If you are thinking of saying the first thing that comes to your mind to a breastfeeding mom, you better pause and read this article first.
This is because there are some things you shouldn’t say to any breastfeeding mom whether you are close to the person or not.
Sieve your words and if you can’t do that, check out these 10 things you shouldn’t say to a breastfeeding mother:
1. This baby doesn’t look hungry
If a baby is fussy and not settling down for a nap, the mom is going to offer her breast milk that comforts, soothes and feeds the baby. Don’t claim the baby doesn’t look hungry, it’s not your baby.
2. Breastfeeding destroyed my boobs
Keep this body spin to yourself. Also, get your facts straight: It’s pregnancy that causes saggy boobs, not breastfeeding. Babies need to be breastfed.
3. Feeding on demand will spoil the baby
You cannot spoil a baby. Some newborns feed as often as every 1.5 hours. Some go about every 3 hours. It’s quite normal for nursing newborns to feed 8 to 12 (or more!) times in 24 hours. Spoiled? Nope. Nurtured? Yes.
4. Wow, your boobs are huge, how do you cope?
Compliment nursing mothers without mentioning their boobs. If you focus on the breasts, you may think you are giving a complement, but most nursing moms would like the focus, for once, to be off their milk makers.
5. Just give the baby formula if you are having a hard time nursing
People who say these words mean well. They see a new mom who’s stressed out or struggling to get the baby to latch, who’s dealing with cracked nipples and sore breasts and they tell her to give her baby formular instead.
6. Your sex life won’t exist if you breastfeed
If you nurse your baby well, your sex life won’t exist because your baby will always be attached to you. I think some breastfeeding moms just have to get more creative when it comes to sex. Heck don’t all new parents?
7. Get some privacy and use the bathroom
That’s obscene! Can’t you go to the bathroom to do that? No, it’s not. No, I can’t. I’m here. Baby’s hungry. I’m not going to let him enjoy his meal in a dirty bathroom.
8. I don’t get why anyone would breastfeed a toddler
Saying this could make a nursing mother feel uncomfortable because she may very well plan on breastfeeding into toddlerhood. Or maybe she hasn’t planned on it but it will just naturally happen. Again, why are you so concerned with how long a mom nurses her child?
9. Why are you still breastfeeding this big baby?
Nursing mothers are confronted with questions where they feel like they have to justify their decision by pulling out research about the benefits of continuing to breastfeed. If a mother and her baby are happy to continue breastfeeding then that’s entirely up to them.
10. Is your baby getting enough milk?
A nursing mom can’t see into her boobs and physically see how much milk is coming out so don’t ask her this question. She can’t measure what her baby is getting, so stay quiet and allow her feed her baby well.
Breastfeeding can be painful, so be nice to nursing mothers. They may have to deal with some of the uncomfortable or even painful problems common with breastfeeding.
These include things like mastitis, breast engorgement, plugged milk ducts, and sore nipples.