As a pediatric and prenatal chiropractor, one of my greatest joys is to be able to help women and babies in their breastfeeding journey. Sometimes that’s giving baby a gentle adjustment after birth to relieve tension and allow that baby to be less fussy and nurse better. Sometimes that’s talking with a mom and walking with her through challenges that she’s dealing with, offering resources and encouragement.
My kids are now 11 and 9, but I have such wonderful memories of breastfeeding my babies. I breastfed each of them for about two and a half years, which was not without challenges, but it was also incredibly rewarding.
5 Things I Wish Everybody Knew About Breastfeeding
- Your body was made to breastfeed. You were biologically designed to breastfeed if you were born with breasts. Many women get caught up in thinking that maybe their breasts are too small, maybe their breasts are too big, their mom couldn’t successfully breastfeed or their sister couldn’t, and so they start off their pregnancy thinking that their body just can’t breastfeed. But it usually it can – you were designed to breastfeed.
- It’s so much more than just feeding the baby. Breastfeeding is about so much more than just meeting your baby’s nutritional needs. Breastfeeding is incredibly helpful with bonding with your child, and with your recovery from childbirth. You get an amazing rush of happy hormones through your body every time you breastfeed, designed to make you fall in love with your baby. My memories of breastfeeding evoke a visceral response for me – I remember that incredible feeling of nourishing and bonding with my child. It’s about so much more than nutrition.
- Breastfeeding often lets you get more sleep when you have a new baby. You’re not going to get a whole lot of sleep in the first few months no matter what, but often co-sleeping and breastfeeding help you get the most sleep you can. I’m also a big proponent of co-sleeping, which means sleeping with your baby, because it’s very safe when done correctly, and it’s incredibly helpful for the breastfeeding relationship.
The great part comes around the time baby is a few weeks old and you have the hang of breastfeeding. When baby’s hungry in the middle of the night, baby will stir a little. You often unconsciously latch baby on, and you both fall back to sleep. It’s amazing. So much easier than getting out of bed to prepare bottles. My husband is also a big fan of breastfeeding and co-sleeping because as I was doing that, he was sleeping through the night!
Co-sleeping can be incredibly beneficial to the breastfeeding mom. Skin-to-skin contact is a helpful thing for mom and baby and helpful for your milk supply. Co-sleeping was a wonderful way for us to get that closeness, especially as a working mom. - You cannot overfeed a breastfed baby. These days, unfortunately, new parents often start out thinking they have to get their baby on a schedule and only feed every 2-3 hours. That very simple piece of misinformation often sabotages a lot of breastfeeding relationships because babies are not designed to feed on a schedule. Breastfeeding actually goes much better if you just feed when baby is hungry, on demand. Baby looks hungry, you feed them. Again, you can’t overfeed a breastfed baby. They’re not going to eat if they’re not hungry. You’ll have a much better establishment of your milk supply if you feed on demand.
That’s challenging in today’s society because we like to measure things. We like to know exactly what baby is getting. When you give a bottle of milk to a baby, you can tell that baby drank exactly three ounces. Breastfeeding is about letting go of control and trust. You’ll know that your baby is getting enough milk if they are gaining weight well, and if they’re having enough wet and poopy diapers daily for their age. That’s how you know – you can’t measure how much comes out of your breast. I get that this is a challenge. As a person who likes to be in control of my life and know things, motherhood was a big important lesson for me in letting go. Breastfeeding especially was a really good lesson for me to just feed the baby and enjoy my baby, and trust that they were getting what they needed. - There’s a lot of bad information out there. I deal with so many women, on a weekly basis, who are struggling with breastfeeding simply because they were given bad information. We know a lot more now than we used to about breastfeeding in terms of how it works, what babies need, and how babies are healthiest. We know a lot more than we did when I was a baby, or even 11 years ago when I had my daughter. As we know better, we do better. It’s important to look for good sources of information when you’re breastfeeding.
Babies are sometimes given a bottle of formula in the hospital without the mom’s consent, which is maddening to me. One bottle of formula is sometimes not a big deal, but it also can be a big deal, because baby can start to prefer to latch onto the bottle rather than the breast. Breastfeeding is more work for the baby than bottle feeding. This is a good thing – it helps baby’s facial and skeletal development.
Well-meaning people may ask you, “Is your baby sleeping through the night yet?” If your baby is not (which is way more common and totally normal) then you may wonder if you’re doing something wrong. My children did not sleep through the night until they were two.
My favorite breastfeeding resource is the book The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding. If every pregnant woman could just read the first chapter, I think our breastfeeding success rates would go up in this country. This book talks about what’s normal and what to expect. You just read one chapter at a time as your baby grows. The book is put out by La Leche League International which is a great organization that stays up to date on the very latest research in breastfeeding.
My favorite online source is www.kellymom.com – also a great source of up to date, evidence-based breastfeeding information. This is the perfect place to search whatever issue you’re having.
Trust your instincts. When you’re a new mom, it’s very hard to trust that you know what’s right for your baby because you feel like you know nothing – I remember this vividly. But you know more than you think you do. Take in the information that you have and sort through that information, taking what works for you and leaving the rest, trusting that you know what’s right for your baby.
