Posts Tagged ‘colostrum’

Sleeping babies – to wake or not to wake? Part one

Monday, September 6th, 2010

Yes, it does feel mean and harsh to wake a little baby who looks so super peaceful, but there are good reasons why one should wake a baby to feed….and when you realize what they are, all that guilt will instantly melt away. So here are some of the reasons you should wake your little one.

The early days – day 0 – day 3

  • Your baby needs colostrum to get rid of the bilirubin accumulating in his/her gut.
    When your baby is inside the womb, lots of red blood cells transport oxygen around the body. Once your baby is born, the body needs to get rid of some of these red blod cells, so that body begins to break them down. The waste product is called bilirubin and if it is not excreted, it is reabsorbed into the body and this leads to jaundice. The only way the body can excrete this waste is via the gut, in the form of poo. Colostrum is an amazing laxative. So the more colostrum your baby gets, the more nappy action you will have and the less jaundiced your baby will be.
  • The more your baby feeds in the early days, the more milk you will have long term.
    In the breast, right next to the milk proucing cells, you have little cells called Prolactin receptor cells. These are dormant, but each time your baby feeds, a few more are activated and are able to catch the prolactin molecules and encourage milk production. These cells are most responsive in the first 3 days, especially after the birth. So the more you feed (or express if you need to) the more cells you will activate and the more productive your breast will be.
  • Colostrum is a fantastic pain killer.
    Depending on how the birth went – you may find relief through various forms of painkillers. But what about your baby? Sure the baby is build to cope with the birthing process but what about the excess pressure of a ventouse or forcepts delivery? Well, thankfully you don’t have to worry about it, as your body will take care of that.

Okay, you now you have 3 good reasons to wake the baby up – but let’s just tie it all together for you.
If your baby doesn’t feed well and frequently in the first 3 days, he/she will not benefit from the laxative properties of colostrum. This means your baby will have less bowel moevement and the bilirubin will be reasorbed – resulting in jaundice. When a baby develops jaundice, waking to feed becomes a lot harder as baby is very sleep, and this makes the situation worse.

Many babies find feeding after their birth quite difficult and if you have had a c section, you will know that often a baby will have so much mucus in their tummy, feeding is not very high on their list of priorities. So encouraging baby to feed and offering the breast, will quickly highlight whether you need additional help.

If you are still expecting your baby, have a look at the Beginners Guide to Breastfeeding eBook. I cover the early days in a lot more detail.

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What makes breast milk special?

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

At lunch a week or so ago, a friend asked me to sell him the idea of breastfeeding. Sell him the idea of breastfeeding? Has he not been around for the last 5 years, where the benefits of breastfeeding have been plastered all over newspapers, TV, Magazines, bill boards? Seriously?!?

Anyway, as I began telling him about the positive aspects of breastfeeding and why he should support his wife, as and when, they have little ones, I began to get quite excited. By telling him how amazing breast milk properties were, I remembered a lot of the ‘good stuff’ that gets burried under breastfeeding problems – something I see and work with daily.

So, I would like to enlighten you a little, if I may, with some of the more unusual benefits of breast milk.

Did you know?

  • Your body produces colostrum (high density/low volume milk) for the first few days, to give your baby time to practice his/her suck – swallow – breath pattern. To start with your baby will suck a number of times to accumulate milk, then hold his/her breath and then swallow. The suck, swallow, breath pattern takes 3-4 days to learn. Remember, your baby has never done this before birth, so it is a learnt skill. When second time mums find their milk coming in sooner than day 4, babies often struggle with the fast flow, gulp at the breast, pull away to cope with the flow and become quite windy.
  • Colostrum is a fantastic laxative which helps your baby poo. The more your baby poos, the more meconium he/she will flush out. The more meconium that is flushed out, the less likely your baby is to develop jaundice.
  • Breast milk composition is designed to meet your baby’s needs. If you have a prem baby, your milk will be higher in long chain fatty acids than milk for a full term baby, for the first 6 months, as these weren’t laid down in the last trimester, due to your baby’s early delivery. So your baby still gets everything he/she needs through your breast milk, even though he/she is out of your body. Isn’t that amazing?
  • Breast milk has antimicrobial qualities that kill off harmful bacteria. This property of breast milk allows you to store breast milk in the fridge for up to 8 days and also means that you only have to wash the bottles in hot soapy water, rinse and dry with paper towel before using. In short, it keeps longer and requires no sterilizing. (applies to healthy, full term babies when storing milk at home. be sure to wash hands well before expresing.)
  • Due to the antimicrobial properties of breast milk, milk can be kept at room temerature for up to 6 hours, when kept out of direct sunlight and in temperatures of 79F (25C). This means that should you prefer not to breastfeed in public, you can simply express and take the milk out with you. Keep it in a cooler bag to be safe – but it is so much easier than most mums think.)
  • Breast milk has potent analgesic, so your baby gets natural pain killers to help with the trauma of birth, a sore tummy and so on.

You see, now that I have started I am struggling to stop!

I hope this inspires you to. If you are breastfeeding, you are doing a great thing.

If you weren’t able to breastfeed, know that you did the best for your baby with the advice that was available to you and touch base with me when you have your next, so I can help you too.

If you need some practical help, have a look at my breastfeeding eBooks.

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How to stop jaundice taking a hold of baby

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Your baby has finally arrived safely after months of ‘baking’ in the womb and hopefully a decent delivery. To your frustration though, the hard work and worry is far from over, as your baby struggles to wake and feed regularly, or latch onto the breast and feed effectively. Many mums find themselves in a difficult position as their baby gradually loses weight and becomes more yellow in colour or jaundiced.

So, what is jaundice? and how can you prevent it from taking such a hold on your baby, that you need phyto therapy to help flush it out?

When a baby is in the womb, red blood cells transport oxygen around your baby’s body. To be effective, there are many more red blood cells pumping around your baby’s body. When your baby takes his or her first breath, the lungs kick into action and take over the role of respiration and the excess red blood cells (which are no longer needed) are broken down and discarded.

When the red blood cells are broken down, a waste product called bili-rubin is produced. Bili-ribin needs to be expelled from the body, but can only do so via your baby’s bowl movements or poos. Your early milk called colostrum is a very effective laxative, so the more your baby is able to feed, the more your baby will poo and the more bili-rubin will be flushed out of the body.

What goes in, must come out right?

If you are struggling to breastfeed, for whatever reason, your baby will not be getting the laxative properties of the colostrum and if your baby is not getting food, not much will come out and the bili-rubin is re-absorbed by the body.

Now there is a catch 22 here. Your baby needs to be awake and feeding effectively to get rid of the accumulating levels of bili-rubin, but the more bili-rubin floating around your baby’s body, the more sleepy your baby becomes and the harder it is to wake him or her.

So to summarize, the more milk particularly colostrum your baby is able to access, the quicker he or she will be able to flush out the bili-rubin. If your baby is not able to get to the milk, you need to find a way to get enough fluids into him or her, to start the process and keep it going, until you are out of the woods.

How do you do this?

You take control of your situation and arm yourself with as much practical advice/information as possible before you have your baby. Please don’t rely on midwives to come to your rescue in hospital, they are simply too over stretched to give you the one to one, calm care and attention this deserves, through no fault of their own.

Join me for a workshop where I will teach you everything you need to know and do from day one, or if you live on the other side of the country, get yourself a copy of the Beginners Guide to Breastfeeding and start reading www.letsbreastfeed.com/instantonlinehelp/

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