How prepared a woman is to breastfeed will have a huge impact on whether she sticks with it. But three factors can negatively affect her chances of successfully breastfeeding: inadequate support, a lack of know-how, and flimsy reasons for trying.
If the family isn’t behind her, she’ll be tempted to switch to the bottle to avoid awkward confrontations. While a woman might be able to stand up in the face of criticism from her extended family, if she does not have the full support of her husband, that can become a problem. Some guys are grossed out by breastfeeding, particularly if they have not seen women in their families do it. They may have a hard time seeing the breasts as anything other than a sexual organ, and that may be part of the problem. Spending some time talking about breastfeeding and its benefits during the pregnancy may help. If the hospital offers a breastfeeding class, the mom-to-be should consider bringing her husband along.
A lack of information and advice can also make breastfeeding more difficult than it needs to be. So many women make the mistake of thinking that it will come naturally. I can’t stress enough the importance of taking a good class, particularly if Grandma and other members of the family bottle fed their babies. A good latch is key to pain-free breastfeeding, and that is definitely something that must be taught. Babies really do not know how to eat when they are first born. A mother needs to place her baby at the breast in just the right way and it often takes quite a bit of practice before mom and baby get the hang of it.
Even if a woman has her family’s support and the know-how when it comes to breastfeeding, if she does not have her own concrete reasons for choosing to breastfeed, it won’t take much for her to change her mind. Women are the masters of reasoning themselves in and out of different situations, even if that reasoning is lacking real logic. A woman should know exactly why she is choosing to breastfeed. She should make a goal – a concrete time frame – for how long she wants to continue to breastfeed. If a woman is only planning on breastfeeding because she’s curious, a week of cracked and bleeding nipples will not only satisfy her curiosity, but send her running for the formula aisle.