Breastfeeding - Where you're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't

 

Breastfeeding week concluded in August and despite wanting to write about it for oh, so long, its taken, well, oh-so long! But here

we are. There is no other topic I’ve found to be as polarizing to new parents as Breastfeeding. From the moment the nurse helps the baby in the delivery room to latch on and get the much coveted colostrum, the medical world pushes breastfeeding as the only possible option to feeding a newborn. They will mostly scoff at you if you are not able to feed and formula is needed. Come home and then you'll meet parents and relatives who will remind you that you were bottle fed so bottle is the way to go!

In my 16 month breastfeeding journey, there’s many things I’ve learnt and many things I’ve taught myself to not believe. Here’s 10 common hearsay/myths about breastfeeding. Its disappointing that many of these I’ve heard from our own elders who’ve often discouraged me from feeding, or at minimum scoffed at why my child does not take the bottle.

 

1. It doesn’t fill a baby up. It only contains water.
1. Truth: Breastmilk contains milk, sometimes richer than any other form of milk. Only the initial milk of every feed is watery and honestly containing H2O which is also necessary because up until 6 months, the baby cannot have even water alone. Hindmilk or the milk that comes after a few minutes of suckling contains rich, fatty milk which in the initial few months, puts a baby to sleep in no time.
2. It is not nutritious The most nutritious milk in the world is not Cow’s milk, it is not Camel’s milk. It is breast milk. There is nothing that comes close to it in terms of nutrients, antibodies, Breast milk has hormones and the right amount of protein, sugar, fat and most vitamins to help your baby grow and develop. It protects them from illnesses, ear infections, colds and what not. I’ve had more than a few instances where I believe nursing Vir has gotten rid of his sniffles.
3. After 4-5 months, a baby has to switch to formula.
1. Truth: No. It isn’t mandatory. You can switch if it is convenient, but it isn’t recommended if you’re able to breastfeed. Yes, you will notice a dip in supply, that’s mostly because your body has adapted to your child’s feeding pattern and knows when and how much to make. Also, the baby has become a bit of an expert, efficiently emptying breasts in minutes. I know of women who’ve stopped nursing after 4 months, because they saw supply diminish – I was one of them too. I tried to make the switch to formula because I thought Vir was going hungry. He showed me the way, rejected and refused the bottle, was diagnosed with a form of GERD and silent reflux, making doctors push me even harder to breatfeed and make the move to solids at 5 instead of 6 months. So, after turning 16 months old, here we are. Now, Vir eats a variety of solids, nuts, vegetables and even has his cow’s milk hot chocolate, but he continues to breastfeed a few times a day and I’m more than glad that we still want to and can.
4. You cannot feed while taking medicines
1. Truth: Many medications are nursing safe. All you need to do is let your doctor know and you will be prescribed accordingly.
5. Recently COVID vaccinated mothers should not breastfeed
1. Truth: Even the Indian Medical Association withdrew the initial recommendation advising lactating mothers to not take the vaccine. My gynaec and Vir’s pediatrician encouraged me to get vaccinated and I was there on Day 3 of when vaccinations opened for 18+ aged Indians. I infact remember reading an article about how a pregnant nurse in the U.S. took the COVID vaccine when she was 7 months pregnant and when her baby was born, it was born with COVID antobidies.
6. Breastfeeding is stress free
1. Truth: Breastfeeding is NOT stress free. Yes, it is convenient, you can feed any time, any where (almost!). Nights are easier, you don’t need to scramble to make a bottle during a night waking. But, breastfeeding is very stressful. Am I making enough? Is he still hungry? Oh no, he’s teething again. Oh no, its that time of the month (Breastmilk changes taste during those days and the baby gets fussier in general to feed). After a few months, the baby wont even fall asleep with the breast alone. So, congratulations – find a new way to make the monkey sleep.
7. Nursing mothers cannot eat Mangoes, brinjal or have coffee
1. Truth: Partially and only in the initial months. After which, life has gone back to normal.  
8. Breastfeeding makes a baby clingy and dependent
1. Truth: I’ve seen some babies (exclusively formula fed and some exclusively breastfed) be way more clingy than my child is or ever has been. It’s a child specific trait and has nothing to do with breastfeeding. Just about who the child finds comfort with.
9. Breastfed babies will not sleep through the night
1. Truth: Can’t be further from the truth. This again differs from baby to baby. A formula fed or even breastfed baby also wont sleep through the night if he doesn’t know how to connect sleep cycles or is dependent on sleep crutches such as rocking. Once the child learns to connect one sleep cycle with the next and is well fed just before they go to bed, they may sleep through the night quicker. Sometimes breastfed babies wake purely for a comfort feed – but so do formula fed babies and even exclusively solids feeding toddlers. They may wake for a quick snuggle, reassurance that you’re around, their pacifier. Anything. Sleeping through the night has as much to do or not to do with breastmilk as it does with formula milk.
10. If you don’t nurse you are a bad Mom.
1. Truth: This is the biggest and worst myth I’ve heard. Some women can not nurse for physiological, psychological or logistical reasons. Some do not want to. Which is absolutely fine. Motherhood in nuclear families, especially if you’re a working Mom, is about survival. You do what ever you can, to make it. If you can breastfeed, you do that. If you can not and do not want to, so be it. It is your choice. You carried that child inside of you before he came into this world. You will continue to be the best Mom for him and you are all he needs. Breast or no breast, nothing takes that away.  

Our frequency of breastfeeding has reduced but its still some of the most fun times of the day he and I spend together. We point at each other’s noses. tickle each other’s tummies and laugh. Do I have a plan to wean, No – I don’t even know how I’m going to do it and it worries me how we’ll both wean. Do I regret doing it for so long – No.

For you, Vir. A thousand times over.