General FAQ's of Breast Feeding

Breast milk is the ideal food for your baby . The baby till 4-5 months of age requires no other food. You may have heard of women who didn’t seem to have enough milk or who had other serious problems in nursing. This mostly happens because the mothers don’t really understand breastfeeding. This is not surprising since most of us don’t have a chance to learn about breastfeeding. Indian mothers secrete 450-600 ml of milk daily with 1.2gm protein content. The energy value is 70cals per 100ml.

Advantages:

• Safe, hygienic, cheap and available to infant at correct temperature.
• Fully meets the nutritional requirements of the infant in the first few months of life.
• Contains antimicrobial factors such as macrophages, lymphocytes, secretory IgA, anti-streptococcal factor, lysozyme and lactoferrin that provide protection against diarrhoeal diseases, necrotising enterocolitis respiratory infections in first months of life.
• Easily digested and utilized by both normal and premature babies.
• Promotes bonding between mother and infant.
• Helps development of jaws and teeth of baby due to suckling.
• Protects babies from tendency to obesity.
• Prevents malnutrition and reduces infant deaths.

Natural family planning by prolonging period of infertility

How can I tell my baby's getting enough?

You can’t tell by offering a bottle. Newborns have such strong sucking needs, they will take a bottle (or pacifier or thumb). So that’s no test. If your baby has 6 wet diapers a day and you’re not giving extra water, he is getting enough. If you’re nursing as needed, 7-11 times in 24 hours, your baby is getting enough. There is plenty of milk in your breasts after 1 � -2 hours- you just can’t see it or feel it. After a week or two, your breasts won’t feel so full any more. They are supposed to seem flatter because the swelling (not the milk) has gone away. Babies need to nurse often in order to make good weight gains and sleep longer at night.

You should be prepared for the fact all babies have growth spurts or days when they are hungrier and need more milk, often around 10-14 days, then around 4-6 weeks, at approximately 3 months, and again at 5-6 months. When you’re breastfeeding, you can’t tell your breasts to produce more ounces. But if you go along with your baby’s need to nurse very often for about 48 hours, your milk supply will be built up.

These can be used after nursing is established (3-6 wks) but as suckling at the breast decreases so does milk production. Only if breast milk seems inadequate, supplements should be given after nursing to assure suckling stimulus to continued milk production.

This is a gradual process starting around 4-5 months as mother’s milk alone is not sufficient to sustain baby’s growth.

Iron fortified cereals should be begun first, followed by fruits and vegetables in a blenderized form, soft cooked rice and dal.

An interval of 2-4 days should separate the introduction of each new food to mark the occurrence of specific food intolerance or allergy.

By the age of one year the child should receive diet consisting of cereals, pulses, fruits and vegetables.

Self care:

1. Don’t smoke or drink alcohol.
2. Only take medicines that are really necessary.
3. If you have to take a medicine while breastfeeding, have the baby checked regularly for any adverse effects that may occur.
4. Take any medicines right after the baby has fed to ensure the lowest level of medicine in the milk at the next feeding.
5. Don’t worry if you must take a medicine – your continued good health is important for successful breastfeeding.

If you have a query and you are a registered user, click here.