Expert Opinion
Breast Feeding is the best feeding
for your newly born infant!
Every mother knows this, yet every mother is not
comfortable or successful in feeding her child at breast.
There are many reasons to this. The first and the
foremost is the confidence of the mother in herself!
The mother is in a state of ‘stress’ after child birth, and is looking for
support from family and friends. She has a new member in the family for which she
has to find time and make adjustments in her routine. Most infants are alert
and awake at night and more demanding at that time. She has lots of doubts
about the infant as well as many a times people around her create doubts about
the success of breast feeding / breast milk. Our customs forbid many food or
even plain water to our new mothers, which adds on to
the stress. All these things are counterproductive to successful flow of milk.
It is not the production of milk but the flow of milk that is a problem.
A timely support from the family members especially
the grandmother(s), with a guiding and helpful
pediatrician who is supervising the needs of the new born, are needed to make
the lactation successful in this critical stage of the new life.
Till what age should the child be
fed at breast:
WHO says “Exclusive Breast feeding (not even water)
till six months of age, and continued breast feeding till two years”.
Medical Reasons for mothers to not
to feed the new born:
Mother on anticancer treatment, antipsychotic
treatment as well as anti-thyroid treatment should not feed the child at
breast milk.
Mothers with flat or inverted nipples may not be
able to feed directly from breast. Talk to your pediatrician to overcome this
problem.
Reason for the child for not to be
fed at breast:
Child with true lactose intolerance should not be
given breast milk.
Other reasons for not allowing breast feeding
(suckling at breast) would be a very low birth weight /premature child, unless
your doctor allows you to feed the child directly from breast. Till that time
the child may be fed at expressed breast milk.
Children with cleft palate – deformity of the palate
of the child may not be able to swallow the milk without help for which your
pediatrician would guide you further.
Is asthma curable?
No, asthma is condition in which the body reacts to
a set of environment and this reactivity of the body cannot be cured; rather
this can be controlled by using some medicines for a long term. To avoid the
side effects of these medicines, we prescribe the inhaled route to minimize the
doses. Please adhere to the methods prescribed by the pediatrician.
Stress in children,
Most parents do not agree or know that their
children at are stress. Any unexplained symptom may be the result of stress in
a child which should be professionally managed by a trained psychologist. The
symptoms may range from aches and pains at various locations of the body, with
non-measurable symptoms like weaknesses, poor scholastic performance,
unacceptable social behavior etc.