We all know that there is a lot of misinformation bandied about regarding breastfeeding. Those well-meaning family members and friends imparting breastfeeding advice may not have successfully breastfed for long, if at all, and their good intentions could end up damaging your breastfeeding relationship.
A great example I can think of is a friend of mine whose mother-in-law told her that she should only be feeding her newborn daughter for ten minutes on each side – likely the advice she was given when her children were born, as per the recommendations at the time – which ended up negatively impacting on her supply and causing a lot of grief.
Some other crackers I have heard include, but aren’t limited to, the following:
“Babies shouldn’t need to feed more than every 3 hours or so, if they do then you probably don’t have enough milk.”
“If you get thrush it’s best to stop breastfeeding because it can turn into mastitis.” (I actually know somebody personally who quit breastfeeding their 3 month old babe because they believed this to be true.)
“Breastmilk has no nutritional value after the age of 8 months; after that it’s just not necessary.” (Big thankyou to ‘Supernanny’ Jo Frost for this one…)
“Breastmilk doesn’t have enough iron in it for babies once they are 6 months old.”
“If you drink alcohol when you’re breastfeeding it will poison your baby.”
…So it’s not so hard to see how those well-meaning yet inaccurate pieces of advice can be detrimental to a fledgling breastfeeding relationship.
Following are a list of top tips that I have heard over the years, many of which have helped me at one time or another. I sincerely hope that they may help somebody else at some point!
Co-sleeping is a great way to make meeting your baby’s nighttime needs easier, whilst maximising the amount of sleep you get. Ensure you follow guidelines for safe co-sleeping .
Despite what your doctor may say, you might not have to stop breastfeeding to take certain drugs – there is usually an alternative. If they cannot find an alternative, check Hale’s Medications and Mothers Milk – this manual has extensive information about the safety of specific drugs during breastfeeding.
Take a flask of herbal tea to bed with you to make night feedings more pleasant! (OK, I have to make a confession here… I totally took hot chocolate instead…)
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Please add your contributions! What breastfeeding tips or advice would you offer a new mum? What’s the best (and worst) piece of breastfeeding advice you have heard?
**The aforementioned Healthy Balanced Diet should always include chocolate. It should, I swear.
One of the worst pieces of advice I got from friends while I was pregnant was that I needed to “rough up” my nipples to prepare for the beating they’d get once I started nursing. This seemed a little ridiculous to me, I didn’t do it, and everything has been fine.
oh good grief *winces* i’ve heard that before too, come to think of it. How ridiculous!
Not just any chocolate… dark chocolate… truffles…
This is a perfect post! Everyone I know who tried to breastfeed told me their supply “ran out” inexplicably and I’m sure it wasn’t true in most, if any, of those cases. I bite my tongue because what’s done is done but I hate that new moms are constantly being warned that they are likely to dry up at any moment.
Oh goodness, absolutely! I remember waiting for the day that my supply would dry up with my first… thankfully when he was 4mo I went on the LLL peer supporters course and learned that suddenly drying up is pretty darn rare!
One girl I knew told me that she really enjoyed breastfeeding but had to stop because her baby ‘got colic’ and drunk her dry… I didn’t really know what to say to her. I tried to gently explain that that isn’t how breastfeeding works and that maybe he was having a growth spurt, but she wouldn’t have it. Like you said, what’s done is done but it’s very frustrating when you see these people spreading the misinformation far and wide so that others lose their faith in their body’s ability to nourish their kids.
Thanks so much for commenting :)