If you need help with breastfeeding, Babble Soft offers a Free Trial to create your own breastfeeding log to help you manage your breastfeeding schedule. All you need is an email address to try it out!

Now here’s an article I wrote about how I eventually established breastfeeding with my kids that might be helpful to you or someone else you know who is struggling with breastfeeding.

Our son was born by emergency c-section making my post birth recovery time challenging because a) I was exhausted, b) he didn’t seem to sleep very much and c) I developed a breast infection.  Now a) and b) are par for the course when having a baby but c) knocked me senseless.  I didn’t want to take any more medication given that I had just come off of several after the c-section so I waited to see if the pain would go away.   When I reached the point where I would wake up from a restless sleep with tears in my eyes from the excruciating pain and I began having thoughts like “I wish I could die right now, but I can’t because I have to feed my baby,” I began a round of antibiotics.  Within a week or so I felt sane again.

Now part of the reason I contracted the breast infection was because I wasn’t breastfeeding correctly.  It took about 7 to 10 days for my milk to come in and then because of the infection probably 10 weeks for me to quit wondering how the human race survived before bottles and formula!  Here are some tips that helped me establish a successful breastfeeding relationship with my children.

1. Mentally prepare yourself that it can take up to 8 to 12 weeks.  Some insightful person…maybe a nurse or my lactation consultant, told me “Give it 8 to 12 weeks before making a decision on whether you want to quit breastfeeding.”  So I told myself ‘this is a marathon, not a sprint. Breastfeeding is important to me and my husband, and I can’t quit before 12 weeks.’  I remember saying that to myself almost every day and when I was 8 -10 weeks into it I realized “Wow, this isn’t so bad.  In fact it’s pretty darn neat!”

1. It’s OK to supplement as long as you continue to pump!   I was so afraid to supplement because I was repeatedly told that supplementing was the worst thing I could do, which of course made me feel like an awful mom.  But let me tell you, if you are exhausted and your baby isn’t gaining weight, it is one of the best things you can do.  After feeling guilty for a week because my milk wasn’t coming in and my baby wasn’t gaining weight, I decided to supplement and what a relief.  I had more confidence when our daughter was born 2 ½ years later.  I continued to pump and kept track of how much I pumped to keep up my milk supply which is very important to do.  It was less physically and emotionally draining for me to pump and give him a bottle one or two times per day until I could rest and gain back my strength.  I’m so glad I did because my milk supply built up and continued to increase!

1. Don’t be afraid to take that baby off!  Some well meaning nurses told me that when the baby is finished he will fall off.  They didn’t know my son.  He would stay on for over an hour on each side just suckling half asleep if I let him.  I remember breastfeeding sessions that would last 90 minutes which when I had to start over again in an hour and a half reduced me to tears.  I believe not pulling him off when I thought he was done contributed to my getting the breast infection.  With my daughter I produced so much milk that after 8 to 10 weeks I was able to take her off sometimes at 7 to 10 minutes!

1. Keep a breastfeeding log.  So that you have an idea of how much time you are breastfeeding, what your breastfeeding schedule is, and maybe even what position you are breastfeeding in, keep a breastfeeding log.  When our son was born I used a form I created in Microsoft Excel to jot down often illegible notes.  Fortunately when our daughter was born, we had an alpha version of our mobile software program, Baby Insights, available.  I could easily keep track of my pumping and breastfeeding schedule which helped me understand her feeding patterns and how much milk I was producing.

1. Drink plenty of water.  Drinking plenty of fluids, eating well, and getting good rest is a huge contributor to successful breastfeeding.  In fact a vast majority of breast milk is water.  Keep a bottle of water next to you when you breastfeed.

1. Ask and/or pay for help.  Whether it’s a lactation consultant, a post-partum doula, your significant other, a grandparent, or a friend who has breastfed before, ask for help.  A good lactation consultant can give you great tips on how to get your baby to latch on and feed properly.  If you can afford a post-partum doula a few hours per week, they can be a god-send with both household and breastfeeding support.  Ask your spouse to help you manage your breastfeeding schedule by keeping the breastfeeding log, bringing you water, fresh fruit, snacks, and the baby!

1. Relax. I know this is easier said than done, but I found the more relaxed I was, the more my milk flowed.  Lack of sleep and stress actually reduces your body’s ability to create breast milk.  And worse you may start to resent the process and maybe even your baby!  Watch a funny show or movie.  Take a nap.  Take a leisurely walk.  Chat with a friend.  Or just bawl your eyes out…we all know what a stress relief that can be!

Once your milk flow is established consider donating to a Mother’s Milk Bank near you.  I donated to the Mother’s Milk Bank of Austin with my daughter and it was a wonderful feeling knowing that my milk was going to help sick and premature babies.

Aruni Gunasegaram, President/Founder of Babble Soft