Breastfeeding with Large Breasts: Large breasts are amazing for nursing, and babies tend to love to snuggle next to them and relax as if on a pillow, but they can also be a little much to handle, especially in the early days.
Let’s review some of my favorite tips and tricks for nursing with large breasts.
• Find the right position for you and your baby. Don’t be afraid to try many different breastfeeding positions to find the one that works best for you. Generally, I love side lying hold laid back, and the football hold for breastfeeding with large breasts. These positions take the weight off the baby’s mouth or body directly and displace it a bit to make nursing easier for both you and baby. They also give you a little more control over the breast tissue
• One of my favorite tricks for large breasts is to make a breast roll and put it underneath the breast prior to nursing, you can use anything that you have really, but my favorite is to take a burp cloth and roll it up and place under the breast. The weight of the breast is transferred to the roll instead of baby’s mouth needing to control it, it also helps to elevate the breast a little which will help assist latching especially if your nipple is pointed downward. I have even heard of women using a sling to help elevate the breast
• With large breasts, you may find in the early days as you and baby are still learning, you may also need to support your breast to help baby latch properly and you may need to hold the support for a while. Try with each feed to see if you can slowly release your hand, if the breast tissue slips out of baby’s mouth, they might need you to hold the support a little longer. You can try every few feeds or so until one day you are breastfeeding hands free and loving it!
• Another tip is to get yourself comfortable. When you have large breasts while nursing, the weight of the breasts can be very tiresome to your back, neck, and shoulders. Make sure whatever position you are in, you are fully supported yourself with pillows and can lean back and get comfortable. Some women love a wedge pillow placed behind them that allows them to lean back and be fully supported. Leaning back also displaces the weight of the breast
• Large breasted women should definitely look into a supportive nursing bra without any underwire for breastfeeding
• Make sure your baby has a deep latch with their chin pointed towards the breast and their nose pointed away to they are in the sniffing position and you are not worried about the breast tissue covering their nose
• Finally, if you are having some trouble breastfeeding with large breasts, I recommend you seek out the help of an IBCLC to assist you on your journey. There are so many factors that go into breastfeeding and a lactation consultant can help you and your baby find out what works best for you
