MOTHER - MELISSA

This is an example of a mom who used the Cradle Hold from birth.

Melissa:

-prepared herself with natural breastfeeding and childbirth information

-had a non-medicated birth

-used the Cradle Hold from birth

The Cradle Hold helps moms to multitask!

1. What did you do to learn about breastfeeding and childbirth when you were pregnant?

When we entered the third trimester, we took two classes through the hospital we gave birth at. 

One was in-person for a few hours called “New Baby, Now What?”

This class went through the basics of once a child is born, things to know about taking care of them and things to be aware of. Additionally, a police officer spoke about car seat safety. 

The second class was in three parts / nights for a few hours on zoom, called “Labor and Birth”. This class went through pre-, during, and post-labor, giving tips on how to best prepare, what to expect, and how to take care of yourself and your baby after. This was very helpful in understanding all the ins and outs of childbirth. 

For breastfeeding, we had a session with Claudia Morse-Karzen, where she went through the Cradle Hold Position of breastfeeding, having us practice holding a weighted doll in the Cradle Hold Position, and talked through many scenarios to help us understand all that breastfeeding entails. 

This helped us tremendously feel prepared for breastfeeding. 

2. Briefly; How was your labor and delivery? Drugs used? Did you give your OB/GYN a birth plan ahead of time? Tell them that you wanted to breastfeed? etc.

We chose an OB/GYN office of only females – multiple midwives, a DO and a MD – where any one of them could be there for the delivery. We felt very comfortable with all of them. We gave a birth plan ahead of time and spoke through it many times, understanding all that we could expect based on what we wanted with our birth plan.

We wanted to use minimal to no medicines during the pregnancy and birth.

I would describe my labor and delivery as good!

I started counting my contraction spacing the evening (around 7pm) before my daughter was born and they were 5 minutes apart by 3:30 am, which meant it was time to go to the hospital.

We arrived at our hospital room at 4:30 am, being 5-6 cm dilated.

Breathing through the contractions helped lessen the pain, though my butt muscles and bones felt pain – later learning I had a bit of unalignment (my mother is a chiropractor and checked me after).

They popped my water around 9 am and that is when the pain cranked up. Pushing around 9:45 am, my daughter was born at 10:26 am.

I had a non-medicated, vaginal birth.

Intense is an understatement, but I did it! They did give me Pitocin after birth to help my uterus contract back down faster since I had a good amount of blood loss and they also gave me a shot of Vitamin K to help the blood clot. A few stitches later and I was all set. 

They knew that we wanted our baby with us 24/7, and luckily that is how the hospital operated as well.

As soon as she was born, she was in my arms / on my chest. 

3. Describe how nursing was initiated; How soon after birth? what position(s)? any products used like nipple shields? Did you pump? Any bottles given? Pacifiers?

As soon as our daughter was born, she was placed on my chest and breastfed. She ate, colostrum, from both sides and knew exactly what to do.

I used the Cradle Hold Position, as Claudia suggested. 

I did not use nipple shields, bottles, or pacifiers. I only pumped twice at home the week before her birth to try to initiate labor, but just for a few minutes. I waited to start pumping, to build a freezer supply until later. 

After the first feed when she was born, it was a bit more challenging to get her to latch. Lactation Consultants with the hospital came in to help but were a bit rougher with helping move my breast. 

I stated that I was wanting to use the Cradle Hold, especially when they tried to show me the Cross Cradle Hold.

She did latch again, but I did leave her on too long and my nipple became irritated, which made the next times of her feeding hurt a bit, but I put colostrum on it to help the irritation heal. We left the hospital after a little over 24 hours.

When we were in the hospital, we were able to talk to Claudia to help us with our feeding experience. 

4. Share when baby latched and info about your early nursing days.

The first moment she latched after birth was so magical.

In that moment, my body knew what to do and she knew exactly what to do.

We were so connected. 

As the day went on, her latching became more of a struggle because my position needed tweaking. The first night home (the day after she was born), we struggled getting her to latch. 

