Proper Latch and Positioning Football Hold Quick and easy setup: • Place two pillows vertically behind your back. o Do not place pillows horizontally, as it does not provide enough room for your baby’s body to extend comfortably. • Stack three pillows beside you on the side you will be on, and slant them toward your torso. o This number is adjustable based on your torso height and bed position. You need to place enough pillows under your baby so that when she rests on the pillows, her nose should line up with your . • If your bottom is sore, you can rotate your hips away from the you are feeding on. This will relieve the pressure on your bottom and create more room for the baby to extend her legs.

Cross Cradle Quick and easy setup: • Place two to three pillows next to you and one pillow across your middle. o This creates a “shelf” to support both the baby and your arms. • Adjust the number of pillows and position of pillows to comfort. o The goal is to have your baby’s nose line up with your nipple when resting on the pillow and for your arms to be well supported.

How to Hold the Baby You’re doing it right if: • Your baby is on her side with her ears, shoulders, and hips aligned, tummy to your chest, and her nose lined up with your nipple. • The baby’s bottom is sitting in the bend of your arm or close to it and baby’s whole body is tucked in close to you. Tips on how to hold baby’s head: • Place your palm on baby’s upper back and so that the “u” of your thumb and pointer finger is resting at the nape of the baby’s neck. • Place your thumb on or right above baby’s ear and your forefinger over or above the baby’s other ear. • Your second finger should run along the baby’s jawline while your third and fourth finger curl over the top of the baby’s shoulder.

Proper Sandwich and Latch

Sandwich Most moms do not sandwich their breast properly and this is the leading cause of ineffective latching and nipple trauma. Here’s how to know you are sandwiching properly: • Make sure that the “u” between your thumb and pointer finger lines up with the corner of the baby’s mouth so that if you were to do it with both hands, your thumbs and pointer fingers would encircle the baby’s mouth. o This means that the “u” of your hand is placed right about at 10:00 if 12:00 was at the bottom of your nipple. • Another way to verify you are sandwiching correctly is to look at your thumb placement on your breast when holding the sandwich. o Your thumb should either line directly up with baby’s nose or rest slightly in front of ’s nose. If your thumb is extending past baby’s nose, you need to adjust your hand placement.

Latch Five steps to the proper latch: 1. Line your baby’s nose up with your nipple rather than lining her mouth up with your nipple. 2. Place your nipple right above your baby’s top lip. (You can express some colostrum and move your nipple gently from your baby’s nose to chin if leaving it above the upper lip does not stimulate your baby to open her mouth.) 3. Always wait for your baby to open as wide as a yawn. 4. Once baby’s mouth is open wide, aim your nipple toward roof of baby’s mouth. 5. Press baby’s chin in toward your breast, anchoring the bottom lip down and “roll” the rest of your breast tissue into the baby’s mouth so that baby’s mouth comes up and over the nipple and .