Comments on: Breastfeeding: Not as Natural as it First Seems

By: nerida

nerida — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:40:27 +0000

You are right, breastfeeding for most mothers is a learned skill. We just don’t see enough mothers breastfeeding and sharing knowledge in our daily lives. When was the last time you saw a woman breastfeeding in public, or did you share a story about your love of breastfeeding with younger women at work? Have you shown a teenage girl how to attach a baby properly or showed your friends that breastfeeding is a beautiful loving experience? Without information and support we all learn by trial and error. Imagine being given the keys to the car at 16 if you had never seen another adult drive, and not having a licensed driver beside you to encourage and guide you on those first lessons. What if you had someone saying “you cant do that, oh, you cant see over the dash, catching a bus is safer and easier, give up now .” How successful would you be. I had sore nipples attachment problems, thrush, small baby… and with information and experienced breastfeeding women around me succeeded to breastfeed into the second year and beyond… as many women do. We just dont see it in public. Most women are discreet and efficient at breastfeeding. If you think that it is the biological normal way to feed a baby then there are ways to get around our hurdles. You can ask for a second opinion on medications, or you can ring the mothersafe info line to check for an alternative medication and google breastfeeding to get support and help in your local community. Thanks for sharing your stories with us.

By: Johanna Baker-Dowdell

Johanna Baker-Dowdell — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:31:27 +0000

Sarah that sounds like a very valuable break. Feeding without pain would make all the difference I think.

Charndra I definitely want to overcome the challenge and keep feeding E. Thanks for the website info.

Danielle It is such a hard time with no sleep and getting used to the new situation that the last thing you need is to be made to feel bad. I think there should be more support in hospital during those early days when we’re learning.

Johanna

By: Danielle

Danielle — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:36:44 +0000

Hi, i tried breastfeeding my eldest son with great difficulty. The nurses at the hospital tried to assist with the whole getting him to latch on without success. Today i now know why he was unable to latch onto the breast. My son was diagnosed with autism and unfortunately the sucking reflex wasn’t natural for him. He still has an elevated tongue which makes it difficult to swallow and eat. I feel there is a lot of pressure on mothers to breast feed their children and i think that you should only breastfeed your child if you feel comfortable doing so. I wasn’t allowed to leave hospital until has was able to latch on but he lost a lot of weight and the nurses made me feel terrible. Fortunately my second son was successful with latching on and he too was also diagnosed with autism. This goes to show that these little individuals are very different.
Danielle

By: Charndra

Charndra — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:07:42 +0000

Hi Johanna,
you really sound like you want to overcome this challenge and to continue breastfeeding your little boy.
I’ve linked to a friends wonderful site full of inspirational breastfeeding stories, called http://www.ibreastfed.com
If you pop over, you can look up the list of challenges mothers have dealt with (including two of my own stories - my latest on BITING!) and I hope you find some key insights and support to help you.
The lady who runs the site was also a breastfeeding counsellor, and like so many of us, STILL found a lack of support and education among the medical community about breastfeeding.
Charndra

By: Sarah Cordell

Sarah Cordell — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:56:25 +0000

We, too, struggled with breastfeeding. We ended up taking a two-to-three week break (me pumping, him drinking breast milk from the bottle) when he was about six weeks old because I just couldn’t cope with the pain and everything else going on. I went to a breastfeeding support group and saw a lactation consultant, but that break seemed to be all he needed. By the time we got to the lactation consultant, he had no troubles latching and my pain went away (whew!).
Good luck with weaning. Mine was ready to wean before I was. Around 11 months, he just lost interest. It was sad, but a relief as well.

By: Johanna Baker-Dowdell

Johanna Baker-Dowdell — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:36:43 +0000

Thanks for your comment Megan. After talking to so many other mothers who struggled with breastfeeding I think we need to be honest about how hard it is. I breastfed Ethan knowing I hard a difficult road ahead because I’d struggled so much with Noah.

Jenny thanks for telling me about the difference between the two conditions. Noah’s symptoms sound like what you describe so you may be right. I did take dairy out of my diet to see if that would help but he still reacted (although there may have still been traces because I tried it for a week, not two).

By: Jenny

Jenny — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:00:58 +0000

(I forgot to mention that I went back to work when they were 6 months old each time, pumping for each of them until they were over a year old.)

By: Jenny

Jenny — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:57:55 +0000

I doubt Noah was Lactose intolerant, it is very, very rare, and results in constant weight loss as well as colic and pain. It was probably Bovine Casein (cows milk protein) intolerance, quite similar symptoms, but very different all the same. The bog giveaway is the reflux, lactose intolerance affects the lower gut, not the stomach, cows milk protein intolerance symptoms kick in the second the milk hits the stomach, resulting in vomiting, reflux and pain, followed by colic, wind, explosive poo and often eczema. It is simple to treat, you just cut dairy out of the maternal diet. No vile tasting, expensive immune deficient formula to mess around sterilising and mixing, just an exclusion diet (like for coeliac disease, but you exclude dairy, not wheat/gluten). It takes 10-14 days for all traces of dairy to leave the mother, so results aren’t instant, but worth a two week trial before you resort to hypoallergenic formula all the same! And scarily enough, Lactose Intolerance and Bovine Casein Intolerance seem to confuse many Dr’s and healthcare professionals, and the two are often mixed up and many babies are misdiagnosed with Lactose Intolerance as a result.

As for the antibiotics upsetting Ethans tummy, he is old enough to take pro/pre-biotics now, and your GP should be able to change your medication for one which doesn’t effect him so much.

I had to fight to breastfeed my eldest, 3 months of thrush made it painful and frustrating, but we got it in the end, and at 6 years old she is pretty much weaned now. My youngest is Cows Milk Protein Intolerant, so we battled months of reflux and colic etc before finally getting to the root of her problems. The medical profession were very little help, we were told she had a tummy bug several times, and that “some babies are sicky/cryers”. I cut dairy put of my diet on the suggestion of a friend and within a fortnight she was a different baby, I had to stay dairy free until she was 18 months, and then she was able to tolerate it if I ate cheese etc, but nothing would have made me stop before either of them was at least a year old. I have tandem fed them up til now, but soon I shall just be nursing my 3 year old, until she decides she doesn’t need it any more too.

By: Megan

Megan — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:53:11 +0000

This is such a very honest post. I needed a lot of help to begin and stick with breastfeeding with my first (and only) baby. We’re still doing it now - he’s 5 1/2 months - but it is certainly not a natural thing in the sense of all the work it takes to keep doing it and not give up.

You don’t miraculously know how, baby does not miraculously know how to latch perfectly, and subsequently there’s so much pain for something so “natural”!

I got a lot of help from a few other mothers and lactation consultants.

It sounds like you have done so well for your children!