Having breastfed both my babies from birth until they turned one (and then some), I will be the first to tell you that while breastfeeding is amazing and handy and so, so lovely, it is also hard work. And full on.
For those first few weeks and months, you are pretty much like a 24-hour milk-shop that never shuts its doors, and a lot of time (a lot, a lot of time) is spent sitting with your top pulled up (or down) and your boobs out. Such is the life of a breastfeeding mama.
Which inevitably means that getting anything
else done is pretty tough going.
You know, the laundry and the ironing and the state of the bathroom and so forth – not to mention dinner.
Which is why, of course, the result of a new study on improving breasfeeding rates did not surprise me in the slightest.
Basically, to take some stress away for the new mama, and to give her a chance to really get the breastfeeding thing going, especially in the beginning,
having a helping partner there could make all the difference.
According to
research out of New Zealand's University of Waikato, partners can, in fact, help boost mums' milk supplies by doing one simple thing:
Make dinner. (And do the dishes afterward – obvs.)
According to masters student Angga Rahadian, whose research focuses on improving exclusive breastfeeding rates, psychological and physical supports from partners are
vital to breastfeeding success.
"Physical support is like massaging mama when she feel tired and cooking or doing household chores," Rahadian
told the Waikato Times, adding that psychological support can be as simple as encouraging a mum or just asking her what she wants for dinner.
She found that when the co-parent does chores and cooking, the breastfeeding mum has time to focus on feeding the baby and get the rest she needs to keep her milk supply up.
