5 Essential Tips for Breastfeeding Newborns

Are you prepared to ‪breastfeed your baby? Here are the first 5 tips to get you started.

1) Prepare in advance with education and 2) Get support

Whether you are expecting one baby, multiples, or plan to tandem nurse, the best way to prepare to breastfeed is the same as the best way to have the most positive birth outcome: through education during pregnancy when you do not know about it! More and more mamas today approach their birth full of information and support, which is great! But many mamas do little to prepare themselves for ‪‎breastfeeding their precious little ones ‪‎before they are faced with it postpartum.  In addition, It is much easier when you are determined, surrounded by breastfeeding mamas and support - which you can seek out while pregnant, and have a natural unmedicated birth. It is harder without all that, but absolutely doable. My Love Your Birth online course goes into much more detail about breastfeeding and preparing yourself in advance with knowledge and support, the hows and whys, and what you can do to prevent potential common breastfeeding breastfeeding and set yourself up for optimal success.  

Photo of @mamacarlock is by @kindredphotographer

Breastfeeding is a magical experience for the entire family, and it's one I am proud to support whole heartedly - especially as it's so incredibly beneficial for mamas and babies, on many levels. I am determined to help mamas and babies get the support they need so their breastfeeding journey is a successful one. I have helped thousands of mamas on their breastfeeding journeys, and am happy to share the wisdom from my education and those experiences with you.

Breastfeeding is a natural process healthy mamas and babies know how to do. But it’s not always easy. Natural unfortunately doesn’t necessarily equal easy, especially in the beginning, and for first timers! It is a learned instinct, but once you and baby get it, it can be so easy, even pleasurable and incredibly worth it. While many do get it right away, for others there is a learning curve that takes a few weeks to get into your groove, and sometimes extra support is needed - especially if its your first experience and you are not surrounded by mamas breastfeeding, as women were throughout history since the beginning of time, and still are in many parts of the world.  It is the way all mammals naturally feed their babies. 

This mama pig is so full of the oxytocin and prolactin hormones, she is completely relaxed and in pig mama bliss. Animals just know what to do. In unusual cases, if a baby animal is having difficulty in the wild, they did not survive. And that is simply part of wildlife reality. If an animal is owned by a person, they usually help the rare little one that is having trouble. Humans who are passionate about breastfeeding but facing challenges are fortunate to have all sort of lactation support, wet nurses, donor milk banks, pumping, storage and alternative feeding methods to get babies breastmilk.

3) Start breastfeeding within the first hour postpartum, or as early as possible by 4) placing skin to skin and allowing for the breast crawl

The first hour after postpartum is an ideal time to start breastfeeding as babies are naturally wide awake, alert, and have strong suck, root and crawl reflexes - from the hormones of undisturbed childbirth.  Make sure the lights are dim and the room is quiet. Place baby skin to skin on your abdomen or chest.

Photo by @senhoritasfotografia

Healthy babies have reflexes to actually crawl up and find their way to the breast, find the nipple and start sucking on their own. It takes patience but there is no rush - and it's truly amazing to watch. Check out movies like "The Breast Crawl."  There are plenty like this on you tube. Healthy postpartum mamas have a huge heart, the maternal instinct to love and care for their babies enhanced by the hormonal cocktail circulating in the body after undisturbed birth; and their breasts are filled with colostrum  - commonly referred to as liquid gold, that transitions in a few days to breast milk which completely meets your babies' needs at least for the first 6 months and beyond.

5) Make sure baby's latch is wide

It's optimal for them to be allowed and encouraged to do their crawl up to your breast, but yes, there are times when some assistance is needed. But don't give up. If baby is falling asleep and you efforts to wake baby have not worked, or baby does seem frustrated and is starting to get fussy trying to find your nipple, there are things you can do to help. You will have an easier time getting her to breastfeed before the crying starts. Sit up and get yourself comfortable with pillow support as needed, cradle hold your baby in one bent arm so his face is directly in front of your breast a tad below your nipple, leaving your other arm free. 

