Common Breastfeeding Problems

Breastfeeding is the most natural way to feed your baby and also the best thing you can do for him. Baby will build up important immunities from feeding from your breast.

Another plus is that it is so much more convenient. Better to just take baby out of his cot in the middle of the night and be able to feed him immediately. Formula feeding means you have to heat up a bottle, be sure its the right temperature, (mother nature automatically ensures that breast milk is the perfect blood temperature!) whilst you are doing this he could well be screaming the house down. This will not make for a relaxing middle of the night experience.

Breastfeeding is for the most part, trouble free, but you should be aware of some common issues that could arise.

Thrush – not harmful and very common. Its an infection that is transmitted to the breast via the babies mouth. The cause is an overgrowth of yeast – although this is a normal part of the digestive systmem, too much will cause the Thrush infection.

Symptoms of thrush are, breast or nipple pain. Also nipples can be very sensitive, itchy or even become cracked. As it develops in the baby’s mouth, it is passed back and forth so you need to seek advice as soon as you see the symptoms.

Mastitis – Bacteria is present in the milk ducts, causing the breast to become hard, red and inflamed. Antibiotics will cure mastitis and your GP will ensure they prescribe an antibiotic that will not affect the baby so you can still breastfeed.

Very Fast Milk Flow – Does your baby start to splutter and cough as soon as he starts to feed? This could be down to your milk flowing too fast. This is distressing for both mother and baby. A way to deal with this is to express some milk before each breast before feeding, this could slow down the milk flow. Trying to hold baby in a different position may also make it easier for him to take the milk.

Baby Does Not Seem To Like the Milk – Acidic or spicy foods can really change the taste of your milk and give baby quite a shock. Although the milk taste will vary slightly as does your diet, you really need to steer clear or highly spiced foods like curry or chilli. Also drink water and plain drinks rather than orange or lemon juice.

Not knowing How Much Milk Taken – With formula milk you can measure out a certain amount and know how much your baby has drunk. Not possible when breast feeding. However, if you baby feeds well, is growing, and is happy and contented then do not worry about this. Just enjoy the time you spend breastfeeding as its the ideal bonding time for you and your little one.

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Can I Breastfeed After Getting Breast Implants?

The advantages of breastfeeding are well documented so many women considering breast augmentation are curious about the effects, especially since many candidates still plan on having children. The most common questions are do the breasts still produce and deliver milk and is the safety of the milk affected by implants?

Breast augmentation, like all surgical procedures, can have side effects. Your ability to safely breastfeed does have a chance of being of affected, but it is more than likely that you will be able to breastfeed normally. There are choices that your surgeon can guide you through that will minimize the possibility of breastfeeding being affected.

The incision along the crease underneath the breast is called the inframammary incision, and does not divide any milk glands or ducts. For women planning on breastfeeding, this incision reduces the risk of complications in breastfeeding. Some of the milk glandular tissues will be divided when doing an incision around the nipple, which can slightly increase the risk, however safe breastfeeding is still very likely with either one of these incisions.

As far as the risk to babies breastfeeding from mothers with breast augmentation, this is an area that has been aggressively studied and to date no risks have been identified. I can safely say that it is safe to breast feed with breast implants.

Many women with breast implants choose not to breast-feed and I suspect this percentage may be higher than that of the general public. I assume that there is a fear that breast-feeding will “ruin” the results of their surgery. While it is true that pregnancy can cause a droop of the breasts this is a natural occurrence in women with or without a previous “boob job”. There was an interesting study about three years ago that suggested pregnancy affected the breasts similarly with or without breast-feeding, even though my experience suggests otherwise I found the study to be interesting.

Women who would like to enhance the shape or size of their breasts will more than likely not have their ability to breastfeed be affected by their surgery, although there is a possibility. Discuss your concerns with your surgeon and together you can make choices that will minimize the risks while enjoying the results.

Dr. York Yates is an experienced Utah plastic surgeon who writes articles on Utah breast augmentation and other procedures.

categories: breastfeeding,plastic surgery,breast implants,breast feeding,cosmetic surgery

Is Breast Best?

One of the questions we encounter as new or even experienced moms is whether to use formula or breast feed.

