Happy WBW to you!

This years World Breastfeeding Week theme is 10 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL BREASTFEEDING.  The goal is to promote the BABY FRIENDLY HOSPITAL INITIATIVE. 

Here are a couple of resources available to you in honor of World Breastfeeding Week:

Free Course through the August 7th courtesy of Lactation Education Resources: Initiation of Breastfeeding: A Biological Perspective.

Complimentary Online Access to Breastfeeding Medicine Journal for the Month of August.

 Now go educate yourself!

flowing streams of milk...

One way to increase your milk supply, as well as a tool to help a baby who isn't latching well, is to do a nursing holiday.  This entails mom and baby in bed all weekend, skin to skin, allowing baby to nurse as frequently as he/she desires.  No pump, no supplements (unless medically indicated), no chores or stresses, just mom and baby relaxing and breastfeeding! 

A public display of eating

Would you even know this is a breastfeeding mommy above?  Andrea, my old Maternal and Child Health school buddy, is sporting one of my homemade hooter hiders - I think I'll call this one "Pretty in Pink".  The other day she wrote me this little piece of inspiration:

"I'm a very proud breast-feeder. Sometimes I forget that I probably offend or make some people uncomfortable, but you know what, I don't care. Breastfeeding is one of the most natural things you can do so I'm doing my part to make people see it so maybe other women will be inspired to breastfeed too!"

That a girl, Andrea.  I love it!

Don't you think motherhood suites her well?  If she isn't a glowing new mom, I'm not sure what is.

Happy Mother's Day to all my beautiful Mommy friends - Thank you for sharing your breastfeeding experiences with me!!

The stats. The guilt and the anger.

Thank you, Dr. Bartick, for doing this research and for responding with this article!  I strongly encourage you to take a peek at this research (even if it's just a quick review of the abstract).  Here's a taste to wet your appetitie:

"If 90% of US families could comply with medical recommendations to breastfeed exclusively for 6 months, the United States would save $13 billion per year and prevent an excess 911 deaths..."

And if you are one of the many moms that is carrying around guilt or anger associated with your breastfeeding experience, I urge you read this article and respond!  We need to stand up for our rights as women and mothers - Peaceful Revolution!

A tongue tied week...

I had one of those weird weeks where every where you go everyone is struggling with the same problem. It just happened to be a tongue tie week. Mom's were screaming in pain, nipples were sore and damaged and all because of that little piece of skin that connects the tongue to the floor of the mouth. A tongue tie (or short/tight frenulum) isn't always an issue, but for some mom's having that little piece of tissue cut can make all the difference in the world for the breastfeeding relationship.

 

Do you think your baby is tongue tied?  Is your MD not convinced this is "breastfeeding" problem?  Are you worried about having a procedure done to your baby this early?

Here's some information for you and your physician from a variety of sources:

A dentitst:

http://www.brianpalmerdds.com/bfeed_frenulums.htm

The American Academy of Pediatrics:

http://www.aap.org/breastfeeding/files/pdf/BBM-8-27%20Newsletter.pdf

Some great examples:

http://www.drjain.com/examples.htm

And if you still want more information Kelly mom always has it: http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/bfhelp-tonguetie.html

My boob mug

This is what every lactation consultant needs...their very own BOOB mug to use while they write their post for their boob blog.  Life is complete.  My very thoughtful mother got me this handmade mug from Nelsonville Pottery located in Nelsonville, Ohio (a.k.a. the hometown of Sarah Jessica Parker).  The store owner, Jennifer, makes these beautiful mugs and ships the proceedings off for breast cancer research.  I'm sure she'd be happy to ship one to you if you're feeling jealous of my mug! 

I know this is a breastfeeding blog and not a breast cancer blog, but we do have to keep our breast cancer precautions up while breastfeeding.  Many changes are happening to your breasts during pregnancy and breastfeeding and moms need to be aware of these changes.  Your breasts will obviously feel lumpier with all your milk making ducts filling and emptying, but continue to do regular breast examines and look for any abnormal shaped lumps.  See your OB/GYN or a breast surgeon if you have any abnormal lumps, skin discoloring, or abnormal nipple discharge.  It's always better to be safe than sorry.

