Lactation Education: 8 Ways to Encourage Breastfeeding from Birth

Breastfeeding is a natural, biological process, but it also takes time and patience to learn. When you give birth at Roots Community Birth Center, our midwives want to help you achieve your lactation goals. We love to educate you about the benefits of feeding your baby human milk. These include providing excellent nutrition for your growing little one, protecting your baby against some short- and long-term illnesses, and reducing your risk of breast and ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure.

Starting your lactation journey off right begins at the moment your baby is born. From skin-to-skin cuddles to the undisturbed golden hour, the immediate postpartum experience at Roots allows you to initiate breastfeeding and/or chestfeeding gently. For the sake of this blog, we will mostly be using the phrase breastfeeding, but we recognize and welcome folx feeding their babies from their bodies in whatever way feels best to them.

Here are eight ways we encourage breastfeeding from birth.

Initiate Skin-to-Skin Contact Immediately

As soon as your baby is born, your midwife will place them on your abdomen. While your newborn is skin to skin with you, the midwife will check to make sure the baby is doing well.

We’ll leave any vernix on the skin and cover the baby with a clean, dry blanket. It’s best if the baby’s mouth is lower than the nipple, since forward movement is most natural for a newborn.

Enjoy Undisturbed Time with Your Baby

We sometimes refer to the first 60 minutes after a baby’s birth as the golden hour. This is because it’s a really important time for your newborn to get acquainted with extrauterine life. As long as you and the baby are healthy and doing well, we leave the two of you undisturbed. Staying on your chest keeps the baby at the perfect temperature and stimulates their feeding instincts.

Most babies are quiet and alert during the first hour or so. They’ll open their eyes, feel your body with their hands, and smell their surroundings. It’s also normal for your newborn to rest and sleep between periods of activity. Some babies are sleepier than others; birth is hard work!

Observe Feeding Signals

A brand-new baby’s hands still have the smell of amniotic fluid on them, and the birthing parent’s nipples also have a similar scent. This is why it’s important not to wipe or wash the baby’s hands or the parent’s nipples before the first feeding. Using their well-developed sense of smell, a newborn is able to find the breast on their own. You’ll notice the following signs:

Opening their mouth wide
Salivating
Bringing their hands to the mouth
Moving their feet, hands, and body to get to the breast
Tossing their head to search for the nipple

If left undisturbed, the baby will find the nipple and can grasp it with their hand and mouth, possibly exploring it with their tongue. Even though their sight is limited, they might look at you. Eventually, they attach and start to suck, taking in colostrum, the rich and protective first milk. To see a thorough demonstration of this amazing process, check out this video from the Global Health Media Project.

Continue Close Contact

Even if your baby has latched and seems to be finished with their first feeding, they can stay on your chest. These skin-to-skin snuggles are still beneficial, and the two of you can rest — and maybe even fall asleep — together. Our midwives will give you at least one hour of time before providing routine newborn care, like the vitamin K injection or antibiotic eye ointment, both of which can be done at the bedside if you consent to them.

In addition, the baby’s suckling helps contract the uterus, which can speed up delivery of the placenta. Early breastfeeding also helps with bonding.

Exclusively Breastfeed for Six Months

One of the keys to getting your lactation journey off to a good start is to nurse your baby often. Human milk protects your baby from sickness, and frequent feedings help to establish your milk supply.

For the first six months of your baby’s life, they should receive only breast milk or formula if you need to supplement. Do not give your baby water or any other liquids.

Know How to Hand Express

During the first few weeks of nursing, it’s common to experience engorgement, which is swelling that results in tight, hard breasts. This often makes it difficult for your baby to feed because they prefer soft tissue. A helpful technique to relieve engorgement is hand expression.

With hand expression, the goal is to release a small amount of milk — just enough to relieve uncomfortable tightness and soften the tissue. According to La Leche League International (LLLI), “press, compress, release” is a simple method that works as you hold your breast with your fingers and thumb cupped around it in a C shape, near but not touching your areola. Then, follow these steps from LLLI.

Press your fingers and thumb back towards your chest.
Compress your breast between your fingers and thumb, moving them slightly towards your nipple without lifting them from your breast.
Release without moving your hand from your breast.
Repeat, moving your hand to a different place around your breast after every few compressions or whenever milk flow stops, so that you compress all of your milk ducts. Releasing and repeating rhythmically helps to mimic the action of a baby breastfeeding.

Learn the Basics of Pumping

Especially for the first couple of weeks while your milk is coming in and you and your baby are starting to learn how to feed, you do not need to pump. However, there are situations that may necessitate pumping. Plus, if you expect to be away from your baby for work or other responsibilities, you may want to begin familiarizing yourself with your pump and its buttons, modes, and settings.

In addition, learn about the pump’s accessories, including, valves, tubing, and bottles. An especially important consideration is flange size. Breast pumps come with standard size flanges, but, depending on your chest size, you may need a smaller or larger flange. To learn about flange sizes, check out this chart from Aeroflow.

Reach Out If You Need Help

At Roots, we are here to help our clients with breastfeeding! If you have a lactation question or concern, please reach out to our midwives! Don’t wait until you’re in severe pain with bleeding or cracking nipples. We can assist you with positioning, latching, engorgement, supply issues, mastitis, and more. Occasionally, we refer clients to an outside lactation professional, and we are proud to partner with these local experts:

Are you interested in learning about our prenatal, birth, and postpartum services at Roots? Call the front desk at 612-338-2784 or fill out our form.