peace and guidence all..........
I am trying to find help for my daughter who is on her second night home with her new baby. she is breastfeeding and has not been having the best of luck, my first question is does someone know if the cabbage should be cooked or raw ? i spoke with pheobe at laleche and she suggested cabbage i assumed raw.
Well, we just need some advice and some encouragement the baby is not latching on correctly my daughter is engorged, not having luck with the pump either and her breast or nipples are cracking

ok I believe the cabbage is supposed to be raw, and for the cracked nipples, she should pick up lansinoh (lansolin) I hope she has better luck with breastfeeding

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Yes definitely raw cabbage and make sure its been in the fridge as the cool cabbage is so relieving.
I know well how much the breastfeeding hurts right but tell your daughter to hang in there - the pain usually peaks around the 25thish feed the doc told me and I agree with Hannahs Mommy you CANNOT get anything better for cracked nipples than Lanisoh - its brilliant!!

I agree with the Lansinoh...good stuff. I would recommend her stand in a very hot shower to try to get her milk flowin, and try to express some while she in in there to get it going, then try to nurse her baby. Latching on is a tough thing, but once she gets the hang of it, it becomes a breeze!! Just keep trying and trying!! With engorgement... againt hte hot water should help and trey and try to pump.. I had to pump because my breasts were hard as rocks the first time.. It was awful.

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Our Big Boy - Hayden Boston

Tell her to hold on, it WILL get easier! Lots of Lanolin, cold (uncooked) cabbage, love and support from you. She CAN do this

I recieved a breastfeeding resource guide from the Public Health office in my area since I will soon be breastfeeding for the first time and this is what they suggest for engorged breasts:

Have a warm shower (as was already mentioned) or
massage your breasts for 10-15 minutes with a warm wet towel
Then manually express some breast milk until the area around the nipple feels soft, then try breastfeeding.

After feeding, place a cold wet towel on your breast for comfort and to help decrease swelling.
They also mention that after feeding, express some breast milk onto the nipple and aerola and let dry before putting on a bra....I guess this also helps prevent cracking.
She can also wear a breast shell (shield) under her bra to help protect the sore nipple from rubbing against her bra.

I did not breastfeed my son and the cold cabbage leaves that I wore in my bra helped tremenously with the pain and swelling when my milk came in.

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Great tips Nikki. . .just for your infomation, make sure you have a breast pump. It is very hard to manually pump your breasts when you are newly engorged. . .I found it pretty much impossible!

Well, she was not happy with the cabbage !!! but we had had it sitting out next to her for the duration so if needed i will make sure it is cold !!!

You alla re wonderful i appreciate your blessings and encouragement and help soo much, i hope i can get her to go to the site. she is very busy with school n new baby then back to work soon also........

We are well excuse me, she is doing better now my neice came over and helped her to get it. the baby is latching on properly yesterday was a breeze and she n dad got to spend quality time with eachother and the baby.
again i cant thank you enough

They told my wife to give the baby your pinky inverted into his/her mouth and keep it there until it latches on and sucks good for a bit. Then replace the pinky with your nipple. It worked wonders. He latches on perfect every time.

At fitrst he was really pinching her. That was because he was latching improperly. This trick fixed that first try!!!

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