Breastfeeding FAQ

Breastfeeding is the biological norm for infants. It is a relationship that provides food, connection, protection from illness to the baby and stress reducing hormones to the mother.

Q:  Do I need to supplement with artificial breast milk (formula) until my milk comes in?
No, no, and No! I recently read this in a very popular parenting magazine and was flabbergasted! Not only do you not need to supplement, you SHOULD NOT supplement! The baby gets colostrum until your milk comes in. Colostrum is like gold. It’s made especially for your baby in it’s first couple of days. It's packed full of vitamins and is like super-milk for a newborn!

Q:  Should I give my baby a bottle in the first couple of weeks?
Your baby should have no bottles or pacifiers for six weeks. Six weeks! Yes, six weeks in order to avoid nipple confusion. Your baby learns how to nurse in those weeks. Your breastmilk supply is building in those first weeks as well, which your baby helps you do.

When you give a bottle, you miss a feeding and miss a chance to build your supply naturally. Nurse frequently, whenever the baby want to nurse. Please, no “schedules” for nursing – the ones you read about are for babies on artificial breastmilk, which is processed differently in the body. Don’t be envious . . .see the advantages of nursing below.

Q:  They gave my baby a bottle and a pacifier in the hospital. Is that o.k.?
You must be adamant about no bottles or pacifiers in the hospital. Keep the baby with you as much as possible to prevent any bottles or pacifiers being given.

What can happen is that babies get nipple confusion. Drinking out of a bottle is a different muscular skill than nursing. If your baby got a bottle in the hospital and is refusing to latch on, they may have nipple confusion. You can still nurse!!! Please call Pam Di Bosco or La Leche League (see Broward County Breastfeeding Resources) for help – both calls are free!  

Q:  But I can’t tell how much my baby's getting? What if he/she is not getting enough?
Babies have nursed for as long as humans have been on the planet. And we’re still here, right? If your baby is gaining weight appropriately and making enough poopy and wet diapers, it’s getting enough. 

Q:  My baby has dropped weight!
Babies lose some ounces in the first week after birth, then they gain it back. If it’s day four and your baby has lost some weight but has plenty poopy and wet diapers, that’s normal! It will gain it back. If your pediatrician is telling you to give artificial breastmilk, please speak to a lactation consultant (like Pam who is listed on Broward County Breastfeeding Resources) before giving it.

Q:  My pediatrician is saying to give artificial breastmilk! What do I do?
The vast majority of pediatricians have minimal to no training in nursing. If you want to keep nursing, please call La Leche League or a Lactation Consultant before giving artificial breastmilk. Then look around for a pediatrician who is supportive of nursing.   

Q:  What do I do if it’s crying?
Nurse that babe. Or give it your pinky to suck on, not a pacifier until it’s at least six weeks old. Or walk it around holding it closely. Please do not leave it to cry alone. It’s been inside you for nine months and has an adjustment period to being outside of the womb. It needs your body warmth and your heartbeat and your sweet mama smell, especially when it’s crying.

Q:  I thought this was supposed to be easy. It sucks!
Yes, for some women (not all) it does at first. You feel like you’re just a big milk machine, nursing constantly. They call the first three months the learning period and then all the months and years after that the reward period. You WILL get the hang of it. After 3 weeks, it's easier. 6 weeks - easier. Day by day it will get easier. By three months, you're nursing in the checkout line!

Commit to nursing for three months minimum and then re-evaluate where you are. Ninety-nine percent of moms love nursing once they get used to it. Moms who have given artificial breast milk to one baby and then nursed the next one say that nursing is 100% easier and feels better too. One mom told me that she wished someone had told her that with the first child . . .hence, this handout!

Q:  What’s the big deal about nursing?
Nursing is actually the “norm.” Consider the following for babies who instead get formula:

• Increases childhood and adulthood obesity, diabetes, and cancer.
• Increases the incidence (that means the frequency) of allergies and asthma.
• Increases risk of breast cancer in you AND in your daughter if you have a female child.
• Increases the frequency and severity of colds and illness in your child.
• Your period will return immediately rather than anywhere from two months to two years if you’re nursing!
• Carries a higher risk of SIDS.
• Causes a lowered IQ.
• Unlike breastmilk, formula provides no protection from childhood cancers, including leukemia.

For a comprehensive list of diseases of childhood and infancy that breastfeeding protects against, including brief summaries of the studies, please visit http://www.lalecheleague.org/cbi/Biospec.htm

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