How do you prepare for breastfeeding? Tips from Mikki-Michelle
The best start for breastfeeding is building up knowledge and creating support around you, even before the birth. Read about breast milk, talk to your partner and the people around you, find a good lactation consultant and draw up a breastfeeding plan. Then give yourself and your baby time: it often does not work straight away, and some teams take six months to find a rhythm. Those are the key insights from Mikki-Michelle of Atelier Miks, author of the book Voedvrouwen.
Who is Mikki-Michelle of Atelier Miks?
As part of World Breastfeeding Week, Mikki-Michelle of Atelier Miks shares her insights on breastfeeding. At Kideo.store we want to offer parents not only quality products, but also inspiration and support through knowledge. That is why we pay attention to topics that enrich parenthood. This week it is breastfeeding: lovely, challenging and full of learning moments. Below, Mikki tells it herself.
My name is Mikki-Michelle of Atelier Miks, and a month ago my book Voedvrouwen was published. The book was born out of my own intense breastfeeding journey, and I felt it was time to create more support for the woman who chooses to feed her little one with her own body. Magic! Together with 45 other women, I share our intimate experiences. The bad and good stories, because luckily it 'works' often enough.
Why does breastfeeding 'work' less and less often these days?
In my view, it all starts with knowledge and support. In both areas there is still a lot of room for improvement, I believe. We often prepare less well, or not at all, for the postnatal period, in contrast to the birth and all the things we need for the baby. But what about your fourth trimester? What are your wishes for the postnatal period?
How do you prepare for breastfeeding?
The best start for breastfeeding is building up knowledge and creating support around you. You are both doing this for the first time, so give each other time and space. You were made for this together, you really can do this. And know that it often does not 'work' straight away, as we might expect with something so natural.
This is how you build up knowledge and support:
- Read about the wonders of breast milk and discover the stories of other women, for example in Voedvrouwen.
- Talk to your friends and explore why breastfeeding is so important to you and your little one.
- Talk to your partner, take a course together and make sure your partner knows the benefits of breastfeeding.
- Find a good lactation consultant and draw up a breastfeeding plan in advance for after the birth.
- Tell the people around you that the first weeks will be all about breastfeeding, discovering and getting to know each other. If they have questions about that, this is a good moment to explain why you want this, so they can support and guide you.
- Find a good maternity nurse or postnatal doula with plenty of breastfeeding experience and make sure you can practise with your baby in peace and quiet.
"The best start for breastfeeding is building up knowledge and creating support around you."
Mikki-Michelle
What happens in your body while feeding?
Thanks to the knowledge you have gained by now, you know that it can take a while before the two of you find a rhythm. Some teams take six months, so above all do not go into stress mode too quickly. Give it time and make sure you have the right knowledge around you.
Something you cannot prepare for, just like with the birth, is the feeling breastfeeding gives you. When your little one latches on well and manages to stimulate your breast properly (note: your breast, not your nipple, because that can hurt incredibly), two hormones start flowing: prolactin and oxytocin. Both are needed for the production of breast milk.
- Prolactin: your prolactin level is highest at night. That is why, as a full-time expresser, you will often express more at that time.
- Oxytocin: this hormone causes the let-down reflex, as it is so nicely called. It contracts the muscles around your milk glands and so pushes the milk forward through the milk ducts. Oxytocin also makes your uterus contract, which is very important after the birth.
The let-down reflex feels different for every woman. Most women describe it as a kind of pressure, a stinging or tingling feeling, followed by a release. You can have several let-down reflexes per feed.
What about expressing, the right to express and going back to work?
If you have been on your breastfeeding adventure as a team for a while, you may start thinking about the time when you go back to work. Up to and including nine months after giving birth, you are entitled to paid expressing breaks.
Your supply stabilises around six months after giving birth, and from that moment on it can usually take a knock. Your little one has fully regulated your supply and your breasts are set to it. After nine months you will see that the daytime feeds sometimes decrease a little and are made up for in the evening or at night.
What you can do after those nine months:
- Express during your breaks and, if necessary, discuss with your employer whether you can make up your expressing time later that day.
- Let your little one feed whenever he or she wants to when you get home.
- If you really feel your supply is dropping because of the new circumstances, you can power pump once a day or once every two days. That mimics a cluster feed, in case your little one does not do this by themselves.
How do you warm up breast milk?
Warming up breast milk for childcare, the babysitter or a family day while you are working can easily be done in a bain-marie. Even simpler is a bottle warmer on which you can set the temperature. Never set it higher than body temperature. In principle you can also give the milk lukewarm, but that mainly depends on your little one's preference.
Keep up the good work, mother goddesses! You rock!
Love,
Mikki-Michelle
Want to know more about Mikki-Michelle?
Visit her website Atelier Miks for more information, and follow her on Instagram for the latest updates and inspiration: @ateliermiks. Her book Voedvrouwen, with her own story and those of 45 other women, is available in our shop.
Summary
- Prepare for the postnatal period, not just the birth: build up knowledge and create support from your partner and the people around you.
- Find a lactation consultant and a maternity nurse or postnatal doula with breastfeeding experience in advance, and make a breastfeeding plan.
- Give it time: some mothers and babies take six months to find a rhythm.
- Prolactin and oxytocin control milk production and the let-down reflex; prolactin is highest at night.
- Up to and including nine months after the birth you are entitled to paid expressing breaks; never warm breast milk above body temperature.
Frequently asked questions
How long are you entitled to express at work?
Up to and including nine months after giving birth, you are entitled to paid expressing breaks. After that you can express during your breaks and discuss with your employer whether you can make up your expressing time later in the day.
How warm may breast milk be?
Never warmer than body temperature. Warm it in a bain-marie or with a bottle warmer on which you can set the temperature. Giving it lukewarm is also possible, depending on what your little one likes.
What is power pumping?
With power pumping you mimic a cluster feed by expressing extra once a day or once every two days. You do this when you notice your supply is dropping, for example because you are back at work.
