The hospital also offers the services of a general practitioner, lactation counselling, physiotherapy and ultrasonography. The Al-Nisa medical team is further supported by an advisory team of consulting doctors, which include a gynaecologist, obstetrician and paediatrician.

Birthing Centre in the USA - Source: Porter Medical Centre

More and more women are opting for home births assisted by midwives. What are the advantages of having a home birth?

Home birth

• The woman may feel more in control as she is in her own environment
• She has more privacy
• She will be assisted by the midwife of her choice
• It is cost-effective
• It can be a more relaxed and peaceful atmosphere
• There is no unnecessary intervention
• A woman may use natural ways of relieving pain
• She can have as many people present as she wishes to
• She is never separated from the baby
• There is less distraction
• An episiotomy can be avoided
• Birth is seen as a natural process rather than a “medical” event
• Older children don’t have to deal with the absence of their parents

Make sure that you are assisted by an experienced, qualified nurse/midwife or by a qualified physician. In case of a medical emergency, you should be within 20 minutes of the nearest hospital.

According to Dr Martin Puzey, Gynaecologist, a woman should be cleared as being a low risk case for home birth by her gynaecologist. “People tend to forget that giving birth is a very dangerous process and is a time in a woman’s life when things can go seriously wrong,” he says. “Many years ago, the first thing a father asked of the delivering doctor after the birth was ‘how’s my wife … did she survive the birth?’. If a woman has a high risk pregnancy, she should examine her alternatives.”

Hospital birth

You may want to consider the following advantages of a hospital birth:

• The baby can be delivered by an obstetrician
• There are different pain relief options available
• Hospitals are well equipped in case of emergency
• Breastfeeding clinics or lactation consultants are available in most hospitals

Would you opt for a hospital or a home birth? What influences your choice the most?

Source: http://www.parent24.com/Content/Baby/birth/132/b32d800a66d442759043d8f80165f1aa/16-02-2009-11-29/Home_or_hospital

Why Breastfeed?

Benefits for Mom:

• Uterus contracts more quickly after birth
• Breastfeeding releases calming hormones
• You are more likely to lose your pregnancy weight quicker
• Lowers the risk of breast, ovarian or cervical cancer

Benefits for Baby:

• Helps strengthen baby’s immunity
• Helps bonding between mother and baby
• Decreases risk of allergies in baby
• Provides the “right food” for baby’s daily needs (composition changes throughout the day)
• Decreases risk of stomach bugs, middle ear infections, respiratory disease, urinary infections than in bottle fed babies

What’s in Breastmilk?

Colostrum:

• Already present at birth
• Yellow and creamy, rich in protein
• Laxative effect clears meconium / reduces the risk of jaundice
• Gives baby antibodies so helps resistance to infection
• Baby takes small quantities for first 2-3 days then is replaced by milk, which “comes in” after the first few days

Mature breastmilk contains the perfect balance of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins for your baby, plus factors that help

• absorbtion of nutrients
• prevent infections
• develop baby’s gut
• maturation of baby’s immune system

How Does It Work?

Milk Supply:

• When baby is born, prolactin levels rise and stimulate the breasts to produce milk
• As baby feeds, breasts empty, brain gets a message to replace the milk, body releases prolactin which stimulates the breast to make more milk, so baby always has enough i.e. supply and demand
• If baby doesn’t feed well for some reason, milk supply will be affected
• Always get baby well positioned and allow to feed as long and as often as you desire or baby wants
• If you can’t breast feed for a time, express at baby’s feeding times to support your milk supply, so that you don’t run the risk of your supply decreasing or drying up

Milk Release – The Let Down Reflex

• When baby sucks at the breast, oxytocin is released. This causes the star-shaped muscle cells around the milk glands in the breast to contract and squeeze out the breast milk, called the “let down reflex”
• Foremilk is already present when baby starts to suck (before let down). Foremilk is blueish and thin and contains high protein, but low fat and thus can be drunk quickly and in high quantities.
• Hind milk is released with the let down reflex. Babies sucking slows down and thus baby takes in smaller quantities, but hind milk is higher in calories (fat) and thus it is the hind milk that satisfies babies hunger (the foremilk is thought to satisfy babies thirst).
• Sometimes a tingling sansation is felt by Mum at “let down”. What’s more, Mum can set it off just by relaxing and thinking of her baby!
• May make you feel ‘sexy’ (oxytocin is also released in lovemaking)!

Milk Composition – getting the right balance

• Varies throughout the day to suit baby’s needs
• Changes during the feed (foremilk / hindmilk)
• Baby will get a good balance if allowed to feed when she is hungry and to stay on the breast until he / she pulls off
• Let the baby finish one breast before offering the other. Alternate sides from one feed to the next feed – try to avoid favouring one side over the other
• Good positioning is essential to ensure baby feeds long enough to get to the hindmilk and to avoid supply complications
• Feeding times vary from baby to baby and with age and sometimes increase when baby is having a growth spurt (common every 3 weeks in the first few months)
• DON’T FEED UNLESS WELL POSITIONED!

Feeding

• Relax
• Have a glass of water handy; also tissues and a burp cloth and or nursing apron
• Be comfortable, undisturbed and uninhibited
• Breathe deeply and slowly
• Calm the baby first; hold baby close
• Position your baby nose to nipple, tummy to mummy, straight back and head (slightly tilted back)
• Make sure baby gets a good mouthful – latch her on as soon as her mouth opens wide
• Encourage feeding by stroking her lips with the nipple, if necessary
• Don’t put presssure on the breast (can block milk ducts)
• Bring baby to breast, not breast to baby

Source: National Childbirth Trust (NCT) Ante-natal Course (London, UK, Sept 2005) Republished by Peas in a Pod (SA)