Training Course: fifth lesson

This morning we had the fifth lesson of the training course for the delivery. Argument: breast feeding. First of all, we have been instructed on how to let the baby find the breast as soon as he will be born. Instinctively he will move towards the breast, pushed by an innate sense for surviving. Like a newborn animal, once he will lay on me after the delivery, he will move towards the breast to feed himself! Within the first hour a newborn has a strong attitude to suck that has to be satisfied. This event will also help the uterus of the mother to come back easier and faster to its “normal configuration”. Not to mention the fact that the breast has to be trained to feed the baby: the more it is used, the more the milk will come. There are also other very important reasons to breastfeed: give to the baby more antibodies, feed him in the right way according to his real necessities, encourage the relationship between mother and baby and of course… mother’s milk is for free!!!
This was the main topic of the lesson, we also saw a 30 minutes movie about breast feeding in the Scandinavian country (“Breast is best”) where children usually receive milk from their mothers until two years old, at least. It is common here in Italy to suggest the mother to breastfeed the baby until six months. And only after this term, to start with other supplies and weaning. Still the mother, who probably has also come back to work full time, can extract the milk and leave it in the fridge for 24 hours or in the freezer for months.