What to expect the first 2 weeks of breastfeeding

I found this great article on what to expect during the first 2 weeks of breastfeeding on askthelactationconsultant.com. She consistently gives great advice on breastfeeding topics most people do not talk about. I love this article because there are links to find out more if you want to know it. I hope this helps shed some light for those of you wondering... Pass it on to those it may help. I wish I knew this BEFORE I had my son! :) Nicole Days 2-10: Your milk will come in sometime between day 2-5. Your mode of delivery will impact when the milk comes in. As well as factors like illness, excessive blood loss, hormone levels, exhaustion and emotional state. Click here to learn how vaginal vs. c-section deliveries will impact your milk. The time your milk comes in can be affected by several factors. Your birth experience, health status, medications you are taking and exhaustion. Milk production is considered an "extra" function so if your body needs to concentrate on something more important, like keeping you alive due to excessive blood loss, milk production may have to wait until you are better. But lets now assume your milk is in. How do you know? Most women will experience engorgement. Click here to learn more about engorgement. If you do not experience engorgement (WHAT? Seriously, there are people who do not experience engorgement?!), then your first indication could be that you are now hearing your baby gulp with every suck. Or that your breasts are leaking. If you do not experience any of these signs by day 7 I highly encourage you to see a lactation consultant. When your milk comes in another sign can be LETDOWN . The letdown response can be uncomfortable at the beginning. For me it was. It felt like it feels when your hand or foot falls asleep and the blood is returning- that strong tingling sensation only on your nipple areola area. It was pretty intense. The good news is that it only lasts for 10-15 seconds. Not all experience this but most do. After your milk is in, you can change your feeding pattern up a little now to better empty the breasts by: Feed on one side per feeding instead of both sides at each feed. A simple way to do this is to feed for 10-15 minutes, take baby off to burp and put them back on the SAME breast until they fall asleep. Then for the next feed go to the other breast. Why change the pattern? We suggest changing the pattern because of the foremilk/hindmilk that you have once your milk is in. Once you have milk volume, the milk in is catagorized as fore and hind milk. Foremilk is a thinner/watery type milk that can be obtained at the beginning of a feeding. HIND milk is a fattier milk that can only be obtained toward the end of a feeding. The idea is that if you offer BOTH breasts for 10 min and 10 min your baby may not get to the hind milk thus causing them to feed more frequently and possibly be gassy because the of the foremilk. Learn more about ForeMilk and HindMilk here For the next week, you will have these days: Feeding every 2-3 hours, changing diapers, sleeping when the baby does, eating whenever possible, showering daily if possible, visiting with people that you will not remember visiting with, and repeating it over and over. Sounds crazy but it is pure bliss getting to know your child. Cherish it, the time is over before you know it. Go from days 2 to 10 to first 2 weeks main page Go from days 2 to 10 to askthelactationconsultant.com