Benefits of breastfeeding for both mother and the baby

During pregnancy one of the most important thing that you must start thinking about is how you are going to feed your baby after they are born. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies are exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their life and that recommendation is given based off the fact that there are so many benefits for breastfeeding for mothers and for babies. A lot of mothers make the decision to breastfeed because they know it’s best for their baby but they don’t realize that there are many benefits for them as well, like it helps the mother to recover faster from delivery because the hormone of letdown that causes the milk to release, so your baby can eat is oxytocin and oxytocin is also the hormone that causes the mothers to have contractions during labor, so when mothers breastfeed it actually helps their uterus to cramp down to its pre-pregnant size and heal faster. Breastfeeding also helps to deal with postpartum bleeding and depression.

Breast milk provides the perfect balance of nutrition that a baby needs. During their first year of life, it’s easy to digest and it comes with disease-fighting properties that helps protect them against illness. It’s a fact that breastfed babies actually have fewer infections and illnesses over the first year of life specifically ear infections and lung infections.

How to know if there is an oversupply of milk?

It is a common misconception that oversupply of milk is not harmful. However, undersupply is dangerous for the baby’s health and so is the oversupply. Hence, every mother should keep an eagle eye on the symptoms she is facing in order to know whether the milk supply is under, normal or over.

Most of the mothers during first four to six weeks after the delivery tend to have a high amount of breast milk which might cause a lot of discomfort to the mothers. They may have engorgement and pain in the breast. They may also have redness, infection and high fevers. Oversupply is paired with overactive letdown which is when the breast milk starts to just pour into the baby’s mouth and maybe the kid starts spitting and choking because of the same. One of the most common symptoms is mastitis and plugged ducts. Mastitis is an infection that mothers can get from having plugged ducts. Because of all these reasons, it is harmful for the mother and the baby both.

5 Tips to Handle Oversupply of Breast Milk

Given below are five ways that will help to resolve the oversupply of milk in mothers:

Breastfeed your kid while laying back

Laid back position for breastfeeding is often referred as biological nurturing. For this position the mother needs to be leaned back comfortably on a bed or a sofa making around 45 degrees of angle with it. After that she is required to get the baby on the tummy such that her tummy and baby’s tummy contact with each other. Here the orientation of the baby is not that important as he can also be present beside the mother’s arm, kneeling on the bed. This position gives the baby the stability. It can easily solve the problems of oversupply of breast milk because the baby can effortlessly deal with the overactive let down.

Donate the extra milk

Donating the extra breast milk that is occurring, because of the oversupply could be one of the most proficient and social step you can take. It will not only help you to get rid of that extra milk but will also help other needy kids, when their mothers are suffering from undersupply problem of breast milk or are orphan. So just pump out that extra milk and donate. The way that breastfeeding works is the more you drain the breasts, the more it tells your body to make more.

Try block feeding

Be careful with block feeding and make sure that you are having oversupply issues because if not then, it can have adverse effects on your health. If you are having overactive letdown then what you can do is latch the baby and the next feed instead of switching breasts, latch the baby to the same breast. So, it basically means do the same breasts twice and then on the same breast twice because that slowly sends the message to breasts to make less milk. It might take time but it can help solve the issue.

Cabbage leaves can do the work

Cabbage leaves are an efficient way to soak that extra milk that keeps popping out of your breasts. Cold cabbage leaves help you if you place one of the leaf on each breasts and change after every 2 hours until breast engorgement has passed. You can even stuff your bra with some cold cabbage leaves. You can also use ice packs, covered with a thin cloth, on your breast for 5 to 15minutes, several times in a day after expressing breast milk.

Use natural herbs or medications

You can use natural herbs like peppermint or spearmint because that can reduce the production of breast milk in nursing mothers. Other food items that help for the same are parsley, which is a well-liked diuretic, or thyme as it has a negative effect on breast milk production in lactating moms. But even after trying all the possible natural ways to tackle the issue of oversupply of breast milk, the problem is not eliminating and still persists then it is highly recommended to go on proper medications after consulting your doctor.

Motherhood is one of the best time periods in the life of a woman. So make sure that you start it well by looking after your health as well as your baby’s health and breast milk is the key to do that. Also, keep a close look if you are facing any abnormal symptoms and consult your doctor as soon as possible.