How To Become A Best Breast Feeding Mother?
You are not in this alone. You are part of a team: you and your newborn. However, at the beginning, you may not feel that either of you are on the same team. You may not be in sync. This is not unusual. In fact, it is quite normal to feel at bit at odds or off beat. The beginning of most ventures is a time of adjustment. Neither you or the baby are certain of what you are exactly doing or where you are going. What you need to realize this is a process of exploration.
You can be certain of 2 things. Your baby knows he is hungry and wants to eat. You know you want to feed your baby. The two of you have to meet on this common ground. The question is how? The answer is to make sure the feeding process is baby and not mother led.
Baby led breast feeding is directed towards feeding the baby when he or she exhibits hunger signals. You do not try to make the baby’s needs fit into your schedule. You do not set up some mandatory feeding plan from which you never veer. Instead, you arrange your schedule to adapt to your baby’s needs. This does not mean you cannot accommodate your own needs and plans. You will, however, need to shift your plans and your baby’s needs to create a harmonious compromise in line with the demands of hunger. In this way, you have less problems with milk production. Therefore, your baby will receive enough nutrition and the milk train will keep on rolling.
The process of baby-led feeding is particularly important during the first 48 hours. During this period, feeding gives you time and help you to learn your baby’s feeding cues. These are crucial of you want to create a baby-mommy team. The first priority, therefore, is to recognize during the first weeks the signs of hunger your baby will exhibit. Become aware of specific indications of his or her need. These include the following signs:
- Wriggling
The baby will move his or her legs and arms around. - Head movements
The infant moves the head from side-to-side searching for you and your breast. This can take place even though he or she is already on your lap or in your arms.
- Fingers
The child will place the fingers in the mouth.
If you see your baby exhibiting any of these early signs, pick him or her up and place to your breast. If you fail to recognize the indications of hunger, the baby will become more and more distressed. As a result, specific stress cues of hunger will become obvious. Your baby may
- Fuss
Your baby will fuss about while making squeaking sounds. - Wriggle
The wriggling will increase. - Cries
The infant will start to utter sharp, short cries. - Vocalization
The cries will increase in volume, becoming louder. The baby will scream until he or she is red in the face.
The signs are not always clearly seen. You can miss or ignore them if you are not near by. You have to be close to your child to see the indications of hunger. If you miss the cues, you throw the pattern of milk production, delivery and expressing off. As a result, you may decrease overall milk production.
Being aware of your baby’s needs helps you to establish a rhythm in your feeding. You develop a pattern – part of a dance. Think of it as a performing art in which you and the baby operate as one unit. Become aware of the other’s needs and note the changes as he or she develops. In the initial stages, after colostrum and as the baby reaches its birth rate, he or she will develop a natural feeding and sleeping pattern. As the infant grows and continues to feed, the choreography of the dance will eventually alter.
The baby will develop feeding clusters. After sleeping he or she will awake full of energy and ready to breast feed. Sometimes the baby will require several cluster feedings. These power feedings are frequently in the evenings and afternoons. You and your body will adjust. You will become aware of the other’s needs and your need to relieve your breast of milk. Becoming in tune with your baby’s requirements and yours will help you become a baby team.
What also helps form you and baby into a team is the onset of the moth-baby dialogue. Rarely does a mother simply sit and feed her infant. A pattern of physical and emotional bonding is occurring during breast feeding. It is the perfect time for mother and child to establish a tie. You will do so, hopefully unconsciously, by stroking the infant. You will touch and stroke his or her fine soft hair. You will find yourself turning out the rest of your world, slowing down and focusing only on this moment in time.
While holding your baby to your breast, stop and consider the position. Look down at this small bundle of humanity. How are you holding him or her? Is she or he wriggling in your arms in an attempt to get closer? Is the baby burrowing further into your body as he or she latches onto your breast?
Now, listen to your infant’s breath. Hear the rhythm he or she makes as they gulp and swallow. Feel the strong tug of their tiny mouth on your firm breast. Enjoy the sensation as the milk flows naturally from your body. Luxuriate in the touch of the baby’s small hands as they curve against your body and the snuggling and wriggling of this little body against yours.
Besides the signs your baby provides, you have to also listen to your indications. While you may love feeding your baby, there are times when you need to escape. Sometimes, due to circumstance, you have to leave your child during breast feeding times. Often, you are working or taking care of other affairs. At other times, you just need time to yourself. This is not unnatural. It is also not a crime, a sin or abandonment. You can also turn your break from breast feeding into an opportunity. This will allow your partner some time alone with the baby. He or she can bond with the infant by feeding him or her. However, if you want to be away from your child during breast feeding times and still ensure that he or she is breast fed, you need to provide the necessary nourishment.
In order to do this, you will have to express or pump your breast milk. For this, you will require a breast pump in some shape or form. It can be electric, hand or foot operated. The breast pump should be something you can operate freely and easily without any pain to your breasts.
The pumping process also requires containers for storage and equipment for their sterilization. All are available online or at various specialty shops or major outlets. Be sure to purchase at least 3 to 4 bottles with nipples as well as several freezer bags. These should be sufficient to allow you to pump and store milk. You may also want to purchase some stickers or labels. You can, therefore date them. You can also label them with the contents thus preventing mistaken use.
You can pump milk when you have excess. You can also remove some prior to and following a feeding. In fact, the best time to extract milk if after you have fed the infant. If you feel full at any time, get out the pump and remove the milk. The pumping action will stimulate further milk production. In fact, if you are away for longer than 3 or 4 hours, you will need to use the pump. In doing so, you will prevent engorgement. Be sure to remove the equivalent of at least 3 to 4 ounces per feeding time.
As you continue to breast feed, you will establish a rhythm. Both you and your child will fall into the optimum position and comfort level for the dance. The desire to meet the baby’s requirements, the action of placing your baby to your breast, your awareness of the flow and tingle of the milk ejection reflex, followed by a sense of satisfaction and even completeness as your infant sucks at your breast is part of your new steps as a mother. By recognizing and responding to the hunger cues of your baby and through taking your own needs into consideration, both you and your infant will soon be able to develop a compatible bond. You will forge a breast feeding team.
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