Struggling with breastfeeding? Check out these tips for new mothers | by Star of Baby

By Star of Baby

Introduction:

Only mothers can understand how joyous they feel with every little thing that happens from early pregnancy to delivering the baby. Each smallest moment of pregnancy such as hearing the baby's heartbeats, feeling the presence of a living being inside their womb, that first kick and finally holding the little angel in your arms.….OMG!!! that first experience of holding those little hands and breastfeeding them must be a fascinating and most peaceful moment of a new mother’s life. Motherhood can be overwhelming especially while breastfeeding the baby.   Many researches have said that women feel happiest during the second trimester.

Skin-to-skin contact with your baby immediately triggers a strong hormonal change. It is seen that some new mothers struggle while breastfeeding. Actually breastfeeding practice is like any new skill that needs time, practice and patience. In this blog, we will talk about the best breastfeeding tips for struggling new mothers including the diet for breastfeeding mothers and the benefits of breastfeeding.

Benefits of breastfeeding

We all know that breast milk is the best food for a newborn baby. Breast milk is enough for babies at least for 6 months. Breast milk provides all the required nutrients to the newborn baby and is the perfect food for your baby’s growth. Benefits of breast milk last till their adulthood. Here’s a list of some benefits of breastfeeding for the baby and mothers. 

Breastfeeding benefits the baby:

• It benefits the baby’s immune system, growth and development.
• It reduces the risk of gastroenteritis and diarrhoea in babies.
• Fulfils all nutritional requirements of newborn baby’s body.
• Helps to prevent ear and chest infections, allergies, diabetes and other diseases in newborn babies.

Breastfeeding benefits for mothers:

• It lowers the risk of bleeding after birth.
• It combats obesity.
• Lowers the risk of developing ovarian and breast cancer in mothers.
• Strengthens the weak bones.
• Strengthens the bond between the baby and the mother.

Breastfeeding positions for new moms:

If you are struggling with breastfeeding, You can try the following breastfeeding positions.

1. Sit comfortably and calmly, keeping your baby on your lap well-supported.
2. Make sure that the baby faces your chest and his/her nose is not bent or pressured with your nipple.
3. You need to support your breast until your baby is sucking and swallowing in a general pattern.
4. Encourage your baby to open their mouth like yawning so your baby can have enough mouthfuls of breast tissue.
5. Pull out and re-attach the nipple from the baby’s mouth if you feel pain when the baby is swallowing and sucking.
6. Don’t forget to insert your clean finger between the baby’s gums when you pull out the nipple to break the seal. 

Or you can talk to your lactation consultant if you are struggling while breastfeeding your baby. They will suggest you some other positions to breastfeed and ways to stimulate breast milk. 

Tips to solve latching problems:

Latching problems are really common nowadays. A baby can be unable to latch. Various reasons could lead to this problem.

Reasons behind the latching problem:

• Your posture may be wrong and you are curled up over the baby.
• Your baby’s body is not aligned properly.
• Maybe your baby is fussy.
• The nipples are inverted, flat, or too large for the baby.

Tips:

1. You should consult with your doctor to solve the problem like inverted or flat nipples. They may suggest you use breast pumps to express the milk. The breast pump will pull out the flat nipple and would give a correct posture to the inverted nipple.

2. Mothers with large nipples can also opt for a breast pump to provide breast milk to the baby easily as breast milk is important for the baby, no matter if you are breastfeeding them or feeding them after collecting the milk using a breast pump.

(For more guidance to use a breast pump, read out these blogs. These blogs will guide you to use the breast pumps correctly and will resolve your queries regarding the breast pumps.))

• . Guide to using breast pumps. Benefits and precautions.
• . Tips to use a breast pump correctly

3. To make your fussy baby calm, you can hum and swaddle the baby. Putting a few drops of breast milk will help you to encourage the baby to latch on.

4. The other problems can be remediated easily. A bit of guidance will teach you how to line up your baby so that he/she can latch on easily.