A Guiding Hand for Families in Special Care Nurseries - Digital - Book - Page 32
Special Care Nursery (SCN)
Advantages of Breast Milk
Colostrum is
concentrated
goodness for your
baby and provides
them with additional
protection at this
crucial time
Babies get many benefits from breast milk and these
advantages are particularly important for pre-term
babies. Breastfeeding also allows you to have skin-to-skin
contact with your baby. Research has shown this is very
beneficial, especially for pre-term babies. Giving your baby
breast milk can help you feel more in control and involved in
caring for your baby. This applies to partners, too. Research shows
that encouragement and support from dads or your partner increases the
chances of successful breastfeeding. If you are a partner, you can also give
your baby tube feeds if they are having these.
Most new mums need some help to get breastfeeding. There are extra
problems to overcome if, for example, your baby is too pre-term or sick
to go on the breast. It is useful to practice how to hold your baby for
breastfeeding long before they are actually ready to begin to breastfeed.
You can learn to pump milk from your breasts and this is called ‘expressing’.
You can hand express or buy hand-operated or battery pumps. The
hospital may have an electric pump you can use or hire. In the early days, it
is normal to express small amounts of sticky yellow fluid called colostrum.
It is important to express breast milk as soon as possible after the birth and
then to continue to express eight to ten times every 24-hours, including at
night. Although your baby may be only taking tiny amounts of milk, frequent
and effective expressing, particularly in the first two
weeks is crucial in establishing a long-term milk supply.
Some mums find double pumping is easier and more
effective at increasing milk supply.
Expressing milk can get your flow established so that
you have a good supply going when your baby is
ready to take the breast. Your breast milk will also be
the best nutrition for your baby if they are being fed
through a feeding tube. Many babies take breast milk
from a bottle or cup as well as the breast. Breast milk
can be stored in the refrigerator for a short time or
frozen for future use. If you have extra breast milk, you
might want to donate it to a milk bank, a place where
donated milk is treated and stored so other babies
can benefit.
Source: © Copyright Bliss 2011 reproduced by Life’s Little Treasures Foundation with permission of Bliss
Life’s Little Treasures Foundation | Supporting Families of Premature & Sick Babies
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