Archive for January, 2012
Bottle or Breast Feeding Your Baby. Burping and Vomiting. Some Useful Advice
When you bottle or breast feed your baby, he will usually swallow some air along with the milk. The air will then form small bubbles in the stomach, which may or may not lead to some discomfort. The amount of air taken in will differ from baby to baby, but it is more common in bottle fed babies. Whether burping your baby is necessary, is not what I intend to discuss here, as there are two different schools of thought as to whether the fact that you bring up the wind after every feed, makes your baby more happy, but even if it doesn’t, if you burp your baby during a feed it will slow down the feeding process, and that in itself is better for his digestion. If you are going to burp your baby in the middle of a feed, don’t stop suddenly to do it, but wait for him to pause naturally; if he doesn’t, then wait until the end. The most important thing to remember is not to become obsessed that your child has to be winded, as he may fall asleep before finishing his bottle.
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So how do you burp a baby? There are three different ways you can try.
Why Babies Refuse to Breast Feed
Sometimes, a baby that is breast fed may suddenly decide to refuse breast feeding. The baby will pull away from the breast, then toss his head from side to side. This can happen at anytime, so there really is no way to predict it happening.
Reasons why
Refusal to feed from the breast could occur when the baby is in pain. Normally, this can be due to an ear infection, sore head from vacuum delivery, thrush in the baby’s mouth, or teething.
The use of dummies, teats or nipple shields may also contribute to refusal. Some babies actually find it difficult to feed from the breast and bottle as the sucking action is very different. Some become confused, therefore it’s always best to avoid using any type of teats or dummies.
History of breast milk substitutes and how they came about!
Throughout history, every generation has needed to develop an alternative to breastfeeding, either because a mother had insufficient milk or chose not to breast feed. Scientific and historical literature tells us of centuries-old efforts to satisfy an infant’s nutritional needs and to replicate the composition and benefits of breast milk.
In prehistoric cultures, infant mortality was high. Like other mammals, only the hardest of infant, nursed by their mothers, survived. In ancient cultures, the first doctors encouraged breast feeding. If for some reason, the mother could not nurse, wet-nursing- substituting lactating adult women for the birth mother- was recommended for those who could afford it. Ancient art shows us that those who could not afford a wet nurse relied on the milk of domestic animals, such as donkeys, camel and goats. Clay feeding vessels, designed to transfer the milk from the animal to the baby, have been found in ancient tombs and ruins. Historians of spartan times reported that succession to the throne was interrupted and given to a younger son because he was breastfed by his mother and his older brother was wet-nursed.
Little about infant feeding was documented between ancient times and the Renaissance. During the Middle Ages, wet nursing was the choice for a mother who could not nurse. One pediatric article on breast feeding describes the characteristics of a good wet nurse as well as information on hiccups, diarrhea and vomiting. In the late 1500s, scientists detailed the therapeutic values of human milk not only for infants, but also for aging men and women, They also recommended the use of ass’ milk as a breast- milk substitute, should a mother need it. If the baby could not be nursed, liquid food made of diluted honey mixed with cereal flour or breadcrumbs was poured through a hollow cow’s horn. However, most efforts to replace breast feeding were unsuccessful because of the infant’s intolerance or to bacterial contamination.