Do you know how to feed babies properly?

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

As a rule, even before the birth of the baby, the mother thinks about whether she will breastfeed him. Despite the fact that most women during pregnancy are sure that they will not have problems with lactation and attachment, life often makes its own adjustments. And in order to maintain natural feeding, in some cases, the mother needs to work hard. In fact, most of the difficulties arise from the fact that new parents do not have enough knowledge about how to properly feed their babies.

Often the first problems arise in the hospital. Although, it would seem, in a medical institution where there are dozens of people who can help, they should not arise. But in practice, it turns out that there is no one to teach a mother who has just given birth how to attach a baby to her breast, explain how to properly feed babies, choose a comfortable position or help to clear out. It is precisely because of the lack of basic knowledge and lack of experience that problems arise: the young mother is afraid that her baby is starving, and begins to give the mixture.

If babyspends a lot of time on the chest (and this is natural in the first months of his life), many relatives begin to assume that the mother has little milk and the baby needs to be supplemented. At the slightest anxiety of a newborn, relatives constantly remind him that he is hungry. Even if this is so, the problem is not so difficult to solve: give the baby a breast, the more he sucks, the faster milk will begin to be produced. You should not listen to common advice on how often to feed a baby, if they boil down to the fact that it is forbidden to give food more than 1 time in every 3 hours. It is better to ask advisers how long they kept lactation on this regimen.

But the question of how to properly feed babies is not limited to finding out the frequency of application. No less controversial is the time of the first complementary foods, and the question of whether to give the baby water. Most modern pediatricians no longer insist on the introduction of juices and fruit purees at 1-2 months, everyone agreed with the recommendations given by WHO, so babies try their first products at the age of 6 months. But with water, not everything is so simple: breastfeeding consultants are categorically against additional liquids, and doctors disagree. Some of them advise to supplement the crumbs on especially hot days. Just do not try to replace night feedings with water or tea, this will be the first step towards the end of lactation.

If you don't know who to listen to and can't establish a routinenewborn, take an interest in how to properly feed infants. Modern experts unanimously say that it is better to do this on demand. Of course, if your baby is bottle fed, then try to stick to the set interval, which is usually 3 to 5 hours depending on the age of the baby and the amount of formula consumed. If you are exclusively breastfeeding, then do not starve your baby by keeping the time intervals established for formula-fed babies. You don't know how much he ate the last time. True, many pediatricians agree that there should be at least a 30-minute break between applications.

If you are experiencing lactation problems, soreness, cracked breasts, talk to a breastfeeding consultant before buying a box of formula. They will tell you what to do in each situation, how to breastfeed your baby with cracks and how to relieve pain.