How to prepare for breastfeeding?

How to prepare for breastfeeding is a question I have been asking myself since the second trimester of pregnancy. I am 30 weeks pregnant today and although I am only beginning to prepare the layette for the newborn for good, I had no doubt where to start.

When I was preparing a post today about how I was preparing for breastfeeding, I unfolded everything and was about to set up for pictures when I thought that maybe you would like to hear about all this and see all this? Almost like having coffee together? That's how the idea of ​​making the first film in my life and uploading it to YouTube was born in my head.

On this occasion I invite you to watch the video in which I answer the question:

How to prepare for breastfeeding?

If you liked the video, I will be very grateful for the thumbs up you can give me here - it will be a huge motivation for me to record more materials. If you can not wait for more videos, be sure to subscribe to my channel and you can do it here.

I also have something for you if you prefer the word to be read ... a read-only movie.

I am 30 pregnant week today and I'm really just starting my preparations for the baby's birth. Of course, I do not mean taking care of health and pregnancy, I mean everything that is hidden under the slogan: layette.

I started preparations by answering an important question, which is: how to prepare for breastfeeding? Why from this? In fact, with the first child it was the most difficult aspect of motherhood that I met and right after giving birth I will tell you that although breastfeeding seems so natural, it certainly didn't come naturally or easily, I really needed a lot of help and commitment so that it could succeed in our case.

Na first problem in breastfeeding I encountered right after delivery. When after the first stop, when I was lying and kangarooing my Toddler after cesarean section, hours passed, food did not come and the Toddler started to cry and get impatient, so I asked the midwife for help. The answer I received was a huge surprise for me, because I gave birth in a large city, in a large hospital, in one of the best hospitals in our province, with a high degree of reference when it comes to saving newborns, in a hospital that is famous for is very focused on breastfeeding and to help women in this task. The answer I heard from midwives was one and the same "Okay, let's feedy”- which is not what I wanted, because I wanted someone to show me, teach me and help me feed the baby on my own. So I found myself very quickly in a situation in which instead of experiencing the most beautiful day in my life, the day my child was born, the child was crying, I was crying, I felt left without any help. So I went to help my sister, friends, midwives, whom I knew before. Of course, it was only a telephone help, but it ended up asking my husband to bring me a breast pump, my friend sent me instructions on how to help me with such lactation and I started to work on my own.

I have already raised the topic of dealing with lack of food after giving birth hereand today I will focus on showing you how I prepared for breastfeeding, what things were in our layette and I will recommend the best solutions to youso that you can choose the ones you feel will best suit your situation.

Breast Pump

With the first little one, I decided on a basic electric breast pump. I chose the model then Mini Electric from Medela and in fact it met my expectations in 90%, because thanks to it I was able to boost my lactation and express milk, thanks to which I could leave my baby, for example, with my dad, and go to the doctor or go shopping. Thanks to the breast pump, I was able to express my milk and store it for the so-called hard times, i.e. for a situation in which I ate something that absolutely sensitized my baby and each subsequent breastfeeding ends up with exacerbation of allergic symptoms. In such situations, I would open the freezer drawer, take out another batch of milk, being able to wait a day or two for the highest amount of allergens to be washed out of my food. The only aspect that this breast pump fell short of my expectations was the level of noise it was making. The funniest thing is that this noise did not bother my child at allthat slept next to me, or my husband, who slept almost all nights, despite the fact that I used the breast pump several times during the night. For me, however, it was not one hundred percent comfortable, so when choosing a breast pump for another baby, I knew that its volume would be the only thing I would like to improve.

The market is also available manual breast pumps. I knew that such a breast pump would not work well in my situation, mainly due to the fact that I am an extremely active mother. On maternity leave, when running your own business, you just have to do some work, sometimes go out somewhere, meet someone. I knew that therefore I would have to have larger reserves of milk, for which the electric breast pump would be much better. However, if you are preparing for breastfeeding and do not expect any extraordinary activity after childbirth, I think you can safely consider whether a manual breast pump will be the perfect solution for you.

