Sleep Pattern Of a Healthy vs Unwell Child

The health of an infant can easy be noticed by the sleep pattern of a child. In the case of a healthy child, you will notice that she is composed and refreshing every time she is awake. While asleep, she is quiet and sleep peacefully occasionally with a smile in her.

For an unwell child, he cries whenever he is being removed from the nursing breast and is unwilling to be placed in the cot most of the time. The mother will have to take the child in her arms and only then will the child sleep but just for a short while. Once the child is placed on the cot, he starts to cry and becomes restless and disturbed.

If the baby is in pain, you will notice that his eye-brow contracts and he may grind his teeth. In the event the child is not feel too well in the belly, his lips will be drawn apart with his teeth and gums shown. The child will have frequent startles and is restless.

Healthy vs an unwell child

It is understood that the gesture of a healthy child differ from that of an unwell child. But have you give a thought to it and discover what to look out for?

When a child is sick, the child may not have strength to hold his or her head upright at all time. You will see the child may lost his or her strength and the head may just droop. In a health baby, the head will be held up at all time.

For baby, when unwell, he will drawn up his feet up to the belly and cry. This is a sign that he is in pain and you if take a look at his stool, you may notice that it is unusual. If accompanied by smelly or unusual stool texture, this confirmed the baby is unwell.

For child who start teething, you will notice that the child may just refuse to play like his usual self. Instead of what he usually do like running around, he may just lie in his bed.

A healthy child will sleep peacefully and quietly throughout his sleep. However, when a child is unwell, he will have startle and sudden awaken from his sleep. If the child hold his hand firmly with his thumb and fingers drawn in pressing upon his palm so compressed that you find it difficult to force open it, this may connect with approaching disorder of the brain or fit. The hand as well as feet may both bent downwards.

You may also observe to see any change in the child behaviour as an indication of sickness. For instance, his head being drawn rigidly backwards, or his arm fixed firmly to one side or his legs are stiffly raised upward or the child breathe heavily with long deep breath. Any of the above sign with unusual amount of crying may be an indication that the baby is unwell and need medical attention.

Signs Of Healthy Child.

The signs of a healthy child is to be found, first, in the healthy performance of the various functions of the body; the regular demands made for its supply, neither in excess or deficiency; and a similar regularity in its excretions both in quantity and appearance.

If the figure of the healthy infant is observed, something may be learnt from this. There will be perceived such an universal roundness in all parts of the child's body, that there is no such thing as an angle to be found in the whole figure; whether the limbs are bent or straight, every line forms a portion of a circle. The limbs will feel firm and solid, and unless they are bent, the joints cannot be discovered.

The tongue, even in health, is always white, but it will be free from sores, the skin cool, the eye bright, the complexion clear, the head cool, and the abdomen not projecting too far, the breathing regular, and without effort.

When awake, the infant will be cheerful and sprightly, and, loving to be played with, will often break out into its merry, happy, laugh; whilst, on the other hand, when asleep, it will appear calm, every feature composed, its countenance displaying an expression of happiness, and frequently, perhaps, lit up with a smile.

Early Detection Of Disease In The Child

During child development, it is highly important that a mother should possess such information as will enable her to detect disease at its first appearance, and thus insure for her child timely medical assistance. This knowledge it will not be difficult for her to obtain. She has only to bear in mind what are the indications which constitute health, and she will at once see that all deviations from it must denote the presence of disorder, if not of actual disease. With these changes she must to a certain extent make herself acquainted.

We will, however, for the sake of clearness examine the signs of disease as they are manifested separately by the countenance, the gestures, in sleep, in the stools, and by the breathing and cough.

How important that a mother should be acquainted with the below signs of one of the most terrific complaints to which childhood is subject; for, if she only send for medical assistance during its first stage, the treatment will be almost invariably successful.

Probable cause if baby non stop crying.

Even after all steps taken and the baby goes on crying see for the following signs for probable cause.

