Preparing your breasts for breastfeeding

As you’ve probably noticed, your breasts get ready to breastfeed just a few weeks after conception. Your breasts become heavier and get bigger, a sign that the lactation process is starting …

Preparing for breastfeeding starts with getting informed

While waiting for Baby, take the time to discuss breastfeeding with your partner, and why not with a breastfeeding specialist, or lactation consultant. The opportunity to discuss the techniques and process of breastfeeding, but also the delicate question of the place of the spouse. feel free to express your fears and doubts, often linked to misconceptions. The midwife will also give you her precious advice and tips for successful breastfeeding. Know this, breastfeeding is all the more successful when the partner is fully involved!

Preparation for breastfeeding is done primarily in the head. The more a pregnant woman will have documented and informed herself upstream, the more chances she will have of successfully breastfeeding, but above all of overcoming any small difficulties that may arise.

Preparing for breastfeeding: should you use cream?

Before the famous big day, it is essential to take care of your breasts to avoid small physical inconveniences related to pregnancy, in particular stretch marks. First, bet on a light bra, adapted to your new morphology. If your breasts are particularly heavy, a good support is recommended. 

The priority is also hydration. Pamper your breasts with the most neutral cream possible, without active ingredient. “Inexpensive, olive oil is an excellent alternative ”, advises Françoise Coudray, IBCLC certified lactation consultant and president of the AFCL (French Association of Lactation Consultants). 

Be aware, however, that just because you apply the cream does not mean that you will avoid crevices. This problem is caused by a bad position of the baby during the feeding. However, be careful with soap, which can considerably dry out the skin. Use a soft gel, or simply rinse your nipples with water.

Massaging her breast to prepare her breasts for breastfeeding

The Massages can be a good way to prepare her breasts before a baby sucks, if only because it is good for blood and lymphatic circulation. In addition, it promotes the secretion of oxytocin which will allow the ejection of milk. Gently massage your breasts with coconut oil for example. Don’t hesitate to put your partner to work. If your breasts are sore, however, don’t force yourself. During the last weeks of pregnancy, you may see a few drops draining from your nipple: this is colostrum. Some specialists previously recommended squeezing out a few drops each day. However, there is no evidence that this is helpful in preventing engorgement or sore nipples. However, colostrum is hydrating, so it can’t hurt to smear a little of it on her nipples – quite the contrary.

How to squeeze out flat nipples for breastfeeding?

If you have rather flat nipples, especially if you have never breastfed before, you may be wondering whether something needs to be done to do take the nipple out of the nipple.

If the nipple is flat but a simple pressure, a light touch or the cold is enough to make the nipple come out, no worries to have a priori: baby will manage to bring out the nipple during the feeding. Especially since the baby does not put only the nipple in the mouth, but the whole nipple, with the areola.

If on the other hand the nipple remains flat or even that the nipple is invaginated in the breast, one can possibly have recourse to devices which aspirate the nipple and help to make it stand out. You can also opt, occasionally at the start of breastfeeding, for breast tips made of medical silicone. However, they should not be abused because they do not allow a good attachment to the breast by the baby, nor an optimal drainage.

Know finally that it is quite the baby may be able to pop the nipple out when breastfeeding and that it regains its flat shape as soon as the baby lets go of the breast.