6 weeks to 6 months

1.  Your Milk Supply

• Milk production responds to the baby's growth.
• Supply meets demand.
• Your breasts are never empty.
• Reminder about appetite spurts.
• Around 2 months swelling and leaking diminish.

2.  The Behaviors of a breastfed Infant

• Techniques to overcome the baby's preference of one breast over the other.
• Dealing with distractions (especially from siblings)

3.  Teething

• Teething can begin at 3-4 months.
• Ice and cold teething rings.
• Considerations about using oral numbing ointments and medications.
• Other tips and things for a baby to chew on.

4.  The Sleep Patterns of a breastfed Infant

• What does sleeping through the night really mean?
• Relationship between sleep and hunger.
• Feeding formula or solids will not change sleep patterns.
• What are cluster feedings?
• Ideas on how to get your baby to sleep longer at night.

5.  Working outside the home

• Advantages to continuing to breastfeed when you return to work.
• What are all your options?
• Supply issues when you'll be away from your baby for some feedings.
• Working through appetite spurts with your baby's caregiver.

6.  Tips for Pumping

• Where and when to pump.
• Ways to stimulate your letdown when you are away from your baby.
• How long to pump.
• Using massage to maximize your output.

7.  Pros and Cons of different Breast Pumps

• You can hand express or pump, every Mom is different.
• Pumping should not hurt (just like breastfeeding).
• Hand operated manual pumps.
• Battery operated pumps.
• Dual Electric pumps.
• When to rent a hospital-grade electric pump.

8.   Safely Storing Breast Milk

• Store it up to 48 hours in the refrigerator.
• Store it up to 6 months in the freezer (with door).
• Store it up to 1 year in a self-contained freezer.
• Helpful hints about storage.
• Milk separates when it sits, shake before feeding.
• DO NOT HEAT/DEFROST milk in the microwave.
• (It destroys the immunities in the milk).
• Milk can't be refrozen.
• Why you should discard remaining milk in bottle after a feeding.

9.   Introducing a Bottle

• When is it best to start? (3-4 weeks).
• Remember, this is another skill for your baby to learn.
• Who should try to give the bottle (not usually Mom).
• What can you use to feed your baby, other than a bottle?
• Why slow flow nipples are best.

10.  Public Concerns for the breastfeeding Mother

• Choosing clothing for discrete nursing in public.
• How to best hide leaking milk.
• How to temporarily stop your milk from leaking.

11.  Private Concerns for the breastfeeding Mother

• The return of your period.
• Birth control and breastfeeding.
• Some vaginal dryness is normal during breastfeeding, what can help.
• It is common to experience a let-down of milk during intercourse, what can help.

Did You Know?

A Few Facts about Breastfeeding

• Nursing babies need no other food for at least 4-6 months...not even water!
• A little breast milk is better than none.  Even one feeding of mother's first milk (colostrum) is helpful for the baby.
• Most nursing mothers do not have to avoid favorite foods, and they do not have to drink milk to make milk.
• Sore nipples are not caused by the length of feeding.
• Breastfeeding should not be painful - if it is, please contact us or an IBCLC Lactation Consultant for help
• Completely breastfed babies rarely get constipated.
• Women who have breastfed a baby have a reduced risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer.
• Pregnancy may cause breasts to sag - breastfeeding doesn't.
• There are many ways to combine working and nursing.  Moms do it every day!

Why Should I Breastfeed?

Reasons That Breast Milk is the Best Milk!

• Breast milk is the ONLY complete source of all the nutrients your baby needs.
• Breast milk is free and always ready.
• Breast milk is ideal for brain growth.
• Nursing encourages proper alignment of teeth and good speech development.
• Breastfed babies have fewer ear infections, stomach upsets, tooth decay, allergies and other illnesses than formula-fed babies.
• Breastfed babies are less likely to develop juvenile-onset diabetes (Type I diabetes) and certain kinds of cancer.
• Nursing hormones are soothing to the new mother.
• Breastfeeding helps the mother's body return to its pre-pregnant shape and burns extra calories every day.
• Breastfed babies can be nursed discreetly anywhere.