1. Press her abdomen gently, she may twist or resist you:---Colic

2. Pull her ear gently she may become worse or push your hands away:---Earache.

3. Feel her temperature with the back of your hands:--Fever due to any infection.

4. Examine the skin from head to foot:--Eruptive disease, nappy rash, measles, vesicles, allergy etc.

5. See the nose for any discharge:--Coryza.

6. Move the head gently to feel any neck stiffness:--Meningitis, head injury etc.

7. Keep your ear near her chest to hear any rattling sound:--Increased mucus in wind pipes. (pneumonia, bronchitis, asthmatic bronchitis etc)

8. Examine the anal orifice:--Anal erosion, rectal polyp, crawling of worms.

9. Examine the genitalia:--Any discharge or erosion.

10. In male baby see the testicles which may be swollen or tender:--Orchitis, torsion of testes.

11. also notice the body movements and see for any convulsions, rigors, vomiting, cough, laboured breathing etc.

If you see the above signs or any other abnormal signs consult your doctor for proper treatment.

What To Do When Your Kids Cry?

Crying is a physiological process in the life of a baby. All normal babies cry to communicate with others. Since they can't express their feelings in words crying is the only way for communication. Even though crying is considered as normal it may worry the family members. Since the reasons for crying ranges from simple causes to serious causes it should not be ignored and hence exact cause has to be identified and managed accordingly.

The following are some points which should be considered while dealing with a crying baby.

1. It is dangerous to shake the baby vigorously.

2. Tight cloths can cause irritation hence it should be removed.

3. If the room is hot put the fan and open the windows.

4. If the nappy is wet remove it and after cleaning the parts make it dry with a soft towel.

5. Pat her back or stroke her head slowly and let her here your soothing sound.

6. Give breast milk and make her quiet.

7. If the climate is cold cover her in soft towel.

8. Rock her gently in your arms and walk slowly in the room.

9. Take a music making doll and let her listen.

10. Try a pacifier or help her for thumb sucking.

11. If no response change her position.

12. Walk outdoors with her.

13. Put her on the cradle and rock gently.

14. If no response ask somebody to carry the baby.

Want to know what are the probable cause if baby non stop crying? Stay tune for the next blog.

Some Rare Reasons For Infant Crying

Below are some rare reasons for baby crying to tell you of their need for attention.

1. Bowel obstruction - Bowel obstruction is associated with severe pain and vomiting. Abdomen is distended with rumbling sound. Baby is constipated with absence of flatus.

2. Septicaemia - Invasion of pathogenic micro organisms in to the blood is called septicaemia. Fever is associated with this condition.

3. Torsion of testes in male kids - When a male baby cries continuously, his scrotum should be examined. Torsion of the testes produce severe pain which will be worse by touching the affected testes. When the testes is pressed upwards, pain is relieved. If this is not treated properly, it can damage the affected testes due to lack of blood supply.

4. Meningitis - Initially there may not be fever, hence crying baby with alternate vacant stare and irritability should not be ignored. Fontanel is bulging. Neck rigidity and seizures may appear later.

5. Retention of urine - Children with retention of urine will have agonising pain making them restless.

6. Major injuries - Major injury to any parts of the body causes pain. Occasionally children will fall while carrying and results in head injury. Head injury is associated with reflex vomiting and convulsions.

Coming in my next blog ...about what to do when your kids cry?

20 Common Reasons For Infant Crying - Continue

Here is the next 10 common reasons for infant crying:

11. General aching - Generalised body ache with restlessness is seen in flu and some infectious diseases can result in continuous cry.

12. Habitual cry - Some babies cry without any real cause ending the parents in agony. Many a times doctor is called for help.

13. Nappy rash - If a tight and wet nappy is kept for a long time results in this condition. Rash can also be due to some allergic reaction to the elastic material of the nappy. When the rash appears it causes soreness and baby become sleepless and cry. All other skin lesions like eczema, etc also causes same problems.

14. Earache - Ear infection is common in wet climate. The infection may spread from the throat. Ear infection can result in rupture of ear drum causing discharge of pus. Earache usually becomes worse at night when lying down. Child will become restless with cry and may not allow you to touch the ear. Some children with earache rub the affected ear frequently.

15. Child colic - When the baby cry continuously most of us diagnose it as colic. This problem is still a topic for debate because exact cause for colic is not known and diagnosis is also difficult to confirm. Colic may be associated with rumbling and distention of abdomen. Child often feels better when lying on abdomen. Some children may not allow you to touch the abdomen. If the child cries continuously doctors help is needed.

16. Infections - All infections causes some kind of pain or irritation resulting in cry. Infection may be anywhere in the body. Usually it is associated with fever, redness and swelling.