When your baby is held close, facing your nipple, wait for baby to open his or her mouth wide enough to get a good latch to breastfeed. A good latch includes as much of your areola as possible - the darker circular area surrounding your nipple, where the breastmilk is contained, as well as your nipple, where the milk is released into baby's mouth. Baby needs to compress and squeeze the milk out of your milk sinuses in the areola prior to sucking - which are all part of the breastfeeding process.

Sometimes baby's latches are occasionally shallow in the early learning stages, which usually means baby is sucking mostly on the nipple; this not only feels painful, but also baby is not getting the proper amount of milk needed. If that happens, press down on the nipple with your finger to release baby's strong latch and try again. Until you both get the hang of it, you may need to hold your breast as this mama is doing, and slide the nipple up and down against baby's lips. This will stimulate baby to open wide and then you bring baby to your breast to feed. Practice and patience do make perfect and are well worth it. 

It is crucial to have lactation support available. Sometimes all you need is some wisdom from other seasoned breastfeeding moms or your local La Leche leader. Often guidance from your midwife does the trick. If not, and more extensive assistance is needed, do not hesitate to contact your local lactation consultant. Make sure to ask that needed help right away, as the earlier breastfeeding is established the better for both you and baby.  It does take a village of love. We must bring back that village. 

The newborn baby has only three (main) demands. They are warmth in the arms of its mother, food from her breasts, and security in the knowledge of her presence. Breastfeeding satisfies all three." ~ Grantly Dick-Read. 

Let Me Help You Not only Rock Your Breastfeeding, but also....Create The Happiest Birth Experience Of Your Life.

Whether you're a first time or experienced momma,

Or a midwife, doula, or birth professional guiding mommas..

Regardless if you are planning a birth at home, a hospital, a birth center or need a cesarean section, or if you are taking another childbirth education class…

You Really Can Create The Delivery Of Your Dreams.

And have a blissful birth wherever you are.

More Precious Than A Wedding...A Birth Should Be A Celebration!

Let me show you how to…

• Understand the sensations of your body and connect your intuition with how your body is communicating and leading you towards what to do during labor

• Tap into your inner calm to deeply relax yourself, letting go of busy, stressful and fearful thoughts on demand for the health of baby

• Speak your truth from your heart in a way that deepens your relationships, setsclear boundaries, and has people listen to you and support you before, during and after pregnancy

• Trust yourself, connect with your body wisdom and communicate with baby in belly

• Connect with natural time and sync your body and mind up with your unique biological clock for ease from pregnancy to postpartum

• Reprogram negative patterns, stories, and beliefs that undermine your confidence, strength and self trust so you can rock your birth

Physicians and midwives around the world recommend my teachings to their pregnant clients and many Doulas across the country learn the secrets of blissful birthing from me to supplement their Doula Training & Certification process! I’ve taken everything I’ve learned, trained and supported women with locally for over 20 years in my private practice and I’ve poured all of my love, passion, knowledge and experience into creating something truly special for you

To learn more, visit:  LOVE YOUR BIRTH Online Childbirth Course!

It is based on my years of experience, as a midwife and yoga teacher, helping thousands of women tap into their calm and live and birth from a place of grounded relaxation and joy. 

Get a 10% discount on your Sleepod purchases ataskrembla.com-use the code SWEETHOME to get your discount.

You are supplying your baby's complete nutrition and hydration requirements, as well as your own. It is difficult to get everything you need even from the best of whole food varied organic diet. Do you need supplements? Here are some of my favorite I recommend to mamas in my practice.

