Almost every mother strives to properly organize breastfeeding and feed the baby for as long as possible. However, sometimes these good intentions are shattered by sudden difficulties. One of these difficulties is that the baby does not let go of the breast for a very long time. Mom feels literally "attached" to the baby, gets tired. And if the child often suckles at the breast at night, this finally exhausts the mother, since she is deprived of the opportunity to sleep.
Before looking for a solution to the problem of why the child does not let go of his mother's breast, it is necessary to find out the causes of its occurrence. Very often, faced with such a situation, the mother decides that she does not have enough milk and simply transfers the child to artificial nutrition. However, in most cases, breastfeeding can be successfully maintained without resorting to such a drastic measure as weaning.
In some periods of the development of the baby, the fact that the child sucks the breast very often is a physiological norm for him. The following describes the main "critical" periods of development in which the child often asks for a breast.
A newborn baby often asks for a breast
The first month of life, a newborn baby, as a rule, spends most of the time in a dream, only occasionally waking up to satisfy its main need at the moment of development - the need for food. But around the fourth or fifth week of life, the mother notices amazing changes in her baby's behavior. The kid spends more time awake, begins to consciously respond to external stimuli, such as light and sound, learns to focus his eyes on a certain subject for a while. As a rule, it is at this age that the baby gives his mother his first, such a long-awaited, conscious smile.
Such a positive dynamics of development is due to the fact that the sense organs of the crumbs, “dormant” for the first month, begin to develop actively. The kid clearly understands: something in his usual, so cozy and familiar world has changed dramatically. Naturally, the child is confused and frightened, he strives back to his familiar world. But at the same time, the baby understands that his mother is nearby. And in order for him to feel as protected as possible, he needs bodily contact with his mother. And how to achieve it? Attachment to mother's breast. Such periods appear in every baby - for someone it is longer and more pronounced, for someone it flows almost imperceptibly. The time of such a crisis period can also be different: from several days to several months.
In most cases, mothers do not know this feature of growing up their baby and cannot find the reason for this behavior. The woman begins to get nervous, look for the reasons for the baby's anxiety. Mom may feel confused and frightened, especially if such a period drags on for several weeks. Most often, the mother turns to the pediatrician, but it turns out that the baby is absolutely healthy. All this leads to an erroneous opinion that the mother has little milk and the baby is constantly hungry, and therefore cries.
What to do in this situation? The baby is crying from the feeling of something new and unusual, he is in desperate need of reassurance, which only his mother can give him. So comfort your little one! Your smell, your body heat, physical contact with the child is exactly what he needs now. You should also not forget about voice communication with the baby - after all, your voice is also familiar to him, he heard it all nine months in a row.
The fact that a child often asks for a breast, which is absolutely normal and natural, should not be denied to the baby and try to replace the mother he needs so much with pacifiers and bottles. They will not improve the situation, but they can aggravate it. It is much easier to drink milk from a bottle than from a mother's breast. As a result, the child may refuse breastfeeding, while his vital need for close contact with his mother will remain unsatisfied. The baby will still cry and worry, you will still carry him in your arms almost all the time.
If you still doubt why the baby constantly requires a breast and continue to believe that you have little milk and the baby is constantly hungry, you need to do the following:
- Stop using disposable diapers for at least a day. Count how many wet diapers you got per day. If you counted 10-12, you can be absolutely sure that your baby is definitely not suffering from hunger.
- If this is not enough for you and doubts still remain, contact the pediatrician to weigh the baby. If the child has gained the necessary body weight at this age, then your milk is enough for him.
- For particularly restless mothers, we can advise you to purchase children's electronic scales. The daily weight gain of a child up to 3 months should be approximately 40 grams. It is necessary to separately draw the attention of mothers to the so-called “control weighing”. Modern research has long confirmed the inefficiency and very low effectiveness of this method of checking the amount of food eaten by the child. The child in different applications eats absolutely different amounts of milk.
In the same case, if the child has the above obvious signs of a lack of milk, you should also not panic and rush to the nearest pharmacy for milk formula and a bottle.
The baby constantly sucks at the breast because the mother does not have enough milk
Do not be very upset if the amount of milk is really not enough. As a rule, it is not difficult to establish lactation and stimulate increased milk production. And then, the baby constantly sucks the breast, is the first step to increasing lactation. The female body produces milk under the influence of hormones. For their production, it is necessary that the pituitary gland receives information about the need for milk production. It is this signal that is the attachment of the child to the breast. Thus, if the baby suckles almost constantly at the breast, he thereby stimulates the production of milk.
