A frequent doubt when talking about breastfeeding is related to the quality of breast milk. If it will be enough food to guarantee the correct growth of the baby or on the contrary, it will need a “little help”.
Let us remember the recommendations of the World Health Organization and Spanish Association of Pediatrics: exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and combined with other foods for up to two years or more. It will be the mother and the baby who decide how long breastfeeding lasts.
La breast milk contains all the nutrients your baby needs during the first six months of life. From that age on, the introduction of complementary feeding begins, but the main food continues to be breast milk.
All the doubts about the quality of breast milk They can occur at any time during the lactation period.
At first, for the first few days, inexperience takes its toll on us. For this reason, we have to make sure our baby is breastfeeding effectively, that our breastfeeding technique is correct. For this, the mother can turn to health professionals trained in breastfeeding or lactation consultants and counselors.
Crying contributes to doubts. People tend to think that when a baby cries, it is because they are hungry. And yes, sometimes a baby cries because he is hungry, but other times he cries because he needs us to hold him, other times because he is uncomfortable, he is cold, he is tired ...
But, we offer him the breast and he calms down. Perhaps it was hunger, or that he needed contact with the mother's breast to feel safe. Remember that the maternal breast is not only food, it is also contact, affection and pleasure.
Keep in mind that the newborn is not born hungry. Until the time of the umbilical cord cut, all their food needs have been met. From that moment, the production of milk in the breasts starts up. The colostrum of the first days is enough to calm the baby's appetite.
If our baby loses weight during the days immediately after birth and the breastfeeding technique is correct, it is not because he does not have enough with the colostrum. But because it is something physiological. Almost all babies lose 10-12% of their weight by the expulsion of meconium and liquids and by inexperience in suction. We will begin to see how our baby gains weight after approximately ten days of life.
After these first days, and with certain periodicity, there may be lactation crisis. It does not mean that our milk is no longer enough, but that the baby needs more quantity, which is why it tends to increase the frequency of feedings. He only has to suckle more times so that the mother's breast produces more milk.
Nor does it mean that you go hungry to put your little hands in your mouth. Keep in mind that for children under 3 years of age, the main tool to explore the world is the mouth. If the baby puts his hands to his mouth, it is not because he is hungry, but because that way he is getting to know his body and enjoying it.
As the baby grows, the composition of the milk varies, adapting to the needs. And always feed, even when the baby is already a 3-year-old.