MotherBreastFeeding.com

Breast milk is best for your baby. Many new mommies start to breastfeed and some weeks after face a problem of losing breast milk. I'll consider the reasons of losing breast milk and ways to restore lactation in my next posts. If you have an opportunity to lactate, keep lactating as long as possible. If doctors say you cannot, let's think over what breastfeeding can be substituted with.

1. Donor milk. It is most similar to mother's milk.

Pros:

• long storage (at room temperature it can be stored for 8 h)
• all nutritive qualities, vitamins and antibodies (strong immune system and no early pathologies)
• good price (as a rule, donor milk is cheaper than formulas, sometimes you can get it for free)

Cons:

• sterilization decreases milk nutritive values (storage and transportation of milk require sterilization)
• baby can develop allergy, as there is no specific control over the feeding mother
• catching viruses and infections through milk
• donor milk is not a natural milk. A balanced breastfeeding is possible only with close bond between a mother and a baby.

2. Cow's milk. There is no single opinion about the use of cow's milk while breastfeeding. Consider the pros and cons below and take your own decision.

Last time we spoke about breast feeding diet and foods to put off when nursing. Now let us talk about foods that a nursing mother is welcome to eat.

Breastfeeding diet is almost the same as the diet a mom keeps to during pregnancy. This is an advantage, as during 9 months mom's body is trained well. Now when she has to nurse, there is no need to stick to a new food regime. Allergic mothers who nurse need some professional advice and careful planning of breastfeeding diet.

The same refers to a baby. Hope you are lucky and your baby positively reacts to all acceptable foods and no serious allergy can affect it.

A good hint for you - if you hesitate about some food, you'd better not eat it. Those mothers who cannot but taste something new and delicious should start with small portions. When the baby wants to eat, nurse him/her and watch the reaction. If there are no allergic symptoms, you may include this food into your breastfeeding diet.

Lactation consultants advise to keep a food diary where you will note new foods and your baby's reaction to those.

There is no specific breast feeding diet for a nursing mom, provided that you eat a variety of nutritious foods. Dear, note that you cannot follow a reduced-calorie diet to lose weight and raise a healthy child at the same time. Neither Japanese, nor blood type diet will do.

The only diet for lactation period is eating a variety of healthy food. The thing is that after delivery mother's body should recover and produce enough breast milk.

Every mom should remember that any food can contain both harmful and healthy ingredients. No matter what you eat, your breast milk will contain these substances and will affect your baby's health.

Ecology leaves much to be desired and antigens which mother's body may contain because of intestine disorders may cause serious allergic reactions both in a mother and in her child.

Therefore, before eating something, consider don't while nursing.

Your baby smiles, develops properly and behaves well. This means that your kid is getting enough breastfeeding milk. In such cases mothering instinct prompts that everything is ok.

After being breastfed the baby willingly rejects the breast, has a long and sound sleep and wakes up only when it wants to eat. The baby produces about four to six wet diapers a day and has regular bowel movements.

One of the main signs that breastfeeding milk is enough is newborn weight gain. During the first months of life, the newborn gains up to 600 g, during the second and the third month the weight increases to 800 g, then month after month the newborn loses 50 g.

Watch your kid's skin - it is clean, pink and looks like velvet. In the end of the first year the infant holds its head well, reacts to sounds and gives a beautiful smile.

In the end of the second month the small mouth produces first sounds, the kid starts to observe the objects that move. In a month the baby wants to communicate - it moves the hands and the legs, it somehow calls you, it can lean and raises its head. At four months the baby looks around and starts to recognize familiar faces.

Here are some signs that make mommy worry that her baby is not getting enough breastfeeding milk:

Hmm, do you know when the blonde jokes got started? It turns out that in 40-50s of the XX century hair-dye formulas were complex and ate away the scalp and, in part, the brain.

The situation has changed for better nowadays. The hair-dyes are safer now. But breastfeeding mothers are still at a loss - to dye hair or not while breastfeeding? Let's consider whose stand to take.

Basically, you can dye your hair. Try to choose a room which has an airing - let it be far from your baby's room. Toxic substances which any hair-dye contains should not pertain into the baby's body. Choose semi-permanent hair-dyes, they will last shorter, but will reduce your child's health risks to minimum.

Why do they say hair-dying is unsafe while lactating? Mostly, this refers to inexpensive hair-dyes. Chemistry will be chemistry, so, some mothers are quite allergic to the substances which hair-dyes contain. Mind that even if you never suffered from allergy, you can develop it when dying your hair. The thing is that after giving birth your body is full of hormones and chemical processes differ from the ordinary ones. Therefore, hair-dye which enters your blood through head skin and hair capillaries can do a lot of harm.

Struggle with depression. Doctors say that depression which a breastfeeding mother can develop because of some problems with appearance often affect her health greater than hair-dyes do. Therefore, if your desire to be beautiful is stronger than your desire to be healthy - dye your hair and be pretty.