skin-to-skin contact helps babies learn to breastfeed more easily. When a baby of any age is held skin-to-skin against his mother's chest he is more able to follow his instincts and attach well to the breast.
4. The cues that a baby is hungry include sucking on her fingers, turning her head from side to side, wiggling/squirming, opening and closing her mouth and poking out her tongue. Crying is the last sign of hunger and babies attach to the breast more easily before they reach the crying stage.
5. Gently massaging the breast towards the nipple while the baby is feeding can increase how much milk the baby gets and help a sleepy baby get more milk.
6. Every mother's breastmilk storage capacity is different and this can affect how often a baby breastfeeds. A mother with a smaller storage capacity may find her baby breastfeeds more often and this is normal for her and her baby, not a sign that she doesn't make enough milk.
7. Emptying the breast is what sends the message to a mother's body to make more milk, so the more often a baby feeds (or the more often the mother expresses) the more milk will be made
australian breastfeeding assocition
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