Starting breastfeeding: tips for a nursing mother. Proper breastfeeding: tips for a nursing mother

26.08.2019

We will not talk about the benefits of breast milk today. A sufficient number of articles have already been written on this topic. Today we will publish tips for a nursing mother, which will be useful when establishing the process of breastfeeding.

Unfortunately, in the modern world, the duration of breastfeeding a baby is reduced in many families. It is rare that a child receives breast milk after the age of six months, and at the age of one year - in general, isolated cases. The mothers themselves are primarily to blame for this. It is clear that they are not taught this. But it is worth remembering - if the milk came, and after some time it disappeared, then the mother herself is completely to blame.

Breastfeeding is also a science and needs to be carefully studied.

The advice of Soviet-era pediatricians today looks unnatural. To the delight of many, WHO has released its recommendations. They contain very important advice for breastfeeding mothers on breastfeeding. It's not hard to follow them. So, remember the following:

Attach the baby to the breast as soon as possible. It is advisable to do this in the first hour after birth.
Do not bottle feed your newborn. Bottles can be addictive, and then the baby simply will not take his mother's breast.
Joint "accommodation" in the same room with the mother.
Learn how to properly breastfeed your baby. Both of you need it. With the correct position, the baby will not capture excess air and will not bite your chest.
Feed your baby on demand. Breastfeeding by the hour is a relic of the Soviet era.
Leave the duration of feeding to the discretion of the child.
Pay close attention to night feedings. They are especially nutritious and guarantee stable lactation.
No need to solder. The baby is enough of the liquid that comes with breast milk.
Do not offer your baby a second breast if he has not sucked everything out of the first. Late milk is the most high-calorie.
There is no need to wash the breast before and after feeding. So you will only "earn" your nipple cracks.
Do not irritate yourself and the child with frequent weighing. Weigh your baby once a month, not more often.
You don't have to pump after every breastfeed. We will talk about this in more detail a little later.
Try not to introduce complementary foods until 6 months of age.
Communication with more experienced mothers or lactation consultants will be helpful.

Mom's nutrition

It is probably not worth explaining that the nutrition of a nursing mother affects the quality of breast milk. In this regard, natural questions arise about what you can eat and what you can’t.

To begin with, remember that overeating and a large amount of liquid consumed on the quantity and quality of milk is not reflected in any way. Ideally, a nursing mother should eat 5-6 times a day, in moderate portions.

Stick to your normal diet while breastfeeding. No need to experiment. But here it is better to completely exclude any allergens (citrus fruits in the first place). You also need to minimize the consumption of those products that can cause fermentation and gas formation in the body.

In the diet of a nursing mother, meat, fish and vegetables must be present without fail. It is desirable that sauerkraut is present on the menu. This product is very useful, but you should not lean on it right away. Try a little first and see how your baby reacts. If there are no unpleasant consequences, feel free to include it in the menu.

Horseradish, mustard, spices and decoctions of aromatic herbs are undesirable for use. They can affect the taste of breast milk, and the baby himself will not want to eat it.

General principles of nutrition:

Choking and refusal to feed

If the baby is choking during feeding, first try changing the position. The best option is sitting with a straight back, while the baby's head should be supported as high as possible.

Another reason for choking may be the peculiarity of the mother's breasts. There are times when milk flows as if by itself and does not require any effort from the baby. In this case, you can try to express milk a little before feeding, so that there is not much of it.

If these two tips do not help and the child continues to choke, contact a specialist. Perhaps the reason lies not in your breasts and not in the amount of milk, but in the wrong structure of the oral cavity or larynx of the crumbs.

It is not uncommon for a baby to refuse breastfeeding. Perhaps the reason for this is the crisis of 3-4 months. At this age, for the first time, your baby is testing the mother “for strength”. From the side it seems that the baby does not want to suckle the breast. He rests on his arms and legs, turns his head and does not want to drink his mother's milk. It is at this moment that many children become artificial, often due to the inexperience of the mother. If during this “crisis” period, the mother continues to insist and offer the child a breast, after a while the baby will again begin to “eat mother” to the delight of everyone.

Correct grip and correct posture

Often, from an incorrectly captured mother's breast, a newborn does not gain enough weight. Therefore, it is important to teach the baby to properly latch on to the breast. To do this, you need to hold the breast with one hand and direct the nipple towards the baby's palate. The ideal grip is in the baby's mouth, the nipple and areola (or most of it), the lower lip of the little one is turned outward.

With the right grip, the baby does not swallow air, and will not suffer from pain in the abdomen. It is easy to determine the fidelity of the capture - you will not hear smacking or other extraneous sounds, and breastfeeding will not be so painful.

An important role is played by the position in which you feed the baby. There are three main options:

"cradle" (classic sitting position)
"from armpit"
lying down feeding.

Basic postures for feeding:

The main criterion for choosing a pose is a feeling of comfort. Mom and baby should be comfortable first of all. You also need to make sure that in any of the selected poses the child’s body does not bend and is in the same plane.

It is advisable to sometimes change positions so that the baby sucks milk from different lobes of the chest. This will prevent stagnation of milk.

8 feeding rules:

If mom is sick

If a nursing mother is sick, there is no need to interrupt breastfeeding and temporarily transfer the baby to formula. This is fraught with unpleasant consequences. The kid can then “fall out of love” with his mother’s breast and become an artificial one.

Even during illness, mother's milk is the most beneficial for the baby. With him, the mother passes on to the child antibodies to the disease that she herself suffers from. Medications should be taken only as prescribed by a doctor. And the point here is not only that they will affect the child. Some medicines adversely affect the production of breast milk.

It is worth noting that there are diseases that are not compatible with breastfeeding, these include:

tuberculosis in an open form;
mental illness.

Expressions

Pumping after each feeding can also be called a relic of the Soviet era. Then the children were fed by the hour, and long breaks led to the overflow of the mother's breast. Remember - milk is produced strictly "at the request" of your crumbs. How much he sucked, so much will come. If the mother starts pumping, the baby will not be able to cope with large volumes of milk. The consequences may not be joyful at all, up to mastitis.

But in some cases, pumping is necessary. If the baby was born prematurely, he is still very weak and cannot eat the amount of milk that his mother's breast is rich in. In this case, with the help of pumping, you kill two birds with one stone:

do not allow the breast to overflow and thereby prevent mastitis;
provide your baby with nutrition in the near future. After all, you support the production of milk at the same level, and the baby is growing and will soon begin to cope with these volumes.

By the way, it will be easier for a premature baby to breastfeed if the mother expresses milk a little just before feeding, and not after it. In addition, this way you increase the likelihood of a child receiving late, most fortified breast milk.

