Breastfeeding is a vital component of raising a healthy and happy newborn. The process allows you to bond with your baby and provides him or her with nutrition unavailable from formula. That being said, nursing newborns isn’t always intuitive and may require some level of guidance to perform properly to ensure your little one gets enough to eat, you don’t hurt yourself, and you make the experience as pleasant for the both of you as possible. Here are a few guidelines to follow that should help you learn how to breastfeed. While you might find variations of these instructions more advantageous to you, it’s best to stick with the tried and true methods at first to ensure you’re doing it right. After that, feel free to experience with different positions and techniques to find the best ones for you and baby. Selecting a Position One of the first things you …

On first glance, the baby wedge might seem like a cursory item for a baby. However, if your little one has trouble sleeping, it may be due to acid reflux. And the use of a wedge pillow can come in handy in the management of this condition. What is Acid Reflux? Acid reflux is a condition that causes the acid in the stomach to back up into the esophagus. This can be incredibly painful and cause baby to wake up in the middle of the night bawling. More frequent spitting up is also common with this medical problem. While medications exist to treat it, it has a tendency to wear off, which can make for numerous sleepless nights for the both of you. Instead of dealing with a fussy baby each night and establishing potentially harmful sleeping patterns, you can encourage proper sleep by adjusting his positioning. What Are Wedge …

One of the more well-known challenges of parenthood is getting baby to go to sleep and stay asleep. And while you won’t be able to avoid all of it, there are some ways you can minimize your baby’s discomfort and your own lack of sleep by taking careful, sleep preparedness steps. Not all of these tips will work with every baby, but if you’re dealing with baby sleeping problems or poor sleeping habits, it won’t hurt to give each of these a try. 1. Having a moderate temperature in your baby’s room can work wonders for helping him sleep. Just like grownups, babies tend to like sleeping in rooms that are slightly cool. Adjust the thermostat to about 65 degrees or turn a fan on to keep the air moving and to prevent the space from getting too stuffy. Just make sure your little one is far enough away from …

For many mothers, the prospect of nursing a newborn baby is just another fact of life after giving birth. Since you’re body is designed to perform this task, it should be easy to do, right? Not necessarily. Even though breastfeeding is a natural process and maternal instincts can account for a lot, it can require some learning to perform correctly. After all, both you and baby are new at things and it might require some trial and error before she learns to latch on right and you learn to hold her right. Even so, there are some things you need to be aware of when nursing your little one to ensure she’s getting enough nutrition. Thankfully, most of these things are as simple as checking a diaper and feeding frequently. Bringing Baby Home In the first week of your baby’s life, he should be nursing very often. Babies typically nurse …

I have an electric pump now.  My sister got it froma friend of hers.  It’s a heavey duty Medela Pump Style pump.  It’s the kind that comes in it’s own carrying case that looks like a briefcase. I was very impressed when I first got it.  However, I have had very little luck with it.  This is not unusual. A lot of women have problems with electric pumps.  I am taking my oldest on a field trip next week and need to leave my son for the longest I have every left him.  I can not rely on my electric pump to express enough milk for the entire day so I ordered the old manual pump I used to have.  It’s by Avent and the thing that i think that makes it more productive then any other pump I have used is it’s cushion like top.  It has this rubbery …

Teething sucks, plain and simple.  Teething a nursing baby can be a really trying time.  Babies can often feel pain trying to nurse while they are teething.  Make sure to have orajel handy.  It seems like with my son, nursing is the only time I need to use the orajel.  When I go to nurse him and he pulls back and cries, I know his gums are hurting. I give him some orajel and a few seconds later he’s tached on and nursing.  However, there are a few occasions where he doesn’t want to nurse.  Keep this in mind, sometimes teething babies seem to go on a nursing strike.  Babies won’t let themselves starve so if your baby just refuses to nurse a few times, don’t be overly concerned.  Your baby will most likely be over the pain and anxious to nurse soon.  You can also try giving your baby …