Best Breastfeeding Techniques

From the first time baby goes to the breast to the first few weeks after birth, breastfeeding isn't always as easy as it appears.
Breastfeeding seems like the most natural preocess in the world but it can sometimes take practice,encouragement and support for that to happen.
From the moment of birth, your baby comes into world pre-designed to breastfeed.We kind of assume that baby will just know exactly what to do and also that mom will be able to do it all!
Best Breastfeeding Techniques

• Keep baby close to you immediately after birth until she shows you she is ready to feed.This could be sucking on fingers,mouthing or turning toward the nipple "rooting"
• Delay any procedures until sometime after the birth. That means you do not need to rush to weigh baby or give Vitamen K
• Nurse baby as often as possible in the first few hours and days after birth.
• There is no reason to deny baby the oppurtunity to suck. It is almost like "practice". This will also stimulate your body to produce milk. It really is all about "Supply and Demand" Baby demands and your body will supply.
• To latch baby , turn baby toward you, stroke her lower lip slightly with your   nipple and wait until baby has a very wide open mouth
• Allow baby to suck on the one breast as long as she wants to and when she comes off the breast offer the second one.
• Baby led feeding. Allow baby to make the scedule . Do not impose a 3 or 4 hourly schedule. This may have a negative impact on your milk supply.If baby has 6-8 wet nappies a day she is getting enough.
• If your breasts or nipples get sore try look at the way baby latches. Also please seek assistance. The best would be somebody who specialsies in assisting moms. A Lactation consultant or midwife is normally a good idea. Unfortunately more ofter than not the GP may not have the skills to help you.
• Avoid unless medically indicated from giving any formula feeds. It can become a viscious circle as there is no stimulation for your breasts to make milk so they make less.... so you need to give more formula.......

Why Breastfeeding is Best

Why Breastfeeding is best

1. Breastfeeding prevents obesity.
 Since breastfed babies themselves control how much they eat, children who are breastfed learn to trust their bodies' signals about how much they need to eat and when.
2. Better teeth.
Breastfed babies have better jaw alignment and are less likely to need orthodontic work as they get older.Think of all the money you can save on braces!
3. Lowered risk of heart disease.
 All the evidence isn't complete yet, but some researchers believe that breastfeeding during infancy may lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes in later life.It may have to do with learning to metabolize cholesterol early on in life via mom's milk
4. Lowered risk of juvenile diabetes.
 Babies who are breastfed are less likely to develop type 1 diabetes mellitus in childhood. Researchers have attributed this lowered risk of diabetes to the delayed introduction of cow milk in breastfed babies. In addition, researchers have shown a lower insulin release in breastfed infants compared to infants fed formula. This is particularly important if you have a family history of diabetes.
5. Lowered risk of multiple sclerosis.
 Multiple sclerosis, a degenerative muscle disease that strikes adults, may be caused in part by myelin breakdown.Human milk's contribution to the myelin formation may help to prevent multiple sclerosis in later life.
6. Lowered risk of asthma and allergy.
Studies have shown that breastfeeding lowers the chances of a child developing allergies and asthma symptoms. Breastmilk's immune components protect babies from allergens in the first months of life.
7. Other diseases. Research suggests that breastfeeding may also play a role in preventing digestive diseases, such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, as well as childhood cancers. This makes sense: nourish an infant's body with the unique food designed for it by nature and that body will function in a healthier way, perhaps for the child's entire life.

Breastmilk's influence on health is probably more far-reaching than researchers have even dared to imagine!!!

Breastfeeding Simply

Preparing for the birth of your baby.

Examine the options that are available to you.

Questions to ask:

1. Do you want to have a home birth with no medical intervention?
2. Would you feel more comfortable in a medical setting like a Hospital or Birthing Centre?
3. Do you have a condition that would mean you have to have a Caesarean Section?

HOME BIRTH

This is a good choice if you have and uncomplicated pregnancy and would prefer to do things in a natural way
You need to ensure that you have a Midwife who is able to assist you at the time of birth.
Have a back up or emergency plan. We always hope everything goes as we wish but at the same time need to be aware of complications that could arise.
Do you want to use water to deliver in or as a method of pain relief? Consider hiring a birth pool ahead of time.
Identify the area in the home where you would like to deliver, consider the space available.
Once you have enrolled with a Midwife she will give a list of any supplies you will need to have on hand.


HOSPITAL BIRTH

This option gives you the security of having medical staff and interventions available but also allows you to attempt a normal vaginal delivery.
If you have a high risk pregnancy this is the one for you. Unfortunately, too often a hospital environment can lead to unnecessary interventions. That is why it is important to have a Birth Plan. A birth plan allows you to decide before labour on your ideal birth, and document those wishes. It is important to realise that it is basically a wish list as the health of mum and baby are the most important.
The advantage of a hospital birth is that you can, if you wish, take advantage of modern medicine to allow you to benefit from pain relief methods.
In hospital you could opt to use a narcotic like Pethidine or have an epidural anaesthetic.
Pethidine will dull pain but not alleviate it completely.
An epidural normally is associated with an absence of pain. Unfortunately it can also lead to an absence of the urge to push.


