Breastfeed Without Hunching: Football Hold for New and Expectant Mums

Mother positioning baby in football hold

The football hold tucks your baby under your arm, feet pointing behind you, so you avoid pressure on your torso and get a clear view of the latch. It’s the go-to position after a caesarean, for feeding twins, managing reflux, or navigating large breasts or a fast let-down. What follows is the setup, the posture fixes, and the troubleshooting that the Australian Breastfeeding Association and lactation practice both point to, written by Marietjie, who covers infant feeding ergonomics for Zabbidoo.

TL;DR:

  • The football hold is especially helpful after a cesarean, for feeding twins, managing reflux, and accommodating large breasts or strong let-downs, by supporting proper positioning.
  • Using a firm, height-appropriate pillow that maintains its shape throughout feeding is critical to prevent arm strain and ensure baby’s mouth is at nipple level.
  • Proper technique involves supporting baby’s shoulders with your forearm, aligning their nose with your nipple, and waiting for a wide gape for an effective latch.
  • Common issues like baby sliding down, shallow latch, or nipple pain can be fixed by adjusting pillow height, resetting the latch, or optimizing support and posture.
  • Practicing the hold without a baby and seeking professional guidance early can prevent postural pain and improve feeding success.
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Table of Contents

How to do the football hold, step by step

Get your setup right before baby ever reaches the breast, and half the battle is already won.

Start with your seat. Choose a chair with armrests and lower back support, or prop a cushion behind your lumbar spine if your chair doesn’t offer any. Wear a top that opens easily at the side, not just the front, since you’ll be tucking baby in from under your arm rather than lifting them up the middle. Have your nursing pillow or a firm cushion within reach before you sit down. Once you’re settled, work through the position in order.

  1. Place the pillow or firm support against your side, level with your ribs, on the side you’re feeding from.
  2. Lay baby on their side facing you, legs tucked under your arm like a rugby ball carried at your hip, feet pointing towards your back.
  3. Slide your forearm under baby’s shoulders and back, letting your palm rest at the base of their neck and skull only if they need the extra steadying. Never press on the back of the head. Your elbow, not your hand, should be doing most of the supporting work.
  4. Line baby’s nose up with your nipple rather than their mouth, and wait for a wide, deliberate gape before bringing them in.
  5. Bring baby to the breast in one smooth motion, using your forearm and the pillow height to lift them, not by leaning your own body forward.

Before you commit to the latch, run through a quick check: is baby level with the nipple rather than reaching up or down for it? Does their chin land on the breast first? Is the mouth open wide, not just parted? Are your own shoulders down and relaxed, not hunched around your ears? If any of those are off, pull baby gently away by breaking the seal with a clean finger first, then reset rather than pushing through a poor angle.

Pro Tip: Practise the hold with a rolled towel and a doll before your first real feed if you can. Getting the arm and pillow mechanics into muscle memory before baby is hungry and impatient makes the live version far less fumble.

Mother rehearsing football hold with doll

Why the football hold works so well for so many mums

The clutch hold, as some call it, earns its popularity because it solves several specific problems at once rather than being a general default.

  • It keeps baby’s weight off your abdomen entirely, which matters enormously if you’re recovering from a caesarean and every graze near the incision site is unwelcome.
  • You get a close, clear view of baby’s chin, jaw, and mouth, so guiding a shallow latch back to a deeper one is far easier than in a cradle hold.
  • Feeding baby in a more upright angle can ease reflux symptoms, since gravity is working with you rather than against a flatter feeding position.
  • The tucked position suits twins fed one at a time or in tandem, and it gives extra clearance for mums with larger breasts, flat or inverted nipples, or a let-down strong enough to make baby splutter in other holds.
  • Because baby sits slightly away from your body rather than draped across it, you can watch feeding cues, swallowing, and jaw movement without craning your neck.

Getting the height and support right

Most positioning problems in the football hold trace back to one thing: the support underneath baby is either too soft or too low.

A folded bath towel or a regular bed pillow seems like a reasonable stand in, but both tend to compress the moment baby’s weight lands on them. Baby sinks, the angle drops, and you find yourself leaning sideways or forward to compensate, which is exactly the strain you’re trying to avoid. Firm, stable support that holds its shape under weight is what actually keeps baby at the right height for a full feed, a point echoed in guidance on choosing nursing pillows built for this purpose.

The target is simple to describe even if it takes a bit of trial and error to nail: baby’s mouth should meet your nipple at roughly the height it would sit if you were holding them upright against your chest, without you leaning down to close the gap. Test it before the first latch. Sit in your usual feeding chair, rest your hands on your thighs, and adjust the pillow or wedge height until baby’s mouth naturally lines up with the nipple in the tucked position.

Here’s where a purpose-built pillow earns its keep over a stack of cushions:

  • Standard pillows lose shape within minutes under a baby’s weight, forcing constant readjustment mid-feed.
  • A pillow with genuine compression resistance holds its lift for the whole feed, which lactation professionals specifically flag as reducing the interruptions that disrupt milk transfer.
  • Extra lift on Zabbidoo’s nursing pillow brings baby up to meet you rather than asking you to fold forward to meet baby.

Try a few different heights over your first few feeds and settle on whichever one lets your back stay straight and your shoulders stay down. That’s the real test, not how the setup looks.

Protecting your body and getting a deeper latch

Feed enough times a day and small postural errors compound fast, so get the mechanics right early rather than fixing a sore neck weeks in.

Sit with your back properly supported and your feet flat on the floor or a step, not dangling or tucked underneath you. A rolled towel or small cushion in the small of your back fills the gap most chairs leave there. Once you’re settled, the golden rule is to bring baby to the breast using your arm and the pillow height, never by curling your own spine forward to reach down to them. That single habit, repeated across a full day of feeds, is where a lot of new-mum neck and shoulder pain actually starts, something physiotherapists who specialise in breastfeeding ergonomics see constantly in practice.

