Breastfeeding Positions: 5 Comfortable Ways to Nurse Your Baby

Eight to twelve feeds per 24 hours, sometimes long ones: in the first weeks, you will spend several hours a day breastfeeding. A good breastfeeding position is therefore no detail. It protects your nipples and your back, and it helps your baby feed effectively.

There is no perfect position, only the one that suits you at that moment: coming home from a caesarean, at 3 in the morning, at your mother's with a full house. Here are the five most used positions, step by step, and the situations where each one helps.

The rules common to all positions

Whatever the position, the same benchmarks come up in every set of recommendations:

1. Get comfortable first. Back supported, shoulders relaxed, feet flat on the floor or on a small stool so you do not lean forward.
2. Baby facing the breast, right up against you. Their ear, shoulder and hip form a straight line: a head turned to the side stops them swallowing properly.
3. Nose level with the nipple. Let their head tilt slightly back: their top lip brushes the nipple and they open wide.
4. The chin touches the breast first. A light pressure on the upper back is enough. Avoid holding the back of their head; it must stay free to tilt back.
5. Bring baby to the breast, not the breast to baby. Leaning the breast towards their mouth is the classic cause of a shallow latch.

A good latch is recognisable: mouth wide open, lips turned out, more areola visible above the top lip than below, round cheeks, audible swallowing. Conversely, cheeks that hollow, little clicking noises or a baby who sucks only the tip of the nipple signal a latch to redo. For the very first days, our guide to getting breastfeeding off to a good start covers these signs in detail.

1. The cradle hold: the everyday position

This is the best known, the one from paintings.

• Sit in an armchair with arms, or in your bed, propped up with pillows.
• Lay your baby across your lap, tummy to tummy.
• Their head rests in the crook of your elbow, on the side of the breast you are offering, your forearm supporting their back.
• Slip their lower arm under yours, so it does not get in the way.

It becomes natural once your baby latches well. On the other hand it is often uncomfortable in the days after a caesarean, because baby rests on your belly.

2. The cross-cradle hold: to guide a baby who latches poorly

Your baby is in the same position, but you hold them with the arm opposite the breast you are offering. Your hand supports their neck and upper back, their bottom rests in the crook of your arm or on a pillow.

This hold gives finer control over their head at the moment of latching. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends it for babies who have trouble latching. Your free hand can support the breast, fingers well behind the areola.

3. The football hold: caesarean, large breasts, twins

Your baby is tucked at your side, under your arm, like a ball you are carrying: hips close to yours, feet towards your back, nose level with the nipple.

• Place a pillow along your side and another under your elbow.
• Support their neck with your palm and their upper back with your forearm.
• Bring them to the breast without pressing on their head.

This position puts no weight on the belly: it is the favourite after a caesarean. It also helps with large breasts (a rolled towel under the breast supports it), flat nipples or a baby born early, because you can see baby's mouth very clearly.

4. Lying on your side: at night and in the first days

This is the recovery position, precious after a caesarean or a difficult birth, and for night feeds.

• Lie on your side, one pillow under your head and another behind your back.
• Place your baby facing you, tummy to tummy, nose level with the nipple, ear, shoulder and hip in line.
• A rolled blanket behind their back stops them rolling away; remove it after the feed.
• Your lower arm goes under your head, your free hand guides your baby.

To change breast, you can roll over keeping your baby held close, or slide a pillow under them to bring them up to the height of the upper breast.

Then safety. If you risk falling asleep, remove pillows, blankets and sheets that could cover their face, then put them back in their own bed, on their back, as soon as the feed is over or when you wake. A cot attached to your bed makes these trips easier: see our co-sleeping bedside cot guide and our advice on safe sleeping.

5. Laid-back: let baby lead

Also called biological nurturing, or instinctive breastfeeding, this position lets your baby, lying on you, find the breast almost on their own.

• Lean back, neither sitting upright nor flat, with cushions under your back, shoulders and neck.
• Place your baby tummy down on you, their body against yours.
• Stay upright enough to meet their gaze, and let them search for the breast; guide them gently if needed.

It combines easily with skin-to-skin contact. After a caesarean, you lay your baby across you, above the scar. And when the milk sprays too hard, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends it: baby, placed above the breast, handles a heavy flow better.

Which position for which situation?

Breastfeeding twins: a position for two

At the beginning, it is often simpler to feed the babies one after the other, hands free to adjust each latch. Once breastfeeding is established, feeding both at once saves precious time: both babies in football hold, one in cradle and the other in football hold, or both in cradle, crossed over your lap.

Production follows demand: two babies feeding stimulate enough milk for two. Alternate breasts from one feed or one day to the next so that both are stimulated in the same way. A large pillow and an extra pair of hands in the first weeks make all the difference. Our article on twin pregnancy helps you prepare.

The nursing pillow: for which positions?

A nursing pillow advantageously replaces the pile of pillows for the cradle hold, the cross-cradle hold and above all the football hold, where it carries your baby at the right height without tiring your arms. U-shaped or in a long sausage shape, it also serves as a pregnancy pillow. To compare shapes, fillings and care, see our nursing pillow guide.

From the shop

Pillows to settle into every position

Ordinary pillows may be enough. A nursing pillow simply keeps baby at the right height without effort, which helps above all after a caesarean, for the football hold or for twins.

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• The whole aisle · Nursing pillows40 products online, delivered anywhere in Morocco.Open the aisle

Products sold by La Maison du Bébé, publisher of this magazine. Prices as of 12 October 2026; please check the product page.