Breastfeeding and Co-sleeping resources

Thankfully my baby girl and I have taken to breastfeeding like a duck to water. We were blessed to have LOTS of support while we were in the hospital. All of the nurses on staff in the maternity department are trained in lactation. Plus, we had lactation consultants come by and give us tips for success too.

Our pediatrician also has a lactation consultant on staff who we met with prior to our little one's first check up. The pointers she gave us were very eye opening and nursing feels a lot more natural to us now, whereas before it was more of a wrestling match. Yes, it went relatively well, but that's because I didn't know any better. I just assumed it was a wrestling match for all mommies and babies because babies are uncoordinated at first. She recommended and loaned us her copy of Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers.

One of the things she recommended during our visit was a minimum of two hours a day of skin to skin contact with our baby, be it with me and her or her daddy and her. This also brought up the controversial topic of co-sleeping. She also recommended and loaned us a copy of Sleeping with Your Baby: A Parent's Guide to Cosleeping.

This book helped us sort out the difference between the term "co-sleeping," which many people use when what they really mean is "bedsharing." Since bedsharing is not really an option for us because we cannot do it safely (we are both overweight and I tend to sleep quite deeply, two major no-nos for safe bedsharing), we feel much better knowing that just having her sleep in our room is considered "co-sleeping," and she will benefit from it in the long run.

I know this blog is mainly about my efforts to Just Say No to Daycare, but since that also implies an audience of mommies, I thought these resources would be helpful!