Successful Breastfeeding Preparation
Breastfeeding is designed for babies, but understanding how it works can help you to have a satisfying feeding journey and avoid running into difficulties from the start.
Most women would agree that breastfeeding isn't as straightforward as imagined, and this can be compounded by the degree of conflicting advice individual health professionals give, often based on their own experience.
We now know through the findings of research that there are simple interventions that can be made to the way a baby is positioned at the breast that allow the nipple and a larger volume of breast tissue to be drawn up into a baby's mouth, closer to the junction where the hard palate meets the soft palate.
Why is this important?
Because it prevents nipple pain and supports milk transfer.
From this research we also now appreciate more definitively that opposing intra-oral forces can be set up between where the nipple lies in the mouth and where the breast and baby are positioned.
Why is this important?
Because eliminating conflicting forces and breast tissue drag can prevent nipple damage and support milk transfer.
You can prepare to breastfeed before the birth by learning and understanding important principles that will guide you in helping your milk to come in and feed in a way that supports your baby to take the milk he needs without causing you nipple damage.
We can talk to you about what signs to look out for to help you know whether breastfeeding is going well - so that things don't spiral and affect your milk supply, particularly when you are tired and adjusting to life with a new baby.
Knowing what good breastfeeding looks like will give you a frame of reference in your head for what to aim for. By being informed of both the traditional styles of breastfeeding and the evidence that underpins the Possums approach, you can then experiment and feel empowered in the choices available to you with breastfeeding.
If you birth your baby in the hospital system, you are likely to encounter a whole raft of conflicting advice and approaches to breastfeeding. Some will resonate with you and feel right, and others won't. You are encouraged to never allow the support you get with breastfeeding to involve force, such as your baby being pushed onto the breast or having pressure applied to the back of his head to get him to latch. This type of approach can quickly trigger a negative association for your baby around feeding and set up a habitual response where he then back arches, fusses and cries when coming to the breast. Without the right experienced help, this reaction (directly to this action) can derail your ability to successfully breastfeed.
The Possums approach respects that your baby's brain is incredibly neuro-plastic at birth. It is still forming connections and pathways that link together to lay down healthy neural circuitry and will be busy doing this for the next few years. Feeding is one of the most fundamental needs a baby has, and delivering his feed to him in ways that keep the dial on the sympathetic nervous system down is vital to his neurological well-being. Nurturing your baby's expression of his feeding reflexes and ensuring there is positional stability at the breast are positive steps you can take to support your baby to feed contentedly.
Book a phone or in-home session with Julie to explore lactation and breastfeeding principles and try the Possums approach with a helpful demonstration run.