BabaJi

I wish my grandfather could have seen my baby Gia before he passed away last week. I so missed the opportunity to witness his happiness on seeing his Great Grand-daughter.

Since Gia's birth I had been planning to go to India asap but things like weather, vaccinations, infections had been postponing my plans. And when I did really decide that I should leave now delay in passport and visa stalled my plan. I wish I had thought about this before and not been ignorant of the whole procedure.

My advice to all new moms or would-be moms who have their parents, siblings or loved ones outside their country is to start the passport and visa processing as soon as you have your new baby's birth certificate in your hand.

How to increase low breast milk supply

At times I felt that my milk supply is diminishing. So I consulted my elders and read about how to increase it. There were a few things that helped me instantly boost my milk supply. I would like to share it with you.

Proper Food and Fluid intake

-          Fluid intake is utmost important. I started drinking a glass of water or any other liquid like milk , juice, liquid yogurt frequently.

-          Introduced oatmeal in my daily breakfast and while cooking it I put in 4 dry dates and 7-8 makhana. Dates are sweet and so there isn’t any need to put sugar while preparing.

-          Fenugreek leaves / seeds are very effective in increasing milk supply. They are also good for digestion. You can prepare a dish of fenugreek leaves and potatoes by steaming them and frying them with a little oil and some salt, turmeric powder and dry mango powder.

-          Fennel Seeds are also easy and very effective in increasing milk supply. Keeping them on the side table and chewing while I fed the baby was a good and easy solution.

Good Amount of Rest and Stress Free Mind – It is crucial that you rest a lot and have a stress free mind while breastfeeding. You can seek help from your family and friends if they are around and are willing. If not maybe your husband can help you out with a few things like laundry, cleaning or cooking. As I understand most husbands are not used to household chores they need to be assured that it is highly appreciated and is only for a few days. They should understand that it is for the benefit of their own child.

Feeding Often – The rule is the more you feed the more your milk supply builds up. In the early months do not let your child go 4 hours without a feeding. Even if he is sleeping try to feed him by waking him up. In my case, I even went on the the extent of feeding my baby every hour or 2 hours whenever required (cluster feedings)

Pumping after feeding the baby – Pumping helps in boosting milk supply. This is my personal experience that if you pump after you have fed the baby, your supply increases as your body gets the message to produce more milk. Pumping even if nothing comes out is also effective as with time your body will start responding to the breast pump and will produce more milk.