Breastfeeding Basics

Tips for Moms — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:21:43 +0000

Many women prefer to breastfeed their babies. Although children also grow up with formula milk (formula), breast milk is easier to digest and contains antibodies that protect infants from infection. In addition, many women find it very enjoyable.

Once you have given birth to the baby, your pituitary gland (hypophysis) begins to increase the production of a hormone called prolactin. This stimulates the cells of the breast. These cells begin to absorb nutrients from the bloodstream and use it to produce milk. As this process takes very little time, the first days after birth, the breasts produce a fine white fluid, called colostrum. As milk, colostrum is nutritious and has antibodies. After 3 or 5 days milk produced. Prolactin controls the amount, to the point that the more milk the baby takes, the more prolactin pituitary and produce more milk will be. When the baby stops breast milk production ceases in a week or two. The flow of milk is controlled by the reflex of closing. Otherwise the milk is continuously coming out of breasts. When the baby sucks, nipples respond by sending sensory impulses to the hypothalamus in the brain.

Hypothalamus immediately offered pituitary gland to produce hormones (mainly oxytocin) that travel through the bloodstream. When they arrive in the breasts, the cells surrounding the alveolar cavity, where milk is stored, shrink and thus goes to the milk duct. This whole process takes 30 to 60 seconds. Once the milk, the reflection of “stop” and “progress” is easily triggered. Often the sound of crying stimulates reflex. However, stress can interfere with the reflex.

In this case you need people around you support you when you start breastfeeding. If you feel pain in the nipples while the baby sucks, it may be a small tear in the nipple. The physician should recommend some ointment to help heal. If you feel a small hard lump in the breast, may milk duct is blocked. Try massage and hot towels. If the package does not go away, call your doctor as there may be an infection.

If so, you need an antibiotic. Normally you can continue breastfeeding the baby, since it rejects the infection. Prolactin usually protect against pregnancy. However, it is better because it can not be neglected during the ovulation period of breastfeeding, although there has been no menstruation. When you stop breastfeeding, unless you do it gradually, your breasts may swell and hurt for a few days until the milk dries.

The woman who gives the baby a bottle from the beginning has the same problem.

The doctor may prescribe medication to suppress the milk. If this fails you can use to apply to the breasts a few bags of ice or bandages tightly.

Diet During Breast-Feeding

Tips for Moms — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:16:32 +0000

The best method of feeding a newborn, breast-feeding, is also a boon to the mother. Barring illness, mother’s milk is reliable, plentiful, and always at hand. No preparation is required and no expense is incurred. Finally, in one of nature’s more elegant exchanges, lactation steadily uses up the fat stores accumulated during pregnancy at the rate of 100 to 300 calories a day.

An additional 500 calories above one’s normal intake are needed to produce sufficient milk for infant nursing, but beyond that, the nutritional requirements of nursing mothers differ only slightly from those of pregnant. The daily need for protein drops from a pregnancy high of 74 grams to approximately 64. Any shortage will be at the expense of the mother, since the milk yield will contain adequate protein even if it has to be drawn from the mother’s tissue.

Calcium, iron, and vitamin D requirements remain at pregnancy levels, but other vitamin and mineral needs vary between pregnancy and breast-feeding. Most of these additional nutrients will be supplied naturally through the balanced diet recommended for pregnancy, plus an extra 2 cups of whole milk and an extra serving of whole grains.

To maintain milk yield as well as her own health, a lactating woman should drink at least 2 quarts of other liquids a day. Milk volume may be depressed by cigarettes and oral contraceptives, and the former have been identified as potentially toxic to the nursing infant. Remember that breast milk is highly sensitive to contaminants of all sorts: eat only healthy, unadulterated foods while lactating, for our sake and that of your baby.

Tips for Moms » Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding Basics

Diet During Breast-Feeding