The Homebirth Midwifery Model of Care

           As a certified nurse-midwife with a full-scope group homebirth midwifery practice,  I am often asked what the homebirth midwifery model of care actually is.  I can speak for my philosophies, which are shared in general by many of my colleagues. We provide prenatal, labor, delivery, postpartum and newborn care, as well as breastfeeding support for healthy low risk families planning to give birth at home; we also provide gynecological and some primary care services to well women. We offer a unique, comprehensive model of maternity care that provides an exceptional level of holistic support and services to achieve optimum health. We believe there are several ingredients that contribute to a deeply positive and healthful pregnancy, homebirth and postpartum experience, in addition to our midwifery care. These include wholesome nutrition, whole food supplements and healthy joyful living, relevant health education with books, movies and childbirth classes, connection with a supportive community, regular exercise as well as an ongoing practice of yoga and meditation and other such methods to reduce inner stress and increase inner calm; we often draw on the expertise of additional professionals, such as doulas, childbirth educators, lactation consultants, acupuncturists, massage therapists, chiropractors or osteopaths, and mind/body medicine practitioners to name just a few. We also encourage each woman and partner to take advantage of the many classes and support groups we recommend  – from prenatal yoga, yoga for labor workshop, and postpartum mommy and me yoga classes, positive birth story pregnancy circles, community new mother blessing ceremonies, annual family reunion, postpartum mom circles, pregnancy retreats and a variety of other educational, supportive, and fun events, classes, and ways to connect with other likeminded people and build community – in an effort to bring back the needed village it takes to raise a new baby, and new parents.

           While we continue to expand in our academic, clinical and intuitive knowledge and wisdom, we are also growing in understanding, appreciation and awe of the sanctity of life and its many facets, transitions and phases. Most women are candidates for midwifery care and homebirth; over 92% of pregnant women in our practice will have a homebirth, and we maintain a cesarean section birth rate of less than 5%.  Ongoing individualized care determines the needs of each childbearing family. We have developed practice guidelines in conjunction with other homebirth midwives, evidence based research and the current midwifery literature; they reflect our philosophies and professional standards for practice, and they are reviewed and evaluated periodically as needed. We follow these practice guidelines to protect the health and safety of each individual in our care; and we try our absolute best, within our human capacity, to give our utmost attention and care with integrity, honesty, and heartfelt commitment and dedication.

Photo by Niki Torres

            We firmly believe that pregnancy and childbirth are normal natural bodily functions, profoundly spiritual, truly inspiring and an empowering rite of passage for women and their families. We also believe that childbearing families are best served by caregivers who promote and encourage a loving, respectful, supportive, family-centered environment, and maintain trust and calm confidence in the normalcy of the process, until proven otherwise. We have taken and will continue to take every reasonable precaution to ensure safety, comfort, and deep satisfaction, which are our top priorities. A safe and wonderfully positive birth experience requires the joint cooperative efforts of both the expectant family and health care providers, with a relationship based upon good open communication, mutual respect, and shared responsibility. Education of women and their families is an integral part of our services, so that women are able to assume this responsibility for health maintenance and effective utilization of health care. Opportunity is offered to our clients to participate in the planning and implementation of their care, as emphasis is placed on an outcome that satisfies emotional, educational, family and spiritual concerns beyond the obvious physical needs. 

           We feel that every individual has the right to safe and satisfying health care by the provider of their choice, given with respect for personal preferences and cultural variations. We believe that normal, healthy women have the right to birth at home if they choose to do so, and as licensed practitioners, feel an obligation to make birth as safe and satisfying as possible for them. For the overwhelming majority of families, the childbearing experience is one of health rather than illness, and there is a need for preventative and loving supportive care that is not only safe, but also sensitive, compassionate and empowering. We believe in enhancing the normal processes of the female reproductive cycle, pregnancy and birth through education, physical and emotional support, and involvement of significant others according to the choices of each expectant mom and those she chooses and wants to be involved.

