What No One Tells You About the First Week of Breastfeeding

Here’s a truth no one tells you loud enough: You’re allowed to choose what works for you.

 It starts quietly. A baby latches. The room is still. The world shrinks to the soft tug of a mouth and the shock of newness.

You think you’re doing something ancient and automatic. Lactation feels like it should come naturally, effortlessly, instinctively. And then it hits.

The Learning Curve is Steep (and That’s Okay)

The first week of breastfeeding is not a gentle glide into motherhood. It’s a clumsy, tangled sprint with your body doing things no one warned you about. You may cry. You may feel like giving up.

You’re not alone.

Breastfeeding is instinctual for babies, not always for mothers. Your baby is born knowing how to suck, but not necessarily how to latch. You, on the other hand, are handed a swaddled bundle and a vague idea of how things should work.

It’s like being asked to waltz after reading the first two lines of the instruction manual.

It Might Hurt (More Than You Expected)

Let’s say it: breastfeeding can be painful. Yes, your aunt said it’s beautiful. Yes, the nurse told you, “If it hurts, you’re doing it wrong.”

Still. It can hurt.

Your nipples might feel like they’ve been through a small war. Chapped, cracked, swollen. The latching might feel like a dozen tiny lightning bolts. And even if everything is going “right,” your body might need time to toughen up.

Some things that might help:

●  Lanolin cream

●  Air drying (yes, like laundry)

●  Salt soaks

●  Nipple shields (controversial but occasionally helpful)

Your Milk Might Not “Come In” Right Away

Hollywood lies. You don’t suddenly wake up with a gallon of milk sloshing in your chest on day one.

Colostrum, that thick, golden liquid, is all your baby needs at first. It’s small in quantity but mighty in purpose. Antibodies. Nutrients. Magic in a teaspoon. But you might panic. Your baby seems hungry. Your breasts feel soft. No leaks. No dramatic overflow.

Breathe.

Milk typically “comes in” between day 3 and 5. Sometimes later. The waiting can feel endless. That’s why having a calm, informed voice around you, someone who won’t just tell you “it’s normal” but will actually show you how to wait, can be sanity-saving.

The Nights Are Long, and the Feedings Are Constant

You will feed more often than you think is reasonable. Every two hours? Sometimes every forty-five minutes. Sometimes for ten minutes. Sometimes for an hour. There will be no pattern. Just need.

This is normal.

Cluster feeding sounds poetic, but it’s actually a tiny person requesting access to your body at absurdly frequent intervals. And no, it doesn’t mean they’re starving. It means they’re stimulating supply.

They are whispering to your body: “Make more. I’m staying.”

Emotions Will Swirl in Strange Directions

You may feel joy. You may feel rage. You may cry while your baby feeds because you’re suddenly overwhelmed by how mammalian it all is. You may hate the feeling of letdown. You may feel nothing at all.

Also normal.

Oxytocin does funny things. Hormones surge and collapse like waves after a storm. Breastfeeding can anchor you or unravel you, sometimes in the same day.

Everyone Will Have an Opinion

Your grandmother will suggest a formula. Your friend will text about tongue ties. The internet will try to terrify you into pumping exclusively. Someone on Instagram will swear cabbage leaves are the cure for engorgement.

Listen to advice. Then filter it. Your experience is not a public opinion poll. Trust your gut. Trust your baby. And when things feel too murky, reach out to someone trained to help, not just someone with a strong opinion.

A Few Things to Remember

1. Hydrate. You’ll forget. Keep a bottle next to wherever you feed.

2. Eat. Breastfeeding burns calories. A lot of them.

3. Sleep. Ha! But try. Nap during a feed. Lie still. Close your eyes.

Conclusion

The first week of breastfeeding is not a soft landing. It’s a wild launch. And you? You’re in it. Right now. Cracked and leaky and utterly courageous. There’s something quietly reassuring in knowing that the Christian Health Collective offers holistic lactation support rooted in faith-based care, a reminder that this journey is part of a lived, shared process

Welcome to the beginning.