In the past week I have received many emails from mothers who are breastfeeding babies over 6 months of age but also giving bottles. One of the babies getting bottles was 15 months of age, another was 19 months of age, still while breastfeeding and eating solids as well. The reasons for giving bottles were not always clear because the question the mother was writing about may have had to do with medication and breastfeeding or some other issue, but I am very surprised that it seems to be “normal” that babies need bottles, even if they are breastfeeding well and eating solids well. In fact, a baby of 6 months or older can often drink from an open cup (In fact premature babies of under 30 weeks gestation can often drink from an open cup and so can young full term babies as young as 3 weeks of age have taken milk from an open cup). Some babies learn to drink from an open cup later than 6 months of age, perhaps 7 or 8 months of age, and to avoid a bottle, liquids can also be mixed with the baby’s solids. It is true that some babies around 3 or 4 months of age seem to resist open cups than babies younger or older than 3 or 4 months, but not all do. The problem is that a bottle teaches a baby to latch on in a less than ideal way and as a result milk supply may decrease. The decrease in milk supply often is not noted because the baby is also getting bottles of milk or other liquids and as well is getting solids. The fact that the baby doesn’t reject the breast doesn’t mean the milk supply has not decreased and, of course, the milk supply may remain adequate or more than adequate. But sometimes the baby will reject the breast and the mother feel the baby “self-weaned” if he’s older than 8 or 9 months. But babies don’t “self-wean” at this age because they are “tired of breastfeeding”. They stop breastfeeding usually because the flow of milk from the breast decreased significantly. It is fascinating that so many parents and health professionals believe that bottles are necessary for infant feeding, but they aren’t. If a baby younger than 4 months or so needs supplementation, it can be given with a lactation aid at the breast which supplements a baby with a tube along the breast so that the baby is breastfeeding and supplemented at the breast at the same time. Sometimes the problem is the babysitter or the day care where caretakers of babies are poorly trained to deal with breastfed babies. They cannot visualize what a breastfed baby older than 6 months of age is like, how a baby can drink from an open cup or have liquids mixed with their solids and not “need” bottles. While Im at it, I should point out that the “need” for formula to a year or longer is strictly formula company marketing. Even if the baby had never been breastfed, the baby does not need formula if he is eating solids in a wide variety and ample amounts. Even if the baby was never breastfed, by 9 to 12 months a baby eating a wide variety solids in ample amounts can drink cow’s milk or other animal milk and does not “need” formula. If the baby is breastfed and eating solids, there is no need for formula at all and if the parents want to give other milk, cow’s milk or other animal milk is fine. See my book, Dr. Jack Newmans Guide to Breastfeeding. A completely revised version of Dr Jack Newman’s Guide to breastfeeding is now available as of June 3, 2014. It can be had in the USA through amazon.ca (not amazon). In Canada from amazon.ca and in all good bookstores. Dr Jack Newmans Guide to Breastfeeding is now available in the UK, the EU, Australia, NZ and South Africa published by Pinter & Martin Publishers.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 09:28:26 +0000
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