Breastfeeding Class

Joe and I took a breastfeeding class at Valley Presbyterian hospital.  It was another one of the free classes they offer.  It was very informative.  Apparently there is something called the Magical Hour where the baby is supposed to be placed skin to skin contact with the mother for an hour immediately after birth (baby is cleaned while on mother’s chest and the medical exam is done afterward).  The Magical Hour promotes bonding and healthy development in babies plus helps with breastfeeding.  We watched a super cute video of the Magical Hour with the baby going through nine distinct stages.  It’s really all about the baby relaxing and starting to suckle and then finding its own way to the mother’s nipple to self latch.  There’s a pretty good YouTube video on it called Breastcrawl.  The goal is that by the end of the hour the baby will have found its way to the mother’s nipple, self latched and started nursing.  You’re supposed to just let the baby slowly find its way even though my first instinct would be to try to help it.  During the hour it has nine stages of activity where it’ll become more alert, start sucking on its hands, feel around, look at the mom, and crawl up to the breast.  The videos are really cute.

The lactation consultant also showed us different nursing positions, how to hand express milk (in the case of premature infants or infants unable to latch) and showed us different charts of baby poop.  I guess the only way to tell if your baby is getting enough breastmilk is by their poop.  She says a feeding usually takes 20 minutes and needs to be every two hours.  I had previously heard it was three.  Wow, that literally means that a new mom will only have an hour and forty minute intervals where she isn’t feeding her baby.  Plus, there’s changing and burping.  A newborn baby is supposed to have 8-10 diaper changes a day starting at day four.  Milk doesn’t come in for 3-4 days and they are only getting colostrum the first few days in the hospital.  Obviously breastmilk is healthier for a baby for a number of reasons but she made a great comparison.  She said that breastmilk is like giving your baby healthy salads where they don’t fill up as long and formula is like giving your baby a Thanksgiving dinner so it will be full longer and not need to nurse as often.

She also mentioned how to stop breastfeeding.  Never do it cold turkey because it will cause mastitis.  You have to wean the baby off by just feeding it less and less.  Babies should be exclusively breastfed for six months, then you can introduce solid foods (though I had heard you can start feeding your baby solid foods at five months).