If you are finding that your baby is taking an hour to drink 1-2oz, and is falling into a cycle of: sleeping while feeding, then waking up distraught with hunger, then falling asleep again after a few minutes of sucking, then you may want to increase your teat size. Your baby is likely exhausted from sucking, but not getting enough milk to sustain or satisfy him/her.
Blocked ducts present as hard tender lumps, often described as pea-sized initially. They appear most often on the upper outer quadrant of either breast. Sometimes a tiny white dot can be seen on the nipple. This is called a milk bleb and when it is freed, it can look like a white string being pulled out of the nipple.
The Heel Prick Test is a test that is performed on your baby that no-one really talks until after you’ve had your baby. At this point it comes as a bit of a shock to think of someone drawing blood from your beautiful newborn baby’s heel. So what’s it for?
“When we start our breast milk journey, we all have to admit that we worry mainly about our supply! But I have not once heard about the worry of having too much milk. I’m talking about two fountains of endless milk, about not having enough breast pads to stop the leaking, about the urge to wake your peacefully sleeping baby because your breasts are too engorged!!
According to Watson Genna (2017) all the neurons a baby can use form in the baby’s brain by 28 weeks gestation. Not all these neurons will be used. The neurons that aren’t stimulated or ‘fired’ don’t wire. In other words: Use them or lose them!! Stimulation of the baby such, as being held by its parents, kissed, cuddled, and fed causes certain neurons to fire and in turn, hard wire into established pathways.
All babies have reflux. Anatomically, there is a valve at the top of the stomach that is meant to close off and prevent backflow of stomach contents/acid up the oesophagus. In small babies this is never closed as it is not yet a mature muscle. Therefore, when babies are put in a lying down position, they get reflux. If babies take in too much milk and their stomachs become over inflated, their reflux symptoms worsen. This is why reflux starts to become an issue at about 3weeks of age, as volumes of milk are increasing.