Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

re: Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

dressagefreak — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 20:54:19 GMT

re Russ's comment: "Infant formulas suck!" ...That soo should be on a T-shirt ;-) haha

re: Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

HealMeGood — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 18:38:04 GMT

Wow! This completely fascinates me that a woman can create breastmilk with perseverance! I have got to read this book, "The Womanly Art to Breastfeeding". In all probability I know that it would more than likely not succeed but miracles do happen. Since I am adopting, I have no choice but to immunize my child. It's state regulation for the first 6 months of life. I'm sure the birthmom is eating MSG, she's on Ambien, the baby won't get breastfed the first hour of life, Sometimes it's hard psychologically to be educated on health matters. The days of ignorance was bliss. Would I change it? no. I appreciate Dr. Mercola's newsletter so much.

re: Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

Stay at Home Mom of 6 — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 04:07:00 GMT

I just want to see this work. I can't believe that "***" is censored out on this site. So I just typed the word in the previous sentence, and I want to see it replaced with asterisks. I'm not sure if I'm laughing or just incredibly embarrassed for this site. Yes, I nursed all my children, one for two years, and I'm coaching my daughter with her daughter. Let me just tell you, it's not always as easy as it may seem. My daughter is seriously considering giving it up because the United States culture is so antagonistic, and it's a huge commitment. Her in laws offer no support and she is reluctant to even have them visit because they have no prior knowledge or experience in breastfeeding. Too bad we are so awkward in the US about it all. I guess this site asterisking out the word is a symptom of the problem.

re: Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

HealMeGood — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 22:43:46 GMT

My husband and I are adopting our first baby and unfortunately I will not be able to breastfeed. I've read that Enfamil is one of the better formulas and I can fortify the formula. I'm also looking into making my own formula using the Weston Price recipe. If anyone knows of a better alternative, I'm all ears and always eager to learn more. My baby's health is very important to me. Please don't look upon every mother that does not breastfeed as bad. There may be situations like mine that make it impossible. Thank you for your understanding.

re: Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

BeyondOrganic — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 20:13:33 GMT

*** milk is definitely Best!!

re: Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

luvtheoutdoors — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 19:16:15 GMT

If you are interested in b/feeding but want to pump and bottle feed the expressed milk what kind of information do you ask for ? In summary for all those going 'why do it that way' - i have a dermatitis on the ni**le area, don't want the hassle of transitioning to a bottle when i return to work and refuse to sit in a public restroom to nurse but also will not sit out in the common area - that is just not 'me'

re: Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

Carol Morrisey — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 18:43:45 GMT

At 12 months my oldest daughter Liz had a 24-hour stomach bug followed by a full month of diarrhea. During that time I consulted 2 different doctors. One prescribed donagel, which had no effect. The second said she didn't use that, as it doesn't work and contains morphine! Instead, she told me to quit breastfeeding. If I had followed that advice, my baby would probably have ended up in the hospital with dehydration, and would have been terribly unhappy to boot. So I consulted a book by Adele Davis and gave Liz acidophilus (I opened the capsules and added them to yogurt). This worked overnight! I believe that if I had not been breastfeeding, my child would have been far sicker. Breastfeeding is also very comforting to a sick or frightened child. Thanks for telling the truth about it.

re: Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

Musica — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 17:28:16 GMT

An interesting story: my friend breastfed her daughter until she weaned herself at 3 1/2 years old. She is my hero (I'm still breastfeeding my 2 years old baby boy following her precious advice, and the extensive research I did, including this present site). I was surprised to learn that her baby had a very serious, life threatening episode with meningitis with seizures, at the age of 2, after a trip to the river... My friend said they vaccinated her daughter at the hospital, gave her specific treatment, and they told her to continue the breastfeeding, as this was a great thing.

Why did the breastfeeding not offer protection in this case? Probably because the mother's body didn't have the antibodies to meningitis (although she said that there was a history of seizures in the family). I didn't ask her, but my guess is that she didn't have meningitis herself to give her the antibodies to this illness.

Initially, I was against vaccination myself, but since my husband insisted that we do this for our baby's safety - and I didn't know enough about the subject, we decided together to vaccinate. We also learned that vaccines nowadays are "cleaner" than they used to be. The story of my friend reinforced our choice - sometimes vaccines are a necessary "evil" in our society where illness can and does happen.

re: Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

partera — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 15:46:12 GMT

If you want support for *** feeding immediately after birth I reccomend you see a Certified Nurse Midwife for your prenatal care. As a nurse midwives, we almost always put babies on mom's tummy immediately after birth. We support the mothers and strive for a wholistic birth experience, with the immedeiate avaliablility of medical support should an emergancy arise. ( the best of both worlds in my opinion.) At the hopsital where I practice they have Baby Friendly Certification and follow strict UNICEF guidlelines to support *** feeding including no pacifiers or formula unless the parents request it or it is medically ncecssary. It is amazing to see newborns find their mother's *** themselves and latch on.. within the first half hour of life if given the chance. You can call your local hospital to see if they are a "baby friendly institution". A nurse midwife near you can be found by looking at the American College of Nurse Midwives web page.

