No one currently doubts that breastfeeding is the best food for babiesHowever, the generation of current mothers has not had the help of their mothers or relatives to learn to breastfeed.
In other words, breastfeeding is learned, it is not something innate, but the transmission of knowledge in a generational way was lost when our mothers and grandmothers (especially our mothers) stopped breastfeeding for what was then known as the best Milk possible, artificial.
This situation causes many mothers to have problems with breastfeeding due to poor positions, problems in the oral structure of babies (small frenulum in the tongue or lower jaw), implantation of schedules, myths about the quality or quantity of milk, etc. which make very few babies reach six months of age drinking exclusive breast milk.
For all these problems moms (and dads) seek the help of pediatricians (doctors of babies). However, Can we trust them when talking about breastfeeding?
Pediatricians are in a privileged position because they have the possibility to help and educate mothers so that babies are breastfed for as long as possible, as recommended by the highest official bodies in terms of health (WHO, UNICEF, AEP , ...), however, something must be failing when only one in four children breastfeed exclusively at six months.
Various field studies among pediatric doctors, aimed at knowing their knowledge, the indications they would make and their attitudes, reveal the following (worrisome) data:
- 20% of respondents think that breast milk may be of poor quality: We have already commented on Babies and more. Unless the mother is malnourished any mother's milk is nutritionally complete for a baby
- 36% think that it is necessary to educate newborns on a feeding schedule, against breastfeeding on demand: After several entries talking about this issue I think it is not necessary to delve into it again.
- 29% think that teats and pacifiers relax the baby favoring breastfeeding: During the first month the use of pacifiers or teats is not recommended, since the suction of these elements is different from that made to the breast and can confuse the baby causing an inadequate suction that can produce cracks in the nipples and even take less food than necessary.
- 33% of the toilets think that the "double heavy" method is reliable to detect a deficit of feeding: This method consists of weighing the baby before taking and just after to assess how much he has eaten. The truth is that it is not very accurate because the weight obtained afterwards does not really correspond to what was ingested, with an average difference of about 15 ml more or less. In other words, it is not recommended, as it is very inaccurate.
- 61% would reinforce the LM with a bottle if the child does not take a lot of weight: Many theoretical problems of weight are errors of interpretation of the graphs, diagnosing children as “justitos of weight” when they are really well.
Other children may be drinking little milk because of problems with the chest grip or because they are not breastfeeding on demand. The work of pediatricians should be to find the cause of a baby is gaining little weight and offer a solution according to the problem.
Supplement breastfeeding with artificial milk for the baby to gain weight It is the first step for breastfeeding to fail.
- 13% would suspend the LM if the mother took antibiotics or anti-inflammatories: A nursing mother can take the majority of medications that exist and if not, there are usually others that have an effect similar to the one not advised that it can be taken.
Many antibiotics and anti-inflammatories are perfectly compatible with breastfeeding (and unfortunately many mothers have stopped breastfeeding their children for this reason).
- Only 49% think it is right to breastfeed in public: I think it does not deserve comment.
- 56% think that if the child cries a lot you have to analyze the milk to see if it is good: It coincides a little with the first point. It makes no sense to look for good or bad milk, because as I say, if there is no malnutrition in the mother, there is no problem in the milk.
- Only 50% of pediatric residents valued in a survey of hospitals in Barcelona recommend starting breastfeeding in the first hour of life, not giving water and offering breastfeeding on demand: For some strange reason the pre and postgraduate training in LM related medicine It is very lacking when not absent.
That half of the pediatric residents (those with the most recent training and the most “fresh” information) do not know the most important recommendations about breastfeeding seem to me, personally, embarrassing.
- The following results were obtained in a survey of pediatricians attending a congress:
• 25% believed that artificial milk should be given to newborns to avoid hypoglycemia: breastfeeding on demand prevents hypoglycemia, since the baby takes colostrum (and after a few days milk) when he needs it.• 50% thought that breastfed children need water and that if they cry because of hunger they have to offer a bottle before increasing the number of shots: Babies do not need water, as I will explain in a few days, and if they cry for hunger they should be breastfed . Offering a bottle means stop feeding on demand and the beginning of the end of breastfeeding.
It is clear that the data is not very encouraging. Mothers, and especially babies, need pediatricians who know how to diagnose and solve problems related to breastfeeding, basically, because if they do not go to professionals who are supposed to be prepared for it, who will they go to?
The most insistent (and those who know their existence) end up going to support groups for nursing mothers where breastfeeding consultants and other mothers are performing the role that pediatricians and nurses should be doing, voluntarily and with excellent results, which Everything must be said, but with the limitation that the lack of a sanitary title implies: They cannot prescribe ointments, creams or antibiotics in case of infection and it is the mothers who must go to the pediatrician to “convince him” of his problem so that Put the necessary treatment.
The rest of the mothers just paying attention to often counterproductive advice that cause the end of breastfeeding.
In 2002 data (Hamlyn), 87% of mothers who interrupted breastfeeding within six weeks after birth would have wanted to continue breastfeeding for longer. Of the mothers who breastfed for at least six months, 37% would have preferred to continue for longer.
I hope this post will serve as constructive criticism and as a photograph of current reality. There are many pediatricians who are doing a wonderful job for the good of babies, but there are many others who are staying in the past, giving wrong advice and making unnecessary value judgments.
We need you all. Babies need you all. Keep that in mind, dear pediatricians. Please.
