Having a new born baby in the family can sometimes be overwhelming for new parents. You are recovering for your birth, your body is undergoing so much hormonal changes and your breast, yes your breast!! How your breast changes is something a first time mum could not have imagine. The engorgement from day 3-5 is hash on newborn mother, your breast feels so full and painful, the midwife gives you Panadol for pain and icepack for relief. You wonder, when is this going to end. Choosing to stop breastfeeding at this time will not help with the engorgement, feeding your baby frequent will help.
We’ve all been told that breastfeeding should be natural, we think of the cute little outfits, baby toys, baby bottles and all those expansive baby products that show up in our social media feeds, but not many people actually think about how to feed a baby, well, it is SUPPOSE to be NATURAL.
Yes, breastfeeding is natural, if we follow our natural instincts in everything we do regarding having a baby. Birth experience can sometimes interfere with what was supposed to happen naturally, the more interference in the birthing process, the greater the challenge in breastfeeding.
So before the birth of your baby, we need to understand what is NORMAL in early days of breastfeeding.
1. Your baby will be most calm when she is on your chest.
This is NORMAL, Skin to Skin care for baby is the best way to stabilize baby’s temperature, blood pressure and keeps your baby calm. Mum or Dad’s Chest is definitely warmer than a cot!
2. Your breast will feel engorged around day 3 – 5. You feel like there are two large melon crashing on top of you, no matter now many times you fed, it fills up really quickly.
This is NORMAL, it’s your hormonal changes that is making them feel full. With frequent feeding and Cold compress after feeding, your breast will feel much better the next day.
3. Your baby will want to feed frequently from day 2.
This is NORMAL, the nature of breastfeeding has design for your baby to feed frequently to stimulate mother’s milk supply, they make order by feeding frequent, mother’s body receives the order and make more production.
4. Breastfeed using the Biological Nurturing technique.
Give your baby a chance to find the breast, you might need assistance in doing this, seek help if you have not been able to do this on your own.
Although Breastfeeding is Natural, but it is also a learning process, you can’t just jump on a bike and expect yourself to be able to ride it without difficulties on the first go. We learn to ride a bike with our parent’s help and guidance, the same goes for breastfeeding, Seek professional help from an IBCLC if you encounter difficulties.
The earlier you seek help, the easier it is for you to care for your newborn.