re: Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

DJones3423 — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 14:07:52 GMT

After my babies were born, I had to argue with the nurses to get them back. The babies supposedly had to go through some "standard newborn testing" that I was not asked about nor had I given my permission for. My youngest son was taken away minutes after he was born and was more than 4 hours old before I finally made enough noise for them to bring him back to me. I was furious.

re: Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

The New Christine — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 13:51:30 GMT

It saddens me deeply that during the time when my children were born, formula was "king" and breastfeeding was out. Little did I know that the evil geniuses in Big Pharma were pushing the sick-care industry to market this idea. When I gave birth to my last child, who was born via c-section, and he had multiple anomalties due to a chromosome deletiion, which I didn't know about until later on that week, I was really gung-ho about breastfeeding but unfortunately the baby didn't know how to suck on anything. I pumped milk for a month, without too much assistance from the nurses when I first started and well, I didn't get much milk. Unfortunately they didn't do much to educate me on how to pump, or even how to produce a good amount of milk. I wish I could have another child just to be able to do things soooooo different this time, but unfortunately, that ship has pretty much sailed. Now all I can do is hope that my now 18 year old daughter will listen intently about taking care of her body and someday when she's married and ready to have children that she understands the importance of breastfeeding-those things on your chest are not just there to attract the opposite sex!

I do have one question about the article though, why did they type in *** instead of the word ***? Is it taboo? Really now! :)

re: Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

nateandjaysmom — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 13:45:13 GMT

I am a breastfeeding mother of a 16 month old and I am happy to see this information. I know how important it is to breastfeed and I hope that more people will continue to breastfeed their children. Thank You Dr. Mercola!

re: Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

Bridgett — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 10:49:14 GMT

I live in South Africa and although breastfeeding is encouraged in general so is cows milk and soya formula. Consequently I know of many babies who have had loads of problems with colic and illness. My baby was born 6.5 weeks premature, he fed well and was only breastfeed but was extremely windy for the first few months. I tried absolutely everything recommended from mainstream doctors to homeopaths. It was only when my baby and I were tested for food allergies (which there were many) and I cut these foods out of my diet (especially dairy, wheat and soya - I'm vegetarian) that my baby's winds stopped. The difference was dramatic and I can only urge other mothers to do the same if they have babies with 'colic'. The baby is now 1 and he has never had any problematic foods consequently he has not been sick since I changed my diet. (He now has goats milk)I also stopped vaccinating (thanks to Dr Mercola's website) but with loads of criticism from family and friends - luckily eventually my husband agreed after meeting with a gp/homeopath and asking his own questions. I did loads of research before deciding not to vaccinate my child further and am so pleased that I have made this important decision. I encourage parents here to do the same - but of course the paediatricians recommend it - so most children stil get vaccinated in South Africa - very sad.

re: Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

kurumi — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 08:39:11 GMT

I think the only way breastfeeding can gain ground is if people `DONT` go on about how the first few minutes or hours after birth are so vital. For some women the birth can be very traumatic or maybe unwanted and the thought of having to respond within a set time frame that puts her either in the good mother or bad mother category can put a lot of pressure on her.

It was 24 hours after the birth of my first child before I could face the thought of having to give more to her. In that time hospital staff had given her formula but at the time I didn`t really care even though I fully intended to breastfeed. But I had excellent care at the hospital and I`m sure I fared much better there than if I had had a home birth as I was a reluctant mother to begin with. Luckily here in Japan a woman having a normal delivery is allowed to stay in hospital for up to 7 days, 10 for ceaserean. And in that time there was no `all breastfeeding or nothing` attitude. So I didn`t feel I was starving my child as I worked through the pain of bleeding nipples and engorged breasts when I had a break as she had a bottle. The attitude here is that every woman can breastfeed and with some it just takes a while. I think the breastfeeding rate at 6 months is high here judging by the mothers at the 6 months baby massage classes still feeding their children. Plus Japan is very breastfeeding friendly with facilities in all big shopping centres etc.

I am still feeding my daughter now at 2 years and 6 months and have not supplemented her feeds with formula, except for the time at the hospital, and I intend to carry on for as long as she wants as I haven`t vaccinated her. She is a very healthy and I am so grateful for the chance I got to acclimatise myself to the demands of motherhood.

I agree formula is bad but as a means to take pressure off the new mother and help start full time breastfeeding it is a good compromise.

re: Why Breastfeeding in the First Hour of Life is Important

nanciesweb — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 15:59:40 GMT

The absolute, positive way to guarantee this is to have a home birth. Four of my kids had latched on within the first 15 minutes and this most recent one had latched on within a half hour (too busy looking around).

Of course you don't have to worry about samples being shoved down your throat and the discouraging "well, not every woman can breastfeed and don't feel guilty if it fails" speech. I've actually heard that speech from health professionals and non health professionals alike.

I understand that not everyone can have a home birth and that you can still breastfeed in a setting that is hostile to it. After all, some women still breastfed during the 60's when it was really taboo.