A couple of weeks after my wife delivered a beautiful baby boy, my wife's eyes were swollen from crying and she was groggy from being sleep deprived.
I knew I needed to do something to help her so I brought out the cans of formula milk.
Was I doing the right thing with introducing formula when my wife was trying hard to breast-feed? As a physician, did I not know better? Breast-feeding clearly has tremendous benefits for the baby and mother.
Breast milk contains antibodies and macrophages that help the baby fight infections including influenza, pneumonia, German Measles, Staph infections and many others.
Sucking allows the infant to develop better facial muscles and might even help develop better teeth.
It certainly keeps the child from getting exposed to contaminated drinking water.
Infants get psychological benefits from being close to their mother.
In one study, infants could distinguish between the smell of their mother's milk verses someone else's milk.
One-week old infants tended to turn towards their mothers milk more than unfamiliar smells.
Breast-feeding involves close contact with the baby, which provides bonding and comfort for the baby.
Then why did I bring out the formula? My wife, Shruti Bawa had tried hard for the first two weeks to feed on demand.
That often meant feeding the baby every two hours through night and day.
My mother-in-law flew in to help and took care of several chores so my wife was able to focus on feeding the baby.
Yet, Shruti was so exhausted after two weeks of round-the-clock nursing that she was starting to break down.
It is commonly said that a baby should not be exposed to a bottle for the first couple of weeks as it might confuse the baby.
Therefore, my wife was very careful to breast feed exclusively for the first two weeks.
When the two weeks were done, I was anxious to supplement with formula.
I felt that she needed a break and uninterrupted sleep for a change.
I also had my own selfish reasons.
I wanted to be able to feed the baby and bond with him as well.
I would joke with my wife that she should give me one of her breasts so I could feed the baby as well.
She was so sore and tired that she responded, "take them both, they hurt so much!" We all laughed at this.
When we started feeding with the bottle, we were worried that the baby would have trouble going back to the breast.
Surprisingly, the baby actually got better at breast-feeding when we started the bottle.
He learned from the bottle how to suck and that biting down did not help the flow.
Practicing with the bottle, made the real thing a lot less painful for my wife.
Prior to the formula, I used to say that I was the "output manager" and my wife was the "input manager.
" I was in charge of all outputs that came from the baby, including burping the baby and changing diapers.
But when we were finally able to use formula, I was able to bond with the baby and feed him as well.
My wife was able to get a full night's rest and she was back to her cheerful self.
She still breast-feeds but when she needs a break, we supplement with formula.
The best of both worlds in my opinion! Perhaps we should be a little more understanding with new mothers and allow them to give formula once in a while during the first two weeks as well.
It might allow the tired mother to get a good night's rest for a change and would allow the father to bond with the child.
The child might even get good at breast-feeding by practicing on a bottle...