CEASARIAN SECTION.

This means that baby is born via an incision on the abdomen. Normally along the “bikini line”.
This is major surgery and can be done electively or as an emergency procedure.
Elective is when the decision for caesarean is made ahead of time and a date and time are scheduled.
Emergency is when a normal delivery has been the aim but something has occurred where the baby needs to be delivered via caesarean. Some of the reasons could be due to baby being in distress, the labour not progressing, and the baby too large for the mother’s pelvis.

What to expect Immediately after birth

What to expect Immediately after birth

1. Baby should be given to you immediately to admire ,cuddle and all the rest.There are some things the Midwives will want to check . At 1 and 5 minutes an Apgar sore will be given to baby.This is to assess whether baby has adapted to life outside the womb. There are 5 aspects baby is assessed for. Heart beat, Breathing,Movement, Response and Muscle tone.You may not even realize the "test" has occurred!

2. Delivery of placenta.Whilst you are admiring the fruit of your labour. the midwife will deliver the placenta . This either by active or passive or active method. The active method you receive an injection to speed delivery of placenta passive methods allows for the natural process.(Your Choice)

3. You will be given the opportunity to feed baby  after birth.The ideal time to feed baby is during the first hour after birth. Baby has the strongest suck reflex during this time.

4. After all this is done the Midwife will weigh and measure baby. At this time if you are in Hospital ID labels need to be applied.. Your will be offered an injection of vitamin K for baby. You will need to give permission. Vitamen K prevents bleeding disorders in the newborn.

Writing a birth Plan

Know your options

The first step in writing a birth plan is to find out what your options are.

Educate yourself about the options that are available. The ideal would be to attend childbirth education classes, a Midwife or Doula. Start the dialog.

Once you know what options are available to you, it is important to determine how you feel about the options. Some things will be very important, and others will seem small or unimportant. There is no right or wrong, it is simply a matter of understanding who you are and how you want things handled.

Your Birth Plan should be about expressing your hopes and expectations of how your labour and delivery should occur.

What are some of the things to put on your plan?

Starting or Speeding Labor-Do you want to be induced? Do you want medication to speed up labour?
Monitoring Labor- Do you want to be hooked up to a monitor or able to walk around?
Pain Relief-Do you want to use natural methods like relaxation and water or an epidural?
Positions-Sitting/walking/in bed?
Baby Care-Partner to cut cord? Breastfeed in delivery room?

So can you get what you want?
Investigate hospitals or birthing centres in your area,take your plan with you.
 Are they going to accommodate your wishes?
Does your partner/doula/midwife support your wishes?
If you have made choices that are not possible you need to reevaluate your decisions.

Regardless of the circumstances of your labor, use your birth plan to help you determine how you will react to labor.

I personally like to think of the Birth Plan as a wish list an expression of what I would prefer.

Ultimately a live healthy baby and mother are the most important outcome!

Put it into perspective when you apply for  a job has anybody ever asked your if you were born by vaginal delivery or Cesarean? Things can happen in labour.

My own birth plan was to have a home delivery preferably in water with my midwife.

I ended up as an emergency Cesarean after getting to 10cm dilated (ready to deliver)
Creating your Birth Plan

Tips for weight loss

Just a note on a couple of small things that can make a big difference to your weight loss.

Cinnamon: Add it to your drink,cereal it increases metabolism and so increase fat loss.
Dark Chocolate If you absolutely have to have chocolate make sure it is the dark kind preferably 70-80%. Contains anti oxidants that are actually beneficial
Nuts: Any kind are good as long as they are not coated. Raw nuts are the best. Almonds,Macadamias,Pistachio.Excellent source of Omega 3.

Dry Vs Wet Carbs??

More in a few days!

So what are dry and wet carbs?

Dry carbs are your conventional carbs: bread, rice, pasta potato
Wet carbs are fruit and veggies excluding bananas.

You can have unlimited wet carbs at any time of the day. Watch the dry carbs. Try to have at breakfast and lunch and only small amount at dinner.

How to get rid of belly fat This I can personally recommend I am following it at present

Breasfeeding and weight Loss

This is a much debated topic.
Should a women aim to lose weight while breastfeeding?
I believe it is possible.

Most importnant is to ensure breastfeeding is established and you are healed after the birth.
Moderation is the key.

Lets look at food first. Understand your basis foods first.

