All moms wish to give their babies quality milk when nursing their babies; sometimes new moms could encounter unease feeling caused by unfamiliar breast-feeding techniques. It often affects new moms’ breast-feeding willingness; therefore, we would like to provide the following techniques and information asked by new mommies when breast-feeding their babies in order to make the feeding process more smoothly.
Breast swelling
2-5 days after delivering a baby, new moms could sometimes suffer from incomplete or unsmooth milk secretion which could induce breast swelling. Such a swelling is caused by the increased amount of milk and blood volume of the breast milk or connective tissue. Milk out the liquid or diligently breast-feed your baby could greatly relieve this feeling.
Ways to relieve ache caused by breast swelling
- Diligently breast-feed your baby or increase feeding frequency.
- Squeezes out some milk before feeding the baby
- Take a hot bath, massage your breast, or put a heated-padding on your breast before feeding your baby.
- Use your fingers to squeeze out extra milk.
- Ask doctors or pharmacists for mild pain-killers.
Unrelieved breast swelling could incur mastitis if the condition gets worse.
Breast-milk overflow
Do not panic when you breast feed your baby with one side of your breast and the other side also secrets milk; this is a normal physiological reaction. Also, your breast-milk could overflow when you think of your baby or hear the weeping sound of your baby.
Ways to overcome the problem
- Place a pad inside of your bra to help absorb the overflowed milk.
- Curve your hand and gently press your nipple to stop milk from overflowing.
- Dress in clothes with pattern and loosen styles to prevent obvious milk overflow.
Congested mammary gland tube
Congested mammary gland tube occurs when breast milk not discharged completely. As a result, there are lumps and aching feeling of breast; to unblock the mammary gland tube, massage the blocked lump when feeding your baby. Take a hot bath or cover you breast with warm towel before feeding your baby; sometimes it is helpful to change your feeding gesture and position. Do not ignore such a problem, for it could incur mastitis; the best way to prevent the problem is to simply feed your baby more frequently.
Mastitis
Mastitis is the infection of breast tissue causing redness, swelling, heat, and aching conditions. It could sometimes incur fever up to 38.5 ºC or even 40 ºC. It could trigger pus sore if no treatment is imposed.
Ways to overcome the problem
- If there is condition of high fever, rush to the hospital and have doctors prescribe appropriate antipyretic or antibiotics when necessary. Use a cold pad to relieve local redness and heat; then switch it to hot pad and gently massage your breast until you could slowly squeeze our congested breast milk.
- When mastitis occurs, try not to intake too much alcohol or water or foods that could incur breast milk overflow; resume to normal diet when redness, swelling, and fever subside.