The saga of how I got milk from my breast. How to determine if your baby is getting enough breast milk. Is the baby getting enough breast milk?

9 more articles on the topic: Diet of a nursing mother

Nutrition for a nursing mother is an important and interesting topic. However, along with really useful information, there are many myths and prejudices around it. Some of them are harmless, others can lead to health problems and interfere with breastfeeding.

"Quantity breast milk and its quality depends on many factors, the main one of which is the nutrition of the nursing mother.”

The amount of production from the mother’s “dairy” has nothing to do with malnutrition, since the milk is not obtained from products consumed by the woman. Fats and proteins are secreted by the breast cells themselves. A- and p-casein, lactoalbumin and P-lactoglobulin are formed from proteins in the mammary gland. Only immune globulins and serum albumin enter milk in preformed form from the blood. But the energy costs that the nursing body undergoes must be compensated good nutrition. Therefore, the quantity and even quality of milk, even with a meager diet, may be sufficient for the child’s needs, but female body may not be able to withstand the load, because the breasts will “take” the resources needed to produce milk from all the reserves and reserves of the body.

Myth No. 2. About the impact of products on a child and “allergy to hepatitis B”

“A nursing mother should monitor her diet very carefully; at first, all potentially allergenic foods should be excluded. New foods should be introduced one per week and the child’s reaction should be closely monitored.”

There is a myth that some foods can cause a reaction in a child: from gas formation to allergic reactions.

Firstly, two concepts are often confused: allergies and food intolerances; these are two different things. In one case, this is a systemic disease with a hereditary factor, in the other, it is a consequence of inadequate feeding: too frequent transfer from one breast to another, supplementation and additional feeding. The cause of food intolerance in the form of bloating, changes in stool character, dysbiosis and dermatitis must be sought, first of all, in the method of breastfeeding, and not in the foods consumed by the mother. In the third case, the allergy - a consequence of infection of the mother's milk - is no longer a food allergy, but a bacterial allergy; it cannot be treated by adjusting the diet.

Food products themselves cannot become aggressive for a child in a mother who knows for sure that she tolerates them well; the product simply does not have any ways through which it will become an aggressor in mother’s milk. But the mother’s negative reaction to the product will immediately affect the child in the form of food intolerance.

Factors contributing to the development of food sensitization (allergization) in children:

Gastrointestinal pathology in the mother, leading to permeability of the intestinal barrier, resulting in food allergens, circulating in the mother’s blood, pass through the placenta to the child during its intrauterine development

Late breastfeeding after childbirth

Supplemental feeding with formulas in the first days of life

Supplemental feeding with formulas at 2-3 months of age if hypolactia (lack of milk) is suspected

Consumption of highly allergenic foods by mothers prone to allergies large quantities(non-compliance with a hyposensitizing diet)

It is of no small importance that the father of the unborn child follows a diet if the father has allergies or is prone to allergies

The mother's consumption of large amounts of preservatives and dyes, which strongly irritate the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract and increase the absorption of allergenic substances into the blood

Various foods can change the color and consistency of a baby's stool if they contain substances that can pass through the blood into breast milk.

K potentially dangerous products still include alcohol and caffeine in excessive doses. For alcohol – over 1 ppm per day (this is 1 glass of wine or 1 bottle of beer). For caffeine – over 200 mg per day (that’s about 2 cups of coffee).

“It should also be taken into account that during lactation a woman needs significantly more water. It is no coincidence that mothers are recommended to drink a glass of tea with milk before each feeding of the baby.”

Does milk tea actually increase breast milk production? This is one of the “favorite” myths among nursing mothers. But let's figure out what affects the amount of milk. In the body of a nursing woman, milk is formed not from drunk milk, but from blood and lymph under the influence of the hormone prolactin. That is, the amount of milk is regulated not by the amount of fluid in the stomach, but by hormones in the pituitary gland. The amount of the latter mainly depends on how often and correctly the baby sucks and on the presence of a sufficient number of day and night feedings. Therefore, tea with milk is not involved here. And yet, the “magic drink” really helped many mothers. How is this possible? The fact is that the baby cannot get enough milk from the breast simply by sucking. The hormone oxytocin helps him in this, which contracts the muscle cells around the mammary gland and ducts. This results in increased secretion (rather than production) of milk from the nipples. At the same time, mothers note distension, tingling, warming in the chest and sometimes leakage of milk through the nipple.

There is one trick: when the tongue receptors are irritated by a pleasantly hot drink, the release of oxytocin increases. This is what is observed when drinking tea with milk. But the same effect can be obtained by drinking any other liquid of the same temperature.

There is also a myth that the amount of liquid consumed affects the amount of milk produced. Increasing the amount of fluid consumed does not affect the increase in milk supply. But drinking too much liquid puts a strain on the kidneys, which is a stress factor for the body, and any stress blocks the release of hormones necessary for lactation. It turns out the other way around - excessive fluid intake can lead to a decrease in milk production, just as thirst also creates discomfort and interferes with relaxation and blocks the release of hormones. Therefore, it is rational to consume the amount of liquid that the body requires and drink as much as you want, and not through force, and without limiting yourself in taking liquid.

For better absorption of any liquid, nursing mothers should avoid drinking mixed drinks, such as tea and coffee with milk. Since it is believed that breastfeeding women need to maintain the required level of calcium in the body, alongside this myth coexists the myth that the foods richest in calcium are dairy products. This is not entirely true, firstly, calcium from milk is difficult to digest, and secondly, milk is an allergen and should be consumed with caution. If you suspect allergic reactions or intolerances. And to increase the calcium content in the body, it is better to use other foods high in calcium instead of milk: sesame seeds, almonds, sardines, hazelnuts, watercress, hard cheeses, broccoli, white cabbage, black bread, leeks, bananas. Teas, as a rule, are recommended not for black teas, but for herbal and fruit and fruit and berry drinks. A high calcium content, for example, is observed in a drink made from rose hips and nettles.

Myths No. 4. About harmful products

“Citrus fruits, berries, chocolate are especially dangerous in this regard...”

Breast milk contains the maximum amount of antibodies to all types of aggressive elements that a person can receive in a lifetime. Substances passed through breast milk form stable food tolerance - the ability to digest any food. Excluding certain foods from the diet means depriving the child of the opportunity to form his own defense against harmful factors environment, including allergens. An exclusive “Anti-allergenic diet” without indications from the mother is a direct way to make a child potentially susceptible allergic reactions in future. Allergy prevention can be ensured by exclusive breastfeeding for up to 6 months, as well as the introduction of complementary foods according to the principle pedagogical complementary feeding When the mother’s food products and those used for complementary feeding are identical, the body itself will be able to recognize the allergen and produce the necessary antibodies to it. A nursing mother should better listen to her work own body, so-called atopic dermatitis may begin in children whose mothers themselves do not digest certain foods well, but continue to eat them.

Myths No. 5. Products “specially for lactation”

“There are specialized products for nursing mothers. These include: drinks and juices for pregnant women and nursing mothers, teas for pregnant and nursing mothers; porridge instant cooking for pregnant and lactating women; dry protein-vitamin-mineral complexes for nursing mothers; vitamins for pregnant and lactating women.”

The vast majority of all these products “for nursing” are nothing more than a commercial move and the products offered are the most ordinary products, they are simply offered under the guise of “special”. It is cheaper and more reliable to eat and drink home-prepared herbal teas, the herbs for which you will buy at a pharmacy or in departments of " traditional medicine" You can also choose cereals in any department in the supermarket, and if you want a twist, or you don’t trust ordinary manufacturers, again, use the departments of environmental and dietary products. It is not recommended to take artificial vitamin supplements without the specific recommendation of your doctor.

