After 2 Years, Here Are My Favorite Breastfeeding Resources
This week is World Breastfeeding Week, so I thought it would be a great time to share a post that I’ve been sitting on for quite awhile now: Breastfeeding & Pumping Resources. I put together this guide nearly 2 years ago, but with the crazy season of a premature baby and other family difficulties, I never got around to posting it. Coincidentally, I breastfed both of my boys until about their 1st birthdays, which means that I’ve breastfed for about 2 years of my life. So I feel like this blog post is 2 years in the making, either way you look at it. Regardless, I hope it can be helpful for anyone who needs it.
My Breastfeeding Philosophy
Let me start by saying that I am firmly in the camp that fed is best. Breastfeeding is challenging, both physically and emotionally, and for some reason it’s such a source of judgement within society. You can feel judged for breastfeeding or judged for not breastfeeding. But I believe that choosing to breastfeed or not is an extremely personal decision. I hope that in whatever you choose to do, you feel supported.
Cribsheet by Emily Oster is an excellent resource that outlines how formula and breastfeeding are extremely comparable. She explains that most studies that have found a difference and claim that “breast is best” are based on flawed, biased data. In other words, formula is great, and any way you choose to feed your baby is best.
In fact, even more importantly, what’s best for your baby is having parents with good mental health. Postpartum mental health is already challenging enough. If breastfeeding is causing you significant stress, it might be worth considering switching to formula. You can even supplement with formula and still breastfeed–it doesn’t have to be all or nothing
That being said, I know there are a ton of moms out there who want to breastfeed, but are struggling with certain aspects of it. If that is you, and you’re looking for help, here are my best tips and my favorite resources for breastfeeding and pumping.
What To Know In The First Weeks of Breastfeeding
Use Your Lactation Consultants
First things first, do not shy away from working with a lactation consultant. They are going to be a wealth of knowledge on this topic, and they should be the first place that you go with your breastfeeding questions.
Even after nursing my first baby for a full year, I went to see our hospital’s lactation consultant when my second baby was 1 week old. I thought I was a pro after a full year of doing it, but I still learned so many helpful tips.
Sometimes it’s all of the little things that add up to make or break your mental health during those postpartum days. So take advantage of the “little things” where you can.
Follow Along With Other Breastfeeding Pros
It’s easy to find many breastfeeding educational resources online these days. You can search on your favorite platform, but my favorites are @bumble.baby and @bemybreastfriend on Instagram. I would encourage you to watch their saved stories and reels on whatever topic you have a question about. The short-form video is perfect because you can watch it while feeding or pumping, and it’s quick and efficient.
My Breastfeeding Starter Pack
Based on those resources and my personal experience, here are the quick tips I’ve gathered and would offer to a friend:
- If it’s painful, it will get better soon! Trust me.
- A heating pad really helps if you’re experiencing cramps. Those will go away soon, too.
- Take Sunflower Lecithin twice a day to prevent clogged milk ducts. (I had mastitis twice with my first baby and needed antibiotics both times! I learned about lecithin with my second baby and had no issues. It was amazing.)
- Apply Lanolin as much as possible. Just make it a habit after every nursing session and every shower.
- A milk catcher or manual pump is a GREAT tool for getting milk from the side you’re not nursing on. Some women can collect nearly a full bottle’s worth of milk in a day, which then eliminates the need to pump if you want to skip a feeding.
- Speaking of skipping a feeding, it’s usually okay. Every woman is different, but the default should NOT be that you HAVE to pump every time you want to go out for a date night or skip a night feeding. For me, it was usually fine to skip every once in awhile. And that freedom helped me like breastfeeding more.
- I can’t tell you how much I recommend combo feeding, which is when you feed your baby with both breast milk and formula, whether in the same feeding or not. (See the section below for more on this topic.)
- Along those same lines, I’m a big fan of offering a bottle from the beginning. And offering a pacifier from the beginning. I don’t think those have as much of an impact on a baby’s ability to latch as everything else you do. But, of course…talk to your lactation consultant.
- You don’t need nursing clothes, but you do need nursing bras. My favorites are:
- The Auden Seamless Nursing Bra from Target for standard support. It’s the only brand I’ve found with NON-removable pads, which makes laundry so much better. (And trust me, laundry is plentiful in this season…)
- The Larken X for casual comfort and simplified pumping. It’s not as supportive, but it’s SO comfortable. And it has a creative design that is perfect for nursing and pumping.
