Top 5 Breastfeeding Positions

The top 5 breastfeeding positions

I fooled you.  I titled this article the top 5 breastfeeding positions because I knew that would catch your eye.  Everyone wants to know the answer to this question. However, I am not going to give you detailed instructions on the 5 top breastfeeding different positions.  Instead,

I am going to share with you a story which will help illustrate why there is no one right breastfeeding position for everyone. I want you to think outside the box, rather than rely on others who give you specific position information and insist on – “my way or the highway.”You also want me, the breastfeeding expert, to sing the praises of the most popular pillow that new breastfeeding moms just cannot live without.

The reality is that some moms do well with “just a baby and a boob.”. Now, I don’t mean to trivialize things particularly if you do need extra support.  However, I think we have come a long way from the truth, and that is, some moms really just don’t need anything special to breastfeed with.

I vist homes where moms have 3 different kinds of pillows.  They are playing musical chairs by sitting on the living room couch, the kitchen table chairs and the nursing chair in the baby’s room.  They have pillows on their lap, behind their head and under their elbows. They are leaning so far forward to compensate for a pillow that is not working well for them.  All this, while they are trying to figure out why their neck and shoulders are killing them.

Moms are looking at all these pretty items and wondering what could be being responsible for breastfeeding gone bad. The fact is that when the latch is shallow, breastfeeding is going to hurt no matter what fancy pillow you have. If you are holding your baby in an awkward position – like laying them flat on a pillow and expecting them to turn their neck over their shoulder to latch on – then no pillow is going to make it all better.

If you have flat or inverted nipples or if your baby has oral ties, then we need to work on these areas.  How you are holding yourself, your baby and latching on becomes the focus and the pillows and stools and chairs become secondary.

Last week I visited with a mom who was struggling to nurse her third baby.  Mandy was incredibly frustrated. She spent a lot of our initial time whining and crying and complaining and just mad and angry.

Mary’s biggest frustration was that this was her third baby, a boy named Jaxon.  She breastfed her others just fine and why on earth is she having such difficulties breastfeeding Jaxon.  As I started to talk, Mandy jumped right in and said: please don’t tell me that he is tongue tied because that is what all my friends are saying. I have looked and I don’t see anything and neither did his pediatrician or the staff at the hospital.

To myself, in my own head, I said:  oy vey, I sure hope I don’t see a tie because this is going to get pretty rough.  Truth be told, based on her verbal rundown and what I now see as purple bruised and blistered nipples that look like raspberries,it’s a 50-50 chance of this being a tie issue.  

Silently to myself, I was already thinking – nursed 2 other babies just fine, no pain issues in the beginning. What is different here? Well the baby is different, so let’s explore that first.

I could see and feel beautiful tongue extension and movement.  No ties noted and his latch on my finger felt exactly as it should be.  As I watch her latch Jaxon on I am observing everything that is happening at breast. I am also listening to Mandy’s response to my questions.

I ask about medications, supplements, relationship concerns, any changes in her physical or mental health since her last baby. Mandy goes through this whole list of no, no, no, and then drops a little baby ” why breastfeeding isn’t working bomb.”  She said “I just hoped that this darn carpal tunnel stuff that I had during this pregnancy would go away by the time I gave birth.”  Actually it has become worse and now my whole hand hurts. It feels like I dropped a brick on it.

As she is saying this, I can easily see that she is latching her baby on fairly well.  I am thinking, between oral cavity looking good, and a breast and nipple that are perfect, this should not be hurting her at all.   As she continues talking, I note that Mandy is sitting up, with 3 bed pillows on her lap. She then raised the baby way too high. Once she latches him on, she takes her hands off baby and breast and lets the pillow fully support the baby.

While this might work well sometimes, the use of some pillows  can also interfere with comfortable breastfeeding. When a pillow is too high or the breast is being held at an awkward angle, the baby needs to compensate for this. When Mandy took her hand off Jaxon and her breast, the breast dropped down a bit, the nipple slipped closer to the gums and this changed everything.

Basically, the difference here between baby #2 and baby #3 is not her baby, but Mandy herself.  She had developed joint pain which changed how she brought her baby to the breast. I don’t really think she has carpal tunnel syndrome.  The key point that makes me wonder is that she has this pain in both hands, but I will let the experts evaluate and diagnose.

Thank goodness that even with all of her frustration, she was willing to experiment with me to find what worked best for her.  I suggested changes she could make while sitting in the same chair.

We played with the pillows a bit, but nothing really made her more comfortable. Mandy agreed to switch to another chair in which the back reclined. No pillows, no stools and no sitting up.  No big hands on baby, rather a gentle touch to help guide her baby to latch onto the breast.

She provided gentle breast shaping and support to help this along.  It did not come easily or quick enough for mom or baby. Within about 5 minutes and some crying on both their parts, Jaxon lifted his cute little head,  placed his wide open mouth over the bullseye, lowered his head and achieved an excellent latch.

Mary look toward the ceiling,  clench her jaws and closed her eyes immediately. About 30 seconds later, she opened her eyes and asked:  What is he doing… he’s not nursing? And I said, oh yes he is – look at him.  Jaxon was in the zone – feeding just beautifully. Now Mandy, the only thing she was doing was gently laying the flat of her hand on his back, between his shoulder blades and neck to support his head and neck in this  position. Her other arm was cradling him, keeping him close.

What was the difference?  Mandy was not holding her breast up high.  She supported her right breast in its natural position.   Jaxon was on her chest in a vertical position with his legs pointing down to her knees and with his belly touching her belly.  He had full use of his hands to help guide him to the breast. He did have a bit of support with her hand on his back close to his neck.

The difference here is that since Jaxon found his way onto the breast, he immediately relaxed, and began sucking. Mandy went from painful breastfeedings to very comfortable breastfeedings. Mandy is an experienced breastfeeding mom. Yet she was in pain and just needed a fresh pair of eyes on the whole situation to take an objective look at things.  This can be very hard. Particularly when your focusing on “things” that are not really the issue. When you keep looking at the same things in the same way, it is hard to find solutions.

The top 5 breastfeeding positions. Which one is best for you? The best one for you is the one where you and your baby are both comfortable and relaxed, and you don’t have to strain to hold the position or keep nursing.  My best advice is to recognize that there are no cookie cutter answers and be open to experimenting.

A few more words of wisdom:

I encourage all of you to think outside the box and yes, call for expert help.

Don’t wait for 3 weeks though.  Why should you let this ruin your postpartum recovery days when you should be relaxing, recovering and enjoying your baby. I would love to share so much more breastfeeding information with you and help make  breastfeeding an enjoyable experience.  Please consider joining my breastfeeding class. Check out all the lovely details and learn all that is included in the class by going to:  aabreastfeeding.com/breastfeedingclass

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