Due to the fact that I was very happy with my previous breast pump, I knew that this time I would be heading towards the Medela brand. This time I chose a higher model for myself than the Mini Electric - the Swing model.

I think his the biggest advantage over the previous model is its sound. Sounds like a quiet, nice purringso I'm sure that this sound will not disturb any other mother in the maternity ward, nor will it disturb me. This sound will also allow me to express breast milk in public places. After delivery I will probably return to work fairly quickly, I will travel around Poland, I will continue to train, so I will probably be condemned to expressing milk in various strange places so that lactation does not stop. Therefore, I am sure that this breast pump will be perfect for me. What's more, he has fantastic battery power option, so that at home I can work on a cable, and when leaving, I can insert batteries and rely only on battery power. These are ordinary batteries that I will buy in every kiosk, mount and equipment will be ready to work.

Food storage containers

When buying a breast pump, you should also immediately buy food storage containers. Due to the fact that every drop of mother's milk is at a premium, even if you use the breast pump only to stimulate lactation, it is worth, if any milk appears, just store it and give it to the Baby on another occasion. The first such container for storing food is really attached to the breast pump, because the bottle attached to it can be unscrewed and screwed with the cap attached to the set and such milk can be stored in the fridge.

However, if your milk is waiting for the baby in the fridge, and you will have to use the breast pump again, you will miss this food store. Instead of buying more containers and bottles, you can use very cool ones bags. Such bags have two functions. First they can be connected directly to the breast pump and the food will flow straight away, and secondly in these bags you can store food in the fridge or freezerand it will take you as much space as the bottles. You can describe this food thoroughly, so I think it is a really cool solution that I didn't have when feeding my first baby. At that time, I stored food in such bottles. Sometimes there was 30 ml in them, because that's all I managed to store, sometimes there was 100 ml in them, but in fact my freezer filled them very quickly. I am sure that this time the bags will be filled much more effectively.

Tea supporting lactation

I packed the bag that I took with me for childbirth and I will definitely pack a tea this time, which will help stimulate lactation. This will also help you prepare for breastfeeding. What is very important when choosing such a tea is to carefully check its composition. We have a huge amount of granulated teas on the market, in which there is a huge amount of sugar - I see no reason to drink such things when we have a choice of natural, organic teas from other brands. My choice is, for example, Stork.

Feeding underwear

Another very important thing that was in my bag, which I took with me to the hospital, was underwear. First of all, it was not to bother me, to be soft, comfortable and comfortable. Both with the first baby and now I decided to seamless underwear from Carriwell, model Gelwire, which has gel underwires - very soft and comfortable, but I have the impression that they offer our breasts slightly better support than the version of this underwear without gel underwires. Of course, each breastfeeding bra is properly unfastened and allows easy feeding. It is also very important to provide yourself with such underwear for breastfeeding, especially in this initial period breast pads. What is very cool and what I always pay a lot of attention to is the choice of inserts packed once. Such an insert can be put into a bag and it is always clean and hygienic.

Ointment

Breastfeeding can be painful at first, so help yourself here. I bought a tiny one PureLan ointment, which is one hundred percent lanolin. Previously I bought it in a package several times larger, completely unnecessary, because it is so efficient that I did not use a large package, at least not for this purpose. Later I used it as a mouth conditioner, so you don't have to throw it away when you no longer need it.

Gel inserts

Another novelty that will be in my bag this time are gel inserts, also from Medela - I guess they will have a cooling effect, such as the cooling patches we use when we have a headache. I think that in this early period of breastfeeding they will also bring relief.

Feeding pillow

Another gadget seemed definitely an unnecessary luxury to pack in my bag to the hospital. As it turned out, I called my husband asking for him faster than it might seem. After delivery, I think that every mother is tired and the pillow perfectly relieves our backs.

It is important to choose one with removable and washable covers. My Motherhood pillow is almost perfect, but a bit too small - I usually had to put other pillows under it. Therefore, the second time I would just look for a little bigger one.

