Breastfeeding

Hold your baby skin to skin right after birth. Place your baby, wearing only a diaper, on your bare chest. Cover you both with a blanket. This keeps your baby warm and calm. It also helps your baby find the breast.

The World Health Organization advises starting breastfeeding within the first hour of birth. This also works after a cesarean. Ask the team to help you as soon as you are awake and stable.

Keep doing skin to skin in the days that follow. The other parent can do it too.

Your first milk is called colostrum. It is thick and yellow, and it comes in small amounts. It is all your baby needs in the first days. Colostrum is rich in antibodies. It helps protect your baby against germs. Over the next few days, your milk becomes more plentiful.

Is your baby premature or in the neonatal unit? Express your colostrum by hand in the first hours after birth. The team will give your baby whatever you collect, even a few drops.

A good latch prevents pain and helps your baby drink well.

• Hold your baby close, tummy against you.
• Line up your baby’s nose with your nipple.
• Wait for a wide open mouth, like a yawn.
• Bring your baby to the breast, chin first.

Signs the latch is good:

• The chin touches the breast and the nose is free.
• You see more dark skin above the top lip than below the bottom lip.
• The cheeks look round and full.
• A few quick sucks turn into slow, deep sucks with swallowing.

You may feel some tugging at the start. If it hurts through the whole feed, slide a clean finger into the corner of your baby’s mouth to break the suction. Then try again.

Feed your baby whenever they show hunger. Early signs are turning the head, opening the mouth and sucking on hands. Crying is a late sign. In the first weeks, expect 8 to 12 feeds in 24 hours. Feeds may come close together, often in the evening. This is how your baby builds your milk supply.

Let your baby finish the first breast before you offer the second. Before 6 months, your baby needs no water, tea or juice. Breast milk is enough.

Count diapers in the first week.

• First 2 days: 2 or 3 wet diapers a day.
• From day 4: at least 2 soft yellow stools a day, for the first few weeks.
• From day 5: at least 6 heavy wet diapers a day.

Most babies lose some weight in the first 3 to 4 days. After that, they should gain steadily. Your doctor will weigh your baby at the first visits. After a good feed, your baby looks content and relaxed. Your breasts feel softer.

Sore nipples usually mean the latch needs fixing. Get help early. Do not shorten feeds because of pain. That can lower your milk supply. After a feed, rub a few drops of milk on the nipple and let it dry.

Engorgement means your breasts feel hard, full and painful. It is common in the first days, when your milk comes in. Feed often. If your baby cannot latch onto a hard breast, express a little milk first to soften it. Cold packs after feeds can ease the swelling.

Breast milk is low in vitamin D. Babies who get breast milk need 400 IU of vitamin D every day. Start in the first days after birth. This also applies if your baby gets both breast milk and formula. Your doctor will tell you which drops to use.

• Ask the nurses and midwives at the maternity before you go home.
• Ask your pediatrician at each visit.
• A lactation consultant can watch a feed and help fix the latch.

Going back to work, or adding some formula? Keep the breastfeeds you can. Partly breastfeeding is better for your baby than stopping.

Do you need a medicine? Many medicines are safe while you breastfeed. Ask your doctor before you stop.

Call your doctor the same day if your baby has fewer wet diapers than expected. Do the same if your baby is hard to wake for feeds or looks more yellow.

Also call if:

• Your baby has no yellow stools by day 5.
• Your baby feeds fewer than 8 times a day in the first weeks.
• Your baby seems unwell or has a fever.
• Feeds still hurt after help with the latch.
• You have a red, hot, painful area on the breast, or a fever.

In an emergency in Lebanon, call the Red Cross on 140.