Marija Taraba
Breast feeding
Marija Taraba
BREAST
FEEDING
Acknowledgements I dedicate this book to the only two people in the world that I love unconditionally: Luka and Kala. Olivera and Sanja, thank you for your support while writing this book. Everything would have been much harder without you.
I would also like to thank mom Vesna Cerroni, who posed with her babies—twins Sara and Natali.
If a multinational company developed a product that was a nutritionally balanced and delicious food, a wonder drug that both prevented and treated disease, cost almost nothing to produce and could be delivered in quantities controlled by consumers’ needs, the announcement of this find would send its shares rocketing to the top of the stock market. The scientists who developed the product would win prizes and the wealth and influence of everyone involved would increase dramatically. Women have been producing such a miraculous substance, breast milk, since the beginning of human existence. Gabrielle Palmer, The Politics of Breastfeeding
TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword: How, Why, and for What Reason? .....................................7 Chapter I: Basic Facts about Breastfeeding: .....................9 Benefits of Breastfeeding for the Baby ...............................9 Benefits of Breastfeeding for the Mother .........................10 General Benefits of Breastfeeding ..........................10 Human Milk Composition ........11 Chapter II: Before Childbirth ............................14 Chapter III: In the Labor Ward .......................................16 Chapter IV: First Days at Home .................................21
Chapter V: Introduction of Foods Other Than Breast Milk...........................36 What to Introduce and In Which Order ........................37 Chapter VI: Breastfeeding after the First Year..........40 How to Wean Your Child from Breastfeeding ..........................42 Chapter VII: Common Problems and How to Solve Them ...........................43 Sore Nipples ............................43 Blocked Ducts .........................44 Babies with Short or Tight Frenulum .................................45 Baby Rejecting Breast .............46 Baby is Teething and Nibbling at the Breast ............................49
What to Pay Special Attention to During First Seven Days at Home .......................................23
Chapter VIII: List of Common Fallacies ..............................50
What Could Be the Cause of Insufficient Production of Breast Milk or Insufficient Breast Milk Intake ...................25
Breastfeeding in Public ...........54
Advice for Mom and Dad: How to Relieve the Intense Six-Week Period ......................27 Breastfeeding Positions ..........28 Foods and Drinks to Avoid While Breastfeeding ................32
Chapter IX: Taboo Topics ......54 Breastfeeding and Sex ............54 When Breastfeeding Is Not Recommended ........................56 Interesting Facts about Breastfeeding ....................57 Bibliography ............................59 Author’s Note ..........................61
Foreword: How, Why, and for What Reason? The writing of this book was preceded by years of education of mothers not only about the importance of breastfeeding but also about how to start successful breastfeeding. I cannot but wonder why only 35% of newborns in Serbia are breastfed in the first month of their lives without any complementary feeding. Why is the statistics so dire in a country in which the maternity leave lasts for twelve months and in which the importance of breastfeeding is a well known fact? Is it the fault of the mothers who decide not to breastfeed, choosing formula over the natural product of their own bodies? Do mothers choose not to breastfeed consciously nowadays? The answer to both questions is no. Highly educated and well informed mothers as well as the ones without education are familiar with the importance of breastfeeding without reading a single book about it. It’s an instinct that we, as female beings, have, and it takes a lot of effort to suppress that instinct, although the decision not to breastfeed is never made without a guilty conscience. How is it possible then that the percentage of breastfed babies in Serbia is nowhere near 100%? What happened between the mother and the baby and disrupted the natural harmony?
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How come mothers get wrong advice even from professionals or are told that their milk supply is inadequate? In those critical first moments after the labor, when the mother is tired and her hormones are running wild, she is told that she will not be able to provide her baby with what the baby is entitled to by birth. She is told that her breasts are small, that they are too big, that her nipples are inadequate for breastfeeding, that the baby is lazy, that she doesn’t do things right… And many other things that don’t motivate her and give her the help and security that she needs. On the contrary, the things she is told break her spirit and disrupt the successful start of breastfeeding. Or something completely different can happen. Everyone will convince you that all you have to do is put your baby on your chest and everything will go smoothly, and when the things don’t take their natural course, they’ll generously offer you formula as a solution. Formula isn’t the solution, but the defeat of everyone around you who didn’t know how to help you solve the breastfeeding problem. Since I worked as a lactation consultant for many years, after working with a large number of mothers who had all sorts of problems and doubts concerning breastfeeding, I can say with certainty that support and correct and timely information is all that successful breastfeeding requires. I wrote this book to instruct you how to establish lactation correctly, to eradicate prejudice and give mothers faith in their own bodies, which is what they need most. Arm yourself with knowledge and it will be the best tool to have during the entire time while you breastfeed! Yours, Marija Taraba, IBCLC
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Chapter I: Basic Facts about
Breastfeeding Although there is no question about whether breastfeeding is both the mother’s and the baby’s instinctive need, nowadays we like having an opportunity to read some scientifically known facts that confirm the importance of breastfeeding. Apart from the fact that human milk is the ideal baby food, we shouldn’t neglect the importance of breastfeeding for the mother, as well as for the planet Earth. Here I will state only a few of already established benefits and I have no doubt that in time more of them will be added to the list.
Benefits of Breastfeeding for the Baby: ––It enables correct formation of the jaw and regular growth of teeth; ––It enables a correct development of the eye muscle; –– It reduces the number of infections (respiratory infections, meningitis, urinary infections, cholera, botulism); ––It reduces the possibility of ear infection; ––It increases the number of immunoglobulin; ––It reduces the possibility of hernia; ––It reduces the risk of allergies; ––A potentially higher IQ;
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––It reduces the possibility of diabetes in the later years; ––It reduces the possibility of Hodgkin’s disease in the later years; ––It reduces the risk of sudden death syndrome.
