Thursday, June 25, 2009

Breastfeeding Myths -- Debunked, Busted & Destroyed

Strong words, but true. Dr. Jack Newman's page of Breastfeeding Myths addresses some common (breastfeeding moms have to change their diets) and just plain stupid (breastfeeding moms can't dye their hair) misconceptions about nursing. Wow, there are a lot of them!

The only one that's missing something is below:
12. There is no way to know how much breastmilk the baby is getting. Not
true! There is no easy way to measure how much the baby is getting, but
this does not mean that you cannot know if the baby is getting enough. The
best way to know is that the baby actually drinks at the breast for several
minutes at each feeding (open mouth wide—pause—close mouth type of suck).

I'll just remind you here that you can measure input by measuring output. Check poopy and wet diapers. We used charts with the twins to make sure we weren't applying April's diapers to Georgia and just not feeding her! :) If you can't tell if your super-absorbant disposables are wet, put in a square of toilet paper every time you change your baby.

Now go forth and use your breasts for their intended purpose -- free food for baby!

2 comments:

Roxanne Beckford Hoge said...

Oohhhh-kaaaay. That's wildly inappropriate. My only hope is that dear Anonymous is a computer program (not a very good one at that, since she signs her name Maria at the end) instead of a fellow mommy who just loves girl updates.

Shop with Me Mama said...

Ya, Wow to "Maria's" comment.... some people just don't have a clue! Anyways, love your bf post!