27 Questions About Breastfeeding

Hold the baby to your breast, let him suckle as much as he wants.” There are also those who say, “Stop, don’t be breastfed like that, it’s breastfed like that!” also says.

We asked the most frequently asked questions about breastfeeding to Seda Diri Ilic. She is not a nurse or a doctor, but she is from the team that played an active role in the groups she joined while breastfeeding her own son and founded the Breastfeeding Art group on Facebook.

In other words, she is very involved with mothers and most importantly, she advocates a natural breastfeeding process as much as possible. Read it, you will understand better what we are talking about.

1. Does the mother’s milk come immediately after giving birth? Or should the food be kept ready?

The production of colostrum, which is popularly known as “colostrum”, begins in the middle of pregnancy. Colostrum is a sticky, honey-like liquid. Does not flow, does not drip. It usually does not come out when milking with a pump. It can be seen if milked by hand and with the right technique. The baby is sure to seep into his mouth in granules that the newborn’s stomach is already the size of a cherry. It leaves its place to the transitional milk around the 3rd or 5th day. When mothers see white milk days after giving birth, they think that their milk does not come in the first days.

The last thing to put in the bag is the bottle and pacifier.

Even if the mother needs expressed milk or formula supplementation (which is actually much less than the rate of use), alternatives other than bottle feeding should be used.

2. How often should a newborn be breastfed?

I say that babies should be breastfed at every request. Humans are the only mammals that use a watch. But we are the only mammal who says that I did not have enough milk, the baby gained a little weight, we gave food.

3. “The baby should suckle until he stops feeding.” Is the thought correct?

Just as we decide at what speed to eat our food, babies should also be able to decide. Being constantly on the breast does not cause wounds. Under the wounds, grasping errors, breastfeeding with the wrong position usually lie.

4. Does the breast run out of milk? Do I have to wait for the breasts to fill?

Memes are not a warehouse, but an endless production facility. The amount and continuation of production depends on demand. In short, waiting for milk to be full means that there is no demand for milk for the breasts. On the contrary, breasts go into production while the baby is sucking. The greater the demand, the greater the supply of the product.

5. How much milk does a newborn baby drink?

If we really needed to know this, our baby would have indicators and the breasts would be transparent. Babies want to breastfeed frequently, especially in the first months. This is very natural. Both the stomach volumes are small and the digestion of breast milk is fast.

6. Is it right to give sugar water to the newborn to prevent jaundice?

Even though I don’t want to believe that there are still people who do this… Sugar is poison for the baby, even water… For the first 6 months, breast milk meets all its nutritional needs, including water. Sugar water is not a jaundice remedy. Every baby can have some degree of jaundice. It is a physiological process.

In order to eliminate or prevent jaundice, breast feeding should be more abundant and more frequent, and the baby’s longest sleep and longest feeding interval should not exceed 2 hours in the newborn period.

7. “My baby does not want to leave the breast. I wonder if I don’t have enough milk?” Almost every mother has it. What would you like to say to them?

Breasts are the place where the baby finds peace, satisfies the sense of security, is satisfied with the mother’s scent, fills the stomach and drinks water. We do not hope that a fragrant person who lives in one body with his mother in the womb for 9 months will suddenly adapt to the world. 🙂 Let it go, not so much after a year “Come, sit for a while.” When you say it, it will patter out of your lap. Enjoy it; because it will never be this small again.

8. How do we know when a newborn baby is full?

The first few days they only urinate a few drops, a few times. Because their stomach and bladder capacities are small. Meconium, that is, they are expected to make the first poop. After the 3rd day, the amount of urine will increase and they will start to urinate 5-6 times in 24 hours.

For the first 4 weeks, they are expected to poop 3 times a day in the size of 1 TL. Afterwards, the poopy diapers lose their importance. The pee diapers and the grams they take are checked (500-1000 grams for the first 3 months).

9. What causes nipple sores? How does it go?

It is usually caused by misunderstanding. This is sometimes caused by an incorrect breastfeeding position—for example, breastfeeding while leaning forward—sometimes tongue or lip tie. Instead of confining the breast to pads and keeping it in a constantly bacteria-producing environment, ventilationķ, rubbing the mother’s own milk on the breast, and moisturizing with a cream containing pure lanolin aid in the healing process.

Correcting the breastfeeding position often heals the wounds. If the wounds are red and have a fleshy appearance, they should be examined dermatologically.

10. What to do to increase breast milk?

She should breastfeed a lot, and if she does not have a chance to be together with the baby or if the baby does not suckle at all, she should milk frequently as if she is breastfeeding a baby. Remember, breasts are not held up; can be emptied to produce milk.

It is enough to eat a healthy diet and drink as much water as needed. If milk production depended solely on eating and drinking, African mothers would not be able to breastfeed at all, right? Just don’t get it wrong, I’m not telling a breastfeeding mother to stay hungry. I’m talking about eating and drinking as much as needed. Otherwise, if we eat the worlds, we cannot produce milk unless we breastfeed.

