How to start breastfeeding

At the very beginning of our medical practice, when we were still very young parents, we naively thought that breastfeeding was such a natural thing that if you put your mother in lactation and a hungry child in one room, the couple will automatically unite, the milk will flow andthe child will grow. In fact, most young mothers and children are required to be trained in the necessary skills - the correct positions and techniques for capturing the nipple.

Our goal is not only to encourage you to breastfeed, but, more importantly, we want you to enjoy this relationship.

First

feeds You can attach your baby to your chest just a few minutes after birth. If this is not prevented by any complication( for example, breathing problems), immediately after childbirth your baby can be put on your chest, abdomen to stomach, cheek to chest, skin to skin( slightly different after

caesarean section), and cover with warmwith a towel. Now just relax and enjoy each other. Do not force or hurry events. This is not the time to practice everything that you were taught in the courses. It's time to introduce the baby to the breast. A real meal is not required. Most children lick several times, several times the sucket, stop, and then a few times slightly lick and sucks. Sucking with frequent pauses is the usual rhythm for the first few hours and sometimes even for the first few days.

A few minutes after birth, most children go into a state of calm alertness, which is optimal for contact with you. When the baby is in this state, his eyes are wide open, full of attention and looking for another pair of eyes - and chest. In fact, right after birth, some newborns, when they are put by their mothers on the stomach, make crawling motions to the chest and often find their goal almost without help. When the child is in this state of calm vigilance, massage his lips with his nipple, causing him to desire to suck( radicular reflex).

This first interaction is important for several reasons. The very first milk that your body produces, colostrum, is the best food - and the sooner the baby starts, the better. Sucking

is useful for a newborn, as it helps to relieve the stress that has accumulated during childbirth. Sucking is a familiar action that brings peace, so it helps the child to get used to the new environment. In addition to applying to the breast immediately after birth, another technique for the right beginning is a joint stay with the child in one ward. This helps you tune in to your child's signals. When you see that your baby has opened her eyes, looks around and pushes her fist in her mouth, it's time to offer her a breast.

Frequent feeding causes an influx of maternal hormones and includes a mother-child system in work.

Positions and nipple grip

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the correct position and correct grip of the nipple. Most of the problems that we face in our practice and in the center of breastfeeding( painful nipples, not enough milk, mothers do not enjoy breastfeeding) is explained by the fact that these basic correct initial techniques are not being used.

Take the right position yourself

Sit comfortably before you start feeding. Milk flows better from the chest of a relaxed mother. The position sitting in bed, or in a rocking chair, or just in an armchair is the easiest position for feeding. Pillows are simply necessary for your comfort and as a support for the child. Put one under your back, put one on your knees and one under your arm, on which the child will lie. If you are sitting in a chair, put a bench under your feet - it will lift your knees, and you do not have to strain the muscles of your back and your arms to keep the baby closer to your chest. To better prepare your psyche and your body for a sensitive response to your hungry child, think about milk, think about the baby, think about what you are mom.

Properly lay the baby

At the beginning, leave your child only in light clothing( or none at all) to ensure skin-to-skin contact. If you undress a child who seems too sleepy to feed, it will not let him fall asleep and help him suck. Then pack it as follows:

1. Arrange the child on his arm so that his neck rests in the with your elbow fold, his back resting on your forearm, and the buttocks on the palm of your hand.

2. Turn the entire body of the child on its side so that it lies facing you, the stomach to the stomach. His head and neck should lie straight, and not be thrown back or turned-

Position "in the cradle": the correct position of the

of the baby's head and body during the feeding of the

with the chest.

you are sideways in relation to the rest of the body. The child should not strain, turning his head or stretching his neck to reach the nipple.(Try turning your head to the side and swallow some water, then try the same with your head thrown back and then pressed against your chest. It's not even worth talking about that it's not as comfortable as when you keep your head in the naturalposition, straightened and turned forward.) 3. Raise the child to the level of his chest, placing it on the pillow to his lap or using a footstool. Let lying on your wheel

Wrong position for breastfeeding:

do not let the child's body hang

turned away from your body.

The pillow supports your hand and the weight of the baby. If you try to keep the baby on weight with one hand, you will have to strain your back muscles and arms. If the child lies too low, on your lap, he will pull your chest down, which will lead to unnecessary stretching and friction. Raise the child higher to yourself instead of leaning towards him.4. Remove from the road playful child handles. Turning the child on his side, the abdomen to the stomach, put his lower arm in the soft pocket formed by his body and your waist. If his upper handle continues to climb, where it does not follow, you can

hold it with the thumb of the hand on which the child is lying.5. When you arrange handles of the child, press it to yourself, the stomach to the stomach, so that it seems to gird you. This basic position is called "in the cradle".If your child was born prematurely or has difficulty with capturing the nipple, try the "under the arm" position.

