Breastfeeding is one of the most important things that a mother will do for a baby. When a baby is breastfed, he gets the most nutrients that he needs and it is his first line of defense against illnesses because the mother's milk has the natural components that boost the baby's immune system. The baby should be breastfed within the first hour of his birth and must continue as long as he needs it. Mother's milk has all the nutrients that most formula milk lacks. Aside from these, breastfeeding also has benefits for the mother's health. Hence, in this discussion today, we will talk about the following things about breastfeeding:
● The health benefits of breastfeeding
● The proper posture when breastfeeding
● The right product to choose and use when you are a nursing mother.
This article is written to help first-time parents manage to breastfeed. With the following information, parents would be able to make their baby's feeding optimal and beneficial. Thus, let us start the discussion now.
I.The Health Benefits of Breastfeeding:
Aside from the benefits mentioned above, breastfeeding has some other positive traits that benefit both the mother and infant. In fact, with breastfeeding the mother could:
● Avoid postpartum bleeding:
When a mother observes breastfeeding right after giving birth, she decreases the chance of bleeding. This is because when she practices it, her uterus contracts. This is linked to the increase in her oxytocin levels that helps her body prevent bleeding.
● Avoid the possibility of having endometrial cancer, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer.
● Have delayed fertility. When a mother breastfeeds, her fertility is delayed because of lactational amenorrhea.
● Create both maternal and paternal bonds with the baby. This is because when the mother breastfeeds, partners should be there beside them so they could both manage the challenges that will arise when breastfeeding. The skin-to-skin contact between the mother and the baby increases the bond too.
Meanwhile, breastfeeding could bring health benefits to the baby too. As experts say, when a baby touches the skin of the mother, there is a sense of security. Hence, the mother should practice breastfeeding and make sure that she can look at her baby because this may help the infant create confidence in his mom even through small gestures. Aside from these, the other benefits of breastfeeding for the baby are:
● Breastfeeding helps optimize the growth, general health, and development of the infant. Babies who are breastfed get fuller in size compared to the ones who were fed with formula milk.
● Breastfeeding could make the baby insulin-resistant which makes them less likely to be hypoglycemic.
● Breastfeeding could help the child be resistant to gastrointestinal diseases or any disease-carrying viruses in the gut.
● Breastfeeding could prevent the possibility of acquiring cardiovascular diseases in later life.
These health benefits urge most lactating mothers to continue breastfeeding although most mothers these days are maintaining their careers while being busy with their babies. Hence, the role of the father is crucial here too. It is because they are the ones who would assist the mother in nourishing the baby. This also improves the connection between the baby and the father. The sense of security is there and the baby will feel it. Thus, the father must be present with all the milestones of the mother and the baby.
In the next part of the discussion, we will talk about how a mother could be able to breastfeed the baby without hampering her spine. If we noticed, as the baby grows, his weight doubles plus the weight of the breast because of the breastmilk. Some women endure pain in the breast especially when they could not lactate properly. In some cases, when the woman has inverted nipples, certain things are done such as:
● breast pumping or modified syringe where your nipples would be pulled outward
● areola pinching or the stimulation of the nipples so it would protrude
These difficulties have an indirect effect on the woman's spine health because when a woman bears extra weight on the breast plus the weight of the baby that she carries, the tendency is she would also bear an extra weight on her back that forces her to slouch or her neck being bowed down forcefully. Hence, here is the:
II.The Proper Posture When Breastfeeding:
The following are the ways to properly breastfeed the infant as the woman maintains a proper posture and takes care of her neck, spine, and back.
● Do not put your nipples on your baby, bring your baby near to your breast. Lots of mothers do this improperly. This actually might choke your baby because the weight of the breast might block his breathing if it would be put all over his face. Hence, it is better to raise the head of the baby while he lies on a thick towel
● Keep your feet flat on the floor.
● Avoid looking down at your baby all the time. This would put weight on your neck.
● Relax your shoulder and avoid slouching.
● Sit properly on a chair with your lumbar supported well.
Doing these things would benefit both the baby and the mother because they would have a worthwhile bonding time. In some instances, when the mother and baby lie on the bed, the tummy to tummy position is advisable where the baby lies on the mommy's stomach as he gets the milk. This breastfeeding position is another common position and increases skin-to-skin contact.
Now, we are on the last part of our discussion and we are going to talk about the importance and:
III.The Right Product to Choose when you are A Nursing Mother
As mentioned earlier, the mother should be sitting on the chair with the feet flat on the floor when breastfeeding with the shoulders relaxed and back arched. Now, what kind of chair should be used so the mother would be aided well when she is nursing her baby? In that case, an ergonomic chair is advisable. When a mother chooses an ergonomic chair, she could help support her lumbar. The most ideal ergo chairs are found in Flexispot. Most of these products are built with comfortable seat cushions and backrests that are perfect when you are nursing the baby because you may relax as you feed the baby and you may rock the chair back and forth as you sing him a lullaby while he is breastfed.