11. Is it ok to clean the nozzles with carbonated water?

No, it’s not true.

12. Is breast milk bitter?

Yes, maybe. So why is breast milk bitter? If milk stays in the breast for a long time, sodium is released and its taste changes. This is not disruption. If the baby doesn’t mind, he can suckle. If he doesn’t suck because he doesn’t like the taste, it will improve with frequent milking.

13. Does the milk go from the breasts? What does it mean to have a breast?

The initial stiffness is due to the udder’s adaptation to milk production and is mostly blood and lymphatic. Moreover, milk production is uncontrolled at first. Over time, the breasts both adapt to produce milk and produce the amount that the baby needs. We call this breast training. Besides, who can endure years of breastfeeding with hard and painful breasts?

14. What do you think about herbal teas, are they useful?

Herbal teas do not relieve the baby’s gas. That gas is the product of the digestive system’s process of getting used to the world. It will pass once the baby moves. Many herbal teas have allergic and toxic effects. It tires the liver and kidneys. Even the most innocent should not drink more than one cup a day.

15. Is there a myth called “milk quality”?

There is a rumor but it is not true. Call it nature or creative, whatever you believe in… Breast milk is fair. It flows from the breast of the rich and from the breast of the poor in the same quality. It is the frequency of breastfeeding that determines the calorie content of the milk in the breast.

16. Does the size of the breasts affect the amount of milk?

No 🙂 The size of the breasts is related to the adipose tissue, and the milk production is related to the mammary glands.

17. Some babies prefer to suck from one breast. What should she do to accept the other breast?

The football grip position usually works in this regard. But even if it doesn’t suck, as I said, the breasts produce milk with supply and demand. The highly demanded breast will produce a lot of milk and will be enough for the baby. If one breast was not enough for one baby, twin mothers would not be able to breastfeed at all. 

18. Can you tell us a little bit about tandem breastfeeding?

It is the mother’s breastfeeding of the other baby while pregnant with one baby and both after the birth.

Superstitions… All of them are superstitions, and according to current research, there is no danger. While it was previously said that the level of oxytocin released while breastfeeding can lead to a low level of oxytocin, recent studies prove that the body is already accustomed to that level of oxytocin and that a nursing mother is equally likely to miscarry as a non-breastfeeding mother.

19.“ Do you think the baby should be given a pacifier? Do babies make mom pacifiers?

No. Babies don’t make mothers a pacifier, and if they don’t, they don’t know what a pacifier is. They are born with the urge to suck their mother anyway, and that’s why they suckle. They will suckle so that their mother’s milk will increase in the amount of need, they will suckle so that their sense of trust will be satisfied.

Besides, the statement that the baby shouldn’t make you a pacifier seems very cruel to me. It can lead to nipple disorientation, breast rejection, and insufficient gram intake as nothing goes into their stomach when they suck on it.

20. If the mother catches a cold, will her breast milk be cold?

No. Milk is always ready at the breast at the right temperature.

21.Mothers are milking and looking to see the amount of milk. Do you think milking is a criterion for the amount of milk?

It’s definitely not a benchmark. The amount of milking consists only of how much milk you can extract with that pump under those conditions at that moment. Baby sucking is very different. The baby milks the breast with his tongue and palate, and meanwhile, the bond between mother and baby activates oxytocin, which lowers milk.

The pump cannot provide this feeling and imitate the baby’s sucking, it just vacuums in and out.

22. Sometimes water is given to a baby under 6 months old. Do you think it’s true?

No, it’s not true. Even in very hot weather, breast milk meets the water needs of the baby who does not take additional food; because it’s 88% water.

23. If a breastfeeding mother catches a cold, does it pass to the baby?

Yes, with a few exceptions. There will also be antibodies in the mother’s milk for her baby against that disease. Even if it requires medication, almost every disease has medications that are compatible with breastfeeding.

24. Could the reasons for the baby’s fight with the breast be that the milk comes out of the breast, that the baby has reflux, that he is tired and sleepless?

It could be all of the things you mentioned, or the fact that the baby has a pacifier/food/bottle habit, is in the attack week, is exposed to a lot of stimuli during the day (change in the environment, crowd, noise, TV…) is also a factor, but the mother forces her to breastfeed because she is definitely hungry. it could be.

25. Is it okay to eat and drink while breastfeeding the baby?

Try not to spill crumbs on his head, bon appetit. What you eat goes to your stomach; not your breast.

26. Until what age should the baby be breastfed?

I’m in favor of breastfeeding her until she no longer needs it and leaves her on her own. But at least 24 months should be breastfed, which both our Ministry of Health and WHO (World Health Organization) support.

27. When should start-up mothers start collecting milk?

They can start stocking up 15 days before starting work.