I have a cool new giveaway this week!

World Breastfeeding Week is officially over, but nursing moms everywhere could still benefit from this neat breastfeeding item.

Undercover Mama is a unique strapless undershirt that attaches to your nursing bra. This makes it easy for you to breastfeed without showing your stomach or side.

As you can see in the first pic below, it attaches to any nursing bra  (there is a “hook” style and a “loop” style attachment available, the hook is shown below).

When it’s time to feed the baby, it opens with the flap of your nursing bra. The rest of the shirt stays down against your belly and sides. So, you can wear any shirt you want and still be able to nurse comfortably.

Here is a full pic of the Undercover Mama:

To enter to win the UnderCover Mama, just do this:

1. “Like” Natural Moms Talk Radio on Facebook! (If you’ve already done so, just do #2 and let me know.)
2. Leave a comment below telling me that you did so.

The contest will run for one week, until Thursday, August 18 at Noon Eastern time. The winner will be notified at that time.

Here are some of my favorite tips for nursing in public.

- Nurse at the first signs of hunger. A nursing baby generally draws less attention than a screaming one! So latch your baby on as soon as you notice that s/he is hungry…rooting, sucking on fist, grimacing face, etc. A crying baby also makes you nervous and you and baby may take longer to get latched on comfortably.

- Bring a book or large purse to set in your lap for camouflage. Your diaper bag would also work. Set it in front of baby on your knees while you latch baby on. Or hold a book so that your baby’s head and your breast are out of view.

- Practice latching your baby on quickly and discreetly in front of a mirror at home, so that you know how to do it without anyone really noticing when you’re out and about.

The other day, I talked with a lovely couple as they walked around my neighborhood with their 11 month old twins in a tandem stroller. I congratulated the mom for breastfeeding twins. She told me that she wanted to continue breastfeeding for a year, but was considering going longer.

I told her that when her babies turned a year old, they wouldn’t know it.

Also, they wouldn’t be the least bit interested in weaning either. Why would they want to give up something so wonderful?

She smiled and agreed. “They love it“, she said. “And so do I.”

Nursing an older baby has many benefits, but like any age, it can also have a few challenges.

Here are a few tips on breastfeeding the older baby:

Night Nursing – aka “Making Up For Lost Time”

I was reminded of something I had forgotten the other day. We had a super busy day and were on the go a lot. Baby had lots of things to see and do, and enjoyed plenty of solid food. But because she (and I) was so distracted, we “forgot” to take nursing breaks.

That night she nursed all night long, and I woke up feeling totally exhausted.

Babies who are busy crawling and walking and discovering sometimes get so involved with other things that they simply forget to nurse. But their bodies will make up the calories at the Dairy Queen, which is open all night long!

You can help prevent this from happening by remembering to slow down and take time to nurse the baby, even when s/he isn’t “asking” to.

It’s helpful to go into another room, a quiet place where there is less action and noise, otherwise baby will take a quick sip and jump back out of your lap. A soft cloth sling like the Maya Wrap can also be useful, since you can pull the top ring of it up over baby’s head to provide a little dark cocoon.

Nursing Manners

When your baby is younger, it’s totally cute and endearing when they knead your breast like it’s a lump of bread dough. When they’re older and stronger and more willful? Eh…. not so much. Baby can really hurt you at this age if they aren’t taught some nursing manners. Nursing necklaces, buttons on your clothing, and other distractions may prove to be helpful if your baby is a twiddler.

Don’t be afraid to set limits with nursing “gymnastics” either. What starts off as cute (“Oh look, baby can nurse upside down balanced on one leg!“) can get old real quick when baby loses balance and hurts you. You may have to end the feeding every once in awhile if baby refuses to nurse nicely. Don’t feel guilty about this. You’re gently teaching baby that breastfeeding, like all relationships, require give and take and compromise. That’s a great lesson to learn.

Modesty

Modesty is closely related to nursing manners. Keep in mind that whatever you allow in the comfort of home will be what you get everywhere else. It may be ok for baby to push your shirt up to your chin when you’re on your couch, but it’s not fun at the Museum or the in-law’s house. Modest breastfeeding in public may go out the window if you don’t teach baby how to keep you covered up. Discipline starts at the breast!

It’s also a good idea to start teaching baby a code word for breastfeeding. That is, unless you’re cool with your 2 year old screaming “I wanna nuuuuurse!” in the grocery store checkout line.