17. Reactions to certain food - It is said that one man's food is another man's poison. Some food articles can produce some allergic reactions. Allergy is manifested in the form of redness, breathlessness, gastric symptoms and continuous cry.

18. Hard stools - Constipated babies with hard stools may cry when they get the urge for stool. Some children hesitate to pass stool because of pain .

19. Gastro esophageal reflex - Here baby cries with spilling of food after feeding. If this continues it may be due to gastro esophageal reflex. This is due to failure of the lower part of esophagus to close after food causing regurgitation from the stomach. It is difficult to diagnose this condition and can be confirmed by giving anti reflex medicines.

20. Dentition - During dentition child becomes restless with crying. Often associated with gastric troubles and diarrhoea.

20 Common Reasons For Infant Crying

In this blog, I will share with you 10 common reasons why a child cry. Watch out for my next blog for the next 10 reasons. This act as a general guide, if a child continue to cry, it is advisable to see a doctor.

1. Hunger - A hungry baby will cry till he gets the milk. Here the old saying comes true, 'crying baby gets the milk'.

2. Wetting - Urination and defecation causes some discomfort and results in crying till his parts are cleaned and made dry .

3 Company - Majority of the kids need somebody near. If they feel lonely they cry. When their favourite doll slips away from the grip they cry for help.

4. Tired - When the baby is tired after a journey and unable to sleep just cry simply. They feel tired in uncomfortable surroundings and due to unhealthy climate.

5. Heat & cold - If they feel too hot or too cold they become restless and cry. Child is comfortable in a room with good ventilation.

6. Tight clothing - Tight cloths especially during warm climate is intolerable for kids. Tight elastic of the dress can also produce soreness in the hip region.

7. Dark room - When the baby wakes up from sleep he needs some dim light. If there is darkness he will disturb the sleep of parents by crying. Of course he will be irritated by strong light resulting in cry.

8. Mosquito - Yes, these creatures disturb the sleep by their blood sucking and make the baby cries.

9. Nasal blocking - Child may not be able to sleep when there is a cold and go on crying till the passage is open.

10. Phlegm in throat - This also causes difficult breathing resulting in cry. Often a typical sound can be heard with each breath.

Significant Of A Baby Cry

Crying is a normal event in the lives of all babies. When a baby comes out of the womb the first thing to do is crying. By the first cry he will take some air in to the lungs for the first time in their life. After delivery if the baby does not cry then it should be initiated by slightly pinching or gently stroking the feet. From this it is clear that the healthy baby should cry and it is a normal physiological event, still some times it can upset the mother or family members.

We all know that a baby can't tell his needs or troubles in words. The only way for him to communicate with others is by crying. Babies show some other signs like feet kicking, hand waving and head turning etc. But the best way to take the attention of others is by crying.

Excessive crying may not have a firm definition because the crying habit changes from baby to baby and some babies can be calmed easily but some are difficult to sooth. If crying is distressing for the mother and home nurse it can be called excessive. Many a times baby become quiet by giving breast milk or by carrying with a gentle rocking. Sudden onset of excessive crying means baby is distressed and needs attention. The causes of crying extends from simple reasons to life threatening conditions. Hence crying of a baby should not be ignored.

Child Bath And Cleanliness During Childhood

When the infant grow up to be a little child or shortly after, bathing is too frequently left off. In most cases of child care and child cleanliness, the hands and face of the child are kept clean, and with this the nurse is satisfied; the daily ablution of the whole body, however, is still necessary, not only for the preservation of cleanliness, but because it promotes in a high degree the health of the child. It is thus very important to observe what we need to do during child bath and the cleanliness during childhood.

A child of a vigorous constitution and robust health, as he rises from his bed refreshed and active by his night's repose, should be put into the shower-bath, or, if this excites and alarms him too much, must be sponged from head to foot with a little warm water. Then the body should be speedily dried, and hastily but well rubbed with a somewhat coarse towel, and the clothes put on without any unnecessary delay. This should be done every morning of the child's life.

The best time to bath the infant is two or three hours after breakfast; but he must not be fatigued beforehand. Care must be taken that he does not remain in too long, which would be most injurious. In boys of a feeble constitution, great mischief is often produced in this way. It is a matter also of great consequence in bathing children that they should not be terrified by the immersion, and every precaution should be taken to prevent this.

