case history was contributed by paediatrician Dr G. Pramood Reddy MD DCH of the Fernandez Hospital for women and children in Hyderabad, India. The hospital was set up by my friend, Dr Evita Fernandez, whom I greatly admire for her dedicated work on the cutting edge of obstetric and neonatal care in India. It is Evita’s – and my – wish that Kangaroo Mother Care is provided as an absolute necessity in developing countries where two-thirds of the world’s low-birth-weight babies are born.
Rama Mani, a 35-year-old first-time mother, was treated for fertility issues for more than 14 years before she finally conceived. Unfortunately, during her pregnancy she suffered from many medical problems, including gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, fibroids and the problems that accompany an Rh-negative blood group! Despite the obstetric precaution of placing a cervical stitch to prevent premature labour, she went into labour at 30 weeks and delivered a baby girl weighing only 1.28kg. The baby was initially looked after in an incubator but as early as possible – by day 12 – she was moved to the Kangaroo Mother Care Ward.
Rama said that finally holding her baby next to her skin was one of the most joyous moments of her life. She was able to breastfeed her baby on demand and the baby gained weight notably faster than she would have if she were still in an incubator.
More importantly, Rama finally felt that she was able to nurture and mother her baby, and she confidently took her daughter home less than three weeks after the birth. Rama was so fascinated with the concept of Kangaroo Mother Care that she made her husband carry the baby around as well! Subsequently her daughter thrived and, despite her uncertain start to life, progressed rapidly to catch up with her full-term peers.
Play Bonding
Babies learn through play, but they also love through play, and so do we. Playing is an intrinsic part of bonding because to play with your baby is to delight in what she can do. There is no sophistication in baby play – no cultivated wit or superior irony – only the unbridled joy that comes with achievement and the thrill of the new. It is obvious, naïve, heartfelt and worn on the sleeves of both her babygro and your jumper.
Toys are great educational tools for the early months, but contact play – such as tickling or raspberry blowing – boasts benefits beyond the immediate joy of close touch. The skin is an organ which is stimulated by touch. The skin’s nerve centre, the brain, releases a rush of feel-good hormones called endorphins every time you squeeze, stroke or tickle your baby. In fact, there is mounting evidence that deprivation of touch in childhood can actually reprogramme the brain and contribute to antisocial behaviour in later life. So getting physical when you play with your baby has far-reaching benefits, as well as boosting self-esteem and making you both feel good.
The skin’s nerve centre, the brain, releases a rush of feel-good hormones called endorphins every time you squeeze, stroke or tickle your baby.
You can’t help but clap with delight as your baby builds her first tower; both giggle helplessly when you tickle her on the changing mat, and revel in the excitement when your baby does a ‘boo’ to your ‘peek’. Playing is like smiling when you’re sad – it instantly makes you feel better. Each time you play with your baby, the world is new to you again, fresh and waiting to be explored. So turn every waking moment into an opportunity to share a giggle or show something new. Each time you do, your soul is renewed, your heart grows larger and your love becomes deeper.
Breastfeeding
By rights, the issue of breastfeeding should be included in the ‘bonding’ section, as it is one of the most profoundly intimate and loving exchanges between mother and baby. The physical skin-on-skin contact helps the baby still feel closely connected to the mother’s body, which has protected and nurtured the baby during the pregnancy. This feeling of security cannot be underestimated as the baby has, of yet, no sense of being physically separate from its mother. To the baby’s limited sense of self, they are one person, and breastfeeding helps enormously in preserving that security. For the mother too, breastfeeding acts as a halfway house, as she adjusts to the physical separation from her child, which is, of course, the necessary result of birth.
From a practical point of view breast is best and easiest, and it’s always just the right temperature. It is easily digestible, organic and, best of all, free! Plus, it helps the mother regain her figure more quickly. Breastfeeding burns approximately 500 calories a day. The baby’s sucks stimulate the release of oxytocin from the mother’s brain – the hormone responsible for contractions in labour – helping the womb shrink back into the pelvis far more quickly, and the mother to lose tummy fat and get back into her jeans!
Of course, the nutritional benefits of breastfeeding are what we really want to shout about. As well as passing on vital antibodies, which boost the baby’s immune system, a mother’s breast milk is perfectly tailored to her baby’s individual needs. There are so many health benefits to breastfeeding that they alone are most women’s incentives to carry on:
benefits of breastfeeding
Reduced incidence/severity of eczema and asthma, childhood diabetes, gastric, urinary and respiratory tract infections and ear infections
Higher IQ
Less likelihood of cardiovascular disease or obesity in later life
Long-term breastfeeding (at least a year) can reduce the risk of several cancers, such as ovarian and pre-menopausal breast cancer
La Leche League has reported that breastfeeding can protect from osteoporosis in later life.
the father’s role in breastfeeding
Yes, fathers actually play a very important role in breastfeeding. Studies have shown that the father’s attitude to breastfeeding can determine whether or not the mother begins and continues to breastfeed. If he is against it, it is usually a direct response in which he sees his partner’s breasts as sexual organs and is reclaiming them for himself, especially if his partner didn’t want her breasts to be touched during pregnancy. The father might also feel that the side-effects of breastfeeding – such as tiredness or low libido – puts too much pressure on the parents’ relationship and ask for breastfeeding to be abandoned. If this is the case, try to negotiate a time frame you are both happy with, up to which you will feed. Stress to your partner that this is only a temporary stage and your hormones will return to normal after you have stopped feeding.
Even if your partner is fully supportive of you breastfeeding, it is still worth encouraging him to feed the baby as much as possible. You can easily express your breast milk so that the father can feed the baby and feel more involved in this aspect of nourishing and nurturing his baby.
The Different Stages
THE FIRST FEW DAYS
Breastfeeding changes with different stages. The first stage occurs in the first few minutes after birth until three to five days later, and is the real ‘feed on demand’ stage – the more sucking the baby can do in these early days, the more bountiful the milk supply. Some babies (particularly those born by Caesarean section), however, may be exhausted and sleepy after the birth, and the appetite centre in their brain may not switch on for as long as 48 hours after the birth. In this acute period, the baby feeds on colostrum – a thick, creamy-yellow first milk that is absolutely jam-packed with goodness. It is the most optimal food of a baby’s entire life, quenching their thirst, filling their tummies for the first time (and so helping pass the meconium from their bowels) and equipping them with a hit of vitamins, minerals and antibodies which will last for up to six months. In the UK, 69 per cent of mothers begin to breastfeed after birth.
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