Today I want to talk about some of the common myths associated with breastfeeding that can make it difficult for some mums to relax about their feeding and their baby. As a Lactation Consultant and as a midwife I find I am dealing with these myths on a daily basis.
To begin with I would like to touch a little on the recent history of breastfeeding. By looking at what has happened in the last century or more to infant feeding, we can understand more fully how people have become confused about breastfeeding and how so many myths have occurred.
To understand where we are now, we need to go back in time more that 150 years when the Industrial Revolution was in full swing. It was an extremely innovative time in history and there was a sudden improvement in standards of living and every day comfort as a result. Products that we all now take for granted, like reliable sources of heat and light and indoor plumbing, were widely available for the first time to ordinary people. Science was also making huge advances, especially in the health industry, with the discovery of the germ theory of infection, antibiotics were saving lives, and anaesthesia was invented. Many traditional methods of health and healing were seen as out of step with the new science and the old ways of doing things suddenly seemed out of place in the new technological age……including breastfeeding!!!
For the first time in the history of mankind, scientists and doctors became involved in the formally “secret women’s business” of infant feeding and parenting. The midwives, which literally means “with woman”, were replaced by scientists and doctors advising mothers not to spoil their babies with affection, to provide them with a clean and sterile environment, and to use a strict schedule for everything from eating to sleeping to toilet training.
It wasn’t long before the scientists had developed man-made baby milk. They called it “formula” in reference to its scientific origins and actually came to believe that it was better for babies than their own mother’s milk. It was easy to tell just how much a baby was taking and therefore feeding could be regulated and monitored in a precise way. It all sounded great but in reality in the 1920’s researchers found that babies fed with these nonhuman milks were far sicker than their breastfed counterparts. Luckily for us, huge steps forward have been made in the production of formula for our babies today and it is a safe alternative to breastfeeding now.
While these steps were being made to make formula safe for our babies a lot of research was also being done on breast milk and its various properties and the more you read about it the more you will be amazed at its make-up. As a Midwife and a Lactation Consultant I am obviously passionate about breastfeeding and breast milk but I don’t like to “ram” it down my client’s throats, so to speak, but rather make sure that I am giving all mothers an informed choice and consistent advice.
Consistency is the key here and I have so many mums complain to me that they have had “conflicting advice” given to them regarding breastfeeding in general, especially in the early days. My response is always this:
1. After you have had a baby you are very tired and overwhelmed.
2. During your hospital stay you have the potential of meeting and being cared for by up to 12 different midwives.
3. All the midwives are different people with different caring styles and different approaches to a problem or question that you may have.
4. Every day in hospital is different from the last and your baby’s behaviour is changing from hour to hour.
5. All advice and suggestions are good and are given with the best of intentions….some may just work better for you than others. Take it all on board and sort through which suggestions you like and which you do not.
6. Just getting pregnant seems to give the wider community license to advise new parents with their thoughts on the subject, usually gathered from personal experience.
Here are some of the more common myths that I have gathered in my personal data base over the years:
Myth 1.: Mothers with fair skin and fair or red hair will get sore nipples
Answer: False. The main reason for sore nipples is a poorly attached baby who is “nipple” feeding and not “breast” feeding. A deeper latch is required.
Myth 2.: If a baby is fed too frequently, the nipples will get sore.
Answer: False. No matter how often a baby asks to be fed (and that can be very frequently, especially in the early days), if the baby is properly attached the nipples will not become sore.
Myth 3.: A newborn baby needs to spend a certain amount of time each day asleep in the cot.
Answer: False. A newborn baby does not need to spend any time separated from its parents. Infant humans are born, in fact, only half way through their gestational period. This is so that the human baby’s head can fit through the mother’s pelvis. It takes a good nine months for the brain to grow to its full size and by that time it would definitely not fit through. Babies need lots of love and lots of feeding in the early days and for them to be alone is sometimes a stressful thing for them. By nature, they will call out to you to please come and be with them and that way they know instinctively that everything will be alright.