Breast problems

From improper attachment to the breast or improper weaning, such a nuisance as cracked nipples can occur. They give the nursing mother a lot of inconvenience and cause pain during feeding.

Cracked nipples should not be a reason to stop breastfeeding. In this case, it is recommended to use silicone pads and a special cream for healing cracks. And do not forget to follow the correct grip on the chest.

If you notice breast tightness or excessive swelling, this may be a harbinger of mastitis. This disease occurs when the breast is poorly released from milk. In this situation, pumping, which was mentioned just above, will come to your aid.

See how to express:

Breastfeeding with mastitis can be continued.

How to prolong lactation

Remember that regular feedings lead to regular milk production.

If you think that milk is still not enough, you can try to increase its amount. Now there are special tablets for this. But before you start taking medication (in any case, this is chemistry), try folk remedies.

It is believed that parsley and various herbal teas can increase the production of breast milk. Decoctions of nettle, mint, dill seeds, chicory have this effect. Dill also reduces increased gas formation in crumbs. Drinking decoctions should start little by little. Do not forget about the baby, who may have an allergic reaction.

The psychological state of the mother is also important. Experiences and stresses can cause a short-term stop of milk. This does not mean that the milk is gone, it just stopped flowing. However, with a long stay in a stressful state, stagnation of milk occurs. As people say, the milk "burned out." Such stagnation can affect the extinction of lactation, but the main thing here is to start acting in time. You need to relax, calm down and not stop putting the baby to the breast.

13 ways to increase lactation:

We talked about the main problems that a nursing mother may face. Let these tips become a kind of cheat sheet for you. For the rest, listen to the requirements of the crumbs and your maternal instinct, and you will definitely succeed.

See more video tips:

More on the topic (posts from this category)

In Soviet times, the rules of breastfeeding were established by medicine. Young mothers were taught in advance that before feeding they should wash their breasts, preferably with boiled water, after feeding they should express milk to an empty breast. It was supposed to feed the baby strictly at certain hours, not paying attention to whether the child was crying or sleeping. All these moments turned the care of the baby into flour. These rules have now been revised.

Previously, young mothers were advised to feed their children strictly on time, even if such a schedule did not suit the baby.

The World Health Organization (WHO) only at the beginning of this century made a statement that only mother's milk is absolutely harmless for a child under 2 years old. This thesis is very relevant, despite the development of medicine. Breast milk forms the child's immunity, promotes the development of the brain and nervous system.

Thanks to WHO, the policy of training medical staff in maternity hospitals has changed. Doctors, consultants and nurses began to be trained in breastfeeding techniques. They began to give the child to mothers in the first half hour after childbirth, plus, the mother and baby in the maternity hospital lie in the same ward. A woman after giving birth can ask the staff for information, but some tips for mothers should be read in advance.

When breastfeeding is supposed, experts give advice to the nursing mother on all issues that concern her. The most important advice is to stop worrying. There are women who have a lot of milk, there are those who have little. In the second case, it is necessary to apply methods to increase the amount of milk produced. How to do this will be described below. Lactostases and cracks in the nipples do not always appear. If they do appear, they just need to be cured.

Even if there is not enough milk, you should not rush with supplementary feeding - it is almost always possible to increase the volume of lactation

Even during pregnancy, you need to tune in to breastfeeding, enjoying these thoughts. Imagine how the baby lies in your arms, touches you with small hands, takes a nipple in his mouth. Talk to other mothers who are breastfeeding. Read specialized literature. Watch the programs of Dr. Komarovsky. Remember that only 3% of women cannot breastfeed a baby. The rest you just need to want, and everything will be fine. No reasons - unfavorable heredity, anatomical features of the structure of the breast, illness, are not the reason for refusing to breastfeed.

How to increase the amount of breast milk?

This article talks about typical ways to solve your questions, but each case is unique! If you want to know from me how to solve exactly your problem - ask your question. It's fast and free!

The first point is the choice of a maternity hospital. It is necessary to choose an institution in which, after giving birth, mothers are immediately placed on the stomach and chest of the baby.

The body of a woman, upon contact with a newborn, triggers the mechanism of lactation. While a woman does not produce milk, but colostrum is a very useful product for the baby. It transfers immunity from mother to baby, contains vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

A woman after childbirth experiences nervous tension. She worries about the baby, thinks that there is too little colostrum to feed the baby. This is wrong. The substances contained in colostrum are quite enough to satisfy the needs of the baby in all useful substances. In no case should you start supplementing your newborn with formula milk, otherwise he will get used to easily getting food from the nipple and refuse to suckle. Milk will come in 2-3 days. Don't rush things.

One of the effective ways to improve lactation is the use of natural preparations based on the royal jelly of bees. For example, the drug Apilak Grindeks, which contains 10 mg of natural royal jelly, will provide the body with all the necessary vitamins and macro- and microelements to maintain vitality and comprehensive assistance to the body. It contains the same valuable substances as in breast milk: proteins, fats, carbohydrates, a group of vitamins (A, C, B1, B2 B3, B5 B6, B12, E, K, folic acid), macro and microelements (calcium , iron, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, sodium, potassium).
Apilac Grindeks has been clinically proven effective in the treatment of hypogalactia by gently stimulating milk secretion in women suffering from this problem.

What rules to follow?

Old views on the sterility of the maternal nipple are being revised. Moreover, modern doctors believe that it is impossible to wash the chest with soap or gel. The nipples are very tender and can crack from the soap, which dries out the skin. Think about the smell too - the baby will recognize the mother by the smell, and if she smells the same soap as the rest, he will not recognize her, get worried and may refuse to breastfeed. It makes sense to wash the breast no more than 2 times a day with warm water without soap.

The use of brilliant green and other disinfectants to lubricate the nipples can lead to overdrying of the skin and cracked nipples. The nipples are covered with a natural lubricant that protects them from external influences. You don't need to wash it off with soapy water.

If you feed your baby and he starts crying after 1-2 hours, breastfeed him again. Maybe he didn't have enough to eat last time. It is necessary to feed the baby at his first request, and not to maintain a schedule. The baby, of course, can cry for another reason - a wet diaper, a tummy ache or something else, but hunger is the most common reason for crying.

You should not interrupt the familiar and familiar aroma of mother's breasts with a sharp smell of soap or shower gel.

How often to feed the baby?

Babies suckle breasts in different ways, depending on their strength and character. There are children who suck actively and quickly fill up. Others breastfeed slowly, resting occasionally. The first days a woman feeds a baby very often. A regimen is gradually developed - eating every 1.5-2 hours. The mother and child should come to such a regimen on their own, without forcibly limiting the number of feedings.

