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Food and Eating Breastfeeding Breastfeeding is the most natural thing for your baby. It gives so much – warmth, skin to skin contact, relaxing sucking, a chance for peace and eye contact, nutritious milk, love hormones, antibodies … and all this helps your baby's brain wire optimally. Breastfeeding also gives protection against numerous medical problems in later life. You’ve probably heard about the many benefits, and maybe you’ve had some guidance at antenatal classes. Your baby knows how to find your nipple, latch on, and suckle to get milk. It’s a powerful instinct. And her frequency and type of suckling tells your breasts how much milk to produce, and the precise components to put in it – depending on your baby’s needs from one feed to the next. Your baby knows, and your body knows too. Boosting breastfeeding Babiesknow encourages breastfeeding as the best possible source of food for your baby. We look closely at the 'dyad' of mum and baby, and how and why breastfeeding helps you both feel good. We explore what you might need in place for breastfeeding to be comfortable and nourishing. We discuss simple ways to get a good atmosphere, to relax into it and to look after yourself and your baby. And we discuss the obstacles that sometimes put mums - and dads - off, and how you may overcome them. We encourage you to tune into your feelings around breastfeeding – mums as well as dads – and how some of your early experiences may affect the feeding partnership with your baby today. Bottle feeding Many babies do bottle feed at some stage, and occasionally babies are bottlefed from birth. On a babiesknow course, and with even more attention on a babiesgrow workshop, we explore ways of creating an atmosphere where your baby feels safe, able to relax and closely in touch with you. For instance, your baby will prefer you to be focused and present, rather than on the phone or watching TV. We also discuss the range of feelings that come up for mums who bottle-feed. Toddlers When it comes to toddlers eating can become a flash point in the family day. We take you beneath the refusals and the tantrums to consider the emotions that simmer in the kitchen – how you and your baby may manifest feelings of anger or upset around food, and how you can get to know your family culture to food, and change it if you wish. Acknowledging and acting on underlying feelings frequently makes mealtime tensions disappear. We explore this further in our babiesgrow courses All contents copyright © Babiesknow, 2008. All rights reserved.
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‘Something has clicked since I came on the course, and I’m much less jealous now – in fact I love seeing my wife and baby in their private world, lost in feeding. I feel so much better now I’m not criticising or resenting it. So do they!’
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