Warnings resurface about mothers' 'brexting'

They are everywhere and anywhere. At least 5 billion people own a mobile phone, and they have become an integral part of life for every user.

As the number of women breastfeeding their babies also has increased, a topic that surfaced in 2015 is back again: "brexting"-breastfeeding while texting.

Could excessive use of a mobile phone by a mother while breastfeeding a newborn affect their bond?

In 2015, two clinicians-Terry Bretscher, a lactation supervisor, and Dr Kateyune Kaeni, both from Pomona Valley Medical Center in California-sparked something of an international backlash after they told a local radio station that mothers shouldn't do it.

And the backlash continues.

One mother commented online: "I read books. (What's the difference between books and reading a screen? Precious little!) If I hadn't read books during the six months I sat on the couch and fed my daughter, I might have gone crazy."

Georgina Dent wrote on Mamamia, an Australian opinion and lifestyle website for women: "Yes, I breastfeed my infant daughter while texting. I am also guilty of branking. Of bremaling. Of bracebooking. Of branstagramming. Of brweeting. Of breading."

Anya Kamenetz is the author of The Art of Screen Time: How Your Family Can Balance Digital Media and Real Life. In an excerpt from her book published in Time magazine in January, she wrote: "Put down your phone around your own children, if you can and when you feel you ought to. But don't presume to tell me or other mothers what to do with their own lives, or lifelines."

Many experts on infant care say mothers of newborns need to be aware of the potential fallout from frequent cellphone use or any other activities while breastfeeding.

"The experience of breastfeeding, by and large, is the most bonded experience, and it's a cocoon of nurturing, and for the most part that cocoon should not be broken," Dr Michelle Canarick, a clinical psychologist based in New York who runs a group called NYC Moms Support, told China Daily.

"A baby is getting that warmth and that nurturing and that cocoon by the simple act of nurturing. As they age, they look at your face and they want to interact with you, and as that happens, you are forming and building an attachment. Those bonds are being built over multiple dimensions and interactions. (But) not every single interaction a mom has with her baby is going to be a connected one."

A 2017 study of 75 mothers with babies under six months old showed that one-fourth of them text, swipe through content, use their tablet, or watch TV while breastfeeding or bottle feeding, according to Alison Ventura, an assistant professor and researcher at California Polytechnic State University, who conducted the study.

"I want us to pause and think carefully about our phone use when we're feeding. What are the consequences if we're spending every feed glued to our phone? What might our babies be missing out on if we're digitally distracted?" asked Dr Kristy Goodwin, a parenting educator and expert in Sydney, Australia, on the impact of technology on families.

She told China Daily that it is important for mothers to consider how phone use can affect a newborn, but added that nobody should "shame" mothers for doing so.