Little known Breastfeeding Facts for success

[caption id="attachment_2306" align="alignleft" width="150"] Breastfeeding secrets of lactation consultants[/caption]

 

Most babies will feed very soon after birth and it goes very well.
Probably the most confusing thing for parents particularly, is that after the first feed sometimes it can seem like your baby doesn’t know what to do and can’t find the nipple again. Your baby may cry, get on the nipple, come off, cry again, move his or head mouth over, on, around the nipple, come off , cry and repeat a number of times.
For us looking on, it can be a bit frustrating. We think “ just get on, you are on it, just close your mouth and suck”.

This is all normal behaviour and is just your baby imprinting on the nipple, finding his or her way to the nipple, co –ordinating the suck and generally just imprinting into his or her brain abut feeding. The important thing is to be patient and let your baby go through this. He or she will get it again. If you try to force it by pushing your baby’s head onto the nipple it won’t work. Your baby will push back against what ever is touching the back of his or her head. Support the head if you need to but never force them.
Most babies don’t like the back of their head being touched . In fact most people don’t like the back of their head being push so it is easy to understand .
Often during this time a lot of babies will move their head back and just look at their mother, at the world around them and generally take it in. This is another time when I see a lot of parents be impatient and think something is wrong. It is not wrong, just your baby getting a handle on thing around him or her. Let your baby look around, do their thing and within a few minutes they will usually look for a feed again.
Sometimes, your baby will try to feed, get frustrated, have a little sleep and then wake up after 30-120 seconds and look for the nipple again. All this is normal. Sometimes they may have a little sleep a couple of times and then wake up and have a try. In normal circumstances this is normal and will pass. Sometimes it may take up to 20 minutes of on and off , looking around to get on, this is all normal especially if your baby was crying and distressed for quite some time before the feed.
Allow baby to bob his head around on your nipple. It may take him a little while to get there, but if he can do it himself , he will achieve a much better latch usually. Everyone needs to be patient at this time and allow your baby time to do his or her thing. If we take the pressure off around feeding for your baby, it usually helps it go much smoother.

Patience is key for breaastfeeding success.

Breastfeeding with Raynauds Nipple Vasospasm

A customer at our Breastmates store recently shared her story about her breastfeeding journey and Raynaud's Syndrome. I want to raise awareness about its treatment, because diagnosis is only the first hurdle.

“When my first child was born after a traumatic labour I found breastfeeding incredibly painful - sharp, burning pain. As the days went on, the pain got worse and continued even when the feed had finished. The medical professionals had no answers because I had "beautiful attachment". Finally a lactation consultant diagnosed me with Raynaud's.

The telltale sign of Raynaud's is blanching of the nipple: the nipple turns white because of a constriction of the blood vessels, which causes pain. The nipple blanching can be hard to spot and unfortunately most medical professionals will miss it. I could hardly see it myself! (I have since heard of women who can see the blanching when they are cold, but this was not the case with me.)

To treat the condition, my GP prescribed me the medication Nifedipine (a 10mg tablet). Within a couple hours, the tablet gave me a migraine. After 3 months of stress I was forced to formula feed. This was agonizing for me - I had always wanted to breastfeed.

After the birth of my second child, I was incredibly lucky. The pediatrician who did my baby's routine check at the hospital knew about Raynaud's and suggested I take Nifedipine. When I told him about the headaches, he said the dose was too high. He told me to get a pill cutter, chop the tablets in half and take one half in the morning and one at night. The outcome was amazing! No headaches, and the breastfeeding pain was considerably reduced.

I have to add here that the pain was not completely gone. Perhaps if I could have taken a higher dose it would have been. So it still took perseverance.

But I found out how much the medication helped when I forgot to take it one day and the pain returned!

I have now successfully breastfed my daughter for a year. I was very lucky to chance that doctor. The doctor himself urged me to tell everyone, since the condition - and worse the treatment - is not widely understood in the maternal health sector..."

Of course, as with everything, you need to discuss with your doctor to make sure it's right for you.

A breastfeeding story as told to “Breastmates”

By: Breastmates  -   About the Author :
  Frances McInnes is the owner of Breastmates Maternity Store, which is a website dedicated to maternity and Breastfeeding products. http://www.breastmates.co.nz

Fenugreek, Breast feeding, and Increasing Breast Milk Supply

Mothers have been breastfeeding their young since the beginning of time. Generally speaking, breastfeeding goes well. Sometimes though, breastfeeding mom run into issues. One of the most common problems is low breast milk supply.

With all the pressures that moms have on them in this day and age, it's not surprising that they don't have all day to devote to strictly breastfeeding. At the same time, this can hurt their milk supply. To make breast milk, you have to breastfeed or pump often.

Present day moms have all types of resources available to them including modern day medicines and breast pumps. In the past though, breastfeeding moms didn't have these things. Yet they managed to breastfeed successfully. I'm sure that they had many of the same issues we did. Somehow though they were able to make enough breastmilk without using modern day medicine.

Fenugreek seeds is one of the most well-known products to use when experiencing low breast milk supply. And our ancestors knew just how well herbs such as these worked. Fenugreek seeds have been used traditionally to increase breast milk supply, and they are still recomended and used to this day because of how well it works. Even wet nurses in the past were known to use these herbs to increase milk supply due to having to breastfeed more than one baby.

Fenugreek seeds is generally the first product breastfeeding mothers try when experiencing low milk supply. It's also the most recommended by lactation consultants.  For some moms though, they don't give the increase in milk supply that they need. At this point, it's time to try a combination of herbs. A great product to try is Breastea.

When breastfeeding moms use a combination of herbs, they work off each other. This gives the breastfeeding mom with low milk supply their best shot at increasing it. This is assuming that mom is breastfeeding or breast pumping often. Without breastfeeding or breast pumping often, mom will find that her milk supply keeps dropping until there is nothing left. To make milk you have to breastfeed or pump every 2 to 3 hours.

If you are breast pumping, make sure to use an electric breast pump. The best possible one is a hospital grade breast pump. You can rent these at your local medical supply store for about $40 a month. Many times your insurance company will cover these. If you plan on pumping, you need to use a breast pump that will effectively pump the breastmilk out. Otherwise, you are just wasting your time and money.

Steps to increasing breast milk supply;

1. Breastfeed (or pump) often. Don't go over 3 hours during the day or 4 hours overnight without breastfeeding or pumping. Skipping even one time will hurt your milk supply. For best milk supply possible, simply breastfeed as often and as long as baby wants.

2. If you are experiencing issues with milk supply, make sure to talk to a lactation consultant. They are trained to help breastfeeding moms. If you are experiencing low milk supply due to bad latch, etc, they can help you to get baby latched on right.

3. Make sure to continue taking your prenatal vitamin. Get plenty of fluids, food, and rest.

4. If experiencing low milk supply, consider taking fenugreek seeds. Even better, use a product like Breastea that contains several herbs recommended for increasing milk supply. If you try the Fenugreek Seeds and don't see an increase in milk production within a week, move on to a product that contains several herbs. Many moms have increased breast milk supply by using a combination product. Most moms don't realize that when you are using an herbal product, you have to use it often. Don't skip!  

5. Be dedicated to increasing your milk production. Give your body time to increase breastmilk supply.

All kinds of circumstances and situations can cause low breast milk supply. If you are experiencing it though, don't automatically give up breastfeeding. If your low milk supply is due to simply not breastfeeding enough, then start breastfeeding more. During this time, you might start using herbs like Fenugreek Seeds or Breastea until you get your milk supply back up.

 

By: Amy Smith  -   About the Author :
  Amy is a lactation professional who has worked with many breastfeeding moms.