Hi everybody, and welcome to CloudMom.
Before I had my first baby in 2004 I remember being so intimated by the prospect of nursing
and hearing so many stories from other moms about how difficult it was to nurse.
Having now gone through this 5 times, I can tell you that the key to nursing is latching
on- getting your baby to hold onto your breast in the right way.
So this is what we're going to work on today and I'm going to go through this with you.
First I'm going to use my nifty little models, okay, my baby and my breast.
And I'm going to show you step-by-step how you're going to get your baby to latch on.
And then, I'm going to show your glimpse, don't get too excited, but I'm going to show
a glimpse of my own baby, Marielle, properly latched on.
So here we go, here's my little baby, I think I'm going to have to give her a name; I'm
going to call her Emma.
Okay, so here's Emma.
Babies will start to root.
Rooting means that the baby is showing signs that he or she is ready to eat.
And rooting means that the baby will be going like this, opening her mouth frequently showing
that he or she is ready to eat.
If your baby has a closed mouth however, what you're going to do is you're going to take
your own nipple.
Okay, your going to be down like this, you're going to take your own nipple you're going
to lightly tap or brush your nipple along the edge of the baby's mouth which is going
to encourage the baby to have this rooting reflex.
Okay, the second the baby opens his or her mouth your nipple is going to go in like this.
And what you want to do at that point and I'm just going to show this like this on my
own breast because it's easier for me to show you guys, so the baby's nipple is kind of
like this and you're going to gently fold the baby up so that the top part of the baby's
mouth is over the top part of your nipple and the baby's mouth is open as wide as possible.
So you understand the principle, you're tapping, the baby's mouth is opening, and then you're
going to gently lift the baby over like that so that the baby's mouth is open and open
wide.
This is not like sucking out of a straw.
Okay, this is not a good latch.
The baby should not have a small mouth that is what is going to cause blisters or fishers.
If your baby has latched on like that and they are really just sucking onto the edge
of your nipple, just sucking onto this part here, what you want to do is break the suction.
And a good way to do that is by taking your pinky finger, you're going to dip your pinky
finger into a clean glass of water and then you're going to insert your finger between
your breast and the baby's mouth to break the suction.
And then you're going to take the baby off your breast.
Do not rip the baby off your breast that is killer!
That will really, really hurt.
So you're going to keep going with this, hang in there!
This is like learning how to ride a bike; nobody is born knowing how to nurse.
It's only after time when you get the hang of it that it becomes natural.
So I'm just going to quickly look at my notes to make sure that I didn't forget anything.
Okay, really, really key thing hold on one second I have to get my apple.
So if your breasts are very, very engorged which is a very, very common thing.
Instead of having this nice, soft supple breasts guess what you're going to be dealing with
in the early days?
Your breast is going to feel like this.
Think about how hard it is for the baby to get a nice latch when he or she is basically
trying to suck on an apple.
Okay, not going to happen.
So in this situation take your breasts and express out a little bit of milk or use a
pump so you can get more to having this kind of situation where your breast is more supple
and it's easier for the baby to latch on and get a proper latch.
So okay, that's what you do if you have a very engorged breast.
Let me think, so now I think I covered the fundamentals, what I'm going to do is I'm
going to get my own little baby, Marielle, who is waiting close by and I'm going to show
you what it looks like when she is properly latched on so just hold on one second.
So here I am with my little baby Marielle and Marielle is a very skilled latcheroner.
She's been patiently waiting to eat.
So I'm just going to show you guys in a glimpse fashion, here's what you're going to do when
your baby is not latched on properly.
You're going to wet your pinky finger in water and you're going to insert it between your
breast and the baby's mouth like this to break the suction, right in there so that the baby
ends up sucking a little bit on your finger.
And then you're going to try again to make sure that you get a proper latch.
It's also actually important, let me put her on again, that your nipple area be dry because
that's going to allow the baby to get a nice, good grip.
But see how she's got her whole mouth over the areola.
Her mouth is very, very wide.
She's sucking a very wide way.
It's not at all like sucking out of a straw.
You can see how wide it is and how much she gets in there.
As your baby is nursing you're going to be able to hear the sound of the milk going down
her throat.
It's a really, really important thing because you want to be able to distinguish between
the sound of the baby nursing, drinking your milk, and the sound of the baby just sucking
for comfort.
If she's just sucking for comfort, wet your pinky finger and take your baby off your breast
because that's really going to cause blisters.
So you're going to make sure your nipple is dry, your going to tease your baby by tapping
your nipple onto your baby's mouth to get her to root, you're going to get her mouth
widely over your breast so that she's covering the whole areola area and she has a good latch.
If your having a bad latch what you're going to do is you're going to wet your pinky finger
in a little bit of water and you're going to insert it right between your breast and
the baby's mouth.
This should give you a very good latch.
Remember this is not easy for anybody.
Hang in there!
This is something you're going to get better at and it's going to feel more and more natural
as time goes on.