ENSURE HIS IMMUNITY

Picking up friendly breastfeeding practices at the hospital can be a positive start. But how do you ensure that your infant is fed breastmilk and not formula? Lactation expert Dr Manisha Gogri explains

- Dr Manisha Gogri

So, you have decided to breastfeed. You have read all about it, bought all the required accessories, but have you thought about how can you initiate feeding right after delivery? Is there a possibility of maintaining breastfeeding while at the hospital too?

If you are pregnant and are looking forward to breastfeed, you should know that most medical interventions that happen during labour and birth could have an effect on breastfeeding. Though newborns are hardwired to seek the nipple and initiate breastfeeding on their own, sometimes being exposed to medications, procedures and complications, the baby may not able to crawl up to the breast and latch on without help. Following are some circumstances under which your newborn might be given formula. It also includes ways to prevent it and stay assertive about your demand to breastfeed.

•When a woman in labour gets an epidural (anaesthesia to reduce labour pain), she also gets IV therapy to prevent her blood pressure from dropping. This IV fluid gets into the baby’s body and the baby is born heavier than his true weight. After birth, the baby loses this extra fluid via urine very fast. If this gets recorded as a weight loss of >10% of the birth weight, many hospitals follow the protocol of starting supplements (formula) for the baby. Sometimes there is a difference in weighing scales. Even if the weight loss is real, ideally, every effort should be made to improve the breastfeeding first. This includes skilled lactation support, improving latching and positioning, increasing mother and baby’s skin-to-skin contact, increasing the nursing frequency, getting the mother to hand express, etc. But unfortunately, the immediate and easy response is to give the baby formula. This undermines the mother’s confidence, and she gets the impression that her milk is not enough.