Any tips or useful info for first time mum-to-be?
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Hi Rebecca
To help prevent tearing do not give birth lying on your back. Try to be in an upright position, either standing or squatting. Hands and knees is another good position.
Try to go to the toilet every hour. If you can keep your bladder empty then there is more room for that baby to come out.
A good support person is very important. You don’t need an audience you need someone to help you.
Below is a guide of what you can expect to happen in the first few days after birth.
First 24 hours – Day 1
Your breasts will still feel soft. The milk you produce will usually be small in volume but high in calories and protein. Is thick, may be clear or yellow in colour. The average amount a baby receives in the first 24 – 48 hours is 5 – 15 ml per feed. It is perfectly suited to meet baby’s needs.
After the birth of your baby, skin to skin contact with you is very important. It helps with bonding, and keeps your baby warm. It also provides comfort for your baby after the trauma of birth. Your baby will usually look for a feed within an hour of birth. Baby is initially alert and likely to feed well and then may have a long sleep. Some babies are sleepy and may only want a few feeds in the first 24 hours others are more wakeful and want to feed frequently. Baby may feed for a short time 5 – 10 minutes or longer 20 – 30 minutes on one or both sides. Correct positioning and attachment are very important. Check the shape of your nipples each time the baby comes off the breast. Your nipples should look round and should not look squashed, pinched, flattened, ridged or distorted in shape.
Within the first 24 hours expect one or two wet nappies. You may need to pull disposable nappies apart to see weather it is wet. Your baby will pass thick, sticky black/green stools. At least one in 24 hours but may be more.
24 – 48 Hours After Birth – Day 2
Your breasts will still be soft and comfortable but may begin to feel fuller and heavier towards 48 hours after birth.
Some discomfort (a pulling or stretching feeling) is common when your baby first attaches to the breast as your nipple and breast tissue are drawn to the back of baby’s mouth. This feeling should settle after a few minutes and should not be painful.
Your milk is increasing in volume in response to your babies needs.
Your baby is waking up and becoming more alert. He/she may seem unsettled. You may find that your baby wants to feed more frequently for up to 30 minutes on each breast and may need 10 – 12 feeds in 24 hours, and want to feed day and night. Baby’s sucking should be deep and rhythmic. Baby may need lots of cuddling time between feeds while he/she gets used to life outside your uterus. Continue to check the shape of your nipples after feeds. You might be very tired today, rest when your baby rests to help you cope with sleep disturbances at night.
You should expect at least one wet nappy in this 24-hour period, but usually there will be nore. Tear nappy from outside if unsure.
Your baby will still be passing meconium, at least one dirty nappy and perhaps more. It may start to become be less thick and brown in colour.
48 – 72 Hours After Birth – Day 3
Your breasts may still be soft or beginning to feel heavier and fuller may also be warmer to touch. Some women experience increased sensitivity in their nipples over the first 72 hours. It settles down once milk volume increases.
Your milk is now changing to transitional milk, it looks thinner and yellow to creamy white. Volume is increasing slowly, responding to baby’s needs.
Your baby may want to feed very frequently, for example, he/she may have a cluster of 4-5 or more feeds close together and then may settle for a little longer. This is normal. Your baby likes to stay in your arms and will often settle better when being cuddled.
Expect more wet nappies in this 24 hour period. Babies urine output increases as milk flow increases. Stools are usually brown to khaki green in colour.
You may feel tired and emotional. This is known as “the baby bluesâ€, and usually passes within a day or two. It may be worth keeping visitors to a minimum on day 2 and 3, to allow you the chance to rest.
72 Hours Plus after birth – Day 3 – 4
Your breasts will now feel full, heaver and firmer, may be tender or uncomfortable. Your milk is now thinner and whiter in colour and more plentiful, often known as the milk “coming inâ€.
Baby may continue to be wakeful and feed frequently. It is still normal to have 6 – 12 feeds in a 24-hour period. You should be able to hear baby swallowing after each suckle. Feeds may not take as long now. Allow unrestricted time at the first breast, then, when baby finishes one breast offer the second breast. Sometimes he/she will take it and sometimes he/she won’t. If a feed lasts longer than an hour, ask for help. Any nipple tenderness or sensitivity of the previous days should start to reduced. If your nipples are tender or painful throughout the feed take baby off the breast and reattach, and/or ask for help.
In this 24 hour period you may notice that your baby is developing a three stage sucking pattern.
First stage.
A burst of short sucking to draw the nipple back to the soft palate and to release the milk. This shallow non-nutritive sucking may last for a few seconds or a few minutes, until milk is released or “let-downâ€.
Second stage.
A pause in sucking then long, strong deep sucking with short pauses. Swallowing can be heard. Mostly one suck per swallow ratio.
Third stage.
Dreamy phase with long pauses and shorter bursts of deep sucking before coming off the breast.
More frequent wet nappies (4 – 6 in 24 hours) and the urine should be paler in colour. Stools usually become a yellow/mustard colour, often quite loose with small lumps.
Days 4 – 6 After Birth
Your breasts will still be full and heavy before feed, but noticeably less full after feeds. You may notice your other breast leaking while you are feeding. You may need to express a little milk before a feed (if breasts are very full) to make attachment easier. Your milk will be white in colour and flowing well.
Your baby needs at least six feeds in 24 hours. Some feeds will be clustered close together and others will be further apart. Baby is generally more settled between feeds. Looks content after feeds, settles better but will have some unsettles wakeful periods. He/she may be lonely, uncomfortable, or insecure and may need extra cuddles.
Stools
Remain loose with curds, and yellow to yellow/green in colour and there may be several in one day. After about six weeks of age some fully breastfed babies may not have a bowel action every day. This is normal for breastfed babies, if the stools are not constipated but still soft and loose.
Remember that this is intended as a guide only. All babies are different and all mothers are different. It would be impossible to say exactly what your body or your baby will do at any one time.
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