Motherhood is the best gift a woman receives in her lifetime. Mother Nature has endowed her with boundless abilities to nurture her baby, the prime among them being the ability to breastfeed.

Benefits of Breastfeeding Your Baby:

• Breastfeeding, as we already know, confers a wide variety of benefits to the growing baby, including the transfer of passive immunity against many diseases.
• Establishes the precious “mother-child bond” apart from giving baby a sense of security.
• Studies have confirmed that breastfed babies have a lesser incidence of asthma and allergies in childhood compared to formula fed ones.
• The incidence of childhood obesity and other morbidities are lesser known in breastfed babies.

Unfortunately, there is so much apprehension and myths related to this issue that many, especially the first-time mothers known, as “primigravid” in medical terms, are unable to establish this bond and in turn fall prey to relentless advertisements by pharmaceutical companies promoting infant formulas and in the bargain deprive their babies the chance to survive the odds.

Also Read: These 8 Indian Kitchen Foods Can Help Breastfeeding Moms

The commonest concerns expressed by a new mother is that she “does not have enough milk”. This is compounded by the fact that the child keeps crying and the elders in the house reiterate this fact and coax the mother to supplement with formula milk. The basic issue here is a lack of knowledge or lack of experience. Adequate counseling and reassurance play a pivotal role.

You or your baby shouldn’t have the following local problems for a successful breastfeeding relationship:

• cracked or inverted nipples
• oral thrush
• cleft palate in the baby

After getting this confirmed from your physician, that these problems don’t exist, the mother should simply be encouraged and taught by an experienced breastfeeding expert, the proper technique of “latching”. She will most certainly exclusively breastfeed successfully and never need supplementation.

Also Read: Healthy diet plan for breastfeeding moms

Common Myths Related To Breastfeeding

• A mother also needs to realize that the baby cries as a mark of displeasure, which need not be a call for satiating hunger, it could well be a wet nappy!
• If the baby gains weight appropriately and is growing well on the “road to health” chart in its growth map, passes urine and stool regularly and sleeps well, the mother needs to believe that she is doing a good job!
• A very common myth which is passed on from the elders in the house is that the mother is responsible for any ailments like colic in the baby which is ultimately due to the fact that she “passes gas to her baby” through breast milk. Even the mother feels she may gain excessive weight and restricts her diet.

A healthy balanced diet which includes at least two glasses of milk per day is essential so that the demands of the growing baby are met adequately. Unnecessary restrictions are a myth and should not be encouraged.

This might also interest you: Breastfeeding Guide for the first month of baby

Breastfeeding and the working mom

• Nowadays the majority of the urban women are working mothers, hence they assume it is better to start supplementing formula feeds from the beginning with a bottle so that the baby is “trained” later.
• This fact creates what is known as “nipple confusion” in the baby and eventually he may stop breastfeeding.
• Nowadays, most of the large multinational companies provide working mothers the facility to allow them to go home for a session of breastfeeding or even reduced working hours.
• The concept of giving “expressed” breast milk (stored at appropriate temperatures for well above 4-6 hours) also proves successful in most of the cases. 
  

At the end, every mother should remember, that every baby is different. Each has his or her own needs and temperaments. With adequate counseling and lots of encouragement and care at home, every mother in this world can “exclusively” breastfeed her child at least for the first four to six months of life, thus giving young and dynamic minds who can later go on to build a powerful and healthy nation.

Also Read: 9 reasons why you might not be able to breastfeed your baby

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