A sweet, dear, helpless creature - a child in the first days and months of his life. He needs your love, your worries. Whether the child grows up vigorous and healthy depends on you. And how much a young mother should know! But the most important thing is how to feed. Food supports life at all ages, but it is especially important for a nursing child. With good and proper feeding, the baby gains natural immunity against disease and grows up and cheerful.
Therefore, a feeding schedule should be established immediately after birth. Try to give him food after a precisely defined period of time - 2.5-3 hours. Very soon, the baby's stomach acquires a reflex to rhythmically release juices, and the baby will get used to eating at certain hours.
Mother's milk
Every mother should breastfeed her baby. With mother's milk, the child receives not only all the nutrients necessary for his existence and growth, but also protective substances from the mother's body, which protect him from diseases. In addition, there are no germs in milk taken directly from the breast; it is easier than any other food to be digested and absorbed by the child's stomach.
After giving birth, both mother and baby need rest. Only after 12 hours, during which the newborn is given sweetened boiled water (5% sugar), can it be applied to the breast. Before feeding, you need to thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water and wash the nipple (together with the pigment part around it) with a cotton swab moistened with a 3% boric acid solution. Squeeze out a few drops of milk - microbes that have entered the canals will be removed with them. If you are unable to sit after giving birth, feed your baby lying down, leaning over to him.
Later, when your body gets stronger, you should feed, sitting on a chair with a back and placing a small bench under your leg - under the right, if you are breastfeeding with the right breast, and under the left, if - with the left. Hold your baby with one hand and hold your chest with the other so that it is between the second and third fingers. The baby's mouth should cover not only the nipple, but also the age spot around it. Often, the baby presses the nose to the breast and therefore cannot suckle calmly. Make sure that this does not happen. A runny nose interferes with sucking. In this case, special drops should be dripped into the baby's nose before feeding. It is important to feed your baby in silence, as talking is distracting. When the baby sucks well, the sound of throats is heard.
After childbirth, the amount of milk (colostrum) at the nurse is very small - each breast is able to separate only 10-15 grams of colostrum during feeding. This amount increases after the 3rd day, reaching 700 by the 7th day, 800 by the end of the second month, and up to 1000 grams per day by the end of the 5th month. Whether the baby is getting enough milk can be determined by weighing. Weigh your baby before and after feeding at different times of the day, because there is more milk in the morning and less milk in the evening. By checking your child's weight every week, you can determine if he is gaining enough weight. If a newborn has enough milk, he gains weight continuously - in the first 3 months about 800 grams, then 600 grams, and by the end of the year - 500 grams per month. With a decrease in the amount of milk, the child urinates less often, and his stool turns from golden yellow to green and slimy.
Serious causes of premature weaning of a child from the breast are cases of a serious illness of the mother - severe anemia, chronic nephritis, mental and acute infectious diseases, cancer, diabetes, etc. If a nursing mother becomes ill with typhus, dysentery, etc., the feeding should be stopped, but care should be taken that the milk does not disappear. To do this, you need to express it regularly. After the mother recovers, feeding continues. If the mother is sick with whooping cough, you can feed the baby with specially expressed milk. With chickenpox, angina, catarrh of the upper respiratory tract, pneumonia, the child can be fed, while observing the strictest hygiene. In this case, the mother should wear a mask made of four layers of gauze. The onset of menstruation is not a reason for weaning a baby. If the nursing mother becomes pregnant again, breastfeeding can be continued until at most 7-8 months. Further feeding can severely deplete her.
