Even when hospitals encourage moms to breastfeed, they sometimes still do things that increase the chances the baby will be raised on formula, a Boston University study found. Apparently well-meaning nurses feed babies formula when they decide that moms need a rest or that the mother's breastmilk is not sufficient.
It should be common knowledge that a mother's breasts produce colostrum for the first few days before her milk comes in. Milk "coming in" is when the yellow drips of liquid coming out of your breasts upon your child's birth, turns into a flood of creamy white milk.
In other words, as the article I linked to puts it "the first few days shouldn't count" when judging if a mom is one of the 5% who can't produce enough milk for her baby.
The study findings are alarming:
Among the first-time mothers, 70 percent said they wanted to breast feed exclusively. But by the time their babies were a week old, only half the women were actually doing that.
They add that giving a baby formula may present a roadblock to breastfeeding because the two methods of feeding require the baby to learn different tongue motions and swallowing skills. |
