The choice to breast-feed or not to breast feed is a personal one. Some mothers relish the contact and bonding they develop with their child via breast-feeding.
Others have to work or rely on bottled formula for various reasons. Whatever your choice, it's ok. Your baby will grow up just fine if you give them the care they need.
However, there are a few times you should not breast feed, no matter what. Here are a few of those times:
- If you have been diagnosed with HIV or AIDs, you should definitely not be breast feeding. these viruses can easily be passed to your child.
Your physician will recommend that you not engage in breast feeding if this is your situation and you should take note. If you are adamant about providing breast milk, you can purchase it at a milk bank.
Do not feed him or her your own milk, though. This advice also applies if you are on antiretroviral medications. You may not know if you have HIV or AIDS, but these medications can transfer between you and your baby, and so can any disease you have.
- If your baby has galactosemia, a condition where they can't digest the sugar in your milk. In this case, feeding your baby your breast milk will be detrimental to his or her health.
- If you have active tuberculosis. This is another disease you can pass to your child via breast milk, and since your baby is just starting to develop an immune system, this could be deadly.
- If you are having chemotherapy treatment for cancer this can affect your milk and in turn your child.
Talk to your doctor for more information on breast-feeding and your particular cancer treatment.
- If you have a dependency on a drug, such as cocaine. Breast-feeding can cause damage to your child and even make them addicted to the drug.
Besides addiction, you can also cause tremors, sleep problems, and other side effects that will be detrimental to your baby's health.
There are circumstances in which a mother may feel afraid to breast-feed even though it's perfectly safe. One of these instances is when a mother has the flu or a cold.
When this happens, your milk will have antibodies in it, since you're producing them in your own body. This will actually help protect your child from the disease, so breast-feeding is actually beneficial while you have these minor illnesses.
Author Resource:-
Jared Wright is a dad who works from home sharing his knowledge through his passion for writing. His latest project is a website that provides useful resources to mothers about breast pumps reviews and medela breast pump accessories.
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