How to Manually Express Breastmilk

Mother and child learn how to nurse together and it is common for problems to occur during the learning process. Whether it's a slow let-down reflex or a bad latch onto the breast, manually expressing breastmilk helps alleviate problems by stimulating let-down and allowing the mother to express milk into a bottle. Learn the proper technique to manually express breastmilk.

Instructions

1

Wash your hands and find a quite place to relax and focus on expressing your breastmilk. Have a bottle or other proper breastmilk storage container nearby.

2

Stimulate the let-down reflex (when breastmilk flows down from the milk reservoirs) by massaging your breast from the top down to the nipple with a light patting motion. This stimulates the milk in the milk ducts and gets it moving down toward the nipple.

3

Prepare to manually express the breastmilk by using your thumb and first two fingers around the areola. Place the thumb at the 12 o'clock position and the fingers at 6 o'clock. Be careful not to cup the breast.

4

Push into the chest wall. If you are well endowed, lift the breast first and then push back into the chest wall.

5

Move the thumb and fingers forward, rolling them toward the nipple. This pushes the milk out of the nipple. Continue this motion until the milk drips out instead of squirts out with force.

6

Repeat the rolling motion technique with the thumb and fingers placed at 11 o'clock and 5 o'clock; 2 o'clock and 8 o'clock; 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock. The entire process, once mastered, takes about 20 to 30 minutes.

How to Tell if a Baby Has a Milk Allergy

Milk allergy is the most common food allergy for babies. Some babies that are allergic to cow's milk, which is found in most baby formulas, may also be allergic to soy formula as well. There are some obvious clues to an allergy, but some are more challenging to see. Breastfeeding seems to reduce milk allergies in babies. If you know you have a history of allergies, breastfeeding may be a good solution to keeping your baby allergy free, according to Babycenter.

Instructions

1

Look for obvious signs of an allergy. Rashes, hives, dry patches of skin (eczema) and nausea are all symptoms of a milk allergy. However, those may also be symptoms of other conditions, so smaller clues may help to define an actual allergy. A baby with an allergy to milk will have gas, problems with colic and fuss and cry more than normal.

Other signs are too loose or too hard stools and an excess of spit up after meals. Another clue that might be dismissed as diaper rash is a red ring around the anus.

2

Call your baby's pediatrician and make an appointment. Your doctor will ask questions about your family's history with allergy problems, and do an exam of your baby to check the symptoms. Several tests may be run to rule out other problems that can have the same type of symptoms. The best way to test for an allergy is an allergy skin test, which is putting a very small amount of the possible allergen under the baby's skin with a needle. If there is a physical reaction, there is an allergy present.

3

Treating a milk allergy begins with restricting the milk your baby is getting. Your doctor may recommend that you switch your baby to a soy based formula and see if that clears the symptoms. Watch for reactions because soy can be an allergen, too. If your baby is tolerating the soy formula, the symptoms of the milk allergy should disappear within two to four weeks.

How Does Breastfeeding Benefit an Infant?

Additional Protection From Illness

Breast milk provides the perfect nourishment for infants and offers some additional protection from illness. Infants who are breastfed have fewer hospital admissions and fewer illnesses including diarrhea, ear infections, and allergic reactions, than babies who are bottle-fed. Not only can breastfeeding save families money at the grocery when they do not buy formula, but it also saves money in healthcare costs. A mother's antibodies are transferred to the infant during breastfeeding, which offers protection from current illnesses going around their environment. Cells that can kill bacteria, viruses, and fungi called macrophages are found in breast milk. In third world countries, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, infant death rates are lower among babies who are breast-fed.

Specific Nutrient Needs Are Met

Each mammal species makes a slightly different formula of milk designed to meet the nutritional needs of their young. Therefore, no other mammal's milk, can meet the specific nutrient needs of the human infant during the first 12 months of life. FDA research indicates that human milk may contain over 100 ingredients that are not duplicated in infant formula. Optimal quantities of fatty acids, amino acids, lactose, and water are in human milk providing infants with the best combination for their digestion, growth, and brain development. The digestive tracts of breast-fed infants contain beneficial bacteria, Lactobacillus bifidus, which can prevent harmful organisms from growing there.

