New Mums and Mums to be often search the internet gathering information and deliberating about the pros and cons of breastfeeding. There’s lots of breastfeeding advice out there and to be honest some of it’s good and some of it’s bad. It can feel like a minefield for first time parents.
There are also still issues in this country about successful breastfeeding and discrimination and equality for breastfeeding Mums, so there really needs to be more reliable help and advice for people wanting to breastfeed.
Where’s the Department of Health’s mainstream media campaign to promote breastfeeding? Things clearly still need to change to promote breastfeeding as the number one feeding choice for babies in the UK. If you’ve not seen my thoughts on this already, you can read some more over here about why bottle feeding will keep breastfeeding rates in the UK low.
I’ve wanted to share some things you may not have realised about breastfeeding. They were all news to me until very recently, and it’s myths like these that often lead Mothers to stop breastfeeding their babies. For example, I only recently learnt after reading an article from selfgrowth.com that it’s entirely possible to exercise while breastfeeding. I think I’m not alone when I say that most mothers don’t take the risk. As mentioned by SelfGrowth, it’s imperative though that you keep it to a moderate level of activity, as they say, “Studies have shown that lactic acid levels in breast milk increase significantly up to 90 minutes after maximum exercise”.
I hope this list helps you out when it comes to thinking about the pros and cons of breastfeeding:
‘I don’t have enough milk!’
It’s very rare for a Mother not to produce enough or any breast milk for their baby. There is a medical condition called Hypogalatica, but it is as rare as most other conditions or illness that effect the human body. Baby probably just needs breastfeeding more regularly to bring up the supply. It can be quite a shock to the system quite how much a newborn baby needs breastfeeding for any new mother, but stick with it, it does get easier.
‘A baby takes milk from the bottle easier than breastfeeding’
Babies are designed to breastfeed and they will learn how to do it. Taking milk from a bottle isn’t easier, it’s just requires different motions so baby can stop the flow and swallow.
‘I’ve had silicon implants so I won’t be able to breastfeed.’
Most woman who have had silicon implants can still breastfeed. Check with your healthcare professional about breastfeeding with silicon implants or any kind of surgery to the breasts as breastfeeding may still be possible. Likewise, if you were considering breast implants but wanted to have children in the future, then it may be worth looking into options similar to Denver breast augmentation or breast augmentation in your area to see if there are options that could possibly be provided in this situation.
‘Will I be able to breastfeed with inverted nipples?’
Yes, you will! The nipple is only the place where the milk comes out, the baby needs to suck on the areola to feed. You may find your baby draws the nipple out with the sucking motion they use for breastfeeding.
‘I have a bad diet, it’s best that I bottle feed!’
Your baby will still get all the nutrients he needs while breastfeeding unless you have a recognised deficiency in your diet. It’s worth eating a healthy diet for lots of reasons, mainly for your own well being. Formula milk is processed from cows milk and cows at best eat grass and not a lot more.
‘I eat a lot of greens, does it give my baby wind/colic?
No! We become gasey as a result of foods we can’t digest properly. If we can’t digest the food, it can’t be transferred to the blood and then converted into breast milk. In some cultures where breastfeeding is the main way of feeding a baby and they carry their children for the majority of the day there is no such term as colic or excessive infant crying.
The inspiration for this post was taken from ‘Breastfeeding Made Easy’ by Carlos Gonzalez published by Pinter & Martin which I’d strongly recommend for any breastfeeding mother. I have received a copy of this book for the purposes of providing a review which will feature later on the blog, but I am genuinely impressed by the knowledge and content it contains and ethos it promotes for breastfeeding mothers. If you are still deliberating about the pros and cons of breastfeeding this book is a great place to start.
If you’ve heard any interesting myths about breastfeeding, I’d love to hear them in the comments.
If you have any concerns about breastfeeding and/or your baby’s health and well being always consult with your healthcare professional.
Great post Zena, good on you for dispelling these common myths 🙂 best of luck for the last bit lovely, not long now xx
Fab post! I wish I’d read it before I started. I had such a journey with breastfeeding and we’re still not quite there yet after 5 weeks! There really does need to be more awareness as I know I wasn’t alone in thinking it would be easy and not focusing on the proper positions and latches!
Thanks for the great post
3 of mine have had colic – 2 of them badly, and I tried all kinds of weird diets to help. Very little ever did, although avoiding fizzy pop and lager definitely did help! 😀
i carried no.1 round for about 10 hours a day or else he’d just scream at us, so with the other 4 I really had no objection to carrying them anywhere, any time 🙂
Great post. My mum often tells me that she couldn’t breastfeed because she didn’t have enough milk (the doctor actually told her that she wasn’t a very good cow!) I do wonder sometimes if she really didn’t have enough milk or whether it was really lack of support as often seems to be the case.
Yay! I love how the not enough milk is the first one. I really think we are given so much misinformation often we are confused and stop for the wrong reasons!
I really struggled to the point of exhaustion. I ended up back in hospital and yet I still didn’t get the support I needed. I’m glad I got to feed my little girl for as long as I did. It was a wonderful bonding experience.