Breastfeeding Essentials
Most parents have heard more than once that breastmilk is the best option for babies. When you think about all of the possible benefits for your baby, including improved development, fewer infections, and a lower risk of asthma, allergies, and obesity, you can see how important breastfeeding is. Breastfeeding can also benefit mothers by lowering their risk of breast cancer and helping them lose weight. In addition, you avoid the expense of having to buy formula. However, while many new moms start out and leave the hospital breastfeeding, far fewer are still breastfeeding after a few months.
A mom shouldn't feel guilty if she doesn't want to breastfeed, but if she simply feels that she can't breastfeed, she should understand that there are many places to go to get help anytime she starts having problems, including friends and family members, your pediatrician, or a lactation consultant.
Breastfeeding Goals
Many families start out with good intentions, and plan to breastfeed their baby. In the United States, almost 70 percent of babies start out breastfeeding. Many of them stop well before the AAP recommendation of breastfeeding for at least twelve months, though. In fact, by five to six months, only 30 percent of babies are still being breastfed. This is also well short of the goals set by the Healthy People 2010 target: that 75 percent of babies start breastfeeding, 50 percent are still breastfeeding at six months, and 25 percent make it to at least a year.
Why don't more mothers breastfeed for at least a year, as the AAP recommends?
Mostly it is because of a lack of support. Many mothers simply don't know anyone else who has breastfed a baby, or they don't have friends, family members, or a doctor who will encourage and help them.
To help ensure that your baby is breastfed as long as both he and your partner want, it can help to set a goal for how long mom wants to breastfeed. Will it just be six weeks, until she goes back to work? Or does she want to breastfeed for at least a year?
If you have a goal you both understand and are working toward, it may help so that she doesn't stop before she is really ready. If your goal is twelve months, and your baby isn't breastfeeding well at four or six months, then you will know you should get help for your partner to help her continue to breastfeed and still reach her goal. With a goal or target to shoot for, you may find it easier to work through any problems that occur.
Being Supportive of Breastfeeding
It may seem like a silly idea that dads learn how to breastfeed, but unless you understand some of the basics, it is hard to be helpful or supportive. Among the things that you should observe and learn include:
The different methods of holding a baby while breastfeeding, such as the cradle, crossover, and football holds
The rooting reflex and helping your baby latch on well (and not just to the nipple)
Observing proper sucking and swallowing while breastfeeding
How to release a baby from the breast
You also need to understand some of the specifics about how and when the breasts make milk. For example, it's important to know that:
A mother's milk doesn't normally come in until a baby is three to five days old
Infants should breastfeed every two to three hours for up to ten to fifteen minutes on each breast or thirty minutes on only one breast, or until the breast is soft and empty of milk
If a baby only feeds well on one breast during a feeding, then he should alternate breasts with each feeding, so that each breast is fully stimulated to make milk
Breastfeeding can be stressful for a new mom. Learning as much as you can about breastfeeding, not pushing your baby to take a bottle of formula if breastfeeding isn't going well, and quickly getting help if there are problems all can help to ensure effective results for your partner and your baby.
