Almost every mother strives to do it rightorganize breastfeeding and feed the baby as long as possible. However, sometimes these good intentions are shattered by suddenly arising difficulties. One of such difficulties is that the child does not let go of the breast for a very long time. The mother feels literally "attached" to the baby, gets tired. And if the child often sucks the breast at night, this completely exhausts the mother, since she is deprived of the opportunity to sleep. Before looking for a solution to the problem of why the child does not let go of the mother's breast, it is necessary to find out the reasons for its occurrence. Very often, faced with such a situation, the mother decides that she does not have enough milk and simply transfers the child to artificial feeding. However, in most cases, breastfeeding can be successfully maintained without resorting to such a radical measure as weaning. In some periods of the baby's development, the fact that the child very often sucks the breast is a physiological norm for him. Below are described the main "critical" periods of development, during which the child often asks for the breast.

A newborn child often asks for a breast

The first month of life of a newborn baby, howAs a rule, the baby spends most of his time sleeping, waking up only occasionally to satisfy his main need at the moment of development – ​​the need for food. But around the fourth or fifth week of life, the mother notices amazing changes in her baby’s behavior. The baby spends more time awake, begins to consciously react to external stimuli, such as light and sound, learns to focus his gaze on a certain object for some time. As a rule, it is at this age that the baby gives his mother his first, long-awaited, conscious smile. Such positive dynamics of development are connected with the fact that the baby’s senses, “dormant” for the first month, begin to actively develop. The baby clearly understands: something in his usual, cozy and familiar world has changed dramatically. Naturally, the child is confused and scared, he strives to return to his usual world. But at the same time, the baby understands that his mother is nearby. And in order for him to feel as protected as possible, he needs physical contact with his mother. And how to achieve it? By putting him to his mother's breast. Such periods occur in every baby - for some it is longer and more pronounced, for others it passes almost unnoticed. The time of such a crisis period can also be different: from several days to several months. In most cases, mothers do not know this feature of their baby's growing up and cannot find the reason for such behavior. The woman begins to get nervous, looking for reasons for the baby's anxiety. The mother may feel confused and scared, especially if such a period drags on for several weeks. Most often, the mother consults a pediatrician, but it turns out that the baby is absolutely healthy. All this leads to the emergence of an erroneous opinion regarding the mother's lack of milk and the baby is constantly hungry, which is why he cries. What to do in this situation? The baby cries from the feeling of something new and unusual, he desperately needs reassurance, which only his mother can give him. So calm your baby down! Your smell, the warmth of your body, physical contact with the baby – this is exactly what he needs now. Do not forget about vocal communication with the baby – after all, your voice is also familiar to him, he has heard it all nine months in a row. The fact that the child often asks for the breast is absolutely normal and natural, do not deny the baby this and try to replace the mother he needs so much with pacifiers and bottles. They will not improve the situation, but they can aggravate it. It is much easier to drink milk from a bottle than from mother’s breast. As a result, the child may refuse breastfeeding, while his vital need for close contact with his mother will remain unsatisfied. The baby will still cry and worry, you will still carry him in your arms almost all the time. If you still have doubts about why your baby constantly demands breastfeeding and continue to believe that you have little milk and the baby is constantly hungry, you need to do the following:

• Discard the use of disposablediapers for at least a day. Count how much as a result for a day turned wet diapers. If you counted 10-12, you can be absolutely sure that you do not suffer from hunger from hunger.
• If this is not enough, and doubts aboutstill remain, consult a pediatrician for weighing the baby. If the child has typed the body weight necessary at this age, then, it lacks your milk.
• For particularly troubled moms, you can advisepurchase children's electronic scales. Daily increase in the weight of a child up to 3 months should be about 40 grams. It is necessary to pay special attention to the so-called "control weighing". Modern research has long confirmed the ineffectiveness and very little effectiveness of this method of checking the amount of food eaten by the child. The child in different attachments eats an absolute different amount of milk.

In the same case, if the child has obvious signs of lack of milk listed above, you should also not panic and rush to the nearest pharmacy for formula and a bottle.

The child constantly sucks his breast, because the mother does not have enough milk

You shouldn't be too upset if this happens.if the amount of milk is really low. As a rule, it is not difficult to establish lactation and stimulate increased milk production. And the fact that the baby constantly sucks the breast is the first step to increasing lactation. The female body produces milk under the influence of hormones. For their production, it is necessary for the pituitary gland to receive information about the need for milk production. This is exactly the signal that is the baby's attachment to the breast. Thus, if the baby almost constantly sucks the breast, he thereby stimulates the formation of milk. A similar, however, weaker effect has a milk expression. The most effective way to increase lactation is to come to terms with the fact that the baby constantly demands mother's breast. Moreover, numerous studies have proven an interesting fact. If the mother feeds the baby "in between times", this does not bring such a good result as those mothers who not only put off all housework during feeding, but also discard all anxious thoughts and problems and enjoy the minutes of closeness with the baby. This fact is easy to explain from a medical point of view, because all physiological processes in the body of any person directly depend on the state of the nervous system. Surely, all nursing mothers have noticed that children begin to latch on to the breast most actively in the morning (from 4 to 8 am). At these hours, lactation stimulation gives the best result. This explains why a child sucks the breast for a long time during morning feedings. In this way, he provides himself with a supply of milk for the following days. As a rule, if you allow the child to suckle for a long time and latch him as often as possible, lactation increases already on the second day. Many nursing mothers rely on various supplements and teas to increase lactation. It is important to take into account that without frequent and long-term latch-on, their use will not have any effect.

Where did the milk disappear?

