I have been blessed to be able to breastfeed my daughter since the day she was born, thankfully without much problem so far - although I mostly blame that on the champion that my sweet Lilly is.
For future reference, or maybe for anyone strolling by, these were my top five breastfeeding essentials.
1. Support, and honestly as much of it as you can get. Breastfeeding is a natural and beautiful thing, but it can also very hard/exhausting ect.. so to have support be it from your husband, your family, or an online community - it's great to be told that I'm "doing a great job" or be able to ask questions when I'm uncertain.
2. Be confident in yourself breastfeeding, I went to the hospital so anxious that so many people would be dealing directly with my breasts. They've always been a private part of me and suddenly practically every nurse during our two night stay would be discussing, helping and seeing them. I was absolutely mortified, so I think it most definitely is an essential to feel confident and know that this is a natural and amazing thing. After our first night I told myself to get over it and absorbed as much information I could get, even meeting with the lactation consultant, making sure my latch was good and asking every seemingly silly or strange question that came to mind.
3. Tracking app, sure there are other options like a bracelet you switch to remember which side you last fed on but I preferred an app on my phone. I searched and tried a few before settling on one called Breastfeeding (hah). I wanted something that would track times and it is kind of neat to look at statistics like how many times I nurse a day. Makes things very easy for the doctor and even just my own sanity.
4. Comfortable clothes to nurse in, I haven't spent much money on specifically nursing clothes (most remind me of maternity clothes), just a couple of bras and tanks. But tweaking my wardrobe to accommodate access makes a huge difference when you're nursing (especially out in public).
5. Breast pads, I debated for a while which item would take the last spot on my list of essentials and although sometimes I really like my nursing pillow or love having great breastfeeding resources like Kelly Mom available I need breast pads and my favorite are the Lansinoh pads. They are wide enough that I seldom worry about leaks and are super soft.
xo, Anne
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