Dressing room for a nursing mother

I support the theory that to a large extent a woman feels the way she looksthat's why I always pay attention to what I wear… around the house. That is why, both during the preparations for the adoption of the first baby, and now, I will prepare fresh bedding, pajamas and clothes in the bedroom, so that when I come home from the hospital, I feel like in a five-star hotel - I highly recommend this method to you. However, I believe that in the nursing mother's wardrobe feeding clothes cannot be missing. These will, of course, be everyday clothes (very often many brands already have various types of solutions sewn into maternity clothes that allow for comfortable breastfeeding later), but we must also not forget about very comfortable and comfortable nightwear.

Choosing a nightdress for breastfeeding, having already at the age of two and a half years old at home, I knew that in such a nightgown you spend a little more time than the name would suggest. Being a young nursing mother, I had the impression that the day merges with the night, that the entire rhythm of my life is determined by the feeding times and regardless of whether it is day or night, I fed every two or three hours. I confess without beating, often at 11 you could still meet me in pajamas. That is why it was very important for me to feel good in this outfit. Therefore, also this time I decided on various types of sleeping shirts, and my absolute hit is natural, bamboo sleeping dresswhich, first of all, is already useful to me during pregnancy, because it is sewn in such a way that it can easily fit even a large pregnancy belly. This is a dress from HUG GALLERY, designed by Ania Lewandowska. What is very cool about it is this bamboo fabric - absolutely natural, pleasant, absorbs moisture much better than cotton, and it is sewn in such a way that it allows you to comfortably, discreetly and comfortably breastfeed. I will tell you that my husband likes this shirt so much that he laughs, is it really not a dress for walking during the day, or at least we cannot consider it as such? She is really very pretty and I'm sure that these kinds of things can raise self-esteem and bring well-being to every young mother.

Otulaczki

For many mothers, including me, breastfeeding is a very intimate activitywhen every time you breastfeed in front of guests or on a park bench is associated with some discomfort. That is why one of my most important remedies are cotton, muslin, bamboo, various, large diapers - swaddles, because such blankets can have an infinite number of functions, so I always have several of them in my drawer, and two of them are in my bag by the pram and just Such a natural fabric allowed me to discreetly feed my baby with guests or on a walk, and then I can cover the stroller with it to protect the baby from the wind, so it is a fantastic solution to many problems.

Feeding bib

This is no ordinary bib, he is huge! We can put him on the baby during feeding, we can fasten such a button on his neck and we are sure that he will not dirty himself or us. After feeding the baby, we can put a bib on his shoulder and comfortably and comfortably bounce the baby without fear of getting his clothes dirty. These types of gadgets and bibs are great for babies, which have reflux and big problems with downpouring, because they will allow you to save several washing machines a week, both when it comes to baby things and yours.

Feeding chair

Here you will find a post about how to arrange a breastfeeding corner at home, because in fact this chair was bought especially for feeding. In the beginning, I spent at least eight hours a day in it and I really appreciated that it offers support for my entire back, that it is nicely tilted back and gives me great comfort. I love these armrests because they allowed me to feed without additional pillows. When I was putting only a feeding pillow high, and on these comfortable armrests, also put a blanket. At night, when you feed for another hour, for example, and it happens that way, it gets chilly, and under such a blanket it is very pleasant for both us and the baby. The only thing you need to be careful when using such a blanket is that the baby does not sweat, because he works hard. You have to watch if your baby is too hot all the time, but for us, I have it, it is the perfect solution.

Another thing that this chair gave me is a sense of security. Sitting on such a wide armchair, with such headrests and armrests, I knew that the Toddler would not fall anywhere, if I had to fall asleep, for example, which I would be afraid of on a rocking chair, which I have, which is neither so wide nor so comfortable, it also doesn't offer any support for the head. I think that such an armchair is really a great thing for years. After the breastfeeding period, I used it to read books, to relax, to watch movies, because it is incredibly comfortable, and finally found myself in my wedding office, where my clients also loved to sit in it. So I think that such an armchair can be not only a one-time unnecessary expense, but a really comfortable piece of furniture for almost a lifetime.

And now, as I promised, I give a list of products that appeared in the film and in the post: