Breastfeeding crises: what they are and how to tackle them
Mothers go through a series of difficulties of more or less depth when it comes to breastfeeding. They do not only concern physical issues such as cracks or obstruction of ducts, nor are they due exclusively to the attitudes that the child is taking towards the chest, such as rejection. Sometimes it is the environment itself that is unsympathetic and urges the mother to put down her efforts and move on to formula.
Each will proceed in the best way being realistic with their circumstances, but many of the above problems can be solved with the necessary information.
Among other issues, the latter reports on crises or outbreaks of growth, and frequent circumstances in breastfeeding distressed mothers. Milk production is regulated by demand, then the more demand, the more production. But it may happen that the baby does not seem satisfied or that he is uncomfortable breastfeeding when until then everything has gone well.
Can they be predicted?
Predicting and knowing how to act is not to fall into the temptation of supplementing with formula from the first months. We must remember that organizations such as the World Health Organization recommend giving breast milk exclusively for the first six months, and from there keep it until two years or more along with other foods.
According to the Alba breastfeeding association, seizure episodes occur at a similar age in most babies, and this makes them easier to predict. The first occurs between the first 17 to 20 days of life when until then the baby had had fairly regular feeding and sleep cycles. The child will want to breastfeed continuously, will cry when they do not and will continue to breastfeed despite regurgitating milk, as the main indication.
At six or seven weeks another can be produced characterized by an increase in the need for milk, which will force you to increase the number of feedings and behave in a restless way when you are breastfeeding: you jerk, cry, are tense, etc.
But perhaps the most profound crisis is the one that occurs at three months for two reasons: it can take a month to overcome, and it coincides with the moment in which many mothers stop breastfeeding. The reasons for not doing it vary, but this crisis is usually among the main ones: the baby does not ask for the breast as often, puts less weight and is distracted very easily when he is breastfeeding, which makes the shots a mess.
Later, a year and two years later, crises can also occur. However, according to the data, with these ages there will be a minority of mothers who have continued breastfeeding. It does not mean that they were not solved, but it is not such a critical stage.
Tips for a breastfeeding crisis
Each of the aforementioned crises will be accompanied by a behavior, and in all cases there are solutions. Crises are temporary, and they go as they come even if they generate much anguish and overexertion along the way.
One of the most delicate, we said, is that of the three months. In any other, but especially in that one, it will be advisable to use a lactation rocking chair that helps the child calm down. You can use it in a place in silence and in darkness, which will prevent external stimuli from monopolizing the child’s attention. At this stage, there are significant changes in the brain, which explains why their curiosity increases and they show more irregular behavior.
It is advisable not to wait for the child to cry to try to breastfeed because by then he will show signs of despair. It should be tried before, but looking for the balance between eating correctly and satiating and insisting excessively vehemently. If he is forced, he will end up feeling rejected and the situation will worsen.
The most obvious advice we can give you, which is both the most important and the hardest to follow, is to be very patient. Breastfeeding is not easy and most mothers do not get enough information, beyond what others tell us that, although useful, can be disparate and go against our desires. We repeat that crises are temporary and that they will generate anguish, but putting in place the appropriate actions will pass.
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