Milk Information

You want to go back to work but would like to keep feeding baby the best food possible- breast milk. Is exclusive breastfeeding possible if you are away from baby eight hours a day? Yes, here is where pumping milk comes in.

Why pump breast milk?

Most moms pump breast milk to collect and store it for their babies while they are not around. However, if you have engorged breasts you can express some of your milk to ease the discomfort. If your baby is premature or cannot latch on to your breast for some reason, pumping breast milk might be recommended for her.

I have no clue how to proceed!

Well, the first thing to do is to decide what method you will be using. Will you be pumping milk regularly? If you plan to do this, then investing in a breast pump will save you a lot of time and energy. Where will you be pumping milk? There are fancy battery operated pumps that will let you pump milk while you work. Do you need one of those? What are others doing? Though it is not a good idea to compare babies, comparing pumps can help you choose the best one for you. Discuss your options with your healthcare provider too. Read the rest of this entry »

Breastfeeding has many advantages for both mother and baby. It is the most natural, perfect food for a newborn baby. Breast milk is loaded with antibodies and nutrients that are essential for the immune system, and for proper growth and development. The mother will also find advantages to breastfeeding, such as quicker weight loss, reduced risk of cancer, and quicker shrinking of the uterus back to its normal size. Here are some tips on ensuring that you have a proper amount of breast milk.

Feed Often

The more often you breastfeed your baby, the more your milk will come in. When your baby suckles on your breasts, it stimulates the production of breast milk. Your body has an amazing way of knowing when it needs to produce breast milk. If your breasts are being nursed often, your body will respond to that accordingly by supplying more milk. Most likely, your newborn will want to feed often anyway in the first few weeks.

Nurse Both Breasts at Each Feeding

Nursing both breasts at each feeding will ensure that you do not end up lopsided. In addition, it will induce milk flow to each breast more evenly. Let your baby feed off your breast until the milk seems to have run out – this will ensure that the baby receives the nutrient-rich hindmilk. Then switch breasts and do the same. Read the rest of this entry »

Breast milk naturally comes to new mothers immediately after giving birth. Usually, the amount of milk that a mother can produce depends on how much her child consumes, as the mother’s body can easily determine how much her child regularly intakes.

However, issues like low breast milk supply is still one of the problems a new mother can face while still in the postpartum period. This can be quite a problem, as this kind of milk is still the primary food your child intake. Without an ample amount of breast milk, the baby becomes underfed, in turn making him at risk of lots of infections and illnesses and becoming malnourished.

To avoid this, you need to be able to produce as much needed milk as possible. As the baby needs to feed for up to twelve times a day during his first few months, you will have to be ready to deliver with this kind of demand.

However, in order to deal with this problem, you must first look at what are its possible causes. One common reason for this is when you start giving your child milk supplements. By bottle feeding your child, he will tend to consume less from you, which in turn, will tell your body to produce a lower amount of milk.

Aside from the artificial milk itself, feeding from bottle also causes nipple confusion. A bottle’s nipple usually requires a different way of sucking, so when your child already needs to nurse, the tendency for him not to be able to latch properly is high. And without proper latching, he will not be able to breastfeed correctly. Read the rest of this entry »