Almost every nursing mother at least once, yesI have encountered a situation when the amount of milk has dropped sharply. In the evening there was still an abundance of milk, and the next day the child asks for the breast every hour, and it is no longer possible to express milk as before. However, you should not be afraid of this and wonder why the child sucks the breast for so long. During lactation, there are several specific stages during which a decrease in the amount of milk produced is absolutely natural.

• The onset of the lactation crisis. This is an absolutely normal physiological process through which all the lactating women go without exception. The causes of the onset of the lactation crisis have not yet been clarified, and the timing of its onset may also be completely different. Someone has such a crisis once, and someone every two or three months. Duration is approximately 2 - 4 days. The most important thing at this moment is not to panic and in no case to replace breastmilk with an artificial mixture.
• A sharp jump in growth in the child. As a rule, it also happens quite unexpectedly. The child not only increases the need for food, but also reduces the time needed for milk sucking. The child drinks the amount of milk in the breast in 10 minutes, but since his needs have already increased, the baby remains hungry. This is what causes the baby to ask for breast every hour. Of course, for mom it's quite tiring. But, as already mentioned above, it is the frequent and prolonged feeding that stimulates the production of the amount of milk necessary for your crumbs.

The worst thing you can do in thissituation, is to start feeding the baby with formula. You should not be afraid for the baby's health - his body will endure several days of such a "diet" absolutely painlessly. The feeling of hunger will lead to the fact that the child will suckle for a long time and, accordingly, lactation will increase. If you feed the baby with formula, the baby will be full and will not persistently ask for the breast. Accordingly, the mother's body will decide that the milk produced is absolutely enough for the child and will not produce it in the really necessary amount. Another common misconception is the opinion that the mother's milk can "burn out" as a result of stressful situations or illness of the mother. In fact, the milk does not disappear anywhere from the woman. It is just that the level of oxytocin in the blood, which is responsible for the flow of milk from the breast, sharply decreases. In such situations, it is very important to try to calm the nursing mother as much as possible; a warm shower will be very useful for her. And, of course, close physical contact with the baby. If this is not done, lactation may stop altogether. There are a huge number of so-called "folk" methods for increasing the amount of milk. However, they are absolutely meaningless and will not bring any visible benefit, but harm is very likely.

• Breastfeeding mother should eat "for two" and drinka huge amount of fluid. In fact, the nursing mother needs only 300 calories more than usual. Their surplus will not give anything, except overweight.
• To increase the amount of milk it is necessary to drinktea with condensed milk. However, in fact, the use of condensed milk can cause the baby to develop allergic reactions or increased gas production.
• Drinking a glass of beer a day increaseslactation twice. This method of increasing the amount of milk should not be said. Surely any mom imagines the negative consequences of the impact on the body of crumbs of alcohol.
• After each feeding the woman should carefullyto express all the remnants of milk. This is fraught with the appearance of hyperlactation, when the milk is produced much more than is required to saturate the baby. As a result, the likelihood of developing mastitis is high.
• In breaks between feedings it is necessary to givechild pacifier. Sucking a pacifier significantly reduces the baby's need for sucking, accordingly, lactation can decrease. In addition, sucking dummies even of anatomical shape can adversely affect the correct formation of bite.
• If a woman is pale, with a blue hue, milk,hence, it has a low nutritional value. In fact, the nutritional content of breast milk is not low or high. It happens exactly the one that is necessary for your child right now.
• If the nursing mother no longer has tidal sensationsmilk, and the breast is not poured, which means that it has very ml of milk. On the contrary, if a woman does not have these phenomena, this only indicates that the lactation has established and passed into the mature stage. The mammary gland produces exactly as much milk as necessary. If you are still worried, just watch the number of wet diapers and monthly weight gain.

Why does one-year-old child constantly ask for a breast?

If the reasons for such behavior in children under one yearmore or less clear, then cases when an older child constantly asks for a breast, many mothers are confused - it seems that the baby no longer feels hunger, since he receives the main volume of food in the form of solid food. In addition, it often happens that the child sucks the breast for a very long time, practically does not let it out of his mouth. As a rule, this happens during falling asleep or at night. In order to solve this problem, the mother must know the reason for its occurrence. For a one-year-old child, the breast is largely the only means of self-soothing. It is at the breast that the baby seeks mother's support, protection, affection, consolation and attention. If your child has recently been constantly asking for a breast, carefully analyze all the events that have happened to your baby recently. Perhaps some stressful factors have appeared in the child's life. Remember that for a small child, such a factor can be anything. Did the kids in the sandbox offend your little one? Or maybe some loud sound scared him? Of course, he will run to his mother. And the mother often does not connect these events. Even an excess of positive emotions can become a strong stress factor for the child. That is why child psychologists recommend strictly dosing the positive emotions of children. Children are especially worried about their mother going back to work. The little person is not yet given to understand the word "must" and he relies only on his own feelings. The baby may feel lonely, abandoned, offended. And if the baby is still breastfed, he will try to compensate for the lack of mother's attention and affection by latching on to the breast when the mother is nearby. That is why such a child often sucks the breast for a very long time. In order to smooth out the sharp edges of this situation as much as possible, the mother will have to make an effort, despite her fatigue. It is very good if relatives take on some of the household chores, freeing the mother from them. In the evening, when you come home from work, immediately turn all your attention to the baby. Talk to him more, do something interesting together: play or read. At least twice a week, try to find an opportunity to go for a walk with your baby. In addition, it is very important not to forget about the much-needed physical contact between mother and baby. Do not be afraid to spoil the baby, pick him up more often, kiss him, hug him. Believe me, there is no such thing as too much affection. Its absence is much more destructive than its excess. A child who did not receive enough affection in early childhood, as a rule, grows up as an insecure person with low self-esteem. But what could be more important for a mother than the well-being of her dearest person, her child? And it is largely up to the mother what it will be like, the “wonderful faraway”. After all, we all come from childhood. We recommend reading:

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