Breastfeeding may be natural, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Your breasts—and the milk they produce to feed your babies—don’t come with a manual. Even if the process feels instinctive, you don’t necessarily have all the information you need to reach your feeding targets.

When you encounter challenges with breastfeeding, it can be tricky to know how and where to turn for support.

When you leave the hospital, it’s not uncommon to feel a bit in the dark about the process, even if you’ve done this before and established a relationship with a specialist, such as a lactation consultant. Pediatricians can help provide feedback about your baby’s growth, and your OB-GYN can help address breast infections and complications. However, these providers aren’t by default the most equipped to manage common breastfeeding issues and complications.

This guide is intended to help you fill in any gaps of knowledge with comprehensive, medically backed information. It’ll point you in the right direction so you can feel empowered to make good choices for you and your baby, understanding that every birth and every feeding situation is unique.

We want to support you in your feeding targets, whatever they may look like. We use the word targets on purpose, because they may shift and move; goals are much more static, like an imaginary finish line. How you feed your baby is your business, despite what friends, family, neighbors, and random strangers may have to say about your choices.

In consultation with your provider, you can define success for yourself and your baby. There are many “right” ways to be a parent, including how—and how much—you feed your baby. This holds true, despite the expectations we may place on ourselves (and others on us).

“Be careful about any instinct to quantify motherhood,” says Dr. Laurie Jones, a pediatrician and founder of Dr. MILK (Mothers Interested in Lactation Knowledge). From the start, “since everyone expects you to breastfeed,” she says, you may be very focused on ensuring that your baby is getting enough milk. During early pediatrician visits, it might even be tempting to see your baby’s growth chart as a report card.

But “you aren’t defined by the amount of breast milk you make, whether it’s directly feeding or pumping; you can’t quantify motherhood that way,” she says.

That’s good advice for parents at any stage of their child’s development. It can be difficult to get into a confident stride, especially at the beginning of your parenting journey (and of your child’s life). But you’ll adjust your routines, as your child develops, and sometimes challenges will prompt you to change course altogether.

As you begin breastfeeding, here are some basic things to keep in mind:

• During pregnancy, you build up fat; you’re meant to use it and change your metabolism to feed the baby.
• The benefits of breastfeeding increase based on its duration.
• Feeding an infant is a marathon, not a sprint.
• That being said, it doesn’t matter whether you breastfeed once a day or are exclusively breastfeeding. It all counts, and it all matters!
• If you can’t breastfeed for any reason, that is also OK.

Why breastfeed?

Breastfeeding can offer protective benefits against certain cancers¹, along with supporting your mental health². It can be incredibly empowering, when it comes to understanding your relationship with your body.

“It can be healing for people with a history of eating disorders,” says Emily Varnam, a midwife assistant and birth-and-postpartum doula.

Breastfeeding can also be nourishing, calming, and meditative—not to mention a beautiful way to bond with your baby.

The basics of breastfeeding

If you’re wondering what’s going on with your breasts before, during, and after your delivery—how does my body know how to do that?—-it’s pretty amazing stuff.

As you begin the process of feeding your baby, it can help to learn how to establish breastfeeding, develop a greater understanding of how to manage your supply, and explore the relationship between your milk production and your sleep.

Troubleshooting your breastfeeding challenges

Our bodies are incredible, but things can sometimes go sideways when breastfeeding, and you might need to figure out what’s happening and how to address the situation.

If you have some swelling or inflammation, you might wonder if it’s mastitis. Or maybe you’re having issues with your latch or pump, and consistently coping with sore nipples. (Hint: It’s never a bad idea to call a professional, if you have questions about what’s happening with your breasts and/or your baby.)

Understanding the other impacts of breastfeeding

Sometimes breastfeeding can take another kind of toll on your body. Even though breastfeeding can be beneficial for your mental health, there other situations and conditions can arise, such as dysphoric milk ejection reflex (DMER). This refers to a physiological response in which the lactating parent experiences a range of negative emotions when breastfeeding.

Alternatively, you might become overstimulated, or “touched out,” from all your baby’s lovely but neverending little touches, or face another challenge that prompts you to stop breastfeeding altogether.

You will likely encounter some unexpected twists and turns—and delightful moments—along your breastfeeding journey. We’re here to help guide you through them, making healthy choices for you and your baby.