Expression of milk has a similar, however, less weak effect. The most effective way to increase lactation is to put up with the fact that the child constantly requires mother's breast. Moreover, numerous studies have proven an interesting fact. If a mother feeds the baby “in between times”, this does not bring such a good result as those mothers who put off not only all housework for the time of feeding, but also discard all disturbing thoughts and problems and enjoy moments of intimacy with the baby themselves. This fact can be easily explained from the point of view of medicine, because all physiological processes in the body of any person directly depend on the state of the nervous system.
Surely all nursing mothers noticed that the most active children begin to breastfeed in the morning (from 4 to 8 in the morning) time. During these hours, stimulation of lactation gives the best result. This explains why the baby sucks for a long time at the breast in the morning feeding. Thus, he provides himself with a supply of milk for the following days. As a rule, if you allow the baby to suckle for a long time, and will apply it as often as possible, lactation increases already on the second day.
Many breastfeeding mothers rely on various supplements and teas to increase lactation. It is imperative to take into account the fact that without frequent and prolonged applications, there will be no effect from their use.
Where has the milk gone?
Almost every nursing mother at least once faced a situation where the amount of milk dropped sharply. Even in the evening there was an abundance of milk, and the next day the child asks for a breast every hour, and nothing can be done to express, as before. However, you should not be afraid of this and wonder why the child sucks the breast for so long. During lactation, there are several specific stages during which a decrease in the amount of milk produced is completely natural.
- The onset of a lactation crisis. This is an absolutely normal physiological process through which all lactating women go through, without exception. The reasons for the onset of a lactation crisis have not yet been clarified, and the timing of its onset can also be completely different. Someone has such a crisis once, and someone every two to three months. The duration is approximately 2 - 4 days. The most important thing at this moment is not to panic and in no case replace breast milk with artificial formula.
- A sharp growth spurt in a child. As a rule, it also happens quite unexpectedly. The child not only increases the need for food, but also reduces the time required to suck out milk. The child drinks the amount of milk available in the breast in 10 minutes, but since his needs have already increased, the baby remains hungry. This is what leads to the fact that the child asks for a breast every hour. Of course, for mom, this is quite tiring. But, as mentioned above, it is frequent and prolonged feeding that stimulates the production of the amount of milk necessary for your crumbs.
The worst thing that can be done in this situation is to start supplementing the baby with formula milk. Do not be afraid for the health of the baby - his body will absolutely painlessly endure several days of such a "diet". The feeling of hunger will lead to the fact that the child will suckle for a long time and, accordingly, lactation will increase. If you feed the baby with milk formula, the baby will be full and will not insistently ask for the breast. Accordingly, the mother's body will decide that the milk produced by the child is absolutely sufficient and will not produce it in the really required amount.
Another common misconception is the belief that mom's milk can "burn out" as a result of stressful situations or mom's illness. In fact, a woman's milk does not disappear anywhere. It’s just that the level of oxytocin in the blood, which is responsible for the flow of milk from the breast, drops sharply. In such situations, it is very important to try to calm the nursing mother as much as possible, a warm shower will be very useful for her. And, of course, close physical contact with the baby. If this is not done, lactation may stop altogether.
There are a huge number of so-called "folk" methods to increase the amount of milk. However, they are absolutely meaningless and will not bring any visible benefit, but harm is very likely.
- A nursing mother should eat "for two" and drink a huge amount of liquid.
In fact, a nursing mother needs only 300 calories more than usual. Their surplus will not give anything but excess weight. - To increase the amount of milk, you need to drink tea with condensed milk.
However, in fact, the use of condensed milk can cause the baby to experience allergic reactions or increased gas formation. - Drinking a glass of beer a day doubles lactation.
This method of increasing the amount of milk is not worth talking about. Surely any mother imagines the negative consequences of exposure to alcohol crumbs on the body. - After each feeding, the woman should carefully express any remaining milk.
This is fraught with the appearance of hyperlactation, when much more milk is produced than is required to saturate the baby. As a result, the likelihood of developing mastitis is high. - Give your baby a pacifier between feedings.
