I often get asked: is there anything I can do to prepare for breastfeeding?
The short answer is - absolutely!
Here is my advice for making some preparations for breastfeeding before your baby arrives:
Although breastfeeding is natural, it’s also a skill that takes practice. Did you know that the best time to learn to breastfeed is before your baby is born? You have a much better chance of learning the principles of effective breastfeeding when you haven’t just given birth, are sleep deprived or staying on a postnatal ward full of crying babies and visitors!
Before your baby arrives, try to learn everything you can about breastfeeding by reading good quality information, watching breastfeeding videos, attending an antenatal course that covers breastfeeding or booking onto a breastfeeding course. There are many out there, some are free and some involve a cost.
Make sure the course covers the reality of breastfeeding and doesn’t just tell you the bare minimum (which you might already know). Make sure it includes detailed information about effective positioning and how to actually attach the baby onto the breast.
The infant feeding session of my antenatal course ticks all of these boxes! And you will also have a chance to practice the essential skills by using my weighted baby dolls. You will learn how to recognise your baby’s feeding cues, how to position and attach the baby to the breast effectively and how to recognise that your baby is feeding well and taking in enough milk.
You will:
be able to practise holding a newborn baby
try out different feeding positions
learn how to harvest colostrum
find out how to feed expressed breast milk or formula using the paced bottle feeding technique
have the opportunity to ask as many questions as you like
To find out more about my antenatal course, antenatal breastfeeding workshop and postnatal ILCBC breastfeeding support, please head to the services page here.
If you have any questions or would like to enquire or book onto a course, please get in touch, I look forward to hearing from you! Contact me here.
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