Understanding need of Breastmilk feeding for health of baby, mother and body image

Right after birth the baby is placed on Mommy's bare breast. It knows instinctively to latch on and starts sucking. Mommy's breast feels so good and soft! During the following weeks, baby feeds very often, even several times during the same hour. Baby sleeps with Mom so it feels secure and Mom is able to watch baby closely and feed the baby easily. Mother and baby get used to breastfeeding and learn the right positions with the help of friends and other supportive people. Other women help the mother with breastfeeding problems if they arise. Baby and mother grow to love each other a lot and enjoy the closeness of breastfeeding. Breast gives baby comfort as well as food - and thereby baby grows well and is very happy. Baby does not need security blankets or pacifiers - it uses Mommy's soft and cuddly two breasts instead! Somewhere along the way solid foods are introduced, but baby continues to nurse, too. Even during the toddler years the little child nurses here and there, especially when going to sleep or during times of stress.

Nursings get less and less, being only a few times a week. Finally the child weans itself willingly, without getting any emotional trauma from leaving its 'security blanket' behind. Sounds ideal... and it is, but in reality breastfeeding is not always this easy! Fortunately breastfeeding rates have slowly been increasing since the 1990s.

Bottle-feeding is perceived as the norm. People simply live in a bottle-feeding culture. It is very unusual to see a breastfeeding mother, and even more unusual to see a mother nursing a toddler or an older child. Television, books, and media usually show a baby with a bottle, not a baby at its mother's breast. Little girls grow up perceiving formula-feeding as the norm.

Breastfeeding is natural but not instinctive. It needs to be learned. However, it is hard to learn about breastfeeding in a bottle-feeding culture. Mother thinks breastfeeding is yucky or indecent. Breasts are to feed babies - if that was not so, why do breasts start making milk after mother gives birth. There is nothing indecent about feeding your baby. Think about a cat mother feeding her kitties, or a dog feeding her puppies. Everybody just thinks that is cute and natural - the same is true for humans feeding their babies.

Multiplicity, Abuse & Healing network

One out of every five women has been sexually abused during childhood. There are wide reactions to past sexual abuse: some women who have been sexually abused cannot tolerate the thought of breastfeeding while others find breastfeeding as a healing experience. Especially difficult situations include: night-time feedings since the night remind the mother of earlier abuse; and feeding an older infant who plays with the breast and smiles at it. These mothers may benefit from extra support of those around her or from mental health professionals, from partial pumping/bottle feeding, and from extra reassurance to know what is normal behavior by the baby and how to redirect baby's behavior. On the other hand, breastfeeding can actually reduce child abuse and abandonment by mothers.

Unfortunately many husbands think woman's breasts are sexual organs, so they can become jealous over the nursing mom's breasts, or start thinking that the baby is doing something indecent and pervert when it feeds. Breastfeeding is not a sexual act but simply a feeding act. It can be pleasurable to the mother, but it is not sensual pleasure, just a good feeling of being close to your baby.

Since bottle feeding was the norm in the near past, often a new mom's own mother and other relatives know very little about breastfeeding or even have negative experiences, and cannot support her. In fact, she might hear all kinds of undermining comments from ignorant people who don't understand the breastfeeding process. If that happens, you can try to explain to them in a nice way what the facts are.
Some doctors promotes the infant formula, so won't really encourage the woman to breastfeed, or simply won't influence the mother in for breastfeeding. While there are many pediatricians and obstetricians who do strongly support and speak for breastfeeding. A majority of pediatricians believe that breastfeeding and formula feeding are equally acceptable methods for feeding infants. Physicians and nurses routinely receive gifts, office supplies, meals, a year's supply of free infant formula for themselves or a relative and even pricey vacations from the infant-formula marketing representatives who haunt their offices. "Women also need to know about the very real 'risks' of bottle-feeding, including higher morbidity and mortality during childhood, and poorer emotional and cognitive development."

Problems in breastfeeding. These include sore nipples, milk supply problems, thrush, infections, etc. By far most of the breastfeeding problems are solvable with adequate information and support. One of the usual initial problems is sore nipples, or simply pain while nursing. That is very common, and usually subsides after few days. Just hang in there, make sure the positioning is right and baby has a good latch. It will get easier later and you'll be glad for your decision.

Breastfeeding works best when baby is put to the breast very soon after birth, and is allowed to feed as frequently as she wants - 'demand feeding'. Mother's milk supply is built up by the frequent feeding (which may mean every 30 minutes to every two hours), and this is important especially in the beginning. But wrong ideas about 'nursing schedules' still persist, based on bottle-fed babies' needs. Not feeding frequently can lead to low milk supply.