Sucking on a pacifier significantly reduces the baby's need for suckling, and a decrease in lactation may occur. In addition, sucking on a pacifier, even an anatomically shaped pacifier, can adversely affect the correct formation of the bite. - If a woman's milk is pale, with a blue tint, then it has a low nutritional value.
In fact, the nutritional value of breast milk is neither low nor high. It is exactly what your baby needs at the moment. - If a nursing mother no longer has sensations of milk rushes, and her breasts do not fill up, then she has very ml of milk.
On the contrary, if a woman does not have these phenomena, this only indicates that lactation has been established and has passed into the mature stage. The mammary gland produces exactly as much milk as it needs. If you're still worried, just keep an eye on the number of wet diapers and monthly weight gain.
Why does a one-year-old child constantly ask for a breast?
If the reasons for this behavior in children under one year old are less clear, then cases when an older child constantly asks for breasts cause confusion for many mothers - it seems that the baby no longer feels hungry, since he receives the bulk of food in the form of solid food. In addition, it often happens that the child sucks the breast for a very long time, practically does not release it from the mouth. As a rule, this happens during falling asleep or at night. In order to solve this problem, the mother must know the cause of its occurrence.
For a one-year-old child, the breast is to a large extent the only means of self-soothing. It is at the breast that the baby is looking for mother's support, protection, affection, comfort and attention. If your child has been constantly asking for a breast lately, carefully analyze all the events that have happened to your baby lately. Perhaps there are some stressful factors in the child's life.
Remember that for a small child, anything can become such a factor. Has your little one been offended by kids in the sandbox? Or maybe some loud noise startled you? Of course, he will run to his mother. And mother often does not connect these events with each other. Even an excess of positive emotions can become a strong stress factor for a child. That is why child psychologists recommend strictly dosing the positive emotions of children.
Children are especially acute when their mother goes to work. The little man has not yet been given the opportunity to understand the word "should" and he relies only on his own feelings. The kid may feel lonely, abandoned, offended. And if the baby is still breastfeeding, he will try at the time when the mother is nearby, try to compensate for the lack of mother's attention and affection by applying to the breast. That is why such a child often sucks at the breast for a very long time.
In order to smooth out the sharp corners of this situation as much as possible, the mother will have to make efforts, despite her fatigue. It is very good if relatives take on some of the household chores, freeing their mother from them. In the evening, after coming home from work, immediately turn all your attention to the baby. Talk to him more, do something interesting together: play or read. At least twice a week, try to find an opportunity to go for a walk with your baby.
In addition, it is very important not to forget about the much-needed physical contact between mother and baby. Do not be afraid to spoil the baby, take him in your arms more often, kiss, hug him. Believe me, there is never too much affection. Its absence is much more destructive than its excess. A child who did not receive affection in early childhood, as a rule, grows up as an insecure person with low self-esteem.
But what could be more important for a mother than the well-being of her very own person, her child? And it is from the mother that what it will be, “beautiful far away”, largely depends. After all, we all come from childhood.
Talk 9
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Feeding on demand or by the hour
On the one hand, of course, in feeding according to the regimen, there is a certain convenience for the mother, since it creates for her a certain regulated rhythm of life. It is good if the regime gradually established itself as a result of the mutual adaptation of the mother's organism and the child. However, the feeding schedule every 3 hours is not suitable for everyone. After all, each child is unique, has its own physiological characteristics and momentary moods that can affect its individual nutrition schedule. The rate of milk secretion and the ability to accumulate milk - the "capacity" of the mammary gland is also individual for each woman.
If the mammary gland is able to store some milk, then the baby needs more frequent feedings to get enough milk. The less milk in the breast at the moment, the faster the body works to replenish it; the fuller the breast, the slower the process of milk secretion.
The mechanism of secretion of milk by the mammary gland in the amount corresponding to the needs of the child is regulated by two hormones - prolactin and oxytocin, as well as a special substance - a feeding inhibitor, which inhibits the action of prolactin and stops the secretion of milk.
Lactation and prolactin:
Each time the baby suckles, the nerve endings of the nipple are stimulated. Nerve signals sent to the pituitary gland cause the production of a hormone prolactin. Prolactin tells the mammary gland how much milk to produce for the next feeding. The more and more often the baby sucks, the more milk will be produced, and vice versa. Moreover, the frequency of feeding has a greater effect on increasing lactation than the duration. The pituitary gland secretes more prolactin at night than during the day. Therefore, nighttime breastfeeding is especially important for stimulating lactation if there is not enough milk. Breastfeeding between 3 am and 8 am, when prolactin levels are highest, stimulates the secretion of milk in sufficient quantities for subsequent daily feedings.
