Your baby is nearly here and as new mum, it’s important to take care of yourself during the postpartum period. Here are some tips to help you create a postpartum plan:
Rest and Recovery:
After giving birth, your body needs time to heal. Make sure to get plenty of rest, eat well, and stay hydrated. Ask for help from family and friends to take care of household chores or other responsibilities. Cooking meals, baking, household chores and cleaning will all help.
Emotional Support:
The postpartum period can be emotionally challenging. Surround yourself with a supportive network of friends and family. Reach out to a postpartum doula or mental health professional if you need extra support. Feeling overwhelmed, anxious and second guessing yourself are all common. Make sure you ask for help.
Breastfeeding Support:
If you plan to breastfeed, seek out support from a lactation consultant or breastfeeding support group to help you with any challenges. Breastfeeding is natural but it’s not easy. You need support and guidance to help enjoy and have a successful breastfeeding journey. If you choose to bottle feed, that’s ok too. You need to do what is best for you. The New Mum eBook will help you.
Exercise:
Once you’re cleared by your healthcare provider, start incorporating gentle exercise into your routine to help your body recover. Engaging with an exercise professional or physiotherapist is a good idea.
Baby Care:
Plan for baby care by stocking up on essentials such as diapers, wipes, newborn clothing, burp cloths, feeding equipment and sleep attire such as swaddles. Consider hiring a postpartum doula, a newborn care provider to help with baby care so you can get some rest. The Newborn Guide will help you with all newborn care in those early weeks.
Remember, every postpartum experience is unique.
Be flexible and adjust your plan as needed.
Congratulations again and take care of yourself!
]]>Demand feeding can create challenges for mum and baby.
If you’re a new mom, you might be wondering about the best way to feed your baby. One important aspect to consider is the difference between feeding your baby on demand and practicing mindful feeding. Learning to recognise and respond to your baby’s hunger cues is crucial, as it can help you differentiate between genuine hunger and signs of colic or reflux. In addition, incorporating mindful feeding practices can offer extra benefits for both you and your baby.
Feeding a baby on demand simply means feeding your baby when they demonstrate hunger signs.
Demand feeding is often associated with the advice- Feed when baby is hungry!
Many mums interpret this saying as:
Feed when baby is sucking!
Feed when baby is crying!
Feed when baby is rooting!
Feed when baby is poking out tongue!
Feed when baby is grizzly
The challenge when feeding baby on demand when these signs are present, is that these signs are not always hunger signs.
They are also signs for tiredness, discomfort and gas.
Babies who often demand feed, may also be at higher risk of being diagnosed with colic or reflux.
Demand feeding most often leads mums to second guessing themselves. Mums may be at higher risk of sleep deprivation, anxiety and depression.
They look hungry, showing all the signs of hunger but in fact, baby is fighting at the breast and pushing themselves away and they appear not interested.
This is why I like to call it ‘mindful feeding’
Mindful feeding takes into account your baby’s sleep and feeding routine, baby cues, your intuition and the temperament of your baby.
Example:
Your baby has had a good feed, been on for 20 min, sucking well and swallowing. You know their tummy is full. But they wake, they are rooting, sucking and still not relaxing.
You re-feed to see if they are still hungry. Because of the sucking reflex and rooting reflex, your baby is affectively having another feed or topping up. This becomes a cycle, soon to be challenging.
This is why feeding should always be a partnership. Not just one way.
Your baby doesn’t know how regulate their feeding but you can. Not this does not mean feeding on schedule.
You should always be responsive and flexible.
In order for a baby’s digestive system to do it’s job properly their nervous system needs to be in a calm state. – this responsibility falls to the parasympathetic nervous system. The PNS lowers blood pressure, promotes digestion and eliminates waste from our bodies and this is no different for our babies. This is known as rest-and-digest mode. With more time resting and digesting, the body is able to eliminate toxins and metabolise the nutrients a baby needs to thrive.
