Ten Breastfeeding Milestones During the First 6 Weeks

As with anything else that is difficult, it is important to track your milestones so that you can stay encouraged for the journey. Breastfeeding is not much different than other challenging things that you will accomplish. Whenever I am counseling new mothers about breastfeeding, I tell them that you should never quit on your hardest day. In addition, I also advise them to do their very best to make it to 6 weeks.

While nothing magically becomes perfect after the first 6 weeks, this time marks a milestone in your breastfeeding journey. Most women feel like breastfeeding gets much easier after they make it past this mile marker. Other things about motherhood and having a new baby get harder, but nursing usually gets less stressful.

In this article, we will explore the 10 key milestones that you have made it through once you reach the point of 6 weeks postpartum.

1. The Golden Hour

During the golden hour after birth, you enjoyed uninterrupted skin to skin time with your newborn. All of your baby’s routine newborn care was postponed until after their first feeding at the breast. Whether you had a vaginal birth or c-section, you were able to provide breast milk to the newest member of your family.

In addition, you know that this skin to skin time was important for both yourself and your newborn. This quiet time is important for regulating the baby’s body temperature, heart rate, and breathing. This contact with your baby also signals your brain to release oxytocin, the “love hormone,” which facilitates breastfeeding and bonding.

2. Survived the First 24 Hours

While you may not remember much about the first 24 hours after birth, you made it through. This is a huge accomplishment, especially if it was your first baby.

During the first 24 hours of life, you gently woke your baby every few hours to provide them with a magical substance called colostrum. Initially, you may not have understood how colostrum and breast milk were different, but now you know that you gave your baby an amazing immune system boost. Colostrum is significant as it not only boosts the baby’s immune system, but provides nutrients, antibodies, proteins, vitamins and minerals. In addition, it contains white blood cells which protect new babies from infectious diseases.

Even though, you may not have known what to expect from breastfeeding during the first 24 hours, you were happy to begin your journey of breast milk production and exclusive breastfeeding. In addition, you had done enough research to know that if breastfeeding was going well, you did not need to use the breast pump in the first day of life.

3. Your Baby Successfully Latched to the Breast

When you first latched your baby to the breast in the early days after delivery, things were messy. However, as you practiced, both you and the baby were able to unlock the secrets of an optimal breastfeeding latch. In addition, you overcame your newborn’s latch refusal after you met with the hospital lactation consultant.

4. Excellent Positioning Skills

While you may not have mastered your pediatrician’s preferred breastfeeding position, you found a breastfeeding position that has brought you breastfeeding success.

Congrats! You are now able to handle your baby easily and position them correctly for breastfeeding during their early weeks. Your breastfeeding position may change as your baby grows. In fact, I have even seen a toddler nurse while standing on their head. However, what matters most is that you are comfortable.

5. Mastered the Basics

In order to meet your breastfeeding goals, you did a lot of research during your pregnancy. You also took a formal breastfeeding class. The instructor demystified breastfeeding by teaching you about the different stages of lactogenesis. You sailed through Lactogenesis stage 1 by nursing your baby frequently at the breast until your milk came in on day 5 postpartum. As your body went through lactogenesis stage 2, you saw your milk change from colostrum to transitional milk and finally to mature milk.

While the early days postpartum flew by, you tracked your baby’s feedings, wet diapers, dirty diapers and the amount of time they slept. In addition, you became a master of baby bowel movements. You observed how the baby’s poop changed from black to green to yellow as your baby took in more ounces of breast milk.

6. Surpassed Birth Weight

All breastfed babies (and formula fed babies) lose weight initially. You learned about the truth about newborn weight loss in your breastfeeding class. As time went on and your baby ate well at the breast, they easily surpassed their birth weight at the 2 week pediatrician visit. You are a master of your baby’s feeding cues and are ecstatic that your baby has healthy weight gain.

You downloaded Dr. Wadley’s PDF called the Math of Breastfeeding so that you could keep up with how much weight your baby should be gaining at different ages.

7. Overcame Common Early Breastfeeding Challenges

At first, you experienced many challenges to get started on your breastfeeding journey. Thankfully, those early breastfeeding challenges are a distant memory.

You have gained proficiency in recognizing feeding cues, managing ounces per feeding, and addressing early growth spurts. You are skilled in managing cluster feeding and maintaining your milk supply. Perhaps you have even established a rudimentary feeding schedule for your baby.

8. No More Breastfeeding Pain

Initially, you experienced some of the common reasons for early breastfeeding pain. Since you were prepared for what causes this early pain, you figured things out quickly and got back to a pain free life quickly.

9. Overcame Baby Blues

While the baby blues hit you hard in the early weeks postpartum, your husband was a master at keeping an eye out for signs of postpartum depression. Thankfully, you had a support system consisting of friends and family that helped you to overcome these feelings of sadness. You also consulted with your health care provider to check in on your mental health. She assured you that postpartum depression is not your fault and encouraged you to keep an eye out for certain symptoms.

10. Body is Healing

Whether you had a vaginal delivery or cesarean delivery, your body has been through a lot. In the first few weeks after childbirth, you are more at risk for certain complications like blood clots and deep vein thrombosis. Due to this risk, you take it easy for the first few weeks after delivery even though you were very active prior to pregnancy. As your body heals, you start to add back in more physical activity to complement your healthy eating.

At your six week postpartum visit with your obstetrician, you discuss what your birth control options are as a breastfeeding mother. You know that you should not take anything that contains estrogen as this could decrease your breast milk production. Your doctor also discusses your desired duration of breastfeeding, return to sexual activity and avoidance of strenuous activities. In addition, they go over how to safely exercise while breastfeeding. The OB also advises you to take in extra fluids while you are breastfeeding as well as discusses with you how to safely diet while breastfeeding.

How Can 127 Pediatrics Help With Your Breastfeeding Journey?

At 127 Pediatrics, we are passionate about helping breastfeeding mothers to succeed. We offer a variety of resources to help you along your breastfeeding journey. From in person to video individual consultations to online breastfeeding education, we have what you need.

Get started today and click on the link below to sign up for our weekly email newsletter.

* Please note that I wrote this article as an ideal scenario. Very few mothers experience the textbook postpartum period that I portrayed here and still have lots of success with breastfeeding.

Copyright © 127 Pediatrics, May 2024

The purpose of this article is to provide information and should not be interpreted as medical advice.