break the sucking action and try again. It is very important that your baby has opened her mouth wide enough and is close enough to you to enable her to take a large mouthful of breast. This means that your nipple is protected from friction and will not get sore. Watch that your breast is not covering your
baby’s nose, making breathing difficult. Gently hold back your breast with your fingers if necessary. After your baby has finished feeding, dry your breasts carefully. If you have problems with leaking, cover them with breast pads. Some people advise putting cream on or using a spray but this is not recommended as it interferes with the delicate balance of natural secretions. Wash your nipples once a day without soap and keep them dry. Giving short feeds as often as your baby will
co-operate in the early days will give you both practice. During these early feeds, your baby is getting not the milk but the colostrum, which protects her from disease and
“Vegetarian and vegan diets are not only healthy for babies and children but preferable to modern meat- and dairy-based diets, which are a major cause of chronic ill-health and premature death.” Dr Anne Griffiths MB ChB, Diploma from the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners, MSc in Community Paediatrics
18 Vegetarian and Vegan Mother and Baby Guide
helps her to excrete the meconium from the bowel. Meconium is a sticky, black waste product that builds up during the time the baby is in the womb. The actual milk comes in a few days after birth – this might be the second, third or fourth day. The milk normally comes in quicker for second and subsequent babies, but this depends on how much sucking the baby has been able to do. The more you have been able to feed the baby, the more your breasts will have been stimulated and the quicker the milk will come in, although, until it does, the colostrum will supply all your baby’s needs. When the milk does come, you may find
that you are really ‘bursting’ and the process is rather messy! Giving frequent, brief feeds from the beginning will help to minimise this engorgement. Just keep on feeding your baby completely on demand and your supply will quickly adjust to your baby’s needs. If you find you have so much milk that it gushes out too quickly, making your baby splutter, you can hold back the milk a little by holding your breast in your fingers just above the areola and pushing your breast gently upwards. In the early days you might find that milk
leaks from your breasts between feeds: even hearing the cry of a baby can trigger the ‘let down reflex’, which can cause this to happen. A breast pad inside your bra helps, as does wearing darkish tops, which do not show up any wet patches too obviously. These inconveniences pass rapidly as you and your baby get used to
Melika, pictured at 1 year “TheVegetarian and Vegan Mother and Baby Guidehas been an invaluable source of information for me. I’ve been vegan for 16 years and I had a healthy pregnancy followed by a natural home birth. Breastfeeding our daughter, Melika, has given her a good source of natural immunity and this combined with a vegan diet has meant that she is rarely poorly. I wanted to do the best for my baby and it made sense to offer her foods that I knew to be healthy and cruelty-free. Now a very bouncy, happy two-year- old, Melika is really thriving on a diet of fruits and vegetables, lentils, nuts and soya products such as tofu and veggie sausages. She enjoys sampling all the different milk alternatives available – her current favourite is hemp milk and rice milk mixed together. She has a natural love and respect for animals, which we hope will continue throughout her life.”
Jo Lacey
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