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Breastfeeding is great: food is always with you and it’s cheap. But how long should the child be allowed to breastfeed – and what if it doesn’t work? Gynecologist Jutta Böhmler-Hahn gives an overview.
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Stuttgart – The great thing about breastfeeding is that you always have your food with you. It’s cheap and the children get a lot of nutrients and antibodies through their breast milk, which provides some protection. There are no real disadvantages, except that you can’t really enjoy yourself during this time. In addition, the child should not be exclusively breast-fed for too long.
The National Breastfeeding Commission recommends breastfeeding your child for at least six months. This recommendation is also covered by UNICEF. After six months, mothers usually switch over gradually. This automatically reduces milk production and the children get used to porridge. At some point, milk production simply stops.
In other countries women have to breastfeed for a long time because they have nothing else
Exclusively breastfeeding for too long can cause the child to lack certain nutrients that are simply not found in breast milk. It can lead to deficiency symptoms and, for example, rickets, a disease of the growing bones. This is not common in our country these days – but it happens more often in poorer countries, where women have to breastfeed for an extremely long time because they simply have nothing else.
With us, the children are under the care of a pediatrician from the start. At birth, every woman receives a so-called yellow booklet for her child. All examinations are documented and checked, for example, to see whether the growth is okay.
What to do if there are problems with the nipples
Expressing milk is a good alternative. It is also used when women have problems with their nipples. Or in women who have congestion. Pumping stimulates the breast, although the child’s sucking reflex is even better. Some women who produce too much milk also express it, freeze it and feed it in times of need.
Can you still breastfeed after a breast operation?
After breast surgery, it all depends on what was operated on and why you did it. But there are many women who have been able to breastfeed after breast surgery. Of course, you always have to ask yourself in advance of a cosmetic operation: Is it really necessary? But nowadays you can operate a lot without damaging the milk ducts.
However, if it is a cancer operation, i.e. because of breast cancer, things are of course different. But theoretically you can still breastfeed.
Breastfeeding and the mother-child relationship
When the child is at the breast, it hears the mother’s heartbeat, feels the closeness and the warmth, which is of course good for the relationship. The smell that the child perceives, the warmth, the connectedness – a lot of importance is attached to breastfeeding. But you can also just hug your child.
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The breastfeeding craze of some midwives is not fair to women who cannot breastfeed for whatever reason. These women should simply be advised to hug the child often. But strangely enough, with pregnant and breastfeeding women, everyone always speaks, even without authorization.
Breastfeeding is great when it works. But even if it doesn’t work out, you can show your child the same love.
The conversation was recorded by Hanna Helder.
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