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There Can Be Complications in Breastfeeding
Your baby needs you more in the first few months and years of its life than will ever be the case again. Physically, your body is designed to nourish your baby. Experts say that breastfeeding is healthiest up to two years of age. Even so, that doesn’t mean when you start breastfeeding, there won’t be any challenges whatever.
Following we’ll briefly explore three common health complications that tend to go hand-in-hand with breastfeeding. This isn’t an extensive list, but you’ve got a high likelihood of encountering these things as you nurse your child.
- Sore Nipples
Nipples are already sensitive, and the tingling sensation of breastfeeding can give way to a sensation not unlike a sunburn. Breasts can become raw from nursing. In fact, this is likely to happen until your nipples toughen up a little. The thing is, things can get so uncomfortable that you’re hardly able to nurse, which is obviously a problem.
Use lanolin or petroleum jelly to help soothe sore paps, and pump your breasts in the meantime if nursing your child traditionally is too painful.
- Mastitis
If you’re not sure whether you’re experiencing symptoms of mastitis, or something else, follow the link to get the advice of known lactation professionals. Essentially, many things can cause your breasts to become inflamed. Said inflammation is mastitis. Often the condition will go away on its own, but there are times when it will not.
- Clogged Milk Ducts
Sometimes you’ve got sensitive, engorged breasts, a hungry baby, and a feeling like you should nurse; a feeling that you ought to be able to. Yet, for whatever reason, your body refuses to cooperate. What’s the issue? Well, there are things that can contribute to milk ducts being clogged.
It’s like with any man-made plumbing system. Certain things can “gum up the works”, as it were. Milk ducts can become clogged, and there are a variety of causes—for more details, read here.
Some clogs can be managed and will clear up on their own, others are going to require close attention from professionals. Regardless, you’ll likely experience clogged milk ducts at some point.
Overcoming Common Breastfeeding Issues
Nipples will likely be sore, but this isn’t a big deal, and they should toughen in time. Mastitis can develop from a number of different causes, and is essentially breast inflammation. Lactation specialists can help you determine if a particular instance of mastitis requires one sort of care or another. Similarly, lactation specialists help you deal with clogged milk ducts.
This writing is too short to cover all health complications that can develop during breastfeeding, but these three things are quite common. The bottom line is, for the most part, you shouldn’t have too many health issues. Latching and production may be a challenge, and there is a learning curve to breastfeeding, but it’s a very healthy aspect of motherhood overall
