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A doula is a trained companion who is not a healthcare professional and who supports another individual through a significant health-related experience, such as childbirth, miscarriage, induced abortion or stillbirth, or non-reproductive experiences such as dying. A doula may also provide support to the client's partner, family, and friends.
The postpartum period begins immediately after childbirth as the mother's body, including hormone levels and uterus size, returns to a non-pregnant state. The terms puerperium, puerperal period, or immediate postpartum period are commonly used to refer to the first six weeks following childbirth. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes the postnatal period as the most critical and yet the most neglected phase in the lives of mothers and babies; most maternal and newborn deaths occur during this period. In scientific literature, the term is commonly abbreviated to Px, where x is a number; for example, "day P5" should be read as "the fifth day after birth". This is not to be confused with the medical nomenclature that uses G P to stand for number and outcomes of pregnancy.
Mastitis is inflammation of the breast or udder, usually associated with breastfeeding. Symptoms typically include local pain and redness. There is often an associated fever and general soreness. Onset is typically fairly rapid and usually occurs within the first few months of delivery. Complications can include abscess formation.
Breast milk or mother's milk is milk produced by mammary glands, located in the breast of a human female. Breast milk is the primary source of nutrition for newborns, containing fat, protein, carbohydrates and variable minerals and vitamins. Breast milk also contains factors that are important for implications protecting the infant against infection and inflammation, whilst also contributing to healthy development of the immune system and gut microbiome.
La Leche League International (LLLI) is a non-governmental, nonprofit organization that organizes advocacy, educational, and training related to breastfeeding. It is present in about 89 countries.
Lactational amenorrhea, also called postpartum infertility, is the temporary postnatal infertility that occurs when a woman is amenorrheic and fully breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding difficulties refers to problems that arise from breastfeeding, the feeding of an infant or young child with milk from a woman's breasts. Although babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk, and human breast milk is usually the best source of nourishment for human infants, there are circumstances under which breastfeeding can be problematic, or even in rare instances, contraindicated.
Breastfeeding, also called nursing, is the process of feeding human breast milk to a child, either directly from the breast or by expressing the milk from the breast and bottle-feeding it to the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that breastfeeding begin within the first hour of a baby's life and continue as often and as much as the baby wants. During the first few weeks of life babies may nurse roughly every two to three hours, and the duration of a feeding is usually ten to fifteen minutes on each breast. Older children feed less often. Mothers may pump milk so that it can be used later when breastfeeding is not possible. Breastfeeding has a number of benefits to both mother and baby, which infant formula lacks.
Birth spacing, pregnancy spacing, inter-birth interval (IBI) or inter-pregnancy interval refers to how soon after a prior pregnancy a woman becomes pregnant or gives birth again. There are health risks associated both with pregnancies placed closely together and those placed far apart, but the majority of health risks are associated with births that occur too close together. The WHO recommends 24 months between pregnancies. A shorter interval may be appropriate if the pregnancy ended in abortion or miscarriage, typically 6 months. If the mother has had a prior C-section, it is advisable to wait before giving birth again due to the risk of uterine rupture in the mother during childbirth, with recommendations of a minimum inter-delivery interval ranging from a year to three years. Pregnancy intervals longer than five years are associated with an increased risk of pre-eclampsia. The global public health burden of short inter-pregnancy intervals is substantial. Family planning can help increase inter-pregnancy interval.
The social attitudes to and legal status of breastfeeding in public vary widely in cultures around the world. In many countries, both in the Global South and in a number of Western countries, breastfeeding babies in open view of the general public is common and generally not regarded as an issue. In many parts of the world including Australia, some parts of the United States and Europe, along with some countries in Asia, women have an explicit legal right to nurse in public and in the workplace.
Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process naturally occurs with all post-pregnancy female mammals, although it may predate mammals. The process of feeding milk in all animals is called nursing, and in humans it is also called breastfeeding. Newborn infants often produce some milk from their own breast tissue, known colloquially as witch's milk.