Child Bath And Cleanliness During Infancy

In infant care cleanliness is essential to the infant's health. The principal points to which especial attention must be paid by the parent for this purpose are the following:

At first the infant should be washed daily with warm water; and a bath every night, for the purpose of thoroughly cleaning the body, is highly necessary. To bathe a delicate infant of a few days or even weeks old in cold water with a view "to harden" the constitution (as it is called), is the most effectual way to undermine its health and entail future disease. By degrees, however, the water with which it is sponged in the morning should be made tepid, the evening bath being continued warm enough to be grateful to the feelings.

A few months having passed by, the temperature of the water may be gradually lowered until cold is employed, with which it may be either sponged or even plunged into it, every morning during summer. If plunged into cold water, however, it must be kept in but a minute; for at this period, especially, the impression of cold continued for any considerable time depresses the vital energies, and prevents that healthy glow on the surface which usually follows the momentary and brief action of cold, and upon which its usefulness depends. With some children, indeed, there is such extreme delicacy and deficient reaction as to render the cold bath hazardous; no warm glow over the surface takes place when its use inevitably does harm: its effects, therefore, must be carefully watched.

The surface of the skin should always be carefully and thoroughly rubbed dry with flannel, indeed, more than dry, for the skin should be warmed and stimulated by the assiduous gentle friction made use of. For this process of washing and drying must not be done languidly, but briskly and expeditiously; and will then be found to be one of the most effectual means of strengthening the infant. It is especially necessary to carefully dry the arm-pits, groins; and if the child is very fat, it will be well to dust over these parts with hair-powder or starch: this prevents excoriations and sores, which are frequently very troublesome. Soap is only required to those parts of the body which are exposed to the reception of dirt.

Infant Care On Over Feeding

The quantity of food to be given at each meal must be regulated by the age of the child, and its digestive power. A little experience will soon enable a careful and observing mother to determine this point. As the child grows older the quantity of course must be increased. This is a key point to note in infant care.

The chief error in rearing the young is overfeeding; and a most serious one it is; but which may be easily avoided by the parent pursuing a systematic plan with regard to the hours of feeding, and then only yielding to the indications of appetite, and administering the food slowly, in small quantities at a time. This is the only way effectually to prevent indigestion, and bowel complaints, and the irritable condition of the nervous system, so common in infancy, and secure to the infant healthy nutrition, and consequent strength of constitution. As has been well observed, "Nature never intended the infant's stomach to be converted into a receptacle for laxatives, carminatives, antacids, stimulants, and astringents; and when these become necessary, we may rest assured that there is something faulty in our management, however perfect it may seem to ourselves."

The frequency of giving food must be determined, as a general rule, by allowing such an interval between each meal as will insure the digestion of the previous quantity; and this may be fixed at about every three or four hours. If this rule be departed from, and the child receives a fresh supply of food every hour or so, time will not be given for the digestion of the previous quantity, and as a consequence of this process being interrupted, the food passing on into the bowel undigested, will there ferment and become sour, will inevitably cause infant colic and purging, and in no way contribute to the nourishment of the child.

Ways To Feeding Infant

There are two ways by the spoon, and by the nursing-bottle. The first ought never to be employed at this period, in as much as the power of digestion in infants is very weak, and their food is designed by nature to be taken very slowly into the stomach, being procured from the breast by the act of sucking, in which act a great quantity of saliva is secreted, and being poured into the mouth, mixes with the milk, and is swallowed with it. This process of nature, then, should be emulated as far as possible; and food (for this purpose) should be imbibed by suction from a nursing-bottle: it is thus obtained slowly, and the suction employed secures the mixture of a due quantity of saliva, which has a highly important influence on digestion. Whatever kind of bottle or teat is used, however, it must never be forgotten that cleanliness is absolutely essential to the success of this plan of rearing children.

The posture of the child when fed:- It is important to attend to this. It must not receive its meals lying; the head should be raised on the nurse's arm, the most natural position, and one in which there will be no danger of the food going the wrong way, as it is called. After each meal the little one should be put into its cot, or repose on its mother's knee, for at least half an hour. This is essential for the process of digestion, as exercise is important at other times for the promotion of health.

Artificial Diet For Teething Infants

As soon as the child has got any teeth, and about this period one or two will make their appearance, solid farinaceous matter boiled in water, beaten through a sieve, and mixed with a small quantity of milk, may be employed. Or tops and bottoms, steeped in hot water, with the addition of fresh milk and loaf sugar to sweeten. And the child may now, for the first time, be fed with a spoon.

