The first year, day by day.

In the first weeks you don’t train, you shape: full feeds, a dark room, and catching sleepy cues before the overtired cliff. Newborns wake to eat, and that’s normal — early on the goal is rest for everyone, not a schedule.

Around four months your baby’s sleep matures into adult-like cycles, so they wake between them and need help linking back. It’s a developmental leap, not a step backward — and it passes. A few small shifts make it survivable.

Some tenderness early is common, but real pain usually means something fixable — often a shallow latch, sometimes a tongue-tie. It shouldn’t be something you grit your teeth through; an IBCLC can often sort it in one session.

The common line is six weeks, but the honest answer is months — your body, your hormones, and your sense of self all recover on their own timelines. Be as patient with yourself as you’d be with a friend.

You can start from day one — a few minutes, a few times a day, building up as your baby tolerates it. Chest-to-chest counts. It builds the neck and shoulder strength for rolling, sitting, and crawling later.

Watch the output, not the ounces: steady weight gain, plenty of wet and dirty diapers, and a baby who settles after feeds. If you’re worried, your pediatrician or an IBCLC can weigh a feed and reassure you.