Before your baby is born you may have already envisioned yourself nursing your baby, and looking at her beautiful face while you breastfeed your newborn, and she looks at you. You may have even bought a new glider or rocking chair and you sit whilst imagining what that will feel like. Those feelings maybe of excitement or of wonder at what it will actually be like.
Many of those images that we hold are what we envision to be breastfeeding positions which we have probably picked up from other moms around us with babies or from pictures and movies you have seen. However these are not necessarily the best positions to breastfeed a newborn. The anatomy of a newborn is completely different of that of a baby that has already been breastfeeding for a while, there are certain developments that must occur before baby can feed in the “traditional” breastfeeding positions we have come to know. It is also important to acknowledge that most of the breastfeeding positions we see around us are actually bottle-feeding positions, product of our ever increasing formula feeding society.
The way that milk flows from a bottle is completely different of how milk flows from a breast. With a bottle gravity will pull down the milk from a bottle, therefore baby will hardly work to suck on the milk, it will simply flow, this is also the reason why with bottle-feeding baby has little control of the intake. A breast will not simply have milk gushing out; baby must us his tongue and mouth to create a motion were the milk is drawn out. In fact our mouths where specifically designed to work around the breast and nipple to create a proper breastfeeding latch and breastfeed.
Looking into the anatomy of the newborn baby we realize how the traditional breastfeeding positions actually work against this anatomy and can make breastfeeding complicated and frustrating. This is because with these positions baby has to reach up to the breast, working against gravity and making it very difficult, as their neck muscles have not developed the strength to do this yet. This also makes it difficult to be able to grab on to the breast with a good latch. The result of this is a shallow latch which does not allow baby to intake as much milk as she could other wise, and will also create sore and cracked nipples for mom.
However before we had all these fancy breastfeeding positions and tools, such as the boppy and bottles babies nursed like most mammas do, laying down. Take a dog for example she lays on her side and babies do all the work by them selves without any help at all. They instinctively know how to reach the breast, latch and suck. This is because we were all designed to come out of the womb and instinctively nurse, our nipples and colostrum resemble the sent of our amniotic fluid which will draw the baby toward the breast.
Babies’ limbs and hands can detect their way up moms’ tummy to reach the breast, and as they make out the breast through bopping their head around they can make out a big and secure latch to have that first feed. This is what we would call a proper latch. This position is not only excellent for baby but also very comfortable for a post partum mom, which will be tired, and in much need of rest.
This was probably not the way most new moms envision what breastfeeding positions or nursing positions will be like. And because it is not the norm to feed in this positions it may not seen very normal, but actually laid back breastfeeding or natural breastfeeding is actually something that is very much coming back now, as we start to take a more natural and green approach towards our lifestyles as moms. Many IBCLC’s are now teaching about this. One of the pioneers in this has been Nancy Morhbacher and Theresa Nesbitt with their natural breastfeeding application.
Their research teaches us that the most successful “Natural breastfeeding” takes place with the following tips:
- Mom and baby should practice skin to skin
- Baby’s stomach must be up against moms stomach too (belly to belly)
- Mom should be in a laid back, or side position
- Allow babies hands, arms, and legs to move freely to pan out the breast area. They should be in a frog like position, which is how newborns feel more comfortable as they start to adapt to being out of the womb
- Using pillows, and blankets stacked up for added comfort for mom. This is very important as sometimes babies can breastfeed from 10 minutes to 45 minutes so it’s important to have a position that is comfortable for mom and doesn’t strain her back.
- Practice these positions and try to envision them before the baby is born, this will make the laid back positions seems the new normal breastfeeding positions for you.
So if you have not really thought about breastfeeding positions too much or what you thought was a good latch, or best position to breastfeed a newborn is not quite the best way, you may want to start experimenting with this position prior to your babies birth. If you already have children but used the traditional breastfeeding holds, you will benefit from this laid back approach, as it will help to start a better breastfeeding relationship for you and your baby.
Have you tried this approach before if so what did you think? Would you recommend it to others, and if so what was the most comfortable laid back position for you?