When one or two of the large grinding teeth have appeared, the same food may be continued, but need not be passed through a sieve. Beef tea and chicken broth may occasionally be added; and, as an introduction to the use of a more completely animal diet, a portion, now and then, of a soft boiled egg; by and by a small bread pudding, made with one egg in it, may be taken as the dinner meal.

Nothing is more common than for parents during this period to give their children animal food. This is a great error. To feed an infant with animal food before it has teeth proper for masticating it, shows a total disregard to the plain indications of nature, in withholding such teeth till the system requires their assistance to masticate solid food. And the method of grating and pounding meat, as a substitute for chewing, may be well suited to the toothless octogenarian, whose stomach is capable of digesting it; but the stomach of a young child is not adapted to the digestion of such food, and will be disordered by it.

Artificial Diet For Infants

All my children started off with breast-milk although my attempt to breast feed my first child failed and had to give her infant formula subsequently. If we resort to infant formula or any artificial diet, it should be as like the breast-milk as possible.

In early infancy, mothers are too much in the habit of giving thick gruel, panada, biscuit-powder, and such matters, thinking that a diet of a lighter kind will not nourish. This is a mistake; for these preparations are much too solid; they overload the stomach, and cause indigestion, flatulence, and griping. These create a necessity for purgative medicines and carminatives, which again weaken digestion, and, by unnatural irritation, perpetuate the evils which render them necessary. Thus many infants are kept in a continual round of repletion, indigestion, and purging, with the administration of cordials and narcotics, who, if their diet were in quantity and quality suited to their digestive powers, would need no aid from physic or physicians.

In preparing this diet, it is highly important to obtain pure milk, not previously skimmed, or mixed with water; and in warm weather just taken from the cow. It should not be mixed with the water or sugar until wanted, and not more made than will be taken by the child at the time, for it must be prepared fresh at every meal. It is best not to heat the milk over the fire, but let the water be in a boiling state when mixed with it, and thus given to the infant tepid or lukewarm.

As the infant advances in age, the proportion of milk may be gradually increased; this is necessary after the second month, when three parts of milk to one of water may be allowed. But there must be no change in the kind of diet if the health of the child is good, and its appearance perceptibly improving. Nothing is more absurd than the notion, that in early life children require a variety of food; only one kind of food is prepared by nature, and it is impossible to transgress this law without marked injury.

Symptoms Of Natural Dentition (Milk-Teeth) And Treatment

The symptoms of natural dentition of infant milk teeth (which this may be fairly called) are, an increased flow of saliva, with swelling and heat of the gums, and occasionally flushing of the cheeks. The child frequently thrusts its fingers, or any thing within its grasp, into its mouth. Its thirst is increased, and it takes the breast more frequently, though, from the tender state of the gums, for shorter periods than usual. It is fretful and restless; and sudden fits of crying and occasional starting from sleep, with a slight tendency to vomiting, and even looseness of the bowels, are not uncommon. Many of these symptoms often precede the appearance of the tooth by several weeks, and indicate that what is called "breeding the teeth" is going on. In such cases, the symptoms disappear in a few days, to recur again when the tooth approaches the surface of the gum.

The treatment of the infant in this case is very simple, and seldom calls for the interference of the medical attendant. The child ought to be much in the open air, and well exercised: the bowels should be kept freely open with castor oil; and be always gently relaxed at this time. Cold sponging employed daily, and the surface of the body rubbed dry with as rough a flannel as the delicate skin of the child will bear; friction being very useful. The breast should be given often, but not for long at a time; the thirst will thus be allayed, the gums kept moist and relaxed, and their irritation soothed, without the stomach being overloaded. The mother must also carefully attend, at this time, to her own health and diet, and avoid all stimulant food or drinks.

From the moment dentition begins, pressure on the gums will be found to be agreeable to the child, by numbing the sensibility and dulling the pain. Gentle friction of the gums, also, by the finger of the nurse, is pleasing to the infant; and, as it seems to have some effect in allaying irritation, may be frequently resorted to. In France, it is very much the practice to dip the liquorice-root, and other substances, into honey, or powdered sugar-candy; and in Germany, a small bag, containing a mixture of sugar and spices, is given to the infant to suck, whenever it is fretful and uneasy during teething. The constant use, however, of sweet and stimulating ingredients must do injury to the stomach, and renders their employment very objectionable.

