In order to urge the whole society to actively support and encourage breastfeeding, the International Breastfeeding Action Alliance (WABA) has designated August 1 to 7 each year as International Breastfeeding Week.
I am a public nutritionist and a mother at the same time. Up to now, my little fellow has been exclusively breast-fed for 19 months (adding supplementary food at the age of 6 months). In the process of breast-feeding, I have also encountered many problems. I have also found that many people around me have misunderstanding about breast-feeding. Today, I will refute the rumor.
Milk powder is more nutritious than breast milk?
Who said that?
Breast milk contains all the nutritional ingredients needed in the early stage of human life, as well as various immunologically active substances and antibodies, and the proportion of various ingredients is appropriate, which will not add additional burden to the body metabolism of infants and cannot be replaced by any other dairy substitute.
Studies have shown that compared with infants who drink formula milk, breast-fed infants are less likely to suffer from various diseases, including eczema, asthma and food allergy, respiratory diseases such as pneumonia, sudden infant death syndrome, diabetes, obesity, otitis media, gastrointestinal tract infection, etc.
Breastfeeding is beneficial to infants’ intelligence, psychological behavior and emotional development. Breastfeeding infants have better nervous system development than formula feeding infants.
The babies fed with formula powder are all chubby? In fact, it is only because the protein content in formula milk powder is higher that it provides higher energy.
Is there less milk in small breasts?
Look down on people!
If your breasts are small, you can still successfully breastfeed.
A small breast can only indicate a small amount of fat in the breast, but it does not mean that the breast is also small. The breast is the base for secreting milk, so it does not mean that there will be less milk.
However, if you are not confident enough for this reason, it will definitely affect the amount of lactation, and even subconsciously you are more inclined to add formula milk to your baby, which will really lead to insufficient milk.
In other words, I have a flat-chested friend who successfully breast-fed the baby until he was two years old.
Is breast milk nutritious after 6 months?
Don’t guess!
After 6 months, the needs of the baby’s growth and development will increase greatly, and breast milk cannot fully meet the needs of the baby’s growth and development. However, this does not mean that breast milk will have no nutrition after 6 months, and the baby still needs breast milk to provide most of the nutrition.
Formula powder also cannot meet all the nutritional needs of the baby’s growth and development after 6 months. At this time, we need to add supplementary foods to the baby, instead of abandoning breast milk or even cutting off breast milk. Once formula milk is added voluntarily, the lactation volume will become less and less.
In addition, supplementary food is [supplementary diet], and the baby’s staple food is still [milk] until the baby is one year old. The Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents 2016 suggest that infants aged 7-12 months should drink 600 ml of milk per day, equivalent to 4-5 times/day of breast milk.
Do you want to squeeze out the colostrum at the beginning?
Don’t!
The milk secreted within 1-5 days after delivery is pale yellow and sticky, which is called [colostrum]. Some people will feel that it looks dirty and should be squeezed out and thrown away.
In fact, the protein content in colostrum is as high as 10%, while that in mature milk is only about 1%, ten times.
Colostrum is rich in antibodies, including secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA, lactoferrin, white blood cells, lysozyme and antibacterial factors. It has more long chains beneficial to infant brain development and more unsaturated fatty acids than mature milk.
In contrast, colostrum contains less fat and lactose than mature milk, which is very suitable for the characteristics of poor digestion of fat and sugar in newborns.
There was no milk at the beginning, so please ask a prolactin to milk?
No!
In the first two days after delivery, the baby may sleep most of the time, and you have no signs of milk secretion. At this time, you can try to massage and suck the breast from light to heavy with a breast pump.
At this time, don’t try to promote lactation by rubbing and pulling the breast vigorously, and don’t find some irregular prolactin teachers to press the breast and the so-called acupuncture points vigorously.
A friend of mine invited a prolactin teacher at the price of 500 yuan per hour. He also rubbed his breast red and swollen, but it did not help milk secretion.
Not to mention drinking some Chinese herbal medicines (such as Tongcao) to promote lactation. The effectiveness and toxic and side effects of many Chinese herbal medicines have not been verified and may harm the baby. If the lactation process is difficult, you should consult an obstetrician, pediatrician or professional lactation instructor.
At first there was no milk, so feed some sugar water to prevent the baby from getting hungry?
No need!
In fact, when a newborn is born, the body has rich energy reserves, which can maintain stable blood sugar and will not easily cause hypoglycemia.
The 2016 Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents mention that severe dehydration and hypoglycemia will not occur within three days of birth as long as the weight loss does not exceed 7%.
In other words, in the process of waiting for milk secretion, not only do newborns not need to be fed formula milk, nor do they need to be fed water, nor can they be fed glucose water, gruel or other dairy substitutes.
