The Breastfeeding Diaries...

Thanks to Frances from bigbooklittlebookcardboardbox for her breastfeeding tips!

My top breastfeeding tip is learn how to breastfeed lying down, as early as possible. Nothing else improves your quality of life as the ability to properly rest while you breastfeed. The bed is a much more stable surface than your arms or cushions so your baby is less likely to fall off from a good latch, plus he/she tends to lie stiller with less wriggling, thus generates less wind. Other tips - don't rush a feed in the early days (e.g. because you have visitors anxious to meet the baby) - the baby will end up just getting the foremilk without any hindmilk which will make them fractious as they struggle to digest it. If you're finding breastfeeding difficult (a euphemism for agonisingly painful!), set yourself targets - 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 6 weeks. Six weeks is the magic number - if you make it to 6 weeks, things thereafter become alot easier and it's unlikely you'll want to stop, as you'll start reaping the benefits: not having to sterilise bottles, much easier to spontaneously go out and about, no faffing about in the night stumbling up and down stairs, and, finally, the ability to eat a whole box of milk tray without putting on any weight!

Please send your stories or tips into me, Keira, info@mamascarf.co.uk