It is said, it is commented, for a long time (and it is still said now, less and less, luckily) that the rise of milk occurs on the third or fourth day, sometimes before, sometimes after and that, until that day, you have to give babies some supplement so they don't go hungry.
The most modern are able to say that the supplement would not need to be given at the beginning, but that if it is nursing and the baby is hungry, then that supplement must be given, until the day when the mother has enough milk .
The error is considerable and, although there is a chance that everything will go well in the end, there is also a chance that breastfeeding does not end up being well established and that the mother ends up with such a low self-confidence, that shortly after the child cries a little more from the account, she returns to a bottle.
It is for this reason that I consider it important to address this issue today, because, as I say, there are still professionals who say that Women do not have enough breast milk for their children until three or four days.
A personal example
I have explained it on other occasions, but I saw it with my little eyes and as it seemed to me as a guard court, I explain it again:
A mother who spends her first minutes with her baby is urged to breastfeed, because that is what she wants to do. A nurse helps you position it, make sure it is taken well and the baby breast.
About twenty minutes pass in which the baby takes both breasts and the nurse appears again with a bottle with 10 ml of artificial milk and says: “Take, now give this, that you still have no milk… until you raise the milk you will have to go giving him a bottle ”.
The first days there is no milk
True, the first few days a mother does not usually have milk, but That doesn't mean I don't have food and that doesn't mean it's not enough.
The weight a baby loses the first few days is no accident. It is not a miscalculation. It is not a child that is being malnourished. It is the weight that the baby brings more, because nature knows that the first few days it will eat a little, until the breast milk arrives in abundance and until its stomach is digesting more and more quantity.
If not, why is a 60 ml bottle not given to a newborn? Why 10 ml? Because of that, because babies have to start eating very little, to eat more and more.
But there is colostrum
So, if there is no milk in the first few days, why breastfeed? Well, very simple, because there is colostrum, a yellowish substance, very concentrated, that comes out in a small amount, but that for babies is very beneficial (there are hospitals in which, even when the mother has decided not to breastfeed, it is recommended that give your babies at least colostrum).
That is why they are breastfed as soon as possible (and for them to better breastfeed) and that is why they must be given as many times as they want, so that they take colostrum and for another very important reason: so that the milk rises and so that when it reaches the mother do not put her breasts like stones, but the baby will take it.
How much The more a child sucks and better do it before the milk will rise. It is not that there is hurry, but it is the logical operation of breastfeeding. In fact, the phrase would have to be the other way around: if you don't breastfeed enough, it will take longer for your milk to rise.
Breast milk on demand, please
So if you want your child to breastfeed and want to avoid problems, both for the baby and for your breasts, which can engulf you until you get hard and extremely upset if the baby does not breastfeed enough, breastfeed on demand.
If you cry, put it back to your chest or try some other technique or position, look to see if it is cold or hot or if you are upset about something, but if in doubt, calm down with your chest. That way the milk will rise earlier and the baby will eat more and also gain more weight.
And if he stays hungry?
There are very awake and very greedy children, who even when they have finished want more. Well, the answer is simple: if you stay hungry, feed him more. That is, if you have finished and want more, breastfeed again.
Breast milk is based on the supply and demand system, so the more it is demanded the more milk it will offer. If at that time someone occurs to give a bottle "so that he does not stay hungry, while the milk has just risen", it is most likely that the amount of milk is not regulated with the hunger of the baby (because there is a second milk that takes away that hunger) and that every day it is more difficult to remove the bottle and it is more difficult for breast milk to satisfy that baby.
No one said it would be easy and the first few days can be complicated. That is why it is important to have information, someone who can help you (a professional who knows about breastfeeding or a consultant) and trust yourself a lot.
Photos | Myllissa, moppet65535 on Flickr
In Babies and more | Myths of breast milk: "This child goes hungry, I would say you have no milk" (I) and (II), Myths about breastfeeding: for a woman to have enough milk she must drink plenty of water, Reverse softening pressure: a solution to breast engorgement