Don't take your baby off the breast when you think he's full. At first, babies very often suck their mother also because feeding is a way for him to communicate with his closest person. During suckling, he calms down and can fall asleep.

No need to accustom a newborn to a pacifier. On the street, it is convenient to give him a pacifier so that he does not have to go home and breastfeed. This habit, however, does not increase lactation, unlike breast sucking. The more the baby suckles breastfeeding, the more lactation is stimulated. When part of the feeding is replaced by a dummy, the woman's milk gradually disappears. The psychological connection between the baby and mother is also present only during breastfeeding. A dummy does not establish such a connection.

A pacifier is more of an emergency measure than a panacea, so it should be used extremely rarely.

When is pumping necessary?

If the mother follows the above rules, there is no need to express the breast. Previously, when a mother fed her baby by the hour, her breasts would overflow with unclaimed milk. He had to be squeezed. When a newborn is breastfed on demand, there is no excess milk left. The baby, as it were, makes an order for a certain amount of milk - how much he eats this time, the same amount will arrive next. When pumping after feeding, the next time there will be more milk than the baby is able to eat. This can lead to lactostasis.

Pumping leads to another trouble. Thick milk, which contains lactase, is removed from the breast. This enzyme breaks down the sugar that is present in mother's liquid milk. When feeding, the baby will receive the liquid part of the milk with a lot of sugar. This sugar will enter the intestines, which can upset the stool. When there is a need to express:

The mother leaves the house for a long time, another relative will have to feed the newborn with milk from a bottle (we recommend reading:). To do this, the mother stores breast milk in advance.
The woman produces too much milk and the breasts harden. There is a danger of mastitis.
Lactation is reduced, the mother is not able to provide the child with milk. This happens when the baby feels unwell and has little strength to actively suck on his mother.
In connection with the illness of a woman, treatment with drugs prohibited for the baby was required. In this case, they are expressed to maintain lactation until the mother recovers.

Postures for feeding

How often should you change breasts while breastfeeding? This should be done no more than once every 2 hours. Only with this tactic will the baby receive both types of milk - liquid and thick.

In order for the milk not to stagnate, it is necessary to change the position of the child during feeding. Practice says that where the baby's chin rests, milk comes from there. Changing posture is an excellent prevention of mastitis.

When applying to the breast, pay attention to the area where the baby is grabbing the nipple. He must take into his mouth not only the nipple itself, but also the area around it - the areola. His lips will be as if turned outward - with such a grip, feeding will be successful. If you do not follow the capture of the nipple, the baby will swallow air and his tummy will hurt.

The problem of proper nipple latch can also affect the baby's weight gain - he will absorb less milk, and his weight will lag behind the age norm. The doctor in the clinic sometimes does not have the time or desire to think about the correct grip of the nipple, he will prescribe you complementary foods with milk formula, and this will lead to a decrease in lactation.

Take the baby in your arms and bring it to your chest. Put the nipple deep into his mouth, hold the baby firmly. In this position, the baby does not swallow air, he and his mother will be comfortable.

There are many poses for feeding, but in each of them the child must capture the areola area completely.

Is the baby eating?

How do you know if your baby is getting enough milk? This is where the wet diaper method comes in handy. In the first days after birth, the baby pees 5-6 times a day. Gradually, this number increases to 20-25 per day. If your child pees less than 6 times a day, he is not getting enough fluid. In this case, you need to contact the district pediatrician to avoid dehydration of the little man's body.

Should I give water to the baby?

Do I need to feed the baby? If the child is breastfed, he does not need to be supplemented. Milk consists of 80% water. It is heterogeneous in its structure. At the beginning of breast sucking, the baby drinks the liquid part of the milk, which he drinks. Then the milk goes thicker, which serves as food. These 2 types of milk fully meet the baby's needs for food and drink. If you give a baby water to drink, it will occupy a certain volume in his stomach, he will suck his mother less, lactation will decrease.

Do you feed at night?

You must breastfeed at night. It is at this time of day when feeding in large quantities that prolactin is produced - a very important hormone. Prolactin not only promotes lactation, but also stimulates the immune system, anesthetizes, and keeps ovulation during breastfeeding. Mom may not worry that she will become pregnant when the first baby is still too small (we recommend reading:).

So that it is not difficult for the mother to get up, take the child out of the crib, and so on, it is better to put the baby to sleep with you. When he turns over, mom can only give him a breast and sleep on. In the same bed with parents, the baby feels protected and quickly calms down. If you find it uncomfortable to sleep with your baby, place his crib so that he is close to you. Remove the partition between you and the child from it. Then the mother will be able to take the child to her bed only for the time of feeding.

When to introduce complementary foods?

Don't rush into feeding. Up to six months, a baby can easily manage with mother's milk. After 6 months, complementary foods can be introduced to introduce the baby to different flavors of food. Complementary foods should not replace breastfeeding. Mom's milk is much healthier than any vegetable puree. With early supplementation of feedings with baby vegetable purees, mother's milk is gradually replaced by other, less useful products.

What should a mother eat during lactation?

A healthy balanced diet for a nursing mother is very important for active lactation.

The nutrition of a woman must be thought out in advance (we recommend reading:). Many substances from food and medicine pass into mother's milk and can harm the baby. Some foods cause allergies, and drugs bring tangible harm. It is not necessary to prescribe treatment for yourself - this should be done by the therapist, taking into account your situation.

Mothers should exclude allergenic foods from their diet. Do not eat red and orange vegetables and fruits. Smoked meats, pickles, spicy and fatty foods should be excluded from the diet. Do not eat seafood, nuts, honey, chocolate.

It is necessary to limit the content in the mother's diet of products that cause fermentation. They will not harm the mother, and the baby will have a tummy ache. Such products include cabbage, grapes, radishes, radishes, chocolates and other sweets.

dairy products;
rice, buckwheat, oatmeal;
yellow and green vegetables and fruits;
vegetable soups;
lean meat;
durum wheat bread.

Dairy products are great for breastfeeding moms

How much to feed a child?

Until what age should a child be fed? Many women believe that it is enough to feed up to 1 year. This is wrong - you can feed up to 2 or up to 3 years. In a year, the baby receives many other products, but is in no hurry to refuse the breast. Sucking on his mother's breast calms him down. By forcibly stopping feeding, you will injure the child psychologically, and this will also affect the health of your mammary glands. Wait until the baby refuses breast milk on his own.

Some women breastfeed longer than the usual duration, but doctors actively support them in this.

Should I wean from the breast when the mother is sick?

When a mother is sick, the baby should not be weaned. Talk to your doctor about what medications you can take without stopping feeding. If a mother has a seasonal cold, only breastfeeding will save the baby from infection. Together with mother's milk, he will receive antibodies that will fight the infection. In case of infection, the baby will endure a cold much easier.

