Pregnancy — Breastfeeding

• Breastfeeding: Engorgement

  Breast fullness is a normal part of lactation which nearly all women experience when their milk comes in 2 5 days after birth.This feeling of fullness, which may be accompanied by a feeling of heaviness, tenderness, and warmth, is caused by swelling of the breast tissue as blood, lymphatic fluid, and milk collect in the ducts as the process of milk production begins. With this normal fullness, the breast tissue is compressible, and you generally feel well (you rarely have pain or fever).

• Drugs and Breastfeeding

  As the number of nursing mothers continues to increase, so does the use of drugs, both legal and recreational. As a nursing mother, you should be aware that there are three things we know for sure about drugs and breastmilk:

• Guidelines For Expressing Breastmilk

  There are many situations in which a mother may need to pump milk from her breasts. Some are short term for example, occasional separations, mother on medication incompatible with breastfeeding, breast engorgement, severe nipple soreness, or increasing milk supply. Some are long term a premature hospitalized infant, or regular separations such as those encountered with returning to work or school. Whatever your reasons for expressing your milk, certain tools and techniques can help you be successful in obtaining the milk you need and maintaining your milk supply.

• Caregiver’s Guide to the Breastfed Baby

  Human milk does not look like formula or cow’s milk. It may be a different color or consistency, and it is normal for it to be bluish, greenish, or even brownish in color. Frozen milk, or milk expressed during the early days of nursing (which still contains colostrum) may look yellowish. Human milk that is properly stored is not spoiled, unless it smells sour or tastes bad.

• Information Sheet and Care Plan for Yeast (Candida)

  Candida (also called yeast, or thrush) is a fungus that occurs naturally in the mucous membranes and on the skin. Use of antibiotics promotes the overgrowth of yeast by killing off the good bacteria that normally keep the yeast from multiplying too quickly.During pregnancy, yeast infections are more common because high levels of estrogen lead to elevated levels of sugar, and yeast feeds on sugar.

• Breastfeeding Mom’s Sore Nipples

  Nipple soreness is one of the most common reasons new mothers give for discontinuing breastfeeding, often during the first week of nursing. This is quite unfortunate, for nipple soreness is almost always a short-term problem, and can usually be corrected in a matter of days. Breastfeeding isnt supposed to hurt, but the fact of the matter is that most mothers will experience some degree of soreness during the early stages of nursing. It is common to feel some discomfort when the baby first latches on, especially in the first days after birth before the milk has come in. This type of soreness will usually ease up after the first few sucks, especially after the milk lets down and flows freely.

• Breastfeeding Mom Returning to Work or School

  Once you successfully make it through the early weeks of breastfeeding, and manage to overcome any problems you may have had in the beginning (soreness, engorgement, hormonal rushes, etc.) you usually experience a honeymoon period.Just at the point when you are beginning to get the hang of this whole mothering thing and are settling into a routine, it is time to go back to work or school.

• Breastfeeding Benefits: How They Add Up

  Most new mothers wonder how long they should breastfeed their baby. While the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends nursing for at least the first year of life, this may not be a realistic goal for many mothers. It is important to know that even if you only nurse your baby for a few weeks or even a few days, you will both receive many important benefits from the nursing relationship.