Keep baby’s head, neck, and spine in one straight line rather than twisted to reach the breast, and aim your nipple towards the roof of their mouth rather than straight in. A few signs tell you the latch has landed well:

  • Baby’s lips are flanged out, not tucked or pursed.
  • You see more of the areola above baby’s top lip than below their bottom one.
  • Feeding feels like tugging or pulling, not pinching or burning.
  • Your baby’s jaw moves rhythmically, with pauses for swallowing.

If the latch feels shallow or painful, break the suction and start again rather than pushing through it, and watch for the nose to nipple alignment rather than mouth to nipple. Persistent pain after several honest attempts is a signal to switch holds for that feed and revisit the football hold once you or a lactation consultant have worked out what’s going wrong. If neck or shoulder tension is building regardless of latch quality, a short daily postpartum posture routine aimed specifically at nursing mums can undo a surprising amount of the damage in a few minutes.

Fixing the football hold’s most common hiccups

Most problems in this position have a fast, specific fix rather than requiring you to abandon the hold altogether.

  1. Baby keeps sliding down or out from under your arm. Raise the pillow or wedge another few centimetres, and bring the support in closer to your ribcage rather than leaving a gap. Brace your forearm firmly along baby’s back rather than relying on your hand alone.
  2. Latch keeps coming out shallow. Break the seal gently with a clean finger, reset nose to nipple, and wait for a genuinely wide gape rather than latching on the first small opening.
  3. Nipple pain during or after feeds. Check for an asymmetrical latch, usually caused by baby’s mouth not opening wide enough on one side. Try a slightly different angle before considering a nipple shield, and only use one after a lactation consultant has actually assessed the latch.
  4. Your own back, neck, or shoulders start aching mid feed. Stop and check your posture rather than pushing through, reset the lumbar support, and rest between feeds where you can. Ongoing pain despite good setup is worth raising with a physio.

When it’s time to call in some help

Some issues are worth sorting out yourself with a small adjustment. Others need a second set of trained eyes, and there’s no prize for pushing through them alone.

Get help sooner rather than later if you notice ongoing nipple pain or visible damage, baby isn’t gaining weight as expected, or you spot any signs of infection like redness, heat, or fever. A midwife, your child and family health nurse, a registered lactation consultant, or your GP can all help troubleshoot in person.

For general guidance between appointments, three Australian resources are worth bookmarking:

Before a call or clinic visit, jot down when the pain or problem started, how often it happens, and what you’ve already tried. If it’s a video consultation, ask in advance whether you can show the latch on camera. It saves everyone time.

Why I tell mums to expect some trial and error

Why I tell mums to expect some trial and error — overview diagram

Nobody nails the football hold, or any hold, on the first go, and the mums who assume they should are usually the ones who give up on a genuinely useful position too early. It took most of the parents I’ve spoken with several days of fumbling, several wrong pillow heights, and at least one frustrated feed before something clicked.

That’s normal. What actually speeds things up isn’t reading another article. It’s slowing down, practising the arm and pillow mechanics without a hungry baby attached, and asking a midwife or lactation consultant to watch you do it live at least once. Hands-on correction fixes in five minutes what weeks of guessing won’t.

— Marietjie

Getting the height right without the guesswork

Everything in this guide comes back to one mechanical fact: baby needs to meet the breast at the right height, and soft cushions rarely hold that height for a full feed. That’s the exact gap Zabbidoo’s nursing pillow was built to close.

Zabbidoo

The pillow’s 18cm lift brings baby up to you instead of asking you to fold forward to reach them, and its compression-resistant fill holds that shape under weight instead of flattening out mid-feed the way a regular pillow does. The stability-focused design means less mid-feed repositioning, which matters most in exactly the holds this article covers: football, twins, and post-caesarean feeding. The cover is a hypoallergenic French flax linen, machine washable, with a built-in pocket and a portable handle for feeds away from home. It’s $249 one off, and it earns its place beyond the newborn months as a tummy time and sitting support too. If you’re tired of a pillow that sinks the moment baby lands on it, check the full product details and see whether the extra lift solves what a bed pillow never could.

This article is general information, not a substitute for advice from a qualified doctor. Consult a qualified healthcare professional about your own circumstances before acting on anything here.

Sources

FAQ

Is the football hold safe for newborns?

Yes, it’s considered one of the safer holds for newborns, particularly after a caesarean or when feeding twins, since it keeps baby’s weight off your torso. Always support baby’s neck and shoulders with your forearm rather than gripping the back of their head.

Can you breastfeed twins using the football hold?

Yes, and it’s one of the main reasons the hold exists in most positioning guides. Tucking each twin under an opposite arm, ideally with a pillow supporting both, lets you feed one or both babies without either one crushing the other.

Does the football hold help with reflux?

It can, because the more upright angle works with gravity rather than against it during and after a feed. Many mums find switching to an upright hold eases symptoms noticeably compared to flatter positions, though persistent reflux still warrants a chat with your GP or child health nurse.

What is a football hold breastfeeding position, exactly?

It’s a nursing position where baby is tucked under your arm, on their side, facing you, with their legs pointing towards your back, much like carrying a football at your hip. It’s also called the clutch or underarm hold, and it’s typically supported with a firm pillow at rib height.

Does Zabbidoo’s nursing pillow work for the football hold?

Yes, its 18cm lift and compression-resistant fill are designed to keep baby at the right height for holds including the football position, reducing the need to lean or hunch. It’s priced at $249 one off through the Zabbidoo online store.