Considered an elixir for your baby, breast milk and breastfeeding plays a key role in your child’s development. Over the years, the health benefits of breastfeeding have been emphasised to create awareness about the impact of nursing on the overall development of your baby.Also Read – How to Cure Vaginal Infection in Monsoon? All About Causes, Symptoms And Treatment
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months. However, if we are to go by the statistics, only two out of five women initiate the practice within the first hour of childbirth. Also Read – Corn Silk Tea Benefits: Did You Know That Corn Silk Tea Can Cure Your Kidney Issues? Watch Video
Mansi Shah, Lactation Consultant at Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre shares do’s and don’ts for breastfeeding mothers. Also Read – Diabetes And Skin Problems: 5 Expert-Backed Tips on How to Prevent Skin Issues in Diabetes
- DO seek education on breastfeeding in the antenatal period – As it helps parents to be prepared and anticipate breastfeeding needs. Remember breastfeeding is like learning a new skill,s especially for first-time mothers and learning any new skill becomes easy with appropriate knowledge, patience and repetition thus DON’T give up.
- Immediately after birth DO start skin-to-skin contact and initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth with the help of your health care provider team. DON’T /AVOID taking analgesics that can make the baby drowsy, less willing to suckle and delay the initiation of breastfeeding.
- Do frequently feed Colostrum: First two / three days post-delivery mother produces a colourless to yellow colour fluid known as colostrum. It’s less in quantity but sufficient for the baby when the mothers feed the baby frequently. It provides eminence nutritional and health benefits. DON’T discard or throw away colostrum thinking it’s impure milk and DON’T make the mistake of not breastfeeding the baby during this period thinking milk production still has not started. Also, some children cry a little more during this period DON’T be tempted to give any other milk or fluid like water, sugar water, honey etc ( Pre -Lacteal feeds) to the baby as it increases the risk of infection.
- DO keep the baby close to the mother in the same bed/room after delivery .“Bedding In” or “ Rooming In” provides many benefits such as promoting demand feeding, helping the mother to recognise and identify early infant cues, Helping in a let-down of breastmilk and most importantly it also helps in developing a strong emotional bond between mother and baby. DON’T keep the baby in a separate infant room.
- Breastfeeding is a pleasurable experience. DO Practise correct attachment and position and the mother will not experience pain while breastfeeding. DON’T continue with the pain. If the pain doesn’t disappear after the baby’s first few sucks then de-latch the baby and latch again with the correct attachment and position.
- DO give baby only breastmilk for 1st – 6 months of life ( exclusive breastfeeding). DON’T give water during this period as breastmilk contains enough water which will meet the water requirement of the baby even during summer. Getting hiccups is very normal infant behaviour it doesn’t mean the baby is thirsty.
- DO use a monthly adequacy test to determine the adequacy of breastmilk to your own infant which is urine and weight. Urine – baby should urinate at least 6-7 times in 24 hours, and weight gain should be at least 500gm per month. This indicates that the baby is getting sufficient breast milk from the mother.DON’T associate infant cry always with hunger or insufficient breastmilk.
- DON’T use the bottle for giving water or milk to the child as it increases the risk of vomiting, loose motions, nipple confusion and accidental aspiration. A safer alternative to it is wati / cup / Wati -spoon feeding. Also, DON’T use a pacifier or teat.
