How Breastfeeding Mums Are Being Undermined.
A beautiful Mum popped into Beaches Baby this week, we got chatting and she also has a 4 month old baby who had just had his vaccinations. I asked her how things we going and she revealed she was upset because she had just spoken to the GP about how she was feeling like maybe she didn’t have as much milk as once before and the baby was waking up a little more than usual.
The GP’s response without too much thought was oh - Bub must be hungry - Start Formula.
Now Mum didn’t want to start formula with this baby and left feeling hurt and confused and doubting her own body.
She is doing an amazing job. We talked it through. The baby is gaining weight - In fact Bub has doubled birth weight in 4 months. Is Peeing and Pooping regularly and Mum has milk at the breast, in fact sometimes leaks! Nothing about these facts suggests she needs to supplement.
When a GP makes these remarks without investigating - All a Mum hears is I must be starving my baby and not doing a good job.
WHAT RUBBISH! This baby is perfectly healthy and happy. I’m so infuriated for this mum.
Let’s talk about the biology of what is happening. In the very early days of breastfeeding, the baby is at the breast non-stop. They do this to tell your body to make milk. Which the body subsequently does and then we are flooded with milk and usually face periods of engorgement.
As our babies and our bodies work together and fall into a rhythm - Our milk production backs off overdrive production and our babies are more effective at getting the milk out resulting in your breasts not feeling overfull and our babies being satisfied. When the overfull feeling you have become used to goes away, many mums mistake this for not having enough milk.
Then babies hit 4 months of age (and many other ages) where they have a growth spurt. Completely normal and if you were growing that rapidly, you too would probably wake up hungry. Remember in the middle of the night when you were pregnant and suddenly woke up starving - It’s the same deal! Growing babies need food, therefore they wake up. This then tells your body that the baby needs some more milk so please make more. It takes a couple of days and your body gets the message to produce more milk and it all evens out again. Another Mum put this beautifully as “the baby is putting in their order”.
Bub will get back into a routine of eating more in the daytime and therefore sleep at night again, probably skipping a feed and then you end up engorged all over again!
It all evens out!
So when are we concerned? What Goes In - Must Come Out.
If the baby isn’t peeing and pooping, starts being more lethargic than usual, loosing weight or is uninterested in feeding - Then we need to investigate further and perhaps supplement, none of these things were happening in this case.
Another Mum talked to me this week about how her baby is on the 10th percentile, she was therefore told she must start solids at 4 months, even if the Mum or the Baby isn’t ready.
If we have a think about growth charts - 0-100% - doesn’t it make sense that someone must be at the top, someone must be at the bottom and someone must be in the middle? Think about test scoring of all formats - There is always a top, middle and bottom range - This doesn’t mean anything is wrong.
Again, this baby whilst she may be smaller than others, is growing, is peeing and pooping and is a happy, awake and healthy baby. It would be a different story if they baby had been on the 80% and was dropping rapidly to the 10th percentile. That we would need to investigate.
So - Can we please stop undermining Mums? Ask more questions, spend the time to talk to the Mum who knows her baby the best, ask her how she is feeling about the information. and her goals and help her feel great about the wonderful job she is doing. Let’s be a safety net when things aren’t right, but lets celebrate when it is going amazing.
However you are feeding your baby - You are awesome and doing a great job. One of my favourite sayings, is “You are doing the best you can, with the information and support you have.”
So what can we do? Listen to Mums and refer them for support and encourage them to seek it out rather than wait.
Make sure you have a good GP who supports your breastfeeding goals.
AND - One of the main ways we can fix these issues, is more education prenatally. Too many women wait until the baby comes to think about breastfeeding. This surprises me constantly as we do all the work to learn about pregnancy and birth but feeding the baby is something that gets forgotten.
My Prenatal Lactation and Feeding Class runs Monthly - Encourage your pregnant friends to get this information before the baby comes so they can have confidence in their body and their baby. I also have a number of videos on bottom of that page to help you along your journey.
Another amazing resource is the Australian Breastfeeding Association who have a 24/7 helpline - 1800 686 268.
La Leche League us another wonderful resource and Maddie runs our local chapter on the Northern Beaches and they hold meetings on the 1st Thursday of the Month in Narrabeen and they have a group chat you can join here.
I also love information found on Kelly Mom for step by step things to try when you get into situations.
One of my favourite lactation guru is Dr Jack Newman from Canada - He is such a sensible advocate of breastfeeding. Another great IBCLC who explains things really well on facebook is Lucy Webber.
The Australian Breastfeeding Project is another amazing resource for good Mum to Mum support.
My friend Alena is a local mum who writes a great blog called Soul Mamma and she has a post about Breastfeeding Resources here.
Well done to these beautiful Mummas, as always I am here if anyone needs to talk. Please also feel free to drop me an email if I can help in anyway.
Much love,
Peta xo
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