            Our responsibilities include review of each woman’s complete health history, physical examination findings, and lab results to determine her eligibility for continued midwifery care and homebirth, as well as ongoing evaluation and guidance throughout pregnancy, labor, birth and postpartum with attention to signs of normalcy and/or signs of complications.  All findings are discussed openly; and there will be no routine procedures or interventions unless medically necessary and mutually agreed upon. While childbearing is a healthy, normal and natural process for the vast majority of women and babies, problems can infrequently occur, and need to be recognized and attended to. Although many complications can be prevented or handled simply within our practice, some do require consultation with a collaborative physician or transfer to medical and hospital care to increase the likelihood of a safe outcome.  It is our philosophy that decisions regarding each woman’s care are informed and collaborative, and ultimately hers to make; however, rare emergent situations may arise in which the professional judgment of the midwife and/ or consulting physician must be relied on exclusively for the safety of mother and baby. We are grateful for life saving hospital medical and surgical care when there are serious complications and illness; and it is my hope that the homebirth midwifery model of care can be applied as much as possible in all birth settings, including the operating room, if surgical birth is needed.            

           There is an overwhelming cultural belief in the United States that hospitals are the safest place to give birth, regardless of the extensive scientific data that planned homebirths with skilled midwives suggest otherwise. Numerous studies around the world have documented the safety of planned homebirth by trained professional midwives, with outcomes at least as good, if not better than those occurring in a hospital.  This is especially true of women who have delivered vaginally before. The total slight increase newborn mortality risk of home birth is estimated to be 10 per 10,000 babies born at home, and that 1 in 1000 babies born at home may be adversely effected by the extra transport time in reaching advanced care in the hospital; the absolute risk is small however. Despite spending the most money on obstetric care, the United States ranks among the lowest of industrialized countries around the world in neonatal mortality and morbidity, and ranks quite low in maternal mortality and morbidity as well. Countries that consistently demonstrate the best maternal and newborn outcomes have a large percentage of midwife led maternity care for healthy women experiencing normal pregnancies - which constitutes the vast majority - a higher percentage of homebirth midwifery care with supportive hospital/medical transfer arrangements when needed, while the obstetricians attend to the women with high risk complications and serious illnesses, which is how they are educated as surgeons and medical doctors.  When midwives and obstetricians work together as a team, both using their unique skills, knowledge, expertise and training, the outcomes for moms and babies are far superior. Midwives are trained in guarding the normalcy of pregnancy, birth and postpartum, not disturbing it when all is well, knowing when to compassionately observe with loving support, and when and how to use holistic remedies, or medical intervention only when necessary as a last resort; they are also educated in prevention, assessment and treatment of complications, which most times can be managed simply and naturally, but sometimes involves consultation or referral to an obstetrician. Although unforeseen events and emergencies can occur in any birth setting, some of which can be best handled in a high risk hospital, a low risk healthy woman entering the typical U.S. hospital expecting a normal vaginal birth is subjected to a routine barrage of procedures and interventions that dramatically increase the risk of complications and problems, with potentially longstanding physical and emotional ramifications for both mother and baby. 

            There are many other benefits of homebirth midwifery care, in addition to safety, which provides an alternative to the impersonal, fear based, law suit prevention oriented medical and hospital care that has become prevalent in our society. These benefits include but are not limited to the power of the human touch and presence, of being surrounded by supportive people of a family’s own choosing, security in birthing in a familiar and comfortable environment of home, feeling less inhibited in expressing unique responses to labor (such as making sounds, moving freely, adopting positions of comfort, being intimate with her partner, nursing a toddler, eating and drinking as needed and desired, expressing or practicing individual cultural, value and faith based rituals that enhance coping) -- all of which can lead to easier labors and births, not having to make a decision about when to go to the hospital during labor (going too early can slow progress and increase use of the cascade of risky interventions, while going too late can be intensely uncomfortable or even lead to a risky unplanned birth en route), being able to choose how and when to include children (who are making their own adjustments and are less challenged by a lengthy absence of their parents and excessive interruptions of family routines), enabling uninterrupted family boding and breastfeeding, huge cost savings for insurance companies and those without insurance, and increasing the likelihood of having a deeply empowering and profoundly positive, life changing pregnancy and birth experience. Getting holistic prenatal through postpartum care and birthing in one’s own home attended by a skilled midwife, is a refuge for those who want to protect the normalcy and sanctity of pregnancy and birth. But focusing on the normal does not mean that problems go unrecognized or unattended; rather they are viewed as imbalances that need to be righted, not expected or feared. 