Embrace Combo Feeding
With my second baby, I intentionally gave him formula at the very beginning so that I wouldn’t feel any pride or hang-ups about potential supplementation. I was pumping a ton of extra milk at that time, but for me it was a mental health thing. (Also, my little guy was only 4 lbs at birth, so there were some complicated emotions about the pressure to get his weight up…)
By removing the expectation on myself to be the SOLE provider for him, I felt so much more at peace. And then, because I was more relaxed about breastfeeding, it was easier. I was able to stick it out through the hard weeks, and I ended up breastfeeding him about 90% of the time, with maybe 5% pumped breast milk in bottles and 5% formula.
This is certainly a personal decision, but if you don’t have a strong opinion on it, I’d encourage you to be flexible with your feeding approach.
Prepare Your Breastfeeding Space
I found it helpful to have a “nursing station” on each level of the house. By setting up the space well and then implementing a simple system, I was able to minimize unnecessary stressors. Learn from my mistakes and don’t find yourself crying because you forgot your water bottle but baby is already latched!
Set up each breastfeeding “station” with:
- Nursing pillows (or any firm pillows can work)
- Burp cloths
- Milk catcher or manual pump
- Nursing pads
- Lanolin
- Water bottles
- Snacks
- Phone charger
- Heating pad
And then before each nursing session, run through a mental checklist: Do I have…?
- Phone
- Water bottle
- Burp cloth
Of course, you don’t NEED these things. But these were my personal items of choice for most nursing sessions. And then it kind of became like when you walk out the door and automatically think to yourself, “Do I have my phone, keys, wallet?” The automatic checklist is a simple system that is very valuable.
Let’s Talk About Pumping
Ahh, pumping. For many women I know, pumping is what breaks them. Because it’s a lot of work. And let’s just be honest, the workplace support for pumping isn’t as great as it could be.
You should know: If your employer is covered the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), they are required to provide you with adequate time and adequate space to pump–this means “a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk.” And adequate time probably means 30 minutes every 2-4 hours. If your employer is covered by FLSA and they are NOT doing this, you can certainly fight for your rights.
But, I do not think it’s unreasonable to pause and really ask yourself: “Is this worth it?” Here, at the beginning, before you invest a ton of time and money and stress on this topic, is breast milk really that important to you? It is 100% fine if it is, and it’s 100% fine if it isn’t.
Remember, combo feeding is a great option that works for a lot of women. Just because you don’t want to pump during work hours doesn’t mean you can’t nurse during the morning and evening hours.
If you do choose to pursue pumping, here are my high-level recommendations.
My Pumping Starter Pack
- Many breast pumps are comparable. I would just recommend getting whatever is covered by insurance and not worry too much about it. Unless you plan to exclusively pump–then it might be worth the extra research.
- If you mostly breastfeed, and if you are consistent with a milk catcher or manual pump, you might barely need to use an electric pump. It’s certainly the simpler way to collect milk.
- Pumping takes practice. There are so many little parts to figure out. It’s okay to be overwhelmed at first. But you will also learn quickly, and it will soon become second-nature.
- My pumping mantra is: You get what you get, and you don’t get upset. I tried so many tips and tricks to yield more milk, but they barely made a dent. I was able to pump more than my baby ate in the early months, but then my yield quickly dropped off once they started sleeping through the night. (But you know what? I would take that trade any day.)
- Along those lines, I saw this breast massager/warmer recommended a lot. I got it, and don’t feel like it made a big impact on my milk yield, but I do think it helped prevent and relieve clogged ducts in the early days.
- A solid pumping bra is key. I would often find myself ready to pump and then remember that I didn’t have a pumping bra on… which is just… SO annoying. There are many options out there, but the most comfortable and easiest to manage pumping bra is absolutely going to be the Larken X.
- Portable pumps are useful for allowing you to pump while on-the-go, but they’re certainly not discreet. So, if you’re trying to pump while you work, people will know that you’re pumping. Maybe that’s fine! Just FYI.
- The two leading brands, Elvie and Willow, are expensive but are completely hidden within your bra. I have the Willow and like it. Every resource I’ve ever seen seems to indicate that they are pretty comparable.
- I have also seen these two portable pumps recommended as good, more affordable options: Baby Buddha and Pumpables.
- There are some great pumping strategies and techniques out there. Be sure to check out the educational resources listed towards the beginning of this post. For example, they have plenty of strategies for cleaning pump parts more efficiently. (Spoiler alert: you don’t have to sanitize them every time!)
However you feed your baby, I wish you the best of luck! It’s hard work no matter what method you choose to do.
Happy World Breastfeeding Week!
For more resources for parents of newborns, check out the following posts:
