Breastfeeding Tips for New Moms
- Aug 28, 2023
Breastfeeding Tips for New Moms
To help raise awareness and spark interesting and helpful conversations around World Breastfeeding Week and Breastfeeding Awareness Month, we asked a few trusted partners to tell us about their favorite breastfeeding resources and what advice they would give to new moms help them reach their personal breastfeeding goals.
Melissa Kotlen, RN and IBCLC at Mount Sinai Hospital, Labor & Delivery shares the following:
As a labor and delivery nurse and a lactation consultant, the best advice I give to breastfeeding moms before leaving the hospital with their babies is to give a gift to themselves and find a lactation consultant. Whether they have an issue with anything from latching to milk supply to engorgement to thrush, there is help and support everywhere—many IBCLCs (International Board Certified Lactation Consultants) make home visits, and the ease of someone coming to their home surely beats the stress of having to get up and out to make it to an appointment in an office. The best way to find one is to ask friends or family for recommendations if they’ve had positive experiences, but if you don’t have that opportunity, the International Lactation Consultant Association has a “Find a Lactation Consultant” directory. I always recommend doing your homework and setting up a time to speak with a consultant before you have the baby so you’re not scrambling last minute. This way, if concerns arise, she will be in your back pocket and ready to roll.
Leigh Anne O’Connor, IBCLC, LCCE recommends these trusted sites for new moms:
There is a staggering amount of information at our fingertips. It can be overwhelming for anyone, but for new parents it can be 1000% more crushing. As a parent and lactation consultant (IBCLC) I see firsthand that much of the information can simply be marketing or just a single person’s opinion. To help sort through the muck and mire that we call the information superhighway I have come up with a short list of reputable websites specific to infant feeding.
For Breastfeeding
Low milk supply
https://www.lowmilksupply.org/
http://www.mobimotherhood.org/
To find a Board-Certified Lactation Consultant
https://uslca.org/resources/find-an-ibclc
Donor milk
Safe Formula preparation
Elina Arulraj, IBCLC, offers this advice:
1) Do your best to “Keep Calm and Carry On”.
The idea of wanting to feed your baby and having trouble nursing/feeding your baby can cause debilitating stress and anxiety. Know that if you are willing to put forth the effort (and know it may take a good amount of work but it will be short term) to bring your milk supply up and you are willing to feed your baby in ways that won’t disrupt breastfeeding, you have time to put it all together. A Lactation Consultant can guide you through building your milk supply and the type of ways that would work best for you and baby to achieve this.
2) Get help EARLY!
Develop a game plan for what you can do to get off to the best start possible while in the hospital and avoid the common pitfalls. We can give you information tailored specifically for you based on the events of your labor and gestational age of your baby when born. Even setting up a virtual or a phone consult prior to your hospital admission can make all the difference in setting you up for success. I do this often with moms and I find it makes the subsequent weeks much easier on the mom and baby to achieve whatever breastfeeding goals she may have.
3) Be informed about COVID-19.
If you have questions about breastfeeding in the time of Covid, this is a great summary.
And finally, Risa Klein, CNM, suggests checking out this article on breastfeeding and mental health on SheKnows.com. It is important to remember that whatever you are going through, you are not alone.