Y ou are going to be a mother, whether you are a few weeks or several months pregnant, you are certainly wondering about feeding your baby. I am sharing with you some little tips and tricks to accompany you in your new milky adventure and make it last as long as you want.
• Get informed
Information is the best preparation to allow you to make free and informed choices regarding your baby's diet and also to know how to meet his needs. The first days and months of your baby's life can seem particularly intense and difficult to overcome, especially when you don't expect it.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of books that I particularly like for their quality of information and their kindness. You can pick from it at will according to the themes that interest you:
- • Your baby's real needs by Bernadette Lavollay
- • The highly illustrated breastfeeding manual by Caroline Guillot
- • Breastfeeding by Claude-Suzanne Didierjean-Jouveau
- • Sleep without tears by Rosa Jové
- • The baby is a mammal by Michel Odent
- • Don't cry anymore baby by Claude-Suzanne Didierjean-Jouveau
- • Co-sleeping: why, how by Claude-Suzanne Didierjean-Jouveau
- • Carry my baby by Cécile Cortet and Céline Guerrand-Frenais
You can also find out about manually expressing your milk, which can be useful for starting breastfeeding, relieving engorgement, collecting a few extra milliliters, etc.
• Surround yourself well:
Don't hesitate to include an appointment with an IBCLC lactation consultant in your birth list. https://www.consultants-lactation.org/annuaire-des-ibclc/ Consultation fees vary from 60 to 100 euros on average.
Ideally, you should schedule an appointment during the last trimester of pregnancy, when your mind is not yet completely focused on your beautiful baby, and then a second one when the milk-making adventure begins.
You can also contact a babywearing instructor to learn how to carry your baby and choose with them which carrying method would suit you best (sling, wrap, baby carrier, etc.). There are so many that you will inevitably find the one that suits you and your partner best. This way, you will have your hands free while giving your baby what he or she needs: your warmth, your presence, your smell, etc. And a significant bonus: you can breastfeed while you carry! Ask your instructor to show you how to do it.
Keep the phone numbers of your breastfeeding mom friends, your breastfeeding sponsor, your breastfeeding-friendly family safe so you can receive support whenever you need it.
Cut yourself off from negative or unfriendly comments. You are his mother, you know what is best for your baby and for you.
• Prepare yourself:
I'm talking about preparation from an organizational standpoint here. No need to prepare your breasts or body (unless directed by your IBCLC lactation consultant), they are perfectly suited to feeding your baby.
What to put in your suitcase?
Loose and comfortable nursing clothes, a warm blanket for your long hours of skin-to-skin contact, a small spoon to collect a few drops of colostrum and a nursing pillow to help you settle in comfortably.
And once back home?
You can spend the last month of pregnancy cooking with your partner and freezing delicious meals so that you only have to eat them when you get home. Get your partner, family and friends to help you tidy up, clean, do the shopping and take care of older children. Some mutual insurance companies also offer to cover a few hours of cleaning. Contact yours to find out what you are entitled to. Your role is only to take care of yourself and your baby for as long as you deem necessary.
• Getting started:
Your little baby, born full-term and healthy, is here. All warm, lying on your belly. He has just been born. If the birth has not exhausted him too much, from his first hour of life he will initiate movements to crawl to the nipples and do his very first feed. You can also help him by placing his face directly on your breast, belly to belly, skin-to-skin. It may be that the 1st sometimes he does not open his mouth completely, contenting himself with "tasting" or "licking" the nipple. This is not a problem, learning to suckle requires a lot of training to master the technique perfectly. Give him time to land. To help him and start stimulating your lactation, it may be interesting to make a few drops of colostrum pearl by expressing them manually and giving them to him with a teaspoon.
Throughout your stay in the maternity ward, keep your little one with you, against you, skin-to-skin, his face resting on your breasts so that he can have continuous access to his energy and food reserves, and feel reassured and warmed.
Your baby needs to eat on demand (in the case of infants, we even talk about breastfeeding on signs of awakening); as soon as he lifts an eyelid, it means he can be put to the breast. This way, he does not burn energy unnecessarily looking for the breast or crying in anger.
You can also decide to postpone the bath (midwives or nursery nurses who come to your home can perfectly show you how to do it later, once you get home, if that reassures you). It is not an obligation but not bathing baby in his first days of life allows him not to waste energy to warm up, to keep the reassuring smell of amniotic fluid, to give his skin time to absorb the protective layer of vernix…
If feedings are painful, get your baby to let go of the breast by sliding your little finger between his gums and replace it as many times as necessary. If despite good placement, you still feel pain, do not wait to contact your lactation consultant. She will be able to help and support you.
• Trust yourself
The best advice in this article and the main one to remember; trust yourself! Trust your baby, he knows exactly what he needs. Trust yourself; you are his mother, you have made him grow inside you for 9 months and you, your body, your head are 100% capable of feeding him and continuing to make him grow. I wish you a wonderful milky adventure.