Our Baby News

Breast cancer is the second leading cause behind cancer deaths in the world.

Interestingly, approximately 2.4 million women are detected with this terminal disease in USA. In fact, it is most commonly detected cancer among women, apart from skin cancer, that account for one death in every 4 death in the US.

The risk is getting higher by the day.

However, there are ways to curb it and you can start working on them immediately.

Maintaining a healthy BMI (Body Mass index) is the first step towards the prevention.

Plan on your diet carefully, which should include appropriate amount of fats, carbohydrates, and whole food like soy milk, roasted soy nuts, miso and more.

Restrict intake of alcohol since it magnifies the risk of breast cancer. Regular exercise can also reduce the chances of breast cancer.

  Types of Breast Cancer
Breast Cancers can be divided into four types based on the location they occur and whether it is a local one or not.

Breast cancer is a complex disease, and many things contribute to it. The following points explain some other things you can do to help prevent breast cancer.

Breast cancer prevention:
Loading your plate with a rainbow of fruits and veggies is the foundation of a breast cancer prevention diet, and these same food choices can also help you live better after a breast cancer diagnosis.

8 Foods for Breast Cancer Prevention

• Broccoli: Sulforaphane—a compound in broccoli—reduced the number of breast cancer stem cells (which cause cancer spread and recurrence) in mice, according to research from the University of Michigan.
• Salmon: Taking fish-oil supplements for at least 10 years can shrink your risk of ductal carcinoma, the most common type of breast cancer, according to a study in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. It’s thought that the omega-3 fats in fish oil reduce inflammation, which may contribute to breast cancer. 
• Olive Oil: Another reason to reach for extra-virgin olive oil:

You may think you know everything there is to know about breasts, but they have a whole colorful history beyond pink ribbons and mammograms. Here, weird, and fascinating breast facts.

Unusual Lumps

Milk-filled breasts after pregnancy tend to have a texture that is uniformly bumpy, but these lumps are small. Unusual lumps, on the other hand, are most often pea-sized or larger, may be painful and can be found either near the surface of the breast or deep within the tissue. They may move or be stationary.

Symptoms Women Should Never Ignore

Got a headache that won’t subside, a tummy ache that won’t taper, or experiencing pain instead of pleasure during sex? Don’t downplay it — take heed of these potentially harmful symptoms.

Your breast milk, which provides antibodies and immunity for the baby, also protects your skin from infection.

However, the constant skin trauma from frequent nursing (especially during those growth spurts!) may create small fissures, or cracks, which allow bacteria to invade.

Once under the skin, they grow and grow, and eventually your body sends in white blood cells to fight off the infection.

This is known as mastitis. It is more common in the first weeks of breastfeeding, before the skin of the areola has a chance to toughen up. Signs of mastitis are extreme tenderness when feeding and redness surrounding the areola, extending into the breast.

 The areola also feels warmer and firmer than the surrounding skin. (The four cardinal signs of infection, as taught in med school axe”rubor, tumor, dolor, color”, or redness, swelling, pain, and heat. Sounds more elegant in Latin, doesn’t it?)

Now that you are finally using your breasts for their other biological purpose, (ask any anthropologist: they exist to attract a mate) you need to be aware of the pitfalls of breastfeeding:

The breast is a collection of milk sacs attached to ducts that empty at the nipple.

Sometimes these ducts become blocked, and the milk backs up in the sacs, causing moderately painful lumps.

Breast lumps that develop during nursing are almost always the result of blocked ducts and are completely benign.

They resolve with proper care, which essentially involves allowing the milk to flow. Massaging the area helps.

A tight bra may put too much pressure on a duct, adding to the problem.

More effective is allowing the baby to nurse from the affected side and then emptying the breast with a pump afterward if baby has not done so.

A breast pump has to perform a couple of jobs: It has to empty the breast completely, which means that it also has to stimulate lactation, and it must be easy to keep clean and uncontaminated.

A hand pump is the simplest system: two cylinders that fit inside one another and a flange to cover the nipple and areola.

Repeatedly pulling on the outer cylinder creates a vacuum that draws milk and simultaneously acts as a reservoir. It is portable and easily cleaned, but it is labor intensive.

Electrical or battery pumps are more efficient than hand pumps. They can be set up to work on both breasts at once, with less arm work, and can generally produce an equivalent volume of milk over a shorter period of time.

But the energy (and time) you save in pumping will be spent in cleaning more tubes and collection bottles.