My favorite breastfeeding items

April 17, 2025

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April 17, 2025

At the time of this post, I will have been breastfeeding for 18 months – a milestone I never thought I would reach, but thanks to help from some of my favorite breastfeeding items, here we are. In the early days, nursing came very easily to us but when I returned to full time work in an office, things got tough. Through a lot of personal conviction (read: stubbornness) and many tears, I was able to continue nursing my baby for as long as she wanted. These are my favorite breastfeeding items that helped me make it through the early days of learning and maintain my supply throughout.

1. Silverettes

I do not think our breastfeeding journey would have been nearly as successful, were it not for Silverettes. By far, my favorite breastfeeding item. These are little silver cups that you wear in your bra between feedings that help heal and clean your nipples. Silver is a very powerful mineral that has both healing and anti-bacterial qualities. I wore these every day for our first six months of nursing without using any other nipple cream and they always kept my nursing pain free and easy. There are two sizes depending on the size of your nipple, and it’s worth the extra price to get the pure silver. You may spend a little more on the front end but you’ll save yourself mentally and you won’t have to buy as many nipple creams or medicines were you to develop thrush or anything else.

2. Haaka

Personally, I think using a Haaka helped my milk to come in and increase my production in the early days. I would use the Haaka each feeding to catch the letdown on the side opposite the one Josephine was nursing on. After a while, I was producing about 2 – 3 oz of letdown and collected it pitcher method to freeze and save.

You can also use the Haaka as a passive pump and use the suction while wearing it to collect when not feeding, but I really preferred to have it on the other side and help build up my freezer stash.

3. Boppi pillow

This feeding pillow is great for both nursing and bottle feeding. I brought mine to the hospital, and was thankful to have it since I didn’t really have anywhere to rest my arms in the hospital bed. It brings baby up closer and gives you something to rest your arms on.

4. Medela Nipple Shields

Some Lactation consultants may discourage use of these, but I was told that if your baby has a naturally strong latch, they shouldn’t impact your milk production. Luckily Josephine had a good latch from the start, so I used these in the early days when I was building up tolerance to the sensitivity.

5. Mother’s Milk Organic Tea

I would drink a cup of this every night to help with milk supply. Active ingredients for lactation are fennel and fenugreek. Perhaps it was just mental, but I did feel like these really helped with nursing!

My absolute favorite nursing treat! I loved these cookies and bought them by the case to have when I went back to work. Oatmeal is naturally good for lactation, and these also have flax seed, another good ingredient for lactation. Plus, they are DELISH!

7. Lansinoh Lanolin nipple cream

I never really used nipple cream thanks to the Silverettes, but when the time came to pump I would use some of this cream around my flanges to help with friction. I liked this brand a lot, felt it was natural and clean and didn’t make a huge mess.

Bonus

Lansinoh hot cold packs – These came in handy when I was having some trouble with supply transitioning back to work. I would warm them up and wear them in my bra before pumping and feeding to help get the milk going. You can also put in the freezer to use if you have any soreness or pain!

LaVie Warming Massager – I didn’t use these all too much, but occasionally when I felt like I was having trouble letting down milk.

Whether your nursing journey is 18 months or 18 days, you are doing an amazing job! And if you are a pumping mom or formula mom, you’re also doing amazing! At the end of the day, fed is best and I hope that brings you comfort.

Here are some more resources for parents with newborn babies and little ones in Richmond, Virginia from the blog!