Breastfeeding is so important.
Breastfeeding helps protect babies from asthma, allergies, obesity, ear infections, respiratory
infections, there are so many things.
It also helps to protect mom from ovarian cancer, breast cancers, the risk of osteoporosis
is less and it’s very good for the environment.
It is the one thing that can go directly from the producer to the consumer with no waste
in between.
It is a good calorie burner and is probably the easiest workout you will ever do.
You will burn 500 hundred extra calories a day.
One of the most important things is to get some education ahead of time.
Find a breastfeeding class and a support group, talk to a lactation consultant, all these
things can be very helpful in setting the stage.
A lot of breastfeeding is getting it right in the beginning.
The first line of defense for any baby with any kind of breastfeeding problems is getting
the baby some skin to skin contact with mom.
So, taking the baby down to their diaper and having mom take off her top, lay the baby
on her chest and give that baby the opportunity to reacclimate itself.
A lot of times that transition from being inside to being outside is pretty dramatic.
You go from a closed in world where you have all kinds of different noises.
The sound of mom’s breathing, heartbeat, the gurgling of her stomach and then all of
a sudden they are out in this world where they don’t have any of those sounds anymore.
So lying on mom’s chest they can listen to her heartbeat and it helps them kind of
process, ok, everything is going to be fine.
I usually encourage them at this point to have their guests go.
This is a time for you to get to know your baby and that way you don’t have to worry
so much about how exposed you feel.
The most important thing for preventing soreness is getting the baby latched on well.
The baby can be on the breast a lot.
If they are latched well, you shouldn’t get really painful sore nipples, maybe some
minor tenderness in the beginning, that’s not uncommon but it shouldn’t be anything
that is really uncomfortable.
Honestly, express breast milk rubbed on the nipple is usually more than enough to take
care of any problems like that; you really don’t need any extra creams.
Many moms will need to learn how to pump because many moms need to go back to work.
You don’t necessarily have to if you are going to be staying home with your baby.
I strongly suggest you talk to a lactation consultant about what type of pump they will
need because it’s different depending on their situation.
A mom who is working part-time will have different needs than a mom who is working full-time.
A mom who is staying at home will have entirely different needs.
A lactation consultant can help them define what those needs are and make it very individualized.
At Bellevue we have an outpatient lactation program so if moms need to come back in, they
can call and we can usually get them in that same day.
A visit may last anywhere from a half an hour
to an hour and a half.
A lot of times we can fix things on one visit or we can schedule more visits if we need
to.
We offer a full range of services.
Lactation will see every breastfeeding mom.
We are able to have them call us on the warm line; if they have questions they can just
call and ask questions.
If they need to come back in we have outpatient lactation visits.
We kind of have everything you might need.