Ready On Demand

Breast milk is always the perfect temperature when coming straight from the breast and it is sterile. Therefore, you do not need to worry about dirty bottles, contaminated water, heating formula, mixing it correctly, or sterilizing nipples to avoid diarrhea or stomach upset. While breast fed babies may react to something mommy ate, they do not have allergies to their mother's milk, as with some infant formulas. Breastfeeding is more work for baby than bottle-feeding resulting in better jaw development. Nursing mothers must hold their babies close to breastfeed, which encourages bonding and comforts baby.

Precautions

Some drugs, whether prescribed by a medical doctor or not, can be passed through breast milk to the nursing infant. Drugs such as nicotine from smoking cigarettes, cocaine and heroin can cause a breastfed baby to vomit, have diarrhea, experience restlessness and suffer withdrawal symptoms. Some prescribed medications such as lithium and chemotherapy drugs pass through breast milk and may harm baby as well. If you take any drugs, discuss them with your doctor and your baby's doctor to determine if the benefits of breastfeeding your infant outweigh the possible side effects of the medication.

About Certified Lactation Educators

Breastfeeding has been shown to be the perfect food for babies, and has also been associated with a decreased number of gastrointestinal infections and a lowered risk of obesity later in life. Certified lactation educators (CLEs) can help women learn about breastfeeding before birth, and to put that knowledge into action after their baby is born, increasing the chances that they will choose to breastfeed and continue breastfeeding for a longer period of time.

Theories/Speculation

The one-on-one professional breastfeeding support provided by a CLE before a baby's birth helps women make an informed decision about breastfeeding in advance. Making this decision beforehand makes it more likely that a woman will actually follow through with breastfeeding after a baby's birth, a principle referred to by breastfeeding intervention researchers as the Theory of Planned Behavior. Research also shows that the type of hands-on support given by CLEs is much more effective in promoting and maintaining breastfeeding than merely presenting information or verbally telling a woman how to breastfeed.

Function

A Certified Lactation Educator (CLE) serves a variety of functions. During pregnancy, the CLE teaches women the benefits of breastfeeding and the skills involved, and assists them in making decisions about how they want to feed their baby. After a baby is born, a CLE helps mom and baby learn proper latch-on and positioning techniques, addresses breastfeeding concerns and assists the mother in solving breastfeeding issues and problems. CLEs also counsel moms on how to continue breastfeeding as they return to work or school.

Types

CLEs can be certified as lactation educators in addition to being certified in another healthcare area, such as a nurse or a doula. CLEs working in public health settings may support women individually or in class or group settings on a long-term basis throughout pregnancy and during the postpartum period, supplementing programs and services like the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) supplemental nutrition program. By contrast, CLEs working in labor and delivery units may only see women once as they learn how to breastfeed immediately after the birth of a baby.

Misconceptions

Many people think that only nurses can become Certified Lactation Educators, but most CLE training programs allow anyone to enroll. The International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners sets forth educational prerequisites for non-healthcare professionals who want to become certified, and suggests that women obtain some type of prior experience as a breastfeeding peer counselor. While it may be difficult to find work in a medical setting such as a labor and delivery unit in a hospital, some health departments and walk-in breastfeeding clinics are willing to hire Certified Lactation Consultants who are not also registered nurses.

Potential

Certified Lactation Educators are currently not located in all hospitals, health departments and obstetric offices. Ideally, in the future, each labor and delivery unit and public health setting would have at least one CLE to support breastfeeding women and help them work through any breastfeeding problems or issues. Since promotion of breastfeeding is part of the movement to prevent childhood obesity, the job of a CLE will become increasingly important in the field of mother and infant care, and more jobs will become available, making lactation education a sound career choice.

How to Tell If My Baby Is Allergic to Breast Milk?

Breast milk is nature's perfect food for babies. True allergies to breast milk are virtually nonexistent. Most breast milk allergies are actually allergies to other food proteins that are present in the mother's milk. Identifying and eliminating common allergens in the mother's diet resolves almost all cases of breast milk allergy.

Instructions

1

Discuss your baby's newborn screening results with your doctor. This heel poke blood test is done on all babies within the first few days of life to test for rare metabolic disorders. One of these is galactosemia, a genetic absence of a liver enzyme that is essential for digesting lactose. According to La Leche League, galactosemia occurs once in 85,000 births and is one of the only true contraindications to breast-feeding.

