chatwithketch

The pregnancy test is positive but your older baby is still breastfeeding.

Must you stop immediately?

For most mothers with an uncomplicated pregnancy, the answer is no. Breastfeeding does not automatically end because another baby is on the way.

That breast milk in your fridge may look and smell perfectly fine.

But can you remember exactly when you expressed it?

Before you feed it to your baby, ‘check the clock, not just the smell.’

Here is the breast-milk storage rule every breastfeeding mother should save: ‘4 hours, 4 days, 6 months.’

Pap? Oats? Lactation tea? Supplements?

The moment a mother worries about her milk supply, somebody recommends a “milk booster.”

Were you told to take lots of pap with evaporated milk? 😃 I was!

But before you spend money or begin swallowing herbs and pills, there is something more important to check: Is milk being removed from the breasts frequently and effectively? How to do that? Put your baby to the breast! 😊

Beans? Pepper? Milk? Fruit?

Many breastfeeding mothers begin removing foods from their diet because someone says, “That is what is disturbing the baby.”

But most mothers do not need a bland or severely restricted diet to breastfeed. Read!

Q: Evening Ma, please I need help. My baby is 2weeks and her stool is watery. I am practicing exclusive breast feeding. What type of food should I eat or what do I do?

A: Congratulations on your new baby! May she be a blessing to her generation!

Okay to your question, exclusively breast fed babies may pass stool a couple of times during the day to lots of time (it might even be after every meal :D).

You’re still getting to know your baby and so you should look out for the normal consistency of his stools and the frequency. Diarrhea is usually rare in exclusively breast fed children because you’ve cut off all the middle men like bottles and teats etc that could have been reservoirs of infection.

Having said that, watch out for signs like blood or mucous in stool, explosive green stools and foul smelling stools. How can this occur in exclusively breast fed babies?

It may be due to an infection (viral and bacterial), food allergy to something the mother ate, it may be due to food poisoning in the mum or perhaps the mother had taken antibiotics.

If in doubt as to whether the stools appear normal or as they have been since birth, please see your baby’s doctor.

If your baby has diarrhea, he/she should be rehydrated as quickly as possible.

The first way is to continue breastfeeding even before going to the hospital. This also provides valuable antibodies that help the baby fight diseases.

So, it is clear now that diet affects our breast milk and by extension, baby. These are foods to avoid or limit their consumption while breast feeding:

Caffeine in coffee (try decaffeinated and stick with 2 small tea cups), energy drinks, some soft drinks etc This makes the baby irritable and by extension, makes sleep difficult for the baby. Now, you don’t want that, do you?

Alcohol: This should be avoided at all costs.

Cigarette (yeah, yeah, I know it’s not food) should also be avoided as it reduces the production of breast milk.

If baby reacts to what the mother ate, efforts should be made to pinpoint what the mother ate before the incident started and then eliminating that from the diet to see if the diarrhea or allergy stops.

Make sure that you eat well: lots of fruits and vegetables and complex carbohydrates. Cut out the junk which will not help you achieve your weight loss goals and in addition have empty calories. And drink sufficient fluids daily.

Be careful before taking any drug as most find their way into your baby.

Hope this helps.

Goodnight y’all 😀

Have you received this advice?

Breastfeeding does not flatten a baby’s nose and repeatedly pulling or pressing it will not make it pointed. Read!

Q: What do I do and what food do I take to make my breastfeeding baby’s nose pointed?

A: This question reminds me of my childhood. My mother jokingly tells me till date that I don’t have a flat nose because she made sure she always pulled my nose 😀 At that time, I couldn’t figure out if that pull was done as a means of showing anger or pleasure 😀 And my mum is a doctor oh 😀 But I digress….

There’s no evidence that pulling or pressing your baby’s nose makes it more pointed. Most babies are born with flat or squashed noses. The reason for this is not hard to imagine considering the tight, squashed and compact spaces that nose was pressed against on its way out of mummy’s womb 😀 Given all of that, it usually takes a couple of weeks and maybe even months to get the nose all straightened out and looking like it really belongs on your baby’s face…without your help, mind you 😀

In the same way, if your baby’s head appears a bit lopsided or bigger on one side as opposed to the other when born, you may not need to worry. During the process of childbirth, the baby’s skull bones are molded to enable the baby pass through the birth canal. Thus, sometimes when the baby is born the head may be lopsided because of uneven molding. It could also happen after birth in babies who lie on their backs a lot. Where in doubt, please see your doctor.

So, back to our nose pressing gist…give your baby’s nasal bridge a chance to develop well, on its own. You may actually be tampering with that process by pressing it continually.

To answer your question, what should you do? Nothing 😀 What should you eat? Healthy stuff…to make you and baby healthy. It has nothing to do with your baby’s nose 😀

“MY NEWBORN’S POO IS RUNNY AND YELLOW—AND IT HAS WHITE ‘CHEESY’ BITS IN IT. SHOULD I STOP BREASTFEEDING?”

No.

If your breastfed newborn is feeding well and otherwise appears healthy, that alarming-looking nappy may be showing you exactly what normal breastfed poo looks like.

It looks like the entire feed.

