Why is Prenatal Breastfeeding Education So Important?
Listen. As a first time mom, I can totally understand why learning about breastfeeding before you even have your baby may seem unnecessary. You may be thinking, how hard can it be? It’s “natural” right? Newborns have instincts right? And women do it all the time. Surely, I’ll be fine. The nurses at the hospital will teach me. Or I’ve heard they have lactation consultants at the hospital, who’s job is literally all about breastfeeding.
Trust me. I get this mentality. As a society and culture, we frankly don’t do a great job at supporting breastfeeding mothers. And this starts at pregnancy. Many OB and midwife offices don’t spend more than maybe one office visit on breastfeeding education. And typically, it’s pretty basic. Of course, I’m not blaming them. Our health care system is structured in a way that doesn’t allow for much breastfeeding education to take place because doctors only get so many appointments allotted per patient. And a lot of times they are only given a certain amount of time to spend per patient as well.
So as sad as it is, it’s really on you to seek out breastfeeding education for yourself. Let me tell you a bit more why I feel that getting breastfeeding education prenatally is so important for your potential success in your breastfeeding journey.
The system is not set up for success.
The postpartum nurses and lactation consultants at the hospital are probably not going to be able to help you as much as you need. Most of them genuinely want to help you. But just don’t have the time and resources to do so. Speaking from experience as a postpartum nurse, there have been so many times over the years that I truly wish I had more time to help a mom with breastfeeding. I wish I could spend as long as the patient needs me at their bedside helping them. But the fact is, I have a lot of other patients to help as well. And a lot of other responsibilities aside from helping a mom breastfeed. Until nurse to patient ratios change, I don’t see this reality changing anytime soon. Same goes for the lactation consultants. While they may not have a patient assignment like a nurse does, they still have a very large amount of patients to see. It depends on the hospital and how many lactation consultants they have on staff, but many of them are trying to see 20-30 patients a day. That’s a lot of patients to squeeze into a work day. It’s simple math. Nurses and lactation consultants just don’t have the time and resources to help you as much as you probably will need, if you have little to no knowledge on breastfeeding going into it.
The amount of time you spend in the hospital is short.
You typically only spend a couple days in the hospital after delivery. A vaginal delivery usually stays 24-48 hours after delivery. And a c-section usually stays 48-72 hours after delivery. That’s not a whole lot of time that you get to have help from the nurses and lactation consultants. We can’t possibly teach you everything you need to know it less than 3 days. There are so many different situations and scenarios that could come up after you leave the hospital, and there is no way for the hospital staff to prepare you for each one. Breastfeeding is an ever changing and ever evolving relationship between you and your baby. What may have worked when your baby was a week old may not work when they’re 2 months old. Another thing to keep in mind is that, typically, your milk won’t come in until day 2 or 3 after delivery. For some people, you’ll be at home when this happens. And let me tell you, breastfeeding does change quite a bit from when you’re making colostrum to when you make transitional and mature milk.
We as humans don’t learn well under stress.
While giving birth can be a beautiful and sacred experience, it also can be challenging and exhausting. Having a baby changes your world in an instant. You are now responsible for the safety and well being of this tiny infant who relies solely on you and your partner. It’s common and normal for newborns to cry often, because it’s their only way to communicate. Newborns don’t sleep like adults do, because they don’t have an established circadian rhythm that tells them to sleep when it’s dark and be awake when it’s light. So, they’re often awake in the middle of the night. All of these things can be overwhelming, especially as a first time parent. And that totally makes sense! But then throw in trying to learn a completely new skill, like breastfeeding, when you’ve just spent hours in labor and you most likely haven’t had enough sleep. It can be just down right overwhelming. Even for me, a postpartum nurse who helps people breastfeed all the time, I was overwhelmed at times. It’s hard to take in information when you’ve got so many other things going on. So while a nurse or lactation consultant may be there to help you, you may not be able to retain the knowledge fully simply because you’re tired and stressed because your baby is crying.
I promise I’m not trying to scare you and make it seem like your postpartum experience is going to be terrible. But I do want to be honest with you. The immediate postpartum period, right after delivery, can be really wonderful and also really challenging. I think that equipping yourself with some knowledge beforehand can make this process a little bit easier. I’ve seen a lot of moms decide to stop breastfeeding in tough moments like these because they didn’t feel supported and they didn’t have the information they needed. I am by no means saying that formula feeding is a bad choice. I think it’s an excellent choice if it’s what you want to do! What I don’t like seeing is a mom who’s goal was to breastfeed, feel like she had no choice but to stop because she didn’t have the knowledge and support she needed.
Key Things to Remember
Breastfeeding can be a beautiful relationship between mom and baby, but those early days can be exhausting and overwhelming. Taking the time to learn what you can beforehand, while you’re pregnant, is going to benefit you in the long run. I completely understand that these types of resources are not always the most accessible for people financially or time wise. Whatever you can do to help prepare yourself is a win. Whether that’s taking an in person class, reading a book, reading a blog, taking an online course, or talking one on one with a lactation professional. I know it may not seem super glamorous or fun, but you could even ask for a lactation class or course as a baby shower gift!
Look at the options out there and reach out for help if you can. You won’t regret it.
Some awesome people in the lactation community who provide services on Instagram include:
- Kelly Kendall at @thebalancedboob offers courses and consults with IBCLCs. Kelly herself is an IBCLC and is a wealth of knowledge, especially when it comes to latching.
- Tamari Jacobs at @onewiththepump offers courses, workshops, and consults related to exclusively pumping. Tamari is a CLC and super knowledgeable when it comes to all things pumping.
- Camilla Nicole Butera at @themilknest offers courses on both breastfeeding and pumping, and one on one sessions. Nicole is a certified breastfeeding specialist.
- Courtney Olson at @lactationchat offers lots of free information on her page and offers lactation consults as well. Courtney is an infant feeding specialist, IBCLC, and SLP.
I wish you the best in your breastfeeding journey! You got this!
-Janelle
Follow me on Instagram and Tiktok at @janellelynnfoster for more breastfeeding, motherhood, and postpartum information! And be sure to check out my other blog posts!
