Breast Milk is the Best Milk for Babies

With all the tension of work, money, coping without family support, many young mothers find they are producing insufficient breast milk to feed their babies in the first 3 months.

My first advice is that if you are planning a baby, as a mother to be you must, make some very serious choices, decisions and commitments to feeding or nursing your baby.

Your mental planning must be to cope with 9 months of pregnancy and at least 3-6 months of breast feeding.

In 99% of cases there will be enough milk produced for at least the first 3 months. We have done research in slums and found that even undernourished mothers produce enough breast milk, though they don’t get good food after delivery. If the baby is put to the breast regularly and properly, milk will be produced.

The first rule is to try and keep an approximately 2-3 hour’s gap between feeds. If the baby cries in between the 2 hours gap – she may be wet, soiled or want to burp or go to sleep so don’t just put the baby to the breast every time she/he cries. When you give this gap, then the breasts get a chance to be filled with enough milk to give the baby a full feed after 2 hours and the pattern is established.

There is also an ideal technique to get maximum milk production. Put the baby to the right breast, feed for 5 minutes by the clock. Remove from breast, burp and put to left breast. Allow baby to feed at this breast for 10 – 20 minutes or as long as she desires. At the next feed be sure to put baby to the left breast for 5 min and then to the right breast for 10-20 min. This gives the breast the chance to get emptied and filled properly. If you are still unable to nurse properly then we suggest that you contact a lactation specialist who may be available in the hospital.

From the diet part the mother should try to drink 3- 4 liters water and one liter milk (Tonned) daily. Avoid eating ghee and other fatty foods as they don’t help in milk production and will just make you put on weight and this may make you depressed.

In very rare cases there may be some physiological problem and milk may be less. The advice is not to give cow’s milk or buffalo milk but to introduce formula milk which is prepared as closely as possible in composition to the mother’s milk. Also the bottle used must be cleaned and sterilized so as to prevent the baby from getting a stomach infection in the early months.

In the first 3 months no other supplementary food should be introduce and water is also not necessary, only milk is to be given and please try very hard to give only the breast milk as it contains some substances which help to increase the baby’s immunity and build resistance to infection later in life. Try not to work and have some kind of help at home for at least these 3-6 months so you may relax and do full justice to breast feeding your baby.

Breast milk is ideal for the baby for the first six to nine months. Breast is Best!!