What matters in the first few days?
You should breastfeed your baby on demand.
Practice the different breastfeeding positions. It must be comfortable for both of you.
During one feeding, you can change the breast, if you see that one is not enough for the child. Try to do this no earlier than your baby spends at least 15 minutes sucking and swallowing one breast.
While your baby learns suckling avoid using pacifiers, bottles and nipple shields. They distract him or her from developing a good breast’s suckling technique.
From time to time let your nipples breathe air.
You can weigh your baby once a day for the first few days, then once a week. Do it at the same time before breastfeeding.
Breast milk “coming in”...
After 3-4 days after birth, you will discover that your breasts become more heavy. It means that colostrum is replaced by normal milk. In this period mother’s usually accompanied by swelling the breast which may be unpleasant and painful. The best way of preventing this pain is to nurse early, frequently and for long enough-starting at birth. You should pay attention to your breast.
If after feeding the breast remains full, you can express breast milk using special breast pump. It is important to avoid breastfeeding.
First-aid if your breast engorged:
Nurse as often as possible.
Take a hot shower or apply warm compress before each feed.
Before each feeding, do a gentle breast massage; avoid strong massage movements, only light tapping of the fingers.
If your breasts are so swollen with milk that your baby has trouble latching on the nipple, massage some of the milk out of the breast until the nipple area becomes soft.
If your breast is still full after feeding, you should express milk (manually or using a special pump). However, the breast hasn't been totally empty, otherwise the milk will come more intensively. Express milk until the breast is soft.
Breastfeeding on demand.
From now on, your baby will generally let you know they’re hungry, and should be fed as required. The baby stimulates milk production. He or she also regulates the amount of milk produced by suckling more or less vigorously. In the first few days, and maybe even later on, your baby will want to be a nurse between 8 and 12 times over a 24-hours period. Good idea to install a special app and control this process via smartphone. How to identify that your baby is hungry?
Signs of hunger typically include:
suckling and searching movements
suckling noises
baby puts hand to mouth
faint growling or groaning sounds
While your baby is asleep, you can rest and attend your own needs. Make sure to take care of yourself.