How to Breastfeed
June 10th, 2009 | 
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How to breastfeed ? Unless there are unforeseen circumstances, you would be strongly encourage to go on (TBF) Total Breast Feeding and don’t let any others tell you otherwise. When you first start to breast feed, you would notice sticky yellowish discharge coming out from your nipple. This substance is called colostrum. It contains anti-bodies and alot of other elements that is highly beneficial to your baby. It improves the baby’s immune system, which means that they don’t fall sick that easily. There are other benefits to breast feeding too that helps you. It actually stimulates the pituitary gland (part of your brain) that helps to release “Oxytocin” its a particular hormone for females that helps the uterus to contract thereby keeping the bleeding to a minimum. In other words, you slim down a lot faster when you breast feed. Now, isn’t this good news to hear!
Breast Feeding prevents Allergy
Unlike formula milk, babies don’t develop allergy from breast feeding. In fact, the longer the baby is on breast feeding. The lower the chances it is for milk allergy to develop. In cases where breast feeding is not possible and the baby is allergic to formula milk. Another substitute would be formula soy milk. If the problem is a logistical one, it is recommended that the mother would express the breast milk and store them in quantities enough for the time when the mother might be away. There are many different kind of breast milk pumps. They can be broadly categorize into manual pumps. Breast milk should be stored in a clean environment. It is recommended to use disposable milk storage bags which comes with a vacuum sealing mechanism and a sticker for you to record the date and time. Once seal, keep it frozen and only thaw what is needed. However, look out for symptoms of allergy when allergy symptoms do occur such as redness or rashes, consult your family physician immediately.
Other Breast Feeding Concerns
Mothers should take note of a couple of issues when breast feeding. A key major concern is your diet as food and substance that you consume could easily passed into the milk and taken in by your baby. One such precaution would be drugs or medication. Do inform your doctor that you are currently breast feeding so as to avoid medication that could be harmful to your baby such as antibiotics or other forms of NSAIDs Typically the baby’s liver is not fully developed to metabolize the medication. Other food that you might want to avoid could be spicy food, or chocolate or coffee. It could cause stomach upset and in cases of caffeine in chocolates could cause irritability and sleeplessness in babies.
Breast Feeding, when there is not enough milk? How to breast feed? Do I supplement with formula?
There are many issues that could affect “milk production”. I would be posting in greater detail about this topic. Here I would give a brief overview on this subject.
Milk production could be affected by many issues, such as…
1. Anxiety
2. Mother’s diet
3. Smoking & Drinking
4. Work and Stress
Yes, even anxiety over milk production itself could reduce milk supply. So you see, it is really a vicious cycle. Working mothers have it worst in breast feeding, stress from the office is often is huge issue, often it reduces milk supply especially on weekdays. Where the opposite is true, there are reports where on the eve of a public holiday or weekend, mothers experience a huge milk let down and are able to express a lot more milk compared to the normal week days.
Mother could consume certain food that could stimulate milk supply for breast feeding such as fish and papaya soup or other forms of traditional Chinese soup. Often referred to as some form of tonic. In reality its components really helps in increasing milk supply.
Some mothers after expressing milk, observing the little that was expressed and might be tempted to supplement it with formula. It would not be recommended to do so. The human body is a miraculous machine. The constant suckling from the baby and expressing of milk itself actually helps to stimulate the body. It is telling the body, there is not enough, increase the production. Conversely, if the mother starts to supplement breast milk with formula, there would be naturally less time for the baby to suck and a lesser need to express. Hence it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy that she is not producing enough for the child.
A good way approach of breast feeding is feed on demand. Especially in the first month of the baby development. The mother should start feeding the baby the moment she has given birth and let the baby latch on. It helps the baby to identify the smell of the mother and forge a emotional bond between mother and child, while the baby receives all the protection colostrum would give vital to baby development.
In some cases, where the mother might have to travel and some places may not have power supply readily, you could always invest in a manual pump to store your breast milk, the key is to continue pumping or feeding to keep up the milk flow, once you stop. The milk flow will gradually reduce as well.
Emotional Support during breast feeding
Emotional support is fundamental if not critical to nursing mothers. Husbands should be available for the wife to encourage her in her endeavor. The lack of such support often contributes to PNB (Post Natal Blues) and the exacerbates the lack of confidence and increases anxiety. Often this is enough to make the nursing mother stop breast feeding, robbing the new born of all the benefits. Kind, encouraging words, assurance is often vital to the wife, simply being there is a powerful statement that the husband can give to the nursing mothers.
Another method would be to join or form breast feeding groups. especially with neighbors or friends who live close by. Often these are your pillar of support that helps you get through the day when your husband has left for work. Do not under estimate how powerful peer support group can be.
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