Lactation Counseling

Key Features

• Breastfeeding has many benefits, including

  • Infant immunity

  • Emotional satisfaction

  • Mother-infant bonding

  • Economic savings

• Compared to bottle-fed infants, breastfed infants have fewer

  • Bacterial and viral infections

  • Gastrointestinal tract infections

  • Allergy problems

• Breastfed infants are less apt to be obese as children and adults

• Frequent breastfeeding enhances milk flow

• In developed nations where formula is readily available, women infected with HIV should not breastfeed

• Drugs taken by a nursing mother may accumulate in milk

• Nutritional requirements for breastfeeding mothers

  • Fluid intake of over 3 L/day

  • 21 g of extra protein (over the 44 g/day baseline for an adult woman) and 550 extra kcal/day in the first 6 months of nursing

  • Calcium intake should be 1200 mg/day

  • Continuation of a prenatal vitamin and mineral supplement is wise

  • Vegetarian women should continue to take vitamin B₁₂ and vitamin D during lactation

Suppression of Lactation

• Simplest and safest method is to gradually transfer the baby to a bottle or a cup over a 3-week period

• Milk supply will decrease with decreased demand, and minimal discomfort ensues

• If nursing must be stopped abruptly, the mother should

  • Avoid nipple stimulation

  • Refrain from expressing milk

  • Wear a snug brassiere

• Ice packs and analgesics can be helpful

• Engorgement gradually recedes over 2–3 days

• Hormonal suppression of lactation is no longer practiced