Mistakes Moms Do During Breastfeeding
Choosing to breastfeed is a beautiful decision. Being able to watch as your little bundle of joy feeds from your milk, their little nose twitching, eyes closed and small fists curled up as they cooed, and eventually grow healthily is a wonderful feeling for every mother. Breastfeeding is a great time for mothers to establish intimacy and bonds between them and their child. Such is the beauty of motherhood. However, you might have experienced days when nursing doesn’t go well as you planned. It could be that your baby is not feeding as vigorously, or you are facing certain breast discomforts such as soreness on your breasts or engorgement. If you find these scenarios familiar, you might have overlooked a few key things to take note of during breastfeeding. Wondering if you have unknowingly made lactation and breastfeeding more challenging for yourself during your daily routine? Continue reading to find out!
Not Curbing Your Caffeine or Alcohol Intake
If you are a caffeine enthusiast or you drink alcohol often, you might want to reduce your alcohol or caffeine intake during this breastfeeding period. When consumed in moderation, these ingredients are relatively harmless. However, overconsumption of caffeine or alcohol would dehydrate you and eventually decreases your breast milk supply.
Plus, overconsumption of caffeine or alcohol could also have significant effects on your little darling. How so, you may ask. Your baby would gain caffeine from the breast milk they consumed. As your caffeine intake increases, so does the build-up of caffeine inside your breast milk. The high dosage of caffeine in your breast milk will then lead to irritability and sleeping problems for your baby. On the other hand, overconsumption of alcohol could cause hindrance to your let-down reflex and developmental delay for your child.
Hence, you will need to avoid or reduce your caffeine and alcohol intake altogether. Familiarise yourself with foods that contain lactogenic ingredients such as papaya, fenugreek, fennel, garlic and ginger. Plus, foods that contain ginger helps in boosting your breast milk production through improved blood flow. You might want to have more of these lactation-friendly meals during your breastfeeding stage!
Not Wearing the Right Bra
Some mommies might experience discomforts or pain in their nipples or breast. These discomforts might stem out from wearing the wrong bra or inadequately sized nursing bra. A bra that is excessively or too tight for your breasts is liable to cause you sore nipples, complications around the sensitive areola skin and other breast aches. Your breast is a part of your body that requires delicate care, so you would want to prioritise having a proper nursing bra to ease your breastfeeding and protect the health of your breasts.
Wearing a properly sized nursing bra is great to help you with breastfeeding, as the bra is easy on your skin and does not apply excess pressure on your milk ducts. This would prevent blockage on your milk ducts and promotes better milk flow! Plus, these nursing bras are very comfortable to wear and provide ample support to your breast for your daily activities. You might want to make them part of your daily garment from this day onwards!
Not Taking Your Breast Aches Seriously
Breast aches or irritation could be a tell-tale sign that you have committed a mistake in breastfeeding. However, the bigger err lies in treating these symptoms as a casual occurrence and not taking them seriously. If you are experiencing prolonged breast pains or soreness then you should never ignore or overlook it.
When a breast pain or irritation lasts longer than it should be, the chances are you might have underlying health issues or complications that need to be addressed as soon as possible. This is important to keep both you and your newborn healthy. To solve this matter, you will need to identify the cause behind your breast aches. Is it the result of poor latching? Poor breastfeeding positioning? Or breast engorgement? Each condition requires a certain type of treatment and there is nothing to be embarrassed about! Most mommies have experienced these conditions and they are common concerns. What really matters is the steps or precautions you are taking in order to treat it.
By correctly recognizing the source behind your breast discomforts, you will be able to plan your recovery and soothe the pain better. In this case, we would recommend you to consult your doctor or local expert on the further course of actions. They would be able to provide you with insights into these conditions, how to treat them and most importantly, prescribe you the necessary medications.
Not Prioritizing Your Well Being
Perhaps one of the most common mistakes most moms do when breastfeeding is to not prioritise their own well being. As a result, most of these mommies experience fatigue faster and are unable to breastfeed efficiently. When you lack rest, this will result in stress build-up and lower your breast milk supply due to the body not being able to recuperate properly.
Therefore, it is important for you to get enough rest or sleep. Have your partner look after the baby if the need for it rises. Hire a helper if the workload is a bit too overwhelming for you to handle at the moment. After all, your wellbeing comes first. Keeping yourself hydrated is a good way to keep you going and replenishes your breast milk supply as well. Quick tip, staying hydrated would help you have a healthy supply of breast milk and produce more breast milk! To ease breastfeeding with practical breastfeeding-related products and breast pumps, why don’t you check MumChecked out? They have plenty of products that are highly rated by breastfeeding moms in Singapore!
All in all, it is important to be aware of all of these mistakes and take better care of yourself during breastfeeding. After all, you will only be able to truly look after your little darling if you take good care of yourself!
Speaking of taking good care of yourself during breastfeeding, one of the best ways to do it is by focusing on your nutrition. ReLacto is here to offer you a healthy diet to boosting lactation and postpartum recovery with nourishing, dietitian-guided lactation meals. ReLacto’s lactation meal package features more than 100 fusion and Chinese meals that are curated with lactogenic and healing ingredients. At ReLacto, your meals and lactation drinks are served in sustainable thermal flasks and biodegradable packaging to maintain their warmth and freshness.
Interested in getting well-nourished from now on with our lactation-boosting meals? Do contact us at 6360 1000 and enjoy these tasty dishes right at the comfort of your home!