If a baby is feeding frequently, tummy is filled continuously and may present with reflux or colic, bubs is most likely in a constant fight or flight response.
This doesn’t promote healthy digestion.
Especially breastfeeding mums are told to feed frequently due to baby’s small tummies. This is not the best advice. Yes babies tummies are small and don’t stretch much. But that doesn’t mean they need feeding every 30 minutes to an hour. For a baby to fully empty their tummy and their digestive system to work optimally, 3 hours for a newborn and even longer for a baby older, is a good time between feeds. A baby can also fill their tummy, depending on mums lactation, in 10-15 minutes. Anymore more time is often taken up by comfort feeding. They may also over feed, their tummy will feel over full.
A baby who isn’t sleeping and is feeding frequently doesn’t engage their parasympathetic nervous system to rest and allow the milk to digest.
Giving baby time between feeds will alleviate discomfort, minimise silent reflux and a diagnosis of colic.
Rest to digest is very important to remember.
Normalising cluster feeding, snacking and frequent feeds isn’t in the best interest of your baby and you.
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Breastfeeding provides amazing nutrients for your baby. It helps boost your baby’s immune system and is great for bonding.
Knowing if you have enough to satisfy your baby can be tricky. Many mums would happily wish a way to know how much their baby is getting but unfortunately it’s a bit of a guessing game.
Weight gain, plenty of wet nappies and a good feeding and sleep pattern can suggest your baby is getting plenty of milk.
For us mums the feeling of fullness, leakage and knowing we can express a certain amount helps us feel more at ease about our milk supply
Sometimes though whatever we do or how we feel our supply may not be enough.
Often signs that are associated with low milk supply are unsettled babies, low weight gain, and babies with colic and mums intuition that something isn’t quite right.
There could be many reasons for low milk supply. The sooner you recognise your supply isn’t enough for your baby the easier and more success you will have to boost it.
Reasons could be –
Premature birth
Medical reasons for both mum and baby
Sleepy babies, especially those who may have jaundice, which can lead to not enough feeds, or short or interrupted feeds.
Poor positioning
Not emptying one side before offering the other side.
Pain interfering with your breastfeeding.
Complimentary feeding
So lets look at a few of these possibilities in more depth and how you can help your milk supply.
Positioning
Make sure your baby is feeding efficiently, is latched on correctly and positioned well at the breast.
Often I meet mums that haven’t had the best start in the first few hours or days of their babies birth. They have struggled from the beginning. Breastfeeding itself doesn’t come naturally. It is a learned skill with lots of positive guidance and personal support. It’s not uncommon for mums to be left to fend for themselves, sometimes for hours. The better your baby’s latch, the better they feed, the better the stimulation which will then help to increase your milk supply.
Wellbeing
Anxiety related to pain and lack of support, in my experience, are the number one culprits for low lactation.
With pressures of breastfeeding, judgement and very little guidance with lots of push to breastfeed can actually be counter-productive.
Your lactation and the ease of producing milk is very dependent on how you are feeling. A more relaxed mum with no pain while feeding and enjoying the experience will produce more milk than a mum who has had a rough start, sore nipples, engorgement, sleep deprivement and feeling like a failure.
Get help from a trusted person who makes you feel confident, lifts you up and helps you along your breastfeeding journey plus someone who is a very good listener.
Feeding
Yes, absolutely there is no doubt that when you feed often helps with production. Making sure you feed every 3 hours during the day and night is a good start especially in the first 2 weeks. Sometimes though this may lead to a very exhausted mum and an overtired baby. If this scenario continues for several weeks you may not have success increasing your supply at all because your wellbeing has been compromised. Keep up with the 3 hourly feeds during the day, however, make sure you get more rest during the night. as your baby gets older the night time feeds can be less frequent.
I personally feel a mum needs her sleep at night just as much as her baby and this is the reason why I personally wouldn’t wake a baby to feed in the night to increase your supply unless it is for medical reasons. If you are still struggling after 2 weeks with not much improvement then instead of increasing your babies feeds, there are other options you could try.
