Maternity & Kid's Care

Archive for the ‘Feeding’ Category

Generally, for the first three months the baby is fed only on breast milk. Breast-feeding is the most satisfying experience for both the mother and the baby because of its many advantages to both the baby and the mother. Breast milk is the natural food for the infant. It is perfectly balanced fed. The nutritional components are well suited to the infant’s digestion. Babies fed on breast milk thrive well. Satisfied surveys show that both the morbidity and the mortality rate of breast-fed infants is lower than that of bottle-fed infants.

Breast milk is sterile, warm and ready for the baby. Breast milk increases the immunity power of the baby to various diseases. Occurrence of infectious diseases like diarrhea, dysentery is less common among breast fed infants than among bottle-fed infants. The need to suck is one of the many needs of the baby. This need for sucking is fully satisfied in breast-feeding.

The mother’s uterus is brought to its normal size by breast-feeding immediately after birth. It is said that breast-feeding may improve the shape of the breast. Breast cancer is less common in woman who breast-fed their babies for a sufficient length of time. In a large number of women breast-feeding delayed the onset of menstruation after birth and this reduces the chances of conception.

Feeding children with animal milk or formula usually using a bottle is called artificial feeding. When the mother is unable to breast-feed the baby owing to some reason or other the bay is given this feeding. This is called bottle-feeding. Since bottle-feeding gives more chances for digestive upsets and infections certain precautions should be taken while preparing bottle for feeding.

The formula should be prepared with milk water and sugar in correct proportion. Correct portion depends on the age of the baby, the number of days since the bottle-feeding etc. The bottle must be cleaned properly. If the particles of milk stay in the bottle may breed harmful bacteria. Hence using a brush, soap and warm water the feeding bottle must be washed. The bottle should be sterilized by keeping it in boiling water for a few minutes.

The teat hole must be in correct size. If it is to small the baby has to suck vigorously which makes him frustrated. If it is too large, the baby may find it difficult to swallow the quick flowing milk. The milk must be warm. The temperature of the milk may be tested by allowing milk to flow by drops in the elbow.

When the baby is fed, the mouth of the bottle should always be full with milk. Otherwise, air may also get into the bay’s stomach and may cause pain in the stomach. As powder, milk may cause constipation boiled water and fruit juice needs to be given in between feeds to avoid it.

Some mothers who are physically ill and who unable to feed her baby due to some medical reason starts feeding her baby with the formula milk. In some cases mother who are worried about her figures intentionally stops feeding her baby and switched to formula milk. When mother starts bottle-feeding her milk secretion shortly diminishes and she may fail to secrete any milk at all. When mother do not know the correct proportion of water and the milk, the formula may be diluted too much form and this may result in babies taking less milk and more water. This may lead to under nourishment and more concentrated milk result in indigestion or stomach pain.

Because of unhygienic handling of bottles children suffer from digestive disorder tinned milk especially powder milk tend to make children constipated. It is quite common that bottle fed children suffer from anemia because artificial milk is poor source of iron.

Some babies refuse to take solid foods even after six months. They prefer bottle milk to other supplementary foods. This delays the starting of supplementary feeding. As a result, the child may become under nourished.

Moreover, bottle feeding is expensive. Milk powder and milk costs money. Replacing teats and bottles may make bottle feeding costly.