Just as there are many magnificent professionals who are aware and in continuous training to improve their knowledge in breastfeeding, there are others that can be an obstacle for their ideas or lack of updated training. Our readers narrate many bad experiences with the latter, but we rarely dedicate the necessary words to the former. And there are pediatricians who support breastfeeding too.
The problem is how to recognize each other? If your pediatrician does not support breastfeeding and you are determined to give it to your baby you should be prepared.
I am in favor of searching a pediatrician I can trust and really support breastfeeding. Having a professional who knows enough is essential although it is always convenient to inform ourselves and seek the reinforcement of other families.
What happens many times is that new moms We have received a totally poor training and information on breastfeeding. We hardly know about breastfeeding and, therefore, we cannot identify the right pediatrician for this issue until sometimes it is too late. Because a pediatrician can be magnificent in most health fields but not in this one. And unfortunately it happens.
After 50 years of bottle culture"It is not usual for us to have grown up surrounded by other women who breastfeed and lack this important practical experience. We women lived before surrounded by other mothers who were breastfeeding and assimilating the cultural part of breastfeeding since childhood. Today it is not so. And that, together with the recurring messages about how difficult it is to breastfeed, how sacrificed it is and how well they are raised with a bottle makes it easier for us to resort to this in case of doubt.
What we learn when we are pregnant is mediated by the short time this has in childbirth preparation courses. And many publications usually contain misleading messages. We must contrast everything we are told or what we read, including, of course, what we publish in Babies and more.
No responsibility is greater than raising our children. The pediatrician is very important but we cannot leave everything in his hands, nor ask for miraculous solutions to our fears.
The page of Breastfeeding Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics It can be a great option to start training ourselves, with the assurance that there we will find reliable information and not myths.
Many times we have been educated in the distrust of our own body and we believe that "there are women who have no milk" or "there are milks that do not feed." Do not wean in case of mastitis. Milk production can be increased. Do not allow time between takes and takes for the tit to "fill". It is not necessary to wean if you have to give antibiotics or if the mother has depression. All of that is false.
Real hypolactia is very limited and the milk of healthy women is good. Obviously there are problems in the beginning or the continuation of breastfeeding, most produced by wrong customs and cultural patterns that interfere with breastfeeding. Bad posture, a baby who has suffered in childbirth, introducing pacifiers and bottles, separation or cracks can make breastfeeding difficult but have a solution with the specialized advice of a consultant or a pediatrician prepared in breastfeeding.
For that reason it is convenient talk quietly with the pediatrician to learn more about their opinions and customs, even before the baby is born. I, when hiring any professional I usually look for the one that offers the greatest guarantee and quality and, if I do it before hiring a plumber, how am I not going to do it with the person who is going to help me to take care of my child's health?
I usually go to courses and conferences on breastfeeding and childbirth care, and it is usual in them find pediatricians They are willing to continue expanding their training. A pediatrician who supports breastfeeding and has updated information on its obvious benefits and its management will be a great support.
With a thorough conversation and sometimes even with a few innocent questions it is possible to know what to expect with our pediatrician. The personal experience and that of counseling mothers who have gone through good and bad experiences has helped me prepare a small guide that I will tell you shortly.
