Did you know?

1. Birth isn't about just the baby, it's about the new parent as well.

• Becoming a parent is an identity shift, and one of the most significant physical and psychological changes a woman will ever experience.
• It’s difficult to be thrown into the job you have little preparation and practice for.
• Sometimes, the new identity feels good; for others, it can be kind of an uncomfortable transition.
• Birthing parents with greater awareness of their own psychological state may be more in tune with their children’s emotions and needs.
  

2. Human babies are born immature in many regards.

• We are born at an earlier stage of development than many other mammals.
• Humans evolved to surpass all other animals in the world thanks to our big brains. However, because the human infant head has to make it through the narrow passage of a small pelvis before it gets too large, we pay the price of being born too soon with all of its disadvantages.

         
What does it mean to us and our baby?

• Giving birth is only to transition your baby from the inside to the outside of your skin, your baby will continue to need you. Your baby relies on you to keep him/her stable and secure, day and night just as you did during pregnancy.
• On the bright side, though born immature, the human infant is uniquely adapted to secure food and nurturance from the maternal breast right from the start.
• Your breast will then be your baby’s new home. So, hold your baby close from the start day and night, letting him/her nurse to sleep to meet his/her physiological and emotional needs, and continue to keep him/her close throughout infancy.

3. Many parents overestimated their newborn capabilities

• Parents were not prepared for the frequency of feeding and waking in their newborns.  
• Unsettled behavior in the infant was thought to occur because the infant was not interested in breastfeeding or desired formula.
• Many thought their milk would come immediately following delivery
• They thought their infant would latch on easily and effectively the first time they’re put to breast.
• Parents didn’t realized the small amounts of colostrum available during their early days were sufficient for their infants.
• Unexpected work of new parenting

4. Breastfeeding is the Right Brain's work

• Newborns use their right brains because their left brains are not yet developed.
• Research suggests that as soon as your baby has arrived, the birthing parent’s right side of the brain may become dominant to make it possible to connect with her baby
• So, in the early weeks, following instructions, remembering facts, tracking feedings and diapers seem impossible.
• When the parent and the baby interact, a direct connection is created between the right brain and the right brain which makes it possible for a parent to help regulate her baby’s state and his/her autonomic nervous system.
• .The parent's job is Not to learn to breast-feed but is to get comfortable and help her baby stay calm, relaxed and comfortable.

References:
Morhbacher (2010), Breastfeeding Answers Made Simple
La Leche League, The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding
Lauwers, Interdisciplinary Lactation Care