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Medela MiniElectric Plus Breastpump
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Breastfeeding & Expressing
In today's busy world, a breastpump can lend you the freedom to keep breastfeeding for longer despite having to return to work. It can also give you the freedom to organise your baby's feeds around your schedule. Today more and more women want to breastfeed their baby as long as possible. The benefits of breastfeeding are reinforced time and time again.
What's right for me?A good breastpump can be an active mum’s best friend in allowing her to continue breastfeeding for as long as possible. You can either express enough to leave in the fridge while you go out, freeze extra feeds each day to save ahead for the future, or express while you are away to bring milk home to your baby. Some women find it very satisfying to never have to give their baby formula milk. They simply move straight on to whole cow's milk at the age of 1! It's nice to be able to mix your baby’s solid foods such as rice, cereals or purees with breast milk rather than formula. Or you can do all of the above! How much you spend on a breastpump and the benefits over time is a personal decision based on many variables.
Why Expressing?You never know what kind of a mother you will be until the baby arrives. A mum who is committed to giving her baby only her breast milk who also leads a busy life often finds it difficult to juggle breastfeeding and the demands of a hectic schedule. Expressing can be a mum's saving grace. Here are some reasons busy women like to express their milk:
- To return to work
- To free more time to care for other children
- To stockpile milk in the freezer for the future
- To create some time and space for yourself
Expressing Facts for the First 6 WeeksThe following information is used with permission from Baby Calming by Caroline Deacon , 2004. During pregnancy, lots of milk-making cells are created inside the breast—more than your baby is likely to need. In the early weeks after the birth, some of those milk-making cells will be switched on, the rest switched off according to how frequently your baby feeds. While this is happening, your milk supply is kept high by the hormone prolactin, but after the first 6 weeks, once your body knows how many milk producing cells it will need for your baby, the prolactin levels decline. This is why some mothers and babies seem to manage to breastfeed on a schedule initially, but may have problems later on. Their bodies did produce enough milk when their prolactin levels were high, but limiting the frequency of feeds led to many of the milk-producing cells being “switched off” so that eventually the milk levels declined below what the baby needed. (Copyright National Childbirth Trust www.nctpregnancyandbabycare.co.uk)
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