Archive for the ‘Breastfeeding Info’ Category:
Breastfeeding and Strep Throat
Breastfeeding woman often ask questions about breastfeeding and strep throat. It is normal to be a bit worried about your baby and breastfeeding, especially if you get strep throat during the breastfeeding period. If you want to know if it is safe to breastfeed your baby if you have strep throat, the answer is yes. Even if you have strep throat symptoms, it is safe for the baby to feed on your breast milk.
Your breast milk contains antibodies that will provide protection against strep throat. As we know, breast milk contains lymphocytes, neutrophils and macrophages that are crucial in fighting any infection. These cells have an important part in destroying harmful bacteria.
Breast milk provides your baby with all of the important nutrients, needed for normal development. Formula milk is being improved as we speak and companies that produce this milk tend to make a formula that is as nutritious as natural breast milk. However, breast milk can never be replaced by any other milk; its components can’t be duplicated to create an adequate alternative.
Mothers are always advised to breastfeed their babies, except when there is a chance of transmitting some disease through breast milk. Strep throat is transmitted through respiratory secretions. Therefore, your child should not come into contact with your saliva or nasal secretion. You need to wash your hands frequently. Avoid coughing and sneezing when you are near your baby. You need to wash your hands before touching the baby’s items, toys and clothes. Before cleaning the baby’s belly button, you must wash your hands. When you are preparing to feed the baby, your hands must be perfectly clean.
Strep throat is treated with several medications, including Penicillin and Amoxicillin. These antibiotics are believed to be quite safe. However, you should talk to your doctor before you start using any medications. If you are breastfeeding your baby, you must know that certain medications should be avoided.
Although these two antibiotics are regarded as safe for breastfeeding mothers, you should still visit your doctor and ask for advice. If you have strep throat, you need to start treating it in time, using the right medications. Don’t start any kind of therapy on your own. If you have any questions about breastfeeding, medications or strep throat, your doctor will answer these questions and tell you what to do.
Breastfeeding and Vitamin D Supplements
This article will discuss the connection between breastfeeding and vitamin D supplements intake during breastfeeding period. How do supplements of vitamin D affect breast milk? Is it recommended that breastfeeding mothers take vitamin D supplements? Breast milk is actually very low in vitamin D. This is the very reason why some doctors recommend that breastfed babies get supplements of vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency in babies can cause serious problems. Therefore, mothers must make sure that their babies get sufficient amounts of vitamin D.
Pregnant women are often advised to take supplements of vitamin D in order to prevent vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy. Vitamin D deficiency symptoms in pregnant women can lead to serious problems and can cause rickets and bone deformities. Of course, the dose must be prescribed by your doctor and you must never change your dose without your doctor’s instructions. This is important, since you can overdose with vitamin D and experience vitamin D toxicity.
Vitamin D Levels in Breast Milk
Vitamin D levels in breast milk can vary. If a mother has enough vitamin D in her own body, then the breast milk will also have sufficient amounts of vitamin D. However, if a mother doesn’t have enough vitamin D, her breast milk will not provide adequate amounts for the baby. In such cases, vitamin D supplements are recommended. Many women are confused about whether they should consume vitamin D supplements or they should give the supplements to the baby. This is something that your doctor has to tell you. Never give your baby any supplements without your doctor’s instructions. Your baby can easy get overdosed with vitamin D (especially if you use liquid vitamin D supplements).
We can conclude that vitamin D supplements are sometimes necessary, not only during your pregnancy, but during the breastfeeding period as well. Your doctor will give you the best advice.
How to Thaw Breastmilk
Expressed breastmilk can stay out of the fridge, on room temperature, for roughly 10 hours. If the milk is kept on a temperature that is a little bit cooler than room temperature, perhaps in a small cooler with ice-packs, it can be kept for 24 hours.
When it comes to fresh breastmilk, that hasn’t been expressed, it can be kept in the rerigerator for eight days. But if the milk has been out of the fridge for some time, before it was put there, storage time is going to be less than 8 days, depending on how long it was out of the fridge. If you freeze expressed breastmilk you can keep it in the freezer from 3 to 6 months, depending on how low the temperature is. When you thaw the milk be sure to remember that you must twirl it before you give it to your baby, because human milk separates into cream and milk. If you want to combine fresh milk with the one you have already thawed you must cool the fresh milk first. You must never, and I meen never, heet the milk in the microwave or on the stove, because when you do it, it leaves hot spots in the milk that can burn your child. Also, you can not re-freeze milk that was previously freezen and thawed, or re-heat milk that was already heated.
If you are wondering how to tell if the milk has gone bad, just cheks whether it has a bad taste or unpleasant odor. When you store milk it tends to alter it’s apperance over time, the fat in the milk usually rises to the top of the container, or on the sides of it. The milk can also change color, as a result of something you have eaten or perhaps from some medications you took. When you fill the bottle or container remember not to fill it more than ¾ of it’s size, because it will expand. It would also be usefull to label the bottles with the date.
