What are breastfeeding aids?
The breastfeeding aids include a wide range of products designed to make breastfeeding easier for mothers or to support you in the process. Furthermore, certain aids can help to promote the flow of milk or prevent inflammation of the breast or nipple. Which aids are particularly suitable is an individual decision. However, many women benefit from one or the other “breastfeeding aid”, especially with their first child.
These tools are available
There is a wide range of aids for breastfeeding. In the age of the Internet, this offer has increased again, as products from abroad are now also being advertised. Among the most common breastfeeding aids are the following:
- Nursing pillow: A U-shaped looking pillow that is placed under the child during breastfeeding.
This provides good support for the child’s head, which can make breastfeeding easier for both mother and child.
- Nursing hat: These are mostly transparent silicone moulds that are placed on the nipple. They can be used for nursing problems or sore nipples
- Nursing pads: These are placed in the bra and are intended to protect both the clothes and the breast from milk leakage or to ensure dry breasts
- Breast pump: The breast pump is used to pump out the breast milk. It is a device that is operated either manually or electrically.
- Nipple Ointment: Sucking on the nipples can cause sensitive or sore nipples.
Special nipple ointments can help here, which promote the healing process of irritated skin.
- Nursing cloth: Nursing cloths cover the baby at the breast while drinking. They are often used when mothers move outside their own four walls. On the one hand, they can be used before “exposing” the bare breast in public, which some mothers find unpleasant, or as a shield for the baby from external stimuli.
- Breast milk bags: are bags for storing breast milk.
They are intended for single use and should be filled with milk and stored either in the refrigerator or the freezer.
- Nursing oil: oils with which the breast or nipple is rubbed. They are intended to improve milk flow and prevent milk congestion. There is a large selection of breastfeeding oils from many different suppliers.
- Breastfeeding tea: Certain types of tea or spice or herb mixtures have a stimulating effect on the mammary glands.
They can be drunk by mothers to stimulate milk production.
- Thermopads: are flat pillows that can be placed on the chest either cold or warm. The heat is intended to increase the flow of milk. Placing a cool pad on the breast is used to treat milk congestion or inflammation of the breast.
- Still Light: Special lights that can be set to different brightness levels.
They are especially popular at night. They are intended to create a pleasant nursing atmosphere.
Breastfeeding pillows are large U-shaped pillows that are intended to serve as a carpet pad for the child when breastfeeding. They help to keep the baby in the correct position and make breastfeeding easier for the mother.
Especially at the beginning or with the first baby, a nursing pillow can be a great support for the mother. Breastfeeding pillows can be bought in many baby accessory stores or on the Internet. Many women already use the pillow during pregnancy as a so-called “side sleeper pillow”.
Due to its multi-sided function, the nursing pillow is particularly popular among the aids for breastfeeding. Nursing pillows are small silicone moulds which are placed on the nipples for breastfeeding. There is a small opening in the middle which allows milk to escape.
Nipple shields can support mothers in whom breastfeeding does not “work” due to the shape of the nipple or causes pain due to a sore nipple. Nursing caps are available in different sizes, depending on the size and shape of the mother’s nipple. In addition to silicone moulds there are also breastfeeding caps made of rubber or latex.
Nursing caps belong to the aids that are highly controversial. Some midwives and mothers particularly appreciate them, others are against their use. Critics see a particular problem with failed breastfeeding attempts, which are often referred to as “out of breastfeeding hats”.
In their opinion, the failed attempts are often caused more by a “fitting problem” of the mother and less by the “wrong” nipple shape.For women whose milk flow is particularly pronounced, nursing pads can sometimes not offer “sufficient protection”. In this case, milk collection trays can be used. These are silicone moulds which are placed in the bra.
These can then collect the milk that is leaking out. The advantage of the cups is that they can be reused. However, they should be cleaned thoroughly after each use, and preferably sterilized to prevent the spread of germs.
If you have sore or sensitive nipples, you can also place breast cups in the bra to catch the escaping milk. They are particularly air-permeable due to the slits that have been inserted and are therefore particularly suitable for women with sensitive or irritated skin. The breast cups can be bought in many drugstores or baby stores.
Nursing pads are among the most frequently used aids for breastfeeding. The pads are placed in the bra and are designed to “suck” the leaking milk from the breast. On the one hand, the use of nursing pads prevents the clothes from getting wet and on the other hand, the breast and nipples are kept dry by absorbing the leaking milk.
The nursing pads can be purchased in drugstores or pharmacies. The breastpump is a device that is used either electrically or manually to pump the milk out of the breast. The reasons for using a breastpump can be many and varied: some women use it as part of an inflammation of the breast, a so-called mastitis, to empty the full breast.
Other mothers use it to create milk reserves that can be used even when the mother is not present. Nowadays there is a wide range of different breastpumps available in specialist shops or on the Internet. When warm, the thermal pads can stimulate the production of milk in the breast.
They are placed on the breast before breastfeeding. Furthermore the Thermopads can also be used cooled. Hereby the milk production is throttled.
Women who have a high milk production can use the cooling effect of the pads after breastfeeding to prevent milk congestion. Like tea, lactation oil also contains vegetable ingredients such as fennel, caraway or aniseed which are said to have a positive effect on milk production. The oil is massaged in in circular movements to stimulate milk production.
It is important that the nipples are recessed to prevent the oil from being absorbed orally (through the mouth) when breastfeeding the child. Breastfeeding teas contain special herbs, such as aniseed, fennel or caraway, which have a stimulating effect on the mother’s milk production. Women can take advantage of the stimulating effect of the herbal helpers by drinking about 2-3 cups of the tea a day while breastfeeding.
However, we advise against drinking more than three cups a day, as too much breastfeeding tea can also lead to an over-stimulation of milk production. Breast milk bags are used to store breast milk. They can be labeled after filling and should then be stored in a cool place, either in a refrigerator or freezer.
Apart from the glass containers, the breast milk bags are intended for single use only. After use they must always be disposed of. Some of the breast milk bags can be connected directly to a breastpump, so that the subsequent decanting of breast milk is not necessary.
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