My good advice for a good start to breastfeeding

To you who want to read the blog

I really want to share a lot with you about breastfeeding. Breastfeeding was a huge wish for me when I was going to have my son. It was partly because I am a solo mom, and I thought it would be really nice to have the possibility of always having food with me and not having to get up and make a bottle myself. At the same time, I just really wanted to breastfeed.

I really want to share a lot with you about breastfeeding. Breastfeeding was a huge wish for me when I was going to have my son. It was partly because I am a solo mom, and I thought it would be really nice to have the possibility of always having food with me and not having to get up and make a bottle myself. At the same time, I just really wanted to breastfeed.

It varies a lot. We are all different. Some want to bottle feed, some want to mix, some want to fully breastfeed. Everything is right that feels right for yourself, I just want to start by saying. With that said, I have a few things I would like to go through and talk about.

To start with, there is actually help to be had. I contacted my midwife and told her about this wish, and that I wanted to prepare myself as best as possible. There are actually some exercises you can do with your breasts. Some movements and exercises you can do to get your breasts ready for breastfeeding. So I would start by doing that - get in touch with a midwife or health visitor and get some good info about what you can actually do to prepare yourself.

With that said, there are some products I really want to mention to you, which are the best I have ever been recommended to prepare for breastfeeding. It is a wool nursing pad from JOHA. It looks really large, and when you get it home, you might think: "Wow, it’s big." But keep in mind that your breast will get larger. One thing is that it gets bigger during pregnancy, but it actually gets quite a bit bigger when the milk comes in.

The wool nursing pad is fantastic for keeping your breast warm. Many people are affected by mastitis, more than you would think, and it can partly be due to the breast getting cold. So you can help yourself to stay ahead by keeping your breast warm at all times, and you do that with this fantastic wool nursing pad. Keep in mind that it should actually fill your whole breast, and it should come all the way toward the armpit and as far in as possible, so it covers the entire breast and keeps it warm. When you get it home, remember that the breast will be larger, and it should fill the whole breast.

What I really liked was having some disposable pads to have inside. And that was actually because when we breastfeed, the breast leaks when we take it away after breastfeeding, and it also leaks when the breast is full and ready to give milk. I thought it quickly became a bit unpleasant because the milk settled inside the wool. Of course, you should do as you wish. Wool is also healing for the breast, so it is good to have on. However, I thought it was nice to have such disposable pads so I didn't have to wash my wool nursing pads all the time.

Something I was also recommended by my lovely little sister was a lanolin cream. It is a cream made for the nipple, which helps to prevent it from cracking. This way, it is always healing, and you take good care of it. It really comes into play with full breastfeeding. So promise me to invest in a lanolin cream. Use it immediately. I got a sore fingertip already at the hospital. Right after I gave birth, I got started, and it actually caused me to maybe have a small crack in my breast, but otherwise it worked really well. You can also use it as lip balm. And trust me, you will have dry lips when you are about to breastfeed because you get really thirsty. So keep it with you in your little breastfeeding arsenal.

Something that is also good to prepare is where you will sit. I had a visit from my health visitor before I was due, and she asked: "Where do you plan to sit and breastfeed?" I hadn’t really thought much about it, but the corner of the sofa and inside the bed seemed obvious. Then she started to show how I should prepare the corner. She took all of my pillows from the sofa and the bed and set them up in a whole menagerie. I thought: "Wow, that seems a bit excessive." But it actually is good – lots of pillows!

You will be sitting there for many hours, both at night and during the day. And if you have a partner who wants to sleep through in bed, then the night on the sofa can be a solution sometimes. Promise me to have as many pillows as possible. Keep in mind that you need good support for your back all the time, and you actually need good support for your arms too. Of course, you need a nursing pillow - we all do. I have been really happy with one that wraps nicely around the belly. Mostly because you will be advised to have many different breastfeeding positions to empty your breast from all angles.

Something that I think has been absolutely essential is a breastfeeding lamp. We breastfeed at all times of the day, sometimes really a lot at night. I found a breastfeeding lamp that has been fantastic. It can easily be turned on and off, and it can be dimmed really low. When you finish and turn it on again, it stays at the brightness you set. It’s absolutely essential because a regular lamp will wake you and the baby much more.

The last thing I want to share with you is that you should always have some water and some snacks with you. You will get thirsty. And you will get thirsty very quickly! I didn’t quite believe it, but both my cousin and my older sister recommended me to remember to have water standing close to where I sit. So set up a little breastfeeding station with a bottle of water (preferably a liter), a drink bottle that can keep it cold, maybe a soda, some snacks, a muesli bar - whatever you feel like. Because before you know it, you will have been sitting in your breastfeeding spot for a couple of hours, and you will be thirsty and hungry.

The most important thing is that we do not stress, but can sit back and enjoy it, relax and be together with our little baby. It should be a really good experience for both mother and baby. These things and the advice I have received, along with what I have figured out along the way, have really made it a very special and magical time to look back on. So I hope you can use this for your breastfeeding journey.

If you have any questions, I am only an email or a message away. I am just a mom passing on my advice – but sometimes it’s nice to have two instead of one when starting such a big journey with a little one.