Feeding Your Newborn Video Transcript
I’m Michelle Gnagey and I’m a board certified lactation consultant, an IBCLC, international board certified lactation consultant.
How Long Should Mom Breastfeed?
The American Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine recommends breastfeeding as long as the mother and child want to. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for six months which means the baby doesn’t get any supplementation other than breast milk for the first six months and at that point you would add supplementation.
Exclusive Breastfeeding
Exclusive breastfeeding means that babies get breast milk only exclusively from the breast as long as they can. So it varies depending on each mom depending on how long she can take off from work and what things she has to do as she goes back, how long a baby is exclusively breastfed. That is different than exclusive breast milk feeding which would be when mom expresses and feeds the baby just breast milk as well as nursing.
Skin to Skin
Skin to skin is when a mom and baby are placed actually skin to skin. Baby will have on a diaper and mom will have no clothes on her upper part of her body and we’re actually trying to get the baby to get as much skin in contact with the mother as possible. Usually baby is laying length wise down mom’s chest head up on her chest and body between her breasts and onto her abdomen. Babies relax when their feet touch mom’s abdomen and thighs and are able to completely feels secure in that position. Skin to skin helps the brain finish its development phases. It helps neurons close and the brain to grow. So skin to skin is an absolutely imperative thing that we are just currently researching and finding more about. The big push is to get babies skin to skin as soon as possible after delivery and to leave them skin to skin if you’re breastfeeding until they feed. Allow them some sleep time away from mom and then when they wake back to skin to skin until they nurse again and repeat that cycle until you have that whole breastfeeding dance, if you will, figured out. Skin to skin for every baby absolutely an imperative thing and it’s to be encouraged and promoted.
The Benefits of Skin to Skin
They’ve discovered that four to six months down the road babies who have spent time with their mothers skin to skin cry less, have less needs, can calm themselves better and they’re doing research now that says these kids who were skin to skin with their mother have security as adults, they’re more secure with people, they end up in less trouble. There is a plethora of different things and it’s pretty amazing.
The Benefits of Breastfeeding
There are things in breast milk you will never be able to put into formula. White blood cells, immunities, all the things that will help your baby overcome different disease processes . . . so many different things. And for mother there’s also benefits in that as well -- lower chance of different kinds of cancer, lower chance of obesity and lower chance of developing diabetes herself.
Options for Moms Unable to Breastfeed
Some mothers are not able to breastfeed and while the number statistic wise is small for that there are a multitude of options out there for her. Her own breast milk is going to be the very best for her baby. Second choice would be donor breast milk through a donor milk bank and we have one in Columbus. Dayton Children’s has a site where you can get donor milk and you can also donate donor milk. Third would be a formula choice and that would be what the pediatrician feels is best based on family allergies, family history and those kinds of things. When a physician is going to choose a feeding method there are multiple things they look at and yes, you can go to the store and buy X generic formula, is that the right thing for your baby. It’s really something you want to discuss with your pediatrician. If you can afford to do donor milk or donor milk is the best option for your baby and they can write a prescription for it . . it’s like obtaining a prescription for donor milk and it’s very expensive, but in some cases especially low birth weight babies, babies having a lot of difficulty with allergies, it may be the best choice for your baby.
Helping Mom Get Started
Here at Atrium after a woman has delivered a baby, the labor and delivery nurses are great at helping you get you started initially so they will help you get your baby skin to skin and they will help you with the initial latch and then usually lactation comes on board either later the day you deliver or it could be early the next morning. Part of my job is to see inpatients which would be a daily visit to any woman who has had a baby and is breastfeeding or if there is a mom who is formula feeding who has questions about breast care or what going to happen ‘I’m not going to breastfeed my baby and what can I expect’. I certainly can go in and see those patients as well.