Hacks to Breastfeeding for the Long-Haul: It's Worth It!

I have breastfed 5 babies for over a year, and am currently breastfeeding my 6th, without supplementation. So I have some seriously good tips to help any momma who desires to exclusively breastfeed.

In a world that says you need to have a formula stash “just in case”, separates mom and baby early, and tells moms to put their babies on strict schedules it’s no wonder moms are so discouraged and exhausted when it comes to breastfeeding.

But breastfeeding is a miraculous gift for mom and baby that is worth working for!

I am breaking all this down to hopefully empower you on your breastfeeding journey.

DISCLAIMER

I am not a doctor or a lactation consultant. But I am a mom who is on her 6th breastfeeding journey.

If something feels off to you, trust your momma instincts. Find a certified lactation consultant to come watch you breastfeed and do an oral exam on your baby.

Not all lactation consultants are created equally. I have plenty of friends who have worked with lactation consultants that were less than helpful. If you feel like your concerns were brushed off, their plan isn’t aligning with your goals, or you’re being sabotaged by being given a breast shield, find a new lactation consultant. You and your baby deserve the best.

Breastfeeding is a very unnatural, natural thing. It is very instinctual, yet it’s absolutely not.

SIGNAL TO YOUR BODY TO MAKE MILK

Have as little separation between mom and baby as possible! Especially in the first 3 months.

1. BABY ON THE BREAST ON DEMAND

The first 3 months of postpartum is crucial for establishing milk supply.

The key to driving up milk supply: Regularly putting the baby to the breast is communicating to your body and your brain that it needs to keep making milk.

Babies are not on a perfect 3 hour schedule. They might want a snack at 1.5 hours, they might be starving at the 2 hour mark. It isn’t fair to expect a newborn to live on this perfect schedule adults just made up.

2. SKIP THE PACIFIER

Imagine being at Target and your baby starts to get a little fussy. It is SO MUCH EASIER to just pop in a passy and buy yourself a little more time.

Instead, that is the perfect opportunity to continue telling your body that it needs to continue making milk. The baby is hungry!

Every time someone uses a pacifier, they are not using their human nipple, and that is a lost opportunity to signal to your body: Keep making milk!

It can be inconvenient, I understand. But sit down in the dressing room and put the baby to the breast for a little while, and you will be so thankful later on when you have a strong milk supply.

3. SKIN TO SKIN

When a mom has her baby on her chest, skin to skin, it signals to the brain that your body needs to continue making milk.

If the baby is on mom’s chest, it also provides ample opportunity for the baby to lazily suck and graze as he wants.

STICKING TO A SCHEDULE TOO EARLY IS DETRIMENTAL

Pushing sleep schedules or feeding schedules before 12 weeks is actually so detrimental to a mom’s milk supply. It may not seem to affect much at first, but she may dry up at 6 months and have no idea why.

As much as we want to sleep, we do not want the baby to sleep through the night too early on.

SOMETIMES BREASTFEEDING IS PAINFUL

Some people say that there should be no pain whatsoever when breastfeeding.

I personally disagree because it has always been painful for the first week of breastfeeding for me. Different babies also have different latches. The better the latch, the less pain there is.

Thankfully, I have never had to do a revision (like a tongue tie release), any issues I’ve had were able to be solved with position changes.

POSITION MATTERS

I made sure that my baby’s chest was always flat up against my chest and that his body is completely turned to me, not just his head.

When my nipple would get sore in one direction, I would flip the baby to a football hold so his feet would go around my back.

It’s tricky at first when they don’t have head control, but as they grow, they will find the breast on their own, and it gets much easier and faster.

photo of book with illustration of side lying breastfeeding position

HELP FOR SORE NIPPLES

In the beginning, breastfeeding sessions can be pretty long, so airing our nipples out really well once the baby is done can help them heal faster.

Nipple cream is really soothing as well.

Nipple shields sound like a nice bridge to give nipples a break when they are cracked and sore, but the risk of the baby not taking a plain nipple afterwards has always kept me from using one.

MY FAVORITE TOOLS

A ONE STOP SHOP RESOURCE

La Leche League’s Womanly Art of Breastfeeding is jam packed full of wisdom.

Any question you could have about breastfeeding is likely addressed in this book.

