Breastfeeding Quiz:  Your first 48 hours of Breastfeeding (1 of 4)

You have just spent your first 24 hrs with your newborn baby. You have kept him close to you, he has felt the warmth of your skin, tasted the sweetness of the milk that your body has made to nourish him. You two are a team now... a breastfeeding dyad.

1. On demand feeding means:

       a. keeping your newborn against you to stimulate his interest in feeding. He will display non-verbal cues for about 3-4 minutes before he begins to cry.

       b. developing a feeding schedule of 10 minutes at each breast, repeated every 2 hours during the day and every 4 hours during the night.

       c. feeding your baby whenever he displays an interest. The time spent actually sucking and swallowing is what matters most.

2. I know my newborn is swallowing when:

       a. he sucks vigorously on the nipple 7 or 8 times then stops. When slightly jiggled, he will resume rapid, irregular sucking 5 or 6 times and then doze, yet he awakens easily.

       b. he is deeply latched onto my breast tissue beyond the nipple... he takes 2 sucks and pauses, then 4 sucks... then there’s no more stopping... a rhythmic, continuous suck-swallow pattern emerges. He needs no stimulation to keep on sucking. It does not hurt.

       c. I can detect a pause in between every 1-3 sucks, I see an out-pouching of his throat below his jaw line and I can hear of him swallowing. He detaches spontaneously from the breast, milky mouthed and drowsy. He sleeps for a couple of hours.

3. I know my 2 day old baby is getting enough milk because:

       a. he is sucking all the time... at breast most of the day, rarely sleeps for more than 20 minutes.

       b. I feed my baby on one breast per feed. He gets into a suck-swallow rhythm and if he pauses for more than 10-15 seconds, I simply relax my neck and shoulders and take 10 deep breaths to stimulate a let-down and get him sucking and swallowing again.

       c. he has urinated at least 6 times in a 24 hr period and stooled more than twice, but usually with each feeding.

4. I expect to use my breast pump when:

       a. I have a need to express my milk to put in a Medela supplemental nursing system to augment my baby’s feeding while on my breast – with the recommendation and support of my LC/NP/MD.

       b. I am trying to increase the amount of milk I can make to fully satisfy my newborn(s) in the coming days.

       c. I have allowed myself, and my healthy newborn a day to simply rest and learn each other without adding another new element into our lives.

Answers: 1 - A & C, 2 - B & C, 3 - B & C, 4 - All

Consider an appointment with a lactation consultant to fine tune your skills.  Make this time as stress free as possible so that you may rest and enjoy the moment.