Читать книгу Your First Grandchild: Useful, touching and hilarious guide for first-time grandparents - Paul Greenwood - Страница 30

Try to be as supportive as possible of the mother’s breastfeeding. Recent research has shown that ‘breast is best’, offering an instant, perfectly balanced diet for the new baby, which enhances the infant’s immune system and seems also to decrease the chances of the child developing allergies and certain other illnesses in later life. It can also strengthen the mother-child relationship and seems to give enormous satisfaction to the baby, who may find instant and reliable comfort from the breast.

But breastfeeding isn’t always easy at first. The baby may seem to refuse the breast, have difficulty ‘latching-on’ properly, or nipple suck, causing pain and distress to the mother. If this is the case, rather than try to dissuade her from continuing, you might suggest that she ask the nurse, midwife or health visitor to advise her on positioning the baby correctly at the breast, changing breasts and other such helpful solutions. If you breastfed, you may be able to offer this advice yourself; but if you didn’t, the kindest thing you can do is to support and encourage her, rather than make her feel that she has in some way failed. Breastfeeding is a very emotive issue, and the feeling that she cannot feed her baby can deeply disturb a mother and knock her confidence.

Of course there are women who may not be able to or do not wish to breastfeed. The choice must lie with the mother. It is her body and only she can decide what is possible and practicable for her.

So whatever route she chooses – breastfeeding or bottle-feeding, it is best to be as positive as possible to the parents and be careful not to increase any anxieties that they may have. After all, lots of healthy, happy and strapping people were reared on the bottle (and I don’t mean gin!) and lots on the breast. Remember the old saying:

And still the baby thrives and grows, and how it does, God only knows!