This is a topic that came straight out of the forums. One of our family members (purelegance) mentioned that she got a newsletter from the Baby Center and their answer to this question surprised her. Each person that answered the question said in no uncertain terms, that you should not watch television while nursing your baby. The reasons sited were various but to sum it up: you’re depriving yourself and baby of bonding time, you should be interacting with your baby and essentially television is an unneeded distraction. Judging by the women’s responses from Families.com, it seems this answer is in need of an “expert” revamp.
We pondered as to whether or not the mothers who answered actually breastfed their own kids or whether or not formula companies were signing their checks. The advice came from a baby center newsletter and purelegance was kind enough to copy and paste it for me.
Kelly Ross, M.D., a pediatrician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital in Missouri, and mother of triplets says:
As a general rule, no — feeding time with your baby is bonding time for the two of you. It’s a time you hold, snuggle, and talk to your baby. He needs this interaction to grow and develop. It also reinforces the association that eating is a positive thing. As babies approach 6 months, their interest in their surroundings is often greater than their interest in eating, and breastfeeding in noisy environments is likely to fail. Often moms will stop breastfeeding at this age because they think the baby isn’t interested in breastfeeding anymore, when, in fact, if he’s taken into a quiet room it will be successful.
(If anyone is interested in all of the answers given, PM me.) This about sums it up though: doctors feel that bonding with your baby is inhibited by watching television. I have to say that in general, I have found that medical doctors give the worst advice about breastfeeding. It’s the moms and lactation consultants that really understand where we’re at.
So is there truth to this? Will you inhibit your bonding if you watch television?
Bonding is not a one time thing. It is a process. If you are interacting with your baby all day, I highly doubt that flipping through channels while breastfeeding is going to mess it all up for you! While I agree that many older babies are easily distracted from the breast, I also have to say that giving up that early has as much to do with mom’s expectations for how long she’ll nurse as it does with outside distractions.
I have always considered two years my minimum nursing requirement for my infants. When they got distracted. . .we worked through it. I never assumed that they didn’t need the milk and were done, because nutritionally, I felt they did. However, with the current breastfeeding advice that’s out there, I can see how a mom would just assume that a distracted baby is one who is finished with breastfeeding. I don’t think the television has too much to do with that though. While my older infants would definitely be distracted by Dora or the Wiggles, I tend to watch things like Brian Williams, and CNN–neither of which has appealed to any of my babies.
Nursing–the Break for Mom?
As I thought about the response by these doctors, all of whom were women and all of whom were mothers to several children, I kind of have to wonder what they imagine a life like mine to be like. They all have high powered careers which frankly offer little flexibility. I’m sure stopping in the middle of surgery to pump. . .is not an option. I imagine that telling a nursing mother to not watch television is good advice for a women who is working 40 + hours per week and isn’t home all day. It may even be good advice for a mom who is not regularly engaged in holding her infant in a sling or is constantly busy and nursing is the one quiet time during the day when she can focus on baby. However for me, watching re-runs while nursing has been the one time during the day that I have, to escape into the adult world for just a few moments.