CAGE MATCH: Boppy vs. My Breast Friend

A universal truth about baby-care products is that one family's most prized and treasured item is returned for full store credit by another family. The Boppy and Best Friend are perennial targets of the "I loved it/I hated it" sentiment. I have both and am firmly settled in the Breast Friend camp. I own a boppy as well, and even though I didn't use it much,  it was a gift, so I hung onto it after #1. It finally earned its keep when I accidentally discovered that it makes the world's greatest back pillow for sitting up in bed, whether to nurse or do something luxurious like watch tv and eat popcorn. Let us never be parted!

Without further editorializing or trying to be funny, let us size up the contenders. 

My Breast Friend pillow (aka Breast Friend): Basic model available on Amazon for about $30. Deluxe, twin, and and travel versions are also available. Additional covers are can be purchased as well. 

What the Breast Friend has going for it in my opinion:

• It has a flat, shelf like surface that meets mom's torso at a 90 degree angle, which means there's no gap for the baby to roll into.
• The buckle allows mom to get the pillow snug to her body and the pillow can be adjusted to sit high or low on the torso (admittedly, this has limited usefulness as the baby gains weight). 
• The pillow wraps around the back, and the little "arm" across the small of the back can potentially provide some critical back support. After I was done using Breast Friend, I actually made myself a little bolster pillow to serve the same purpose. 

The Boppy Nursing Pillow and Positioner (aka Boppy): Available on Amazon for about $40. Additional covers and waterproof covers available.

What the Boppy has going for it in my opinion:

• It is a multipurpose item. It can also be used as positioner for non-sitting infants or early sitters when they are awake (it is not meant for baby to sleep in). Since many baby products are one-hit wonders, I can see how this makes it attractive.
• I have yet to encounter any better back-support pillow for sitting up in bed. I don't recommend that you do much nursing sitting up in bed, but if you must, using the Boppy is like a revelation. Prop a regular pillow against the wall and then lean the Boppy against it, open end down (like a horseshoe with the luck running out), and then adjust the Boppy pillow high or low as needed. 

Overall the Boppy tests my patience in a way I don't have time for you. It has to rest on your lap, which means mom can neither stand while using it, nor adjust the pillow's height. The rounded edges mean baby falls (sometimes) into the gap between mom and the pillow. I found it frustrating as a nursing aid. The Breast Friend held more utility for me. I could stand while using it, baby doesn't roll into the gap, it gave a little back support, and could be adjusted up or down my torso to help bring the baby to the breast, rather than encouraging me bring the breast to the baby.

To be clear you still need to use good positioning technique to get a good latch and no pillow will do that or fix that for you. In the absence of good breastfeeding technique, both products have equal potential to hinder your breastfeeding progress by aiding and abetting poor positioning. This article by Norma Ritter, IBCLC, RLC explains it very nicely. Nonetheless, these products can help dyads by making it easier to press on into the next season of Orange is the New Black...I mean, the next hour of cluster-feeding. So what is good positioning?

If I had to sum it up in two bullet points, it is:

• Lining up baby's body. You should be able to see an imaginary line running from the crown of baby's head to his sweet little feet. The head, ears, shoulder, hips, and knees all need to be in line. 
• Contact between your torso and baby's. Imagine tiny electrical contact points all along the torso and when they are connected, the suck reflex motor is fully powered and ready to rev. 

When your bodies are in alignment, you'll give yourselves the best chance to get the best latch.

Speaking of those little contact points, I'm going to make a few leaps here based on my own experience and reading. When the nursing pair are positioned perpendicular to one another (like a cross +), mom's body can only make so much contact with baby's body. If the dyad are parallel to one another (like this =) many additional contact points come into play. Infants (I'm talking about NEW babies with very little head control) are helped along greatly by gravity in establishing a good latch; gravity bring you closer to the breast when bodies are parallel (in addition to hitting more contact points). Also, babies suck better when positioned on their bellies. The Biological Nurturing nursing position is starting to be en vogue as the mechanics of sucking are more broadly understood and communicated. It's a positions that's intended to optimize breastfeeding rather than a position intended for bottle-feeding adapted to breastfeeding. Mastering the Biological Nursing position comes with it's own challenges, but you can see the two advantages it has: 1) baby's body lines up with yours with less intentional effort and 2) more contact points are "connected" between mom and baby. The nursing pillow aids may help with positioning, but consider that they might help achieve a bottle-feeding position that may not be as advantageous to the breastfeeding infant. 

Now all that being said, know your options (there's also an ergo brand nursing pillow I didn't even tell you about...but I digress) and be aware that there are biological and sociological forces at work. If the pillow is giving you a hard time, ditch it. If it works for you, use it! Find a way that works for you and your baby.

"To insist that the baby is positioned precisely in the way that the caregiver has been taught will be counterproductive unless there is careful consideration of the effectiveness of that positioning, and the individuality of both mother and baby. This individual patterning can be seen as a dance between mother and baby."  Mary Renfrew

Resources

http://www.llli.org/faq/positioning.html

http://www.lalecheleague.org/llleaderweb/lv/lvaugsep00p63.html

https://breastfeedingusa.org/content/article/some-ins-and-outs-laid-back-breastfeeding