Natural Help with Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding, or lactation, is the natural way in which the mother of a newborn can feed her child instead of relying on cow’s milk or artificial formula preparations. A woman’s breasts are ideally suited for the task of feeding a baby, and nursing provides many wonderful benefits for both the mom and the baby that bottles and formulas just can’t!
Mother’s milk is:
- Much easier to digest
- Prevents constipation
- Lowers the incidence of food allergies
- Protects the baby from many infectious diseases
Nursing also:
- Promotes healthy oral development
- Satisfies suckling needs
- Enhances bonding and skin to skin contact between mom and baby
Breastfeeding is beneficial to the mother in that:
- Reduces the chance of hemorrhaging from the placental site
- gives the mother an opportunity to rest ( for a while at least)
- Encourages the uterus to contract, returning it to its pre -pregnant size
Breast milk contains high amounts of inositol, a B vitamin that plays a crucial role in survival and infant development.
In breastfeeding, as with anything else that is new and unfamiliar, problems may occur. The important thing to remember is not to give up. This is a very wonderful time in a mom and baby’s life, it passes very quickly, but will always be in your heart.
ENGORGEMENT
This is a temporary problem that most commonly occurs between 2-5 days after childbirth. It is caused by a combination of the increased blood supply to the breast and the pressure of the newly produced milk, resulting in the swelling of the tissues in the breast. A low-grade fever may be present; the breasts feel full, hard, tender, and tight; and the skin of the breasts is hot, shiny, and distended.
Recommendations
- Give baby short, frequent feedings. A feeding schedule of everyone and a half to two hours day and night should be maintained while engorgement lasts.
- Express milk between feedings to relieve pressure
- Apply moist heat for thirty minutes preceding each feeding, and massage the breast during feedings to help get the milk flowing. (stand in shower with warm water running on the breasts really help, or soak in the tub in warm water)
- Do not use nipple shields, as they can confuse the baby’s sucking pattern, damage nipples, reduce stimulation of the breast, and decrease the milk supply.
- Allow the baby to empty each breast completely at each feeding. This should take about seven minutes on each side.
PLUGGED DUCT
Incomplete emptying of the milk ducts by the baby, or the wearing of a tight bra, can cause a plugged duct. Soreness and a lump in one area of a breast is an indication of this problem.
Recommendations
- Check the nipple very carefully for any tiny dots of dried milk, and remove them by gentle cleansing. Together with frequent nursing on the affected breast, this should allow the duct to clear itself within 24 hours.
- Massage the breasts with firm pressure, from the chest wall toward the nipple to stimulate milk flow.
- Alter the position of the baby on the nipple so all the ducts are drained.
- Make sure you offer the affected breast first, when the baby’s sucking is strongest.
Almost all drugs have been found to enter a nursing mother’s mild, including Tylenol ( and the like), alcohol, amphetamines, antibiotics, antihistamines, aspirin, barbiturates, caffeine, cimetidine, cocaine, decongestants, Valium, ergotamine, Librium, marijuana, nicotine, and opiates (codeine, meperidine, morphine). Some of the effects these drugs can have on an infant include diarrhea, rapid heart rate, restlessness, irritability, crying, poor sleeping, vomiting, and convulsions, and of course some of these drugs may accumulate in an infant’s body and cause addiction.
Herbal remedies have been used for hundreds of years to encourage a healthy flow of breast milk and, despite the advances of modern life; nature’s wisdom still has the answers!
This is a wonderful natural product for breastfeeding