If all the milk produced is not sucked out by the baby, the feeding inhibitor inhibits the secretion of milk and less will be produced for the next feeding.
Lactation and oxytocin:
When sucking, the pituitary gland also releases a hormone oxytocin, forcing special muscle cells to squeeze milk out of the alveoli of the mammary gland so that it can flow to the child for the current feeding. Often, in a novice mother, the feeling of milk arrival appears 2 minutes after the start of sucking. The release of oxytocin can be strongly influenced by the emotional state of the mother. A positive attitude, tenderness for the child and the desire to feed him contribute to the unhindered release of milk. Conversely, fears, worries and irritations can disrupt this mechanism and inhibit lactation.
In the first weeks, the baby can suck with different intensity, sometimes for a very long time. May fall asleep during feeding, after half an hour he may wake up and want to eat again. It is realistic to expect that in the first month and a half the baby will suck on average every 2 hours. Then gradually the number of feedings will decrease. To improve lactation and stimulate the mammary glands to produce the right amount of milk, it would be wise to let the baby suckle when he wants and how much he wants.
Is the baby constantly breastfeeding?
Any restlessness, crying or searching behavior of the child, when he turns his head and catches nearby objects in his mouth, is an expression of the requirement to attach to the chest. Particularly important are frequent attachments to the breast at the slightest demand of the child in the first 3 months during the formation of lactation. Insufficient attachment can lead to the fact that the child becomes inactive, drowsy and less and less likely to breastfeed, gaining weight poorly. It is perfectly normal if the baby is applied to the breast each time to fall asleep and as soon as he wakes up. Even if during wakefulness the child constantly sucks the breast and asks for it every half an hour, it means that this is exactly how much he needs at the moment to get enough. It is possible that after a while he will be applied to the breast less often, sucking out more milk in one feeding.
The rapid evacuation of milk from the stomach to the intestines, the relatively large length of the intestines, the content of enzymes in mother's milk that help break it down - all these are adaptations of the child's body to almost continuous nutrition. In addition, with prolonged sucking, the fattest and most high-calorie fraction of milk (the so-called hind milk) begins to stand out - a saturation factor for the child, and a well-fed child lets go of the breast on its own.
Does the baby suckle for a long time?
For many babies, 5-10 minutes is enough to suck out most of the milk from the breast. But there are also babies who suckle the breast for quite a long time, while in total they suck out as much as the more active ones in a shorter period of time.If a more lazily suckling baby is weaned prematurely, he will not receive the high-calorie hind milk he needs for full growth and development. In addition, excess lactose-rich foremilk, which is secreted at the start of a feed, can cause temporary lactase deficiency, where the baby lacks the enzyme to break down milk sugar. This is evidenced by a chair with foam. When a baby suckles for a long time, this does not lead to damage to the nipples, it is caused by improper nipple latch.
For some mothers, the flow of milk occurs instantly, for some - after some time after the start of sucking. For some, milk is produced several times in small portions during one feeding, so it is better if the duration of feeding is regulated by the child himself. When the baby is full, he stops sucking and releases the breast himself.
In favorable conditions, in a pair of "mother and child", their optimal individual feeding regimen is being established. It can change when, due to growth and developmental spurts, the baby's need for milk increases and may require more frequent feedings, which in turn will lead to an increase in the amount of milk produced. The daytime activity of a growing baby learning new skills can lead to more frequent nursing at night. Feeding patterns can be affected by illness, teething, and even weather changes.
Most children actively declare their feeding needs. However, due to strong medical intervention in childbirth, birth trauma, active use of pacifiers and other reasons, the child may not wake up often enough to feed and demand a breast. Such babies need to be awakened and breastfeeded even in response to very weak signals.
What to do if the child constantly requires breast
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Many mothers strive to properly organize the feeding of an infant. But sometimes it happens that the baby often asks for breast milk - this raises disturbing questions. Mothers feel literally “tied” to babies. This affects at night, when sleep is limited due to frequent feeding.
Before starting an intensive search for solutions, it is worth deciding on the reasons that caused this. In most cases, the decision is made that there is not enough milk. The fact that the child began to eat more often is not unusual, since there are periods of intensive development of the baby.