Myth 4.: Rotating the position of the baby on the breast will help to drain different areas of the breast.
Answer: False. This is a really recent myth but it has been proven that no amount of changing your baby’s position on the breast will help with breast drainage. Just get comfortable. The best way to help drain your breast is to relax so that the let-down occurs, and then you can try some breast massage or compression.
Myth 5: Using a nipple shield will give the baby wind.
Answer: False. When a baby is attached correctly, whether on a shield or not, there is no opportunity for the introduction of air in to the feeding process.
Myth 6: Nipple shields compromise milk supply.
Answer: False. There is no evidence that a nipple shield affects the milk supply. As long as the breast is properly drained, and sometimes the nipple shield can help this to occur, the milk will be replaced. Remember the important concept…..the more you take, the more you make. There can be some negative press about nipple shields but I think that they have a use in the scheme of things and if a shield is needed for breastfeeding to continue, then I support their use. Most mothers will wean from the shield eventually but they may need help with this process from a health professional.
Myth 7: Babies feed four hourly.
Answer: False. Some babies may, in fact, feed every four hours and you may have even been advised to wake your newborn to feed at the four hour point if it is still asleep. The recommended minimum amount of feeds per 24 hours is 6. The reality of a breastfed baby is more like 8 to 12 feeds per 24 hours. The “gastric emptying” time of a breastfed baby is up to twice as fast as a formula fed baby as the breast milk is the most easily digested food available in the world. Forty minutes after a feed of breast milk the baby can have an empty stomach and need another feed. I find that if parents are aware of this fact and relax into it, they find the whole process easier to deal with. The stress levels become very high if the expectation is feeding four hourly and the reality is more like every two or three hours.
To understand the normal physiology behind a newborn baby, and to then relax into parenthood due to that understanding, to me makes a lot of sense. If your newborn cries, pick it up, feed it, love it, throw away your clock, “tell” your newborn that it is safe in your arms and there is no need to stress.
Happy parenting.
To begin with I would like to touch a little on the recent history of breastfeeding. By looking at what has happened in the last century or more to infant feeding, we can understand more fully how people have become confused about breastfeeding and how so many myths have occurred.
To understand where we are now, we need to go back in time more that 150 years when the Industrial Revolution was in full swing. It was an extremely innovative time in history and there was a sudden improvement in standards of living and every day comfort as a result. Products that we all now take for granted, like reliable sources of heat and light and indoor plumbing, were widely available for the first time to ordinary people. Science was also making huge advances, especially in the health industry, with the discovery of the germ theory of infection, antibiotics were saving lives, and anaesthesia was invented. Many traditional methods of health and healing were seen as out of step with the new science and the old ways of doing things suddenly seemed out of place in the new technological age……including breastfeeding!!!
For the first time in the history of mankind, scientists and doctors became involved in the formally “secret women’s business” of infant feeding and parenting. The midwives, which literally means “with woman”, were replaced by scientists and doctors advising mothers not to spoil their babies with affection, to provide them with a clean and sterile environment, and to use a strict schedule for everything from eating to sleeping to toilet training.
It wasn’t long before the scientists had developed man-made baby milk. They called it “formula” in reference to its scientific origins and actually came to believe that it was better for babies than their own mother’s milk. It was easy to tell just how much a baby was taking and therefore feeding could be regulated and monitored in a precise way. It all sounded great but in reality in the 1920’s researchers found that babies fed with these nonhuman milks were far sicker than their breastfed counterparts. Luckily for us, huge steps forward have been made in the production of formula for our babies today and it is a safe alternative to breastfeeding now.
While these steps were being made to make formula safe for our babies a lot of research was also being done on breast milk and its various properties and the more you read about it the more you will be amazed at its make-up. As a Midwife and a Lactation Consultant I am obviously passionate about breastfeeding and breast milk but I don’t like to “ram” it down my client’s throats, so to speak, but rather make sure that I am giving all mothers an informed choice and consistent advice.
