How to feed a newborn with breast milk?

Breastmilk is the most suitable food for the newborn, which has no analogues. Having decided to breastfeed the newborn baby, mother gives the baby not much food, but much more. Uncertainty at the first attempts to feed the little one soon passes, especially if you find out more about the intricacies of breastfeeding still during pregnancy.

We do not need to wash our breasts before feeding with soap, as our mothers once advised. For breast hygiene, just a daily shower is enough. It is also not recommended to handle the nipples with any antiseptics.

Choose a calm place to feed at your convenience. Well, if at this time no one will disturb you.

Proper attachment is one of the main factors contributing to the successful experience of breastfeeding. For the course of the entire period of feeding babies with female milk, it is very important how the first attachment of the infant occurred. In most maternity hospitals, breastfeeding is supported by providing the newborn baby with attachment to the mother’s breast immediately after delivery.

A comfortable posture is also important for proper application. Feeding, especially at first, lasts quite long, therefore, it is important that mom does not get tired.

After washing your hands, it is worth expressing a few drops of milk and rub them nipples. This will make the nipple softer so that the baby can easily grab it. Now you need to get comfortable and start feeding:

1. Grasp the chest with your fingers, without touching the areola, point the nipple to the face of the baby. To help the baby find the nipple, stroke the child on the cheek. If this does not help, you can squeeze out a little milk on the baby's lips.
2. Make sure the baby grasps the nipple correctly. His mouth should be open fairly wide, and his chin pressed against his mother's chest. In the mouth of the baby should be not only the nipple, but also part of the areola.
3. If the milk starts to flow from the corner of the baby’s mouth, you need to raise the baby’s head and place the index finger under the baby’s lower lip.
4. When the baby sucks very sluggishly, help the crumbs to become more vigorous. To do this, you can pet the crumbs on the head, pat for the cheek or ear.
5. When the little tot begins to fall asleep at the breast or sucks more slowly, the mother can interrupt sucking by gently placing her index finger between the breast and the corner of the baby’s mouth.
6. Do not rush to dress immediately after feeding.Let the milk on the nipple dry out a bit. Also, do not rush to put the baby in the crib. The infant must burp air that has entered the stomach with milk. To do this, hold the toddler with a “column”, placing a napkin on the shoulder with caution, since a small portion of milk may also come out with the air.

For feeding the baby, the mother selects a recumbent, sedentary, or any other position in which it is convenient for her and the baby to stay. Feed your baby in a relaxed state.

Also one of the most comfortable feeding positions is sedentary. Mom can sit in a chair or on a chair, but it is more convenient if her hand rests on the armrest or on the pillow, and one leg is on a small stool. The child should be supported under the back so that its head is located on the fold of the mother's elbow. The belly of the crumbs should touch the mother's belly.

Feeding the crumbs can be carried out in the position from behind. For such a position, mother sits on the couch and places a regular pillow next to her. The mother puts the baby on the pillow so that the body of the baby is located along her body at hand. This situation is very convenient for mothers who feed twins. So mom can feed both babies at once.

Mom can also feed, sitting on the floor and with her legs crossed "in Turkish." In this position, it is convenient to feed a baby who already knows how to crawl or walk.

Popular poses for feeding are presented below. Experiment and choose the most comfortable of them both for you and for the baby.

If the baby captured the breast correctly, then:

• Both the nipple and areola (most of it) will be in the baby’s mouth, and the baby’s lips will be turned out.
• The baby's nose will be pressed to the breast, but will not be buried in it.
• Mom will not hear any other sounds than swallowing milk.
• Mom doesn’t have discomfort during sucking.

Recently, feeding places for babies began to appear in stores. If the mother with the newborn is visiting, do not hesitate to ask to be alone with the baby in another room. Any adequate person will meet you.

It is optimal to feed the baby in a free mode, that is, to give the baby breast by the hour, and when the child will ask for food. In the early days, you will have to give the baby a breast very often, but these days milk production has not improved yet, so you should offer both breasts at once to the baby. Later, the milk will be produced more and the baby will ask about the breast about 6-7 times a day with an approximate interval of about 1.5-3 hours. The temperament of the infant, its maturity and weight at birth, as well as its state of health, affect the intervals between feedings. Read more in our article about how long does it take to feed the baby with breast milk.

