Nursing

Breast is best, but is it realistic? The World Health Organization recommends six months of exclusive breastfeeding to ensure a healthy start for newborns and infants. And while some mamas treat that 6-month mark as a goal, a new study suggests it is simply unattainable for many.

According to the small Scottish study — which included 220 face-to-face interviews — nursing is harder than most health care professionals lead new parents to believe, and the current culture of "pressuring" parents to put baby to breast is backfiring. Some women felt that the bonding experience wasn't as strong as they had hoped, while others didn't feel supported once they left the hospital, ultimately leading them to stop nursing sooner. The US breastfeeding rate is up to 14.8 percent — far lower than the 25.5 percent the Centers for Disease Control set as a target, but up 4 percentage points over the past four years. That said, are we unrealistic about our goals for new moms?

Source: Flickr User Raphael Goetter

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Is Six Months of Breastfeeding Unrealisitic?

Yes — With short, unpaid, maternity leaves and little support, we can't expect it.

No — If new moms better understand the benefits, they will try harder.

A picture's worth a thousand words, but mama may have more than 1,000 words to say if her breastfeeding pictures are used inappropriately. The intimate act is one that many new families like to record for posterity — in fact, 57 percent of LilSugar readers have taken breastfeeding photos of themselves. It's what they do with them afterward that may be cause for concern.

We all know about the controversy surrounding breastfeeding pictures on Facebook, but with the popularity of photo-sharing sites like Instagram and Pinterest, there are new concerns about the use of photos that depict nursing babies. A new post on the site of Best For Babes — the nonprofit breastfeeding advocacy group — interviews a mom whose instructional breastfeeding video was stolen by pornographers and spliced in with sex-act scenes. To make matters worse, the filmmakers used both the mom's and baby's names in their "movies." It has taken her more than two years to have the videos removed from various sites.

Though this case is extreme, it certainly isn't the only one out there.

Source: Flickr User christyscherrer

popsugar poll

Do You Share Your Breastfeeding Photos?

Yes — I share them on my social networking sites.

Yes — but I limit who has access to them.

No — they're private and only meant for us to see.

Breastfeeding makes the pregnancy pounds melt off. That statement, and other's like it, are reason enough for many mamas to put their babies to their breasts. Celebs such as Naomi Watts and Angelina Jolie have credited their baby's feeding schedules with their own rapid weight loss, so many of us bought the claim hook, line, and sinker — including Jenna Fischer.

While walking the red carpet at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Jenna Fischer talked about her struggle to lose the baby weight, saying:

Let me please stand in solidarity with all of the women who are not a size 2 six weeks after leaving the hospital. I thought, you read all of the stuff in magazines like, "Oh, I breastfed my baby and I am so skinny now." I am breastfeeding my baby and I am not getting any skinnier! I think I'm just going to be a little bit bigger for a little bit longer, and that's fine with me.

Jenna, whose son Weston Lee is four months old, joins Salma Hayek — who told Oprah that nursing did nothing to help her lose the weight — and countless others, including myself, who actually found the opposite to be true.

popsugar poll

Did Breastfeeding Really Help You Lose the Weight?

Yes — I didn't diet a bit, but I nursed my tot and lost the weight.

No — I had to concentrate on losing the weight even though I breastfed.

I Don't Know — I dieted and breastfed, so I'm not sure which was more effective.

If you can pump while checking your email and reading a magazine, shouldn't you be able to nurse that way too? Breastfeeding pillows help bring baby to the proper height to comfortably reach the breast, but lil ones can easily roll off them and they aren't very convenient when mama's trying to nurse out of the home. The Koala Kin ($90) makes hands-free nursing a reality by combining the structure and convenience of a baby carrier with a pouch-like place to allow the baby to lie down and latch on. Best of all, the pouch provides privacy while allowing mama to maintain eye contact with her lil one throughout the nursing session, unlike a nursing cover. What do you think?

popsugar poll

Koala Kin Hands-Free Nursing Pouch: Ga Ga or Gag?

Ga Ga — I'd love to be able to keep my hands free while nursing my tot.

Gag — It takes away from the bonding experience that is part of nursing.