Say Yes, Spring 2004: Breastfeeding is …

For a happier healthier childhood, all mothers should give their babies the best start in life by exclusively breastfeeding them for the first six months -- no drinking water, other types of milk or food supplements are necessary.
Photograph by Rana Mullan © UNICEF Turkey 2004

Medical and public health experts recommend exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months as the best start in life for every baby, providing all the energy and nutrients the infant needs and promoting sensory and cognitive development. Breastfeeding builds strong emotional bonds between the mother and her child. However, new mothers are often unaware that regular suckling is required to start the flow of milk and that lactation will increase as suckling continues. Here Banu Harmankaya tells how, with a little guidance, moral support and determination she was eventually able to breastfeed her baby, Ece.

Banu and Ece’s story

I felt like the luckiest woman alive when I learned that I was going to have a baby. I had a trouble-free pregnancy -- I put on a great deal of weight but I didn’t mind.

At last the day came for me to have my baby. Following a Caesarean, I brought a baby girl weighing just over three and a half kilos into the world.

I thought that everything would work out fine after that just like my pregnancy: you give birth, you have milk to feed the baby, she sleeps, you change her diaper and so on.

But it didn’t work out quite like that …

I spent my first day in the hospital in great pain because of the Caesarean. They put my baby in my arms -- a tiny little person who needed me. She needs milk now, they told me it’s very good for her -- as good as antibiotics.

My little girl fed to the point where I was exhausted but she wouldn’t stop crying. It seems I wasn’t producing enough milk and her hunger wasn’t satisfied. So that night, unfortunately, Ece had formula supplements.

The problem carried on after we left the hospital. The most difficult thing was that I couldn’t understand why Ece kept on crying.

One day, Ece didn’t sleep -- just cried constantly -- so I took her to Emergency. The doctor checked her and told me that she was just hungry. He advised that in this case I should give the baby formula supplements.

We slept well that night but unfortunately the temporary solution of feeding her with formula supplements became a habit until a mother from the Mothers Support Group visited me.

Up until then, I thought that I hadn’t enough milk. She checked my breasts and told me that in fact I had enough milk. She explained that all I had to do was to carry on breastfeed-ing Ece in order to produce enough milk to feed her which really put me at my ease.

Today, Ece is seven and a half months old and I fed her only my breastmilk for the first six months.

The right advice at the right time

It is crucially important for new mothers to initiate exclusive breastfeeding during the first hour of life. Both WHO and UNICEF recommend that the infant receives only breastmilk for the first six months and no additional food and drink -- including water. The infant should be breastfed on demand.

While breastfeeding is a natural act, it is also a learned behaviour. This mother and her baby would have avoided great discomfort and distress if staff at the maternity hospital had been trained to provide her with active support in order to help her establish and sustain good breastfeeding practices from the start.

Continue to … Baby-friendly.

Read The Facts about Exclusive Breastfeeding.

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SAY YES, SPRING 2004

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