Appearance Of Infant Milk-Teeth

The first set of infant teeth, or infant milk-teeth as they are called, are twenty in number; they usually appear in pairs, and those of the lower jaw generally precede the corresponding ones of the upper. The first of the milk-teeth is generally cut about the sixth or seventh month, and the last of the set at various periods from the twentieth to the thirtieth months. Thus the whole period occupied by the first dentition may be estimated at from a year and a half to two years. The process varies, however, in different individuals, both as to its whole duration, and as to the periods and order in which the teeth make their appearance. It is unnecessary, however, to add more upon this point.

In the child of a healthy constitution, the symptoms attending teething will be of the mildest kind, and the management of the infant most simple and easy.

Deficiency Of Milk

Deficiency of milk may exist even at a very early period after delivery, and yet be removed. This, however, is not to be accomplished by the means too frequently resorted to; for it is the custom with many, two or three weeks after their confinement, if the supply of nourishment for the infant is scanty, to partake largely of malt liquor for its increase. Sooner or later this will be found injurious to the constitution of the mother: but how, then, is this deficiency to be obviated? Let the nurse keep but in good health, and this point gained, the milk, both as to quantity and quality, will be as ample, nutritious, and good, as can be produced by the individual.

I would recommend a plain, generous, and nutritious diet; not one description of food exclusively, but, as is natural, a wholesome, mixed, animal, and vegetable diet, with or without wine or malt liquor, according to former habit; and, occasionally, where malt liquor has never been previously taken, a pint of good sound ale may be taken daily with advantage, if it agree with the stomach. Regular exercise in the open air is of the greatest importance, as it has an extraordinary influence in promoting the secretion of healthy milk. Early after leaving the lying-in room, carriage exercise, where it can be obtained, is to be preferred, to be exchanged, in a week or so, for horse exercise, or the daily walk. The tepid, or cold salt-water shower bath, should be used every morning; but if it cannot be borne, sponging the body with salt-water must be substituted.

By adopting with perseverance the foregoing plan, a breast of milk will be obtained as ample in quantity, and good in quality, as the constitution of the parent can produce.

Where, however, there has been an early deficiency in the supply of nourishment, it will most frequently happen that, before the sixth or seventh month, the infant's demands will be greater than the mother can meet. The deficiency must be made up by artificial food, which must be of a kind generally employed before the sixth month, and given through the bottle.

Nursing Journal For New Mother

Follow the nursing journal for your new born even before your baby get back from the hospital. The plan to be followed for the first six months on maternal child nursing care. From the first moment the infant is applied to the breast, it must be nursed upon a certain plan. Until the breast-milk is fully established, which may not be until the second or third day subsequent to delivery (almost invariably so in a first confinement), the infant must be fed upon a little thin gruel, or upon one third water and two thirds milk, sweetened with loaf sugar or feed him/her with some formula, although this is largely discouraged.

After this time it must obtain its nourishment from the breast alone, and for a week or ten days the appetite of the infant must be the mother's guide, as to the frequency in offering the breast. The stomach at birth is feeble, and as yet unaccustomed to food; its wants, therefore, are easily satisfied, but they are frequently renewed. An interval, however, sufficient for digesting the little swallowed, is obtained before the appetite again revives, and a fresh supply is demanded.

At the expiration of a week or so it is essentially necessary, and with some children this may be done with safety from the first day of suckling, to nurse the infant at regular intervals of three or four hours, day and night. This allows sufficient time for each meal to be digested, and tends to keep the bowels of the child in order. Such regularity, moreover, will do much to obviate fretfulness, and that constant cry, which seems as if it could be allayed only by constantly putting the child to the breast. A young mother very frequently runs into a serious error in this particular, considering every expression of uneasiness as an indication of appetite, and whenever the infant cries offering it the breast, although ten minutes may not have elapsed since its last meal. This is an injurious and even dangerous practice, for, by overloading the stomach, the food remains undigested, the child's bowels are always out of order, it soon becomes restless and feverish, and is, perhaps, eventually lost; when, by simply attending to the above rules of nursing, the infant might have become healthy and vigorous.

