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Two Tips for New Moms Who Have Decided to Hire Lactation Consultants

22 May 2020 by Yolanda Hall

If you're a new mom and you've decided that you could benefit from a lactation consultant's services, you should read these tips before having your first session.

Try to arrange for them to come at a time when you're not totally exhausted

Ideally, you should have the lactation consultant come around at a time of day when you are least likely to be extremely tired. This is easier said than done when you have a newborn baby, as you probably feel exhausted most of the time. However, if you pay close attention to your energy levels, you should notice that there are certain points in the day when you're a little bit more alert. For example, if your baby always goes for a long nap in the afternoon and you try to take a nap alongside them during this period, then you may be at your most energetic in the hour following this snoozing session, and as such, this might be the best time to have this healthcare specialist come.

It's important to take your energy levels into consideration, as it's very hard to absorb information when you're exhausted. For instance, if you're very tired when the consultant is teaching you some new ways to breastfeed, you might become teary and frustrated when you first try their suggestions and are not immediately successful. It may also take you much longer to really understand any new latching methods or postural changes they teach you, simply because it's much more difficult to learn anything when you're exhausted.

Get a notepad and take notes during each session

Even if you feel relatively refreshed when the lactation consultant arrives, you should still get a notepad and take notes during your session (or alternatively, use your phone's voice recorder app to record what the consultant says). The reason for this is as follows; one very common issue that many new mothers suffer from is forgetfulness; this can often be caused by a combination of sleep loss, hormonal changes and the overwhelmingly large number of changes that a new mom has to make to her life after her baby arrives.

As such, if you don't write down or record the breastfeeding advice the lactation consultant gives you, you could forget or misremember important information. For example, you might forget that the consultant told you to switch from one breast to another during a feeding session to ensure your baby gets enough milk, and this might result in your baby not gaining weight as fast as they should or becoming very lethargic.

To learn more, reach out to a lactation consultant.

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