The world has been observing World Breastfeeding Week for 24 years, but still, most of the women are still glued to some popular myths associated with breastfeeding. Many women are surrounded by myths about breastfeeding. They lack professional guidance and so they believe what they are passed on by their mothers and grandmothers. Unfortunately, most of the Indian women are unaware what they need to do. They reach out for the experts only when the things get out of control. The next-door aunties, no matter how experienced they are in life, sometimes can lack the important information. So here to debunk the common breastfeeding myths, we are bringing you the expert advice in the field of breastfeeding.
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1. Myth: Drinking cold beverage can cause infection to the child.
Fact: The facts say otherwise. There’s nothing wrong for a feeding woman to consume the cold beverage. It doesn’t affect the baby’s health at all. The viral infections can’t be transmitted to the baby via breast milk. In fact, when a mother is suffering from a cold, her body produces antibodies which are passed out through breast milk. This protects the baby.
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2. Myth: Nursing mothers should avoid spicy food
Fact: it’s only during the first 40 days after the delivery that the mother is advised to stay away from spicy food. It can cause constipation. After the one and the half months, she can eat whatever she wants.
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3. Myth: Don’t breastfeed after having C-section
Fact: It will require some time for the women to women to recover from the surgery, so babies usually don’t get enough skin contact and lack the first feed.
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4. Myth: Women who are taking medicines shouldn’t breastfeed
Fact: Only the traces of medication that a woman takes, is found in the mother’s milk. So it is not harmful to a baby to feed on breast milk when she’s on medications.
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5. Myth: Mother’s diet is responsible for quality of breastmilk
Fact: What mother eats doesn’t affect the quality of the milk directly. But if the mother is not eating properly or is malnourished then the quality of milk can be affected.
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6. Myth: Breastmilk shouldn’t be refrigerated.
Fact: Working mothers can refrigerate their milk and use it for five days. However, if kept at room temperature, it shouldn’t be fed after 4 hours.
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7. Myth: Don’t breastfeed the baby if he’s suffering from diarrhoea
Fact: The fact is, that the baby should be fed with mother’s milk in case of gut infections. A mother should stop giving other foods to the baby in such case. Only in certain exceptional cases, breastfeeding is not advised.
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