Breast feeding

I didn’t pump but its as simple as supply and demand. The more the milk is demanded (from baby or pump) the more milk will be made (so higher demand.) Baby is clever they know what they need and when.

Cluster feeding is when baby eats a lot in short amounts and happens when they want more milk so sucking more will increase your supply to where baby needs it to be.

You can’t over feed a breastfed baby they will come off when full. If still hungry after drying out one side (so no milk is coming out when you squeeze) put them on the other side! Thats switch feeding.

Whatever you do DO NOT stop baby feeding. Our neonatal nurse told us to cut her feeds off at 10 mins to help with reflux and now im really struggling to feed her due to low supply as she never got to cluster feed and increase my supply naturally and have now had to formula feed.

It just come down to feed baby when hungry whenever they want. Even if its every 10 mins and theres not much more to it! Best of luck ❤️❤️

Thankyou so so much!! This was so helpful and the best anybody has ever explained it to me! Doesn’t sound as confusing as I thought it was 😂🤦‍♀️ Thankyou xx

its okay I remember how confused and lost I felt when trying to feed her and I couldnt make rhyme or reason of what anyone was saying and then theyd all say different things and confuse me more! 🤣 Wishing you the best for labour and baby xx

Agree with all of the above!

I think another important thing to mention is it might be hard in those first few weeks. Your body is adapting to feeding and you’ll find your nipples will probably be sore. It DOES get better. The best thing you can do is keep going. There is stuff you can get to help the pain!

-Lanitosh nipple cream (god send I loved this, safe for baby you don’t need to clean off before a feed)
- silver nipple cups . I used these once or twice but I’ll be honest I forgot I had them! I have heard they do wonders tho. You just express a few drops and place onto your nipples with a bra on
- if pain is really bad, or baby struggling to latch you can get nipples covers for feeding

And definitely get multiple pairs of maternity bras! I don’t think you can have to many, you’ll want to wear a new one everyday lol sweating and leaked milk is not a good mix 😂

Also drink plenty of water! This helps keep you hydrated when baby steals it all lol plus helps supply!

And milk can take a few days to come in. Baby will be completely fine with the colostrum they’re getting until then so don’t worry about feeling like you’re not feeding baby because you absolutely are ! You’ll know when it’s come in because you’ll be able to watch them grow by the minute 🤣

Breastfeeding is amazing. It’s an incredible bond I have with my daughter. Knowing I am the one to provide her with everything she needs to grow and thrive gives me such joy. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do (although 9 months in and 6 teeth later it’s getting rough 😂) but I still wouldn’t trade it for anything. I’ll be sad when it’s time to wean , I’m already sad about it! 🥺🩷

Thankyou! These comments are so incredibly helpful I appreciate it so much!! X

I’m glad I’m not alone 😂 Thankyou! xx

The basic way it works is feed feed feed your baby as often and for as long as they want. Its simple - if the baby has wet nappies and gains weight and seems happy enough then they are getting plenty. If you de latch baby when they still want to suck then this interrupts your milk supply increasing. Taking your baby off the breast to give a bottle is the worst thing for your milk supply. You can pump after a feed to stimulate more milk supply. You can pump while baby has a bottle to make up for it, telling your body that baby wanted milk, however be wary that a 15 min pump session with a plastic machine won’t be as effective at stimulating milk supply as baby’s warm saliva mouth suckling for an hour. Pump output isn’t an indication of supply because baby is much more efficient at extracting milk. Pumping/bottles wasn’t worth it for us because I had to sit there and pump to make up for it so what was the point. I exclusively fed at the breast.