Alexandra Kudimova – neonatologist, perinatal psychologist

I am breastfeeding, yes, it is light and joyful for me to realize that with my milk my blood, my life, seems to flow into the baby. There are so many ways to love your child, and for me, feeding is one of those ways.

Yura was born by emergency cesarean at 34 weeks, weighing 1670 grams. I was completely unprepared for this, and somehow it didn’t even occur to me at first that I could breastfeed him, although I really wanted to during pregnancy, and in general, motherhood is partly imagined to me through breastfeeding. For some reason I didn’t think about it, I lay in the intensive care unit of the maternity hospital for two days and thought more about the fact that he was alone, without me, “somewhere out there.” And yet, after “the birth did not work out” (there was no labor activity, there was a CS according to indications), there was a feeling that “everything did not work out”, it took time to readjust to the fact that this was the BEGINNING, and not the end. And when I was transferred to postpartum ward, on the third day, I suddenly noticed that my breasts became large, hard and painful. For me it is still a wonderful miracle that the body knew everything, understood and did as it should - the milk came. I saw the baby briefly for three and a half seconds in the operating room, they didn’t even let me hold him, they took him to the intensive care unit, but the body knew everything, knew that the baby was born and it was time to feed him, and was preparing for this.

At this point I want to take a step back and say that lactation consultants helped me a lot. The maternity hospital nurse came, of course, “showed me how to express,” but she did it painfully. And I had a strong feeling that there was a lot beyond the scant words that they said. I had several consultants' phone numbers with me, and I called them one by one until one of them answered. The consultant even told me more on the phone... “The release of milk,” she said, “occurs under the influence of oxytocin. This is an act of love. Make it pleasant for you: sit comfortably, pour something warm, sit down early so as not to rush... "Not as much and as much. But these words: “This is an act of love” - they sank into my soul so much, it still shocks me when I remember. How often in our system do we forget about this, about living things, about the fact that feeding is an act of love, just like birth...

I had a child in intensive care, he could suckle on his own... I’m sure he would have been able to breastfeed on his own, perhaps with supplementary feeding. But now no one will know. At that moment they told me that I could express myself, and if it worked, they would give him my milk instead of formula.
When I remember, I’ll shudder, to be honest. There was so much fear, so much uncertainty, trepidation. It was as if I was being blown away by an icy wind. It's as if they told me that I wouldn't be able to be a mother. As if I wasn’t ALREADY a mother at that moment! Incredible and incredibly scary. And I really wanted to be a mother. Very.

Now I already have experience of a second birth, at home. Born at term, although small, Styopa showed me how the beginning of feeding can occur. My tiny, thin newborn Styopa, as I was surprised to see, can cope with my large swollen breasts at the moment of milk coming in and lactation establishing. No additional pumping, no crazy positions like 69)). Simply applied on demand, day and night.

It was only through this example from Styopa that I saw what kind of work I did for the first time myself. As soon as the milk came in, I began to try expressing it first into a diaper, then into a bottle. My husband handed me a thermos into the room, I brewed it for myself. warm tea... The neighbor got up to feed, and I “milked.” I pumped with my hands every 2.5-3 hours. The milk came well to the cry of her daughter and other children in the neighboring rooms. It was funny - naturally, I bought a breast pump on the fourth day. But I had no idea how to express it, I tried and tried, but as soon as I picked it up, the milk disappeared))). I couldn’t express a single drop)) - this is what it means to include the brain)) in a process that occurs without the participation of higher brain structures. As I later found out, it is not the rarest situation when it is not possible to express the breasts at first or to express lactostasis using a breast pump.
When Styopa was born and it happened a couple of times that he cried for a long time and then fell asleep soundly and skipped feedings, I expressed the “excess” just to get rid of the discomfort of fullness in the chest. And it was quite early, in the first weeks. And then I remembered how damn difficult it was to express swollen, lumpy breasts, from which you only get a measly couple of tablespoons to express. (And the discomfort is such that it seems that a liter will come out there). But in fact, it is the breast tissue that is rebuilt, becomes more efficient, and by a few months of the baby it is already soft, and there is more milk in it. And that’s what Styopa sucked persistently and regularly, but very little at a time, that first time with Yura I expressed with my hands. I remember getting bruises at particularly bad times. A couple of weeks after giving birth, it became noticeably easier to express, and I switched to a breast pump. True, apparently, at first I somehow pumped unevenly and one of my breasts became larger, and there was more milk in it. This remained the case throughout Yura’s feeding, but Styopa, on the contrary, fell in love with the smaller breasts and, as a result, he evened them out for me - now they are identical))). The smaller one, by the way, had a flat nipple. And nothing, he stretched out. I started breastfeeding Yura when he was 2.5 weeks old. It’s just that at some point I was holding him in my arms in the children’s ward (he was in the hospital as a premature baby up to 4 weeks from birth), and he turned his head and began to lick the robe on my chest. Having never suckled a breast, he unmistakably found it through his robe, blouse and bra. And he knew what to do with her. I didn’t go ask anyone’s permission, it was morning, it was a shift change, I just took out my breasts and gave them. And he immediately took it. Sucked! I cried with joy, with pride for him, with annoyance that I didn’t realize it earlier. I was lucky, I got a child who was not weaned from breastfeeding by all the pacifiers and bottles he sucked during those first weeks! He, as I now understand, had a short frenulum, but not so short that he could not suck.
Then the leading doctor allowed me to breastfeed. I fed 3 times, while I could be nearby in the ward, and pumped milk the rest of the time. But as a result, it turned out that for 8 hours in the hospital I had to strain and feed him for almost a day. I began to have a lot, a lot of milk. Full-fledged hyperlactation, I would say.
You can imagine what it was like when I took the baby from the hospital. He was still tiny, 2.1 kg, suckling, and I felt that I needed to put a couple more of these babies to the same breast in order to feel relief. Huge, heavy breasts in lumps. It was a nightmare week, when I pumped first one breast and then the other until relief, put the baby in every conceivable position, carried it in a bra cabbage leaves, just to avoid mastitis... And it went away. Happened. Within 10 days, lactation began to meet the demand. I abandoned the breast pump and haven’t taken it out since then, and I also abandoned the recommendation to feed N times per hour. During the first month at home, the child gained 1.2 kg and became rounder))). This is after the hospital barely scraped together 500g in 4 weeks. It is clear that the first weeks physiological loss weight, everything. And yet I am sure that these feedings every three hours were by no means for Yura the best solution. When Styopa was born little, 2.8 kg, I lay in bed with him and a month later he was an average baby of 4.4 kg... And the milk, by the way, came in 1.5 days. It was as if this time the body knew that a small baby was born and it needed to eat a lot.

During the time I was pumping, I accumulated about 7 liters of milk in the freezer))) And after all the work, after all the struggle for this milk (I was warned that lactation could become or remain insufficient if you do not put the baby to the breast, but just to pump, no one knew how long he would stay in the hospital) - after everything he didn’t dare throw it away. And then Milk Mom was found)). I was so glad that someone could find it useful and someone agreed to take it.

But, as it turned out, the fight is not over). At 5.5 months, Yura suddenly began to rub my nipples. Abrasions oozing with ichor formed, over which cracks easily appeared. And this is also his rustling - to quit and kiss again. I was in very, very pain. I dug through a bunch of information about latching, watched, tried, learned not to sleep while sucking at night, so as not to slip onto the nipple. Nothing helped. I walked around bare-chested at home and with permanent cracks and abrasions. Mentally, I almost broke down and thought about stopping feeding. Now I think that the reason was still a short frenulum, which appeared as a result of some stage of growth oral cavity or teeth. But then no one told me this. Already completely desperate, I went to a dermatologist, who said that it was my nipples that were so sensitive and recommended hormonal ointment. The ointment, I must give her credit, helped immediately. Not 100%, but by continuing to monitor my attachment, I was able to continue feeding. Ironically, my breasts stopped rubbing when my first teeth came out - at one year. During these six months, Yura ate plenty of this ointment)), which, fortunately, did not noticeably affect him in any way.
But I was able to feed.
And since I succeeded, I decided to become a donor on a regular basis - I pumped 100 ml per day for another premature baby, whose mother had no milk. This lasted for about 5 months, until I left in the summer.

