Breastfeeding the newborn

Hey there! This is Dr. Manu, consultant. At the outset, I would like to welcome you to Dr Manu’s Gynecology Clinic. So, in this blog post, we are going to discuss breastfeeding your newborn baby.

Breastfeeding has numerous advantages for your little loved one! First and most importantly it gives nutrition and support to the growing child and next it helps in emotional bonding The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding with mother’s milk in the 1st 4 months of the baby’s development. This is because breast milk contains antibodies that confer a high degree of protection to the newborn Not just immunity, breastfeeding the child regularly has a number of health benefits like

• Breast milk contains all the nutrients for supporting the child’s first 4-6 months of development
• It helps with the development of the Jaw
• Immunity is built

For the mother as well, regular breastfeeding of the baby helps in

• Reducing the risk of spontaneous bleeding immediately post delivery
• Also reduces the risk of ovarian and breast cancer in the long run!

Normally after delivery, the first milk produced is thick and yellowish. It’s called the colostrum and it is highly rich in antibodies. It is very important that the newborn receives immediate breastfeeding post-birth, since the colostrum will be gradually replaced with mature breast milk over the next few days

WHO recommends 4 months of exclusive breastfeeding

Good attachment – Some quick tips that you should follow to ensure good attachment of the child include

• Sit comfortably upright
• Hold your baby close to you, while supporting your child’s neck and shoulders with your hand
• Gently stroke the baby’s mouth with the area below the nipple, this will trigger the child to open the mouth wide
• Try to aim the nipple toward the roof of the baby’s mouth.

Babies tend to feed quite often usually about 8 to 12 times in a 24-hour period. A good sign to see if he is feeding well is to check if the baby has at least 6-8 wet cloth nappies per day and is reasonably contented. Remember one thing well, you never want to use pacifiers or artificial feeds, since this reduces not only the child’s dependency on breast milk but also reduces milk secretion. Breastfeeding is a natural process but it is also a learning process. Be patient and tolerant, you may lose sleep during the night, but at the end of the day, that little baby in your hand is ‘a little world of your own’.

So, I hope you enjoyed reading this short post on fibroids. Please do share this post with mom’s to be and do subscribe to us!

Yours with lots of love

Manu ( Best gynecologist in chennai )

References

Stewart EA. Uterine fibroids. The Lancet. 2001 Jan 27;357(9252):293-8.

Bulun SE. Uterine fibroids. New England Journal of Medicine. 2013 Oct 3;369(14):1344-55.