There are so many things to think about when breastfeeding – timing, position, attachment, flow, burping, hydration, comfort … the list goes on. Remembering which breast you last fed your bub on can be tricky any time of day, no less at 3am when your eyeballs feel like they are about to drop out of your head.
Here are 8 helpful ways remember which side you last breastfed on.
1. Hair tie trick
Simple and effective. Pop a hair tie on the wrist of the side you are breastfeeding on. When you next go to feed, you will know which side is full of the good stuff. Don’t forget to swap the hair tie to the other wrist while feeding!
2. Reminder clip
A modern alternative to a broach, simple button press clips ($9.43) attached to your bra or singlet
strap as a subtle reminder.
3. Bracelet
Similar to the hair tie, switch the wrist your bracelet is on when you are feeding. Hint: don’t
use a delicate bracelet that requires two hands and fine motor skills to put on. A slip-on
number the Milk Bands are best. They also help you remember how long bubbie fed.
4. Pillow
If you use a breastfeeding pillow to lean on in your nursing chair, that is a great way to remember the side you last fed on. Simply swap the pillow to the other side and away you go.
5. Keeping a nursing diary
For the ultra organised mum, having a diary or notepad and pen can be handy to jot down which side you last fed on is super handy. You can also keep track of the time and length of feeds. Because baby brain lasts well beyond pregnancy.
6. Token
Keeping a little token next to your nursing chair that you can flip over during each feed is easy and practical. Whether it’s a custom solution with an L and R, or simply a coin where ‘heads’ means left and ‘tails’ means right, you can’t go wrong.
7. Twist it
Make good use of the maternity bra you’re wearing, and twist the strap of the side you just fed on before clipping it back into place. Next time, all you need to remember is to use the side without the twisted strap.
8. There’s an app for that
Track not just which boob is next, but the length of feeds, expression schedules and everything you can think of with a breastfeeding app.
