As mothers, we always want to give the best to our babies. Guess what, breastfeeding is the best natural gift you can give your babies without spending a fortune. This is actually an unknown fact to most mothers.
As we are anticipating the arrival of our babies, we are rather more anxious about the necessities that we need to prepare for our babies.
So, you go online and search for the top 10 necessary tools and accessories needed for your breastfeeding process. As you read through the articles, your list gets longer and longer until you become even more worried.
You are pressured by the amount of money that you need to spend on purchasing the products. Thus, instead of being burdened by any financial stress, we are here to offer you a solution.
One-time Solution for Best Breastfeeding Experience
Before rushing to any store to check off the list, you can first group the products in the list into three categories: the essentials, the may-need products and the luxury.
After you have decided on which product to purchase, you should avoid buying in bulks. You can always buy a few to use first and consider its usefulness and functionality before buying more.
If you are uncertain of which product falls into which category, you can read on to find out the easy way to shorten your list.
The Ultimate Guide on the Breastfeeding Essentials
Ask yourself this question,
“What do I really truly need to breastfeed my baby?”
You are right, you basically just need your baby and your breasts. It can be as simple as this as most mothers are supplying breast milk without any other additional tools.
However, most mothers indeed need help in positioning and latch. Therefore, you can add in this easy-to-use and practical tool into your essential list.
For your comfort, you will need a baby wrap carrier. You can then spend your precious time with your baby skin-to-skin while breastfeeding.
We also understand that your hands get tired as your baby grows heavier. So, the baby carrier can truly help to reduce your neck and back pain while you breastfeed your baby with one hand.
To ensure your lactating breasts to be more comfortable, you can certainly add in clothing accessories such as nursing bras, sleep bras and nursing tanks.
By having only sufficient numbers of the accessories, they help to support your breasts and your comfortable breastfeeding experience.
Here’s how: A nursing bra comes with flaps in which you can open single-handed so that you do not need to remove the whole bra for breastfeeding.
Here’s the very last essential accessories for a smooth breastfeeding process – a hair tie. You are not seeing this wrong, mothers really need a hair tie to prevent their hair falling and interfere with the breastfeeding process.
Or worse, getting their partners to hold their hair throughout the process. So, just get yourself a hair tie and you are ready for your easy-going breastfeeding journey.
How About the May Need and Luxurious Accessories?
Now, look at your list again and check whether the following accessories are in your list. Here you have, a nursing pillow or a nursing stool.
A nursing pillow allows you to place your baby around your midsection during breastfeeding. A nursing stool comes with an adjustable angle knobs for better positioning during the process. But, do you really need them for comfortable positioning during your breastfeeding?
Instead of buying a nursing pillow or a nursing stool, you can actually look around your house for better alternatives. You can use a couch pillow and even a stool or chair with a low bar where you can lay your feet on.
Why didn’t you realise that there are actually free items that you can equally use for better positioning during your breastfeeding?
The reason is simple, you are too busy taking care of your babies that you are not looking into your near surrounding. But, worry not, you are aware of this since you have read this article.
So, keep your money back into your pocket and let’s look into the next item.
A breast pump would be essential for working mothers who need to collect their milk during their working hours and store their milk for their babies. But, as for early breastfeeding days, this item would be optional.
You might also come across accessories such as nipple cream and nipple lotions for sore nipples, cracking and bleeding nipples. While they come in a great variety, you should really consider whether you really need them for better breastfeeding.
On top of this, you might get offers for breast warmers, breast shields, gel pads and even milk testers. They are in fact not essential or necessary for your comfortable breastfeeding and these accessories might even cause breastfeeding to be a more difficult process.
While spending too much on buying the accessories, you might actually face financial stress which stops you from focusing on the real essentials. What you truly need is learning how to breastfeed effectively with the help from the experts.
Stay In Breastfeeding for Your Babies’ Sake
Instead of believing in the ‘must-have breastfeeding accessories’ list to make your breastfeeding life easier, you should make yourself responsible for your own breastfeeding journey.
Maintain a positive mindset about breastfeeding and always take good care of your body for best quality breast milk.
As for the tools and accessories, you can always look for alternatives such as purchasing second-hand products and borrowing the products from your friends. I believe, your friends would be more than glad to pass on the products for the betterment of your babies.
Seek for professional lactation help to ease your breastfeeding problem if possible. At Motherhood, we believe in the power of motherhood and we are here to give you our utmost support for breastfeeding your babies.
So, share with us your inspiring breastfeeding story when you share this article on your social media. Let’s inspire and motivate more mothers to join us in the breastfeeding journey.