Breastfeeding Info

Breastfeeding and Strep Throat

herbal — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 09:44:07 +0000

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.

HIV and Breastfeeding

herbal — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:28:33 +0000

If you are pregnant or you have had a baby, you must know that HIV and breastfeeding cannot go together. HIV can be transmitted to the baby through breast milk. Your doctor will advise you not to breastfeed your baby. During pregnancy, antiretroviral medications are used in preventing HIV from infecting the baby. However, not all antiretroviral medications are good for you during your pregnancy, so you must never use any of these without your doctor’s knowledge.

If you have had a baby and everything went fine, next thing to take care of is how to feed your baby. Formula milk is a good solution to this problem. However, there are mothers who simply cannot afford formula and this is a huge problem in some parts of the world. In addition, polluted water is another problem to deal with. The fact that some mothers cannot even afford pure water – let alone formula milk, is sad. In other words, these mothers do not have any choice but to breastfeed their children.

Breastfeeding is extremely risky in these cases. Did you know that 1/3 of HIV positive children are infected with HIV through breastfeeding?

HIV positive mothers must be well informed about how to feed their babies. Formula milk remains the only solution. In addition, the water must be pure, too. HIV positive mothers must have proper counseling. Medical institutions must provide help to these mothers and make sure to provide some good education on HIV and prevention.

There is no cure to this illness, but there are ways to prevent it. Antiretroviral medications are effective in preventing mother-to-child transmission, but breastfeeding is another thing. Even if you use antiretroviral medications, your breast milk still contains the virus, which makes breastfeeding extremely risky. If you have any questions, contact your doctor and ask for some advice.

Breastfeeding and Vitamin D Supplements

herbal — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:00:35 +0000

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

herbal — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:34:01 +0000

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.

Lack of Breastmilk Supply

herbal — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:05:27 +0000

Are you worrying that your milk supply is low? Then you should read the signs of lack of breastmilk, because most women think they have this problem, when in fact they don’t.

Most common signs:

The baby is not gaining weight.
The baby is wetting less than 5 diapers a day
You can’t hear the baby swallowing
Dehydration (of the mother)
Too much stress

To prevent this, firstly, you should stay hydrated, drink 8 to 10 cups of water a day. I also recommend drinking herbal tea. Secondly, try to get as much sleep as you can, which I know is hard when you have a new born baby in the house. My advice is to sleep while your baby is also sleeping, and leave the chores around the house to your husband. Be relaxed, stress is commonly the cause of low milk supply.

Try to nurse your baby at least every 2 to 3 hours. When you nurse frequently your breasts will be stimulated and therefore produce more milk. So if the baby isn’t drinking the milk, your body will not make any.

In case any of this is not helping try using a breast pump. Pump for around 5 minutes before every feeding. This really is not a big issue, your breasts just need a bit more stimulation.

You also have to eat a lot more. When you are pregnant you need around 300 calories more than usual, and when breastfeeding a woman requires 500 calories more. Make sure that you are eating a lot of protein. Boiled egg whites, chicken breasts, lamb, salmon, tuna are all very good sources of protein.

Natural supplements and herbs can help, but be sure to consult with your doctor or nutritionist first. I know herbs are natural, but that doesn’t mean that they are safe, in fact they can be potentially dangerous for you and your baby.