Reasons for frequent breastfeeding
There are various reasons why there is a need for frequent feeding of the baby:
The child is hungry
Starting from the first month, the volume of lactation is still insufficient, while the baby is able to quickly get tired. With a slight saturation, the baby leaves the breast immersed in sleep. With the rapid digestion of milk, especially when feeding occurs in small doses, the baby again feels hungry and tries to give signs to be fed.
If the baby is under two months old and at the same time there are frequent feedings, this is normal. Every day the baby gets stronger and begins to consume more milk. When the lactation volume reaches the limit, the baby begins to experience hunger during development.
Contact with mother
When the second or third month of the baby comes, a large number of children tend to spend more time with their mother, not letting her go even for a minute. It is important for them to feel her presence and warmth.
It happens that the baby just wants to make contact with the mother, and the mother, not understanding him, thinks that the child is hungry and offers the breast. In such situations, most babies do not refuse food, as this is the only way to find themselves in their arms. This causes overeating.
To prevent overfeeding, before eating food, you can play or talk with the little one. Be sure to take the baby in your arms and walk around the room with him.
Painful sensations
Until the age of 1, a mother for a baby is a protector. She is able to satisfy hunger, changes clothes, calms down when she is in a bad mood. The kid trusts her a lot. For this reason, if painful symptoms appear: teeth are cut, a head hurts, weakness or colic has appeared - the baby tries to say this in the form of crying. So he calls on his mother for help. Unconscious breast sucking can quickly calm him down. Thus, the body of the baby receives milk in excess of the norm. When you often apply the baby to the breast after two months of feeding, then this can disrupt the process of lactation and digestion of food crumbs.
When the desire to eat increases
At first, some babies are active, and require feeding every 1.5-2 hours. It is not easy for a mother who is tired after giving birth. But such children have an advantage over the "dormouse". In other words, if the child often consumes milk, then it arrives faster.
Sometimes there is concern in mothers when a child has lost some weight after birth. But this is not a problem, as babies catch up quickly with a good appetite. If the first days or weeks the baby eats often and a lot, then this will only benefit.
First year of feeding
After birth, children go through several stages of development. It happens that the appetite grows to the limit, and after that it becomes normal. This happens several times.
- lactation crisis. This period is different in that the woman's body is rebuilt depending on the needs of the baby. And if there is a short break in nutrition, the volume of milk decreases slightly, and the baby feels hungry. Therefore, the baby is trying harder to apply to the chest to saturate.
- Growth spurts. The growth of the child is observed periodically. This provokes the appearance of changes in appetite. During growth, the child constantly requires food, greedily rushing to the chest. At this time, he should not be denied feeding, he should suck out milk as much as necessary. Appetite will pass in a couple of days.
How do you know if a baby is getting enough milk?
There is no need to worry when the baby often requires attachment to the breast. If there are versions that there is not enough milk in the breast, it is recommended to go to the hospital for advice. At the same time, you can discuss some of the nuances or questions regarding future feeding.
Before contacting a doctor, you will need to prepare in advance the data that you will need to give to a specialist:
- In order to find out how many times the baby defecates, you need not to use diapers during the day and mark the number of bowel movements in the notebook.
- It is necessary to make certain measurements with the help of scales. Results will need to be recorded before and after feeding.
Which doctor should I contact?
With the information received, which should be recorded, you need to come to the pediatrician. If it is noticed that the baby is not gaining weight, then this is also worth discussing. The reason for this may be a lack of milk. During this period, it is worth making a decision: to continue frequent feeding or start introducing special complementary foods.
It happens that there is enough milk, but the child still often requires breastfeeding. This is because the baby is trying to suppress loneliness. This is manifested when any painful sensations occur. For this reason, there is overeating.
Most pediatricians think that the symptoms of malnutrition in a child's development are just as dangerous as overeating. For this reason, it is important to quickly find out why the baby behaves this way.
Why can't a baby eat?
When a child is constantly hungry, it is possible that there are errors of improper feeding on the part of the mother. From an anatomical point of view, two types of milk are produced in the breast. It is called front and back. If we consider the composition of the foremilk, then it contains more liquid substance than food. In the second - everything is quite the opposite.
When the child first feeds on foremilk, the hind milk does not immediately remain. The peanut gets drunk, not full. After a while, a feeling of hunger appears. This problem is easily solved - before each feeding, pumping will have to be carried out. So the second milk will get the baby more.
