The baby’s body should be in a straight line with his head, although his legs may dangle to your stomach or thighs. The other hand (left hand for right breast and right hand for left breast) is used to cup the breast, placing your fingers beneath your breast and your thumb on top of your breast. Your nipple should be placed within the baby’s mouth and then the baby pulled against your body.
Loree Stickles Noonan of Baton Rouge, La., and Karla Duff of Volga City, Iowa, both agree that the cradle hold is their favorite. “The cradle hold allows my daughter Murphee to relax and nurse,” Noonan says. “Now at 16 months, it keeps her feet and butt out of my face so we are both more comfortable. It also lets her know ‘Mama isn’t an all-day buffet.’ When I put her in the cradle hold, she has to choose to ‘eat or go and play.’”
The cradle hold also works well in public. “On our last anniversary, we all went to New Orleans for some shopping in the quarter,” Noonan says. “When Murphee decided it was time to eat, I put her in the sling and she nursed. A lady came up to me and pulled the sling aside and said, ‘Aren’t sleeping babies just the most precious?’ I said, ‘Yes, but she is having her lunch right now.’” According to Hewson, the cradle hold is the most popular way for mothers to nurse their babies, whether at home or in public.
The Side-lying Hold
The side-lying hold, also called the reclining hold, is when you lie down on your side and hold the baby in the crook of your same arm (right arm for right breast and left arm for left breast) to support the back of the baby’s head and body. The baby should be on his side with his stomach facing toward you – stomach to stomach.
The baby’s body should be in a straight line with his head. The other hand (right hand for left breast and left hand for right breast) is used to cup the breast, placing your fingers beneath your breast and your thumb on top of your breast. Your nipple should be placed within the baby’s mouth and then the baby pulled against your body.
The side-lying hold can be extremely comfortable, especially when pillows are used to relieve stress on the back. “It takes a little practice to get the baby to latch on properly,” Snyder says. “But at night, I breastfeed either lying down on my side or back.” Pillows can be placed under the arm or head and between the knees to find the perfect position.
Although Doggett first used the football hold to help her child breathe, she says, “The most comfortable position throughout has been lying on my side with Gus nursing. It gives me a chance to relax. It also helps him to relax and not get distracted by other, more interesting things.”
A Combination of Holds
These positions are not exclusive. When a mother uses her dominant hand to hold her child, it can result in using a combination of positions. “For example, the left-handed mother might use the football hold on the left side and might use the cross cradle on the right,” says Jan Barger, R.N., IBCLC, and the director of Lactation Education Consultants in Wheaton, Ill. “Of course, once the latch is well established, the mother might slide her right arm around the baby, and then it will look like the traditional cradle hold.”
Regardless of the position you end up using, there are a few rules that apply to all of them. First, the baby should always be brought to you. Second, your posture should include sitting upright (except when using the side-lying hold). And third, pillows can make the experience even more comfortable. “When Emily was born, I used a pillow,” Duff says. “This helped in positioning her little body. It also helped with the pain after my C-section.”
So what’s best for you? “Mothers should experiment with various breastfeeding positions,” Hewson says. “After all, different ducts are emptied in the breast, depending on the child’s position.”
Barger sums it up nicely when she says, “If the mother is not comfortable, and she thinks she ‘has’ to hold her baby in a particular position, then it is possible that she might get discouraged. The best position is the one that is most comfortable and easiest to get the baby latched on well.”
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