How Long Should Breast Feeding be Continued?
It is natural that this question will pose itself before mothers. There is no single unequivocal answer to this question, as there are many factors inter-related with breast-feeding. The health of the mother, the rate of production of milk, the health and growth of the baby, the nutritive quality of the milk: all these factors have to be considered. Still, it can be said that in normal circumstances breast feeding may be continued till the baby is nine months old. Weaning must be commenced around this time.
There are many erroneous notions about the ‘advantages’ of continuing breast-feeding like if it is continued, the woman will not menstruate, and that even if she does, normal breast-feeding can continue. Despite the prevalence of this belief, if, as often happens, the mother or the child experiences discomfort on the first or the second day of menstruation, breastfeeding must be discontinued at once, and bottle-feeding should be substituted.
The best and most convenient time for weaning is when the baby is eight to ten months old. Breast-feeding is no longer advantageous beyond that time, as the nutritional requirements of the baby increase and the supply of milk decreases around that time.
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Breast-Feeding: How Often And How Long?
Offer your baby feeds as often as he demands it. To begin with he may demand 10 to 12 times or even more often in 24 hours. He will also insist on night feeds. You should feed him as he wants. Gradually, he will learn to take larger amounts of milk at each feed and fill his stomach better. He is then likely to settle into a more convenient 3 to 4-hourly feeding schedule with one night feed. You should, however, not try to prematurely force your baby a 3 to 4 hourly feeding schedule before he himself is ready for it. If he is denied a feed when he wants it, he will be fretful and hungry at his appointed feeding time later. It would then be quite difficult to feed him. He will just cry, refuse to get consoled and you may end up crying with him! Cooperation in the matter of feeding is a better policy than rigidity. Also remember that each baby is different; you need to be patient with yours.
Let your baby feed as long as he likes. To begin with he will suck the first part of breast milk – ‘the fore-milk’. This contains a lot of water and helps quench his thirst. The latter part of the milk – ‘the hind milk’ – contains the energy (calories) which your baby needs. So let him first feed well on one breast before shifting to the other.