Breastfeeding: Tips To A Healthy Practice

wfteam

5 years ago

By Sneha Sadhwani,

Clinical Nutritionist

Motherhood is a journey, which is exciting and full of challenges. Being is new parent is a happy feeling, but it also makes you tired.

New mothers usually rely on elders, experienced persons or health professionals to seek information that can help them with their parenting role, which is completely new to them.

It is recommended that mothers should breastfeed their newborn infants exclusively for the first six months of life. Breast milk is a perfect source of nutrition for infants because it contains the correct balance of nutrients, immune-boosting compounds and other bioactive compounds for the infant.

During this phase of lactation, mothers need to be a little extra careful about their diet, lifestyle pattern, breastfeeding technique and hygiene.

Let’s have a look at some important and helpful tips, which can make a new mother’s life easy:

Pre-Natal Education For Parents

Studies have reported that poor parental knowledge about breast milk and breastfeeding, results in poor health outcomes among children.

Pre-natal education can help the parents to understand the importance of breast milk and feeding the little one on time.

Infants who are exclusively breastfed have a lower risk of infections as well as other diseases in their adulthood. Hence, parents must have a positive attitude towards breastfeeding.

Eat A Healthy And Wholesome Diet:

The composition, quantity and quality of breast milk depend on the mother’s diet. It is recommended that breastfeeding mothers should add an extra 300-500 calories to their diet.

Their daily diet should consist of seasonal fruits, fresh vegetables, high protein foods, whole grains, healthy fats and plenty of liquids.

Strictly restrict the intake of foods that are processed, canned and packaged.

Add Galactagogues:

Galactagogues are natural herbs or foods that boost the production of breast milk. Low breast milk production can deprive the infants from several health benefits of breast milk.

Moreover it can be frustrating as well as depressing for the new mothers. Therefore, it is important to make lactogenic foods a part of the daily diet. Lactogenic foods include:

Fenugreek seeds
Fennel seeds
Cumin seeds
Oats
Bajra or pearl millet
Whole grains
Chickpeas

Learn The Latch-On Position

Most of the difficulties linked to breastfeeding can be solved if proper positioning of the baby’s body and a good attachment are achieved at the first and early feeds. This ensures effective sucking technique, which is necessary to establish breastfeeding and milk transfer.

An improper positioning or attachment may cause nipple trauma. Besides this, improper lachment may increase the risk of respiratory infections in infants, as there are high chances that breast milk may disperse in the wrong direction in the oral cavity.

Set A Breastfeeding Pattern

An erratic breastfeeding pattern can affect the growth and development of the infant. A scheduled breastfeeding pattern can also make the mother’s life easier because:

The mother can decide the baby’s feed as per her convenience
She can take care of her other chores and responsibilities too
A fixed breastfeeding timetable naturally puts other things like baby’s sleep and playtime into place

Summary

Breastfeeding is a natural act, but new mothers need to learn the skills of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is advantageous for the mother as well as the baby.

Hence, mothers should exclusively breastfeed their little ones and in case of confusion, do not shy away from taking help from health physicians or family members.

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