Upright positions for breastfeeding

[mrsmalcolmreynolds]

Hi. I am currently EBF DS who is 6wks. He has what I am pretty sure isnsilent refkux - at some feeds (not all) he is clearly v uncomfortable lying down on his side to feed and the pain seems to be eased by being put upright.

I'm struggling though to get decent upright feeding positions -any tips? He is quite big (10lbs and 57 cm at birth, and has definitely grown quite a bit since) which doesn't help - his torso length is greater than distance from my lap to boob...

Maybe try him with his legs astride one of yours, facing you. If he is too long to do it straight on you could try positioning him further down your thigh off the edge of your seat so that his bottom is a bit lower.

My DD (nearly 6 months) doesn't have reflux but does prefer to be upright whenever possible, so I have done a bit of experimentation on this front. We started reclined with her on my tummy (google biological nurturing) and now often feed with her astride one leg and feeding off the opposite boob (she straddles my right leg while feeding from left boob, for example). This puts her slightly leant to the side so I use my arm to support her. She sometimes has her morning feed in bed with my laid on my back and her draped over me as if we were feeding in the cradle hold and leant all the way back, iyswim.

Do you have a sling? DD likes to feed in all our slings, I wear her tummy to tummy snd then loosen the sling, wiggle her down to boob level, latch her on and re-tighten. It took a few attempts and some YouTube demonstrations but it was worth it, a very useful skill to have! I hear slings are fab for reflux in general too.

HTH

Thanks for the ideas, have tried the leg-straddling with some success. As it happens, so far today he has been fine - the unpredictability is a killer! We do have a sling but not sure about using at the moment as it is so hot - will definitely bear it in mind though.

V many thanks for the help.