I am very glad that I continued to feed my now grown runner after a year. And after two. It was so wonderful, so subtle and warm, catching him, hugging him and feeling him go limp in my arms. With me. With my milk. And when I was sick too.

The pregnancy was planned and desired. I thought about a tandem, but at week 8 the milk disappeared almost completely. Yura no longer suckled during the day, he knew how to fall asleep without breastfeeding, but at night he woke up consistently 3-4 times. And he sucked, and sucked, and sucked endlessly and woke up, because the milk did not flow, despite his efforts. I really wanted to sleep. At first I agreed with him that we would save milk for one last feeding at 5 am (we really could have saved it)), but then that too disappeared. And one day Yura slept through the night. And I didn’t give him breasts anymore. For a month he got up at 5+ in the morning and asked for food. Then it returned to normal, but in the morning he still usually asks to eat as soon as he wakes up.
I'm happy with my decision then. Now that Styopa is already there, I see that I would not pull a tandem due to their and my characteristics. So now I only feed the little one. The beginning was cloudless, everything was just like in the book: he was born, took the breast, colostrum, milk, the frenulum was cut on the 4th day, this time it was obviously short, although Styopa managed to suckle. But there was a characteristic clicking sound and pain, just like with Yura on the eve of those abrasions. After the operation, the sound did not disappear immediately, but the pain disappeared. The clicking went away after a couple of weeks, apparently the mouth has also grown and the grip has improved. Now he sucks great, he’s growing, he’s a strong guy. Wish us the same cheerful continuation!

sat me down to explain:

Jack seems to have decided not to feed on my milk anymore. So I started buying regular milk for him.

I have sex education classes at high school, but it still didn’t fit in my head. I just listened to her and forgot about it. Until a week later I realized that this was a really big problem.

“Hi, Mom,” I said, walking home. She cried. - What's happened?

Oh, Kenny, I was hoping you wouldn't find out about this. Jack doesn't take my breasts at all, or rather he hasn't taken them for the last few years. three days. I've tried everything I can think of, but my breasts are so full of milk! And they hurt a lot...

Wow...Mom, what about that thing...the pump, I think...that you brought from the hospital? - I asked innocently.

I don't mean to be rude, but this thing sucks. I had to try to express the milk with my hands, but that didn’t help either, as I already said.

My brain began to think feverishly, and strange thoughts crept into my head. Dare I suggest something? Will I be able to muster all my courage? Will Mom agree to my proposal or will she get angry and call me a pervert?

Is there any way I can help? - I asked, hoping that this formulation would not be too rude.

Yes, you can, but I can't ask that of you. No, we can't, we shouldn't, it's so wrong, but today I'm desperate. Kenny, come with me to my bedroom and I'll let you help. Tomorrow I will go to the doctor and try to find another solution.

I didn't believe what Mom said. She wanted me to come with her and help her get rid of the pain, and she wanted me to suck her big, firm, milk-filled breasts. Almost headlong, I followed her. Mom stood next to the bed and silently took off her nightie.

My eyes widened, seeing her in only panties. Her big breasts were slightly saggy, because they, of course, were very heavy due to the milk overflowing them. White droplets of liquid appeared on each large nipple. Her breasts swayed gently as she lay down on her side of the bed. She raised one hand, as if inviting him to join her. I'm with great pleasure accepted this invitation.

Mom gently moved my lips to her chest and they parted themselves. Slowly she moved me closer and natural instinct made me suckle, drawing life-giving food from her body, just as it had been so many years ago. I was in ecstasy from her taste, from the feeling of warm liquid that flowed so easily into my greedy mouth. When one of her breasts was empty, I switched to the other, which was still full. All this time, Mom gently stroked my head and made quiet purring sounds. I heard her purr like that when she fed Jack, although now she did it to me like a child.

It took about an hour and a half to empty it completely, but it was the most enjoyable time I remember. Having finished, we wished each other Good night, and I ran to my room. I had a fairly large bulge in my pants that was sticking out a lot forward, and I hoped Mom didn’t see it. Once in the privacy of my room, I took off my pants, filled my hand with baby oil and quickly began to masturbate. I was even surprised at how quickly I came, not to mention the amount of cum that sprayed out of my organ. Devastated, exhausted and satisfied, I easily fell asleep.

Over the course of several next weeks Mom and I repeated our game, and this always happened in the evening, after Jack fell asleep. She called me to her room, took off her nightie, remaining in her panties, and lay down. I positioned myself comfortably closer and began to suckle. After each such time, I ran to my room and unloaded. I became angry without knowing why.

In the middle of the third week of our rendezvous, I decided to behave more brazenly. This time, noticing that Mom’s breathing was becoming more and more rapid, I, continuing to suck milk from my breast, lowered my hand to the bulge in my perineum. Although it was nice, there was something missing. As I carefully began to unzip my pants, I felt Mom’s hand move. There was enough distance between us that neither could feel what the other was doing, so I continued. The fly finally unzipped, I carefully took out my throbbing organ and began to slowly jerk it.

Mom must have sensed that something had changed because her bed began to move differently than it had before. Even though I tried to jerk off slowly, it still caused the bed to move. Feeling another movement in the bed, I raised my head to switch from empty chest to the fullest, and gently pressed his lips on the swollen nipple. While doing this, I saw Mom’s hand moving quickly in her panties. I knew what she was doing, but I didn’t say anything, I just continued to suck her.

The previous weeks had taught me how to tell when one of her breasts was almost empty. And that time I felt the familiar feeling again. This happened at the same moment when I felt that her body was moving and she was close to orgasm. I started sucking more passionately, jerking myself harder. I was at a point where it was no longer possible to stop. A moment later, when Mom gasped loudly, I felt my eruption. Because we were lying very close, almost pressed against each other, a lot of my sperm splashed out on her stomach. Some drops almost reached the bottom of her breasts.

Without a word, I jumped out of bed and headed to my room. Physically I was relieved, but emotionally my brain was in complete disarray. I just masturbated and came while sucking the milk from my Mom's breasts. I was sure that she had come too. This was easy to understand by the moan that escaped her. I was depressed and did not leave the room the entire next morning. Hunger convinced me that it is stupid to deprive yourself of what you need.

Some next days it was very quiet in our house. Mom and I didn't talk, but not because we were angry with each other, but because I think we were both ashamed of what happened that night. Mom was very ashamed, and I really wanted to go to her, but my shame did not allow me to do this. Finally, after three days, Mom came to me.

Kenny, I'll forget that night if you do the same. Please come with me to my room. I did everything I could, but it's clearly not enough. I'm so full of milk and it really hurts. Come on son and suck me.

How can a son who loves his Mom refuse her such a request? Together we went to her room and, as usual, Mom took off her nightie. The sight of her large, milk-filled breasts was becoming commonplace for me, but until now this sight could not help but excite me. The biggest difference this night was that I was only in my boxers when we laid down on Mommy's bed. After a few minutes of sucking the milk from her breasts, my hand moved down and took my erect penis out of the hole in my boxers. As usual, it was hard, thick and trembled slightly when I wrapped my fingers around the hot shaft. I was suckling, closing my eyes, and slowly moving my hand up and down at the moment when I felt the touch of fingers on top of mine. They wrapped their arms around my fist and began to move with it. I felt a soft, pleasant touch on the head, which was already covered with clear liquid oozing from the hole at the top.

