Cebu City - Increasing the breastfeeding rate is one of the country’s goals today. One of the best strategies to ensure a child's health and survival is to breastfeed them. For newborns, breastmilk is the ideal food. It contains antibodies that aid in preventing several prevalent pediatric ailments, and it is secure and hygienic. Breastmilk supplies all the energy and nutrients that the infant needs in the first six months of life and is the source of up to half or more of a child's nutritional requirements during the second half of the first year of life and up to one-third during the age of two. Throughout childhood and the rest of the baby's life, breastfeeding provides benefits. Many people are unaware of how much healthier breastfed babies are for the rest of their lives.
The first few months after giving birth can be exciting and overwhelming, especially for new mothers. Moms need all the support they can get, and breastfeeding is something parents can do as a team. Dads have a role in breastfeeding too!
Fathers have a crucial part in supporting breastfeeding moms, especially in their emotional and physical well-being. Physical assistance can include the act of helping with household duties or accompanying mothers when they wake up at night. Psychological support can ensure mothers overcome the challenges and achieve successful exclusive breastfeeding.
New mothers, especially first-time moms, need a lot of support. It's common for first-time mommies to experience breastfeeding anxiety, and the extended hours can occasionally leave them feeling worn out and overburdened. Fathers can assist moms in various ways during this exciting and difficult period.
These are the means fathers can assist moms during breastfeeding:
Setting the family tone. The first step a father may do to ensure breastfeeding success is to foster a supportive environment in the home for nursing. His attitude will set the tone for success if he sees breastfeeding as having a good impact on his baby's health and well-being as well as being a top priority for his partner and child.
Giving support and encouragement. It can sometimes be physically and emotionally challenging to breastfeed. Almost all new mothers have concerns about their abilities to take care of a newborn baby. Breastfeeding moms harbor additional fears about the adequacy of their milk supply or the correctness of their breastfeeding technique, or their ability to overcome lactation problems. By complimenting them constantly, praising their efforts, and providing words of encouragement, fathers can play a significant part in boosting their breastfeeding partner's self-confidence. When a woman feels exhausted and depressed, playing this support role can be particularly challenging. When a woman is under extreme stress, a man may not know how best to support his mate.
Providing practical help. It is hard to fathom why many men feel excluded when their wives nurse when a father may assist in so many ways. If a baby wakes up hungry, a father can go get it and bring it to his wife. While the mother is nursing, he can pour her a nutritious beverage, massage her shoulders, compliment her, and lovingly admire his nursing baby. He can burp the baby after the first breast and help wake the baby for the second side. The father can change the baby and put him or her to sleep after the feeding is finished.
Building a relationship with the baby. Although the reciprocal interaction between a breastfeeding baby and her mother is one of the strongest bonds in nature, this doesn't diminish the importance of a baby's early relationship with his/her father. Instead of feeling left out of the nursing relationship, fathers can and should cultivate their own unique bond with their babies. Children deserve the right to have a healthy, loving relationship with two parents, and fathers ought to know about their vital role. We have failed to communicate to men just how important they are in their children’s lives, starting at birth
Therefore, we need to support breastfeeding mothers by raising awareness of the important roles of fathers in supporting the mother of their children in their breastfeeding journey. Knowing the significance of breastfeeding for shaping the nation’s future generation, we can encourage policymakers to start offering parental leave to fathers so they can support their wives during breastfeeding. Breastmilk is a gift that lasts a lifetime! ND II Sarah Belle I. Antiola, RND
