Breastfeeding Essentials
It’s that time again! I feel like I say that a lot since I have two kids so close together. But basically I have decided to breastfeed again this time around. I had a successful breastfeeding journey with my son and that really encouraged me to breastfeed again.
These are essential items you’ll need, or at least I found the most helpful during my experience:
Nursing bras
Disposable/reusable nursing pads
Nipple Cream
Double Electric Pump (Check with your health insurance)
Manual Hand pump: This just made expressing milk a lot quicker and more accessible than carrying around the electric pump. Some good examples are by Evenflo or Haaka.
Boppy/nursing pillow
Prenatal Vitamins
Fenugreek (Beware, because sometimes it can do more harm than good, meaning I got a lot of clogged milk ducts because I started overproducing).
Mother’s milk tea
Milk storage bottles and bags. I personally like the bottles better but the bags freeze better if you’re trying to build your stash.
This is what helped me personally to have a successful breastfeeding journey:
Drink lots and lots of water! Even when you’re not thirsty!
Do not skip meals. Breastfeeding is not a time to diet. You need those extra calories while breastfeeding.
Continue to take your prenatal.
I did take Fenugreek and it did help increase my milk supply, however, I was not pumping as much or feeding as much as I probably should have been, so I became engorged quite a lot, so I quickly stopped.
Mother’s milk is really great tea to drink.
There are lactation cookies but they contain way too much sugar, personally.
The most important tip of all is SUPPLY AND DEMAND! The more often you feed, the more your milk supply will increase. That’s just the simple truth of it all.
Hopefully all of this information is helpful!
Love & Light,
Jalesa