Baby Care » Suckling http://www.ababycare.com Complete baby and child care blog Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:22:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 SUCKLING http://www.ababycare.com/suckling/ http://www.ababycare.com/suckling/#comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 19:18:38 +0000 luiza http://www.ababycare.com/?p=19 For the first three days after your baby’s birth, your breasts produce not milk, but colostrum, a thin, yellow fluid that contains water, protein, sugar, vitamins, minerals, and antibodies for protection against infectious diseases. During her first few weeks of life, colostrum helps protect your baby against infections. To stimulate your breasts to produce milk, you need to feed her frequently; the sucking action of the baby stimulates hormones that, in turn, stimulate milk production. Even if you do not intend to breast-feed, it is a good idea to suckle your baby as soon as she is born, because the colostrum will be beneficial to her and the act of suckling will help you bond with your baby.

SUCKLING

As soon as your baby is born, you can put her to your breast. She will have a natural sucking reflex and the sucking action will encourage the production of the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin makes the uterus contract and expel the placenta. Touch your baby’s cheek on the side nearest your nipple to stimulate her rooting reflex. Rather than just sucking on the nipple, her lips should be on the breast tissue with the whole of the nipple in her mouth.

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