All your breastfeeding essentials! Exactly what you need to successfully breastfeed!
I’m excited to share this list of breastfeeding essentials with you. I’ve been successfully breastfeeding my son for 7 months now. Now, I’ll be honest, it took A LOT of trial and error for me to confidently feel like I knew everything I needed to successfully breastfeed and pump.
In the first few weeks, I found myself relying heavily on my husband to grab items I inevitably forgot when trying to get Baby Boy to latch. I FINALLY got the hang of breastfeeding about four weeks into the process!
I shared some of my breastfeeding tips in a previous post that was crucial to my successful breastfeeding journey. Below are breastfeeding essentials to make your breastfeeding journey at home and at work a breeze.
This post is all about Breastfeeding Essentials First Time Moms Need
Breastfeeding Essentials At Home
Comfy Rocking Chair
You will find yourself in this chair a lot! You might as well make sure it’s comfortable.
If you’re wondering which items to splurge on and which you can go generic, I’d say the comfy chair is a splurge item because of the amount of use it will get.
Your baby will be waking up every two hours to nurse and you will be exhausted during those night feedings. Having a supportive and comfortable chair will make a huge difference.
My kids are now two and four and we still use these rocking chairs! They’re petite in size and fit well in the nursery. What I love about this chair most is that it is comfortable while also being sturdy and supportive. The chair is classic and simple, making it go with any nursery decor.
Nursing Cover
I love these nursing covers! I would use them in person when nursing, but I’d also use them when people came over and I was nursing. During those first few weeks, Baby Boy was eating ALL the time.
Instead of leaving the room each time, I’d just use these nursing covers to feed him privately while still getting some much-needed adult interaction with visitors. They also work great as car seat covers!
Haaka
Bless the friend who gifted this item to me! I had no idea what this was before a dear friend of mine bought me one as a gift. Talk about a lifesaver! This is one of the best breastfeeding items I owned.
Leaking is inevitable and breastmilk is VALUABLE the haaka helps you collect breastmilk from one breast while nursing on the other. There’s a super helpful video on how it works. Or you can check out my blog post on the top 11 baby items you need before you bring your baby home.
Boppy
The boppy is an incredibly comfortable pillow that was definitely important to my breastfeeding essentials. This pillow is so good I had my mom go to my house and bring it to the hospital for me!
This will elevate your breastfeeding routine! The bobby makes it so much more comfortable to breastfeed, especially when you are just starting out. It also and helps you maintain good posture which your back will thank you for later.
Nipple Shields
Nipple shields are soft silicone pieces that are made to help moms with flat or inverted nipples as they adjust to their breastfeeding journey. If you’re having trouble getting a proper latch consistently, these are so helpful!
To be honest, I had no idea nipple shields existed before I started my breastfeeding journey, but they were so imperative to helping me get accustomed to breastfeeding and making sure my son was getting what he needed. One of the nurses gave them to me at the hospital and it was the first time I actually got a comfortable latch!
Overall, these nipple shields helped a lot with getting a pain-free latch and helping me understand what a proper latch looked like. I love that these are clear so it is easy to still see your nipple through them. You won’t need them forever! As your breasts adjust and you learn your baby you’ll no longer need them, but they’re perfect for first-time moms.
Nipple Cream
I won’t lie and say there is no pain with breastfeeding. It can be painful at first. I’m honest when I say it gets easier and less painful. Until then, use nipple cream! Check out this breastfeeding cream that helped me as I adjusted to becoming a first-time breastfeeding mom.
Burp Cloths
Protect your clothes from the inevitable spit-up. Make sure to have burp cloths and lots of them! There are so many cute variations of burp cloths you can get. I love these organic cotton burp cloths because they’re so incredibly soft aganist your baby’s skin.
Nursing Pads
Do not leave home with these! I kept them everywhere. In my purse, my night stand, my diaper caddy, at work, in my car. You won’t need them for your entire breastfeeding journey, but in the beginning you will definately need them. It is amazing that your body responds so well to you baby’s needs, but it also means you will have milk leaking through your shirt without nursing pads!
These resusable ones are comfortable and so easy to wash and use again. It’s less expensive than having to continously buy the disposable nursing pads. In addition, they don’t leave that weird sticky reside like the dipsoable nursing pads.
Storage Caddy
You’ll want several of these! I would highly suggest setting up stations around your home for the baby. We had a caddy downstairs in the living room, one upstairs in our bedroom, and one in his room.
These caddies had all the essentials in them so everything was in one place. The most important component of these caddies is keeping them stocked! They will be completely useless and empty so make it a priority to help your future self by keeping these caddies close by and full of your breastfeeding essentials.
Items in our caddy included
- a change of clothes
- extra diapers
- burp cloths
- wipes
- nipple cream
- nipple shields
- a receiving blanket
- nursing pads
Snack and Water
According to research, a breastfeeding momma should keep water nearby to drink after each breastfeeding session. Breastfeeding momma’s should also consume about 300 to 400 additional calories a day! Try to always keep snacks and water next to you to keep your breastmilk flowing and keep your energy up!
Check out one of my most popular posts on 10 superfoods guarenteed to increase milk supply (with meal ideas!)
I hope you enjoyed this post all about breastfeeding essential for the first time mom!
Did I miss any breastfeeding essentials? Let me know with a comment!
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