           That being said, certain hazards do exist however, in all settings, whether childbirth occurs in or out of the hospital; and there are risks unique to each setting.  Some of these risks will never be eradicated no matter what our state of technology or medical advancement. The safety of home birth is well documented, but childbirth by its nature is a threshold passage for the mom, and the baby.  Some babies are born with defects and injuries despite all the technology, tests, and skills of the attendants.  In spite of the fact that that hospitalization of birth has failed to eliminate fetal or neonatal death, there is a cultural expectation that doctors and hospitals can guarantee a “perfect baby” every time. This is a pervasive myth. It is impossible for any provider to guarantee much of anything. Birth defects may or may not be detectable by prenatal testing. The practice of midwifery, nursing and medicine are not exact sciences and no assurances can be made regarding the results of examinations, diagnostic tests, treatments, procedures, or interventions. It is impossible for any provider to guarantee a normal healthy birth, mother or baby. Part of the wonder of the miracle of birth is the inherent lack of guarantees in life and birth, and the surrender to a power far bigger than ourselves. Part of life is death, and we often do not know why a person lives or dies. We do have a spiritual perspective, and believe that while we can do our best to do what is humanly possible, most of life, birth and death are ultimately not in our control; we do believe that everything that happens is meant to happen, because it did, and that it happened for our benefit, even if beyond our understanding, as we are souls temporarily residing in bodies, and know that G-d/Spirit of our own understanding is only good. Conception is the beginning of life, yet every life must end sometime.  Part of pregnancy is the excitement of new life and the fear of its loss. This is normal human reality and is in part why pregnancy deepens and matures a woman and man spiritually and emotionally.

Art by Spirit Y Sol

Photo by Megan Hancock Photography

           We try our hardest to give the best care that we possibly can, pray we make the right decisions and that our hands are blessed. But we are all only human.  Midwifery and obstetrics are such humbling professions. And I would choose no other. 

Let Me Help You Create The Happiest Birth Experience Of Your Life...

Whether you're a first time or experienced momma,

Or a midwife, doula, or birth professional guiding mommas..

Regardless if you are planning a birth at home, a hospital, a birth center or need a cesarean section, or if you are taking another childbirth education class…

You Really Can Create The Delivery Of Your Dreams.

And have a blissful birth wherever you are.

More Precious Than A Wedding...A Birth Should Be A Celebration!

Let me show you how to…

• Understand the sensations of your body and connect your intuition with how your body is communicating and leading you towards what to do during labor

• Tap into your inner calm to deeply relax yourself,letting go of busy, stressful and fearful thoughts on demand for the health of baby

• Speak your truth from your heart in a way that deepens your relationships, sets clear boundaries, and has people listen to you and support you before, during and after pregnancy

• Trust yourself, connect with your body wisdom andcommunicate with baby in belly

• Connect with natural time and sync your body and mind up with your unique biological clock for ease from pregnancy to postpartum

• Reprogram negative patterns, stories, and beliefs that undermine your confidence, strength and self trust so you can rock your birth

Physicians and midwives around the world recommend my teachings to their pregnant clients and many Doulas across the country learn the secrets of blissful birthing from me to supplement their Doula Training & Certification process!

To learn more, visit:  LOVE YOUR BIRTH Online Childbirth Course!

It is based on my years of experience, as a midwife and yoga teacher, helping thousands of women tap into their calm and live and birth from a place of grounded relaxation and joy. 

Amazon Block

Search for an Amazon product to display. Learn more