Breastfeeding disease

I'm wondering today how you all in the breastfeeding world cope?  Right now my mind is flooded with lactation, lactation, lactation.

I feel asleep last night thinking of how I should respond to the controversial question of "co-sleeping for breastfeeding moms".

(And I came up with a brilliant answer, coming soon.)  I'm constantly having these internal debates with myself.  "What else could I have done for that mom?  Who can I call to help this friend get her baby's tight frenulum (tongue tie) cut sooner?  Why is that baby sucking so poorly?"  Breastfeeding management is really like playing detective.  We explore, we research, we try this and then that, and then bam the case has been cracked.  Well it's not always a "bam", but hopefully we can make things better.  I feel like breastfeeding is an all consuming topic, whether you're a professional or a nursing mom there's a good chance breastfeeding is on the brain most of your days.  It's like a pesky brain disease that slowly takes over your mind - a good disease though - breastfeeding disease.  If I have to have a disease, I'm happy it's about healthy baby food.

Same Stroke for Different Folks

I occasionally enjoy an episode or two of the Duggars' 18 and Counting TLC show (I know many of you probably find this show to be insane, but hang in there with me for a minute).  Have you noticed that Michele (the mom) breastfeeds her babies? She walks around with a "My Brest Friend" pillow strapped to her and a blanket over her shoulder. The average person probably wouldn't think anything of this, but my trained eye knows what is going on under that blanket.  P.S. Great tip for multitasking/feeding in public!  One night while enjoying this fine show, my husband made an interesting point.  We were watching the episode where Anna Duggar (the daughter-in-law) decided to have a home birth.  The Engineer (as I lovingly refer to my husband in the blog world) said something along the lines:

"The natural childbirth and breastfeeding crowd are two very different groups of people.  On one hand you have the ultra conservative gang (a.k.a. the Duggars) and on the other hand you have the ultra liberal hippies (dare I say, La Leche League)."

Two very different groups with two very different approaches reaching same conclusion.  The conservative folks are just keeping things simple, saving money, and sticking to more traditional gender roles.  The hippie folks want to be natural, let their body do its thing.  They tend to advocate for themselves and others...maybe slightly feminist.  In some strange way I consider myself 1/2 of both of these.  I'm one part conservative and one part hippie, which doesn't entirely make sense, but I guess either way it works for being a breastfeeding advocate!

What do you think?  What are you - conservative, hippie or a mix?

Who doesn't love free stuff?

This is exciting stuff - MY FIRST GIVE-A-WAY!!!  To enter:
All you have to do is leave a comment.  If you want to be really nice you can follow my blog.  Just click on the "Follow" button to the right.  (I know, it does appear that your being bribed to be my friend...)  And if you really really want to be nice you can share this give-a-way with your friends :-)  On Thanksgiving (the most appropriate day of the year to give thanks to any readers out there, right?) I will randomly select a winner. 

What you get?  Your pick of one of the two breastfeeding covers featured above!  The blue plaid is made out of flannel...perfect for the chilly winter and the bright green one is regular cotton fabric.  Both feature boning at the neck line, an adjustable strap, and a pocket on the inside for nursing pads or pacifiers.

Stay tuned for November 26th!

