Last Updated on April 27, 2024 by Natalie

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I recently wrote a post about how to successfully breastfeed.

One way to help you reach your breastfeeding goal is to have the tools that help you along your journey.

Nowadays we have all kinds of imaginable products and tools to make your life just a bit easier, no matter what you’re doing.

I’m sharing the items that helped me along my breastfeeding journey.

As I have said before, breastfeeding is hard.

Make your nursing journey as easy as you can by taking advantage of the helpful tools available to us.

1. My Brestfriend

I used this breastfeeding pillow for the first several months.

With all of the different things to think about while you’re breastfeeding, my brestfriend made sure that lifting the baby at just the right height and position wasn’t one of them.

I took it to the hospital when I gave birth, to my lactation consultations and kept it at the foot of my bed at home.

There were times I thought I got good enough to stop using it.

Eventually, I’d experience pain and challenges with the latch on one side and then my husband would bring me my brestfriend and it would solve my latch issue and resulting pain.

I’m embarrassed to admit this happened more than once.

So yeah, I learned this lesson about 2 or 3 times.

2. Milkies Milk-Saver

The Milkies Milk-Saver was amazing the first few months of breastfeeding.

At the beginning of my breastfeeding journey, I was very leaky.

(That sounds gross)

Whenever the baby would drink from one breast, the other was copying its sister giving out milk.

Don’t waste that liquid gold, ladies!

Collect it.

This is as easy as it’s ever gonna be to collect breast milk.

You just put this bad boy in your bra on the boob that is not feeding your baby.

Pim, pam, pum.

3. Haakaa

You’ve probably heard of the haakaa by now.

You may wonder if it will still work for you.

Do it.

I got my haakaa after I had been breastfeeding for several months.

I wasn’t sure if it would work for me at that point since I wasn’t as leaky as I was the first couple of months.

I have a great breast pump but to be honest, I haven’t pumped very many times.

I don’t really know what I’m doing and I get really overwhelmed trying to figure it out.

I gave it a try and good news: The haakaa worked!

Even if you start using it when you’ve been breastfeeding (and not accustomed to pumping) for 5 months.

Best of all, you don’t need to figure out settings or what buttons to press.

You put it on one boob while your baby feeds from the other.

You get your best output if you use it during your first feeding of the morning when you tend to be the fullest.

Even if I used it in the afternoon, I’d easily get an ounce of milk.

Also, I got the one with the top because I’ve heard too many horror stories about spilled breastmilk.

4. Lansinoh Breastmilk Storage Bags

If you’re collecting breastmilk with a pump, haakaa or a milk saver (which you should), you’ll need a place to store your milk.

My baby is 9 months old and I have yet to use my saved milk but I have it on standby in case of emergency because you never know.

Make sure you have breastmilk storage bags.

Write the date on them and the amount of ounces in each before you put it away in the freezer so you can easily assess how much you have in your stash and how fresh it is.

When freezing it, you should lay the pouches down flat on their side to use space wisely.

Which brings me to…

5. Breastmilk Bag Freezer Shelf

This awesome little breastmilk storage bag freezer shelf helps to save some valuable real estate in your freezer.

I don’t have that many pouches of milk since I am always with the baby and feeding him directly from my boob but even still, if I didn’t have this shelf, there’d be a mess in my freezer.

6. Nursing Cover

Since I exclusively breastfeed, I will inevitably need to nurse when I take my baby out.

As a first time mom, the seemingly best reaction to this was to never leave my house.

I felt safer at home despite everyone’s encouragement to go out and see the sun again.

Eventually, I decided to invest in a nursing cover and it’s really liberated me.

A cover designed for breastfeeding is much easier to use than a blanket.

There is a wire near your neck to allow you to view your baby while nursing and not have the material drape directly on his face.

7. Lansinoh TheraPearl Breast Therapy Pack

I love the 3-in-1 TheraPearl breast pads that are specifically made for nursing moms.

It provides hot therapy, cold therapy and pump support.

I have two sets.

One set is kept in the freezer so, when I need them, I can slip it into the pouch and put them on for pain relief.

The other is kept at room temperature so I can heat it up in the microwave for 15 seconds to help me if I’m going to pump or use the haakaa.

Sometimes if I ever get lumps from a clogged milk duct, I use this before feeding my baby to help me unclog it.

8. Nursing Pajamas

Nursing pajamas are life!

I breastfeed my baby a few times throughout the night.

Fortunately, I just boob him and he goes right back to sleep.

But if I had to wear a regular shirt or pajama that I needed to pull up to feed him, this would be terribly inconvenient for my sleepy self.

I have two pajamas that I typically rotate between: a button down nursing pajama and a pull up nursing pajama.

They’re both great and make nighttime nursing way easier…which I’m a fan of.

9. Nursing bras

I only wear nursing bras now.

They are so easy.

Trust me, flattering bras are very important to me.

I’m forever my 13 year old self waiting for the boob fairy to bless me.

The nursing bras I have are supportive and decent in the aesthetics department.

I have two different sets.

These are my go to for comfort and can be worn under full coverage tops.

These are the ones I opt for if I have a top that shows any cleavage.

10. Nursing Tops

Get yourself a bunch of solid-colored nursing tanks.

These are not tight around the waist, which I appreciated.

And get a few other nursing tops, as well.

If you are out and about, the last thing you want to be doing is pulling your shirt up so people can get a glimpse of your new tummy.

Yes, our bodies just did an amazing thing by housing our babies but I don’t care to share that miracle with the world. I don’t know about you.

11. Nipple Cream

I use this organic MotherLove nipple cream every night after I get out of the shower.

I feel like it helps recharge my nips after they’ve been beaten down at the end of their day’s work.

It’s refreshing.

That sums it up!

And when you get your period back postpartum, don’t fret. It’s not the end of your breastfeeding journey. There are ways to maintain your milk supply after you get your period.

Of course there are so many items out there to make breastfeeding just a bit easier.

Try as many as you can.

It just may be that these tools mean the difference between breastfeeding successfully or not.

Let me know what breastfeeding items you love.