Going home with a newborn in your arms means the beginning of a whole new life for you and your family. Managing the differences between expectations and reality—especially in terms of feeding your baby—can go a long way toward making it not just a smooth transition, but also a time of joy. You get home from the maternity ward with a new baby in your arms, your emotions all swirling and perhaps your worries stoked, too. Now what?
Those first few weeks are all about transitions. No matter what, life is about to change in a big way. In our book, Heading Home with Your Newborn: From Birth to Reality, our goal is to help you ease into your new lifestyle with reasonable expectations and a positive attitude regarding the inevitable changes and challenges that lie ahead. To borrow a line from a popular children’s book, we want to leave you telling yourself, “I think I can, I think I can …”
How can you prepare, and how can you adjust when things don’t go quite the way you had in mind? Let’s take a closer look at one of the biggies: feeding.
Breast Choices
You‘ve probably heard it before: “Breast is best.“ But is it really?
Yes, from both a nutritional and infection prevention standpoint. Breast milk is currently unrivaled as the ideal food for infants. The infection fighting antibodies it contains just can’t be bottled in even the most expensive of commercial formulas, and breast milk has been shown to reduce a newborn’s chance of developing everything from ear infections, allergies, vomiting, and diarrhea to pneumonia, meningitis, and potentially even sudden infant death syndrome.
True, breastfeeding is “natural.” But that doesn’t mean that getting started with breastfeeding is easy. Those first couple of weeks can be challenging, because in reality, there is usually a period of self-education and on-the-breast training. We recommend taking it step by step, keeping a few precautions in mind, and being patient as you and your baby learn how to do it. Remember, millions of women have successfully breastfed their babies; you can do it, too.
Last Updated 11/2/2009
Source Adapted from Healthy Children Magazine, Fall 2006
The information contained on this Web site should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician. There may be variations in treatment that your pediatrician may recommend based on individual facts and circumstances.