2nd night syndrome

I try to warn new parents of a phenomenon that has been titled "2nd night syndrome".  It sounds so dramatic, but parents who experience this so-called 2nd night syndrome are relieved to have a "diagnosis".  There are few factors involved with this "syndrome":

1. Babies are typically on the opposite sleep/wake schedule as their parents.  For example, some women notice that during their pregnancy their baby is less active during the day when they are moving and more active at night when the mom is still.  The movement is lulls the baby to sleep and when momma is still baby is on the move. 
2. Because of this schedule parents tend to find that newborns are up more at night and interested in feeding more during the night.  This is why it is so important to nap during the day while you can!!!
3. Newborns usually have a good feed right after delivery (this should be initiated as soon as possible), zonk out for about 24 hours, and then wake up on that 2nd night.  When they wake up they realize they are away from momma and want to be no where but on her chest (a.k.a. their comfort zone...the closest thing to the womb).  They want to hear your heart beat, feel your skin, feel you breathing, and be all snuggled in right next to the food source (this is known as skin to skin - look it up if you're not familiar - it's uber awesome for both moms and dads, whether your breastfeeding or not).  

So, this is the basic recipe for 2nd night syndrome.  What I often see happen is mom feeds baby, baby falls asleep at the breast, mom swaddles baby in hopes of catching a few ZZZs and baby immediately starts to cry, mom puts baby back to breast, baby settles, falls asleep and this picture is on instant replay all night.  Mom becomes upset that she doesn't have any milk, her baby is never satisfied, and everyone becomes slightly delirious.  The solution is:

1. Be prepared for this and sleep when you get a chance during the day.
2. Feed baby and then hang out skin to skin taking turns with your partner (that is with skin to skin), so that you can get some sleep.   
3. Remember it's going to get better!

Go out in style!

Want to feed your baby, but also want to keep your goods covered up?  It's simple you can buy or make your very own nursing cover!  You can buy a "hooter hider" or "bebe au lait" online or in most baby stores.  Or if you have some free time and a sewing maching you can make your own for a fraction of the price and in your fav fabric.  I made this one below with the help of this website.  This particular cover works like a blanket with a view for mom.  It has an adjustable strap that goes over mom's neck and boning in the front that allows mom to see what's going on and make eye contact with her baby.

This one is getting packaged up and sent out to my dear friend Kristen, whose bun in well done!  Any day now little Ethan will be here.  We'll have to wait and see how Kristen likes her new nursing cover and if she has any tips for feeding in public.

Isn't she just gorgeous?

My #1 tip for feeding in public is to sit in front of a mirror at home and practice!  This way you can see what others see when you're out and about.

Do you have any tips for feeding in public?  Where is the oddest place you've fed your baby?  I'd love to hear from you.  Leave a comment or send me an email at boobforthought@gmail.com.
 

Getting hosed down...

Here's a story for you from my dear friend and mentor, Margaret.  Margaret is a lactation consultant at a local hospital.

One day I assisted a mom to latch on ber twin baby at about 33 weeks...they were born at 26 weeks and his big brother had been breastfeeding well for 2 weeks. Our little boy showed everyone that he was just as efficient as his big brother and in fact latched on and was breastfeeding very contentedly. Suddenly his eyes shot open and I realized that mom had had a let-down so I "delatched", him rapidly, just in case he choked. Mom's breast continued to spray his whole face. I wish I had had a camera to record the expression of shock, surprise and hurt. I could imagine that he thought, "Here I was cuddling and enjoying my lunch, when they not only open the hose in my mouth but proceed to spray my face, You hurt my feelings!! I am not sure if I trust this plumbing!! But it was great so perhaps I will try it again." He then tentatively re-latched and mom slipped backwards to reduce the pressure somewhat. I suggested that she pump for a few minutes to reduce the over-active let-down in future!! So sweet and trusting.

Do you have an overactive let down? Does your baby come off your breast coughing and sputtering with milk running all down his face? Some moms have a powerful let down that is overwhelming to their baby. In these cases moms may need to take extra steps. As Margaret said they can lean back while feeding to allow gravity to decrease the flow. Moms can pump for a couple of minutes until their milk lets down and then latch baby. Another option is use your hand to compress the breast slowing down the flow for baby. For more info check out http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html.

Happy Breastfeeding! 