We quite often have a birth plan, and in the process of making this birth plan, we decide this. Unfortunately, we can’t see the future, and so we don’t really quite know the outcome of this. Sometimes our bodies don’t quite cooperate with our minds and what we think is right.

There are many situations that stipulate what we as women will choose. Multiple births tend to lean towards the bottle feeding, but some mom’s do both. Single births, depending on complications as well, will help with the decision whether or not the mom is going to breast feed.

Another situation is if the baby is born premature. The mother may be going through way to many things to be able to breast feed, or in some instances, the milk may not even come in, or the baby may not have his or her sucking reflex and the mother will have to pump to provide the milk for her baby. My son was born 8 weeks premature, and I had to get my milk to come in by constantly pumping. He didn’t quite have his sucking reflex yet, so he couldn’t stimulate my milk to come in normally. I wanted him to have my milk because of the antibodies in the breast milk.

Although breast milk was the best for my son because of his prematurity, and the antibodies would ward off any extra germs that he could have picked up, if I had chosen formula to feed him then he would have gotten stronger faster and gained weight faster. This is not necessarily true for all cases, but for mine it was because for some reason, my breast milk did not have enough fat in it to help him gain weight. So, I ended up having to add more calories with a substance called human milk fortifier, supplied by the hospital. And, he also had to have liquid vitamins on top of all that, producing extra work for me. But, at the time he was my only child and so I could devote all my time to him.

And devote my time I did. He had such a sensitive tummy when he was little. I would pump for him, then I would bottle feed him the breast milk (mind you, it took him an hour to drink 1 ounce) and sometimes he would throw up everything and I would have to start again. I only gave him my breast milk at the time because I believed that breast is best. Not all moms who have other children will have time and patience to do this.

My other two children were easier in a sense because they were born full term with a suck reflex. I nursed my second son for 9 months and my daughter for 11 months. In that process, I had mastitis tons of times and that is very painful. I think that if I had known all the complications involved in nursing, I may not have done it.

Formula today has come a long way. Sometimes mothers choose it over breast feeding because of its convenience. Breast feeding can be convenient too, but not when you are going out and want to leave the little one with someone else.

I think that the best thing for this day and age is for the mom to be able to do both, breast feed and bottle feed the baby. That way the baby can have the breast milk, and the mom can take a break and give the baby a bottle as well. (Time for bonding with Dad!!)

Some women may not be able to breast feed and I think that it is okay. These moms need to stop being frowned upon because they choose to formula feed their baby. There are tons of medical cases and reasons why they choose to bottle feed and formula feed, and I think that it is a matter of choice. The baby is still being fed, and is happy and just as healthy as the breast fed baby.

So whatever you choose to do, take day by day. Don’t let anyone tell you that you did the wrong thing, or made the wrong decision. You as a mom know what is best for your baby, and for yourself.

Anna Snyder is a young mother to 3 beautiful children. Her birth experiences have made her who she is today. Come and visit her online store, it is filled with Beautiful Swimwear For Beautiful Women!

Comfortable Clothing For Breastfeeding Mothers

As a responsible mother, you want to nurse your baby regularly, but you may be concerned about breastfeeding in public.

If you’re like me, my baby comes first, but it doesn’t stop you worrying about what folk may think as you may have heard some folk commenting on the act of breastfeeding in front of folk. You may still do it with privacy by pumping milk and stored in bottles for the baby, but this may lead the way on to colic.

According to doctors and therapists, breastfeeding develops a mutual understanding between you and your baby and if you are shy to go in public, nursing shirts can be your friend and they are a pragmatic answer.

They enable discreet breastfeeding and you can go anywhere while wearing them. The baby can be nursed through the convenient openings and you can cover your sides and stomach at the same time. Try dressing in layers since it will enable you to feed the baby underneath the layers. Nursing shirts ensure the privacy that you want and need.

You can buy slings to hold the baby so you can move freely and do your work outside of the home. This will make you more confident and make sure when you’re at home, practice holding the baby in front of a mirror. You’ll get better at settling the baby and it will surely enhance your system. When breastfeeding in public you can try some tricks.

Try using some props and pretend to use them while breastfeeding your baby.