2

Recognize allergy symptoms in your baby. These include colic, reflux, eczema, chronic congestion, vomiting, diarrhea and blood in the stool. Discuss these symptoms with your pediatrician before beginning treatment, as allergy is one of several possible causes. Tell your doctor about any family history of allergies. Babies whose parents have food allergies are at higher risk for allergy.

3

Remove common allergens from the mother's diet. Start with cow's milk, the most common allergen. The mother must stop consuming cow's milk in all forms, including butter, yogurt, ice cream and cow's milk derivatives such as casein and whey found in the ingredients of many products. It can take one to two weeks for all traces of cow's milk to be out of the mother's system and another one to two weeks before the baby is clear. While results may be seen quickly, it sometimes takes as long as six weeks for the baby's symptoms to improve. If eliminating dairy products does not work, other common allergens to try include soy, eggs, peanuts, corn and wheat. Like cow's milk, these can be eliminated one at a time for several weeks to see if they are affecting the baby.

4

Try an elimination diet. The baby's symptoms can be relieved fastest by the mother eliminating all common allergies at once. This is done by eating a highly restricted diet for several weeks and then reintroducing foods one at a time, stopping if the baby's allergy symptoms return. See the Resource section for information about the elimination diet recommended for this purpose by Dr. Sears.

How to Treat Diarrhea in an Infant

When your baby has diarrhea it can be a challenging experience for the both of you. You hate seeing your baby suffer and your baby may be very uncomfortable. Here are some tips for helping your child during this period.

Instructions

1

The first thing in treating diarrhea in infants is to know whether or not it is really diarrhea. Often an infants regular stool can look similar to diarrhea and some parents tend to become very nervous. The first thing to do is to notice if there is an increase of bowel movements baby is suddenly having. Most babies will develop a routine of how often they have bowel movement, some can have 5 a day while others can have more.

2

If you notice a change in her bowel movement pattern then she/he may have diarrhea. If her stool seems to look watery then it has in the past then she/he may also have diarrhea. If you are breastfeeding your baby then it may be a change in your diet that is affecting your baby's bowel movements. So think about what you have had to eat and see if that is perhaps that problem. Of course you do not want to stop breastfeeding baby, because breastfeeding can actually help to prevent and treat diarrhea. Just pay attention to your own diet and make sure you are eating the best you can for yourself and for your baby.

3

Now if your baby is formula feed you may want to switch their formula to a soy based formula at least until the diarrhea is over. In my personal experiences with formula sometimes the iron can be to heavy on your infants stomach and you may want to switch to a low iron formula and see if they can digest it better. My child's doctor advices me to do this and it worked like a charm. The low iron formula still has an adequate amount of iron that baby needs and it is easier on their little stomach.

4

If your baby has other signs of illness like a temperature, a runny nose, congestion, or any other illness it can be more likely that they do have diarrhea. Depending on your baby's age you may want to give them some infants Tylenol to ease the symptoms and make them more comfortable. You also may want to call your baby's doctor to take them in and ask them any questions that you have.

5

The safest thing to do if you are unsure of what to do, is simply call your baby's doctor. They will advice you on what you should do and if you should take them in or not.

How to Breastfeed Lying Down

Breastfeeding in bed allows you and the baby to sleep in the early weeks and months of motherhood. After a C-section, nursing while lying on your side is essential. The baby cries less as the mother meets early fussing and hunger cues quickly and without fully waking up. However, many mothers find nursing in bed uncomfortable or straining.

Instructions

Latching-On While Lying Down

1

Place a small towel or cloth diaper on the bed to catch any spit-up or leaking milk. Use another folded up towel or diaper next to the first towel to prop up your breast.

2

Hold the baby in cradle position while seated on the bed. Rest the baby's head in the crook of your elbow.

3

Lay down with the baby. Keep the baby's head on your elbow and tilt the baby's body slightly towards you.

4

Wedge the folded small towel under your breast for support. Use your hand to guide your breast to the baby's mouth.

Supporting Your Back

5

Place a large pillow between your knees and up towards your back. Prop a second large pillow next to your back while lying completely on your side.

6

Ask for help setting up the pillows the first few times. It helps for a spouse or friend to wedge the pillows behind your back for the best bolster and support.

7

Use an extra pillow or a specialty support pillow for your head if necessary to align your spine.

8

Lean slightly back towards the pillow to take strain off your lower back, hips and knees. Rest your body weight on the pillows at roughly a 45 degree angle.