Suggest the chest

With your free hand, squeeze a few drops of colostrum or milk with your fingers to moisten your nipple. Maintain the weight of your chest with your hand, placing your palm and four fingers from below, and your thumb on top. Push your fingers back to your chest wall, so that your fingers do not cover the areola( which is also called the eyeball-circle), that is, the area that grasps the child's mouth. If you have a very large breasts, place a twisted towel under it to support her weight - then she will not press on the child's lower jaw, tired him.

Help the baby take the breast correctly - this is the most important stage of the

Teasing the child with his wetted nipple, massage his lips with the nipple so that he opens his mouth wide, like with yawn. Children's mouths open very widely,

How to tease a child's mouth so that it opens wide.

and then quickly close, like the beaks of birds. At the moment when your child opens the mouth extensively( continue patiently teasing until the mouth opens really wide), point your nipple into the center of his mouth and, with a quick movement, draw the baby very close to him with his supporting hand.

It is important for the mother to remember the two main components of the correct breast capture - hand movement and quickly. Most young mothers are somewhat timid if necessary to make a rapid movement of the hand( or they are passive and expect the child to move closer to them) and therefore do not attract the child close enough or fast enough. Do not lean forward, pushing your chest to the child, - pull it closer to your chest with your arm. Otherwise, you will get used to sitting hunched, and by the end of feeding you will have a aching back ache. If you move the hand too slowly or hesitate until the child almost closes the mouth, he will most likely grab the nipple, which is wrong and dangerous.

Check that the baby sucks the areola. When you bring your child to him, his gums should not be on the basis of the nipple, but should at least 2.5 cm go to the areola. After one or two feeding "on the nipple" your nipples will ache. Another reason why it is important for your child to squeeze the areola is that the luteal sinuses( the reservoirs in which milk accumulates) are located under the areola. If your child does not squeeze these sinuses, he will not get enough milk. Children should suck the areola, not the nipple.

Open wide! An important condition for proper grip is to force the child to open the mouth quite widely. Many children squeeze or tighten their lips, especially the lower ones. Help the child to open the mouth more widely, using his index finger of the hand that supports your chest, in order to strongly push the chin of the child when you bring the child to him. At first you may need to have someone else do it for you. If your nipple tells you that your child is squeezing it with the

grip How to help the child open the mouth of the

wide enough to properly grasp the

breast: lower the lower jaw and

twist out the lips.

Correct breast grip: pay attention to

that the baby's lips lie correctly -

they are turned outwards.

gum, temporarily remove the hand from your chest and index finger out of the child's lips. If the child refuses to cooperate, interrupt feeding by gently squeezing your finger between the baby's gums, and start again. Even if you have to start over and over again, until you and the child can do everything right, do not give up. This is a good practice, and it helps the child learn the correct movements. Consider this your first opportunity to teach your child discipline( which means "to teach and guide"), so take a breath and try again.

Teaching breastfeeding techniques for nurses, we make rounds of postpartum chambers. After a simple click on the chin of the child and pulling out the jaw, wrapped in the inside of the lower lip, mothers are often exclaimed: "It does not hurt anymore, everything is as it should be."Students nicknamed this method of teaching "bypasses of the lower lips."

Make a change to breathe the baby. When you achieve that your child opens his mouth wide and twists his lips out, pull the child to him so close that the tip of his nose touches your chest. Do not be afraid to close it with a spout, because it's fine.

Wrong breasts: pay

attention to the fact that the lower lip of the child

is tucked inside.

can breathe open sides of the nose, even if the tip is pressed. If the child's nose is definitely closed, pull the child's ass closer to him, slightly change the angle of the child's position or, if necessary, lightly press down on his chest with the thumb of his hand to release the child's spout.

Maintain your breasts. Having achieved that the baby took the breast correctly, support your chest throughout the whole feeding, so that it does not put all its weight on the baby's mouth and does not tire him. When the child becomes older and stronger, this support will be less necessary and you will have a free hand during most feeding. In order not to injure your nipples, do not stretch the nipple from the child's mouth without interrupting the sucking with a finger inserted into the corner of the baby's mouth and squeezed between the gums.