Within three to four days your milk will come in and your breast will be heavier and swollen, the early thick colostrum reduces and your milk now looks thin and watery - this is normal don't expect it to look like the stuff you buy at the corner shop! If your baby finds it hard to latch on at first, try expressing a small amount of your milk which will make your nipple softer and easy for your baby to latch on to.
You might experience a few moments of toe curling pain which will make your entire body clench tight as your baby first begins to suckle, this should pass and you'll feel what is known as the 'let down reflex' when your milk comes through. It is not normal to feel pain or discomfort throughout the feed, if you do it could be due to your baby not being latched on correctly - put your clean finger into the corner of your babies mouth to break the seal and try again. When your baby is latched on correctly her lips will be turned outward, her nose is almost touching your breast and at least half an inch of your breast around the base of your nipple is in her mouth. When she is suckling you will be able to see the jaw working all the way back to her ears, you'll hear quick sucks and first and then slower swallowing.
If you still feel pain you can ask your midwife or a breastfeeding counsellor to check your positioning and if they feel anything is out of the ordinary they may suggest you see a GP to rule out any other problems.
Night Time Feeding
One of the worries of a breastfeeding mum is that her baby doesn't sleep through the night, the first thing to consider is why should she? Your baby is brand new to this world and has no need of the routine we all follow - all routines are learnt and for some babies this will take longer than others. The worry is added to when a mum speaks to her friend who is formula feeding her baby who sleeps the night, this is because formula milk is made mostly of casein proteins which sit heavily in the babies stomach and are not digested as easily as breast milk. Your breastmilk is made up mostly of soft easily digested whey proteins which are more completely absorbed meaning that a breastfed baby wakes more frequently. Most mums find that the advantages of breastfeeding far outweigh the annoyance of extra night time feeds.Night time feeds are also important because it is in the early hours of the morning that the hormones that stimulate milk production are at their highest. Your breasts are not a storage facility, they operate on a supply and demand basis, the more your baby suckles, the more hormones are released that signal your body to produce more milk, so the night time feeds stimulate even more hormones which set your body up for the day ahead.
(published with permission in writing from:http://www.netmums.com)
