Should i continue breastfeeding

What you will find at that support group are women — just like you. Some dealing with the same things, some with different things. Some who have just entered that phase of easy breastfeeding, some who have been feeding for a long time because once it is easy, it is SO easy.

At a slimming club or a running club you may find women who have had a great week and others who have found it much tougher that week.

What they have in common is that they are working, learning and progressing. Breastfeeding support groups are the same. As you go back regularly you will start to see new mums arrive. You will hear the same words that you arrived with, the same worries and problems.

Sometimes retrospect is the only way we see our progress! You will find good peer support online. Women supporting each other is a wonderful thing. We are designed to do it, and we flourish and grow in that environment.

Peer support is a wonderful and absolutely vital thing, but if you are struggling, you also need more. You need someone who can recognise what is causing you to struggle and how to move you forward. You need someone who will listen to your concerns and will not minimise your struggles, but rather will support you emotionally as well as working on the breastfeeding issue. An IBCLC international board certified lactation consultant is the gold standard in breastfeeding support worldwide.

An IBCLC will spend time with you, usually a couple of hours, usually in your home, working through your concerns, helping with positioning and latching, working through a care plan and a feeding plan where needed and will follow up with you to see that care plan through. An IBCLC generally costs a small fraction of the cost of formula, bottles and teats in the first year and can often help to completely turn things around for you.

If you are struggling, reach out. You deserve to enjoy this experience with your baby. If you are having latching problems or pain, you experience it over and over as your baby feeds. It is easy, at the end of the day, to only see the problem and to allow the feeling of not being able to do it overwhelm you.

Often mums describe feeling like they are failing their baby. When you are reaching the end of the day, look back and reframe what has happened that day. Psychologists describe 2 mindsets which people can adopt: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. Reframe your day with a growth mindset. Your body is making each of those components for your baby. This ensures that your baby is protected as they are being introduced to new foods and exploring new surroundings.

Remember to give your baby plenty of cuddles during the weaning process so that you and your baby still have plenty of close time together.

Slowly reducing the number of breastfeeds protects your baby during the weaning period and will also help you avoid problems such as mastitis. If you need to wean your baby quickly, talk to a healthcare professional or a lactation consultant about caring for your breasts.

Health professionals recommend exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, with a gradual introduction of appropriate foods in the second 6 months and ongoing breastfeeding for 2 years or beyond. Babies show they are ready to start solids when they:.

A baby born at full term has a store of iron passed on from the mother during pregnancy. Breastmilk contains small amounts of readily absorbed iron, and recent studies have shown that the risk of iron deficiency is very low in full-term healthy breastfed babies who continue to breastfeed past 6 months as solids are introduced.

If you become pregnant , you may choose to continue to breastfeed or you may like to gradually wean your baby. This is an individual choice. Whether or not you choose to continue breastfeeding, it is important to maintain a healthy diet.

Seek advice from your health professional or the Australian Breastfeeding Association. Some parents and babies enjoy breastfeeding so much they are in no hurry to stop.

It is not unusual for children up to 4 years of age to continue to be breastfed. Family members and friends may feel uncomfortable about extended breastfeeding and it can be helpful to have information to give your family and friends about why you have decided to keep breastfeeding. This may include information about the continued health benefits, security and comfort for your child. You may be ready to cease breastfeeding, but your child may resist all your attempts to do so.

There are many strategies for weaning a baby. Unfortunately the child would need to be able to take a bottle, sippy cup, or straw cup comfortably before you are able to wean, to ensure they are able to take adequate feed volumes. If your child can talk and understand well, talk with them about your breastfeeding.

Explain that you are going to stop and introduce other ways that you can enjoy being close together. CDC has guidelines for proper storage and preparation of breast milk to maintain the safety and quality of expressed breast milk for the health of the baby.

Human milk banks are a service established for the purpose of collecting milk from donors and processing, screening, storing, and distributing donated milk to meet the specific needs of individuals for whom human milk is prescribed by licensed health care providers.

Milk banks accept donations directly at their deposit sites external icon or they can arrange for safe, overnight transportation of human milk at no cost to the donor. The American Academy of Pediatrics external icon and the Food and Drug Administration external icon recommend avoiding Internet-based milk sharing sites and instead recommend contacting milk banks.

Research has demonstrated that some milk samples sold online have been contaminated with a range of bacteria. Nonprofit donor human milk banks, where processed human milk comes from screened donors, have a long safety record in North America.

Because most of the milk from milk banks is given to hospitalized and fragile infants, milk banks may not have enough to serve healthy infants at all times.

Microbial contamination of human milk purchased via the internet external icon. Visit the United States Breastfeeding Committee external icon website to learn more about laws related to breastfeeding protections. Being prepared for returning to work or school can help a mother ease the transition and continue to breastfeed after her maternity leave is over.

When a mother is away from her infant, she can pump or hand express her breast milk so that her infant can drink breast milk from a bottle.

Several aspects of breastfeeding are thought to decrease pain by multiple mechanisms: being held by the parent, feeling skin-to-skin contact, suckling, being distracted, and ingesting breast milk. Potential adverse events such as gagging or spitting up have not been reported. There is not sufficient evidence to suggest that breastfeeding can have a negative effect on rotavirus vaccine efficacy.

A previous study external icon found that human milk from women who live in areas with endemic rotavirus contains antibodies that can neutralize live rotavirus vaccine virus. However, in licensing trials, the effectiveness of rotavirus vaccine in breastfed infants was comparable to that in non-breastfed infants external icon.

CDC does not recommend restricting or discontinuing breastfeeding before or after a child receives the rotavirus vaccine. Breastfed infants should be vaccinated according to the same schedule as non-breastfed infants. Learn More about prevention of Rotavirus Gastroenteritis among infants and children. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Section Navigation. If your baby is younger than 1 year, you'll need to replace the dropped breastfeed with a formula feed from a bottle or if they're over 6 months a cup or beaker, instead.

If your child is over 1 year and having a variety of foods and drinks, they will not need a replacement feed. Once you and your baby are settled into a pattern of having 1 less breastfeed, you can then think about dropping another feed. Completely stopping breastfeeding can take anything from a few weeks to several months.

If you're trying to stop breastfeeding and having problems, you can get help and ideas from a health visitor or a breastfeeding specialist. Read more about drinks and cups for babies. Some women decide to combine breastfeeding and bottle feeding with formula milk rather than stopping breastfeeding completely. If you want to do this, it's best to wait until your milk supply is fully established.

This can take around 6 to 8 weeks. You can start by replacing 1 of your baby's regular daily breastfeeds with a bottle or, if your baby is over 6 months, a cup or beaker of formula, instead. Some women find breastfeeding uncomfortable, especially in the early days and weeks. Common problems include sore or cracked nipples and painful breasts. These problems can often happen when your baby is not positioned or attached well at the breast.

A midwife, health visitor or a breastfeeding specialist can help you with positioning your baby and getting them properly attached. Lots of women worry that their baby is not getting enough milk when in fact they have plenty to meet their baby's needs. A midwife, health visitor or breastfeeding specialist can suggest ways to increase your milk supply if necessary.

This could just mean making sure your baby is well attached to the breast and that you're feeding often enough. Some women worry about breastfeeding and returning to work. Going back to work does not necessarily mean you have to stop breastfeeding.