A baby is a very serious task. And if a woman has her first child, of course, there are a lot of questions about how to start this process correctly and make it comfortable for the mother and useful for the baby. We have selected answers to the most popular questions of young mothers, and we hope that they will help you too.

What to do if the first days after childbirth, the mother does not have milk?

What to do if the chest is full, hot and sore?

Painful breast engorgement, bursting pain and temperature - perhaps the initial stage of lactostasis develops in the body of a young mother, milk stagnation has formed in the breast.

How long should a baby be at the breast during one feeding?

If we are talking only about the organization of breastfeeding, then the mother and baby are just getting used to each other, and the lactation process itself is in the process of adjustment. Initially, you should not talk about some kind of constancy: a child can ask for a breast every 20-30 minutes and suck a little and very quickly, and sometimes a break can reach 2-3 hours, and the baby will eat for more than half an hour.

Do not compare your child with other babies and do not be upset if you read information that tells how a baby should eat, but everything is not quite right for you. It is possible to talk about the regimen only if the child is artificially fed, but if the baby eats breast milk, remember that all babies are different and in the first months after birth it is absolutely normal for them to breastfeed often or randomly.

Do not forget that being at the mother’s breast for a child is not only just eating - this is how the baby calms down and communicates with his mother, he likes to be in her arms as often as possible, hearing the familiar heartbeat and smelling his own smell. After a few weeks, the baby will develop a routine, attachments to the breast will be more orderly, feedings will be intense, and the intervals between them will be predictable.

Our mother is Dajan tells : “The first months after giving birth, we didn’t have such a thing as a regime at all. The son could sleep for 3 hours, then eat for an hour, falling asleep and waking up at the chest. I was nervous, because at that time I was completely subordinate to him and could not do anything around the house, I did not have time for anything. But time has passed - we are already almost four months old, and everything has more or less improved. He endures a period of 2.5 hours on his own, and does not even scream when he is hungry, but simply grunts. The man has grown."

The topic of breastfeeding is huge and inexhaustible. And we would be naive and a priori wrong if we tried to fit in one material all aspects of this complex issue. So there will be several articles on how to breastfeed properly, and this one is only the first of them. It will discuss how to establish breastfeeding of a newborn, how often to put the baby to the breast, how and why to express milk, and also how to achieve the “cancellation” of night feedings ...

How to breastfeed your baby: Getting started with breastfeeding

How does breast milk mature? The mammary glands of a woman preparing for childbirth begin to rebuild even during pregnancy. Every woman in position notices this - the breasts “fill up”, significantly increase in size and become denser.

In the first 2-3 days after the birth of a baby, the mammary gland does not “give out” milk as such, but the so-called colostrum - this is primary milk, which is quite different in composition and fat content from more mature milk.

Colostrum is extremely useful for a newborn baby and plays a key role in breastfeeding - it contains the highest concentration of proteins, trace elements and fat-soluble vitamins, but it is poor in carbohydrates. Such a “cocktail” provides maximum immune protection for the baby, populates its intestines with primary microflora, nourishes the baby and is well absorbed.

It is very important to carry out the first application of the child to the breast immediately after childbirth or, as a maximum, within the first day after birth.

Explains Irina Ryukhova, breastfeeding consultant of the AKEV Association and author of the book How to Give Your Baby Health. We breastfeed”: “The first application during breastfeeding is a recognition of the existence of each other, the first acquaintance, it must necessarily take place at least on the first day after childbirth. In addition, colostrum is the natural and most useful nutrition for a newborn in the early days, which provides the baby with maximum protection against disease and growth. Finally, due to its reduced fat content, colostrum is a little weak, which allows you to clear the baby's intestines from meconium (the first stool). Thus, the intestines of the child get rid of the bilirubin accumulated in the meconium. This minimizes the risk of development.”

Colostrum is produced in relatively small quantities - only about 20-30 ml per feeding. But, unlike mature milk, colostrum is produced continuously, not in sessions. Nature conceived this mechanism so that the mother would put the baby to the breast as often as possible in the first days after birth. For what? In order for the baby to constantly suck on the breast, thereby irritating the nipple. The more active the irritation of the nipple occurs, the faster the production of mature milk will begin. And not only faster, but more.

The most effective way to improve the production of breast milk is to constantly put the baby to the breast. Because it is the irritation of the nipple that stimulates increased lactation like nothing else.

At the end of the third day, transitional milk begins to ripen in the breast, and after 2-3 weeks, the mother already begins to feed the newborn with full-fledged, mature milk. Thus, the formation of breastfeeding occurs at the initial stage.

"Dairy farm": what determines the amount of milk during breastfeeding

If the baby suckles actively and vigorously, then, as a rule, in one feeding, he almost completely empties one or both breasts. And in this case, there is no need to express the remaining milk.

However, in reality, mothers often complain not of an excess, but, on the contrary, of a lack of milk during breastfeeding. It seems to them that the breast does not have time to fill up during the interval between feedings, remains “empty”, and thus the baby does not finish eating. Many mothers at this moment turn to an assortment of artificial mixtures and begin to actively supplement the baby with food “from a jar”. This is what breastfeeding experts do not recommend.

And they insist: attachment to an empty breast is not only not pointless, but also very useful for establishing breastfeeding. Since the process of lactation is born in the cerebral cortex of a woman, a stimulus is needed to “supply” milk to the breast. Active sucking is such a stimulus. The baby "smacks" the empty breast, the brain immediately receives a signal that there is a "demand" for milk, and after a while the milk begins to arrive in the breast.

If you want to establish breastfeeding in full - do not stop putting the baby to the breast, on the contrary - do it as often as possible, even if at first the breast is completely empty and lactation attempts look like a real mockery of the newborn baby.

Attempts to establish exclusive breastfeeding may well continue without harming the health of the baby for 2-3 days. And only if after 3 days there are still obvious interruptions with milk, and the baby really doesn’t eat up at the risk to his health and development, in this case it is absolutely necessary to go to the store and buy a jar of formula for supplementary feeding.

The process of implementing breastfeeding can take several days - but it’s still worth it to endure baby crying and weight loss for the sake of future full-fledged breastfeeding. For 3 days, a nutritional deficiency will have almost no effect on a newborn baby, but in the end, your patience and perseverance can bring you a positive result: milk production will improve in full, and you will be able to fully breastfeed your baby without any "additives from outside".

Requirement for others: a nursing mother must be loved, protected, cared for and cherished

There are quite a few fundamental differences between humans and other mammals. One of them is that all the functions of the human body are “managed” by the cerebral cortex. That is why the mother’s emotional state leaves a huge imprint on the lactation process.

