Mother to Mother breastfeeding support in New Zealand
Connect with a Leader near you
Questions or worries about breastfeeding? Our accredited La Leche League Leaders are experienced mothers who have been trained to provide information and support for breastfeeding. We can help over the phone, you can come along to our informal meetings, or ask a questions via email and on social media. All of this is free and confidential.
Find your local group
You can find details of our accredited breastfeeding helpers and group meetings across Aotearoa here.
Our mission is to help mothers to breastfeed through mother-to-mother support, education, information, and encouragement and to promote a better understanding of breastfeeding as an important element in the healthy development of the baby and mother.
Online Facebook Meetings
Meetings are held the last Tuesday of every month from 7:30pm
You can join us for breastfeeding support and information from the comfort of your own home – pyjamas and beverage of your choice optional.
No technical ability required, just join the meeting group and be online that evening.
We’d love to see you there.
Check out this helpful latching video to see a new baby and mum figuring out how to latch together.
Key moments to watch for:
💚Notice how patient mum is, sometimes it can take some time before baby is ready to open and latch, it's ok to wait! They are taking all the sensations and smells in, and just like you, learning the sequence of movements that leads to successful nursing.
💚Mum's thumb putting some pressure on the outside of her areola in order to tilt nipple towards nose, WITHOUT lifting or moving her breast from where it is at rest. This provides a 'landing pad' for baby's chin on the opposite side of the nipple, and means baby will get a deep mouthful of breast tissue with the latch. Not moving your breast also means it then won't go back to where it came from when you let go, and create 'breast drag' pulling itself out of baby's mouth.
💚 Can you see and hear the swallows especially after the second time? Suck-suck-swallow, suck-suck-swallow. This is how you can tell baby is actively feeding and getting mouthfuls of milk. The soft 'kk' sound (it's pretty subtle to start with), along with the longer pause in jaw movement, that's a swallow! Watch for it in your own little person!
Things I might adjust if this mum was still getting discomfort:
💚Trying to move mum's hand down a bit further away from baby's neck/head to see if this would allow a wider mouth.
💚Once latched on, keep mum's hands in the same position (instead of swapping arms) but scoot her bottom forward on the chair or couch and recline backwards so gravity is helping hold baby's weight onto her
What other tricks have you found helped you improve your latch?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iZohdhAA1M&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR3O_CXtYkMZypx_cfw0I4Ml81BMwV44YTs5wK...
Latching a baby on more comfortably
We hope you find this video helpful! If you are struggling with breastfeeding we encourage you to get help. Email barbara@bfcaa.com to set up a private consu...It’s been World Health Day today (April 7th).
Thankyou to our health professionals, especially IBCLCs and midwives, for supporting mothers to meet their breastfeeding goals, now more than ever
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A wonderful resource updated daily (BTW, we recommend KellyMom as a trusted breastfeeding resource on any topic!), and great info just on this graphic 💚We're updating these pages daily with new information, new research papers, and links!
kellymom.com/covid19/
Anyone else now nursing their toddler a bazillion times each day?!
It can be a great reminder to sit still, snuggle and connect with your little person, and (just like newborns) you cannot nurse your toddlers too often! Alternatively, if it's getting a bit much and you're feeling touched out and overwhelmed, it's ok to set some gentle boundaries around nursing older babies.
#normalisetoddlernursing #naturalweaning #nursingboundariesWhen we are hanging around a lot with our toddlers at home and not rushing around doing the usual 8262 things (school drop offs/pick ups, errands, apts etc), it’s a time for EXTRA breastfeeds! This is totally normal and expected. Take the time to just sit and be with them.
You cannot overfeed your breastfed toddler and it will bring them so much benefit to have extra breastfeeds (both emotionally and nutritionally). It’s ok to put up some boundaries though! Here is my article on setting some gentle boundaries if you’re feeling a bit touched out: themilkmeg.com/breastfeeding-my-two-year-old-and-why-gentle-weaning-is-not-just-about-when-he-is-...
(Photo of me breastfeeding my youngest ❤️)