 | 'Hello, Mummy'
Davy's mother has turned him to face her and tucked his bottom arm out of the way. His head is resting on her forearm which helps to line him up nicely with the breast.
In the early days it's good to offer a feed as often as the baby wakes. This helps the mother establish a good supply of milk and gives both mother and baby lots of practice!
Feeding regularly will relieve discomfort and engorgement and ensure the baby has as much milk as he wants. |
 | 'Oh, yes please, I'm hungry'
By holding him really close to her, Davy's mother's nipple has just brushed his lips and he instinctively opens his mouth wide and searches for the breast. This is called rooting and is a reflex that babies are born with. The back of Davy's neck rests on his mother's arm so that he is free to move his head to the best position for him to feed.
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 | 'Found it'
Davy's bottom lip is curled down and his tongue is coming out ready to draw as much areola as possible into his mouth. His mother's nipple is near his top lip and points towards the roof of his mouth. When his mother sees his lovely wide mouth she draws him that last little bit closer to the breast and…..
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 | 'Almost there Let's see how much of I can fit in'
Almost on. Davy's mouth is as wide open as possible. He will draw much of the aereola under his nipple into his moth. This is because the baby's tongue does most of the work in "milking" the breast.
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 | 'Mmmm'
Now that he's on, his mother can't see much of what's going on. But she can feel that it's all OK. She's comfortable and Davy is sucking happily. His chin is the breast and his nose free. He begins with quick little sucks and gets a thirst quenching drink of lower calorie "watery" foremilk. As his mother's body responds to his sucking, her breasts release the hindmilk and his sucks become slow as the fatty, higher calorie hindmilk satisfies his hunger. He stops for pauses to have a rest and then starts sucking again.
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 | 'I get a lovely cuddle at the same time'
Davy's body is in a straight line so he doesn't have to turn his head to drink.
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 | 'Ah…..that's about enough for now'
Davy has had enough and lets the nipple fall out of his moth. His full tummy and the lovely comfort of sucking made him feel sleepy and he dozes off.
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 | 'Thanks Mum, that was lovely'
Davy is very full from his feed and sleeps. His lips are still pursed from sucking.
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 | 'Uh oh, Just a little too much I guess'
Only a few minutes later he stirs and wiggles so his mother sits him up and a little milk comes up with a burp.
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 | 'Oh, hello. So you're my mummy. We're going to get along just fine!'
At only 1 week old this little fellow already fancies a chat after dinner and is getting to know his mother in the most special way.
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