10.3.3 Counselling about other feeding problems
Exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months is optimum for the infant’s health and development.
If a mother is breastfeeding her infant less than eight times in 24 hours, you should advise her to increase the frequency of breastfeeding. Breastfeed as often and for as long as the infant wants, day and night.
If the infant receives other foods or drinks, you should counsel the mother about breastfeeding her infant more frequently, reducing the amount of the other foods or drinks she gives her infant, and if possible, stopping giving alternatives altogether. If she does continue to provide other foods and drinks then you should advise her that any other drinks should be given from a cup, and not from a feeding bottle.
Tell the mother that she should come back for a follow-up visit in two days if the infant continues to have a feeding problem. This is especially important if you are recommending a significant change in the way the infant has been fed up until now.
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What advice on feeding would you give to the mother of a three-month-old infant?
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First you would advise and encourage the mother that she should breastfeed her infant exclusively and not give the infant any other foods for another three months. You would also explain to her that if the infant becomes unwell she should increase the frequency of breastfeeding during the illness.
10.3.2 Improving positioning and attachment