Breastfeeding is a very valuable activity for the health of a newborn and deepens its relationship with its mother. The baby is provided with all the valuable nutrients from the mother and provides the best protection for the newborn baby. Over the years, many myths have grown around this beautiful activity, which, despite modern knowledge, are stubbornly and invariably repeated. Here are a few of them!
- Breastfeeding requires a special, strict diet. Eliminating many ingredients from your diet will make it a poor and monotonous menu. The most important thing is that the diet of a nursing mother meets the needs of the child and herself for the nutrients necessary for proper functioning. Raw diets are not necessary and can even be harmful. Of course, it should be a healthy, light and rational menu, and if neither of the parents has severe food allergies, there is no need to remove a large number of products from the menu.
- The quality of breast milk may not be suitable for the baby. This is one of the most repeated nonsense: that mother’s milk is too thin, too fat or too cold, etc. Breast milk will always be suitable for the baby, because its composition is constant. Even if she does not provide the ingredients necessary for food production, they will be obtained from her body.
- Not enough food. Many people believe that if the baby still wants to be at the breast in the first days after birth, it means that the mother is not getting enough milk. Then the parents decide to feed the baby. It’s a mistake! The need for long-term suckling often results from the desire to satisfy the need for closeness with the mother. It is also instinctively dictated by nature to stimulate the mother’s body for lactation.
- Beer to stimulate lactation. Alcohol passes into breast milk and can cause brain damage to the baby, and it also inhibits lactation. There are no scientific reports that small amounts of alcohol do not harm the baby – both during pregnancy and after birth.
- Overfeeding. Some believe that the baby cannot be at the breast for too long, as this will lead to overeating and abdominal pain. This is not true – it is simply impossible to overfeed a child, and the natural instinct tells the child how much he is able to eat. What’s more, breastfed babies are less likely to become overweight in the future.
- Inhibition of lactation during illness. Another myth says that during the illness, when the mother has a cold and fever, she should not breastfeed. On the contrary, inhibiting lactation is another burden for the mother’s body, and secondly, feeding a child in illness strengthens its immune system, because it also receives antibodies with milk.