Some children become hungry quite soon after a feed and...

Some children become hungry quite soon after a feed and others take more time for the same. Careful mothers are very observant and they take care to design an ideal schedule of feeding for their children in consultation with experts. Whenever milk is given to the baby, care has to be taken that it is fully satisfied with the feed. But mothers must carefully observe that the newborn babies fall asleep while feeding on their breasts.

In such instances they may not be fully fed and the mother has to gently strike the back of the child that it wakes up and completes its feed. When the complete program of feeding the child is prepared it must be put to practice very carefully. The gaps between the feeds must be strictly adhered to. In between two scheduled feeds the child must not be given the milk even if it cries. This task needs patience and firmness on the part of the mother to ensure that the child gets used to the regime.

Then the child will awake automatically at the scheduled time to receive its feed. Patience and forbearance will become a part of the nature of such children. The feeding schedule of the children must be prepared in such a way that from midnight to dawn there is no need of feeding it. When the child takes to this habit, both the mother and the child will have a good night’s rest. The breasts must be cleaned with a little cotton wool after every feed.

This is essential for the health and hygiene and will also prevent the chance of injury to the breast. When a child suckles the mother’s milk some air too enters its digestive tract and makes it uneasy. Therefore, after every feed the child has to be raised a little and its back is gently tapped to see that the air comes out of its digestive system. The suckling baby should be fed from both the breasts of the mother.

This should be done to avoid drying of the milk, which can result in the pain of the breast. One lady says, ”Imam as-Sadiq told to me,’ do not feed your child only from one of your breasts to ensure that it gets complete food.’”[^4] The lactating mothers should take care that they do not perform very tiring physical tasks and avoid spells of anger. This is advised because such events can affect their capacity to produce milk, which ultimately is bad for the child.

[^1]: Mustdarak al-wasail, v3, p. 82 [^2]: Ruwan shinasi kudak, p. 224 [^3]: Dar Tarbiat, p. 78 [^4]: Wasail al-shiah, v15, p. 176 Previous…