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Patient handout · Postpartum

Breastfeeding Your Baby: Your Getting-Started Guide

Breast milk is the right food for your baby and helps protect against infection. These steps help your baby latch well and get enough milk.

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Get a good latch

  • Hold your baby tummy to tummy, nose to nipple.
  • Wait for a wide-open mouth. Then bring your baby to your breast.
  • Lips turn out. The chin touches your breast. You hear swallowing.

Feed often

  • Feed 8 to 12 times in 24 hours.
  • Feed when your baby roots, sucks on hands, or smacks lips. Crying is a late sign.
  • Let your baby finish one breast, then offer the other.
  • Give only breast milk for about 6 months. Give vitamin D drops as directed.

Know your baby gets enough

  • Wet diapers: 1 on day 1, 2 on day 2, 3 on day 3, and at least 6 a day by day 5.
  • Poop turns yellow by day 5.
  • Most babies are back to birth weight by 10 to 14 days.

Care for your breasts

  • Full, hard breasts on days 3 to 5: feed often and use cold packs between feedings.
  • Sore nipples: check the latch.
  • Ask for a lactation consultant (breastfeeding expert) if pain lasts.

Call your provider today if you have

  • A red, painful area on your breast with fever or chills
  • Cracked or bleeding nipples, or pain through the whole feeding
  • A baby with fewer wet diapers than expected, or fewer than 8 feedings
  • A baby with yellow skin spreading to the belly or legs
  • A baby with a temperature of 100.4 F (38 C) or higher: call right away.

Call 911 or your local emergency number if you have

  • A baby with blue or gray lips or skin
  • A baby who is limp or very hard to wake
  • A baby who stops breathing or struggles to breathe
  • A baby having a seizure

This handout supports, not replaces, advice from your own nurse or doctor.

For nurses and nursing students: the teaching guide behind this handout →