A human milk bank or breast milk bank is a service which collects, screens, processes, and dispenses by prescription human milk donated by nursing mothers who are not biologically related to the recipient infant. The optimum nutrition for newborn infants is breastfeeding, if possible, for the first year. Human milk banks offer a solution to the mothers that cannot supply their own breast milk to their child, for reasons such as a baby being at risk of getting diseases and infections from a mother with certain diseases, or when a child is hospitalized at birth due to very low birth weight, and the mother cannot provide her own milk during the extended stay for reasons such as living far from the hospital.
Breastfeeding promotion refers to coordinated activities and policies to promote health among women, newborns and infants through breastfeeding.
The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), also known as Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI), is a worldwide programme of the World Health Organization and UNICEF, launched in 1992 in India following the adoption of the Innocenti Declaration on breastfeeding promotion in 1990. The initiative is a global effort for improving the role of maternity services to enable mothers to breastfeed babies for the best start in life. It aims at improving the care of pregnant women, mothers and newborns at health facilities that provide maternity services for protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding, in accordance with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes.
Mary Rose Tully MPH IBCLC was an American lactation consultant, director of the Department of Lactation Services at the University of North Carolina's Women's Hospital, and an adjunct clinical instructor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina's School of Medicine. She researched and helped to expand knowledge of human breast milk. In the mid-1970s, she helped establish the non-profit Piedmont Milk Bank, now known as the WakeMed Mothers' Milk Bank and Lactation Center located in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was a founding member of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America in 1985 and received a lifetime achievement award from the organization in 2007.
Diana West is a leading lactation consultant and author specializing on the topic of breastfeeding.
Infant nutrition is the description of the dietary needs of infants. A diet lacking essential calories, minerals, vitamins, or fluids is considered inadequate. Breast milk provides the best nutrition for these vital first months of growth when compared to infant formula. For example, breastfeeding aids in preventing anemia, obesity, and sudden infant death syndrome; and it promotes digestive health, immunity, intelligence, and dental development. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusively feeding an infant breast milk, or iron fortified formula, for the first six months of life and continuing for one year or longer as desired by infant and mother. Infants are usually not introduced to solid foods until four to six months of age. Historically, breastfeeding infants was the only option for nutrition otherwise the infant would perish. Breastfeeding is rarely contraindicated, but is not recommended for mothers being treated for cancer, those with active tuberculosis, HIV, substance abuse, or leukemia. Clinicians can be consulted to determine what the best source of infant nutrition is for each baby....
A lactation consultant is a health professional who specializes in the clinical management of breastfeeding. The International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners (IBLCE) certifies lactation consultants who meet its criteria and have passed its exam.
Cracked nipple is a condition that can occur in breastfeeding women as a result of a number of possible causes. Developing a cracked nipple can result in soreness, dryness or irritation to, or bleeding of, one or both nipples during breastfeeding. The mother with a cracked nipple can have severe nipple pain when the baby is nursing. This severe pain is a disincentive for continued breastfeeding. The crack can appear as a cut across the tip of the nipple and may extend to its base. Cracked nipple develop after the birth of the infant and is managed with pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment.
References
- ↑ "Amy Spangler on Breastfeeding.com". Breastfeeding.com. Archived from the original on September 3, 2010. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
- ↑ "Excerpt from 20/20 special on breastfeeding". YouTube. Retrieved September 18, 2008.
- ↑ "baby gooroo writers". baby gooroo. Archived from the original on November 9, 2007.
- ↑ Barger, Jan (June 1, 1996). "Amy Spangler's Breastfeeding, A Parent's Guide, Sixth Edition". Journal of Human Lactation. 12 (2): 160. doi:10.1177/089033449601200243. S2CID 71531149.
- ↑ Bar-Yam, Naomi (May 1, 2000). "Book Review: Breastfeeding: A Parent's Guide". Journal of Human Lactation. 16 (2): 161–162. doi:10.1177/089033440001600221. S2CID 71554934.
- ↑ Anderson Lucia, Carole (2005). "Let It Flow". Fit Pregnancy. 12 (6): 96–98.
- ↑ Goodwin, Juliana (September 28, 2009). "A Prescription for Knowledge: Breastfeeding". The Springfield News-Leader. Springfield, Missouri. p. 5B. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