Protein: Meat Chicken Fish Eggs
Carbohydrates: (Thanx to CTF Jeff Anderson) Dry Carbs vs Wet Carbs.
Dry Carbs are Bread,Rice,Pasta Potatoe.Limit to 3 servings a day
Wet carbs are all fruit and vegtable.Eat as much as you like.
Fats and Oils Avoid margarine and hydrogenated oils

Next some meal ideas and exercises....

Immunisations for your baby

This can be a controversial topic as some people are anti-immunisation.
Me personally I am very much pro immunisation.
Having nursed children with these preventable diseases I really can't believe anybody would willingly allow their child to be exposed!

There are recorded success due to immunisation predominantly Smallpox eradicated many years ago.

So what do we need to vaccinate against?
Each country will have a different schedule for vaccination but this involves timing  and combination vaccines.
The basic diseases your need to protect your child against:
1.Pertussis/Whooping Cough. Still definitely around. Us adults are often the ones who initially contract the infection and pass it to the very young babies. This is due to the fact that for most us our last vaccine was at age 18mnths!!! This means our immunity has waned.
2. Heamophyllis influenza Type B-Nothing to do with flu! A particularly nasty infection that causes pneumonia and meningitis.
3.Polio- Eradicated in several countries but still prevalent in Pakistan,India,Afghanistan and Nigeria.With worldwide travel we still can be exposed.
4.Diphtheria.- Thankfully cases on the decline but every now and then a case still occurs.
5.Tetanus-This one most people are familiar with it is a good idea to protect baby early .As any mother knows scratches and scrapes happen easily especially in the toddler years.This is how tetanus can enter the body.
6.Hepatitis B- If a person contracts this disease they have a high risk of developing a specific liver
Cancer
TO FOLLOW Immunisation schedules for the different countries.
Other diseases we can prevent.

USA Schedule
Canadian Schedule
United Kingdom
Australia
New Zealand
South Africa
France

Other diseases we can prevent through Immunisation

1.Rotovirus: An infection that causes diarrhoea most of us have had this several times in our life. The concern with babies is that they dehydrate very quickly. This dehydration can be fatal if not treated early.
2. Pneumococcal - This infection can cause meningitis and pneumonia. It also is a know cause of middle ear infections. The vaccine is to prevent the more serious infections and has limited protection against middle ear infections.
3.Measles- This disease still kills children worldwide and is a must for vaccination.
4.Chickenpox- This one is debatable .My own kids were not vaccinated as I was not aware of the vaccine at the time. My son was 3 when he got it but the problem came when he passed it on to his brother who was only 6 months old at the time.Although it happens rarely, children can still die from chickenpox.
More later...

One of the most controversial vaccines is the MMR .This is the combined measles,mumps rubella vaccine.
Some people in the past have blamed the vaccine for causing Autism.It is very sad that ultimately nobody knows what causes Autism.A country a few years ago stopped vaccinating worth MMR and there autism rates continued to rise.
The recommended age for this vaccine is 15-18 mnths. A diagnosis of autism is normally made before age of two. I would advise anybody who has serious concerns or worries to wait until after age 3 to vaccinate. It is definitely beneficial. As stated above Measles still kills. Rubella is dangerous to women who are pregnant as it can cause severe fetal abnormalities.Mumps may in rare cases cause infertility in adolescent boys.

Before making a decision aboutvaccinations talk to your health care provider, family your mom. Make an informed decision.

So what happens if Dr. says "Cesarean "?

Whilst some may opt for this type of delivery other would rather not.
You have to remember that at the end of the day a live healthy baby is the most important.

First you need to find out the reason your Dr is suggesting a Cesarean
Baby reasons:- Cord presentation This means the umbilical cord is in front of babies head this is difficult to
                       diagnose prior to labour
                       -Placenta Praevia: The placenta is over the cervix/mouth of the womb.
                       -Fetal Distress : The babies heart rate is decelerating from a normal of 120-160
                         to a level probably below 80
                       -Baby too big -also known as cephalo-pelvic disproportion . This diagnosis should be made 
                        after labor has commenced.
                     
More tomorrow......

Mommy reasons- Mom has very high blood pressure and could be at risk if having a seizure.
                         - Mom has a pelvis that would not allow babies head to engage and therefore deliver
                         - No progress of labor,despite ample time being given to progress.
                         - Diabetes. A diabetic can have a larger that average baby.
                         - Multiple Births Twins/triplets.
                         - some cardiac conditions.

The best Cesarean experience:
- First and foremost have a flexible birth plan that ,whilst does not encourage a Cesarean, allows for the possibility if it is in the best interest of mom or baby
-Have a support person/people with you in the theatre,partner,doula
-Ask if you can have music played as this will help to relax you
-Keep up with deep breathing exercises learnt in class as these can help you get through the process by decreasing stress.
-More from me tomorrow

How will you choose to deliver your baby?