In other words: when an elephant or a mother whale is “sad”, or when they are scared, or when they are “on the run” or in captivity, the amount of milk in their udder does not change at all.

But when a human mother is sad or very tired, her milk “leaves”, up to complete disappearance. That is why it is very important to surround a nursing woman with some adequate amount of attention and care - to give her the opportunity to sleep between feedings, not to burden her with household chores and simply to please: a woman who is breastfeeding a newborn child is doubly pleasant and needs compliments, bouquets, affectionate words, etc. .P.

In addition, a nursing mother should not be limited - most ideas about that are misconceptions.

Factors that positively affect lactation in the first month of a baby's life:

the most frequent application of the baby to the breast (active sucking and irritation of the nipple);
emotional support for the mother, caring for her;
lack of stress;
the duration of the “session” of feeding (the longer the baby sucks, the more milk will arrive by the next time).

Breastfeeding styles

There are two main styles of breastfeeding:

feeding on demand
feeding according to schedule

In the first case, the mother puts the baby to the breast “at the first peep” of the child, regardless of how much time has passed since the last feeding. In the second - the baby is breast-fed strictly by the clock - as a rule, every three hours.

It is rare for a mother to choose which feeding style to practice on her own. Reality shows that most often the main determining factor is the character of the child.

If the baby is restless, noisy and active, the mother, willy-nilly, endlessly and everywhere puts him to her breast and becomes an “adept” of the style of feeding on demand. If, on the contrary, the baby is very calm from birth, sleeps constantly and rarely cries, then the mother naturally begins to adhere to the “every three hours” feeding regimen.

It will be useful for both mothers to know that:

If the child independently released the breast nipple (and therefore he was full and no longer wants to eat), then his physiological feeling of hunger may come no earlier than 2 hours later.

This means that if your baby, 30 minutes after feeding, screamed at the top of her lungs, then the reason for the screams is not hunger, but from something else: itches, tortured, just “the spleen and scandalous mood took over.” Anything but hunger.

Given this fact, modern pediatricians often suggest that mothers modify the style of feeding, combining the principles of the regimen and feeding on demand - in the method of free feeding. That is, the mother breastfeeds the baby on demand, but at the same time maintaining at least two-hour intervals between feedings. And during sleep, the child is not woken up for feeding - he will wake up and eat.

On the one hand, this style will save you from overfeeding the baby (which is often the cause of prolonged colic), on the other hand, it will teach mother and baby to communicate not only through the breast (after all, it can be done in other ways besides “issuing” the coveted nipple). And finally, more or less adequate intervals between feedings will help the baby’s gastrointestinal system to quickly establish the process of digesting food.

About pumping and storing breast milk

If you have chosen the method of breastfeeding on demand, then at the stage of formation of lactation, you can not think about pumping. In conditions when the baby is constantly “hanging” on the chest, he simply will not allow either colostrum or the first mature milk to linger and stagnate in the chest.

It is necessary to express in three cases:

1 If for some reason (for example, the baby was born prematurely and was sent to the hospital for nursing), you are separated from the baby in the first days or weeks, but plan to establish full-fledged breastfeeding in the future.

Evgenia Trifonova, consultant on breastfeeding of the AKEV Association: “If you understand that resuscitation can drag on for weeks, then to maintain lactation, you must use a breast pump no later than 6 hours after birth. And then pump every 3 hours with a 5-hour break at night. Then there is a chance to keep breastfeeding the newborn.”

2 If you leave the baby with loved ones or a nanny, do not breastfeed, but you want the baby to eat breast milk.
3 If a newborn in one feeding eats less milk than "accumulated" in your breast.

As for the last point, modern breastfeeding specialists and neonatologists often argue: there are supporters of pumping, there are opponents. The main argument in favor of pumping is the risk of lactational mastitis in the mother.

Observations of Dr. Komarovsky: “Today, when doctors more and more often recommend mothers not to pump at all, the number of lactational mastitis has increased significantly.”

lactation mastitis is an inflammation of the mammary gland during breastfeeding. In 87% of cases of lactational mastitis, the cause of the disease is lactostasis - in other words, stagnation of milk in the breast. If lactostasis continues for 3-4 days (for example, the mother has plenty of milk, the child does not suck everything out, and the mother does not express it), then inflammation of the gland is almost inevitable, since stagnant milk is an ideal breeding ground for microbes.

It is also necessary to express in order to ensure the feeding of the baby in the absence of the mother (for example, the mother leaves for work, and the grandmother or nanny feeds the baby with expressed milk). Properly expressed, frozen and thawed milk does not differ in composition and benefits from the milk that the baby receives directly from the mother's breast.

We will devote a separate detailed material to how to express properly, why and when to do it, as well as how to properly freeze, store and defrost breast milk. We only recall that breast milk can be frozen (there are special bags and containers for freezing expressed milk) in the freezer for quite a long time. However, breast milk can only be thawed at room temperature and heated only in a steam bath.

How long should you breastfeed your baby

It is extremely important to provide the baby with breastfeeding in the first six months of his life - his health, his growth and development fundamentally depend on this.

Modern doctors around the world have agreed that if a mother has enough of her own milk, then up to 6 months only breastfeeding can be carried out, which will fully cover the baby's needs for all the necessary substances. That is, neither water nor complementary foods can be added to the baby's diet.

The only exception is a very hot climate, in which the risk of heat stroke in a small child increases dramatically. In this case, it is necessary to compensate for the pathological loss of fluids in the body of the crumbs, supplementing it with water, and often even mineral water (that is, water with the addition of salts) - we wrote more about this in the material about that.

And then, after you have celebrated the first six months of your baby's life, everything related to the duration of breastfeeding depends primarily on the desire and capabilities of the mother and the family as a whole.

At 6 months, the child is recommended. However, it is highly desirable to continue breastfeeding. And further - the frequency and duration of breastfeeding gradually decreases, at the same time the frequency and volume of complementary foods increase accordingly.

If the mother has the opportunity (she still has active milk production) and desire - the preservation of breastfeeding is welcomed by all pediatricians of the world without exception. For example, WHO (World Health Organization) and UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) jointly recommend maintaining partial breastfeeding (that is, the child's diet consists mainly of other foods - vegetables, meat, cereals, dairy products, etc., but together at the same time, he also receives a daily portion of his mother's milk) up to 2 years or more. Explaining the importance of this strategy by the fact that breastfeeding in children of any age significantly reduces the risk of various infections.

Logically, it can be assumed that for countries with a high level of medicine and a low level of the spread of infectious diseases (Russia is one of these countries), the medical reason for prolonged breastfeeding is not as relevant as for underdeveloped countries.

