Breastfeeding your baby is considered as the most important part of parenting. However, with it, comes some discomfort for the mother, especially during the weaning stage. There are many women who face acute pain at the time of the weaning process. There are some others who feel uneasy while feeding their babies.
Do not fret, there are many effective ways that will help in bringing down the ache and also help you achieve your aim with ease. Here are some simple steps that you can follow which can help your weaning process smooth with less or minimal pain.
-
Start slowly
Start the weaning process slowly. Weaning all of a sudden may cause more pain to you. Your body will not be able to tackle the transition in a smooth process if you stop the weaning process in an abrupt manner. As a result, you will end up in more pain.
-
Introduce food
At a certain point of time, your baby will have to resort to food. Make your baby eat cereal at the initial period of four months. Alongside of food, you can also breastfeed your baby. Your baby’s digestive system develops slowly. It is better to introduce food to your baby as early as possible.
-
Start to cut out feedings
If your baby has the habit of feeding on your milk every after three hours, it is best to less feed your baby. You should incorporate the habit of feeding your baby on a frequent basis. You can also skip feeding after four months, if necessary.
-
Substitute formula for breast milk
If you are planning to stop breastfeeding your baby before your baby becomes 12 months old, then you will have to substitute breast milk with formula. You can continue this for many weeks until your baby get out of the habit of feeding on your milk.
-
Use Medical Grade Lanolin Ointment
In the first week of breastfeeding, your nipples may likely turn sore and you see some changes on the skin of your nipples. Owing to constant breastfeeding, your nipples sore and you go through ache in your nipples.
To get rid of the sores and ease off the soreness, you can apply a medical grade lanolin ointment. Make sure that the ointment you use on the nipples should not have fragrances. Consult your health physician before you use such ointments.
-
Avoid Using Nipple Shields
Many women tend to use nipple shields to relax the sore nipples. Although, using nipple shields is highly recommended, you should not know it creates more hassles to your nipples. Silicone is used on the shields which is not good for your baby.
-
Mastitis
Have you heard of the term Mastitis? It is an infection which happens in the tissues of breasts, especially of breastfeeding moms. The tissues get inflamed which further result in swelling and redness. Even women who are not pregnant are not immune from this infection.
Mastitis can worsen if you do not take proper medicines at the right time. If you feel that the infection is aggravating with each passing day, then you should seek medical assistance immediately. Your health physician will diagnose the situation and will give antibiotics to cure the infection instantly.
Applying heat fermentation on the infected area will give you a soothing feel from the discomfort.
-
Try the “burp and switch” approach
Continuously start feeding your baby on the tender breast or the one that appears to look the completest. After 10 minutes, make sure that the baby burps and switch breasts. Do this switching and burping every seven or eight minutes till he/she is finished feeding.
This “burp and switch” technique guarantees that the baby takes both breasts adequately, rather than filling up on one and leaving the other one tenderly much filled.
Engorgement might also occur any time the amount of milk produced surpasses your baby’s facility to tap it off, such as when the baby’s hunger is reduced due to some sickness or infection.
Slight cases can even happen among feedings, particularly if feedings are spread out numerous hours apart or if a nourishing is unpredictably postponed. Luckily, no matter the cause, the bulge may obviously resolve itself in just few days.
To stop uneasiness from rotating you off to breast-feeding, it is important to keep in mind that breast-feeding is a learned skill, and you’ll have to give time, repetition, and tolerance to make it a relaxed, and a fruitful experience. It’s also significant to recall that the primary days of nursing might leave your breasts a bit soft and sore, but discomfort, cracking, sweltering, or blood loss means it is a huge concern that requires to be resolved.