Pumping or Expressing
This can be a great way to increase your milk supply.
The best way to do this is to pump on one side while you are feeding your baby on the other. This helps both with time management and having the hormonal exchange needed to help the let down and milk flow. You may also find a good time is after you have finished feeding your baby and while they are having mat time or while your baby is sleeping. Pumping while watching your baby sleep, looking at baby photos or videos also helps to release oxytocin. Hand-held pumps tend to be better and more manageable plus a little more personable.
To help you get the most out of expressing, find times of the day you are not rushed.
Remember pumping isn’t the same as your baby feeding so sometimes it takes a little time.
Teas and Herbs
Both lactation teas and herbal potions are a great way to help increase your supply.
There are many brands on the market and it’s just a matter of what you like to drink or recommendations from other mums. You could even dunk a lactation cookie in your lactation tea.
Herbs such as Blessed Thistle, Fenugreek, Nettle, Raspberry, Goats Rue and Shatavari are also great additions to a good diet. All included in the lactation teas but you can also buy them individually or combined in capsules or tinctures. Looking for organically grown ingredients is best.
Essential oils
Some of the herbs can also be found as essential oils.
I have become more and more interested in the benefits of essential oils and how they work.
It’s important when using essential oils that you find good quality and are 100% pure.
Never apply essential oils straight to the skin. They should always be diluted with a carrier oil such as almond oil, fractioned coconut oil or olive oil.
Apply over the upper portion of the breast being careful not to go near the nipple area where your baby will be feeding from. Massage the area gently with either your hand or you could use a small comb to stimulate the ducts in a downward motion, this also helps blocked ducts.
Essential oils that are great for lactation are Clary Sage, Basil, Geranium and Fennel. Caution with Fennel – only use for up to 10 days. Generally you would only need to use these oils for around 2-5 days to see a result.
Tiger’s Milk or Smoothies
I still don’t know why it’s called Tiger’s Milk but it’s definitely the smoothie that I recommend for any breastfeeding mum.
Smoothies are a great source for a nutritional boost in one drink to add to your food intake.
The magic ingredient in Tiger’s Milk is brewer’s yeast.
Blend
Cup of milk (or you can use whatever you like such as almond milk, rice milk or coconut milk)
Protein powder (use one that is ok for breastfeeding)
Bananas
Berries
Tbsp of Brewer’s Yeast (more or less depending on your taste buds)
Optional is a Tbsp of peanut butter, flaxseed or other nutritional ingredients.
Sometimes your midwife or your GP will prescribe Domperidone. Discuss this with your health professional if you have exhausted all other options.
Remember
Happy Mum, Happy Baby
Is my baby tired or hungry?
Did you know that your baby’s cues for hunger, tiredness, pain and wind are exactly the same!
Would you like to learn more about what your baby is telling you?
Check out this tutorial to help learn more about your baby’s cues.
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Dream feeds- here are some simple tips.
Dream feeding isn’t for every baby but it’s worth a try to see if your baby will sleep for longer stretches during the night.
It can work for both breastfed and bottle fed babies.
Great way for babies who are mixed feeding, bottle fed so that dads or others can also help with feeding.
? Dream feds are generally around 10 pm and ideally 2.5 to 3 hours after the last feed.
They need to have an empty tummy to feed properly.
? Baby is still asleep or drowsy. Because babies especially newborns up to 8-12 weeks have involuntary sucking reflex. So with stimulation of the upper palate and tongue they will suck automatically.
? Keep burping to minimum or not at all.
?If nappy isn’t too wet and not dirty don’t change it.
?Back to bed as soon as you can.
Some babies do wake during this process and it may interfere with their sleep cycles so it’s a little trial and error.
It can be hard settle your baby after feeding.
Many mums feel like there are feeding for hours wiht not much time in the day for themselves.
