General Information Regarding Breast Feeding

A large part of knowing how and why to breast feed begins with knowing exactly how the process works. A woman's breast is pretty much a large gland. Size has nothing to do with how much milk is created or how well a woman can breast feed; size depends upon the fatty tissues surrounding the inner system. Cells inside the breast called aveoli create milk as a reaction to the hormone prolactin. A hormone Oxytocin makes small muscles around the aveoli to tighten and move milk through small tubes that lead to the areola and nipple.

Baby formula cannot exactly match the chemical makeup of human breast milk, it does not contain the hormones and antibodies that infants may need. Breast milk changes over time to give the baby what it needs. During pregnancy and right after birth the breast milk is usually thick and yellow, this type of breast milk is called colostrum, it contains all the nutrients that newborns need. Around about day three or day five it thins out and begins to look white and contains all the things your baby needs at that time including sugars and fats.

One main part of knowing how to breast feed is to know how the breast makes milk. The breast is essentially a gland comprised of many parts. Cells called aveoli make milk in response to the hormone prolactin. The hormone oxytocin causes the muscles around the aveoli cells to move the milk through small tubes called milk ducts that are located in the nipple itself and the areola around the nipple.

Some new mothers have difficulties getting their babies to latch. Its important to remember that infants are born with the knowledge of how to latch as well as how to find the breast, but if it seems to just not be happening there are ways to help your baby. To make sure it gets a good latch you point the nipple directly toward the back of the babies mouth and keep the base of the nipple as far from the babies lower lip as possible.

Breast feeding shouldn't hurt if it does then you should help your baby re latch by placing a clean finger in the corner of your babies mouth to break the latch. The infant may be only sucking on the nipple which could cause pain. The nipple should not look flat or compressed when it comes out of the infant's mouth it should look long and round or the same as it did before it fed.

Breast feeding shouldn't hurt it should be a comfortable experience that brings a woman her child closer to one another. It is best to breast feed as soon after the baby is born as possible. If the woman gives a natural birth then it is best for the woman to breast feed immediately after and delay any procedures that don't need to take place immediately, this will help the infant to know who its mother is.

It is also useful to keep the infant in the same room at night so that the mother can see the first signs it being hungry. Babies show hunger by acting more alert and active they may put their fists to their mouth or make sucking motions, crying is a late sign of hunger. Let your baby decide when to stop nursing, if the baby still seems hungry after the first breast, offer the other.