For example, try holding a newspaper or a mag while nursing the baby and in restaurants , you can use the menu in an identical manner.

There are fashionable nursing shirts available in the market. You may order from net stores that have nice designs.

Choosing nice patterns would make the shirts look more attractive. Many new mums are nervous about their looks after childbirth and the cool nursing shirts that have been invented can protect you from these worries. When checking internet stores, make sure clearance sales or end of the season sales are available. These are great in saving money while getting quality products. Check what kind of fabric they use and select the most comfortable one for you. Bright coloured shirts may cut back the sense of warmth.

Wearing nursing shirts shows that you have the confidence to do what is right for your baby, even if it is’s in public. You love your baby and you’ll do anything to meet their wants. You should never be embarrassed about nursing in public, especially now that there’s a solution for it.

Give it a try…

Special Diet Advice for Breastfeeding Mothers

With the correct diet plan you can do a lot of things. You can lose that unwanted pregnancy weight, as well as provide for the special needs of your child.

Eating well is so important for your child but it is also crucial for you. You are starting a new chapter in your life and will need all the energy you possibly can to keep up with your new growing child.

Don’t just think about eating healthy for your child during breastfeeding. You need to start eating healthy during the pregnancy as well. But make sure you don’t start any diet during that time period, which can be very unhealthy for your child.

What you really need to focus on is eating a lot of whole grains. You can really find these anywhere, you don’t have to look too hard. One of my favorite ways to eat whole grains is through my favorite cereals.

Vegetables are always an important part of your diet. When mentioning vegetables it’s really important to understand the difference between raw and cooked vegetables. Raw vegetables will always have more vitamins than cooked.

You can never go wrong with fruit. They have so much natural sugar to keep your energy high without those horrible sugar drops or lows that caffeine produces. Fruits can always be substituted easily for your desert.

Make sure that you are focusing on foods that have a lot of calcium, iron, and protein. Diary products are always a great idea, and they can be real treats too. Some good ways to make sure you get enough iron would be to eat sesame seeds, cashew nuts, and dried figs.

Be careful about not eating too much while you breastfeed. You might just be taken in a lot of unneeded calories. Some experts of the past have recommended taking in 300-500 calories when really it just depends on your body, its needs, and how active you are. For more information on exact diets, talk to you doctor or there are also books that can be purchased with great food ideas.

Diet Guidelines for Mothers that Breast Feed

Most women hate the weight that they have gained after pregnancy. It happens to all of us. But with the right diet focused on breastfeeding, you can actually make sure that your child is receiving the appropriate vitamins and nutrients, as well as shed some of that baby weight in a healthy way.

It isn’t just important to eat well during this crucial time period for your child’s sake. You need all the energy and health possible. You need to be ready for the demanding life of being a new mom.

The ideal thing would be to change your diet before you are breastfeeding but sometimes during pregnancy for one reason or another we can’t always do that. I’m not saying that you should go on a diet while your pregnant, simply that you should be focusing on eating right for your child.

While breastfeeding, you want to focus on getting a lot of whole grains. You don’t have to do a lot to get this, most of the time you can find it in your favorite breakfast cereals.

What kind of advice would this be if I didn’t mention the importance of vegetables to your diet? It’s always a good idea to go more natural when you are looking out for you and your baby’s health. Eat as many raw vegetables as you can.

You can never go wrong with fruit. They have so much natural sugar to keep your energy high without those horrible sugar drops or lows that caffeine produces. Fruits can always be substituted easily for your desert.

The main things you need to be focusing on getting a lot of are iron, protein, and calcium. These really aren’t difficult to find in every day foods. You might think that iron is a difficult one but you can find it in figs, cashew nuts, sesame seeds, and even special k cereal.

I’ve read in the past a lot of experts say that you need 300-500 more calories when you are breastfeeding, but now they are saying that they cannot necessarily recommend a one-size-fits-all type of thing. Every woman has a different body and activity level and those are the types of things that would be able to indicate if you are getting enough calories or if you need to get more. It’s best to see your doctor so that they will be able to tell you exactly what your specific and unique body and life-style needs, or there are other options for great breastfeeding diet books that can really help too.