Breast feeding

Breastfeeding is a natural way for a mother to feed her baby and helps her to bond with her child. Putting baby to nipple for the first 6 months of a babies life is said to benefit baby along with solids for months after.

Each time you put your little one to the breast it makes a big difference to your child’s health. A baby being fed with mothers milk helps maintain a more emotional and physical bond between you and your baby, which makes a healthy happy infant and a happy mother.

Lots of new moms find Breast feeding a real struggle to begin with because the baby may not latch on to mothers nipple or cannot grasp the suckling motion for long enough to release milk from the breast. So lots of women give up very quickly and revert to a bottle because it is much simpler. But as soon as you and baby get the knack of it, you will never want to change that closeness you will feel with baby after this, the bond will be as strong as it can be.

Whilst feeding baby, you as a mother are looking after the health and well being off your child, not just because breast is best, or because of all the natural nutrients in breast milk, but you save your baby from illnesses such as

• Gastroenteritis
• Ear infections
• Urinary Tract Infections
• Coughs
• Colds

And who can say better than that to give your child the best start in life you could possibly give, when feeding you have to watch what you eat and drink, you need to try and eat larger portions and frequent snacks to help meet demands of breast feeding baby also avoiding alcohol.

Your breast produces milk in response to baby being put to breast, the more you feed with the milk from the boob the more your breasts produce, basically feed on demand. When you first breast feed your baby you may feel like a milking machine because they like to feed often, around every two hours. Once they feed better each time the less frequent it will become.

Breast milk contains antibodies which gives your child protection from picking up any virus from mother and from fighting any illness or infection they may get themselves. This milk is easily digestible in a baby than formula milk, and less likely to cause stomach upsets and nobody wants a baby with diarrhea you’ve got enough to do at the best of times.

Tiny premature babies who are fed on breast milk are more likely to do well than being formula fed, and is also said to be good for babies teeth and eyesight. Also baby’s that have been breastfed are easier to wean due to already having traces of what the mother eats and drinks in their bodies whilst being breast feeding.

For the first few days after giving birth your breasts produce a food called ‘colostrums’ which looks like creamy milk and is yellow in colour. This contains the food your baby needs and the antibodies to protect your child, after a few days your breasts begin to produce breast milk which will look thin compared to the colostrum.

How your baby feeds on your breast is different to a bottle, the breasts are never empty, but the milk has to be let down so it can gather behind your nipple. To make milk flow from the breast, baby needs to be in a good position.

Make sure your also comfortable when feeding baby, hold baby close to the breast this may take time to get used to but you will do it eventually it just takes practise, make sure your back is supported which ever position you and baby find easiest and most comfortable that will be normally be best.

Thrush

Thrush can be a very annoying and irritating problem to live with for both women and children. It is also a condition men can get too. 

Thrush is a yeast infection known as candida. A breast feeding mother can become infected on the breast. You can also get it in your mouth which is called oral thrush which a lot of baby’s get at some stage of there baby days and can be very nasty if left and not treated.

Having to watch your child itching away at there bits (bits is a term I use with my kids for there private parts) because they have vaginal thrush is not something you like to see your child suffer from.

You can see in the child’s face the discomfort they are experiencing from the thrush that’s affecting their private parts, come on us women know what vaginal thrush can be like if you have had this, it is a very annoying infection to have.

Because the itch is annoying the infant becomes frustrated causing them to itch even more, and the more they itch the warmer the area gets bringing fungus and germs. Fungus and germs that cause thrush in the first place feeds off moist and warm areas that’s why young children are very susceptible to thrush due to wearing a nappy because of the warmth and then when they wet their nappy there’s the moisture for them to thrive on and they love it.

Women get thrush in the vagina which include

symptoms

itchiness and a cloudy white smelly discharge. A lot of women and girls can get this when they become sexually active but you don’t have to be sexually active to get vaginal thrush it is just more common in sexually active women.

Symptoms can include itching, redness, a white vaginal discharge, sometimes some swelling.

If your child is still in nappies and to avoid thrush try and let them roam free for as long as you possibly can without a nappy on. Obviously just doing that will not stop them from getting thrush but it will help, also always try to make sure that you buy them cotton underwear when possible, and also yourself and not to use fragrances down below such as feminine douches.

Its believed that using a natural plain yoghurt helps with thrush in women.

Oral thrush – is common in new born babies sometimes they may not take there feed as well as they normally would and they may cry because the mouth may be painful also. With oral thrush in babies there will be small white spots on the tongue and inside of the cheeks and the roof of the mouth, and this is how a breast feeding mother contracts thrush on the nipples because a baby having oral thrush causes the feeding mother serious pain.

When breastfeeding if you have a cracked nipple you could get thrush on the nipples more easily and also the thrush might make the nipple take longer to heal than the normal time taken.

Oral thrush is usually really easy to treat with drops or a gel which you rub inside your child’s mouth for 3 or 4 days and it should be clear after the treatment. But if ever in doubt or symptoms persist then always consult your GP.

Postnatal depression

Sometimes depression can take up to six months for a mother to realize that she has a problem, still not knowing what the problem could be Some times. It could take longer in some postnatal depression cases depending on the experiences they have gone through over their life time, and how severe there postnatal depression is.

A mother may have the feelings that something is just not right about the way she feels, since becoming pregnant or having her baby and may begin to feel depressed. Some mothers know they are feeling very different or unusual to them, and sad with postnatal depression because they dont know they have Postnatal Problem and have not seen a GP and been diagnosed with depression, or ‘baby blues’ as it is sometimes referred too.

Postnatal depresion feelings

• Do you feel you are a failure as a mother
• Do you have horrible thoughts about your life, yourself, or your baby?
• Do you think about devastating things happening to your baby?
• Are you frightened or anxious about your baby’s health or safety?
• Do you have obsessive thoughts about bacteria/germs or illness harming your baby?
• Are you constantly thinking ‘what would happen if..?
• Do you feel you are a ‘bad parent’
• Did you feel no emotions for your child after you gave birth?
• Are you able to enjoy life, have a laugh or see the funny side of certain occurrences.
• Do you feel ‘not right’ since the birth?
• Do you avoid talking about the birth of your precious child, or cry a lot more than you usually would?
• Are you not showing how you truly feel?

Some symptoms that can occurin postnatal depression:

• Feeling physically ill and having physical symptoms that are
  unusual for you such as chest pains, breathing problems,

• headaches, dizziness, many minor illnesses and stomach upsets.
  Worrying constantly about the health of yourself your baby, other
  children or family and friends

• Many women with PNI describe a feeling of having ’blurred’ vision

• Obsessive thoughts or repetitive, chanting thoughts or voices
  Unkind thoughts that you may harm somebody close

• Panic attacks and anxiety

• Having worries that everyday objects could become weapons to harm your child, yourself ,or your family

• Having ‘what if’ thoughts about what could happen if they did

• Feelings that you are a ‘bad’ mother

• A constant feeling of having nothing left to live for

• Having a constant need to revisit the birth because you feel that things were out of your control

• Not being able to talk about the birth

• Awful feelings or thoughts about your own health or child/partners

• A feeling of sadness since the baby
• that you are creating unhappiness by just being around family or friends
• A lack of emotion or feeling of anything
• Putting on a ‘brave face’.
• The feeling of being constantly tired all the time even when if you have slept greatAll of the above are just some feelings and symptoms you may experience with postnatal depression. Always ensure you get all the help that is available including GP’s, health visitors, or social services. Once the help is accepted, you will progress with time.