Benefits of Breastfeeding for the Mother: –– It postpones new conception (menstruation gets postponed in most cases for at least six months, up to twenty-four months after giving birth); ––It reduces the possibility of breast cancer; ––It reduces the possibility of reproductive organs cancer; ––It reduces the possibility of post-partum depression; ––It prevents osteoporosis; ––It speeds up the process of post-baby weight loss; –– It increases the release of oxytocin, the “love hormone”, which helps establishing the maternal bond between the mother and her child.
General Benefits of Breastfeeding: ––Human milk always has perfect temperature and doesn’t require any kind of preparation. ––Human milk is available anywhere, at every moment; ––It’s cost-effective. At the time this book was being written, an approximate sum of money needed for formula for one baby for the period of one year (depending on the brand) amounted to 70,000 dinars, suckle feeders, pacifiers, sterilizers etc. not included. In the case of twins, this sum was double. ––Breastfeeding is more ecological and in greater harmony with nature. You don’t use water to wash the suckle feeders, you don’t
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use electricity to make it warm, you don’t throw away empty boxes of formula, you don’t throw away old suckle feeders and pacifiers. ––Breastfeeding takes less time (although suckle feeding is quicker than breastfeeding, keep in mind washing the suckle feeder, making the formula, making it warm, going shopping, etc.) ––Human milk is ideal for the baby and it always keeps all nutritional and protective values. There isn’t such thing as “low quality” mother’s milk. This list gets richer by the day, but the important thing is that none of the above mentioned will ever get removed from the list.
Human Milk Composition When we talk about human milk composition, we should keep in mind that we are talking about the components that have been discovered by now. There are about 300 components that we’ve known so far, and new scientific researches expand that number. Not until 2007 was it discovered that human milk had stem cells. There are three lactation phases, in other words there are three stages of breast milk: Colostrum; Transitional milk; Mature milk. Colostrum The production of colostrum begins in the last trimester of pregnancy and it is already in the breasts after the labor, ready for the
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baby’s first breast feeding, before the transitional milk is produced. It’s produced in small quantities, but it’s very rich in immunoglobulin, proteins, minerals, leukocytes, etc. Colostrum is yellow due to a high level of beta-carotene. As an ideal laxative, it helps release meconium (the first faeces of a newborn infant). Transitional Milk The production of transitional milk in the mother’s breasts begins somewhere between the second and the fourth day after giving birth. The name itself indicates that transitional milk is the middle stage of breast milk between colostrum and mature milk. The production of transitional milk mostly depends on the frequency of breastfeeding or other types of breast stimulation. As for its composition, transitional milk is a mixture of colostrum and mature milk. Mature Milk This name is used for the milk whose production begins on the tenth day after the baby is born until the end of breastfeeding. Human milk is the ideal food for the baby. It consists of 87% of water, and the rest are proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. It also has immunoglobulin, which is an important immune factor, as well as prebiotics and probiotics. From the very beginning of lactation the human milk composition remains more or less the same or is changed but to a very small degree, depending on the baby’s age, frequency of breastfeeding , lactation stage and the mother’s nutrition. It is important to emphasize that mothers all over the world are capable of producing ideal food for their babies during the entire
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process of lactation—although some milk components vary in terms of quantity—even when their nutrition isn’t ideal. This refutes one of many myths that says that breast milk becomes “watery” after some time and that it has no nutritional value. Moreover, after twelve months of lactation, when breast milk is no longer primarily nutritional, the quantity of immunoglobulin in the milk increases, which indicates biological awareness of the next stage in the baby’s development. The mother’s body “knows” that the child is becoming increasingly exposed to pathogenic organisms (due to crawling and walking) and it adjusts the milk to the new circumstances. Some of the main components of breast milk and their functions: ––Lymphocytes: antiviral protection; ––Enzymes: help with the digestion of polysaccharides and hydrolysis of fats; ––Growth hormones: they encourage the development of bowels and gut microbiota and protect from hypothyreosis; ––Fats: the main source of calories; DHA helps develop baby’s sight; ––Lactose: the main source of energy; helps absorb calcium, magnesium, manganese; ––Minerals: they regulate all the functions in the body; ––Immunoglobulins (IgA, IgM, IgG): provide immunological protection; ––Vitamins A, C, E: they provide anti-inflammatory protection; ––Lactoferrin: antibacterial; provides the body with iron; ––Taurine: it helps the development of the brain and the retina. We should also add that formula contains around thirty components out of which none is active.
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Author’s Note After having her first child in 2005, she found out that there was a profession called the lactation consultant. That was when she started to pursue this noble and useful vocation. She became part of La Leche League, the world organization that helps breastfeeding mothers since 1950 in more than ninety countries all over the world. After returning from the USA to her hometown Belgrade in 2011, she founded the Serbian branch office of that organization. At the end of 2010 she began the human lactation training organized by the Lactation Education Resources (Maryland, USA). At the same time, volunteering, she earned more than 2,000 clinical hours needed in order to be eligible to take the test with the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners, which sets the world standards for consultants and is in charge with giving them the license. In October 2013, after passing the exam, she became the first licensed lactation consultant in Serbia (IBCLC—International board certified lactation consultant). Apart from providing appropriate and adequate advice with regards to breastfeeding, she also deals with helping with re-lactation or induced lactation, diagnosing ankyloglossia in babies and hypoplasia in mothers, insufficient milk supply treatment, creating a pumping protocol in the cases of mother-baby separation, etc. In January 2014 she became the Serbian representative in IBLCE Europe and the licensing coordinator for all future candidates. In 2014 she gave several trainings in lactation basics to medical staff and midwives. She writes and publishes articles about breastfeeding and parenting on web portals. She has two children—Luka and Kala. She lives and works in Belgrade.
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