Between August 1 and 7, World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated, and from Babies and More we will dedicate a daily space to inform, defend and protect breastfeeding. And it is that, although we all know the multiple benefits that it has for mother and baby, there is still a lot of work to do and many myths to demolish.
Among these myths there are two very widespread and completely opposite: on the one hand, those who consider that because it is a natural act, breastfeeding is something simple and that it flows without complications. On the other hand, those who believe that achieving a successful breastfeeding belongs exclusively to a lucky few.
But nothing is further from the truth, as in any other aspect of life, breastfeeding can have lights and shadows. Today we are going to focus on the importance of making the problems visible so that mothers who are having difficulties with their breastfeeding do not feel alone or misunderstood, and can seek a solution.
“Everyone told me I didn’t have milk, and I came to believe it”
Paloma’s first breastfeeding only lasted a month because her surroundings made her believe that she had no milk . “I ended up giving up due to pressure from the family, who insisted that my baby was hungry and I had to give him a bottle,” he tells us.
“My mother always told me that she could not breastfeed, and neither did my sister. During pregnancy, my family insisted that I get used to the idea that it was a hereditary problem and that I would not be able to either . And I ended up assuming it. like this “ .
But the truth is that her baby was gaining weight at a normal rate and had long since regained her birth weight. However, she cried and squirmed during feedings, and as this mother explains, “she continually asked me for a breast .”
Everyone around her interpreted that the baby’s behavior was due to poor breast milk production, or even “poor quality” milk. “No mother wants her baby to go hungry , so I decided to give up,” confesses Paloma.
Two years later, her second daughter was born and Paloma decided to try again. “But this time it was different; I read a lot in all that time, I attended breastfeeding talks and contacted counselors who helped and empowered me. Today my daughter is three years old and we continue breastfeeding .”
“I had to wean my baby from knee surgery”
Three months after the birth of her first child, Isabel had to undergo knee surgery, and the doctor recommended that her baby be weaned due to the incompatibility of the procedure with breastfeeding.
“He told me that the imaging tests that they had to perform, prior to the operation, were incompatible with breastfeeding. And he also told me that the anesthesia and the medications that I should take after the intervention were incompatible. In addition, he insisted that I would be sore to be able to breastfeed , and that the most sensible thing was to give him bottles “ , remembers this mother.
Overwhelmed by events, Isabel decided to wean, although she later learned that neither the imaging tests, nor the anesthesia, nor the medications she had been taking for a few days were incompatible with continuing to breastfeed her baby.
“What happened to me cannot be considered a breastfeeding problem as such, because the truth is that my breastfeeding went smoothly up to that moment . But I had a very bad time psychologically. I did not want to wean my baby but I did not find support; The emotional pain I felt for weeks was great, than the physical pain of the operation I had undergone “
” This happened nine years ago and I want to believe that health professionals are more aware of breastfeeding than before. It was a shame what happened to me, and even today I remember it with great sadness and helplessness,” he laments.
“My breastfeeding was an ordeal of cracks and mastitis”
The experience with breastfeeding my daughter was a very rough road during her first few months.
My daughter was born with a frenulum that made it very difficult to grasp but was diagnosed at four months, after a long time of pain and suffering. The cracks and milk pearls accompanied me from the first feedings, but what really took me worse were the countless subacute mastitis that I suffered.
I went to the emergency room on several occasions broken by the pain, but there was no fever, no breast hardening, or redness, therefore I was discharged without any type of diagnosis or solution.
Little is known or said about this type of mastitis , but the pain is terrible and the helplessness of not knowing what to do or who to turn to made it even harder. It was then that I went to a breastfeeding group and the advice of the counselors and the experiences of other mothers helped me to move forward with a breastfeeding that, until that moment, I dreamed of giving up.
My tenacity and the unconditional support of many people were key to moving forward with strength and positivism. And step by step, month after month, we reached 13 months of breastfeeding.
“When I finally got over my breastfeeding problems, I had to get back to work and it was all over.”
Unfortunately, surely there are many mothers who identify with the story of Carmen, who had to give up breastfeeding after joining her job and found endless obstacles that made it difficult for her to continue breastfeeding her daughter.
“My first months of breastfeeding were horrible. I had many grip problems and cracks, the girl was not gaining enough weight and I was about to give up on more than one occasion. But the midwife of our health center was a fundamental support, and thank you I managed to overcome difficulties for her “
But when she was finally beginning to enjoy her breastfeeding, Carmen had to go to work and came face to face with a reality that she did not expect:
“I worked in a small family business and being absent from my job to get milk turned out to be a real odyssey. The more obstacles that arose, the more I was overwhelmed and the less milk I managed to get out .” Carmen’s breastfeeding after her return to work only lasted three more weeks.
“Cow’s milk protein allergy ended our lactation”
Ana’s baby was diagnosed with an allergy to cow’s milk protein (CMPA) at five months of age. “My husband and I had gone to the wedding of some friends and my son had remained in the care of my mother. Although his main diet was breastfeeding, at some sporadic moment we had given him bottles of formula and he had never had a reaction,” this mother explains to us.
But that night was different, and when his grandmother gave him the bottle, the little one began to fill with hives that quickly spread throughout his body: “My mother called us on the phone in anguish, and we left everything to go quickly to the hospital” , remembers Ana.
There they were told that their baby had CMA and that he should be fed hydrolyzed milk . Ana and her husband were so scared by what happened that they did not consider anything else, and from one day to the next this mother terminated her breastfeeding. A few weeks later, Ana learned that she could have continued to breastfeed her baby on a dairy-free diet, and although she tried to relactate again, she was unsuccessful.
“I was not aware of many of the problems that can occur during breastfeeding.”
The breastfeeding story of our partner Lucy was also a series of obstacles that she herself decided to relate on her blog.
To the initial problems derived from the mother-baby separation and the pains of the cesarean section, were added the difficulties of mixed breastfeeding, incorporation to work, and the multiple bumps that arose and that due to misinformation, Lucy was unable to get over.
“Now, looking back at things, I really regret so many things that I did not do to improve my situation,” this mother laments. But the experience is a degree, and now Lucy feels prepared and informed to face a new breastfeeding when it is time to have another child.
“I never got my baby to latch onto my breast without pain”
The four months that Rosa’s breastfeeding lasted were a “path of thorns”, as she herself defines it. She never got her baby to latch onto her breast without pain, so she ended up assuming (wrongly) that breastfeeding had to hurt .
“It’s a shame, because I never got to enjoy breastfeeding my daughter. Every time she clung to my breast, I felt like a thousand pins were being stuck in me, and no matter how many positions we tried, I couldn’t find one with which I felt relaxed” .
Rosa tried using nipple shields, but not only did the pain not improve, but she ended up producing mastitis in one of her breasts. “I cried with helplessness every time my daughter wanted to breastfeed, and the last few days of breastfeeding I gave her only one breast because she could no longer bear the pain .”
18 months have passed since that sad and painful experience, and today Rosa believes that had she found qualified help at those times , she would have been able to continue breastfeeding her baby overcoming difficulties.
Photos | iStock
