Hi everyone my name is ILO and I'm a registered Midwife and childbirth education instructor I'm also the mom to two lovely children and I practice Midwifery in a large Urban setting in Canada I love educating families throughout the prenatal period birth and into the postpartum in today's video we're going to talk about feeding your baby and how to tell when baby's hungry let's get started so how do we tell if baby's hungry let's chat about Hunger cues in the first stage baby is starting to move around their rooting reflexes present they may be opening and closing their mouth like a little bird sticking the tongue out looking for that breast this is a great opportunity to latch baby on and feed if babies not fed at this stage they move into the second stage or mid queuing and they become a little bit more agitated with bigger body movements they may even bring their little fist up to the mouth and start chewing and sucking on their own hand ideally we really want to catch baby in this midstage and initiate feeding after this point we move into the third stage where baby is quite hungry quite agitated can be crying vigorously red in the face in this stage it's very challenging to latch a baby so we recommend scooping baby up placing them skin to skin calming and soothing them and then attempting to latch some babies skip the first two stages entirely and leap into the Third hunger stage again remember your soothing techniques calming that baby's skin to skin and then offering the breast next we're going to chat about mastering your baby's latch for this section we use the acronym chins because the chin is so important when we're latching baby we want to keep baby close and the chin leading so tummy to Mummy the C stands for close and Chin leading the H is for hands free and headfree when we hold babies we press the heel of our hand in between the shoulder blades use the thumb and middle finger to cradle the head behind the ears never press on the baby's head they tend to fling their heads back so the heel of the hand and the fingers cradling the I stands for in line baby's ear shoulder and hip should all be lined up in one straight line the n is for nose to nipple we want to line up baby's nose to the nipple not the mouth to the nipple that's a little too far forward and we can tickle baby's upper lip with the nipple and the breast tissue as soon as baby has wide open mouth bring that chin in immediately and that top lip folds over the areola finally the S stands for sustainable you are a pair a diad and we have to make sure that it's comfortable and sustainable for you for a longer session of feeding bring towels pillows extra props a foot stool make sure you have your snacks High hydration close by so you can set up for a longer feeding session with baby and finally remember breastfeeding should not be painful if it is make sure to reach out to your care provider and they can help let's chat about positions for optimal feeding there are lots of different positions you can try for feeding babies and not one size fits all immediately after birth Earth babies need a lot of support around their head and neck which is why cross cradle is generally the one your health care provider will show you first cradle position is an adaptation of this position and suitable for older babies when they have a little more muscle tone and feeding is well established it's comfortable it's convenient and you have an extra handfree another great position to try in the first few weeks is s Ling in this one you're side lying in bed and baby is up close against the body this one is really nice if you find it uncomfortable sitting on your perum for long periods of time another great position is the football hold in this position baby is held alongside the body just like a football nice and close and tight to Mom I love this position for moms who've had a cesarian section because there's no pressure on the incision you may need to use a few extra props in this position to support baby's body remember we're always bringing baby to the breast and not the breast to baby we don't want to be hunched over or you'll have a lot of strain in the shoulders and neck muscle another position that's wonderful is having the baby in koala hold so kind of seated across a thigh resting on your tummy and baby can almost latch themselves on in this position once baby is latched on you can even recline backwards and do a laidback position for very calm relaxed feeding sessions how do we know which breast to use First in a feed and when generally babies like to eat every 2 to 3 hours on average some babies can finish a feed quite quickly and other babies take their time and like a more leisurely Pace just think about the way that you snack and Grace throughout the day sometimes have much larger holiday meals and sometimes have a quick bite to eat out the door babies can finish up a feed quite quickly and show signs that they're full but always try and offer the other side some babies may look satisfied after just one breath but it's never wrong to offer a second bite on the other side the type of feeding changes throughout the course of a feed and babies can be very vigorous off the top with lots of sucking and swallowing and slow down a little bit later on if a baby is fussy on one side and showing a strong preference for the other it's not a bad idea to try another position or latch on the breast that they least prefer to see if they'll feed efficiently on that side as well finally a great tip to keep track of which side you fed on last is to clip a little hair elastic or ribbon on the bra strap of your nursing bra on that side or you could just do a feel test and see which breast is more full and which breast is softer breastfeeding multiples is possible it just takes a little bit of extra practice throughout the pregnancy mom will notice more significant changes to her breasts as they develop and grow to meet the needs of her babies remember breastfeeding whether it's two one three or four babies is always demand Supply the more the baby is feeding sucking asking for milk the more skin to skin the more pumping hand expression the more milk your body will make when we're latching two babies on it can be helpful to latch one baby at a time until you get used to it and eventually ideally latching both babies at the same time time and that can help give you a little more downtime after feeds babies can start out quite vigorously at the start of the feed and slow as the feed progresses with a lot of sucking and swallowing and then more pauses in between at the end of the day feeding babies and breast or chestfeeding is a very natural thing but it doesn't always come naturally so remember to give yourself time to learn this new skill and be generous and kind and patient with yourselves that brings us to the end of this video I hope you were able to take home some useful tools to add to your toolbox and please do check out the other videos in our series take care and we'll see you soon