It all starts with the latch!
Latching your baby is the first thing to figure out when it comes to breastfeeding; it helps your milk supply come in strong, it ensures that baby is effectively and efficiently feeding AND it ensures that you are COMFORTABLE (yes, it is supposed to be comfortable to feed your baby!)
Evaluating a Latch
DON’T SHOVE THE NIPPLE IN THEIR MOUTH
Seriously, this is the #1 way I see parents start a latch because we KNOW the nipple has to go in the mouth, right? But we don’t just put it STRAIGHT in.
Getting baby to where their nose aligns with the nipple, so they have to tilt their head BACK and come up and OVER the breast and onto the nipple does a few things:
It gets their chin deeply into the breast so that baby can move the milk effectively (hint: our chin and jaw are the only mobile parts of our skull - we need them to work!
The chin touching the breast first tells baby to reflexively open WIDE
It gets the baby DEEPLY onto your breast = COMFORT for you.
The nipple at the roof of baby’s mouth stimulates their reflex to suck
HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU GOT IT “RIGHT”?
You are comfortable! Baby is comfy and you see/hear them drinking. Feedings are somewhere in the 30ish and under minute mark (longer feeds are telling that baby is having a hard time drinking effectively). Baby is satisfied when they come off the breast - and your breasts feel softer, too! Baby is hitting their daily diaper targets.