MY BREAST FRIEND

The My Breast Friend pillow gives the best support for my back. Unlike the Boppy, you can’t sit upright when you are using the My Breast Friend pillow.

ENGORGEMENT

IF YOU GET ENGORGED

If you get engorged, I like to get in the shower and self express. I know it can feel weird at first, but at the beginning of my breastfeeding journey, I would adjust hope that it would go away and I ended up getting mastitis a couple of times.

After getting mastitis, I don’t want to mess around. If I feel any lumps, I will immediately take an Ibuprofen to help with the inflammation and get in the hot shower with a rag and lightly work the milk down and out until my breast is soft again.

AVOID ENGORGEMENT

The best thing to do is avoid engorgement all together.

If I start to feel full and the baby is sleeping, I will wake him up to drink that milk off of me

PUMPING

I do not pump much at all.

I hear women say that they had to pump because they had an oversupply of milk. Part of me wonders if the oversupply was caused by constantly telling her body to make more milk by pumping.

I understand the desire to have a freezer stash.

But we have to remember that every ounce of milk we create is full of nutrients that our body is taking away from us and giving to the baby. If we are starting to feel depleted, maybe having a big freezer stash isn’t worth that.

I HAVE NEVER QUESTIONED MY BODY’S ABILITY TO PRODUCE MILK

I have my masters in sports psychology, and I truly believe that what we think about makes a big impact on what plays out in our bodies.

I’m not talking about manifesting. I am saying that God has given us a very powerful brain.

Think about a kid going into a baseball game thinking about how great the other team is and assuming he is going to lose, and then he does. It’s almost like he sabotaged himself.

I see this play out with breastfeeding moms as well.

WOMEN TEND TO QUESTION THEIR BODY’S ABILITY TO DO WHAT IT’S CREATED TO

This cycle of doubting ourselves as women starts at birth prep.

Culture and even OBGYNs act like birth is a terrible thing women have to go through. We’re trained to believe that our bodies can’t actually handle birth so our doctors need to save us from it.

I believe that this mindset carries into breastfeeding as well:

In birth, some women will say “I would like to try to give birth without an epidural, but we will see how it goes”, and end up getting an epidural.

Similarly, women will say “I’ll breastfeed if I can make enough milk”. Then they can become obsessive about weighing the baby beforehand and weighing the baby after a feed to see how much they got.

Or maybe it’s the pediatrician who is saying you need to come in for a weight check multiple times.

Either way, this puts stress on our bodies as we feel the need to perform and stress inhibits milk flow.

A BABY’S STOMACH IS TINY

When a baby is born, their stomach is the size of a marble.

At this point, what is coming out of your nipple could be nothing (which is fine) or colostrum. Another name for colostrum is liquid gold. The power packed nutrients in colostrum is mindblowing, I’m not even going to get into it.

It can take 3 days for milk to come in. If there was any kind of intervention, like induction or c-section, it could take longer.

But your body knows what to do!

Trust the Lord and trust your body to do what it was created to do.

LIMIT INPUT THAT MAKES YOU DOUBT YOURSELF

I have intentionally distanced myself from any one and any thing that has made me doubt my ability to make milk. The first time I had a baby, everyone had input. After the first, people kind of left me alone because they realized I knew what I was doing.

If your pediatrician is sending you home with kits of formula “just in case”, maybe find a new pediatrician.

Entire hospital wings have been built by formula companies, pediatricians get kickbacks from this, the whole medical system is a business!

BREASTFEEDING IS MAGIC

BREASTMILK IS MEDICINE

When you breastfeed, the saliva from the baby’s mouth is read by your nipple and tells your body what the baby needs.

Your body will read what germs and sicknesses your baby has been exposed to and if fighting. Then your body literally makes antibodies in real time and gives it to your baby. HOW COOL IS THAT?

BREASTFEEDING IS HEALING

Breastfeeding releases so much oxytocin in mom’s brain and in baby’s brain and heals you both from birth and is a big factor in fighting postpartum depression.

I hope this blog has given you hope and belief that you CAN do this.

Our culture says “fed is best”, but the truth is, nothing even compares to breastmilk.

This is what God intended for babies and for moms. Of course, if a baby is starving, formula is a gift. But there is no factory that can manufacture the amazing components of breastmilk.

It is worth fighting for, for both you and your baby.