I'd had a couple of girls before so I decided it was time to release my shaft and I carefully pulled my hand away. Fingers ran over the head of the erect organ and slowly dropped down, wrapping around my shaft. For a moment, my mouth stopped sucking and my brain realized that Mom was holding my hot, hard organ. Her hand, slippery from the lubricant oozing from me, easily moved up and down my shaft and was much more pleasant than mine own hands. I moaned and began to suck again, pulling out of her firm breasts milk.

The milk came completely unexpectedly for me. I didn’t burden myself at all with thinking about what would happen after giving birth. Why? Yes, because having tasted the delights pathological pregnancy After lying on the couch in front of the TV for 8 months (it was not recommended to get up), I was only thinking about how to carry the baby to term and give birth. What will happen next, I left for “later”. Delivered...

So, I endured until 39 weeks, and finally here it is, the long-awaited caesarean baby! The girl is beautiful! As much as 3kg and 80g.

The manager asked: has the milk arrived? I replied that not yet. She silently took my breasts out of the hospital gown, pressed on the areola, and I was surprised to see a small yellow drop. Milk! The adventures began on the third day after giving birth. On Friday at 10 am. So, nothing special at first glance, just swelling of the nipple and slight discomfort. I showed it to the midwife first and received advice: pump! I looked at my neighbors, they all had streams of milk flying around the room. I don’t have a drop, no matter how hard I press. My doubts about the normality of what was happening were confirmed during the rounds: the head of the department changed her face, pressed painfully on the areola several times and urgently sent me for ultrasound therapy. The physiotherapist rolled his eyes and told me to do THREE sessions today, every 2 hours. During the time spent running around and being examined, the swelling gradually spread to the entire chest, and a feeling of fullness appeared. The nurse at physical therapy, seeing my breasts, first tried to attack me, saying that you’re not expressing well. We are all ready to give advice. But after trying to press on the chest myself, I realized that you could try to strain a tennis ball with the same result. The milk flowed, but no one could get it out of the breast. Even more so myself.

And the fun evening began: after three sessions of physical therapy, during which I wanted to howl in pain, the milk arrived. But the nipple was so swollen that it didn’t even come out drop by drop! The breasts looked like two watermelons without any hint of protruding parts, the skin was stretched, the areola could only be found by color.

Realizing that I couldn’t do anything with my hands, I took up the suction. Yeah, I was daydreaming!

Before leaving home, the head of the department with serious face had a conversation with me, saying that my situation was extremely unusual, and although their maternity hospital always insists on breastfeeding, in my case, apparently lactation would have to be suppressed, she advised me not to worry, in our time this is not a problem, etc. And she left me a package of parlodel, saying that if it gets really bad, drink it! By evening my temperature rose. My body fought with milk, unclaimed by its standards, in the only way available to it: absorption. Having tasted all the delights of pronounced intoxication, I resigned myself and solemnly began to take the left-over medicine.

And here they brought me a baby for the first time (I was in the second obstetric room, so the children were separated). On the third day, because I had two operations at the same time, I was on a drip for almost two days, and I spent the whole Friday running with my breasts, so they didn’t carry me. By this time, they had applied a compress to my chest, which was parallel to the floor and had become SUCH A SIZE that I could put the cup from the bra my husband bought on my head like a cap. I took my hare, hugged her, pressed her to me as best I could, and she looked for her breast, groaned... And we sat like that for an hour and a half. She sucked my little finger and apparently got some pleasure from it. What will I give her? Soccer ball? And you try to suck it. Will it work?

And here in mine dark kingdom a ray of light appeared: the doctor on duty came. It was already after twelve at night, the door opened and a frail girl appeared, accompanied by a clinical resident of approximately the same age. She came up, opened my chest, said that SHE HAS NEVER SEEN THIS, and asked for a diaper. I gave. And then it began: I was rudely MILKED, my vision was getting dark, and long-suffering MILK was dripping from my chest drop by drop. The doctor’s hand lay under my chin, and apparently something cannibalistic flashed in my eyes from time to time, because the resident commented: she’s going to bite you! I muttered through clenched teeth that I had such a desire, after which my hand was removed. When I was able to react to my surroundings again, I was surprised to realize that I felt a little better! They left me alone with the blowjob, promising to come tomorrow.

Similar medical manipulations continued twice a day until Monday, and the chest was clearly on the mend, but every doctor on duty bulged his eyes and declared that this was some kind of horror! To which I proudly replied that the horror happened yesterday (the day before yesterday).

By Monday, all that was left of my milk was memories. I explained the situation to my husband, such as pathological lactostasis, lactation is suppressed. He sadly asked: what are we going to feed the hare? And then I felt so ashamed! How can it be, I’ll give my daughter some milk! And I stopped drinking parlodel. But we can say that there was practically no milk. And the child is problematic: a short frenulum of the tongue (all the way to the tip, the tongue practically did not protrude), and neurological problems (as it later turned out, the muscles of the floor of her mouth did not work - birth injury). Multiple control weighings showed that the baby was not sucking at all! Not a gram! The situation was saved by suction: stubbornly and pedantically, I clicked with the Avent suction, expressing 10-20-30 grams of long-suffering milk. Don't care about everything sanitary standards, this milk was sent first to the refrigerator and then to the child. Well, supplementary feeding with formula, of course, they gave me a bottle, I fed it myself. What else to do with the child in the short time for which he was brought?

On the 11th day we were allowed to go home, and after 2 days I realized that the baby had enough milk! Moreover, there was enough milk for both the dog and the cat, and there were 10-15 bags in reserve in the freezer. I had the idea of ​​giving away the surplus to someone, but at that time there were no people willing to do so. When the baby was one month old, the frenulum was cut, and I happily began to breastfeed again, but my persistence was not enough; I still had to look for such a lazy sucker. I only found out that the problem was not just in the bridle when I was about nine months old, when it was already too late to change anything. But in my situation there is loss breastfeeding was minimal loss, there might have been no milk at all, but here, even though it came from a bottle, it was our own!

I remembered my epic with milk when I became pregnant again. This time, the problems during pregnancy were different, I was often sick, and ended up with placentitis and oligohydramnios. At 36-37 weeks, labor began, and I followed the well-worn path to the same manager. While I was changing clothes, while they were waiting for the ultrasound, we got to talking, and she said that maybe this time we can handle the breasts and there will be milk. When I answered that there was milk, although I fed it from a bottle, I felt proud: the manager’s amazement knew no bounds. She said that all these years I have been cited as an example as an absolutely hopeless case, that there are situations when lactation is forced to stop due to anatomical features mammary glands. And here there was milk after complete suppression of lactation! Moreover, the doctors on duty came over the weekend (I happened to give birth on a Friday evening) and said that they didn’t remember my name or face, but they would never forget my breast!

Taught by bitter experience, I lay on the bed after giving birth and stubbornly strained. There was a stack of medicines on the table, a T-shirt was taken with me to maintain compresses on the chest, an action plan was developed by the hour. In vain: the milk came just as suddenly and forcefully. All my attempts to pump ended with sluggish drops of milk in the diaper. So on the second evening I crawled to the post to get a password maker. They gave without a sound, remembering past exploits. On Monday, doctors looked at the long-suffering chest covered in bruises and abrasions and sympathized. Then I came to visit second cousin(obstetrician-gynecologist), I spat on the laws of hospitality, slipped her a diaper and asked me to filter it. Well, it must be so: she suffers, saying that I have terrible breasts, I eat in pain. She says: you didn’t give birth! I answer: you were not targeted! But after the execution it really got better. The son, like a true man, wanted to eat and sucked better than a breast pump, which was strange for me after my lazy daughter. The manager said that the child would not take my breast, I remained silent and continued to apply stubbornly.