In modern pediatrics, there is an opinion that in developed countries with a high standard of living, breastfeeding a child after a year has not so much biological value as psychological.

To us, it was perceived more as an anomaly than a favorable norm. But that's a different story...

In short. To put it as simply and clearly as possible, we repeat:

ironically it is necessary (according to all biological laws) to breastfeed the child - the first six months;
it is highly desirable to prolong breastfeeding - up to 1-1.5 years;
at the discretion of the family and, if desired, by the mother herself, you can continue to breastfeed once or twice a day - for as long as you like.

The benefits and reason for night feedings: when children are for, and mothers are not very ...

Most pediatricians and breastfeeding experts rightly argue that nighttime feedings are necessary and justified in the period up to 6 months. Even if the baby sleeps peacefully until the morning and does not wake up with a “hungry cry”, it should still be woken up 1-2 times a night and applied to the chest.

However, after reaching six months of age, it is quite reasonable to reduce the number of nightly feedings to once. This will significantly add strength and good mood to the mother, and will not in any way infringe on the child's need for food.

How and when can night feedings be reduced? The following activities are very helpful:

Late night bathing. After 23 hours it is useful in cool water, then feed tightly. This scenario encourages the child to fall asleep quickly and deeply and, as a rule, sleep soundly for the next 3-4 hours.
Favorable microclimate. Create a cool and humid microclimate in the room where the child sleeps, which contributes to a sound and restful sleep. Parameters: air temperature - no more than 20 ° C, humidity - 50-70%.

Gradually, over time, night feedings can and should be “cancelled” altogether.

How to breastfeed correctly: summary

So, from an array of useful information, let's try to squeeze out a brief rational grain:

Breast-feeding- this is a type of feeding for newborns, infants and children up to 2 years and even older, which has no analogues in terms of benefits and value. Any comparison between breastfeeding and artificial feeding is a priori advantageous in favor of the former.
The most reliable and effective way to establish breastfeeding- in the first days and weeks of a newborn's life, put the baby to the breast as often as possible so that he actively stimulates the nipple.
Breastfeeding in the first six months of the baby- the necessary norm, which provides the strongest possible protection of the child from diseases and fully covers all his nutritional needs.
Supplement the baby with water, or supplement any products in the first six months is not necessary. An exception is the conditions of a very hot climate, in which the baby needs constant replenishment of the water-salt balance.
6 months to a year- breastfeeding (along with complete complementary foods) is highly desirable.
The optimal style of feeding a baby up to a year- on demand, but with intervals between applications to the chest of at least 2 hours.
After 1-1.5 years the issue of breastfeeding is determined solely by the desire of mother and baby.
Expressed breast milk(subject to proper storage and defrosting) - as useful and nutritious as the milk in the breast.

Breast milk is a unique food product for a newborn, not only natural, but also very useful. It contains all the nutrients, trace elements and vitamins necessary for the proper development of the child's body.

Colostrum precedes the formation of breast milk. It has no equal in composition and quality of nutrients. It perfectly saturates the baby during the first 2-3 days and is easily digested. And by 4-5 days after birth, real breast milk appears.

With the birth of a child, a young mother has a lot of different questions and problems regarding feeding. Especially a lot of them at the birth of the first child. Answers to the most frequently asked questions can be found in this article.

Long gone are the days when newborns were in separate wards of the maternity hospital from their mother. To date, it has been proven (and carried out) that the contact of the newborn with the mother and the first attachment to the breast are necessary immediately after birth. The sooner the baby is attached to the breast, the faster breastfeeding will be established, the easier the child will adapt after birth.

How often to feed the baby

One of the important issues for a young mother is the number of feedings during the day, and many doubt whether it is possible to feed a child at night. There are 3 options to solve this problem:

Feeding by the hour, or according to the schedule, is the old way, when the crumbs were applied to the breast strictly after 3 hours. This is convenient for the mother, and not for the child, because the mother could do household chores between feedings.

Feeding on demand, that is, attachment to the mother's breast at the first cry of the baby at any time of the day. This is exactly what pediatricians now recommend to feed children. In addition, the baby can suck on the breast as much as he wants. As a result of frequent applications, lactation is stimulated without the use of any additional means.

The child quickly gets used to sleeping at the mother's breast. At night, there is no need to wake up the baby for feeding: if he wants, he will suckle himself, the nipple is in his mouth. But the mother, as it were, is constantly attached to the child, at any time she should be able to feed the child.

In addition, a child may cry for another reason: abdominal cramps, a wet diaper, or another reason. And the mother, not understanding this, will try to feed him.

Free feeding is an intermediate way between the first two. With this method, the mother feeds the child “according to appetite” both day and night, but not more often than after 2 hours. According to physiology, the need for food in a child should not arise before. Keep the baby at the breast while you only need 15-20 minutes. - this time is enough for saturation. Sucking longer only contributes to the satisfaction of the sucking reflex. Night feedings should definitely be kept, as they are important for supporting lactation.

On which feeding option to stop, it is up to the mother to decide together with the pediatrician. The best interests of the child must be put at the forefront.

Quantity and quality of milk

Literally from the first days after discharge with a newborn from the maternity ward, every mother begins to worry about the quality, and often the quantity of milk: is the baby enough, and is there enough fat in the milk? Maybe a better mix? Moreover, advertising obsessively claims that milk formulas are not inferior to breast milk.

However, there is no substitute for mother's milk. It is important that the baby is breastfed for at least 6 months.

The benefits of breast milk for a baby are undeniable:

it is the best fit for the baby in composition;
mother's milk will not cause and, if only the mother adheres to the recommendations of the doctor on nutrition;
in addition to nutrients, the mother provides protection to the baby from many diseases with her antibodies contained in milk;
no heating or special storage conditions are required, which is especially convenient when feeding at night or outside the home.

That is why you should not rush to supplement the baby with mixtures, you need to fight to maintain lactation. Frequent attachment to the breast is better than any stimulant for the flow of milk. Even if the breast seems "empty", the baby sucks milk, called hind milk, which is considered more valuable than the front. That is why during feeding it is not recommended to change breasts often. With a lack of hindmilk, the baby will lag behind in weight and intestinal problems may occur.

For lactation, the psycho-emotional state of the nursing mother, the absence of stress and sufficient time for rest and night sleep are important. Well, the quality of milk directly depends on the nature of the mother's diet.

What is the best position to feed your baby?

You can breastfeed your baby in a wide variety of positions, but 3 of them are considered the most common.

To choose a position when feeding a newborn, the main condition is convenience, a sense of comfort for both the child and the mother.