Another pitfall is that many women don't understand the danger of supplemental formula in regards to the "demand=supply" principle of milk production. The more formula you give to your baby in addition to breast milk, the less milk your breasts produce. Formula companies know this, and that is why they are so eager to give you free samples from every direction.

Even though breastfeeding in public is perfectly in any place where the mother and baby would otherwise be allowed, women have had to leave swimming pools, supermarkets, restaurants, malls etc., or they have been told to nurse in the bathroom. Since breasts are perceived as 'sexual', it is often hard for women to be brave enough to breastfeed in public because they fear other people's attitudes about exposing their breasts. Because of the general attitudes about breastfeeding and of breasts, many women won't feel totally free and at ease when nursing in public, but in reality most mothers, when they get over the initial fears, find that the general public doesn't pay that much attention to the act, for the most part. People can almost seem to avoid watching the nursing mother in order to not make her feel uncomfortable. In fact, if someone appears to be watching, it may very well be that the person is just plain curious to see this precious moment of mother nurturing her child.

Many people think that breastfeeding is only for the first couple of months of an infant's life, or mostly up to year. Experts don't agree with this. World Health Organization (WHO) recommends breastfeeding to 2 years of age, "Exclusive breastfeeding is ideal nutrition and sufficient to support optimal growth and development for approximately the first 6 months after birth." "It is recommended that breastfeeding continue for at least 12 months, and thereafter for as long as mutually desired." In many other cultures worldwide and in most of the history children weaned even much later. Many women in the world do let children self-wean, and those allowed doing so, usually weaning between 2 and 5 years of age. The benefits of breastfeeding don't stop at any age. Many people think little children need to drink cow's milk - how much better it is when toddlers can get human milk with just the right nutrients for humans!

Society does not give mothers a long maternity leave or otherwise encourage mothers to stay at home so breastfeeding would be easier. Nor is it common to find facilities at the workplace for pumping, though this seems to be on the increase. So even though the best solution would of course be if women could stay home longer, you can still pump breast milk while at work, and continue normal nursing when at home, or possibly arrange your baby to be brought to you at certain hours, if that is feasible. Breastfeeding doesn't have to end just because you return to work after maternity leave.

One of the most influential reasons why women fail to breastfeed is because infant formula companies use the most aggressive and insinuative forms of advertising. From early pregnancy, mothers are bombarded by "friendly" formula companies who send free coupons and samples to expectant and new mothers. When signing up for baby clubs, mothers who are planning to breastfeed are placed on the target list of infant formula companies. Carefully mailed formula encouragers arrive before Baby's birth, in the take-home bag from the hospital and again when the baby is around 6 weeks old. In fact, formula manufacturers have no idea exactly how close their product is to breast milk because new ingredients and properties of breast milk are discovered every year. And even among those elements of human milk of which science is already aware, today's infant formula still doesn't measure up. Breast milk contains hundreds of known ingredients and elements which have not been -- or cannot be -- added to infant formula at this time. Such promotional material comes in the form of formula giveaways, patient "educational literature" produced by the formula companies and even free baby equipment such as diaper bags. Mothers who take counseling programs are much more likely to try breastfeeding and continue for longer.

The danger with supplementing breastfeeding with formula is that a mother's milk production is a supply=demand situation. So when she gives the baby some formula, her own milk production will diminish accordingly. Formula companies know that well, and that is the main reason for giving the free samples: once a mother gets started with formula, her milk supply starts going down, and it is so easy then to just keep giving more formula, more formula, etc.

Now, it is certainly possible to also increase one's milk supply with the right measures - mainly by nursing and pumping more and more often, which increases milk production. But new moms need to be aware of how breastfeeding works and how formula companies try to take advantage of them so they don't fall prey to this milk supply situation.

Most all of these problems can be avoided if the mother has adequate support and is well-informed about breastfeeding! Though it is natural, breastfeeding success is not automatic. If you are pregnant and planning to breastfeed, study as much as you can, attend classes, and make a list of support people, lactation consultants, phone numbers, internet addresses etc. where you can find help should some breastfeeding problem emerge. Being informed and getting help from the professionals can help you to overcome the small, but common breastfeeding problems in the beginning. Breastfeeding does not have to be difficult! The greatest obstacle for breastfeeding is misinformation and lack of support.

If women have encouragement from their culture, from their mom, their father, their girlfriends, their husband, they tend to breastfeed very successfully and very naturally. But in our culture, in spite of the fact that doctors promote it, it really isn't accepted. They've been asked to leave out of malls for breastfeeding. A new mother who, opened her blouse to breastfeed her baby, and her father said, "That's disgusting," and walked out of the room.

By Adolescence Educator