10 Breastfeeding Essentials: Prepare to Succeed with Breastfeeding TODAY

Breastfeeding gives your baby the best start to life. The benefits of breastfeeding are well documented and they include:

Improved health for mama
Reduced allergies in baby
Reduced obesity and diabetes rates in baby
Improved bonding

There are somethings you can do to set yourself up to make your breastfeeding experience is smoother and more likely for you to continue.

Please read: This information is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prevent any disease. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions in partnership with a qualified health care professional.

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Breastfeeding doesn’t always work for every mama/baby pair, but preparation for success is best done before baby arrives, so you have everything together ready to go.

Before you come home with baby make a breastfeeding box that has the following things in it.

Have you heard that Amazon has a baby registry that will send you a free box of goodies, and special discounts just for you? You can make a list of everything you want and then share it with your friends and family!

Pure Lanolin

Pure lanolin is a natural product that has been shown to prevent and improve healing on nipple cracking in breastfeeding mothers. Apply the lanolin after every feed. As it is a totally natural product, there is no reason to wash it off before the next feed.

To soften the lanolin if it is too hard, place the tube or jar down your top while you are feeding. Lanolin is also amazing to help treat and prevent dribble rash.

Heavy Duty Breast Pads

Disposable Breast Pads are exactly what you need for the first few days that your milk is in, as you will probably leak. A LOT. Once it settles down, you can swap over to re-usable pads.

Re-useable Breast Pads

Re-useable Breast Pads are perfect to use once your milk supply has settled down. They will save you lots of money on disposable pads, and help the environment at the same time!

Hydrogel Breast Pads

If you end up with grazes, cracks or plain ol’ sore nipples, hydrogel breast pads are the best thing for sore boobies. They speed wound healing, are cooling and keep the air off the cracks, reducing pain.

Breastpump

A quality breast pump is really helpful if you are planning on returning to work, leaving baby with a baby sitter, or if you need to be pumping to increase your milk supply.

A Thermal Waterbottle

Nothing is worse that sitting down, latching baby on and the thirst kicks in. It is a natural response to make sure that you are taking in enough fluids. To make sure you don’t get caught short, add a thermal drink bottle to your breastfeeding kit. They are double lined so even in your nice warm room, your water will stay nice and cool.

Nursing Pillow

You can just use any old cushion, but a Boppy nursing pillow is just the right size for breastfeeding a newborn. And it tucks around you for whatever breastfeeding position you choose to use.

Co-Sleeper

Keeping your baby right next to you during the night is a proven way to make life easier for mama, increasing both her and baby’s sleep, as well as increasing the number of mothers that continue to breastfeed. An arms-reach co-sleeper is a genius invention that attaches to the side of your bed, while giving baby a safe place to sleep.

High Nutrient Snacks

In your breastfeeding box, you should include a selection of appealing, nutritious snacks. Great options include nuts, seeds, prunes, dried figs, bliss balls or lara bars.

Burp Cloths

If your baby is anything like mine, burping cloths are an absolute must! Burping cloths go over your shoulder to catch the milk spills and power chucks that they can do.

Before your bundle of joy arrives, gather these goodies together and make a breastfeeding basket. You will thank me for it later. You are welcome.