The Good Start Guide to Breastfeeding

Sometimes women receive pressure from their partners, or believe that they are being "selfish" by doing all the feeding of their baby. It's important to remember that there are plenty of things that go into being a parent aside from who feeds a child in her early days. Holding, rocking, and snuggling are important to a baby's growth and development, and can be done by both parents.

Once your milk supply is well established and things have settled down a bit (around four to six weeks, ask your health provider for advice in your specific case), you might want to try pumping some breast milk for your partner to feed the baby. There are several ways to pump breast milk to put in a bottle: by hand, manual pump, electric pump, and hospital-grade electric pump. You can pump by hand by massaging your breasts and then gently working from the bottom third of the breast downward. Don't just squeeze the nipple; milk is made in ducts all the way through the breast. Some women have terrific results by using the Marmet Technique for hand-expression of milk. This is explained in-depth in The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding book.