What are your options when faced with this decision?

Three options are available to you depending on you and your babies health.

1. Choose to have a home delivery assisted by a Midwife
2.Aim for a normal delivery in hospital with medical intervention and methods of pain relief available.
3.A Caesarian Section

HOME DELIVERY

This an option for you if you have optimum health and our having a healthy uneventful pregnancy.
The advantage of this option is that you feel happy and comfortable in your own home. Things will not be overpowering. The process of childbirth is not medicalised. You are able to have a drug free labour and delivery at your own pace and without pressure. I'll discuss methods for pain relief in another post later.

NORMAL DELIVERY

If you prefer to know that medical assistance is not far away you can opt to have a normal delivery in hospital. The advantage is that should you decide to have medical forms of pain relief you can do so.
The disadvantage is that studies at various hospitals show increased use of medical interventions.
They way to have the safety of a hospital and still aim for a natural delivery is to devise a birth plan.

CEASARIAN SECTION

This is sometimes necessary if the mother  are the baby are at risk. A ceasarian is either performed electively or as an emergency. An elective Ceasarian section is when a problem has been identified prior to mom going into labour.An example of this could me a multiple pregnancy , Very high blood pressure , possibly a breech presentation. Some Dr.s are unwilling to do breech deliveries due to litigation.
At times an emergency ceasarian section needs to be performed. An example of this is is where the baby in in distress. This is identified by the babies heart rate being reduced

Breastfeeding

Well one of the biggest choices you need to make after your bundle of joy lies in your arms is how are you going to feed him/her.
I tend to call all babies him to differentiate between mom and baby and also because my kids are boys.
So what are the benefits of breastfeeding?

Promotes bonding between Mom and Baby due to skin to skin contact
Contains exactly the correct concentration of all fats,proteins and minerals
Promotes involution of the uterus ( helps the uterus to return to normal size)
Comes out at the right temperature-no need to get up and heat milk in the middle of the night.
Antibodies which are protective are passed from Mom to Baby.
Reduced risk of Baby developing allergies especially to cows milk protein.
It is economical when compared to formula feeding
Recent studies have shown Reduction in Diabetes and Obesity later in life for the child.
Reduction in rates of breast cancer for mom.
Best of all is it most times leads to loss of pregnancy weight for Mom!!!

Well thats all for now will go into more detail next post

Well Next.....
I believe that most important is to make the decision that you plan to breastfeed,ideally make this choice when you are still pregnant so you can read information to assist you.
Find out if you have flat/inverted nipples -very easy to do. If it's cold and your nipples stand out they are not flat!!
If they are you could practise "nipple rolling" which is how it sounds!! to encourage the tissue of the nipple to extend.
There are also various products available to assist you if you have this problem.
Believe me this is not a reason to abandon the idea of breastfeeding. Personal experience!!
Next:
Might be hard to do this : Toughen the nipples slightly-no I don't advise scrubbing or anything awaful!
Expose your nipple to a bit of fresh air everyday. ( Hubby will probably love that one!)
More to follow tommorrow....

A tip do not buy too many feeding bra's at first your size does change once your milk is established.

First start to successful breastfeeding is to ensure baby is offered the breast within 1 hour of the delivery. Babies suck reflex is the strongest in that first hour. Start with just skin to skin contact and allow baby to show you when he is ready to suck. This means baby needs to be naked against your skin. Your own body heat will keep him warm especially if he is placed lying between your breasts which are 1-2 dgrees warmer than the rest of your body.Just need a small blanket over the 2 of you.You can still do this even if you have a Ceasarian as baby can stay with you in the recovery room.

One of the biggest worries Moms have is the issue of sufficient milk. During the first 3 days your body produces a substance called colostrum. It is produced in small amount but has every nutrient that baby needsduring those first days.
Use baby-led or demand feeding. This means that baby decides when he is hungry!
Avoid giving baby any artificial feeds/formula as this will upset the demand feeding . Moms body works on a supply and demand principle. The more baby feeds the more milk the body will produce. By giving an extra formula feed the body does not receive the stimulation or "message" to make more milk.

More tommorrow

Introduction

So Who am I?
I am a Wife, Mother and Midwife Hence the name for me is M&M!!
I have 2 beautiful boys ,can I call them beautiful? Well they are to me of course!!

I have been married for 15 years and have been together with hubby 21 years!!! More than half my life.

For most of my professional career I have worked in the field of Midwifery.
I have worked as a Midwife in the delivery room and also spent time as a childbirth educator.
This allowed me to practice my 2 professional passions: The art of Midwifery and the importance of parent education.

I have now deceided to take this to the next levae and take to it the World wide web!!

Well that's it for the introduction.
Hope to hear from all you folks out there sooooon!