In this series of breastfeeding videos, Dr. Jack Newman demonstrates the cross cradle hold technique, and how to latch the baby on properly. Pay close attention to what Dr. Newman describes as the “gape”, when the baby is latching on. This is the point when the breast needs to go into the mouth of the baby for milk transfer. A baby that has too shallow of a latch, will cause your breasts to become sore. That’s painful and definitely not what you want!

This video offers tips on how often you should breast-feed. Listen to your baby’s cues on when to breast-feed.  While scheduling sounds like a great idea, it may not be.  Remember it’s not just food, it’s also water, and in immune building mechanism.  If your baby starting to get sick, they may want to nurse more frequently, or if it’s hot out, it needs more liquid intake to cool off.  Your baby is also constantly growing, and never at the same rate.  Sometimes your Davie needs more milk when it’s going through growth spurts.  Listen to your baby and your body will listen to you.

Breast-feeding is all about attachment.  Having your baby latch onto your breast properly is instinct, but some babies just don’t figure it out.  For new moms having trouble positioning in just the right way, problems with attachment can lead to sore nipples, engorged breasts, and even infection.  Your pediatrician or nurse should be able to guide you, but sometimes that falls through.  If you’re searching for breast-feeding resources we recommend womenshealth.gov.

I also recommend watching the breast-feeding videos we provide here.

Did you know you can save over $1500 a year by breast-feeding.  Not only that.  There won’t be extra bottles to mess with.  You won’t have to spend money on expensive baby formulas.  He won’t have to prepare them.  You won’t have to buy and carry around special insulated carriers to keep your baby bottles warm.  No.  Breast-feeding takes care of all of that!  And it’s healthy too.

By the age of three months, your baby is able to consume 32 ounces of formula per day.  After mixing the formula with water, the price  correlates to about $.15 an ounce, or five bucks a day.  By breast-feeding, you’d save over $850 in just the first six months!

When you compare these figures, the cost of a breast pump is minor, compared to what you’d be spending if you weren’t breast-feeding.  And remember that doesn’t even include the cost of bottles, sterilizing equipment, and the time taken to make and warm the bottles.  Breast-feeding saves time and money.

Imagine I told you that you could take a miracle drug while pregnant and fantastic things would happen for your baby.  What kind of things?  How about more brainpower?  Or less chance for respiratory infections?  Or how about having fewer chances of getting sick, or having allergies?  Would you like to eliminate ear infections altogether?  And if that wasn’t enough, how about if this miracle drug provided your infant with enough protection to fight against even stronger diseases?  You’d probably take it in a second, if it means that it would protect the welfare of your baby.  We’ll guess what, there’s one thing you can do that include all these things above.  Yets you probably guessed that already.  It’s breast-feeding.

While breast-feeding is a natural step in motherhood, most women have to work to get it right.  Without proper training, it’s not as easy as it looks.  With the Internet, there’s many more sources out there now to help new mothers.  We advocate breast-feeding, because we know how important it is to the nurturing of your baby; emotionally and physically.  And if you choose not to breast-feed.  We are fine with that too.

Your questions and comments are appreciated!