breasts. • Let your baby search, crawl up, nuzzle, and attach to your breast. Help your baby in whatever way feels natural. • Place a blanket across your baby’s back, if needed. Cross-Cradle Hold • Place a pillow in your lap to bring your baby up to breast level. Put your baby on the pillow, tummy to tummy with you, with the baby’s nose across from your nipple. • Support your baby’s head by holding your hand at the base of his skull. • Lift your breast to bring your nipple up to your baby’s nose. To lift your breast, lean back and place your fingers below your breast near your ribs, keeping your hand far away from the nipple. • Once your baby is latched on, you can let go of your breast and bring your arm around your baby into a regular cradle-hold. If your breast are large, you may need to support your breast the whole time. Clutch (Football) Hold • Place a pillow at your side. • Put your baby on the pillow with his legs under your arm. • Slide your arm under your baby’s back. Support the base of his head and neck with your hand. Side-Lying Hold • Lie on your side with knees bent. Place pillows between your knees, under your head and neck, and behind your back, if needed. • Put your baby on his side, facing your nipple. • Support your baby by placing your arm, a pillow, or a rolled-up blanket behind him. If you are using the laid back position, allow your baby to latch on when he is ready. If you are using a different position, you will control the attachment more than your baby. Follow these tips Hold your baby so that his nose is in line with your nipple. Touch your baby’s nose and upper lip with your nipple. Wait until his mouth opens very wide. Quickly bring the baby onto your nipple and breast so that his chin touches your breast first and he gets a large mouthful of nipple and breast. If you feel painful tugging or pinching, slide your finger into the corner of his mouth to break the suction and try again. It may take a few tries to get a good, comfortable latch. You can tell your baby is attached well if: • You are not feeling sharp pain. Gentle tugging is normal. • Both of your baby’s lips are flipped out, not pulled in. • More of the bottom of your areola (the dark area around nipple) is in the baby’s mouth than the top. • His chin is buried in your breast with his nose tipped away slightly or lightly touching. • His mouth is as wide open as a yawn. $IWHUWKHÀUVWWZRGD\V\RXPD\DOVR • Hear your baby swallow; or • See milk leaking from your baby’s mouth or your other breast. Your nipple should look the same coming out of your baby’s mouth as it did going in. If your nipple looks pinched when it first comes out of your baby’s mouth, your baby is not attaching well. About half of all babies don’t attach well on the first day. Ask for help right away and be patient. It may take a few days for you and your baby to learn the art of breastfeeding How often should I feed my baby? Your baby is ready to feed any time he shows early signs of hunger, which are: • Whimpering or lip-smacking • Making sucking motions • Pulling up arms or legs toward his middle • Waking and looking alert • Moving hands or fists to his mouth • Nuzzling against your breast If someone offers to take your baby to the hospital nursery so you can rest, tell them you would like to keep your baby in your room. Room-sharing protects you and your baby from infection, and helps you both sleep better. Also, you will get more skin-to-skin contact with your baby, and you will learn your baby’s hunger cues faster. How do I tell if my baby is full? Your baby will signal when he is full when he: • Lets go of your breast and nipple. • Falls asleep and stops sucking. • Relaxes his hands and body. If your baby comes off the breast relaxed and sleepy he has probably had a good feeding. If he stops sucking and does not come off the breast on his own, slide your finger into the corner of his mouth to break the suction. Burp him and offer the other breast. He may nurse again right away or he may take the other side in a few minutes or a few hours. If your baby comes off the breast crying, he may not be getting a good latch. Ask for help right away Sleepy babies Sleepy babies are not good at showing signs that they are hungry. Try waking your baby first with a variety of motions and sounds, such as different positions, using different words and sounds, and touching different parts of his body. Then get ready to feed. • Place your baby in skin-to-skin contact and gently rub his back, arms, hands, and feet. • Talk to him in a calming voice. • When he begins to move more or opens his eyes, move him to your breast to feed. • When he stops sucking, gently squeeze and massage your breast. Move your hand to a different area of your breast to massage and squeeze every time your baby stops sucking. Most sleepy babies will get better at showing hunger cues in a few days. It may take 10 to 15 minutes to wake a sleepy baby. Sleepy babies should: • be encouraged to nurse at least 8-12 times each 24 hours, and • have no more than one four-hour sleep period in 24 hours. How do I tell if my baby is getting enough to eat? Weight gain is the best way to tell if your baby is getting enough to eat. Tracking how many wet and poopy diapers your baby has can also be helpful. Your baby may have some pale yellow, pink or red wet diapers and some black, brown or greenish poopy diapers in the first two to three days. Your baby’s poop can look watery and seedy and at other times it will look more like cottage cheese. By day six, many breastfed babies will poop in almost every diaper. At least three or four of those diapers should have a large amount of poop - about the size of a golf ball, but soft and spread out. After 4-6 weeks, a baby may only poop a few times a week. Newborns often lose weight in the first couple days of life. Your baby should regain his birth weight by day 10-14. After he regains his birth weight, he should gain about 4 to 8 ounces a week. Be sure to see your baby’s health care provider within 3-5 days of hospital discharge to make sure your baby is gaining weight. My breasts feel too full. Do I have too much milk? When your baby is 2 to 5 days old, your milk supply will increase and your breasts will feel heavier. Nurse your baby often to keep your breasts from