When we arrived home, I turned on feeding on demand. The baby hung on my chest for hours, my daughter was jealous, sat on my head, brought me books and forced me to read while feeding, but the result was worth it. The child is completely breastfed.

We need to go to the maternity hospital to brag!

You can find out that your baby is not getting enough milk by following a number of steps: characteristic features. Solve lactation problems and provide good nutrition timely measures will help.

When starting breastfeeding, many mothers are concerned about whether the baby has enough breast milk. The concern is natural, because it is not possible to determine the exact number. And if the baby is anxious and capricious, then suspicion grows into confidence, and mothers decide to supplement with formula feeding.

You should not rush to accept such a conclusion; first you need to observe the baby and carry out a series of simple manipulations.

How much milk does a baby need before one year of age?

In their desire to feed the baby, many forget that the child eats exactly as much as he needs. Attachment to the breast on demand will provide it required quantity food. For full feeding You should not give a second breast until the first one has emptied. This will ensure that you receive the fatty hindmilk needed to satisfy your hunger.

You should not give formula to a baby unless it is definitely established that his anxiety is caused by hunger. Constantly overeating a newborn can become a habit, which can subsequently lead to obesity and health problems due to excess weight.

Signs indicating a lack of milk

Crying, refusal to sleep and whims are often not associated with a feeling of hunger, but have completely different reasons. He may be disturbed by loud sounds, harsh light, colic, or teething. You can understand that a baby is not getting enough breast milk by the following signs:

1. Within two weeks of birth, the baby's weight increased by less than 500 grams.
2. The milk in the breast runs out before the baby has time to let go. He begins to show excitement, not letting go of the nipple from his mouth.
3. The number of urinations becomes less than 10 times in one day.
4. The stool becomes dense and dense.
5. Upon completion of feeding, the baby does not calm down, but continues to look for the breast.

To find out for sure whether your baby is getting enough breast milk, you can use several techniques.

1. Count wet diapers. The method is not effective if the baby is in a diaper all day, so you should set aside one day and save him from being in it. During the control time, more than 10 urinations should occur. If there are fewer of them, you should think about the lack of nutritional value of breast milk.
2. Weigh the child. Experts have calculated that under normal feeding conditions, weight gain should occur in the range of 0.5 to 2 kg per month. By six months, the child’s weight should double from the original, and by one year it should triple.
3. Count the number of bowel movements. If the baby eats willingly and satisfactorily, then the number of bowel movements should reach 4-5 times a day.

Not all doctors support this rule. Many experts believe that with well-established feeding, breast milk is completely absorbed. If the child is cheerful, active and calm, the norm is the absence of feces for up to 5 days.

Carefully observe and listen to the baby during the feeding process. With proper latching on the breast and active feeding, the baby makes characteristic swallowing movements with a certain frequency. If the throat is inaudible or extremely short, the chest grip should be changed to achieve the correct position.
If, upon analyzing the information received, it turns out that the child does not receive enough food, several simple steps should be taken to increase it.

Do not rely on the method of weighing the baby before and after feeding. The duration and quantity of breast milk consumption is influenced by many factors, indicators may vary with each feeding, and determine exact value impossible.

How to increase breast milk production?

If a mother decides to postpone artificial nutrition and try to establish breastfeeding, then the following measures will help her:

1. Increasing the frequency of applications. Everyone knows the axiom: the more milk the baby eats, the more its production will increase. Lactation directly depends on the number of applications, therefore reasonable solution pacifiers and pacifiers will be excluded.
2. Feeding from one breast to the end. Many mothers are faced with a situation where the baby, actively eating for the first 5-10 minutes, suddenly begins to be capricious, and calms down if you offer him the other breast. This is due to the fact that hind milk is fattier, and to suck it out you need to apply more effort. Babies, being lazy, prefer to receive lighter, but less energetically valuable “foremilk”, which negatively affects their saturation.
3. Increase night feedings. It is night attachments that play main role to ensure sufficient breast milk supply. There is no need to worry about the fact that this may cause harm; food does not stay in the baby’s stomach for long, moving to digestive tract. Feeding from 3 to 8 am provides the strongest release of the hormone prolactin, which is responsible for the formation of breast milk.
4. Increasing fluid intake by the mother herself. In order for the female body to function properly and produce the required volume of breast milk, it must be provided with a sufficient amount of fluid. A nursing mother should drink at least two liters of water daily.
5. Expressing milk after feeding. The same principle applies as when increasing the frequency of applications.
6. Calm and relaxed. Lactation disorders are often associated with psychological problems, therefore, it is recommended to discard all negativity, focusing only on positive emotions and images. Tea with mint or chamomile flowers will help you relax only if the baby is not allergic to these components. Also, drinking warm liquid stimulates milk flow.

If you have problems with latching or doubts creep in about insufficient saturation, you should contact a breastfeeding specialist. In the maternity hospital, the answer to this question can be found out from a neonatologist, who will help determine the degree of saturation and resolve any concerns that may arise.

Conclusion

To find out whether a newborn has enough breast milk, you should observe him for a while and make sure that whims and irritations have other causes. Having counted wet diapers and the number of bowel movements, you need to make sure that they are not lower than those adhered to by neonatologists and pediatricians.

If in doubt, the best solution is to contact a breastfeeding specialist who will help resolve these issues. If, during the observation process, an opinion emerges that the baby does not have enough breast milk, you should postpone feeding with artificial formula and try to establish adequate breast nutrition.

How to tell if your baby is getting enough breast milk

Most people are convinced that if a newborn gets enough breast milk, it means he is absolutely calm and peaceful, practically does not cry, most sleeping time sound sleep, and while awake he only smiles at his beloved mother. And a mother who is “milk” by nature, in turn, walks around with her breasts constantly overflowing with milk and expresses the excess after each feeding of the baby.

For many mothers, such a breastfeeding scenario becomes a real idyll and the most important indicator what succeeded! It’s a pity that not everyone can boast of realizing this ideal picture, which is why they often switch to artificial feeding. It’s even more offensive that the situation described is not actually an objective indicator of the state of a mother’s lactation and rather belongs to the category of widespread prejudices.

Baby sleeps restlessly during the day

Remember, a baby who is well-fed with milk will not always sleep soundly all day long, making itself known only once every 3-4 hours. This is due to the fact that up to 6 months, a feature of his sleep is the absolute dominance of the superficial shallow phase of sleep, during which the baby moves, grunts, smiles, whines and wakes up! Many children even prefer to doze not in their crib, but in the arms of their mother’s chest, who is for them the best way calming, relaxing and immersing yourself in the world of dreams.

In addition, mother's milk is easily and quickly digested, which is why the baby so often needs a new portion. It must be said that this does not apply to feeding artificial mixtures, which can split into gastrointestinal tract for several hours, and all this time the baby, as a rule, sleeps soundly without waking up.

Why does he suckle so often and for a long time?

Even with sufficient quantity With milk from the mother, the baby can spend a lot of time under her breast. It is important to remember that this is an unreliable sign that he lacks nutrition, because sucking for a baby is the most The best way calm down! Remember that the duration and frequency of breastfeeding also depends on other factors - what is the child’s temperament, his state of health, mental well-being, etc.

Why is the baby restless at the breast?

