RE: Qs on breastfeeding, infant digestion

[Guest guest]

I have been involved with La Leche League for a few years and I haven't seen

the *constant sticking the baby on the breast with no other mothering

efforts* that has been referred to a few times on this list. LLL does have

an overall focus/principle of " mothering through breastfeeding " - but I've

always understood this (and witnessed other moms manifesting this) as:

Breastfeeding is essential, foundational, wonderful, efficient and effective

to support the mother and child relationship and their health in many ways.

I haven't seen many breastfeeding moms opt for nursing right away.

 

 

There is a general mothering tactic that goes something like: if the baby is

fussy or crying, along with speaking to them in a sincere way, check their

bodies for pain, check/change their diaper, give them some stimulation

(play/sing/etc.), or give them some soothing (snuggles/quiet/etc.), try a

nap - then if these things aren't what the baby wants and they do really

want to eat, feed them. " On demand breastfeeding " means when the baby is

hungry and " demanding to nurse, " not that the baby is demanding to be

changed, heard, played with, sung to, warmed, held or put down to nap, but

we breastfeed them instead. If someone is doing that, they are not

breastfeeding on demand, they are breastfeeding *not* on demand. And if the

baby does want/need to eat now, the mother should feed them without thinking

that the baby is going to be overweight. Breastfeeding decreases risk of

obesity. This fact is supported by many, many studies. [see: Clinic of

Obstetrics, Division of Experimental Obstetrics, Charite-University

Medicine, Berlin, Germany " Observational studies suggest a longer duration

of breastfeeding to be associated dose dependently with a decrease in risk

of overweight in later life. The authors performed a comprehensive

meta-analysis of the existing studies on duration of breastfeeding and risk

of overweight. Studies were included that reported the odds ratio and 95%

confidence interval (or the data to calculate them) of overweight associated

with breastfeeding and that reported the duration of breastfeeding and used

exclusively formula-fed subjects as the referent. Seventeen studies met the

inclusion criteria. By meta-regression, the duration of breastfeeding was

inversely associated with the risk of overweight. The definitions of

overweight and age had no influence. These findings strongly support a

dose-dependent association between longer duration of breastfeeding and

decrease in risk of overweight. " ]

 

 

There are also obvious physical signs the baby expresses when s/he is hungry

such as sucking actively on their fingers (not exploring them, but seeking

and latching on to them), searching for mom's breast while being held by her

(or others!), etc. Also, many moms can distinguish a babies various cries

and address them accordingly - whether it be fear, sadness, hunger, anger,

discomfort, tired ...

 

 

Human milk also digests very quickly (formula takes significantly longer)

and a newborn baby has a stomach the size of a MARBLE. Amazing, huh? So, I'm

not arguing against Ayurveda because I am very much an advocate of Ayurveda!

But I just want LLL and " on demand " breastfeeding to get a fair

representation, which I'm thinking is not happening.

 

 

It is wise to address the unhealthy, overindulgent, emotionally bound and

uninformed practices of modern parenting. I think it's essential to also

really pinpoint the cause, effect and issues involved so as to eradicate the

real problem and not add to the confusion and guilt we all experience during

our lives of parenting. La Leche League has done gigantic work in advocating

for women, mothers, children and families and they are a huge ally in the

ongoing battle to honor the instincts and spiritual realities of mothering.

They take on monster corporations, governments and other entities for the

sake of all of us mommies out here in the world. Every LLL Leader who starts

any LLL Meeting anywhere in the world is bound by here LLL commitment to let

the women know they can " take what works for their family and leave the

rest. " I think we should all do that in our mothering and not look down on

LLL.

 

 

Love,

Kalavati

[Guest guest]

Dear Kalavati;

Thank you for such a beautiful expression. And I stand wisely

appraised, having not attended as many LLL meetings as you, for sure.

Hopefully my comments in todays posts serve to expand a bit on the

emotional/spiritual considerations which many moms, such as I myself

experienced with my first 2, when totally committed to the principles

you have expressed found I still did not have enough wisdom or

guidance combined with my body type, stored stressors, fears,

whatever, to follow naturally the advise LLL gives.

 

In all due fairness, my comments on LLL were limited by time and

oversight to only the issues I presented. I often refer moms to LLL,

it is such an amazing multifaceted service worldwide to so many

mothers for such a long time!!! I did find the recommended snacks

well, with my ayurvedic background there is wonderful tweaking of that

knowledge too for health, but quite obviously, we all learn in steps,

can't do it all at once.

 

Warmest Regards;

Ysha

[Guest guest]

I'm so glad this conversation is continuing, so now I have a follow-up

question--as I begin to look ahead for my 4 month old and introducing

him to foods at 6 months while still breast feeding, some logistical

questions come up.

 

If we think of breast milk as (obviously) milk, then the ayurvedic

approach would say do not mix milk with anything other than other sweet

foods. Now, my understanding is that breast milk is superior in its

nutritional value to all other foods so in the period of 6 months to a

year mother is just introducing foods to get baby used to eating and to

make sure there are no allergies etc.

 

So, if you don't want to mix let's say dahl or veggies with breast milk

and at same time do not want to skip a breast feeding to introduce

solids and not have baby eating more than 2 hours apart, then how does

it work?

 

Also, I heard a interesting point at a LLL meeting (LLL is my main

mothering support group at present) the point was about weaning that

many babies appear to want to wean around 9 months because as new

foods are bring introduced they fill up on those and then don't have

interest in breast feeding, so it was suggested that one should breast

feed baby before introducing foods--and by introducing food they

suggested only giving baby a tablespoon or so of a given food just to

get used to it. So how can I not mix milk and other foods and not have

my baby lose interest in breast feeding.

 

I hope I don't sound too hyper about all of this--and stuck in the

details--but I am hoping to get some good ideas of how to balance out

all of the valuable knowledge I'm getting from different venues.

Thanks!

 

 

 

On Apr 20, 2006, at 1:24 PM, Martha Oakes wrote:

 

> Dear Kalavati;

> Thank you for such a beautiful expression.  And I stand wisely

> appraised, having not attended as many LLL meetings as you, for sure.

> Hopefully my comments in todays posts serve to expand a bit on the

> emotional/spiritual considerations which many moms, such as I myself

> experienced with my first 2, when totally committed to the principles

> you have expressed found I still did not have enough wisdom or

> guidance combined with my body type, stored stressors, fears,

> whatever, to follow naturally the advise LLL gives. 

>

> In all due fairness, my comments on LLL were limited by time and

> oversight to only the issues I presented.  I often refer moms to LLL,

> it is such an amazing multifaceted service worldwide to so many

> mothers for such a long time!!!  I did find the recommended snacks

> well, with my ayurvedic background there is wonderful tweaking of that

> knowledge too for health, but quite obviously, we all learn in steps,

> can't do it all at once. 

>

> Warmest Regards;

> Ysha

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Good questions Julie. I'm curious too! Also, not every baby will show

an interest in solids at 6 months.