Your Baby – July 2019

BABY FILES: NEWBORN YB

JULY & AUGUST 2019 | 47

Q:

I really missed drinking a glass

of wine with dinner every night

while I was pregnant. Can I start doing

that again now if I am breastfeeding

my infant?

A:

An occasional alcoholic drink

is not harmful to your baby,

say the experts, though studies have

shown slower motor development in

breastfed babies where mothers drink

alcohol on a regular, frequent basis.

The recommendation is that you nurse

your infant before you have a drink,

and then wait at least two hours per

drink before putting the baby back to

the breast. It is not necessary to “pump

and dump” your milk... It doesn’t

quicken the removal of alcohol from

the milk.

Q:

I stopped smoking when I was

pregnant, but I went to a party

the other night and had four cigarettes.

Now I really feel like smoking again.

Should I put my baby on the bottle?

A:

The Breastfeeding Answer Book,

a La Leche League International

publication, states that the baby of

a smoking mother can still enjoy the

benefits of breastfeeding. If she smokes

fewer than 20 cigarettes a day, the

risks to her baby from nicotine are

small. More smokes than that, and the

risks increase.

It takes about an hour-and-a-half for

nicotine to be eliminated from your

body, so avoid smoking just before

a feed, and definitely don’t light up

during a feed!

Paediatrician Dr Jack Newman, of

the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic and

Institute in Canada, says: “The risks of

not breastfeeding are greater to the

baby than the risks of breastfeeding

and smoking.”

Q:

I drink two cups of coffee a

day, and my sister says that’s

probably why my fully breastfed three-

month-old still wakes often at night.

Would my baby sleep longer if I cut

the coffee out?

A:

Three-month-old babies must

wake at night to feed and

to connect with their mothers. If

you believe your baby is reacting

to something (being jittery, crying

excessively), then consider your

stimulant intake from coffee,

chocolate, fizzy drinks and pain

relievers. However, the amount of

caffeine present in up to three cups of

coffee a day will not cause a problem

for most mothers and babies. If you

are overdoing caffeine, cut out all

sources of it for three weeks and see

what happens.

Q:

My baby is most fussy around

5pm, when I have so much

to do. Could it be that my milk is

“stressed” or that it is weaker at that

time of day?

A:

Most babies have a niggly time

of day. If you’re sure you’re

not having too many stimulants, try to

rearrange your day to accommodate

the baby’s needs, like preparing the

evening meal earlier or simplifying

housework for a few weeks.

artificial infant food would overwhelm
him with a large dose of potential
allergens and more than likely make the
problem worse.”

WINDY BABY, NAUGHTY MOM?
Colic – that catch-all, who-knows-what-
it-really-is name for inexplicable, non-
stop crying in infants – is often blamed
on a baby’s immature digestive system
that has been exposed to foods that are
causing it wind.
Mothers are often told not to eat foods
from the cabbage family, onions, garlic
or beans, in order to avoid colic.
Colic and its less upsetting sibling,
fussiness, has a particularly bad
reputation with experienced mothers
for arriving late in the afternoon, when
mothers are tired and busy.
Beth Cooper, author of The Greatest
Breastfeeding Tips in the World, says,
however, that these foods are only likely
to cause the baby problems if the mother
has a toxic colon.
“Not only do onions, cabbage and
beans not cause problems unless you
have a really problematic toxic colon –
and eat large amounts – but experts say
that a baby is rarely, if ever, affected by
similar symptoms sometimes caused by
these foods.”
So, bottom line? Yes, you can eat
cabbage. And if you genuinely, after
lots and lots of careful study, see that
your baby farts like an old man on
beans every single time you eat a piece
of cabbage, then you’re one of the
unfortunate minority.
“Stress, anxiety and lack of support
have a much bigger influence on your

&

Q

A

baby’s tummy than the sauerkraut you

ate last night,” says Beth.

So, does that mean that stress and

anxiety – in some mysterious hormonal

form – can be present in breastmilk?

“No,” says Jacquie, “It’s more likely

that a stressed mother feels she is not

able to sit breastfeeding for long periods

and is perhaps under-feeding a hungry

baby. But breastfeeding hormones are

actually de-stressors, and undoubtedly

life should slow down while the baby is

small. In any case, mothers have always

breastfed successfully around other

activities, even where food was poor

and times were hard, so healthy South

African women have no reason to think

that they cannot exclusively breastfeed

their babies.”

What’s in breastmilk then is

everything a baby needs and, in spite of

the guilt laid on breastfeeding mothers,

very little of anything a baby doesn’t

need. YB

COW’S MILK

IS NOT THE

GENERIC

EXAMPLE OF

WHAT MILK

SHOULD LOOK

LIKE. NOR

A GENERIC

EXAMPLE OF

HOW IT SHOULD

NOURISH