From the mother’s story: “At the beginning of feeding, the baby actively sucks the breast with pleasure, but after a couple of minutes he begins to arch and writhe in my arms, cries and turns his head at the nipple! Does he not have enough milk?” This does not always indicate a lack of nutrition. There are many reasons for this behavior. This includes the physical discomfort of the baby, for example, abdominal pain, reflux, and the desire to empty the intestines of gases, and the inability to breastfeed correct position when you simply cannot empty it properly. Therefore, in such a situation, you need to approach solving the problem comprehensively and analyze it with the help of a specialist.

I no longer experience milk rushes!

The first three weeks after birth, the mother’s lactation is at the stage of establishment, it only adapts to the needs of the child and milk, as a rule, there is always more milk than needed. From here and constantly tight breasts nursing mother. But after three weeks, lactation officially becomes mature, which means that all excess milk that was produced earlier is now eliminated. Now milk is produced strictly at the baby’s request and no longer leaks into the large quantities, the breast becomes soft. This is the norm!

I can't express milk!

Very often, a mother, when asked how to check whether the baby has enough nutrition, receives advice - express the breast and see how much milk is in it. It’s good if such a test went with a bang and the breast “gave” the accumulated amount to the mother, but what if the attempt failed? In fact, the mammary gland is designed to be emptied by the baby; he has a special way of sucking, a unique ability to suck out as much as necessary. But nature did not count on pumping, which is why not all women manage to express the mammary gland, especially after pregnancy. mature lactation. Moreover, most of them successfully feed the baby for a long time.
Therefore, there is no point in checking the status of your lactation by pumping.

Shall we do a check weighing?

Often in the clinic, the mother is asked to weigh the baby before feeding and immediately after feeding in order to determine how many grams of milk he sucked during feeding. It must be said that this method of assessing the adequacy of lactation is not suitable for breastfeeding on demand, which is recommended by the World Health Organization. After all, often applying to mother's breast, the baby sucks in total much more than the established norms per day, which are designed for feeding according to the regimen (once every 3-4 hours).

How to determine if your baby has enough milk

Current weight standards for a breastfed baby

They were developed by the World Health Organization specifically for babies fed exclusively on mother's milk. According to this competent source, a baby should normally gain from 125 to 500 grams per week, that is, from 500 grams to 2 kg per month. Weighing your child more than once a week is not recommended.

Wet diaper test

Any mother can conduct it at a time convenient for herself. The test shows whether the baby actually has enough milk. To carry it out, you need to remove the baby’s diaper for one day and count the number of urinations. 12 or more urinations in 24 hours indicate that the mother’s lactation is normal!

Keeping an eye on your bowel movements

Remember healthy baby the first month of life, which does not suffer from lack of nutrition, empties the intestines approximately 2-5 times per day. The absence of stool in the first month of life may indicate a lack of nutrition.

Dear mothers! Even if you determine that there is in fact not enough breast milk, do not give up. Restoring lactation and returning to breastfeeding is within the power of each of you, because wise nature has done everything not to deprive the baby of the most ideal nutrition for him. Seek help from specialists and continue the fight for your breastfeeding!

Breast milk is a true gift of nature, it contains everything nutrients, which are so necessary for the child. The composition of milk changes as the child grows to meet his needs for proteins, fats and carbons. Mothers really value their opportunity to give this to their baby. balanced diet, and therefore many of them are very worried, not knowing whether their babies have enough breast milk. This normal phenomenon, because it is impossible to determine from the breast, as from a bottle, how much milk has been drunk and how much is left. But, fortunately, there are several ways to determine whether a baby has received adequate nutrition.

Weight gain

If a newborn, upon discharge from the hospital, has lost up to 8% of its weight, this is absolutely normal. But then he should add about 30 g per day. The amount of weight gained is the most main indicator whether the baby is getting enough breast milk.

Just keep in mind that all weight and height charts are based on observations of infants who are at artificial feeding. So if your child gains a little less than the chart requires, there is no need to worry. The minimum amount a child can gain is 500 g per month to six months. This means that all systems and organs are developing well.

By the way, if a baby was born weighing over 4 kg, he will most likely have his own individual weight gain schedule. So don’t rush, it’s not reasonable to give him formula as a supplement, but pay attention to principle No. 2.

Digestion of milk

It is very easy to determine satiety with milk by the frequency of urination and bowel movements. Everything that has been eaten will definitely be digested.

At first, the child will urinate more often. For the first 2-3 days, the newborn eats colostrum, but it is absorbed very well and quickly and the body does not need to cleanse itself of it. These days there will be 2-3 urinations, but after the milk arrives - 10-16. If you use diapers, it will be difficult for you to understand how wet your baby is. You can conduct a special test: use diapers instead of diapers for a day and count the number of urinations. Urine should be odorless and pale yellow in color.

But most importantly, you should know that dehydration is a real threat to your health. children's health! Dehydration that lasts longer than three days leads to damage to the kidneys, brain, and liver. You need to call a doctor as soon as possible. When making sure your baby is getting enough milk, look for signs of dehydration:

• Difficulty hearing voice
• General lethargy
• Dry lips
• A fontanel sunk inside
• Inelastic skin
• Less than 6 urinations per day (if the child is more than 10 days old),
• Urine is dark or brick-colored.

If a child urinates normally, but has no stool, it may be worth considering whether there is enough milk, which is located at the back and is fattier than the front. Invite a lactation consultant to your place, he will tell you how to eliminate the problems that have arisen.

Signs that indicate adequate milk production may not give a complete picture of your breast milk supply. Here is their list:

• After feeding, the breasts become soft,
• The breasts are filled before feeding,
• The baby sometimes falls asleep under the breast,
• The newborn is properly adjusted to the breast,
• The child seems quite full after eating,
• Sucking is rhythmic and lasts 5-15 minutes,
• There is a tingling sensation before or after feeding,
• Milk leaks from the second breast.

How do you know if you have enough milk? Call a lactation consultant; he or she can even determine the severity of your concerns over the phone.

There is enough milk if:

• The child urinates at least six times a day, the urine has a slight odor and color. If the baby is often in diapers, then you should not worry about changing them 4-5 times.
• Weight gain is at least 250 g in two weeks (but do not rely only on this criterion, each child is individual).
• The break between feedings is 1.5 - 2 hours,
• The stool is regular, its consistency is soft and uniform.

There is not enough milk if:

• The child did not regain the weight lost after birth in two or a little more weeks, then gain weight goes very slowly, the child recovers by less than half a kilogram per month.
• Urination is very rare.
• Urination is quite frequent, but there is practically no stool - most likely, you have a lack of hindmilk.
• The stool has a dense consistency and is green or brown in color.
• The baby gets restless and cries between feedings (make sure it's not colic first).
• Even after feeding, he is worried and does not want to let go of the breast.

Now you know how to determine if you have enough milk. Here are some more useful tips:

1. If you want to establish proper breastfeeding, do not use nipples, pacifiers, bottles or formula. When breastfeeding, there is no need to give your baby bottled water. Giving a newborn a pacifier makes him lazy and he won't want to make any effort to suckle.
2. When the lactation process is just getting better, in the first days and even weeks you need to express excess milk after each feeding so that the breasts do not become dense and inflammatory process. After some time, the milk will arrive in the amount that the baby needs, and the breasts will be soft. Then you can stop pumping.
3. So that you don’t have to think about how to tell if you have enough milk, learn all the rules of breastfeeding. You need to know all the features of lactation in order to feed your baby for as long as possible.

Every minute guardianship and care for the baby can sometimes bring unnecessary anxiety and worry to the mother, and to the child - unreasonable changes in care, changes in diet, and even the prescription of unnecessary medications. This also applies to a very common situation when a woman Seems that her baby does not have enough milk.

Having some basic knowledge and not giving in to panic, such a “shortage” is very easy to distinguish from the true lack of milk - hypogalactia, which any nursing mother can cope with perfectly.