Consistency is the key here and I have so many mums complain to me that they have had “conflicting advice” given to them regarding breastfeeding in general, especially in the early days. My response is always this:
1. After you have had a baby you are very tired and overwhelmed.
2. During your hospital stay you have the potential of meeting and being cared for by up to 12 different midwives.
3. All the midwives are different people with different caring styles and different approaches to a problem or question that you may have.
4. Every day in hospital is different from the last and your baby’s behaviour is changing from hour to hour.
5. All advice and suggestions are good and are given with the best of intentions….some may just work better for you than others. Take it all on board and sort through which suggestions you like and which you do not.
6. Just getting pregnant seems to give the wider community license to advise new parents with their thoughts on the subject, usually gathered from personal experience.
Here are some of the more common myths that I have gathered in my personal data base over the years:
Myth 1.: Mothers with fair skin and fair or red hair will get sore nipples
Answer: False. The main reason for sore nipples is a poorly attached baby who is “nipple” feeding and not “breast” feeding. A deeper latch is required.
Myth 2.: If a baby is fed too frequently, the nipples will get sore.
Answer: False. No matter how often a baby asks to be fed (and that can be very frequently, especially in the early days), if the baby is properly attached the nipples will not become sore.
Myth 3.: A newborn baby needs to spend a certain amount of time each day asleep in the cot.
Answer: False. A newborn baby does not need to spend any time separated from its parents. Infant humans are born, in fact, only half way through their gestational period. This is so that the human baby’s head can fit through the mother’s pelvis. It takes a good nine months for the brain to grow to its full size and by that time it would definitely not fit through. Babies need lots of love and lots of feeding in the early days and for them to be alone is sometimes a stressful thing for them. By nature, they will call out to you to please come and be with them and that way they know instinctively that everything will be alright.
Myth 4.: Rotating the position of the baby on the breast will help to drain different areas of the breast.
Answer: False. This is a really recent myth but it has been proven that no amount of changing your baby’s position on the breast will help with breast drainage. Just get comfortable. The best way to help drain your breast is to relax so that the let-down occurs, and then you can try some breast massage or compression.
Myth 5: Using a nipple shield will give the baby wind.
Answer: False. When a baby is attached correctly, whether on a shield or not, there is no opportunity for the introduction of air in to the feeding process.
Myth 6: Nipple shields compromise milk supply.
Answer: False. There is no evidence that a nipple shield affects the milk supply. As long as the breast is properly drained, and sometimes the nipple shield can help this to occur, the milk will be replaced. Remember the important concept…..the more you take, the more you make. There can be some negative press about nipple shields but I think that they have a use in the scheme of things and if a shield is needed for breastfeeding to continue, then I support their use. Most mothers will wean from the shield eventually but they may need help with this process from a health professional.
Myth 7: Babies feed four hourly.
Answer: False. Some babies may, in fact, feed every four hours and you may have even been advised to wake your newborn to feed at the four hour point if it is still asleep. The recommended minimum amount of feeds per 24 hours is 6. The reality of a breastfed baby is more like 8 to 12 feeds per 24 hours. The “gastric emptying” time of a breastfed baby is up to twice as fast as a formula fed baby as the breast milk is the most easily digested food available in the world. Forty minutes after a feed of breast milk the baby can have an empty stomach and need another feed. I find that if parents are aware of this fact and relax into it, they find the whole process easier to deal with. The stress levels become very high if the expectation is feeding four hourly and the reality is more like every two or three hours.
To understand the normal physiology behind a newborn baby, and to then relax into parenthood due to that understanding, to me makes a lot of sense. If your newborn cries, pick it up, feed it, love it, throw away your clock, “tell” your newborn that it is safe in your arms and there is no need to stress.
Happy parenting.