So here is a simple flow chart to help you feed and settle your baby in less time.
DOWNLOAD HERE in PDF From here
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What could be wrong?
One of the many reasons why your baby may be fussy on the breast especially later in the day, is because your flow of milk is slower, they are tired or simply not hungry.
Here are some of the reasons that could be contributing to a fussy feeder.
?The milk flows quicker and easier the fuller the breast which sometimes can be frustrating for newborn babies.
?Feeding frequently so less milk supply. The production of milk is consistent so your breasts are never empty but it does take time to fill up the breast for the flow to be better for feeding. This is different for every mum and is also dependant on lactation itself.
? Let-down might be too powerful. Baby is unable to manage the flow of milk.
?Let-down may also be slow. This could be due to your Oxytocin levels being low.
Oxytocin is the milk releasing hormone.
Oxytocin is affected by stress levels. So the more tired and anxious you are especially towards the end of the day, the slower your letdown.
One more thing
Prolactin- a hormone responsible for the production of milk.
This hormone is regulated by oxytocin levels in mums.
If a mums isn’t producing enough oxytocin, the happiness and relaxing hormone, it may later the levels of prolactin which may let to lower milk supply.
This is why stress is a big factor for the production of milk.
Feeding frequently might be great for supply but this can also be counterproductive if you are feeling stressed and sleep deprived.
So a happy medium is key.
#newbornhelp #breastfeedingwithoutjudgment #holisticbaby#Happymum
Prolactin?
This hormone has a lot to do with how successful you will be with breastfeeding.
It’s around in small doses when your are pregnant and slowly increases as your pregnancy progresses.
Towards the end of pregnancy the prolactin levels are very high so this enables milk production.
The sooner the baby starts sucking the sooner your milk will start to produce- hence why many believe the first hour post birth is crucial for both bonding and breastfeeding.
The more baby sucks the more prolactin is produced therefore the more milk is produced.
This occurs due to the brain receiving messages through the nervous system to release the prolactin.
Its a very clever hormone because it also adjust your milk to what your babies needs are.
But there is an important factor that is often overlooked. ?
The prolactin has to have a very positive environment to thrive.
If a women is anxious about her ability to feed, feels judged, may be embarrassed to breastfeed, finds it painful to feed, then prolactin is inhibited and the milk production and secretion will be diminished.
This is not a good scenario for successful breastfeeding for new mums.
Feeling pressured to breastfeed, copious amount of advertising about breast is best, not supportive enough advice in the first 72 hours, feeling confused, overwhelmed will all have a big impact on this little hormone.
Prolactin is best produced under the influence of happiness, confidence, no pain and relaxation.
This is why it is vital that all mums seek supportive and individual advice to help them breastfeed successfully.
Unfortunately majority of postnatal care professionals are blinded by what is important to the mum and baby and the push to breastfeed as a whole.
Reflux – A diagnoses that is so common among babies these days that I have started to look into how easily doctors are giving antacids to babies as young as 2-3 weeks old.
Absolutely babies do suffer from reflux however diagnoses should be done after all other possible symptoms have been eliminated.
Through many years working with babies around sleep and feeding.
I am seeing babies diagnosed with reflux more often, are also having feeding and sleep problems and are readily being diagnosed with colic by many GP’s
I challenge some of these diagnoses.
A 15 min doctor visit in my opinion doesn’t allow for thorough health and wellbeing check and what could be the root of the cause for unsettled babies.
This research is very recent and I am sure there will be more too come.
Yes even if your baby doesn’t have true reflux an antacid will help settle them a little but so will good feeding patterns, sleep patterns and more confidence within our mums.
Why have I shared this you may ask.
I have worked with several babies who have been diagnosed with reflux and have been taken off this medication after getting better feeding and sleep routines in place.
It is still a medication?
If you are reading this and have a baby that may be struggling and showing signs of reflux there are many ways to help your baby without antacids.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/…/sc-hlth-babies-antacids-an…