Artificial mixture is not always good!

To begin with, let’s answer one simple question: what’s wrong with a nursing mother, suspecting that she has insufficient milk, and switches to supplementary milk? artificial nutrition?

If milk deficiency really occurs, then this will only benefit the child.

But this phenomenon is not very common - according to statistics, it occurs in less than 3% of women.

Much more often, various indirect signs observed in the child and mother - the color of the milk, the “loss” of weight in the baby, his tearfulness and anxiety, etc. In this case, a woman, trying to feed her child with artificial formula, exposes herself and her baby to certain risks:

1. A child receiving artificial nutrition will be deprived of a significant part of vitamins, nutrients and factors immune defense contained in breast milk;
2. A woman, by reducing or stopping breastfeeding, deprives herself of all the beneficial benefits of breastfeeding - for example, preventing the development of osteoporosis, reducing the incidence of cancer.

In this regard, it is very useful to know how milk deficiency really manifests itself and what can be incorrectly mistaken for its lack.

Signs of low breast milk

Insufficiency of milk (hypogalactia) is manifested in a child by four main signs: restlessness of the baby, rare urination, stool retention and insufficient increase body weight. It should be noted that with true hypogalactia, these signs occur all together, which is usually not observed with an apparent lack of milk.

Weight loss

Weight loss is the most common reason that can alert a young mother. Weight loss associated with milk deficiency is usually taken to be the usual physiological weight loss that is observed in every (!) newborn.

This phenomenon is observed during the first 3-5 days and is associated with fluid loss through the lungs and skin, loss of the umbilical cord remnant and other phenomena. Usually by 7-10 days the baby's weight should be restored. The maximum weight loss due to physiological loss should not exceed 8% of body weight. For example, if a newborn weighed 4000 grams at birth, then the loss should not exceed 320 grams.

• After initial loss In the first week, newborns normally gain an average of 125-150g per week during the first few weeks.
• Then, on average, 450-900g per month in the first 6 months.
• In the period from 6 months to a year, 450g per month.

Typically, children gain 2-3 cm in length per month during the first 6 months.

It should be noted that weight and height gains partly depend on the child’s body type.

There are children who receive enough milk but not enough calories(as evidenced by poor weight gain). At the same time, such a child does not have signs of dehydration; he has a sufficient number of urinations per day. At the same time, the child's bowel movements are infrequent - less than once a day, whereas the norm is 2-3 times a day. The reason for this phenomenon is the lack of high-calorie hind milk.

Experts call the most informative way to check the amount of milk in a mother - check weighing. The essence of the method is to weigh the baby immediately before and after feeding. The difference in weight is the amount of milk the baby receives. But the experience of nursing mothers casts doubt on the objectivity of this approach.

Practice shows that the most reliable picture is provided by weighing the child within a week.

Child's crying and restlessness

Indeed, after birth, the baby sometimes behaves restlessly and often asks to suck. This, however, is not always a sign of poor nutrition.

Modern science considers this behavior of a baby as defensive reaction for childbirth - finding yourself in a strange, unfamiliar world after being in the cozy womb of your mother. Experienced stress, fear, temperature changes, unfamiliar sounds and smells force the baby to seek protection from the mother in the only way provided by nature - sucking at the breast. By the way, in the body sucking baby special substances are produced - endorphins, which have a calming effect and reduce postpartum stress.

A baby's anxiety can be associated with malnutrition only if it occurs immediately after feeding or during feeding - then it is explained by a feeling of hunger.

The “hungry” cry of a child has its own characteristics. It starts with a call - the child cries for a short time, 5-7 seconds, then falls silent. During the pause, the child opens his mouth wide. Then the crying resumes with increasing crying time and becomes continuous. If there is a lack of milk from the mother, the child shows anxiety during feeding and, at the end of sucking, kicks his legs.

Number of urinations and baby's stool

A decrease in the amount of urine and stool retention may indeed reflect the child's malnutrition.

In the first week, the baby's stool should turn from black to green; Once mom has fatty hindmilk, baby's stool will become more yellow.

In the first month, a baby who receives sufficient fatty hindmilk will have at least 2-3 bowel movements per day. In the first 3 days, urination is relatively rare - 4-5 times a day. But the number of times increases and in the second week reaches 12-25 times a day.

If you decide to check whether your baby is peeing enough, you will have to put aside the diapers for one day and use regular cloth diapers.

Video - does mom have enough milk?

Situations of temporary lack of milk

The occurrence of such a situation is possible for every young mother, what causes them?

Growth spurt in a child

The child experiences a periodic increase in appetite, which is associated with an uneven rate of increase in his energy needs, the so-called growth spurts. Such “exacerbations” of appetite are observed at 3 and 6 weeks, and subsequently at 3, 7, 11 and 12 months of life.

Naturally, on such days the child’s activity increases, but this does not mean at all that this is due to a decrease in the production of mother’s milk!

Lactation crisis

lactation crisis- the phenomenon is temporary and completely reversible

Lactogenic crisis is a temporary state of insufficient milk production. It should be emphasized once again: a lactation crisis is a temporary and completely reversible phenomenon, therefore, when it occurs, you should not panic, but accept everything necessary measures to find the causes of the crisis and eliminate them. For an ordinary child With normal weight gain, there is nothing to worry about in this situation.

Most common reasons lactogenic crises are:

• Rare feedings;
• putting the baby to the breast;
• Early and unjustified introduction of supplementary feeding with artificial formulas;
• As a child ages, the need for milk increases;
• The need to go to work;
• Stress, family discord;
• Chronic intoxication (smoking, drinking alcohol).

A lactation crisis usually occurs in the first 3 months after birth, but is sometimes observed in more late period- at 5-7 months. Its duration ranges from 3 to 8 days. Any nursing mother should be aware of the possibility of a crisis developing, and most importantly, what needs to be done to prevent the development of a crisis.

What to do if a lactation crisis occurs

To stimulate additional milk production you need to:

• Elimination of all identified factors supporting reduced lactation;
• Put the baby to the breast more often, sleep together with the baby, night feeding (especially at 3-6 in the morning).
• A combination of a hot shower (water temperature about 44 0C) with a circular massage of the mammary glands with movements from the periphery to the center; More about breast massage
• Caraway drink, infusion of dill seeds
• Homeopathic pharmaceutical products- Mlekain, Lactosan, as well as the use of bee jelly drug Apilak.

Read more about ways to stimulate lactation

It should be noted that all of the above points will only work if the number of times the baby is latched to the breast increases.

It is undesirable, but in extreme cases, the child can be supplemented with formula, but not from a bottle, but from a spoon or from a syringe (without a needle!).

Let us note once again: the periodically observed decrease in the amount of milk in the mother - the phenomenon is normal and with properly carried out prevention and correction - absolutely reversible and safe for the child.

Prevention of lactation crisis

• Good nutrition already during pregnancy (!), as well as during breastfeeding; Read about the nutritional features of a nursing mother
• A nursing mother should drink at least 2 liters of fluid per day. By the way, the idea that tea, beer, milk or oatmeal increases the amount of breast milk is nothing more than a myth: in fact, its volume directly depends on the volume of liquid consumed, and in this regard, tea, compote or plain water will have an equivalent effect on lactation.
• Eating dill. The effect of dill on lactation is indirect: it gives milk a pleasant taste, the baby suckles more willingly, due to which the amount of milk increases. In contrast to this, cauliflower, celery, onions, garlic and asparagus worsen the taste of milk and cause the opposite effect on lactation in the long run.
• The correct regimen for a nursing woman. This includes emotional peace, stress prevention, walks fresh air, full sleep at least 8 hours a day, including 1-2 hours during the day. Rest 15-20 minutes before feeding is necessary;
• Limiting the use of any medications, except when they are absolutely necessary; About admission medicines read during breastfeeding
• Complete cessation of smoking and drinking alcohol.

