Breastfeeding Newborn

Breastfeeding a newborn baby is a bit different than breastfeeding an older baby.  Babies are born with the natural rooting reflex, which means that  when the baby’s cheek is stroked, he/she turns his/her mouth toward the stimulus.  This is a basic survival mechanism allowing your baby to find the food source.  Other than that, it will take some time for you and your newborn to learn the proper technique to breastfeeding so that you are comfortable and your baby gets enough milk.

With a newborn, how you position your baby at the breast is very important.  If using a cradle position, you want the baby’s head, stomach, and legs to be all in alignment and touching your body.  Although you may notice older babies who are not perfectly aligned, when a newborn is starting to nurse, you need to ensure that the body is aligned.  For more information on various breastfeeding positions, view.  You may also prefer to purchase a video that shows how to latch a newborn baby on correctly.  It also strongly recommended that you purchase yourself a breastfeeding pillow, as it makes positioning a newborn at the breast so much easier.  In fact, I used it at home throughout the whole year of nursing, as it’s just so much more comfortable.  The type I recommend is:

You will want to support under your breast in a C-cupped position and away from the areola (the darkened part of the breast).  When you bring your baby towards your breast, stroke your baby’s lips or cheek with your nipple.  You want to stimulate the rooting reflex, and the baby opening the mouth in search of the food.  When your baby opens his/her mouth WIDE, you want to pull your baby in quickly towards the breast.  The chin and nose should be touching the breast, as seen in the photo on this page.  Your baby should be able to breathe juse fine, but if the nose appears a bit covered, just lift up your breast a bit or tilt your baby’s nose away from the breast a bit by moving the lips in closer. If your baby is not latched on properly (you will either see it or you fill feel some discomfort), remove your baby immediately by inserting a clean finger into the corner of your baby’s mouth in order to break the suction.  Never just pull your baby off the breast without breaking the suction with your finger,  as this will cause damage to your nipples.  Then try to latch your baby on again.

To check if your baby is latched on properly,  both upper and lower lips  need to be flanged out.  You may want to have your partner/spouse pull the lips out as the baby is on the breast in the early days of breastfeeding a newborn.  If you pull down on the lower lip, you should also note that the baby’s tongue is cupped around the breast.

In the early days of nursing a newborn, you and your baby need to get in sync and learn the proper method of latching on.  Although babies are born with the natural rooting reflex, they do need your help in guiding them on the correct technique in the early days and weeks after the birth.