Claudia spoke to us via videocall, helping prompt us and get her in the right hold and position for latching. During that call, Claudia gave us the best lesson – have patience while learning how to breastfeed. She said how I and my daughter, needed to figure one another out with nursing, holding her in the right position every time, and getting comfortable. It helped slow us down and know that it is ok if she wasn’t latching right away. 

We can only imagine how many moms may stop breastfeeding, thinking it isn’t working for them, because they did not have enough patience with themselves and their baby. It is ok if it didn’t happen automatically! My focus was feeding and recovering for our baby. 

My husband, as Claudia shared during our breastfeeding session, filled in all the gaps needed – changing diapers, filling my water, getting food for me, etc.

He helped take care of me as I took care of our daughter. 

He also helped keep her arms out of the way while latching.

I have used nursing pads in my nursing bras every day since birth. Also, a couple times I used milk savers in my bra in the beginning of nursing when the other side was leaking. Though I did collect an ounce a couple times, they were bulky to wear and I didn’t want to wear them for very long. I only wore them for 10 minutes at a time. 

I probably won’t use them for future babies, but rather train the other side to not leak, by pressing my forearm against it to stop it from leaking. 

See Product Cautions for questions to consider about the use of milk collectors.

5. Anything that you would do differently if you have another baby?

I focused so much on nursing only, that I stayed away from the bottle

(using pumped breastmilk) until after 3 months. I was lucky enough to stay home from work for a total of almost 8 months, so I did not see the rush to the bottle.

Around 6 months, she finally seemed to drink from the bottle when it was offered. I had the luxury of time to navigate using the bottle, but that is not always guaranteed with other children and work schedules.

In the future, once nursing is established, I will have my husband try a bottle every day to get our baby used to the bottle for a smoother transition to work. I would start the bottle earlier with just .5 ounces even and be consistent every day with this, as I was not with our daughter. Pumping an extra ounce after a feeding or having one pump session every couple days that you can separate into a couple days of bottles, whatever works! 

Also, in the future, I will slow down nursing and always offer both boobs. Sometimes I would stop after one if she pulled off the boob since it seemed like she was done, but when offering the second boob, she would sometimes latch again. I learned that pulling off does not always mean that she is done drinking. 

6. Any difficulties that may have arisen and how you overcame them. 

The main difficulty that arose was the start of nursing not being so smooth, trying to rush her onto the boob.

Talking to Claudia about the need for patience, as stated above already, helped us overcome this. I also was able to have my mom help me (she learned from Claudia as well). 

I learned to be a bit less modest when it came to nursing around other females who I felt comfortable with – 

i.e., my mom, sisters, close friends, etc. I was a very private person before nursing, but I have broken out of that shell for feeding my daughter. 

Also, I think I will try to be more focused on stopping my baby if they are just using my boob as a pacifier vs. drinking. At times, she would nurse just because she wanted the comfort vs. hunger. To overcome this, we tried spreading out feedings to every three hours – mind you this is once she hit 6 months and was sometimes eating every 1-2 hours still. 

7. Are there things about nursing that spark joy for you? 

I love nursing. Looking down at your baby suckling and drinking the milk that your body creates to feed them is magical. They are so comfortable and at peace when drinking. They are safe and they know that.

I love the connection nursing creates with my daughter. Though there are always times where I am like “again?!?!” and my boobs are maxed out, but in the end, I remember how special it is that I get to experience nursing. I hope to get to experience nursing with all my children. 

8. What else would you like to share with other moms who are learning how to breastfeed?

Trust your gut. Try what feels right to you - it may work great, or you may learn that you want to try something different for the next child. Trust your body and how it is working. Thank it for growing your healthy baby and continuing to nourish it through breastfeeding. 

Do not listen to other people if your gut tells you otherwise.

YOU know what YOUR baby needs. Trust yourself. And lean on other moms that you admire for their mothering… hearing how they did things you question and use the advice you want to try. 

Claudia is definitely someone to listen to for advice on natural breastfeeding.

 I wish all new mothers could have her wisdom sprinkled on them.