Let’s Talk Teeth

Many mothers who plan on breastfeeding when they’re pregnant plan on quitting as soon as baby sprouts teeth. That’s understandable, because teeth and breast tissue really don’t mix! But many babies never bite at all, and some newborn infants can hurt you with just their gums (which are surprisingly sharp!).

The appearance of teeth doesn’t have to mean the end of breastfeeding. Here are some more tips on what to do if your breastfed baby bites.

One more thing: Nursing strikes usually happen with the older baby. In fact, 9 months is a surprisingly common age for this phenomenon. It doesn’t mean baby wants to wean!

What tips do you have for breastfeeding the older baby?

It’s amazing how much stuff you forget from baby to baby.

For example, how quickly they go from being this tiny newborn for whom breastfeeding takes all their attention and energy, to this wiggly, peekaboo playing, grabby-hands creature you have to wrastle and hog-tie in order to get a good feeding in.

At 4 months, Miss Ruby has already developed some bad nursing manners. (She’s so advanced.)

photo credit: jessicafm

Meaning my breasts look like I had a hot and heavy makeout session with Edward Scissorhands.

(In which he gets to second base.)

Big Z looked at me the other day and cringed. “That’s hurting me, and it’s not even happening to me!”

And I certainly don’t want my hubby avoiding my mammary areas in a sweet but misguided attempt to avoid causing me discomfort, so…

Time to teach baby some breastfeeding manners.

Of course, it’s really my fault for letting it get this bad. What starts off as a cute developmental milestone (oh look, she’s patting me!) quickly turns into a painful proposition involving sharp fingernails and increasingly strong fingers pushing against me (with opposing suction coming from the business end).

I can no longer read, type on the computer, or do much of anything while nursing because I have to hold her little hand so she can’t poke, prod, pull, push, scratch or see how many fingers she can suck/chew on while simultaneously being latched on.

One of my children was a dedicated “twiddler“. (Twiddler on the Boob. Sounds like a musical. ) He was so dedicated to his “free hand” activity that when I tried to stop him he would just stop nursing. It just plain hurt his feelings that I wouldn’t allow him to twist, pull, pinch and scratch my helpless “other side” while he took his meal.

He was also a determined biter. It got so bad that at 8 months old, I had to put him down on the floor and walk out of the room (while he cried for a moment) to underscore that mom is not an apple and I would not tolerate being crunched. It only took a few times and he stopped, but I learned to watch for that twinkle in his eye that came right before a bite so I could end the feeding.

I’m sure some of this behavior serves a purpose. It probably causes mom’s milk to let down faster, or makes it flow more quickly. Maybe it even puts more fat in the milk. I’ve seen cats and puppies do the same to their mommies. Even calves butt their little heads against mom to get things flowing.

Of course, teaching nursing manners is very important. Not only for mom’s comfort, but because it is one of the most important lessons in life:

That there are two people in this relationship, and if you want to keep getting the good stuff, then in the words of  Otis Redding, you got to, got to, try a little tenderness.

Like all of us, babies are just a little bit selfish. Greedy, even. We want our milky and we want it nee-owww! Reminding baby that s/he has to get food in a way that doesn’t hurt mom is frustrating for baby at first but will pay off later.

Some more breastfeeding manners I’ve found helpful to teach baby over the years:

• Euphemisms are good. It’s not so fun when your toddler screams “I wanna nurse!” in the checkout line at Target. But nobody knows what mee-mees or nee-ners are.
• It’s not ok to reach in, grab and pull it out the neckline of mom’s shirt.
• Don’t go braless. Keep your nursing bra on and the other side done up- much like husbands, nursing babies can’t resist dangling participles.
• If mom wants to be modest, you have to deal with a little shirt in your face.
• Keep your hands to yourself. (One caveat: be careful when nursing an undiapered baby, especially a boy. They really enjoy keeping their hands to themselves. Ahem.)

I’ve also found it handy to busy baby’s hands with something else interesting. The need to twiddle something seems to peak before and right when baby develops the pincer grasp, that skill that will eventually enable him to pick old moldy raisins and lint off the carpet to eat.

In the meantime, this is why God invented nursing necklaces, but anything else will do: a small toy, or something interesting on your clothing (big buttons, appliques, a brooch, etc). I’m told that as a baby, I had a penchant for rubbing my mother’s silky pajamas while nursing.  Whatever works.