Most babies suck in one attachment for about 15 minutes, but there are babies who need a longer sucking time (up to 40 minutes). If you take the crumbs off your chest before they empty their breasts, the child may receive less milk from the back, in which there is a large proportion of fat. Due to long sucking nipple cracks are possible, therefore it is recommended to feed the baby from 10-15 to 40 minutes.

After eating, babies usually either release their breasts or fall asleep. The fact that the baby has enough milk can be judged by the mother not only by letting go of the breast after eating, but also by weight gain per month and the general condition of the baby. Read more in our article on how to understand is there enough breast milk for a baby.

Indeed, at first, the little one eats milk in abundance, because he is not familiar with the feeling of satiety, since he received constant nutrition in utero. But it is not necessary to worry, all the extra crumbs will burp, and overfeeding his breast milk cannot damage his health.

About this you can not worry, because my mother's milk is a perfectly balanced food for a newborn, digested without a large expenditure of effort. Breast milk almost immediately enters the children's intestines and is quickly digested in it.

If a crying baby cannot grab a breast, calm the baby first. Hold him close to you, talk to your child gently, shake on your arms. If a baby’s cry is related to the fact that he cannot take a breast, touch the baby’s cheek or lips with a nipple.

Night feeds are very important for long-term and successful lactation, because it is during these feedings that the production of hormones important for milk production is stimulated. In addition, the newborn has not yet established the mode of day and night, so the time of day does not affect his feeling of hunger.

• Remember that due to the early attachment of the infant to the breast, on-demand feeding, and complete emptying of the breast, you will stimulate the production of milk in the glands. If you feed the baby rarely and limit the time of feeding, there is a high probability of reducing lactation.
• If the mother takes any medications, it is important to find out if such medications penetrate into the milk and can affect the health of the child.
• If mom drank alcohol, then for three hours should not feed the baby. Alcohol very quickly penetrates human milk in the same concentration as it is found in the mother’s blood.
• It is impossible to smoke during breastfeeding, because nicotine very easily gets into the milk. Also, nursing mothers should not be in a smoke-filled room.
• Milk in the first months of lactation often leaks from the breast between feedings, so it is convenient to use liners in the bra.
• You should not buy a bottle and the mixture "just in case" and do not need to give up if the first feeding experience is unsuccessful. The art of breastfeeding needs to be trained, like any other skill, but, having mastered it, you will get much more advantages than from the transition to feeding with mixtures.

At the very beginning of breastfeeding, many problems often arise, but any woman can cope with them.

The nipples at the mother's breast can be retracted or flat, and the baby can hardly capture such nipples.

In this case, in the first weeks of feeding, before giving the baby breast, the mother should pull out the nipple with the areola (by hand or with the help of a breast pump).

Often helps and Hoffman technique: massage your fingers several times a day, first squeezing the nipple, then straightening it, stretching it in opposite directions.

You can also resort to the use of special linings.

If stretching the nipple and the lining does not help, you will have to feed the baby with expressed milk.

This is a frequent problem of the first days of feeding, causing great discomfort for the mother. Usually the cause of the cracks is too long sucking of the breast by the baby, as well as improper grip. And therefore, to prevent the occurrence of cracks, it is necessary to monitor the seizure of the breast, as well as the duration of feeding.

If the cracks have already appeared, the baby needs to start feeding from a healthy gland or use the lining. With severe pain, you can express the chest and give the baby expressed milk.

If the breast is too much filled with milk and becomes so dense that the crumb can not properly grab the nipple and suck the milk, you should slightly breastfeed before breastfeeding (until soft), limit fluid intake, and attach something cold (for example, an ice pack).

With this problem, the breast becomes very dense and the mother feels a painful spread in her. There is no need to stop feeding the baby, on the contrary, it should be applied to the breast more often. In this case, the mother is recommended to limit the fluid and lightly massage the hardened areas of the breast, podtsezhivaya milk until soft.

This inflammatory disease is a common problem in the second to fourth week after delivery. It is manifested by the appearance of seals that cause a woman pain. Also, the nursing mother often rises in temperature. If you suspect that a woman develops mastitis, you should immediately consult a doctor. Only he will confirm the diagnosis, prescribe treatment and be able to tell whether it is worth continuing to breastfeed.

So called the production of milk in quantities less than required by the baby. Ensuring that there is a shortage of milk will help counting wet diapers (there are normally more than 10) and monthly weighing (normally, the baby should gain at least 0.5 kg). But do not hurry with the supplement mix, because it can be a lactation crisis.

More information about breastfeeding, see the transfer of Dr. Komarovsky.