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In order to establish full-fledged breastfeeding from the very beginning, a young mother needs to know many little tricks. Then the baby will be full and healthy.
The best food for the baby is mother’s milk. But why do so few women really understand the importance of breastfeeding properly? Because feeding is a special art that a modern mother needs to learn. Zhanna Tsaregradskaya, head of the center for perinatal education and breastfeeding support “Rozhana”, answers typical questions of young mothers.
First days
After giving birth, a lot of milk comes, and as far as I know, a newborn baby needs very little. Do I need to express immediately after giving birth?
As a rule, a large amount of milk comes on the third or fifth day after birth. When staying together, when the mother can feed the baby not according to the strict regime, but on demand, that is, as often as the newborn needs, milk comes in the “demand – receipt” rhythm. This means that milk is supplied as much as the baby needs. If this rhythm is debugged from the first day of the baby’s life, the active arrival of milk is not dangerous and there is no need for regular expression. When milk comes in and your breasts feel painful, you can express for two days before you feel relieved, but no more than 3 times a day. As a rule, after two days, the unpleasant sensations disappear.
The need for regular pumping 5-6 times a day arises if the baby is brought to the hospital to feed according to the regimen or for some reason is not brought at all.
About pumping
Do I need to pump if I’m off-feeding my baby? And does the milk in the breast burn out if it is not expressed?
If you are on-demand breastfeeding, there is no need to express milk after each feed, it only takes the mother’s time, which would be better for the baby or household chores. Expression is necessary in case of breast engorgement, treatment of lactostasis or mastitis, with a lack of milk, in case of forced separation of mother and child in order to preserve milk, etc. Whether or not you need to pump is determined by your breastfeeding consultant, as extra pumping will reduce milk supply and stop lactation. But the opinion that milk can burn out in the breast if not expressed has nothing to do with reality. While in the mammary gland, milk cannot go bad.
Who will set the regime?
How often should a newborn breastfeed?
The frequency of feeding should be determined not by some average schedule, but by the real needs of the baby – he will set the mode himself. You can determine that the baby is hungry by the sucking movements of his mouth, by the way he turns his head or begins to cry pitifully. The baby of the first months of life should be applied to the breast as often as possible, providing the opportunity to suckle the breast when and how much he wants. This is necessary not only for the saturation of the crumbs, but also for his psycho-emotional comfort.
In the first days of life, newborns eat irregularly: they can either take the breast just a few times a day, or suck just continuously. Perhaps, at first, you will latch the baby to the breast up to 4 times an hour, and in total, babies in the first months of life may have 12-20 feedings during the day – do not worry, this is quite natural. In about a month, the little one will set a certain schedule by himself, and your general regime will be streamlined.
Five minutes or an hour?
Many people say that the baby should not be held at the breast for more than 10 minutes, as prolonged sucking leads to cracks. But I heard from some mothers that their babies suckled for an hour, but they did not have cracks. Why do cracks actually occur?
The appearance of cracks on the nipples is associated primarily with the correct attachment, and not with the duration of sucking. If you properly latch your baby to the breast and feed him in a comfortable position, cracks will not occur. Experienced lactation consultants can teach this. If you are sure that the baby is sucking in the correct position, he can be at the breast for as long as he wants: feeding should be finished when the baby himself releases the breast. Another cause of nipple injuries is regularly washing your breasts before and after each feed. If a mother washes her breasts with soap and even treats it with brilliant green, she may have cracks even with proper application. Frequent washing and rubbing with alcohol destroys the protective layer (located on the skin of the nipple and areola), which is produced by special glands located around the nipple. This protective lubricant is essential to prevent moisture loss. And, in addition, it has excellent bactericidal properties and inhibits the growth of pathogenic microorganisms – it is this protective layer that prevents the occurrence of injuries to the mother’s nipple.
Day and night
The doctor advised to feed his son not only during the day, but also at night. And my mother is categorically against it, she believes that the baby’s stomach cannot constantly digest food.
For a long time in our pediatric practice, it was believed that feeding a baby at night was harmful – supposedly the stomach of the baby should rest. But the paradox lies in the fact that the stomach of a newborn practically does not participate in the digestion of food, but serves as a “point of evacuation” of mother’s milk into the small intestine, which is adapted to digest breast milk in unlimited quantities. First, the length of the intestine of a newborn is 6 times the length of its body (for comparison, the intestine of an adult is only 4 times). Secondly, human milk contains lipase and other enzymes that help the baby’s digestive system to digest the fats and other nutrients found in breast milk. And, thirdly, proteins of human milk are assimilated not only through enzymes, but also through direct penetration in an unchanged form, first into the tissues of the intestine and stomach, and then into the blood.
