Breastfeeding is disgusting!

The attitude of my mother...  What an old fashioned hag!  How the bloody hell do you think people fed their children before formula was invented?! 
Unfortunately this is the attitude of most people these days.  I can't stand it.  Breastfeeding has been the most unbelievably rewarding journey for my son and I.  So I thought I'd share a few tips for those mom and moms to be out there.

Latch

A baby's latch is very important if you wish to successfully breastfeed.  Bring baby to breast, not breast to baby is the best piece of advice ever given.  If you bring your breast to the baby you're undoubtedly going to get it wrong.  Bring your baby towards you with their head tilted back and their nose in line with your nipple, tickle their cheek to get them to open wide and then pop them on!  They need to get as much breast tissue in their mouth as possible so that they can successfully latch.  At first your baby will swallow often and rapidly as they drink the foremilk and cope with your let down, then you will notice they swallow long and deeply as they get the all important hindmilk out.  Don't worry if this doesn't happen straight away.  You and your baby need time to get the hang of breastfeeding and it will undoubtedly take a week or two of practise.  You never know, you might be lucky like I was and have a baby who latches perfectly straight away!  :-)

Clusterfeeding

Clusterfeeding is when your baby is feeding for hours on end.  Please don't make the mistake of thinking this means your milk is not enough.  Clusterfeeding is your baby's way of telling your body to make more milk to meet their growth requirements.  Babies typically have growth spurts every 2 - 4 weeks and the growth spurt and clusterfeeding can last a day or two.  When these times come the best thing you can do is have lots of skin to skin contact with your baby, maybe lie in bed with some drinks and snacks close by and just let your little one feed feed feed.  If you have a toddler in the house, the best thing you can do is have them over at your mom's or at nursery in those first few weeks of your baby's life.  If that's not possible, purchasing a sling is your next best option.  That way your baby can feed and sleep through the growth spurts and you can continue with your daily life.  Just make sure you've given yourself adequate recovery time after the birth before you get back to your daily tasks.

That's my advice for today! 

I have started this blog to try and influence more mothers to go back to basics.  For millenia breastfeeding, co-sleeping and attachment parenting have meant that the human race survived!  And just because times have changed, it doesn't mean our methods of parenting have to.

Have a lovely day all and I hope I've helped mother's and others to understand the joy and challenges of breastfeeding!  :-)