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- Modern
formulas are almost the same as breastmilk.
Not true! The same
claim was made in 1900 and before. Modern formulas are only
superficially similar to breastmilk. Every correction of a
deficiency in formulas is advertised as an advance. Fundamentally
they are inexact copies based on outdated and incomplete knowledge
of what breastmilk is. Formulas contain no antibodies, no living
cells, no enzymes, no hormones. They contain much more aluminum,
manganese, calcmium and iron than breastmilk. They contain
significantly more protein than breastmilk. The proteins and fats
are fundamentally different from those in breastmilk. Formulas do
not vary from the beginning of the feed to the end of the feed, or
from day 1 to day 7 to day 30, or from woman to woman, or from baby
to baby... Your breastmilk is made as required to suit your baby.
Formulas are made to suit every baby, and thus no baby. Formulas
succeed only at making babies grow well, but there is more
to breastfeeding than getting the baby to grow quickly.
-
Not true! Or, this should not be true. However,
breastfeeding is made difficult because women often do not
receive the help they should to get started properly. A
poor start can indeed make breastfeeding difficult. But a
poor start can also be overcome. Breastfeeding is often
more difficult at first, due to a poor start, but usually
becomes easier after the first month. "It took me
six weeks!"
-
Not true! The vast majority of women produce more
than enough milk. Indeed, an overabundance of milk is
common. Most babies that gain too slowly, or lose weight,
do so not because the mother does not have enough milk,
but because the baby does not get the milk that the mother
has. The usual reason that the baby does not get the milk
that is available is that he is poorly latched onto the
breast. This is why it is so important that the mother be
shown, on the first day, how to latch a baby on
properly, by someone who knows what they are doing.
-
Not true! Though
this is individual . . . some tenderness during the first
few days is relatively common, this should be a temporary
situation which lasts only a few days and should never be
so bad that the mother dreads nursing. Any pain that is
more than mild is abnormal and is almost always due to the
baby latching on poorly. Any nipple pain that is not
getting better by day 3 or 4 or lasts beyond 5 or 6 days
should not be ignored. A new onset of pain when things
have been going well for a while may be due to a yeast
infection of the nipples. Limiting feeding time does not
prevent soreness.
-
Not true! It often seems like that because the baby
is not latched on properly and therefore is unable to get
the milk. Once the mother's milk is abundant, a baby can
latch on poorly and still may get plenty of milk. However,
during the first few days, the baby who is latched on
poorly cannot get milk. This accounts for "but he's
been on the breast for 2 hours and is still hungry when I
take him off". By not latching on well, the baby is
unable to get the mother's first milk, called colostrum.
Anyone who suggests you pump your milk to know how much
colostrum there is, does not understand breastfeeding, and
should be politely ignored.
-
Not true! However, a distinction needs to be made
between "being on the breast" and "breastfeeding".
If a baby is actually drinking for most of 15-20
minutes on the first side, he may not want to take the
second side at all. If he drinks only a minute on the
first side, and then nibbles or sleeps, and does the same
on the other, no amount of time will be enough. The baby
will breastfeed better and longer if he is latched on
properly. He can also be helped to breastfeed longer
if the mother compresses the breast to keep the flow of
milk going, once he no longer swallows on his own (Handout
#15 Breast Compression). Thus it is obvious that
the rule of thumb that "the baby gets 90% of the milk
in the breast in the first 10 minutes" is equally
hopelessly wrong.
-
Not true! But it depends how you look at it. A
baby can be nursed anywhere, anytime, and thus
breastfeeding is liberating for the mother. No need
to drag around bottles or formula. No need to worry about
where to warm up the milk. No need to worry about
sterility. No need to worry about how your baby is,
because he is with you.
-
Not true! There is no easy way to measure how
much the baby is getting, but this does not mean that you
cannot know if the baby is getting enough. The best way to
know is that the baby actually drinks at the breast for
several minutes at each feeding (open—pause—close
type of suck). Other ways also help show that the baby is
getting plenty of wet and soil diapers/nappies. A baby
that is still passing meconium (dark tar-like) stools on
day five needs to be seen by a lactation consultant or
doctor on the same day.
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