Before you panic or immediately offer another full feed, ask one important question:

Did the milk dribble easily from your baby’s mouth or did it shoot out with force? Read!

Q: Good afternoon Dr Ketch. I have a 3-week old son who vomits sometimes after breastfeeding. Please I will like to know what causes it and what I can do to remedy it. I intend to do 6months exclusive breastfeeding. Thank you and remain blessed

A: Hi dear, congratulations on your new baby. This baby will do super-amazing awesome things…Amen!

Now, is your baby ‘vomiting’ or spitting up the milk? Bear in mind, that when I say spitting up, it’s not the type that you and I do. Spitting up in babies refers to an easy flow of the milk your baby just took out of his mouth accompanied by a burp sometimes. Vomiting, however, is more forceful and would move a couple of inches more from the baby’s mouth.

What causes reflux? There is a ring of muscle that separates the stomach from the esophagus (the food pipe). In babies, this muscle is not well developed and so allows food that has moved into the stomach to sometimes come back up. This would continue, sometimes, up till when the baby is about 12 months but is more common within the first 3 months of life. It is also common in babies who are over-fed 😀

You can help to reduce this by:

Feeding your baby in an upright position and keeping baby upright, if possible, for a couple of minutes after breastfeeding

Burping your baby after meals

Feeding baby small and more frequent meals to prevent overfeeding at any meal time. For those bottle feeding, check that the hole in baby’s bottle teat is not too big.

You can also check to see whether your diet is culprit. If you suspect one, eliminate for at least a week and see if there is an impact.

If your baby, however, ‘vomits’ forcefully, is not gaining weight, gags, has difficulty swallowing or sleeping etc, please see his doctor for a review.

Please keep your commitment to the exclusive breastfeeding plan. It’s a sure winner. My love to your baby!

How do you make sure your baby does not ‘vomit’ after a meal?

YOU FINALLY FIND A BREASTFEEDING POSITION THAT LETS YOUR EXHAUSTED BODY REST…

Then the fear hits: “What if I fall asleep and harm my baby?”

You can breastfeed while lying on your side. The position itself is not automatically dangerous but where and how you do it matter.

Share this with a tired mum!

Everyone says, “Never wake a sleeping baby.”

But when a young baby sleeps through feeding time, letting them continue sleeping is not always the right decision. Read!

Q: Good evening, doctor. Please, I want to ask you how long I should allow my baby to sleep? He’s only 7 weeks old and he sleeps much especially during the day.

Today, for instance, he has been sleeping from past 9 a.m till now and it’s almost 5p.m. I’m afraid he might be hungry though he wakes when he is hungry.

But please doctor, is this ok for him? If not, for how many hours should I allow him to sleep before I wake him? God bless u doctor!

A: In the first few days and weeks of your baby’s birth, he’s likely to spend a lot of time sleeping. Indeed, he may be sleeping up to 16 hours per day…but really not at a stretch, usually.

Ordinarily, he should be breast fed on demand and that means everything he asks for a feed.

The problem is that your baby may just forget this all important function, ‘feeding’ and sleep for a looooong time!

At this stage, you should never let your baby sleep for more than 4 hours at a stretch without waking him up for a feed. When counting the hours between feeds, remember that you are counting from when your baby started feeding and not when he stopped feeding. For instance, if your baby started feeding by 9am and finished at 9.30am; if he sleeps off, he’s due for another feed by 1pm and not 1.30pm.

He should regularly be having about 7 to 9 feeds per day now. And just to be sure that he’s getting enough to eat, he should be having at least 8 diaper changes per day.

As your baby grows and becomes more aware of his environment, his sleeping and feeding needs will change to accommodate his new stage.

Where in doubt, always have a chat with his paediatrician. The times you go for your baby’s vaccinations should be good times to check in with the doctor

MY BABY KEEPS SLIPPING OFF THE BREAST AND FEEDING HURTS. COULD HER TONGUE BE THE REASON?

Possibly. But tongue-tie is only one possible cause.

Painful breastfeeding or difficulty staying attached may also result from positioning, shallow attachment, breast fullness, nipple damage or another problem affecting your baby’s feeding.

That is why a tongue-tie should not be diagnosed from appearance or pain alone.

Ask a trained breastfeeding professional to watch a full feed and check:

▪️ How your baby attaches to the breast
▪️ Whether your baby can remain attached
▪️ How effectively milk is transferred
▪️ Your baby’s weight gain
▪️ Whether your nipples are being damaged

Tongue-tie becomes more likely when a tight band beneath the tongue restricts its movement and this is affecting feeding.

Even then, not every tongue-tie needs to be cut. If your baby feeds effectively and gains weight, a procedure may not be necessary. Treatment may be considered when restricted movement is causing a feeding problem that skilled support has not resolved.

And what about speech?

Tongue-tie does not automatically delay speech. Some children may later have difficulty making particular sounds, but this cannot reliably be predicted during infancy.

If breastfeeding is painful, your baby is not feeding effectively or weight gain is poor, please see your baby’s doctor and seek skilled breastfeeding support.

Has anyone ever suggested that your baby might have a tongue-tie?

Save this post and share it with a breastfeeding mother.

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