After childbirth, breast care is simple and does not require special skills - hygiene, massage, proper attachment of the baby to the chest, a comfortable bra - these measures will help you to avoid troubles with the breast during the feeding period. Let's talk about them in more detail.
In the early days, a newborn baby still does not even know how to suck (the sucking reflex is poorly developed in the early days), and he does not even know how to take his mother’s breast properly. Your goal is to help the baby. It’s easier to immediately teach the child to take the breast properly than to retrain later. This will help prevent many breast problems. Try to put the nipple into the baby’s mouth at the first feeding obliquely from the bottom up so that it reaches the baby’s palate. The baby’s mouth should also capture the periglossal circle. In this position, the delicate skin of the nipple will not be injured when feeding.
Of course, even with proper attachment to the breast, cracks can appear on the nipples, because the skin of the nipples is very delicate. If a woman did not prepare them before delivery for future feeding, then frequent application will inevitably lead to nipple injuries.
Breast Care for Nipple Cracks
Do you see any cracks in the nipple? Do not worry, everything is fixable.
Gently wash your breast after each feeding with warm water (without using soap or other detergents), wipe with a soft towel and lubricate with a special cream (cream helps well Bepanten) You can wash the cracks with your milk, it has the ability to destroy bacteria.
After feeding, do air baths for the chest. Their benefits are huge, they allow the skin to relax, "breathe". The duration of the procedure is 10 to 20 minutes.
Nipples are very sore, pain during feeding is difficult to endure? Use special silicone nipple covers. They are soft, and the baby sucks breasts without difficulty. It is important to choose their size correctly. It should fit the size of your nipple. Otherwise, the baby will refuse to take a breast with a patch.
An article about the symptoms and treatment of alternative methods of lactostasis this link
We recommend watching a video about problems with breastfeeding:
Breast Hygiene
After childbirth, women swell a lot from a rush of milk. They need support.It is important to choose a quality bra. It should be comfortable, elastic, made of natural fabric, without "stones", with wide straps. Such a bra will help to avoid stretch marks, protect the chest from injuries, ensure optimal blood circulation, milk flow, and remove unnecessary stress from the spine. It is advisable to have several bras (at least two) to change them daily. If milk flows from the breasts, you can put special inserts in the cups of the bra or make them yourself from the sterile bandage laid in 8-10 layers.
Improving blood circulation in the mammary glands, avoiding stretch marks will help daily breast massage and the adoption of a contrast shower. Massage your breasts with water jets clockwise in warm and cool water alternately. After taking a shower, wipe the chest with a towel in movements from the nipple to the armpit. Wear special supportive tops for the night.
To keep your mammary glands in shape, do special exercises to strengthen your breasts. Here are some exercises. Repeat each at least 20 times.
Close your hands in front of the chest with your palms facing each other, as in a prayer. Gently squeeze your palms for a few seconds, then loosen.
Stand straight, put your hands on your belt. Rising on the socks, as far as possible, take your elbows back.
Take an expander or a tight wide elastic band about 50 cm long. Raise your arms above your head, stretch the elastic band, and keep it stretched for ten seconds.
Push-ups (from the floor or stool) also help strengthen the muscles that support the chest.
Take a look at our rubric “After childbirth (for mom)” there you will find materials on the theme of restoration of beauty and a figure after childbirth - https://kid.htgetrid.com/en/posle-rodov-dlya-mamyi
What to do if the chest is very swollen and sore?
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On the third - fourth day after birth, milk "comes" into the mammary glands. To avoid sudden flashes of milk and severe swelling of the breast, limit drinking and liquid foods at this time. A lot of milk has come, breasts are hard, hurt? Feed your baby more often (for every requirement) The child will suck out excess milk. You can gently stretch your breasts with your hands, express excess milk until the breast becomes soft. Is it hard to do it yourself? Ask your husband or relative to help express.
Can't soften your chest? Refer to folk remedies. A honey cake placed on the chest will help (take a tablespoon of flour, honey and water), a compress of sour cottage cheese, softened cabbage leaves. Apply a compress or lozenge only to the gland, leaving the nipple open. Be sure to consult your doctor.
Recently, it has been recognized that the breast of a woman who was feeding a baby has a more beautiful shape than she did not. Take care of your chest, take care of it, do not be lazy to do gymnastics daily to strengthen it. This will help your breast quickly regain its strength and elasticity after feeding.
Breast care seems to be simple, but you need to do it regularly - I was faced with a precancerous state due to the fact that I did not express myself. Excellent cabbage leaves helped and frequent application of the baby.
Melek
Girls! Do not repeat my mistakes! In the maternity hospital, no one showed how to properly place the breast in the baby’s mouth at the first feeding. My nipples are naturally large. That gave the breast wrong. As a result, cracks formed around the nipple. The doctor could not come up with anything smarter than grease the nipples with greens after each feeding so that there was no infection. Zelenka strongly dries the skin, which led to new cracks. As a result, the nipples turned into a continuous wound, it became simply unbearable to feed the daughter. When you discharged home, my grandmother brought me a homeopathic calendula ointment and my problem ended in three days!
Inna
My nipples became very inflamed after childbirth. Feeding was insanely painful. The doctor advised Bepanten ointment. The result was not long in coming - after 3-4 days I forgot about the unpleasant sensations during feeding.
Rita
I’ve been feeding for three months and thank God there are no cracks, but there were problems with the selection of a bra, it’s good that my thrifty mother-in-law found a couple of new bras in bins bought 20 years ago 🙂 they came to me.
Breast care seems to be simple, but you need to do it regularly - I was faced with a precancerous state due to the fact that I did not express myself. Excellent cabbage leaves helped and frequent application of the baby.
Girls! Do not repeat my mistakes! In the maternity hospital, no one showed how to properly place the breast in the baby’s mouth at the first feeding. My nipples are naturally large. That gave the breast wrong. As a result, cracks formed around the nipple. The doctor could not come up with anything smarter than grease the nipples with greens after each feeding so that there was no infection. Zelenka strongly dries the skin, which led to new cracks. As a result, the nipples turned into a continuous wound, it became simply unbearable to feed the daughter. When you discharged home, my grandmother brought me a homeopathic calendula ointment and my problem ended in three days!
My nipples became very inflamed after childbirth. Feeding was insanely painful. The doctor advised Bepanten ointment. The result was not long in coming - after 3-4 days I forgot about the unpleasant sensations during feeding.
I’ve been feeding for three months and thank God there are no cracks, but there were problems with the selection of a bra, it’s good that my thrifty mother-in-law found a couple of new bras in bins bought 20 years ago 🙂 they came to me.