About others possible reasons lack of breast milk read

Video - lactation crisis

Probably, any new mother is concerned about the question of whether the baby has enough breast milk. After all, the baby cannot yet talk about his needs. How to understand why he cries - from hunger or for other reasons? With children on artificial feeding simpler, since the required volume is easy to calculate and then control the amount eaten. When breastfeeding, you have to focus on other signs.

Weight gain

The main thing to pay attention to is weight gain. If the child is active and cheerful, and the increase corresponds to the norms, then everything is probably in order and nothing needs to be done. An undernourished baby is unlikely to recover well. After birth, he loses up to 10% of his body weight. Then in two weeks he must return these grams, for the entire first month the increase should be at least 600 g. For the second and third - 800 g, then gradually decrease due to the growing activity of the baby.

It is worth remembering that children develop with their own individual characteristics. Some babies fall a little short of normal in the first month, but make up for everything in the next month. Others, in principle, gain little, regardless of the type of feeding. At the same time, they are absolutely healthy and otherwise develop according to their age. One thing is certain: babies should not lose weight.

Don't weigh your baby too often. You especially shouldn’t do this after every feeding. The data obtained will be completely unindicative. After all, breast milk is not a mixture, the entire volume of which is evenly divided among all feedings. The baby attaches to the breast much more often; it is difficult to overfeed him. And he can eat 100 ml one time, and only 20 ml the next. And the total volume is not necessarily the same every day. In order not to give the suspicious mother food for thought about whether the little one is full, it is better to carry out the weighing procedure every two weeks, or even a month.

Counting diapers

An important criterion by which one can judge how much a child is fed is the normal functioning of the intestines. Infants are able to defecate both after each feeding and once every few days. This may be the norm, but only if the baby’s stomach does not bother him. The stool should be of a liquid consistency, homogeneous, with a mild odor. But brown or green dense feces are a signal of a lack of milk.

You can find out if your child is hungry by counting the number of wet diapers. When there are at least 8 of them, the baby receives enough nutrients. In this case, the urine should be colorless, with a faint odor. Occasionally it may have a yellowish color, but not all the time.

Today, mothers prefer to use diapers. So it is more difficult to understand how many urinations the baby has had. It is considered normal if 4 diapers need to be changed per day because they are full. But if there is any doubt about the sufficient amount of milk, then it is worth doing a wet diaper test from time to time.

How does a well-fed baby behave?

You need to pay attention to the behavior of the baby. It is unlikely that a baby who does not eat enough will behave calmly. After feeding, he will cry for more and greedily attack the breast or bottle if offered to him. But if the mother feels that the breast has become soft and the child is quietly falling asleep, then he probably received everything he needed.

Sometimes, even with a sufficient amount of milk from the mother, the child becomes restless and does not gain weight well. Perhaps it's lactose intolerance. It is necessary to consult with a pediatrician who will prescribe enzymes or recommend special nutrition.

At the same time, the baby is able to withstand certain intervals between meals. It is unlikely that it will be 3 hours; such a time is considered the norm when feeding with formula. But if he is full, then 1.5-2 hours between applications is quite enough for him. Although when something bothers him, he can do this more often. At the chest, the little one feels protected, he is calm and comfortable. That is why modern pediatricians recommend giving the baby breastfeeding on demand. There is no need to be afraid of overfeeding him.

What should you not focus on?

Mothers, worried about their baby, often try to convince themselves that they do not have enough milk. The child seems to be eating well and gaining weight, but doubts about the quantity and quality of food remain.

You shouldn’t think that he’s not getting enough if...

• ...there is no feeling of fullness in the chest. After lactation is established, milk begins to come gradually, in response to the baby’s actions. He suckles at the breast and the amount of food he needs is produced. The transition to such a state may be unexpected. And some women never feel their breasts are full, but their children are successfully fed for a long time.
• ...I don’t like the color of the milk. Human milk may be thin and bluish or yellow and thicker. But in both cases, most likely, it contains enough useful substances. Its type depends on individual characteristics moms.
• ...the baby wakes up at night. Breast milk is quickly digested, so the feeling of fullness soon goes away. Therefore, it is not so easy to overfeed him. Or maybe the baby is worried about colic, which often gets worse at night. So the baby is not sleeping, he needs his mother’s support. It's worth giving him a tummy massage.
• ...the baby cries after feeding. Perhaps his tummy hurts. Or maybe mom switched him from one breast to the other too early, he didn't get nutritious hind milk and didn't really get full. This should only be done after he has completely emptied his chest.
• ...the baby is often attached to the breast. In fact, there is no single standard for how often and for how long a newborn should breastfeed. One, more active one, can handle it in 5 minutes. Another will need half an hour, he will also fall asleep in the process. To wake him up, you can do this: gently squeeze your breast to increase the flow of milk. Don't try to form ideal mode. The main thing is that the baby receives all the nutrients. And most of them are in full fat milk, which comes to the baby at the very end of feeding.
• ...it turns out to express very little milk. It is unlikely that you will be able to tell whether the baby is getting enough to eat by the volume of milk expressed. After all, it continues to be produced even during feeding. As a result, the baby receives enough food, but his mother cannot see this. Although if you try to pump regularly, then, most likely, lactation will accelerate and you can make supplies.
• ...the little one cries and bends over his chest. This behavior happens if the child is bothered by his tummy. He is hungry, but a new portion of food causes him discomfort, especially if he is overfed. Another reason is also possible. Milk flow is uneven. At first he is strong, but gradually weakens. To get it, the baby has to work hard. In the first month and a half, the baby may fall asleep at this moment, and after a while take the already full breast. Having become a little older, he no longer wants to fall asleep, but expresses his dissatisfaction in this way.

Why does a baby refuse to latch on?

Sometimes the baby does not want or cannot breastfeed. Although his mother has enough milk, he does not get enough. Why is this happening?

• If a toddler has been bottle-fed for some time, he refuses to work to get milk from the breast.
• Mom flat nipples. It is uncomfortable for the baby to latch onto the breast, and as a result he remains hungry. Special pads can help.
• Mom eats foods that change the taste of milk, such as onions or garlic.
• The baby has a short frenulum of the tongue, which makes it difficult to latch onto the breast normally. In this case, you need to consult a specialist.

How to increase your milk supply?

It happens that the mother really has little milk. Sometimes this happens due to physiological characteristics, for example, a woman has undergone breast surgery and has a disease thyroid gland or she has experienced severe stress.

Whatever the reason, there is no need to rush to switch to the mixture. You can try to improve lactation.

• Give breastfeeding to your baby on demand. Finish feeding only when he has eaten and released her himself.
• Check for correct grip. The baby should take the areola. This will protect the mother's nipple from injury and stimulate milk production.
• The nutrition of a nursing mother must be complete so that the baby receives useful material. Only strong allergens should be excluded from the menu. You also need to make sure there is enough liquid.

Until lactation improves, you can switch to mixed feeding. This should be done carefully, calculating the volume of the mixture correctly so as not to overfeed the baby. The child must receive enough nutrition to grow and develop well. And you can find out whether he has enough milk if you pay attention to the peculiarities of his behavior.

HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT AFTER CHILDREN?

The most beloved and long-awaited child was born, and with him EXCESS WEIGHT. But caring for a child does not leave time for oneself or for the gym. And most diets can have dangerous consequences for both mother and baby.

But I really want to put on my favorite dress, heels again and look great as before... There is a way out - stories from moms about how easy it is to lose 20+ KILO!