Kourtney Kardashian recommends the “breastfeeding diet” online. Advice and false myths to dispel

Kourtney Kardashian Barker became a mother for the fourth time in a few months. After a complex pregnancy, she lived totally on social media, Kim Kardashian's sister also decided to share the postpartum and the start of breastfeeding. On the pages of his website, Poosh, in which she talks about her life, she published a list of foods to consume to stimulate milk production, at the suggestion of her nutritionist Leona West Fox. To support breastfeeding and physical recovery, she recommends taking many cereals, which should be “galactagogue” foods, but also dairy products, soups, chicken broth and to always stay well hydrated. But is there a diet to stimulate breastfeeding?

Energy intake

«There is no forbidden food during breastfeeding, so the old rumors that prohibited broccoli, asparagus and spices are not true. Women can drink and eat what they want, except alcohol because it passes the blood-brain barrier – he explains Chiara Losa, pediatric nurse and IBCLC lactation consultant in the integrated family clinics of the ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco -. There is no food that promotes breastfeeding. The advice is to have a healthy and varied dietaccording to their own culture. There isn't even such a direct correlation between what the mother eats and what the baby gets. The woman's body ensures that the milk is always perfect, partly even independently of the diet.” However, the mother's daily energy intake must be a little higher, with an increase of approximately 450/500 Kcal/daywhich can be easily reached by pre-selling two small snacks based on dried fruit.

Milk extraction

Can a diet richer in liquids help? «Mother should satisfy her thirst. Oxytocin, which makes the milk move, actually gives a sense of thirst and it is normal that when a woman is breastfeeding she often wants to drink. It is therefore necessary to hydrate by satisfying the sensation of thirst, but it is not true that if you drink 4 liters of water a day you will produce more milk. It's another of the rumors about breastfeeding.” What can be done to stimulate milk production? «The only thing that makes a woman produce milk is the extraction of breast milk. Who expresses breast milk? A child who is competent and attached correctly” explains Losa. Obviously, if the baby is not competent, because he was born prematurely or hospitalized in intensive care, or the mother needs to give relief to the breast or return to work while maintaining the milk, you can use manual breast expression or a breast pump. They are two options to support breastfeeding, which must be used in a calibrated way and based on needs and situations, which can be totally personal. «Mothers and babies are not robots, every little one has their own way of sucking, their own style and characteristics. Every breastfeeding is a story written by a family and breastfeeding is a response between the mother and her baby».

Breastfeeding does not cause pain

What is the correct breast attachment? «The correct breast feeding, first of all, doesn't hurt. Having pain during a feeding is a sign that something is wrong – specifies the nurse, confirming that the fissures, abrasions, crushed nipples are the results of an incorrect attack -. It is very important to make the mother understand that it is not normal to feel pain. I always use a value scale from 0 to 10 and breastfeeding must be placed between 0 and 2. It cannot be 8.” To verify the latch, you need to observe the baby: «The newborn must not take the nipple at the tip or in the center, because the nipple is the last thing that enters the baby's mouth and is positioned under the palate, at 2 or 3 millimeters at the junction of the soft and hard palate. In this position, the nipple moves very little, so it cannot be crushed, damaged or pulled» and, above all, it can't hurt. To start the feeding you need to place the baby with his nose at the nipple level; Then the attachment must take place from bottom to topthat is, when he opens his mouth wide, he must be brought closer to the breast by the mother, at which point he places his chin on the lower areola, pushes with his chin and then closes his mouth with his upper lip covering the nipple.”

Where to find support

Often mothers are discharged after giving birth, return home and find themselves alone. Life is no longer what it was before. They have to learn to breastfeed and sometimes they give up because they are unable to latch on to the breast properly, they feel pain and are overwhelmed by responsibility and tiredness.. Who should you turn to to face this phase peacefully? «The important thing is that mothers turn to health professionals trained in breastfeeding – explains Losa -. At Fatebenefratelli-Sacco there are seven clinics, where you can follow the birth accompaniment course and there are breastfeeding spaces dedicated to new families with specialized professionals where personalized consultations and group meetings are carried out and where mothers, moderated by us operators, meet and discuss, not only about breastfeeding but about anything they need.” There are many services, from newborn massage to meetings with fathers and psychologists, and they are free. «The clinics are open to everyone: to women who breastfeed, to women who do not breastfeed or to mothers who have initially chosen a breastfeeding path and have understood that it is not their path. We welcome everyone, without any judgement.”