For the same reason, the infant that sleeps with its parent must not be allowed to have the nipple remaining in its mouth all night. If nursed as suggested, it will be found to awaken, as the hour for its meal approaches, with great regularity. In reference to night-nursing, I would suggest suckling the babe as late as ten o'clock at night, and not putting it to the breast again until five o'clock the next morning. Many mothers have adopted this hint, with great advantage to their own health, and without the slightest detriment to that of the child. With the latter it soon becomes a habit; to induce it, however, it must be taught early.

The foregoing plan, and without variation, must be pursued to the sixth month.

After the sixth month to the time of weaning, if the parent has a large supply of good and nourishing milk, and her child is healthy and evidently flourishing upon it, no change in its diet ought to be made. If otherwise, however, (and this will but too frequently be the case, even before the sixth month) the child may be fed twice in the course of the day, and that kind of food chosen which, after a little trial, is found to agree best.

The Myths Of Breast Feeding

It is critically important for the mother to have a good health so that she could nurse the baby well, she will then be able to perform her duty as a nursing mother with pleasure.

It is this believe that the mother must be at her tip top health condition so that she could produce enough nourishing and good quality milk for her infant that some mother go to the extreme of having improper diet. The mother ended up with excessive amount of improper diet as well as neglecting having to exercise.

It is common belief that a nursing mother should go on some special diet and the need to consume wine or fermented liquor may ended up having the nursing mother feeling sick and at time reduces the milk flow from her breast. The nursing mother ended up bed ridden feeling uncomfortable and weak thus affecting the nursing of the baby.

In most instances, a nursing mother should remain healthy and consume her normal diet and drink plenty of water to help her generate more milk flow.

Well, whether the special diet really works or not it all depend on individuals, there are some who feels that it works and they continue with the believe while there are some who find it not suitable. So, what is your opinion on this? Is having such special diet a myth?

Breast Feeding And Engorgement

I was not feeling too well as my lactating breast was engorged. I needed to visit a doctor to get some antibiotics to release the engorged breast. I would like to share this experience with all mum-to-be and new mothers. Wearing a good nursing bra is important, but knowing how to take care of yourself during breast feeding and human lactation is equally important.

From my experience, from the first day after delivery you should apply your breasts to your infant. Let your baby suck your nipples for milk, but the milk usually do not really come till the third day. So be patient. What I did was to supplement with baby formula during the first few days.

The best approach is to directly breast feed your child. In my case, as my milk flow is very low and slow, my infant do not latch well and cries a lot. What I did was to directly breast feed her for a while to get her use to sucking the nipple. But as she cried non-stop, I offered her infant formula milk and used a breast pump to express my milk.

In this way, by direct breast feeding, although just for a while, will help in my milk generation and it will reduce the chance of engorgement. For my case, when the milk started flowing in on the third day, I was in pain. The breasts just became very hard. What I did was to massage the breasts.

I have been trying this method and it works well for me for two months. However, as I was preparing to go back to work, I reduced the number of feed. I also became a bit lazy and reduced the massage of my breasts. It all started after a long outing on this particular day and I did not express or empty my breasts. This had caused me to run a high fever of above 39 degree Celsius.

I immediately used hot express followed by massaged the breasts and expressed out the milk once I reached home. I was much better and my fever came down a little thereafter. As it was late in the night and my fever was under control, I went to see the doctor only on the next morning.

I was prescribed with antibiotics. I was advised to visit the lactation consultant who would teach me how to clear the block ducts in my breasts. I made the earliest appointment I could.

I learned that to clear the ducts, it is not just massaging the breasts which I thought all along. I was told that I need to manually express the milk using hands as the pump will not help if the ducts are blocked. The correct way to breast feed is to follow a few simple steps. Half an hour before every feed, have a cup of warm drink like warm milk, hot chocolate, etc and thereafter use a warm tower to cover over the breasts and massage the breasts. Clean the nipple area and squeeze the nipple to clear any blockage before applying the breast to the infant. If the infant does not clear all the milk, use a milk pump to express out the excess milk and store in the refrigerator for consumption later.

Well, I learned this the hard way. I should not be lazy to stop massaging my breast. It is advisable that you do this after every feed even if your breast is not engorged. This will prevent you from getting an engorged breast.

Mum-to-be and all mothers with new babies, every woman is different. I heard some have no problem at all, especially those that feed directly from the breast if they do it right. Well this is my experience and just to share with you. This is the child place to look for tips in infant care. Look out for my sebsequent blogs.