After birth, you are immediately faced with an important choice: will your baby be breast or bottle fed? Many women find it a nice and safe idea to breastfeed the baby. You can really get to know your child this way. However, the less pleasant aspects of feeding must also be taken into account. Breastfeeding does not come easily and both you and the baby will need instructions in the beginning to learn to feed. How do you introduce a baby to yourself and what should you pay attention to when breastfeeding?
How does breastfeeding start?
It is recommended to breastfeed the baby within an hour after birth. This way the breasts receive a signal that they need to start producing milk. For the first few days, the baby is fed every two hours. No milk comes out yet, but colostrum. This is a kind of yellowish liquid. It contains many antibodies, but few fats and sugars. The baby is fed every two hours to get production going as quickly and efficiently as possible. This should also be done at night so that it cannot weaken.
After a few days the real breast milk starts to flow. This looks like regular milk. In the beginning the mother experiences engorgement. This is very painful, the breasts then fill with milk. The breasts feel hard and painful. The only thing that helps is to let the baby drink. After a few days, milk production has adapted to the baby’s drinking needs. The engorgement will then decrease and eventually go away completely.
How do you put the baby on?
The baby can be held in different ways. The most common way is to sit and hold the baby with his stomach against your stomach with his face in front of your chest. Another way is to lie on your side and place the baby next to you on his side, also with his face in front of your chest.
In order for the baby to drink properly, he must make a large bite to get the nipple. If the little one does not open his mouth himself, hold his nose near the nipple. When the baby opens his mouth, push his face against your nipple so that he has it completely in his mouth. The entire nipple and part of the areola should be completely in his mouth. The baby creates a vacuum on the nipple, as it were. If the baby does not have the nipple properly, the nipple will come loose or cracked nipples may develop. These are a kind of painful scabs.
How does the baby drink?
The baby is not sucking as is commonly thought. He massages the areola with his chin. This causes the milk to loosen and flow out, as it were. The baby then only has to swallow. You can hear the baby swallowing by the clucking sound. If you keep hearing that clucking sound, milk is still coming out. When the breast is almost empty, the baby has to swallow a few times before you hear the gurgling sound. He has to make an effort to get the last bit out.
It is also often thought that milk only comes out of one hole. This is not true. The milk comes from different holes of the nipple. A jet of slightly thinner milk squirts out of some holes. From others some thicker, fattier milk drips.
Feeding on demand
For the first few days, the baby needs to nurse every two hours to get production going. After a few hours, this can take as long as three hours. If breastfeeding is going well, feeding can be done on request. This means that the mother feeds the baby when he indicates that he is hungry. Generally this is between two and four hours.
For the first few months, the baby needs only one breast. If the baby is still hungry, he can also drink from the other breast. This is then called dessert. Alternate feeding the breasts. For example, feed from the left one time and then start with the right the next time the baby is hungry. When the baby gets older, one breast is no longer enough. He then wants to drink from both breasts. There is usually three to four hours between feedings. Listen to what the baby indicates. It’s okay to give more or less sometimes. The baby itself indicates whether it is still hungry or not.
Problems with breastfeeding
Problems such as:
Sore nipples
If the baby is not latched on properly, sore nipples can occur. With cracked nipples there are a kind of crusts on the nipples. A tip is to rub the nipples with colostrum or breast milk, this softens the nipple. If the nipple really hurts too much, nipple shields can be used. These are a kind of caps that are placed on the nipple when the baby drinks.
Too little nutrition
Some mothers have insufficient nutrition. To get milk production going, they need to rest as much as possible and latch the baby on as much as possible. If the baby is still hungry, you can alternate with the bottle.
Too much nutritionAnd honorary mothers actually have too much nutrition. They continue to have engorgement, making the breasts hard and making it difficult for the baby to drink. Expressing part of it is then a solution.
Additional tips for breastfeeding
- Breastfeeding does not contain vitamin K and vitamin D. The baby does need these, so you have to provide them yourself. These are both drops and can be purchased at a pharmacy or drugstore
- Remember that when the baby drinks from one breast, the milk will flow from the other breast. Hold a cloth or washcloth between your baby so that everything does not get wet.
- When the baby sleeps longer at night, the breasts continue to fill up. If it’s really too painful, pump them. Also wear nursing pads at night, in case they leak.
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