Main poses 3:

classical ("cradle"): the mother sits and holds the child in her arms, pressing him to her with a slightly raised head; while the baby lies, as in a cradle, which served as the name of the pose;
from the armpit: the mother holds the child on her side, under her arm, pressing her head to her chest. This position is more often used at the birth of twins and the simultaneous feeding of both babies;
lying on its side: mother lies on her side; nearby, at the chest, lies a child; the most comfortable position for feeding at night, after a caesarean section.

Postures can be changed, which will enable the baby to suck out milk from different lobes of the mammary gland to prevent its stagnation. It is important that in any position the baby's body is in the same plane and is not curved.

Correct chest grip

It is very important to teach the baby to grasp the nipple correctly: the nipple and most of the areola should be in the wide-open mouth, and the lower lip of the crumbs should be turned outwards. The nose and chin rest against the chest when feeding. At the same time, the child will not swallow air and suffer from colic, and due to regurgitation, he will also not gain weight.

It is not difficult to determine the correctness of the grip: there will be no smacking while sucking the breast, and feeding will not cause pain for the mother. If the nipple is taken incorrectly, you need to carefully insert your little finger into the baby's mouth, pull out the nipple, and then insert it correctly, pointing to the sky.

Do I need to express milk

Mandatory pumping after each feed, as well as feeding by the clock, is now called a relic of the Soviet era. Now pediatricians do not recommend mothers to express. Milk in the mammary gland will be produced in the amount in which the child sucks it out.

But sometimes pumping is necessary:

With fullness and a feeling of fullness in the mammary gland. Pumping and breast massage will help to avoid.
At the birth of a premature baby who is not able to suck out milk completely. But in this case, you need to express the breast before feeding the crumbs, so that he sucks out the more useful back milk. Pumping will help conserve lactation until the baby completely sucks the milk out of the breast.
By pumping, you can save lactation during the period of illness of the mother and separation from the baby or taking antibiotics.
In the absence of the mother for some time (going to work or for another reason).

Safe nutrition for breastfeeding mothers

Regular questions about. The nature of the mother's diet affects the quality and taste of milk. All the nutrients in milk come from the foods consumed by the mother.

If the mother does not receive any substances, then the child receives them from the reserve reserves of the mother's body, which necessarily affects her health (hair falls out, teeth, etc.). That is why the mother's diet should be given special attention.

Food should be taken in moderate portions 5-6 times a day, overeating will not improve the quality of milk. But strict diets during lactation cannot be used - the diet should be varied and satisfy all the needs of the child's and maternal organisms.

During the first month, it is advisable to follow a hypoallergenic diet: exclude citrus fruits, bright-colored fruits and vegetables, flour products and sweets, cow's milk, honey, chocolate, cocoa, etc.

Mom in the first month is allowed to use:

soups and hateful broths;
meat (stewed or boiled) - beef, rabbit meat, turkey;
porridge (on water) - rice and buckwheat;
fat-free cottage cheese and sour cream;
hard cheese;
fermented milk products, excluding kefir;
vegetable puree from zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes;
bananas and green apples after heat treatment.

It is necessary to exclude spicy, fatty and fried foods, spices, pickles, sauces, seafood and canned food.

Care should be taken to select products in the first 3 months. after childbirth, adding them to the menu one by one at intervals of 3-5 days and watching the reaction of the child. If the baby does not have problems with the intestines and allergic phenomena, you can leave the product in the diet. Fresh fruits (except strawberries, exotic and citrus fruits) and vegetables are introduced gradually and brought up to 500 g per day.

From fats, it is preferable to use olive, sunflower, corn oils, but within reasonable limits, since fatty milk is more difficult for a baby to digest. Fish, eggs, nuts are gradually introduced.

Mustard, horseradish, and other spices can taste like milk, while onions and garlic can give off an unpleasant odor and cause your baby to stop breastfeeding. Of course, any alcoholic beverages should be banned.

Legumes, plums, cabbage will lead to increased gas formation and colic, and sometimes to diarrhea in the baby. Overeating the mother will cause indigestion in the baby - colic, flatulence, constipation or diarrhea.

It is mandatory for a nursing mother to drink liquid in the amount of 2-3 liters per day. It can be tea with milk, freshly squeezed juices, dried fruit compote, milk (fat content not more than 2.5%), still water. Cocoa and coffee can be drunk no earlier than 2 months after childbirth. Whole cow's milk quite often causes allergies in babies, so pediatricians advise mothers to use it with caution, not earlier than 4-6 months, in small quantities.

Quality and quantity of breast milk

Sometimes it seems to the mother that she does not produce enough milk, and the baby is malnourished. To understand this will help weight gain and the amount of urination. A baby should normally urinate more than 8 times a day. Body weight grows weekly by about 120 g (about 500 g per month). By six months of age, birth weight should double. If these 2 indicators are normal, then the baby has enough milk.

Some women produce a lot of milk, which causes it to flow spontaneously, heaviness in the glands, stagnation in the chest. In such cases, you can express some milk before feeding and reduce the amount of fluid you drink per day.

Anxiety is also often unfounded. The percentage of fat content is easy to check at home. To do this, express milk into a sterile test tube after 20 minutes. after feeding and let it stand for 6 hours at room temperature. The milk will be divided into 2 layers, the upper one will show the fat content: its height (measured with a ruler) in mm will show the percentage of fat content (1 mm = 1%). Normally, it should be 3.5-5%.

The composition of milk in the process of growth of the child changes and fully meets the needs of the growing organism. If the child is calm, weight gain is normal, then there is no need to worry. Very fatty milk can cause severe colic and development (violation of the ratio of beneficial bacteria in the intestines) in infants.

Insufficient lactation

If, nevertheless, there is not enough milk, then there is no need to rush with supplementary feeding, but take measures to increase lactation:

less often give a pacifier to the baby, and more often apply to the breast - sucking stimulates the formation of milk;
it is also more actively produced upon skin-to-skin contact, that is, if you expose your chest for feeding;
be sure to use a light massage of the mammary glands;
normalize your diet;
increase the amount of liquid you drink (water, juices, compote) with the obligatory inclusion of hot tea with milk, broths and soups in the diet;
provide the nursing mother with sufficient rest, daily walks in the fresh air;
Eliminate anxiety and stress that reduce lactation.

On the advice of a pediatrician, you can drink herbal teas. Medications and dietary supplements can only be taken as directed by a doctor (some may cause allergies in a child):

Laktogon is a food supplement containing royal jelly, carrot juice, herbal extracts, vitamin C.
Apilak is a tablet preparation, contains vitamins and royal jelly (may cause sleep disturbance).
Mlecoin is a herbal remedy in the form of granules.
Hipp - herbal tea, contains fennel, anise, nettle and cumin.
Grandmother's basket - tea with lactogenic, tonic and firming effect.