What do you think? Did your baby have bad nursing habits? How did you handle it?

Here’s another great question from a reader:

What is the best suggestion you have for a colic baby that is breastfed?

photo credit: iskir

Colic usually refers to babies who cry for long periods of time, especially in the evenings, typically starting a few weeks after birth. Some experts say that colic doesn’t exist, and there is a legitimate reason for the crying, that it will resolve when the issue is addressed. Others insist on using colic as a catch-all diagnosis. Either way, a mom would be highly motivated to try to help her baby.

Colicky babies are nearly inconsolable during their crying spells. Although breastfed babies tend to experience colic less than their formula-fed counterparts, it is still very much possible for a breastfed baby to have colic. Even though opinions differ as to what causes colic, there are some things that may be contributing to a breastfed baby’s crying and pain that parents may want to know of.

Colic and The Breastfed Baby

One reason for a breastfed baby’s crying may be that they are not getting the adequate amount of fat during a feeding. Breastfeeding mothers are often taught to breastfeed on each breast during each feeding session. This is done to relieve engorgement of the breasts and stimulate mom’s milk supply. However, what this can also do is prevent the baby from receiving enough of the healthy fats in the breast milk.

During letdown in the beginning of a feeding, the baby receives foremilk, which is a lower-fat consistency of milk (kind of like skim milk). The foremilk quenches the baby’s thirst and immediate hunger.

But as the feeding goes on, fat globules begin to make their way down the ducts toward the nipple. The baby then receives hind milk, which has a higher fat content and can keep the baby feeling fuller longer (like cream). If the mother feeds on one breast at a time during feedings, she is ensuring their baby receives hind milk, which can help reduce colic.

For a newborn or young baby, switching breasts during feedings can be especially problematic because their appetite is smaller. The hind milk tends to come after mom’s milk has letdown more than once.

How can you tell if this might be a problem? Baby has green poops. Green poops can indicate that baby is getting too much foremilk and not enough hind milk.

This was an issue with my oldest child. Since I had never nursed a baby before and was insecure about him getting enough, I switched sides too often. This led to him becoming fussy and having green poops. When I learned to keep him on ONE side for an entire feeding, sometimes even two feedings, the problem went away.

If this is uncomfortable for mom since the other breast remains full, the mother can pump the other side or hand express a small amount to relieve engorgement before the next feeding.

Some mothers may also have a rapid letdown, which can release a lot of milk into the baby’s mouth at once, causing them to cough and spit, struggling to keep up and swallowing a lot of air in the process. Mothers with an overactive letdown can pump out a small amount of milk before putting their baby on the breast, to reduce the rapid amount of milk going into the mouth when the baby first latches on. Nursing while lying down can help, as can sitting baby up (as in a football hold) for feeds. Burping can also help some babies.

Although nursing mothers are not prohibited from eating certain foods in their diet, some mothers may notice that some foods can cause their baby to become gassy. Colic will usually pass on its own but if there is a family history of dairy allergy she could try cutting out dairy. Eating fiber and vegetables like beans, onions or spices do NOT cause colic or gas. This is actually impossible, since it’s undigested carbohydrates that causes gas pain in the Mom, and these cannot pass into breastmilk.

Wearing a baby sling can help comfort a crying baby.

Babies who are “worn” cry less according to research.

It’s important to remember that unlike formula-fed babies who are often fed on a schedule, breastfed babies often have their own schedule. Nursing on demand can help reduce colic, because they will be fed when hungry and not force fed when not hungry.

Iron supplements (like those in prenatal vitamins) can bother some babies. When my second child, who was very calm by nature starting crying, I called my Naturopath who advised that I stop taking my prenatals for this reason. When I did, the crying stopped.

Did your breastfed baby experience colic? How did you help him or her feel better?

More:

Crying baby, stressed mom

Another reason to breastfeed your baby. While breastmilk does contain some fluoride, infant formula contains far more, and apparently, in amounts that are likely to cause damage to developing teeth.

photo credit: Roebot

All Infant Formula Contains Fluoride at Tooth-Discoloring Levels

New York – October 21, 2009 – All infant formulas, whether ready-to-feed, concentrated or organic, contain fluoride at levels which can discolor developing teeth, reports the October 2009 Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) (1).

Fluoride, added to some bottled and public water supplies ostensibly to prevent cavities, is also in many foods and beverages, including infant formula. Excessive fluoride discolors and/or weakens permanent teeth (moderate fluorosis).

