Parenting Child Care – Plan Your Breast Feeding

Parenting Child Care – Plan Your Breast Feeding

Introduction:

Breast feeding is an essential requirement for the child’s development after delivery. The planned breast feeding includes the time between the first approaches of the child to the nipples till the weaning period of breast milk. Usually, breast feeding that is well planned is very important for both the infant and the mother’s health.

The infant in the initial stages of development is completely dependent on the mother’s milk for its nutrition. This stage is very crucial for the proper development of all the systems in the child’s body. To accomplish this, the mother has to stay healthy. Bad food habits of the mother have direct effect on the health of the infant. The lifestyle and the environment of the mother are very crucial to produce healthy milk. A bad or polluted environment will cause the mother to produce unhealthy milk causing damage to the child’s health.

Wrong Diets of the Mother:

The mother who is feeding should eat healthy and stay healthy. The mother should have very nutritious food. Spicy food, Wine and other alcoholic drinks should be strictly forbidden. Having such alcohol or spice will cause the mother to produce less nutritious milk affecting the digestive system of infant very severely.

Thus the correct feeding plan includes positive thinking and having a balanced, nutritious and timely diet by the mother. It will greatly help in producing milk of good quality and quantity.

Breast Feeding Plan for six months:

The hormones in the mother make her produce milk only after two or three days of delivery. Till then the child has to be supplied with light barley water or lightly sweetened diluted milk. The child should not be kept starving. As the breast milk starts coming, it have to be fed to the child at short but planned frequency.

The breast milk should not be supplemented with any other food. Similarly there should be no other replacement for breast milk initially. Breast milk has antibodies that are the only protecting force available for the child against various diseases present in the environment. The nutritive value of breast milk is also high and balanced as per the requirement of the child. Breast milk has vitamins that are essentially required for proper development of the body of the infant. Amino acids present in the breast milk help the child accumulate proteins in the body, for development.

The timing of feeding the infant is very crucial. The mother is the ideal person to know when to feed as she will be able to judge from the child’s cry.

Digestive Capacity of the Infant:

The digestive system of the infant is very sensitive and fragile. The child will not be in a position to digest a variety food. The child at this point of time can digest only breast milk and nothing else. The stomach capacity of the infant being small gets filled easily. The process of digestion starts immediately. Care should be taken the child is not overfed.

The requirement for the baby is feeding at an interval of three to four hours. This gap is essential for the complete digestion of the previous milk. Such regulated and scheduled feeding process will also help to maintain a good bowel movement for the child. This practice will also reduce the child’s cry for milk.

Understanding the Child’s Cry:

The mother may have difficulties in interpreting the reason of the child’s cry. Many commit a mistake of feeding the child every time the infant cries. This is a very bad practice, as the child will be overfed. In overfeeding, there is the chance for some indigestion of the previous milk in the stomach causes irritation to the child. It will also lead to bowel disturbances. Thus maintaining proper feeding intervals and understanding the child’s cry is very important to the child’s health.

Guidelines for feeding:

As mentioned above the mother initially has to feed the child at an interval of 3 – 4 hours. Feeding during the nights has to be avoided. The regular timing of feeding should be maintained such that the last feeding is at 10pm and the 1st feeding is at 5am. There should be no feeding in the middle of the night.

When the mother happens to produce milk after the 6th month, feeding should be done only twice a day. In the mean time additional baby food formulations accessible in the market shall be given appropriately. 

Obstructive Milk Flow:

It is very common for young women to feel obstruction in the flow of milk due to cracked nipples. In such a case proper medical attention should be given immediately without breaking the feeding cycle. Accumulation of breast milk will cause the milk becoming stale which is very harmful for both the mother and the child.

Harmful Effect of Alcohol:

In a case study, a mother who was in the habit having 2 or 3 servings of wine and occasional beer continued the practice even after delivery. But surprisingly the child and the mother remained healthy and the milk was produced till the ninth month.

It was then later noticed that the child started to develop a craving for the milk (addiction) and both the mother and the child had tiredness throughout the day, with inadequate sleep at night leads to a feeling restlessness, frequent headaches, negligent behavior, increased thirst, irritation and dry skin. Always the doctor recommends avoiding the consumption of alcohol, during the feeding months.