Making plans for breastfeeding is the best way to ensure success. Planning while pregnant for nursing success can help a new mother prevent common obstacles that can lead to premature weaning. Exclusive breastfeeding, early initiation and breastfeeding on demand are just three of several ways a mom can plan for success.
Initiate Breastfeeding Right After Childbirth
During the first hour after childbirth, an infant is being imprinted with the sights, sounds and sensations of life outside the womb. Breastfeeding not only helps the baby but the mother as well. According to Alicia Dermer, MD, IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant), who authored the article “A Well-Kept Secret: Breastfeeding's Benefits to Mothers,“ published in the Breastfeeding Annual 2001 when mother nurses following birth, it helps her body release oxytocin, a hormone that prevents postpartum hemorrhage and aids in the detachment of the placenta. Immediate nursing helps a mother recover from childbirth faster. Dermer also says that breastfeeding mothers are less likely to develop postpartum depression because a suckling infant stimulates a hormonal reaction (oxytocin and prolactin) in mothers that helps foster a sense of well being, and helps stimulate maternal bonding.
Most baby-centered caregivers will make sure that the baby is placed in the mother's arms immediately at birth. Women who have a successful early nursing relationship often attribute it to constant contact with their newborns in a safe, comfortable environment.
Plan to Breastfeed Exclusively
Exclusive breastfeeding means that the infant only receives her mother's milk without any additional food or drink, not even water. Many hospital nurseries have a policy that all babies be required to drink a bottle of artificial milk in the nursery. Often this happens without the mother's knowledge. It's important for a pregnant woman to learn what the policy is at their hospital and how best to opt out.
Exclusive breastfeeding in the early days ensures that the mother develops a healthy milk supply and that baby gets all of the colostrums, in an article entitled “Yes! Just ‘one’ bottle of formula will hurt.” Currently available at the advocacy site www.got-breastmilk.org, Ann Calandro RNC, IBCLC explains that colostrum is a pre-milk substance that serves to give baby's stomach and intestines a healthy enzymatic coating and offers tons of antibodies to kick-start baby's immune system. Calandro also says that babies aren't born hungry so they do not have a need for caloric food at birth, and offering artificial milk products is not necessary.
The La Leche League International supports these facts in their “Stomach Capacity of the Newborn” found in “What is Colostrum?” on their website. As the baby suckles at the postpartum breast, milk production is stimulated, and over a few days, milk slowly begins to replace colostrums. During the first week baby's appetite begins to develop. One of the first lessons a baby learns is that instinctive suckling brings food.
During breastfeeding, the infant's jaws and tongue are aligned in a very specific way. Brian Palmer, DDS said at the July 2007 La Leche League International Conference that this alignment prevents dental malocclusion. Suckling from an artificial nipple doesn't require such sophisticated action and can actually "spoil" a child away from the breast.
At the same conference, Christine Smillie MD, FAAP, IBCLC reminds participants that exclusive breastfeeding for at least six weeks ensures that the baby is proficient at nursing and helps mom’s body produce the perfect amount of milk for her child.
Plan to Breastfeed on demand:
Nursing on demand means that instead of imposing an arbitrary schedule upon the infant, mothers are instructed to feed the child when he is hungry. Sensible adults feed themselves when they are hungry, and expecting an infant to conform to an arbitrary schedule is therefore inhumane. After a few weeks of life outside of the womb, human babies' bodies naturally develop a rhythm of hunger, sleep, and wakeful time. Experienced mothers know that instead of fighting with the instinctive needs of a newborn, it is best to go with their flow, and allow them to sleep and eat according to their body's own requirements.
Trying to feed a baby that isn't hungry yet is an unnecessary pursuit that leaves mothers and babies frustrated. Forcing a screaming baby to wait to eat is equally frustrating for the infant and its mother, and can have harmful psychological effects upon the baby such as feelings of abandonment.
Dr. Brazy at Duke University and Ludington-Hoe and colleagues at Case Western University showed in 2 separate studies how prolonged crying in infants causes increased blood pressure in the brain, elevates stress hormones, obstructs blood from draining out of the brain, and decreases oxygenation to the brain. They concluded that caregivers should answer baby’s cries quickly every time. Additionally, a baby that has been traumatized by the stress of abandonment often has little energy left for suckling.
Many mothers attempt to use pacifiers to delay mealtimes, but this, too can be a mistake. Becky Flora, BSed, IBCLC points out in her essay entitled “Hidden Hindrances to a Healthy Milk Supply” that the use of pacifiers in infants can have a negative effect upon mother's milk supply. A mother's body produces milk according to the demands of a suckling baby. Less suckling at the breast means less milk is produced. Wasting a newborns sucking instinct by applying it to a pacifier or bottle can lead to milk supply problems in the mother.
Plan for a Breastfeeding Support Professional:
Many modern mothers were raised in a time when the nutritional and psychological benefits of breastfeeding weren't well known. As a consequence, it is rare that a woman can call her own mother for breastfeeding advice or support. The second choice for many women would be their pediatrician, but U.S. pediatricians aren't trained in lactation support and a large percentage of them are men.
Vincent Iannelli, MD writes in an About.com article “Breastfeeding Support; Where to get the help you need to breastfeed effectively” confirms that pediatricians often don’t receive the education or training necessary to support a breastfeeding mother when obstacles occur. Ianneli also points out that the increase in breastfeeding rates and the availability of lactation consultants only began in the middle to late 70's, so doctors trained before and during this period may not have had much experience with breastfeeding or lactation support professionals.
He further states that even recently graduated Physicians might not have been trained in supporting lactation. Iannelli says that “In my own Pediatric's residency, most of the time I spent taking care of newborns was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with preemies and newborns that were very sick and I didn't have much exposure to breastfeeding mothers.” He recommends women read books, specifically The Nursing Mother's Companion by Kathleen Huggins. He further encourages women to familiarize themselves with their local La Leche League chapter and keep a lactation specialist on their emergency phone list.
Additionally, there are online videos and tutorials designed to help women master the art of feeding their babies.
Several reputable websites are dedicated to Breastfeeding Education and helping women prepare for motherhood. For more information, visit:
