E28: Product Review: Breastfeeding Pillows

Ever feel like you're swimming in a sea of baby gear, unsure what's a must-have and what's just clever marketing fluff? Learn the difference between what's genuinely necessary and what's simply nice to have, stripping back the excess to focus on what matters most for you and your little one.

And speaking of essentials, we can't wait to tell you about a game-changer for breastfeeding mamas – the My Breast Friend nursing pillow. Forget the popular, yet not-quite-perfect Boppy; we are here to tell you why My Breast Friend is designed to make a world of difference in achieving the right position for latch, ensuring comfort for the baby and protecting mom's nipples from trauma. It may not win any beauty contests, but its practicality is unmatched. Join us on this episode for insights and tips that promise to ease the transition into breastfeeding and simplify your life with a new baby.

My Breast Friend Nursing Pillow: https://www.mybrestfriend.com/collections/nursing-pillows?tw_source=google&tw_adid=676047787169&utm_campaign=18897512840&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwltKxBhDMARIsAG8KnqVE86Jnfn9jj5HxoLdFR8O5IaH_pMeoqbPeuGvt08qchTcrBM8r75IaAtCvEALw_wcB

Visit our website, here: https://birthlearning.com/
Follow us on Facebook at Birth Learning
Follow us on Instagram at @birthlearning

Show Credits

Host: Angie Rosier
Music: Michael Hicks
Photographer: Toni Walker
Episode Artwork: Nick Greenwood
Producer: Gillian Rosier
Voiceover: Ryan Parker

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:10

Welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with Angie Rozier, hosted by Birth Learning, where we help prepare folks for labor and birth with expertise coming from 20 years of experience in a busy doula practice, helping thousands of people prepare for labor, providing essential knowledge and tools for positive and empowering birth experiences.

Speaker 2: 0:47

Hello, welcome to the Ordinary Doula podcast. I am your host, angie Rozier, and I am happy to be with you today. So I want to talk a little bit about a product. I'm not huge onto very many products and I'm going to be wearing my IBCLC hat today, so this is all about breastfeeding um, and I believe things should be pretty minimal. In most. All of there's all kinds of stuff you could buy in the world right for your baby. I've had clients walk into I don't think babies r us is a store anymore, but back when it was um, they'd walk into Baby's R Us, which is this massive warehouse type store with an overwhelming amount of things specifically for babies, and they just like kind of shut down, like oh my gosh, there's so much stuff to get and then we got to get, you don't got to get it. There's a lot they'll market to you but kind of decipher what it is you need and what you truly need, what's going to be convenient, what's going to be necessary, and just get what you need. But I do want to do one quick product review. So, as I help people and this week this came to me a couple times as I was helping folks with early breastfeeding in that postpartum first few days. Postpartum Position is big and position has a lot to do with latch and milk transfer. But the way a baby's held for breastfeeding is going to impact also nipple trauma, nipple damage or lack thereof, which we hope there's a lack thereof. So a lot about comfort and success is about the way the baby's positioned. So one of my favorite products if I were to there's a couple products that I like One of my favorite products I would suggest to almost any breastfeeding mom is a support pillow called my Breast Friend.

Speaker 2: 2:40

So my Breast Friend is I know there's one on the market called the Boppy. The Boppy's been around a long time and Boppies are super cute, like you could almost just sit on your couch with one of its cute covers and it looks like it was meant to be there. It doesn't look like a piece of infant paraphernalia. And Boppies come in lots of different with lots of different covers and they're cute. They're even soft enough for you to use as a pillow. You can kind of prop a baby in them as they get a little bit bigger. Um, but as far as a breastfeeding pillow, I think there's a better product on the market. Um, there's still a space for boppies, for sure, maybe for other things, but for newborns, um, I think my breast friend is better.

Speaker 2: 3:20

So my breast friend is not nearly as cute as a boppy. It's kind of ugly if you see it online. So you don't want to set this on your couch. It's not going to blend into the couch cushions or pillows that you have. There is something aesthetic, but for practical purposes it is pretty awesome.

Speaker 2: 3:36

So a boppy excuse me, a my breast friend is a very firm pillow and it's square, like its edges are square. That's kind of what's key about it is it's firm and it's square. So, as you like, when you pull a boppy up to you, it doesn't. It might wrap around you. Depending on the size of your body and your postpartum body, it might just get kind of near you, but there's, as it rolls down to the underside, there's a divot there. It doesn't come flush up to your body and so newborns especially as we're using that as a breastfeeding pillow that can be too low and then the newborns fall into that cute little crack there. So my breast friend is different in that it has a square edge and it's very firm, and so it comes right up to your body. It also has part of what makes it so ugly. It's this strap that goes around the back. So there's a back strap. So wherever you're sitting, whether it's in the bed or on a chair or a couch this pillow sticks onto you right, like you put it around you. It doesn't slide, it doesn't shift off as you move, but it stays next to you and it's firm and high, so it brings the baby right up to the breast. Also, that's different for everyone, depending on where up to the breast is. That might be at your belly button, that might be almost up to your shoulder, so that's kind of different for everyone. But I find that my breast friend's a great tool.

Speaker 2: 4:50

They do have different covers. You can do different zip covers. You don't have to buy a cover. You can put a towel over the top of it, a boppy. You can take a towel or a stack of towels and use that to cover in that gap on the boppy so that baby's up high and not falling into that cute little crack that's made with newborns and as the breastfeeding person also shifts and moves around, the baby doesn't slip away from that. And if you don't buy any products, that's totally cool too. You do not have to buy a product to breastfeed a baby. If you have towels at home towels, I think you could use pillows like a memory foam pillow can be pretty great, something with some substance to it, super soft pillows. The baby's kind of going to sink in those. But a stack of towels you can make that as high as you want, as towels a little bit firmer, hold their shape pretty good, and just bring those right up to you. Sometimes people will have to use a couple pillows, or they might use a stack of towels under their boppy to bring that baby up. So that's my little product.

Speaker 2: 5:51

Shout out, my Breast Friend is a great tool. Last I've seen it and we're just, if you're listening. Depending on when you listen to this episode, we're in oh my gosh, it's April. Nope, it's May of 2024. They're about 50 bucks on Amazon, so you know, reasonably priced. You can use it until the baby gets quite old. I have had some clients that I've seen in postpartum who will walk around the house with that. It's strapped to them. Of course they're still holding and supporting the baby, but they might be like doing something else too as they move around the house and that baby's a great latcher and stays latched on my breast friend comes with a little pocket too, like you can put stuff in this little pocket that comes off the edge Kind of cumbersome to take around if you're taking it to other locations, but it's possible. So consider that If not use props, use tools from your own home to just help make your breastfeeding experience a little bit easier in the beginning.

Speaker 2: 6:47

That is my product review for today. My little tip for some quick success in early breastfeeding is keep that baby high up to you, don't let him slip or slide during a feeding. Thank you for being here for the Ordinary Doula podcast. I hope you have an amazing day. I want you to reach out to someone, connect with someone in your life, someone new, someone old, someone who's a total stranger to you, connect with another person from our human race and make a great positive connection. There we are all here together. Hope you have a great day and we will see you next time.

Speaker 1: 7:25

Thank you for listening to the Ordinary Doula podcast with Angie Rozier, hosted by Birth Learning. Episode credits will be in the show notes Tune in next time as we continue to explore the many aspects of giving birth. Thank you.