Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Laid-Back Nursing (How We Saved Our Breastfeeding Relationship)



Wrenn took very well to nursing right away, however her latch was pretty small/shallow which caused me a lot of pain. Her weight gain was doing great the first few days, but then began to plateau. She wasn't losing weight, but she was gaining very slowly and that didn't make the doctors happy.

After working with my ped's lactation consultant, I had a private LC come out to the house a few times. She was able to show us a feeding position where the mom lays back in a recliner or on a couch with her feet up and places the baby onto her chest face down so that the baby can instinctively find and latch onto the nipple. (It's pretty awesome to watch a newborn literally crawl to the nipple.) It's called laid-back nursing or biological nurturing and mimics how most mammals feed their babies - here's a great video that demonstrates. This position uses gravity to force the nipple/areola deeper into the baby's mouth giving a better latch and better milk transfer. And it's super comfy and relaxing! After we started nursing like this, she started picking up weight like a champ and I started to feel better. It was a rough first few weeks and I wanted to give up several times. I am so thankful to my LC, Leslie!!! I HIGHLY recommend this nursing position. It changed my life and saved my breastfeeding experience (and this is from a mom who has nursed two babies prior).



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