How to knead and massage the breasts after childbirth?

How do I massage my breasts after childbirth?

Possible problems with your breasts after childbirth

Breastfeeding mothers can experience a number of problems related to their breasts. These include mechanical damage, lactastasis, mastitis and others. As a rule, mechanical damage can be avoided by following the rules of personal hygiene and properly attaching the baby to the breast. Problems related to stagnant milk are solved by physical action. As doing breast massage after childbirth is useful for the prevention and treatment of lactostasis (and it, in turn, can cause a more serious disease – mastitis), every woman should know the technique of its performance.

How to properly knead the breasts after childbirth: preparing for feeding?

Doctors recommend starting each feeding of the baby with a breast warm-up. This will help to relax and stimulate the release of milk. In order to understand how to warm up your breasts after delivery, you should know that all movements should be soft and not painful.

So, the warm-up before feeding will take only a few minutes. To do this, do the following:

1. Make several circular motions with the palm of your hand over the entire area of the breast.
2. Stroke the breast from the edges to the center (nipple).
3. Grasp the nipple with your fingers and alternately press it down and pull it back. This simulates baby sucking.
4. Slightly shake the breast so that the milk “falls off”; down, making room for the new one to secret.

Before kneading your breasts after delivery, you can take a warm shower. This will help dilate the ducts and reduce soreness when feeding.

How to properly massage the breasts after childbirth: performance technique

Breast massage after childbirth is used both for prevention and treatment of lactostasis. The prophylactic version consists of gentle stroking of the gland from the base to the nipple. It is recommended to do it as often as possible, especially before feeding the baby.

The therapeutic variant of massage is used for lactastasis. To understand how to properly develop the breast after childbirth, you need to follow the following instructions:

1. The massage begins with a warm-up: light stroking of the breast.
2. Then the stroking continues, but with more pressure. The pressure decreases as you move the palm to the nipple.
3. The nipples are massaged in any form, the main thing is not to cause yourself pain.
4. Leaning forward, you should shake your breast for a while.

In addition to how to massage the breasts after childbirth in the fight against lactastasis, a woman can perform these to stimulate the production of breast milk.

It is important to remember that you should not use a therapeutic massage technique without apparent reason. When there are no problems with lactation, it is enough just to knead the breast before feeding and follow the rules of correct attachment of the child to the breast. You can get recommendations on breastfeeding from the lactation consultant of the online breastfeeding course.

Before you start any kind of massage, you should wash your hands with soap and water. This is an important part of the procedure, because there is a high risk of getting an infection through mechanical damage and open gland ducts.

Other Breast Care Recommendations for Breastfeeding Mothers

In addition to how to massage the breasts after childbirth, it is important to perform other breastfeeding care procedures. This will help avoid many potential problems and make motherhood truly joyful.

First of all, it is important to choose the right underwear. If the bra is made from low-quality material, or chosen not in size and puts pressure on the breasts, this will lead to further problems. If the underwear is not well supported, there is a risk of mastoptosis.

You should not be too actively involved in hygiene of the breasts: you can wash the glands with soap only once a day. Otherwise, the nipples are washed off the protective lubricant, and they become susceptible to infections. In addition, it is unacceptable to use alcoholic liquids as a cleanser.

If there are any problems with the nipples, many of them can be solved by applying medical ointments and creams. They should be applied immediately after feeding, so that by the next time the cream is absorbed, and the baby did not suck it leftover with the milk.