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Childbirth is the most beautiful event in the life of every woman who is eagerly awaited and prepared for it. But along with this, before the newly-fledged mummy there are many questions that make her jittery. The most pressing of them are questions about feeding a baby: when milk arrives, what to do if it isn’t, how to feed the baby. Let's try to answer each of them.
The first days after birth
When milk appears, the woman who gave birth feels painful sensations in the mammary glands. But mom will have to suffer them, so that the baby not only becomes full, but also receives the necessary beneficial substances contained in breast milk.
When the baby is just born, the breast is not milk. If you press on the chest, there is a release of colostrum - a thick yellow liquid. It is very valuable. Despite the fact that only a few droplets stand out, it brings tremendous benefits to the crumbs. Thanks to colostrum, the baby’s immune system begins to develop. This product prepares the body of the newborn to ensure that it can fully accept and digest food. Breast milk is very nutritious, which is why the crumb quickly becomes full.
In the first days after birth, when the child is not yet strong enough, a few sips of colostrum are enough for him. Many new mothers are worried about this, believing that the breast is empty and there is no milk. To some extent this is the case, the nutritional product is still very small, but only for a newborn baby is enough. When the crumb adapts and gets used to the new conditions, he will need more food so that he can get enough. This is where the question arises, when milk comes after birth.
The appearance of breast milk - how it happens and what affects it
It should be noted several factors that influence the process of milk appearance in the mammary glands:
- Mode of delivery - natural childbirth or cesarean section.
- Full-term pregnancy or not.
- For the first time a woman gives birth or already has children.
If the pregnancy is premature and the woman gave birth early, or if stimulation was used, the body of the newly-made mother will recover much longer. For this reason, milk may appear with a delay of several days.
After how long breast milk arrives, is largely dependent on the drugs used during the cesarean section. In this situation, the appearance of milk occurs after five days.
When does milk appear in a first-time woman?
The body of each individual woman has individual characteristics. Therefore, to name the exact date of appearance of milk is extremely difficult. According to statistics, for women who became mothers for the first time, milk, as a rule, comes three days after delivery. This happens only in those situations when the baby is full-term, and was born through the birth canal.
It also happens that breast milk in primiparous women comes after 5-7 days. After that, every day there will be an increase in tides of the nutritional product for the baby. Its peak usually occurs after the tenth week after delivery. So it will continue until the end of breastfeeding.
When lactation begins, the mammary glands increase in size, the woman feels quite pronounced pain, through the skin you can see the enlarged veins, there is an increase in body temperature. A woman will experience similar symptoms for two days, then lactation will improve. The volume of breast milk in the first week after the birth of a child is 200-300 ml.For women who have become mothers not for the first time, everything happens a little differently.
When does the recurrent milk come?
Whatever the baby is born, he is always welcome. Immediately after birth, it is applied to the mother’s breast. Despite the fact that there is no milk, there is a drink that brings invaluable benefits - colostrum. Even if its quantity is small, in the first days of the newborn this is quite enough. But mom is still worried and waiting, when will have full milk. She is afraid that she will not be able to feed her child, and he will not be full. Women who became mothers not for the first time, and they already have babies, the arrival of milk occurs more quickly when compared with the first-born. In most cases, on the third day, the baby can fully eat.
After repeated births, the appearance of breast milk is no longer accompanied by such severe pain, the feeling of breast opening is less pronounced. The female body is already prepared for lactation and knows what to do in this case.
However, no matter how the child is born, when milk comes, this process is accompanied by a feeling of heat in the breast.It is for this reason that in the maternity hospital the temperature is measured not in the armpit, but in the crook of the elbow.
What if the milk has not come?
Some women have to face the phenomenon when milk does not come in due time after delivery. Then mom starts to worry and ask what to do to make milk appear. Often this happens because the chest is not developed. The milk excretion is not visible, so it seems that it is missing. To adjust lactation, you can use these methods:
- massage the chest;
- include in your diet foods that enhance lactation;
- take special medications to increase lactation.
The most preferred option would be frequent attachment of the crumbs to the breast. Even when it seems that the baby sucks "in vain", do not despair, you should continue to apply.
For normal lactation is responsible prolactin - a hormone that is produced in the body of the newly-made mother. It is possible to strengthen its production, if you often put the newborn to the breast, especially at night,since it is at this time there is an active production of this hormone. Therefore, you should feed the baby at night, and as a result the milk will definitely arrive.
How to make milk come faster?
All moms want to quickly feed their crumbs, for this you need to milk came as soon as possible. To speed up the process of the arrival of the nutritional product, you can use several recommendations.
Prior to this, it was noted that prolactin is responsible for the intake of milk. Its production in the body of a woman is enhanced when she is breastfeeding a newborn. This is the reason for more frequent attachment of the infant to the breast. Due to this, the volume of nutrient fluid will increase.
The opinion that it is impossible to feed a baby at night is wrong. Doing this is not only possible, but necessary. The production of hormones is activated precisely at night. Each feeding should change the breast. That is, if the last time the mother fed the baby from the right breast, the next time you need to give him the left. Due to this, there will be a uniform development of the mammary glands.On the fourth day after birth, it is necessary to reduce the amount of fluid consumed in order to prevent the occurrence of severe pain when milk appears.
In conclusion, it should be said that you shouldn’t despair even to those mummies who didn’t even have milk a week later. It happens that the baby gets the first droplets of the nutritional product ten days after birth, and sometimes later.
By adhering to the above recommendations, you can speed up the milk receipt process and prevent the occurrence of lactation problems in the future.
Video: first milk after childbirth
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