At the beginning of life, the activity of the child’s own enzymes is low, but breast milk contains substances that stimulate their activity, and are also a supplier of additional enzymes. Breast milk is a unique food that helps to assimilate itself, which means that the baby can suck on her mother’s breast as often as she wants without harming her health. In addition, the lack of night feeds is not only difficult for newborns, but also reduces the amount of milk in the mother. At night, a woman’s body produces more prolactin (a hormone responsible for milk production) than during the day, so night feedings will give you the opportunity to feed the baby for as long as you like, and you will not be aware of problems with a lack of milk. When he is full, the baby sleeps soundly at night, which means that his mother’s sleep will be calm. If you feed your baby on demand, including at night, you will have as much milk in your breast as your baby really needs. The mother-child symbiosis is a system that operates on the principle of supply and demand, that is, the more milk a child sucks, the more milk is produced by the mother. As a rule, with free feeding, this system is well established, so you do not need to express after each feed.
Both food and drink
I breastfeed my newborn son exclusively. Do I need to feed or supplement him?
Breast milk is a balanced food and drink for babies. It fully satisfies all the vital needs of the child. With well-organized feeding, which includes correct attachment, frequent and long feedings and joint sleep, the baby does not need additional nutrition until 6 months of age. To maintain full breastfeeding and the health of the baby, you should completely abandon the addition of water to the baby, not only with water, but also with various teas, dill water, etc. Previously, pediatricians advised to add water to the crumbs, considering breast milk exclusively as food and fearing dehydration of his body. These fears are groundless: breast milk contains 87-90% water, therefore, with full and frequent breastfeeding, the baby’s need for liquid is fully provided. Research has proven that even in hot climates, breast milk fully meets all of the baby’s fluid needs. In addition, the centers of thirst and satiety in the brain of a newborn practically coincide, and these needs are satisfied simultaneously. When adding water, we deceive the baby, creating a false feeling of satiety in him, and this leads to sluggish sucking and a decrease in the need for breast milk. When the baby is supplemented, mothers lose milk and stop breastfeeding by 3-6 months.
No cracks or abrasions
When feeding, my nipples hurt, and recently abrasions and cracks began to appear. What to do?
The nipple’s skin takes time to adjust to the feeding process. As a rule, soreness is felt when the baby grabs the nipple, and immediately passes when the baby has already begun to suckle. If the discomfort does not go away within a few seconds after the start of feeding, the baby has picked up the breast incorrectly! Take it away and give it again. In case of pain, you can use creams and ointments (solcoseryl, bipanten, purlan), applying them in a thin layer, but only if there are no cracks! Injuries to the nipples, such as calluses, cracks and abrasions, are associated with improper attachment of the baby to the breast. Therefore, when they occur, it is necessary to learn how to properly apply and treat the nipples.
Anastasia Reshetova accidentally lit a special patch on her chest so that Ratmir would not bite her
Breastfeeding can be continued. If you have small abrasions or calluses in the nipple area, you can use the above ointments and wash them off not with water, but, for example, with an infusion of oak bark or your own milk and make sure that the abrasions do not develop into cracks. Cracks are a very serious problem, here you cannot do without the help of specialists. In no case do not treat the nipples with any ointments or creams, in some cases gels or jellies (Actovegin, Solcoseryl) may be recommended to you. At the slightest rise in temperature, contact a specialist immediately.
Try not to wash your breasts too often, and do not treat them with alcohol-based solutions.
To reduce irritation to sore breasts, feed your baby more often, while shortening the suckling time.
Before feeding, strain some milk and spoon it to your baby.
If the crack does not heal in 3-7 days, for some time (at least 12 hours) do not put the baby to the sore breast (you may have to spoon feed him with milk expressed from the sore gland). Return to dual breastfeeding after a couple of days, using the diseased breast to supplement the healthy breast for the first time.
Do not remove the nipple if your baby is squeezing it tightly with his gums or has not finished sucking yet. It is necessary that he himself let go of the nipple, opening his mouth. To do this, insert your little finger into his mouth, parallel to the nipple. And be consistent! In the first days after the start of treatment, the baby can make a scandal, because he is used to taking the breast in an easier, albeit wrong way: he may refuse to take a breast that smells of medicine; may stop gaining weight. All this does not harm the child, no matter how paradoxical it may seem to you.