The reaction of the body of a woman and a child to these drugs is purely individual.

It is important to support breastfeeding for at least 6 months. It is possible to supplement the baby with milk mixtures only in agreement with the pediatrician, when the child is behind in weight due to a lack of milk. At the same time, it is desirable to keep breastfeeding and supplement the amount of mixture calculated by the pediatrician from a spoon, and not from a bottle with a nipple.

Why is the baby crying

Usually a newborn cries when he wants to eat or expresses dissatisfaction with a wet diaper. Crying at night is also usually associated with night feedings. From the second half of the year, there is no longer a physiological need for them, but dependence has developed, the habit of sucking the breast at night every 3 hours. It will be possible to refuse night feedings gradually, changing the time and order of falling asleep after 30-40 minutes. after evening feeding.

Sometimes whimpering at night is just a test to see if mom is around. If the child is simply stroked on the head, then the baby calms down and falls asleep again. There is no need to accustom the baby to motion sickness in her arms, to rush to take the child in her arms at night - the children quickly get used to this, and then they will only cry for sleep in their arms.

Crying and anxiety may also indicate that the child is not feeling well (with colic, teething, at the beginning of the disease). By observing the behavior of the baby, the mother will soon learn to determine the cause of crying.

Colic

Colic disturbs almost all babies up to 3 months, and sometimes longer. To alleviate the condition of the crumbs, to improve the discharge of gases, a light massage of the tummy will help.

From the first weeks of life, colic bothers almost every newborn - adaptation to a new diet is underway. They are not a pathology and usually go away after 3-5 months. With colic, the child cries, presses the legs to the tummy, the chair may be disturbed. How to help the baby?

Necessary:

put the baby before feeding on the stomach on a hard surface for 2-3 minutes;
monitor the posture and capture of the nipple during feeding, so that the child swallows less air;
hold the baby after feeding in a “column” (that is, in an upright position) until air escapes, regurgitation;
put the child on the back and unbend-bend the legs;
do a light massage of the abdomen in circular motions clockwise;
apply a warm diaper on the tummy;
make a relaxing bath (with the addition of chamomile decoction);
follow a diet for a nursing mother.

As prescribed by the pediatrician, pharmacy products can also be used to cope with colic:

Espumizan baby (drops) and Bifiform baby (oil solution) can be used from the birth of a baby to normalize digestion and prevent dysbacteriosis;
from 2 weeks of age, you can use Plantex to remove gases and reduce colic;
from the 2nd month, Bobotik drops and a suspension of Sab Simplex, Linex, Bebinos are used to reduce bloating and relieve colic.

Spitting up and vomiting

Regurgitation is a normal physiological process, not a disease. It is observed in every baby from birth to 4-6 months. It occurs spontaneously after 15-30 minutes. after feeding and is associated with the swallowing of air during sucking. Milk is excreted unchanged in a volume of not more than 5 ml. At the same time, the well-being of the baby does not suffer.

If regurgitation is plentiful, with a fountain, then this already indicates a violation of digestion and requires an appeal to a pediatrician. With vomiting, the volume and frequency are not limited, food can be released in a fountain already partially digested (curdled milk with a sour smell). This phenomenon signals a serious violation of digestion and requires a visit to a doctor. The general condition of the child suffers: there is anxiety, poor sleep, refusal to eat, etc.

How to care for breasts during lactation

It is enough to wash the chest with neutral soap twice a day and then blot the moisture with a soft cloth. Wash your hands with soap and water before and after feeding.

The bra must be chosen from cotton, without seams on the inside of the cups, without underwire. It should not tighten the chest. It is advisable to use special breast pads that absorb excess milk, protect the skin and nipples from irritation, rubbing underwear, and clothes from getting wet (but they will have to be changed regularly).

When taking a shower, it is advisable to lightly massage the chest for 3-4 minutes (using circular movements in a clockwise direction). Such a massage will prevent lactostasis and will stimulate the formation of milk. In this case, you do not need to strongly squeeze the mammary gland or intensively press on the skin. For ease of sliding, hands can be lubricated with olive oil.

When lactation is delayed in a primipara, compresses can also be used: before feeding - warm to stimulate milk production, and after - cool to restore the shape of the breast.

lactostasis

Stagnation of milk in the breast occurs quite often. In this case, a kind of milk plug is formed, which impedes the movement of milk through the ducts. A manifestation of the condition is an increase in the size of the gland, the formation of painful seals in it, redness at the site of stagnation, and fever. The general condition also suffers - headache, weakness worries.

What to do when milk stagnates:

feed the child every hour;
change the position of the child so that the place of stagnation (compaction) is under his chin;
if feeding is very painful, you can first express some milk by hand, gently massage the gland, put a towel moistened with hot water on it, or stand in the shower;
after feeding, apply any of the compresses for 15-20 minutes: a cold cabbage leaf, or cold cottage cheese, or honey with flour in the form of a cake to relieve pain.

A fever above 38 0 C may indicate the onset of a purulent-inflammatory process in the chest, so you need to urgently consult a doctor. Medical care is also needed in the case when the condition has not improved in 2 days in order to prevent the development of mastitis.

Cracks in the nipples

The main cause of cracked nipples in mothers is improper attachment of the baby to the breast. When properly attached, the baby's mouth covers most of the areola (and not just the nipple), is wide open, the lower sponge is turned outward.

Damage to the nipples causes pain to the mother during feeding, so it is better not to allow the development of cracks.

The reasons for their appearance may be different:

sensitive delicate skin;
flat nipples;
improper attachment of the child;
non-compliance with the rules of personal hygiene.

With cracks, you need to continue to feed the child. You can not use the treatment of nipples with brilliant green, iodine or other alcohol solutions, ointments with antibiotics.

For treatment can be used:

ointments with vitamin A: Retinol or Videstim not only heal wounds, relieve pain, but also prevent new damage; rinsing is not required;
Purelan and Sanosan mom do not require to wash off the product before feeding, do not cause allergies (consist of lanolin without impurities);
cream Avent with coconut oil and lanolin perfectly heals wounds, does not require rinsing;
Bepanten is an antibacterial agent used for healing cracks and prevention, it requires mandatory rinsing before feeding.

Resume for breastfeeding moms

The article touches upon questions that appear in almost every young mother. The district pediatrician should become the best adviser and consultant in their decision.

Visually about the correct attachment of the child to the breast:

Webinar by lactation consultant N. Salimova on the topic "Basic rules for successful breastfeeding":

Pediatrician E. O. Komarovsky about infantile colic: