chatwithketch

To conclude World Breastfeeding Week, I revisit another
breastfeeding question

Q: How can I store expressed breast milk?

A: Expressed
breast milk has to be handled in a very hygienic way. It is important that it
does not form the means by which germs find their way into your baby’s body so
utmost care must be taken.

What should you
do? I reproduce a post I had made on this a while back;

To express milk
for your baby, first, you have to be committed to be hygienic because you don’t
want to introduce germs into your baby, do you? Always scrub your hands with
soap and water whether you are using the breast pump or your hands.

Having expressed
the milk, when stored at room temperature, be sure to use up the milk within 6
hours.

When stored in the
fridge,
• Ensure that the temperature in the refrigerator…

Over and over again, I have had breast feeding mothers tell me that they don’t make enough breast milk to feed their babies. Or they would say, their babies get hungry too often and so it is difficult to keep up with the crazy schedule of ‘feeding on demand’ that breast feeding requires of you.

Breast milk is very important to new born babies and really no child should be deprived on the many benefits of breast feeding exclusively. There are some mothers who, by reason of specific health conditions, cannot breast feed their babies. However, the greater majority of mothers are able to make enough breast milk to keep their babies satisfied.

Here are our top five tips for breast feeding properly:
o Patience: You’ve got to have loads of it. Sometimes, your baby feeds and then stops a bit just to gaze into your eyes. Give him/her the…

Q: Good day Dr. Ketch, please my question is…what supplements can a nursing mother take to enable free flow of breast milk? Thanks

A: How can we help mum to establish or re-establish breastfeeding? To answer that I’ll reproduce part of a post I had made on this subject.

Mum needs loads of support from her medical team (be that the nurses that provide support for lactation or the doctor who does same). This support can range from teaching her how to latch baby on properly to the doctor prescribing medications that encourage milk production. Drugs and foods that encourage milk production are called galactogogues. A number of local foods have been touted to help eg Pap (akamu, ogi), green leafy veggies like spinach, oats, garlic and ginger, nuts like almonds etc Go ahead and try out what works for you.

Effective breastfeeding requires loads of patience. You have to…

Q: Hello Doctor, is coffee good
while breast-feeding?

A: Coffee and other
foods and drinks that contain caffeine should, definitely be avoided when
breastfeeding as much as possible. Caffeine in coffee energy drinks, some soft
drinks etc. This makes the baby irritable and by extension, makes sleep
difficult for the baby.

Other foods to avoid or limit their consumption while breast-feeding:

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 that will not help you achieve…

Dear all, this week, August 1 to 7,
the world celebrates World Breastfeeding Week. This year, the
theme is, “Empower Parents, Enable Breastfeeding.”This theme
reminds me a lot of what I went through trying to find a hospital with a crèche
where I could work and breastfeed my baby comfortably at work. That was not to
be! Want to know all about it? Read below:

A few years ago when
I was pregnant for my first child, I made plans…loads of them. How great a
mother I was going to be, I would make packed lunches, make her hair, teach
her, school her, take her to work with me, (so I could exclusively breast
feed), take her to school by myself (when it was that time), pick her up too,
do her laundry by myself etc. I wanted to be super mum. All those statistics of
mothers who left their…

Q: Good day, ma’am. Please what is early cyesis in pregnancy?
A: Cyesis is medical lingo for pregnancy. So, early cyesis is Early Pregnancy 😀

Q: Dr please, what are the causes of swollen legs, prevention and what can one do if one notices it?
A: The causes of swollen legs are many and diverse ranging from liver and kidney diseases to pregnancy. Prevention is focused on the cause. For more on swollen legs, please click on this link:https://chatwithdrketch.com/2014/10/13/daily-health-tips-foot-swelling/

Q: Please Dr, I need your help. My little daughter of about 5yrs just started bringing out another tooth from the front gum apart from the normal teeth. Please is there any drug I can administer to stop that tooth from coming out? Thank you.
Children start losing their baby teeth from 5 to 7 years, but some could start the process earlier and some later 😀 In some cases, as…

Q: Dr. each time l return from work l look so unreasonably tired. What can I do?

A: I’m sure most people can identify with this. I’m assuming that beyond looking tired, you do feel tired too. That tiredness that appears to be a permanent fixture especially in a city like Lagos, Nigeria as we all attempt to out-run each other in the rat race 😀 In most instances where no specific medical ailment can be found, stress is the biggest culprit…what with multiple bills to pay, traffic, insurgency and terrorism etc

Other causes include:
• Psychological issues: Anxiety and depression
• Physical causes: Being under or overweight
• Lifestyle causes: Excessive alcohol abuse etc

To prevent this,
• Have a regular sleep routine and be sure that you have good sleep habits (no TVs in room, no work before bed time etc) and catch sufficient amounts of sleep daily.

Q: What drug can I use to control worm in my stomach? It disturbs me after eating. My stomach makes noise after eating.

A: Hey! Thanks for writing in.

How do you know your symptoms are due to worms? Was your stool (faeces) examined? It’s important that you visit the health facility to get a proper diagnosis so that appropriate treatment can be started.

Having said that, worms oftentimes do not present with any symptoms but sometimes people with this infestation complain of non-specific symptoms of the digestive system (like your complaint).

So, what is a worm (helminth) infection? There are different types. I will explain a couple.

A) Ascariasis – This is a type of roundworm infection and is one of the most common types of worm infections. This infection is spread when a person comes in contact with ascaris eggs in soil mixed with human feces or infected…