Once you have fed the newborn, the newborn will give up sucking nipples.
In addition, the newborn’s intestines and stomach do not have the ability to digest gruel and other dairy substitutes, and eating indiscriminately may lead to accidents.
Can drinking Yuezi wine lactagogue?
Dangerous!
Don’t use Yuezi rice wine to promote lactation, which is not helpful to lactation, and alcohol may cause irreversible damage to baby’s brain development through milk.
The puerpera is weak after delivery, and taking Yuezi rice wine may also increase the risk of alcohol allergy. A friend of mine once developed allergic symptoms of itching after taking Yuezi rice wine.
It is also not recommended to rely on various folklore prolactin ingredients, such as peanut and pig’s foot soup. This high-fat food does help milk secretion, but this method is tantamount to drinking poison to quench thirst. Excessive fat intake will affect the recovery of puerpera’s body shape after delivery, and excessive fat content in milk is also easy to cause infant diarrhea.
Does the baby cry to add milk powder if he is not full?
You think too much!
Do you always encounter this kind of situation? As soon as the child cried, someone immediately said [er, the baby is hungry, your milk is not enough for the baby, add milk powder to him quickly.] but once you add milk powder to the child, you will find that breast milk is becoming more and more insufficient for the baby.
In fact, not every crying of the baby is caused by hunger. To learn to understand the needs of the baby, he may urinate, defecate, be sleepy, or suffer from colic of the newborn, or just need you to hug him, kiss him and give him emotional comfort.
Can’t breast-feed after mastitis?
What a pity!
Mild mastitis and breast pain can be relieved by emptying the milk (breast feeding or breast pump sucking) and alternating hot and cold compresses. For severe mastitis, you may need to use painkillers (ibuprofen) and antibiotics, tell your doctor that you are breast feeding, and the doctor will prescribe drugs for you to take during lactation.
Mild mastitis should not be stopped, otherwise it will aggravate mastitis. Breast milk itself is not infected, so breastfeeding during mastitis will not harm the baby.
Can’t nurse if you catch a cold?
To make a big fuss over a minor issue!
In fact, you only need to tell the doctor when you see the doctor that you are nursing, and the doctor will prescribe the drugs you can take during lactation.
Unless the lactating mother suffers from some malignant infectious diseases (such as HIV), common viruses or bacteria will not be transmitted to the baby (including hepatitis B virus) through milk.
However, it may be transmitted to the baby through respiratory tract, damaged skin or blood. If you have a cold or other infectious diseases that do not affect breastfeeding, please wear a mask and wash your hands frequently when breastfeeding. If some parts of your body suffer from herpes or skin damage, such as hands, please wear gloves before breastfeeding.
Some people are born without milk?
Nonsense!
Many mothers have long been fully prepared for breast-feeding, but in actual combat, there is no milk or milk cannot come out.
In fact, as long as the baby’s sucking is sufficient and effective, it can promote the generation of sufficient breast milk. The vast majority of cases of no milk are caused by the wrong posture of the baby’s breast holding and ineffective sucking.
If the baby is feeding in the right position, his movements will stimulate nerve fibers in the nipple and cause milk to flow out of the mammary duct. As the milk empties, the pituitary gland will also release a hormone called prolactin, and the breast will continue to secrete more milk.
Correct breast holding post: The baby’s upper and lower lips directly contact the areola (not the nipple), and the Tongue Squeezes the mammal duct to empty the accumulated milk, and the baby’s upper and lower lipses directly contact the areola (not the nipple), and the baby’s upper and lower lipses directly contact the areola (not the nipple), and the baby’s upper and lower lipses directly contact the accumulated milk, the baby’s upper and lower lipses directly contact the upper and lower lipses directly contact the upper and lower lipses directly contact the upper and lower lipses directly contact the upper and lower lipses directly contact the upper and lower lipses directly contact the upper and lower lipses directly contact the upper and lower lipses directly contact the upper and lower lipses.
I used to feel swollen, blistering and bleeding nipples caused by my baby’s incorrect breast-feeding. I wanted to cry when I was about to nurse my baby. It was not until my baby finally learned to carry milk correctly when he was 2 months old that this nightmare day came to an end.
Therefore, if you find that the baby always bites you, always screams in a hurry, and your nipples are always injured, the reason is not necessarily that you have no milk, but that the posture of holding milk is probably incorrect.
In short, there are many reasons to give up breast-feeding, but there is only one reason to insist, that is, the mother’s love for her child.
Breastfeeding can bring many benefits to the long-term health of children and mothers. Therefore, don’t give up breastfeeding easily because of temporary difficulties, let alone be weaned easily.
Breast milk is precious and should be fed and treasured.