Dear Angelina,

Congratulations on your impending arrival!!!

Many women have difficulty letting down to a pump. It could be due to a variety of factors. It would be a good idea to contact a board certified lactation consultant to assist you with latching your baby and to determine whether your pump is operating correctly. You are smart to be hand expressing to protect your milk supply. Once your pump is working properly, it would help if you could pump for about 10 minutes after feeds and then hand express for a few minutes as well to build your milk supply. The fact that you are leaking is a very good sign.

Babies are the best "pumps" and your milk supply should increase with your baby properly latched and nursing. It is important to remember the cardinal rule that we must feed the baby. So if you have any doubt as to whether you have an adequate milk supply, please accept donor milk from the birth mother if she is willing to provide it and breastfeed with the help of a supplementary feeding tube such as a Lact-aid www.lact-aid.com filled with either donor milk or formula until your own milk supply is well established.

Newborns are most open to try breastfeeding during the first hour after birth. So try to get baby to breast as soon as possible. Then they often sleep for a bit which is a good time for you to rest as well because after that sleep your baby will need to feed every 11/2 to 2 hours. The newborn stomach empties in about 90 minutes. So expect your baby to want to breastfeed 12-16 times per 24 hours. This will settle down after a few weeks but you need to be prepared for the frequency of feedings. Sleep when baby sleeps. Many mothers keep their baby in the same room so that it's easier to manage instead of getting up and going to another room for the feedings. Crying is a late hunger cue. Babies are usually hungry if they wriggle and put their hands to their mouths.

Your baby should pass the blackish meconium stools after the first couple of days. The stools will transition from black to green to yellow and seedy and your baby should have a few bowel movements per day after the first couple of days.

It is normal for babies to lose weight in the first couple of days but should be back to birth weight within two weeks and keep going from that point onwards with lots of pees and poops. A soaking wet diaper is one that contains at least 2 tablespoons of liquid. So it may be a good idea for you to test this so you'll know what a full diaper feels like.

Babies do well when held skin to skin. Try to hold your baby against your chest, skin to skin as much as possible. For information go to this webpage: http://www.kangaroomothercare.com/

You can find a board certified lactation consultant here: www.iblce.org Just click on the "About IBLCE" button at the top of the page and the US and International registries pop up. Alternatively, you can ask the hospital if they have a board certified lactation consultant on staff.

Check out our many videos that show hunger cues and how to latch your baby and so on here: http://www.asklenore.info/breastfeeding/additional_reading/movies.html

Most important of all...Enjoy your baby!! You're going to be a great mom!

Best,