Setting Up a Nursing Table

by tedgar | More from this Blogger

06 Oct 2009 12:23 AM

When my daughter came home from the hospital, we were still in the throes of learning how to nurse. I found it quite challenging. She had a tiny mouth and a weak sucking reflex because she was a little bit early. Although her delicate mouth delighted all of the older ladies who would call it a "rosebud," that rosebud mouth gave me worlds of grief during our first weeks at home.

When we sat down to nurse in those first weeks, it was a bit of an ordeal. Therefore, it was essential to have a good nursing station. I didn't want to run around finding the nursing pillow, the nipple cream and all of those other bits and pieces as my daughter cried. I wanted to be relaxed, zen mama, nursing her baby with apparent ease. And if I couldn't find ease in the actual nursing, did I ever need to find ease in the sitting down to nurse. My nursing station was about baby care, but it was also about self care.

We created a little nursing station at the corner of our couch so that I could nurse there quite easily when I was at home. Ultimately, we advanced to nursing in the bed, on the floor, and in many other places around our home. However, in the early days this nursing station was a life saver.

What was part of our nursing station?

• A breastfeeding pillow. I used one of the u-shaped nursing pillows to support my daughter on my lap as she nursed. I'm long in the body, and I could not hold her up and work on our latch at the same time.

• Other pillows to support my arms. At first, we needed a lot of pillows so that I could support my daughter and my arms and focus on our latch.

• Water. I needed to drink a lot when I was in the early days of nursing, as my body adjusted to making liquids for another person.

• Snacks. When you're nursing a newborn, sometimes you can be nursing for a long, long time. And when you're done, they're hungry again. There's nothing better than a table of nutritious snacks waiting for you.

• A book. My daughter did a lot of comfort sucking. Since I was working on building up my milk supply and she was working on learning how to nurse, I was happy to hang out with her on the breast for a while. However, this could last for some time

• Nipple cream. I tried to treat my nipples well. In the beginning, they were quite sore as we recovered from a poor initial latch. Nipple cream was a lifesaver.

• A diaper and wipes and a change of clothes for baby. For us, breastfeeding equaled bowel movement. Sometimes these were rather messy, necessitating a change of clothes.

What are your nursing station essentials?

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Tricia Edgar is a mom of one lovely daughter. Before her daughter was born, she decided to be guided by the needs of her child, and this led her to attachment parenting philosophies.

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