Top Tips for Overcoming Breastfeeding Challenges from our IBCLC Lactation Consultant colleague, Sharon George

Breastfeeding may be natural, but it isn’t always easy.

As Lactation Consultants, the most common concerns we see include painful breastfeeding and worries about whether your baby is getting enough milk.

Positioning, positioning, positioning – ouch, it hurts!

Almost any breastfeeding issue can be improved with some work on positioning and baby’s latch. Going back to basics can help with a painful latch or with improving baby’s efficiency at getting milk during a feed. A one to one with a trained breastfeeding specialist can really help here, helping you to use baby’s own feeding instincts to get a more comfortable and more effective latch.

Key performance indicators – how do you know that your baby is feeding well?  inputs (number of feeds) & outputs (nappy appearance & numbers)

How can you tell if your baby is getting enough milk between weigh-ins? Look at the poos!
Young breastfed babies usually produce between 3-5 yellow poos a day after the first week or so. After about six weeks, output might change to fewer, larger poos as your milk changes and your baby grows.

Milk supply – Help! Breasts don’t come with volume markers!

It can seem impossible to know how much milk your baby needs, and if you’ve got enough. Actually your baby drives your milk supply by asking for milk as often as they need it! Every time your baby feeds (or you express milk), that triggers your breasts to make more milk.

It’s a bit like the supermarket depot at a Bank Holiday: if it’s sunny, lots of people buy barbecue charcoal and sausages, and the computer in the supermarket pings that info over to the depot, who stock up on more charcoal and bangers. Every time your baby feeds, they are pinging that message over to make more milk.

If your supply isn’t responding as you would like, then it’s time for some detective work with an IBCLC, to get to the bottom of that.

Always, always feed the baby - if the key performance indicators are not happening then what’s your back-up plan?

IBCLC Lactation Consultants are trained to help you figure out why things aren’t going well, and how to address that – and we are also trained to help you find a way to give any supplemental milk to your baby too

Get help and support quickly – It’s much easier to resolve difficulties early on. IBCLCs are hugely experienced feeding specialists, in both everyday challenges and complex circumstances. We will work with you to find the right feeding plan for you and your baby.