Breastfeeding is the natural way of giving sustenance to your child. It is free and readily available when your baby needs it. Now, it is understandable that not all women can breastfeed. It is a different time compared to long gone days as most women do have careers. They don’t have time to feed their babies their own breast milk, so they go with the formula for a nursing woman in rare cases. However, there are a lot of benefits for letting your child to drink your breast milk. One of the understated one is this activity is the bonding moment of the child to its mother. Studies have shown that children who were breastfed were more likely to be closer to their mother compared to those who weren’t breastfed. Learn more about this here.
Lactation is a rather time consuming and hard task so it is important for the mother to be relaxed while breastfeeding. Stress can actually affect the milk production and quality of the milk as well. Your child will not get the full benefits of drinking breast milk. The stress will also affect the development of your child if this continues to be the kind of interaction that he or she has with the mother.
Another factor that can affect the production of breastmilk is hydration. In fact, breastmilk is made from 90% percent water and the rest are the nutrients that the baby needs. This is why mothers would usually feel very thirsty before and after breastfeeding. It is very important to replenish what you lost so that you can make more milk. It would also be good for your health. Additionally, as a mother you already have another human to feed.
Tip To Follow To Breastfeed Healthily
1. Drink plenty of water and eat water rich-food.
This is a no brainer, as you really do need to hydrate yourself for your breastfeeding as stated previously. However, how much should you drink? Well, this really depends from person to person as we all have different levels of hydration needs. On the other hand, you lose a lot of water when breastfeeding so it is important to drink lots of it. It also comes from the food we eat everyday especially from fruits and vegetables. Cucumbers, watermelons and tomatoes are great sources for hydration. As a rule of thumb, drink water until you don’t feel thirsty anymore.
2. Avoid diuretics as much as you can.
Diuretics are substances that can worsen water loss to a person. Common examples include coffee, tea and various sodas. These are not inherently bad for a lactating mother especially if it was approved by the doctor as well. However, this might not be great for the mother since as you are lactating, you are losing a lot of water. It is important to conserve it as much as possible. You can only drink them in moderation if cannot be avoided at all.
3. You can also drink natural sports drink.
There are a lot of drinks out there that promote hydration. These are usually marketed towards athletes since they always sweat a lot. However, it is not just the athletes who are sweating a lot. Mothers also lose a lot of water while lactating. However, these might not be the best options for a re-hydration program for lactating mothers. It is important to find a good sports drink that is made from natural ingredients because you cannot just get them easily fresh. Coconut water and fruit juices are the natural options, but there are areas that these might not be available. Fortunately, there are products that combine these into one convenient drink. Check them out here: https://drinkgt.com/pages/nursing-moms-hydration.
4. Don’t drink too much water.
This might sound a bit bizarre but it’s true: there is such a thing as drinking too much water. Overhydration can have astonishing number of complications but it does one negative thing to lactating mothers: it can stop milk production. The body senses that it has too much water, so it redirects all of it to the excretory system. You might feel like you are rehydrated but your baby will not appreciate that.
