Breastfeeding Tips for New Breastfeeding Parents

 As a fourth year medical student pursuing OB/Gyn, I had the opportunity to do a lactation rotation. I was given one-on-one training from two incredibly knowledgeable IBCLCs. The main take away from this rotation is that something as natural as breastfeeding does not come naturally for many. Here are some useful tips for new breastfeeding parents:

•  Be patient! You and your baby are both learning something new. It may take a couple of days before you feel confident with breastfeeding.

• Be prepared — your baby will want to feed a lot! Breastmilk is digested easier than formula, so breastfed babies tend to feed more often. Also, your baby will go through growth spurts where they are feeding much more frequently for a couple of days. This is all normal and your milk supply will adjust to your baby’s needs.

• Breastfeeding is all about demand and supply. The more breastmilk you remove from your breasts through breastfeeding or pumping, the more milk your breasts will make. In order to establish and maintain a solid milk supply, you need to breastfeed and/or pump 8 or more times per day. In the first few weeks, you will be feeding at least 10-12 times per day.

• The best latch is a deep latch. The way to get a deep latch is to use your hand to form a C shape and hold your breast in a “breast sandwich,” tap your baby’s top lip with your nipple and then bring your baby’s head to the breast when they open their mouths wide. Their chin, cheeks, and tip of the nose should be touching your breast. A deep latch will feel comfortable. Shallow latches tend to be very painful and can lead to cracked and sore nipples.

• Feed your baby when they start exhibiting early hunger cues. A crying baby will be frustrated and difficult to latch. So, try to feed your baby before this happened. Feed your baby when they start to smack their lips, looking around for your nipple, or sucking their hands.

•  If you are trying to latch your baby, but they are hungry and crying and refusing to latch, try giving them a small amount of milk in a bottle first. Offer less than ½ an ounce of either pumped breastmilk or formula to help soothe the baby. Once they are calm, try latching your baby.

• Avoid pacifiers for the first month. They can make babies skip feeds for two reasons: 1) it tricks your baby’s body into thinking it does not need to feed and 2) they use their energy to suck on the pacifier and they may be too tired to latch after. Feel free to introduce them a little later.

• Be confident in your milk supply! Your body will make enough milk to feed your baby. You know you are producing enough milk when your baby is gaining weight appropriately (about 1oz per day), peeing, pooping, and are relaxed and calm after a feed. Your breasts may feel softer, too!

• When in doubt, latch your baby. If your baby is acting fussy, latch them. If they are showing you they are hungry, latch them. You can never overfeed a breastfeeding baby because they take what they need from the breast. Sometimes, they will want to latch just to be close to you and get Mom cuddles. Other times, they want to use you as a pacifier. And sometimes, they just want a snack. Follow your baby’s cues.

• Breastmilk has amazing healing qualities! If you have sore and/or cracked nipples, express a few drops of breastmilk, spread around your nipple and areola, and let it air dry.

• Take care of yourself! Drink plenty of fluids, eat nutritious foods, and sleep whenever you can. Lactating mothers need a high calorie intake (~2500 cal/day!). Focus on high protein foods, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Also, keep granola bars or other snacks where you breastfeed. You can eat, drink, and feed all at the same time.  If your partner can help with a feed at night, it is okay for you to sleep for a 4-hour stretch and feed or pump when you wake up.

•  Don’t be shy about asking for help. Adjusting to life a newborn is tough!

 Looking for more tips?

Here are some informative (and credible) resources for all of your breastfeeding and pumping questions:

La Leche League - www.llli.org

Kelly Mom - www.kellymom.com

Cassandra Mitchell, MS4

Drexel University College of Medicine

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Quick! Cover His Eyes!

“Quick, cover his eyes! There’s S-E-X on the screen,” shouted my father upon seeing Jack and Rose kissing in the backseat of a station wagon in the movie Titanic. An 18-year-old at the time, I groaned, as once again, the panicky, familiar hands of my mother came down like a curtain of darkness. Being immigrants from Iran who married at a young age, my parents felt it best that I kept my “innocence” until I married. If I hadn’t been privileged enough to learn about these topics at school, I would have known nothing about sexual health or anything related therein.

For years, I thought of my parents’ practice as quaint and isolated. However, when I took a college course on human sexuality, I was stunned to realize that my parents’ desire to keep me effectively ignorant about sex was pervasive. Many people experience stigmas and are misinformed regarding such topics. Lack of accurate education has been a harmful factor in many people’s lives. In medical school, we were educated on the palpable discomfort that may occur while eliciting sexual histories from patients who, reacting to the created atmosphere, might be equally reluctant. In contrast, when patients realized that I was explicitly receptive during these conversations, they spoke comfortably and openly, which, most importantly, was beneficial to their care.

Despite my parents’ culturally-bred ignorance towards sexual health, I still believe that today’s sex education is severely lacking. During my clinical rotations, I saw several patients from both ends of the socioeconomic spectrum who were clearly misinformed about certain topics of sexual health. One female patient had come to us wondering what might be causing her private part to bleed once every month. Another male patient had never heard of a condom or its benefits before. Although intrinsic risk factors such as levels of education and cultural background can impact one’s fund of knowledge regarding these topics, there are still many extrinsic factors we can work to improve.

In the United States, sex education in schools varies significantly across districts. Many schools operate without state-guided health education curricula, leaving decisions up to individual districts (Maziarz et al. 2020). Ultimately, our country’s goal should be to standardize the sex education system we have in place and to identify and implement the programs that stand out from others in terms of efficacy.

A good starting point would be to identify barriers to discussing sexual health topics in the U.S. education system. A 2020 scientific article titled “Is there a gender difference in U.S. college students’ desire for school-based sexuality education” explores the reasons for why there are increased female to male ratios in sexual education courses (King et al. 2020). A survey was sent out and the results showed that many men felt they knew enough about sex already. Further, if they were to take sexual education classes, they would rather it be under the guise of an anonymous online course.

Similar studies have shown that students would learn very little from their parents regarding these topics, and often relied on their friends or the internet to gather information (Sprecher et al. 2008). This raises even more red flags regarding how we present the information to our students. Hopefully, it will spark a series of further discussions on ways to improve the mediums of education.

Ariya Mobaraki, MS4

Drexel University College of Medicine

References

1.    King, B. M., Burke, S. R., & Gates, T. M. (2020). Is there a gender difference in US college students’ desire for school-based sexuality education? Sex Education, 20(3), 350-359. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2019.1668762

2.     Maziarz, L. N., Dake, J. A., & Glassman, T. (2020). Sex Education, Condom Access, and Contraceptive Referral in U.S. High Schools. The Journal of school nursing : the official publication of the National Association of School Nurses, 36(5), 325–329. https://doi.org/10.1177/1059840519872785

3.    Sprecher, S., G. Harris, and A. Meyers. 2008. “Perceptions of Sources of Sex Education and Targets of Sex Communication: Sociodemographic and Cohort Effects.” Journal of Sex Research 45 (1): 17–26.