Mamilas: Cuándo es tiempo de quitarlas
By: Keith
La Academia Americana de Pediatría recomienda destetar a un niño de la mamila a los 15 meses de edad. Eso no parece poco razonable considerando que la mayoría de los bebés están listos para consumir alimentos sólidos entre los 4 y los 6 meses de edad y la mayoría de los doctores recomiendan la transición de la mamila a la taza a los 12 meses de edad. De hecho, la AAP establece que los bebés de 12 meses ya no requieren ser alimentados durante la noche. Pero, el necesitar y el querer son dos cosas completamente diferentes. Muchos niños utilizan la mamila (y su contenido) como confort. Eso por eso que, cuando se le quiere quitar la mamila a un bebé, es la mamila de antes de irse a la cama la que les cuesta más trabajo dejar. Ellos quieren el confort de la mamila antes de irse a dormir. Y, porque muchos padres no quieren tener que vérselas con un bebé llorando o enojado o irritable antes de irse a la cama,ellos continúan permitiéndole tener la mamila con fórmula (o leche) mucho tiempo después de que el niño debiera haberla dejado. Sin embargo, la complacencia puede traer serios problemas de salud como las caries y la obesidad, que son dos efectos secundarios de los azúcares en la leche (o cualquier otro tipo de azúcar consumida en exceso).
De particular interés para familias de pocos recursos
Richard Kahn, un nutricionista del colegio de Medicina Albert Einstein, quien trabaja con las familias de pocos recursos en los Bronx, dice que los bebés son capaces de sostener y utilizar una taza a los 6 meses de edad. El también dice que las 8 o 9 mamilas de leche o fórmula que muchas de las familias de pocos recursos permiten que sus hijos tomen es la mayor causa de anemia. Demasiada caseína (una proteína encontrada en la leche) bloquea la absorción de hierro y causa anemia, la cual a la vez, afecta el desarrollo cerebral. El Sr. Kahn continúa diciendo que si no hay una intervención para los 24 meses de edad, las funciones cognitivas reciben un daño permanente. Tú puedes ver cómo este es un problema circular para la sociedad. Educación y una buena nutrición son los pilares de la movilidad ascendiente, pero las personas quienes no reciben una educación consiguen trabajos que no les permiten tener buenos alimentos o tener tiempo para educarse acerca de la nutrición. Y eso causa este ciclo generacional de fracasos. Claramente el Sr. Kahn tiene una función social útil. Educar a las personas quienes de otra manera no tendrían acceso a este tipo de información puede que algún día sea un factor en su habilidad de avanzar en sociedad y en la escalera económica. La nutrición es la base de una vida saludable, y comienza en la infancia.
La lactancia materna:
Una de mis organizaciones favoritas es La Liga de la Leche. Ellos fueron de gran ayuda para Mely cuando ella empezó a amamantar a Neil (y luego a Alan) ya que ambos tuvieron dificultades prendiéndose. Mely y yo sabíamos que la lactancia materna iba a ser la forma más saludable de alimentar a los niños, y no queríamos aceptar un fracaso, pero ninguno de nosotros tenía familia cerca que pudiera darnos consejo. Fuimos a La Liga de la Leche por ayuda y ellos nos asignaron una consultora de lactancia y todo el consejo y apoyo que necesitábamos. Sin embargo, nuestro éxito no es el de otras personas. Mientras leía las recomendaciones del Sr. Kahn con respecto a las mamilas empecé a preguntarme cuántas familias de pocos recursos en los Estados Unidos amamantan a sus hijos. Los beneficios de salud que provee la lactancia materna están muy bien documentados. Parece intuitivo que la mejor manera de evitar el sobre alimentar o las caries sería la lactancia materna. Mientras que estoy de acuerdo con lo que el Sr. Kahn recomiendo para las familias que utilizan mamilas, yo creo que el tal vez el tiempo sería mejor aprovechado, si hay una falta de tiempo y recursos, alentando la educación sobre la lactancia materna. Como quiera, el buen consejo sigue siendo bueno, y el Sr. Kahn está diciendo cosas que son relevantes.
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I think you need to take this one step further. Obviously there is a need for more breast feeding education. However, if you are speaking specifically to lower income families it begs the question of how many of these families have stay at home parents. If both parents have to work or work multiple part time jobs to provide for their families they may not have the ability to breast feed. It is also highly likely that they will not have the flexibility and/or the access to facilities like a mother’s room where they could pump and store the breast milk for future use. I would be surprised if many low paying jobs would be tolerant of mother’s taking regular breaks in order to pump (and even fewer that would provide the facilities/pumps/refrigeration) necessary to keep their supplies running.
Keep in mind I’m not disagreeing with you in the least. My son was breast fed for 11 months until he weaned himself and we dropped the bottle like third period french at a year. Our daughter is presently nursing and with my wife set to return to the working world tomorrow (yikes!) we’ve already got our support system in place for us to be able to continue to provide her breast milk. My wife has accumulated nearly a week worth in the freezer for me to feed her and we are very fortunate that the hospital she works at has very nice facilities available for her to pump and store. Granted some of the time she takes to pump comes out of her lunch time, but we know the benefits and she is willing to make the sacrifice for as long as her supply in strong.
PJ: Very good point. We take the ability to breast-feed for granted because it seems like such a basic right. But, if both parents are holding min-wage jobs and just barely getting by or, worse, if a woman is a single parent PLUS holding a min-wage job then — yeah, that’s a huge impediment to breast feeding. I consider breastfeeding a human right. There needs to be allowances for it and or pumping in the workplace. You’re right, a very sticky problem.
This stuff is still crazy to me. Lots to learn — and lots I will probably never understand.
We’ve weaned the kids from formula and bottle all together at 12 months. Cold turkey. They were good with it, even at night. My oldest daughter was fine if i remember right, my son had his thumb to pacify him, and my middle daughter had her pacifier. Those helped at night but were things we needed them to wean all in themselves.
As you know, my son broke his thumb sucking habit when he broke his wrist. And my daughter did great when we took her off the pacifier and gave her stuffed animal to replace the comfort at night.
While we have never went off any books as suggestions or a bible as to when our kids do certain milestones, we know that all kids are different and will reach them when they can either with or without our assistance. We use our experience from the prior kid to take as a guideline for the next kid and hope it sticks. But it’s hard not to judge when we see a parent of a 24 month old give their kid a bottle of formula.
Great read as always Keith..
I nursed my biological children til ages 2 and 3.5 respectively. However, my adoptive children were bottle fed and one of them was failure to thrive so the Dr. recommended he stay on the bottle until age 2. Starting at about 15 months, I only gave him water in his bedtime bottle though. We used the orthodontic nipples to avoid some dental issues.
Our son basically weaned himself at 12 months. He didn’t want the bottle anymore. He is always in a hurry to grow up. We were lucky to get by so easily.
For me and my babies mommy, it’s been kind of a roller coaster when it came to breast feeding and bottle feeding with our newborn baby boy Jacob.
While pregnant the mommy planned on not even bothering to breastfeed because she didn’t want to deal with the pain associated with it. But after he was born we were convinced on breastfeeding because apparently it’s more natural and healthy for the baby and it’s a lot cheaper.
However now our baby boy is about 12 days old and we believe he’s going through his grow spurt and he’s eating way too much and his Mommy to handle and she cant produce enough milk, and it’s been very straining on her, so we’ve decided to go back to bottled formula.
Exclusive breastfeeding (no help from formula or other supplements) is recommended at least for the first 6 months of baby’s life. But if it is a necessity for you to stop (for whatever reason – work issues, health, etc.), then you need to psych yourself that you’ll have to do weaning.