Signs of overeating
Signs of overeating can be determined by the following indicators:
- The child is spitting up profusely - this explains that too much food has been eaten and the digestive system throws out the excess.
- Rapid rate of weight gain. Babies under normal conditions can gain weight about 1.3-1.5 kg per month. This lasts for the first half of the year. It is worth noting that with such an addition, excess weight will appear, so it is important to adjust nutrition after 6 months. It is important to consult with your pediatrician about this.
If, at every whim, you immediately give the breast to the baby, then this entails the formation of an excess of protein and sugar in the child's body, so overeating is dangerous.
How to avoid overeating
To avoid overeating, you will need to follow certain rules:
- It is necessary to introduce complementary foods only after consulting a pediatrician. It depends on the period of feeding, and at what pace the baby is gaining weight. Only a specialist can give the right advice.
- Learn to understand the intonation of the crying of the child. This is like a kind of language with which the little one shows what he needs.
- Before offering a breast to a baby, you can play with him for a while, pick him up, hug him to you.
- Compliance with a clear regimen when feeding, depending on age.
There are exceptions to the rules
When a boy or girl is gaining weight, but despite this, he strongly requires food - this is thirst, it happens. The child just wants to drink. You can give drinking water through the nipple at a certain time (it is effective to do this after eating after 10-15 minutes). Such measures allow you to replenish the balance of fluid in the body of the crumbs and deprive him of unnecessary starvation.
When measures have been taken, but the baby is still hungry, and plus there is weight loss, a visit to a competent pediatrician is required.
Good day!
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You will find answers to many of your questions there immediately.
The fact is that children, especially newborns, really need a mother. After all, suckling the mother's breast is not only a way to meet the physiological needs of the child in nutrition. Being close to the mother, the feeling of maternal closeness gives the baby a sense of security, which is the main condition for the formation of a full-fledged balanced psyche of the child.
As for the frequency and duration of the applications themselves. The frequency and duration of feeding is regulated by the child! Until the baby is 1.5 months old, on-demand breastfeeding is more chaotic. Newborns spend a lot of time under their breasts. The fact that your baby constantly asks for breasts and eats for a long time is the norm for a newborn baby.
It is very important to organize breastfeeding on demand, offering the breast for any sign of anxiety, foreshadowing crying, and giving the baby the opportunity to suckle at the breast at any time and in any quantity. Frequent attachment of the baby to the breast is, in turn, good breast stimulation. In total, a newborn baby can have up to 20 feedings during the day. And besides this, there are frequent applications for a short time. And 3 hours between feedings is just a disastrous break! It is better to reduce this gap and offer the baby a breast as often as possible!
Once again I say that babies feel the need for sucking both for saturation and for psycho-emotional comfort. And during night feedings, your breasts receive sufficient stimulation to maintain a full and long lactation. Breast sucking between 3 and 8 am stimulates the production of milk in sufficient quantities for subsequent daily feedings. Because the dream must be joint!
As for regurgitation, I repeat again:
Regurgitation is a completely normal physiological phenomenon in babies up to four months old. The spitting up of newborns is the result of the immaturity of their nervous system and the weakness of the "valve" that is between the stomach and esophagus. As a result, as a result of involuntary spasm of the diaphragm, the contents of the stomach are not retained and are poured out.
Usually, somewhere before the 30th day of life, babies spit up a little. But closer and after the 30th, due to an increase in the volume of sucked milk, the volume of regurgitation also increases, respectively.
The norm is regurgitation:
- in the amount of 1 tablespoon after or before each feeding, when changing body position and coups, for example
- once a day with a fountain, i.e. vomiting more than 3 tablespoons
I will wait for the remaining questions and answer them to you already online or in a personal conversation by phone.
Read, think, write!
According to your story, we can conclude that breastfeeding is improperly organized: feed on demand, carry on the handles, sleep with the baby, change breasts approximately every 1.5 hours, if present, then remove pacifiers, bottles, supplements from everyday life, exclude long walks, guests etc.
In order for you to not leave your strength and you enjoy breastfeeding your baby, because mother's milk is literally the source of life, it is better to learn the correct and comfortable postures for feeding. This can be done with the help of a breastfeeding consultant, or you can learn from a successful long-term mother...
I wish you great success in teaching the art of motherhood!
