Why Most New Moms Stop Breastfeeding Sooner Than They Wanted

If I can give you any advice about breastfeeding and how to be successful, it would be start before baby arrives. The number one reason why most new moms don't meet their breastfeeding goals is lack of preparation. If you're listening to this episode and you are pregnant, you are so fortunate because I'm going to explain to you why getting support during your pregnancy is going to be the thing that makes the biggest difference in whether or not you achieve your breastfeeding goals.

This is the place for you to get the real support and information you deserve. So grab a drink, get comfy, and let's get into it. So many moms spend all of this time preparing for their birth planning, baby showers, buying baby gear, and they overlook the fact that if you're planning to breastfeed, it deserves as much attention and preparation as your birth does.

If you're planning to breastfeed, please understand breastfeeding is extremely natural. It's what our bodies were designed to do. Our bodies were designed to feed our babies. Our babies were designed to nurse at our breasts. That's the way it was. Designed, but it is not that simple. If you go into it blind, it can be really rough.

In an ideal world, we would all grow up seeing our mothers and sisters and aunts and everyone around us breastfeed babies. But very few of us have ever witnessed a woman breastfeeding in real life. Sure, we've seen it in movies, TV shows, et cetera, but very few of us have actually witnessed it right up close.

Understanding what a good latch actually looks like and how to achieve it is the number one thing that I teach my moms during our prenatal consultations. With that said, I offer prenatal consultations to moms. Throughout their pregnancy, working together, we can make sure that you have all your questions answered, that you understand why your breastfeeding goals are what they are, and that you have a clear plan for how to get help and when you should get help.

I have so many moms who come to me and they tell me that, well, you know, I wanted to wait until X, Y, Z before reaching out for help. Any of the mothers I see prenatally understand that they can reach out to me at any time. We never wanna wait until things are too far gone. Air quotes there before reaching out for help.

And if it's something like, I read this advice online, I saw this TikTok, my doctor said this, we can hop on a call and work through it and decide if that bit of advice or their concern, et cetera, is something that is worth worrying about or how we can deal with it. So, with that said, understanding how to get a good latch is the most important thing, getting a good latch.

Is not as simple as just nose to nipple. Make sure baby's belly to belly. It needs to be asymmetrical. There are a lot of mechanical like. Body positioning, like all these really in-depth things that at face value can feel overwhelming, but once you understand them, they'll allow you to get a repeatable, deep, effective, comfortable latch time and time again.

They would look very different from something that you've seen in the movies. A lot of what we see in the movies is a mom hunched forward. Baby's head is almost making firm contact with the arm that's on the side that baby's latched onto. Maybe baby shoulders are rolled out. Mom's super hunched forward, like we can see the top of her head.

Just a lot of things that we don't wanna have happening. And if we understand good body positioning and what it is a baby needs in terms of their body to get a good latch, then we can get a comfortable latch every single time. So working with someone during your pregnancy allows you to understand all of those things so that when baby arrives, you understand what a good latch looks like.

But when we're making those decisions, we're making them from a place of empowerment and confidence. I have so many moms come to me. And I can just see the look of sadness and defeat in their eyes when they realize that a decision that they were pushed into making or that they made without being informed is causing them issues now with their baby in their arms.

One thing that I do see is a lot of moms assume that because they have a doula or because they're giving birth at a baby friendly hospital is that they're gonna be fine. They'll be taught how to breastfeed after baby gets here. That is not a good way to think. If you were banking on the tired, overworked, you know, we love 'em, but they're, they're doing a lot of work and they're tired.

A lot of times if we're planning on the labor and delivery nurse teaching us how to breastfeed, we are setting ourselves up for a bad time. If we're assuming that our hospital has a lactation consultant on staff, so we don't need to worry about it, we're setting ourselves up for a really hard time. A lot of times those lcs that are on staff in the hospital.

Another thing that I think is really important to note is that when it comes to getting help with breastfeeding, we typically wanna reach out to a breastfeeding expert. We wanna reach out to an I-B-C-L-C like myself, so many new moms that end up coming to me when things are in a really bad place. The first person they reached out to was their pediatrician and.

That's not always the best course of action. Your pediatrician is your baby's doctor, and while they should be very invested in your breastfeeding and baby's nutrition, they don't always know how to support you with your breastfeeding journey. Same with your obstetrician. They're great at what they do.

Beyond that, we definitely wanna make sure that we have realistic expectations for breastfeeding and working with someone to prepare during your pregnancy is gonna help you have just. That so many moms, they have their baby and they don't understand what's normal. What's not normal. When should I be concerned?

How frequently is too frequently for babies to eat? How much weight should they gain? How many diapers should they be baking each day? And if we don't know those things, we can end up really frazzled and kind of doing things that we don't need to do. Goodness. One thing that I definitely have to bring up is pumping so many new moms that I work with.

Why are you pumping? Like, why are you doing this? And they're like, well, they told me in the hospital that I need to pump, or I just thought that I need to, like, you can end up doing so much damage to yourself and I'm just gonna use those negative words because it's, it's accurate. You can end up setting yourself up for failure by not being informed.

Breastfeeding is intuitive. It is natural, but navigating motherhood in the modern day and age is difficult. We don't have access to the wealths of information that pre previous generations had, so we wanna make sure. That we are setting ourselves up for success by understanding what does a good latch look like?

What is milk supply, supposed to be like, how is this supposed to feel? When should I be pumping? How should I be pumping? If I'm returning to work, when should I start preparing for that? Can I use a pacifier? Should baby be using a bottle? I have a lot of moms who come to me and they're using a bottle because they think that if they don't, baby will have bottle refusal down the line.

They're, they're always great. Super, always suggest that, and a great I-B-C-L-C. All of those teammates can work together to help you meet your breastfeeding goals with low friction. The last thing that a new mom needs is to feel overwhelmed or confused, or feel like she's getting one bit of advice. From the internet and a different bit of advice from her mother-in-law, and even another different bit of advice from her obstetrician.

We don't need that. We need a cohesive plan so that we can feel supported and empowered.

We don't want to assume that things are gonna go badly. But we wanna make sure that we have support in case we have questions. Oftentimes with the moms, I work with prenatally, I do that post, you know, due date check-in, and they're like, yeah, things are great. I was curious about if I can eat this thing and when should I do this thing and I'll see you later.

And that's pretty much how it goes. It makes such a big difference, you know, being able to get that support and education during your pregnancy.

So in closing, my biggest piece of advice for breastfeeding. You're a pregnant mom. You're planning to breastfeed. Start preparing today. Don't wait until baby gets here. Build out your care team, understand your goals, understand what's normal, and have a plan so that you can avoid all the hiccups and headaches that can come when we don't prepare.

This message is not getting out there enough to new moms because it is so, so important that we prepare and that we understand that we are the boss of our journey and we're the only ones who can make sure that we're set up for success. So I hope you've enjoyed this, and if you are a pregnant mom.

Please reach out. I do bimonthly group, classes about preparing for breastfeeding, and I also offer one-on-one breastfeeding consults prenatally.

That's it for today, mama. If this episode helped, don't stop here. Get even more support@thelatchlink.com. Need one-on-one help. Did you know your insurance covers free lactation care? If you have Aetna Anthem, Cigna, blue Cross Blue Shield, or UHC, you can get free virtual lactation care right from the comfort of your home.

Until next time, trust yourself, trust your baby, and know you are doing an amazing job.