After reading this article, please visit the author’s San Antonio Doula website for more pictures and information.

Why should you breastfeed your baby? Here are just a few of the many reasons:

1. Breastmilk is designed to be the perfect food for your baby.
2. Breastfeeding boosts your baby’s immune system, preventing and minimizing many sicknesses.
3. It helps prevent allergies, especially if you breastfeed exclusively for at least 6 months.
4. Breastfeeding also helps prevent ear infections, childhood obesity, diarrhea and constipation, promotes proper jaw, teeth and speech development, and reduces the risk of SIDS.
5. Breastmilk is sterile and always ready the moment your baby needs it, which makes it perfectly convenient!
6. Breastfeeding is calming, comforting and promotes bonding between you and your baby.
7. Studies have shown that the longer a mother breastfeeds throughout her life, the lower her chances are of getting breast cancer.

Getting off to a good start with breastfeeding can be a challenge, but it is well worth it. Breastfeed your baby as soon as possible after the birth, preferably within one hour. Hold your baby skin-to-skin; this will encourage him to latch on, among many other benefits. Make sure your baby is latched on well from the start – don’t be afraid to ask for help from your nurse, doula, midwife, lactation consultant, or experienced friend.

You should not be separated from your baby, “rooming in” is better for both mother and baby. Do not give artificial nipples to your baby or allow anyone else to do so. Nurse your baby as often as he is hungry, for as long as he wants to suck. Supplements are rarely needed, and most of the time when supplementation is recommended, there are alternative feeding methods that can be used to maintain exclusive breastfeeding. Contact a good lactation consultant if you have questions about what you are being told.

Here are some basics for good positioning and latch-on. Make sure you are comfortable, with lots of pillows for support, Baby should be on his side, tummy to tummy with you. Support your breast with the hand closest to the baby’s head, and the baby’s head and neck with your other hand. Start with baby’s chin touching the breast first, then let the baby touch the nipple and wait for his mouth to open wide. Bring the baby to the breast, not the breast to the baby, and aim the nipple for the roof of baby’s mouth, you want his mouth to be open wide and covering as much of the areola as possible. You can tell that the baby is drinking when you hear him swallowing and he is sucking deeply and pausing with each suck.

This information is intended to be merely supportive in nature. Please contact your physician or a lactation consultant for diagnosis and treatment recommendations.

The author Brenda Minica CD (CBI) is a labor and birth doula in San Antonio. She has six children of her own and has experience breastfeeding for a total of nearly twelve years so far.

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