How I got my Boob Job

I'm sitting here pondering how I ended up in the lactation world and thought I'd share with you all my journey (well my begining more than journey since I'm still a newbie).  In Spring 2006, I was sitting in my Maternal and Child Health graduate class and the lecture for the day was breastfeeding.  I honestly don't recall ever thinking about breastfeeding prior to that point.  I finished undergrad and moved to the big city to continue with graduate school, because I just LOVED college and wasn't ready to let go.  One week into grad school and I quickly realized I NO LONGER loved school.  I was working full-time, going to school full time in the evenings, and trying to keep a long distance relationship going.  I was studying Public Health, which I really enjoyed, but I was trying to find my "niche".  I had an on-going list going in my planner with ideas and interests.  On that day I added "Breastfeeding Counselor", the last item to be added to the list.  But why?  Why did one lecture effect me so much?  It wasn't the fact that breastfeeding is perfect nutrition.  Most of us agree that human breastmilk is the optimal food for human babies.  It was this statistic that hit home with me: 99% of women can breastfeed, but 80% experience problems.  I was shocked.  Doesn't breastfeeding just come natural to everyone?  I immediately couldn't learn enough about this field.  Whether this statistic is correct anymore or not doesn't matter, because once again I think most of us would agree that breastfeeding can be tough!  For someone who loves maternal and child health this is the perfect problem to tackle.  That's what this is all about for me - it's not to shove information you already know down your neck, it's to say it can be hard at times and if you decide to breastfeed there are people out there to help you. 

If you're new to the breastfeeding world, here are some resources to get you started:

Books

Online

www.kellymom.com

http://www.drjacknewman.com/

www.llli.org

World's Greatest DIET

Here it is the best kept secret alive!!!!  The world's greatest diet is.......Breastfeeding! 

Did you expect anything less?  Breastfeeding is the one diet that actually requires you sit on your tooshy and cuddle with your baby.  Actually that is the only thing it requires is to feed your baby.  Exclusive breastfeeding burns an extra 500 calories a day on average - that's an extra meal each day!  This is why breastfeeding moms need to eat extra snacks in between meals, but this is also why breastfeeding moms shed the baby lbs so effortlessly.  Is this diet perfect?  Well is any diet perfect?  I have a couple of friends out there that are saying "Julie, you lied! I carried my last 10 lbs around until I stopped breastfeeding.", which is your bodies way of making sure you have enough stores to keep making quality milk for your baby.  I'm not going to lie, no diet plan is perfect for every person, but overall most moms find breastfeeding is the easiest way to get that old body back!  I came across this momma of 4 the other day who is breastfeeding and on a mission to lose her baby bulge.

Breastfeeding causes boobs to sag...or does it?

As a person in the lactation world I'm often asked:

"Is it going to make my boobs sag?"

Elisabeth Hasselbeck shared with the world that "After feeding two kids, mine are, like, origamically folded into my bra."  And from the lovely Kelly Ripa we heard "I nursed 3 kids, so I went from a 32AA  to a 32AA long."

With all this media and boob blaming what's a girl to think, but the obvious?  I'm happy to clarify that NO, breastfeeding will not cause your breasts to sag. However, pregnancy might. Whether or not you choose to breastfeed your baby is irrelevant to the breast changes that will take place when you become pregnant. During pregnancy a woman's breasts increase approximately a cup size, her areolas darken, and her nipples lengthen. Your body's preparing to have a baby. Mother Nature is planning a way to feed this baby whether you like it or not! A mother will make milk even if she doesn't breastfeed her baby. Her body physiologically goes into milk making mode after the delivery of her placenta and somewhere between 3-5 days postpartum her milk will "come in". Once her milk comes in the mother can then has a decision to make: breastfeed her baby or let her milk dry up (disclaimer: ideally if she wants to breastfeed her baby she would begin right after delivery). So there you have it - breastfeeding is not the culprit of those sagging breasts - but don't worry moms-to-be Calvin Klein and Victoria's Secret will be there to scoop everything back up to its perky self!

P.S. Because I absolutely adore Kelly (even if she has her saggy boob culprit wrong) here is the video of her and Regis!