The appearance of a baby in the house is always a great joy for all family members. From the moment the baby is born, a young mother enters a new phase of her life. Breastfeeding is a complex process that entails many problems and nuances.
In the practice of nursing mothers, situations often arise when a newborn baby regularly asks for the mother's breast, regardless of the frequency of feeding. This situation causes considerable discomfort for the young mother, besides, the woman ceases to fully manage her time.
Causes
Requests for attachment to the mother's breast can be of a different nature.
Hunger
The first few months after the birth of a child, the process of lactation is an unformed mechanism, the formation of which occurs over time. Even prolonged breast sucking does not always compensate for the needs of a newborn baby for food. The result of this situation is the rapid onset of hunger, when the baby begins to reach for the mother's breast again.
The first 2-3 months after the birth of a child, frequent breastfeeding is characterized as a variant of the norm. When the baby gets used to the fact that he needs to make an effort to get food, the volume of mother's milk will begin to increase, and the frequency of feeding will decrease.
A temporary increase in the need for attachment to the mother's breast is caused by such reasons:
- Maternal lactation crisis. This period fits into the boundaries of the physiological norm, so it should not cause anxiety in a young mother. The cause of the crisis is the restructuring of the female body to the new needs of the growing body of the baby. Before more milk begins to be produced in the mammary glands, the female body experiences a lactation crisis, which you can read more about. When there is not enough milk, the baby constantly hangs on the chest, trying to compensate for energy costs.
- Growth jumps. The body of a newborn baby is prone to uneven growth and development. With a certain frequency, growth spurts are observed, in which the child shows a pronounced interest in the mother's breast. When a similar situation arises, the young mother is advised not to refuse food to the baby. After a couple of days, this problem will resolve itself.
The need for contact with the mother
The 2nd and 3rd month of a newborn baby's life is characterized by an acute need for contact with the mother. The baby seeks to spend as much time as possible with his mother, expressing this in the form of breastfeeding. Not getting what he wants, the baby becomes capricious, often cries. New mothers try to solve this problem by offering the baby a breast, and it works.
Finding himself in a similar situation, an inexperienced mother risks overfeeding a newborn baby. To avoid this situation, before offering a breast, a woman is recommended to establish close contact with the child. To this end, you need to take the baby in your arms, talk to him, stroke, shake. If the cause of whims was the need for bodily contact with the mother, then after falling into the mother's hands, the child calms down and falls asleep.
Feelings of discomfort and pain
An increase in body temperature in a baby also makes him capricious, as a result of which he seeks constant contact with his mother. Sucking at the mother's breast calms the baby, so he seeks to solve any discomfort by applying to the breast.
To prevent overfeeding, a woman is advised to make sure that the baby is not bothered by discomfort and pain caused by indigestion or illness.
Calming Method
If the baby constantly requires the mother's breast, then the reason is often the desire to calm down. If the day before the baby behaved irritably, cried and acted up, then soon he may ask for his mother's breast.
In order to wean the child from such a habit, parents are recommended to distract the baby with toys. It is important to understand that the mammary glands are a source of nutrition for the newborn, and not a means of solving many problems.
How to determine nutritional adequacy
If a woman has any doubts about the nutritional adequacy of her child, she is advised to consult a pediatrician or a breastfeeding specialist.
Before visiting a specialist, a young mother needs to perform the following actions:
- It is not recommended to use store-bought diapers for 24 hours. Instead, the baby is swaddled in regular diapers. Throughout the day, parents keep count of wet diapers. With sufficient nutrition, the number of diapers used per day is 9-10 pieces.
- Before feeding, it is recommended to weigh the baby on a special scale. The weighing procedure is recommended to be repeated after feeding. The difference between the two indicators is equivalent to the amount of mother's milk eaten (in ml). It is necessary to weigh the baby without clothes, diapers and diapers.
The data obtained are provided to a medical specialist, on the basis of which he analyzes the adequacy of nutrition, as well as the need for its correction.
How to solve a problem
If the baby shows a constant interest in the mother's breast, then it is recommended to solve this problem based on its cause. If the cause was malnutrition, then contacting a medical specialist will help to cope with this problem. If a nursing woman has developed hypogalactia, then she will need qualified help from specialists.
In all other situations, as the baby grows older, his interest in the mother's breast decreases, and he perceives it as a source of food. If the reason for frequent attachment to the breast is the whims of the newborn, then parents are advised to make every effort to eliminate this habit.