Researchers measured fluoride content of 49 infant formulas.  See:

http://www.freewebs.com/fluoridation/infantformulafluoride.htm

The research team concludes, “Most infants from birth to age 12
months who consume predominantly powdered and liquid concentrate formula are likely to exceed the upper tolerable limit [of fluoride] if the formula is reconstituted with optimally fluoridated water (0.7 – 1.2 ppm).”

Surprisingly, the study reveals that all 6-month-olds and younger will also exceed the lower “adequate intake” (0.01 mg/day) from all formulas concentrated or not) risking moderate dental fluorosis from formula, alone. (2)

Breast milk contains about 250 times less fluoride than “optimally”uoridated water and isn’t linked to fluorosis.

“Babies don’t need fluoride and fluoride ingestion doesn’t reduce tooth decay,” says attorney Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc. “So why are US babies still exposed to unnecessary fluoride chemicals via the water and food supplies and why aren’t parents informed of the consequences?” asks Beeber.

Up to 48% of school children have fluorosed teeth – 4% severe, reports the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (3).

Both the CDC and the American Dental Association’s web sites advise parents to avoid mixing fluoridated water into concentrated infant formula, but they have never effectively broadcast this information to parents or the media (4,5).

A review of human studies by different researchers published in JADA (July 2009) concluded, “Our systematic review indicated that the consumption of infant formula [concentrated and ready-to-feed] is, on average, associated with an increased risk of developing at least some detectable level of enamel fluorosis.” (6)

“Parents, protect your children since dental and government agencies won’t. Petition local and state legislators to stop adding unnecessary and harmful fluoride chemicals into public water supplies and, thereby, into our food supply,” says Beeber. “Further, demand that the fluoride content of all food products be required on labels.”

Researchers agree that infant formula levels should be lowered.

“One interpretation of the available evidence would be that public health officials should create guidelines for infant formula consumption ensuring that the upper intake level established by the Institute of Medicine… is not
exceeded. Another approach would be to strive for ‘biological normality’ and to strive for fluoride levels observed in breast milk,” write Hujoel et al. in “Infant Formula and Enamel Fluorosis: A Systematic Review. (6)

A recent investigation by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that over-exposure to fluoride among infants is a widespread problem in most major American cities. EWG’s study found that, on any given day, up to 60% of formula-fed babies in US cities were exceeding the Institute of Medicine’s “upper tolerable” limit for fluoride. (6a)

In 2004, fluoride researcher Dr. Teresa A. Marshall told Reuters Health, “Very young infants are unlikely to benefit from the caries-prevention effects of fluoride…They may be at increased risk of dental fluorosis.” (7) Marshall co-authored “Associations between Intakes of Fluoride from Beverages during Infancy and Dental Fluorosis of Primary Teeth,” in the Journal of American Clinical Nutrition. (b)

In 2000, researcher A K Mascarenhas evaluating only well-conducted studies from the 1980s through the 1990s concluded in Pediatric Dentistry that infant formula was a major risk factor for dental fluorosis. (8)

As part of the on-going Iowa Fluoride Study, Levy and his team measured the fluoride content of infant formula and found from 0.15 to 0.30 ppm in ready-to-feed infant formula. (9)

Common household water filters (e.g. carbon filters) do not remove fluoride and unlike chlorine, which dissipates upon boiling, fluoride becomes more concentrated when water is boiled.

USDA: Fluoride-content of common foods: http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=6312

Pictures of fluorosis

http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/teeth/fluorosis/moderate-severe.html

Contact: Paul Beeber, Esq 516-433-8882 nyscof@aol.com

SOURCE: New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.

http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof

http://www.FluorideAction.Net

References:

1) “Assessing a potential risk factor for enamel fluorosis: a
preliminary evaluation of fluoride content in infant formulas,”
Journal of the American Dental Association October 2009

2) http://fluoridation.webs.com/intakefromformula.htm

3) http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/figures/s403a1t23.gif

4) http://www.cdc.gov/fluoridation/safety/infant_formula.htm

5) http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/pubs/adanews/adanewsarticle.asp?art…

6) “Infant Formula and Enamel Fluorosis: A Systematic Review,”
Journal of the American Dental Association by Hujoel, et al, July 2009

6a) “National Academy Calls for Lowering Fluoride Limits in Tap
Water,” EWG News Release, March 2006 http://www.ewg.org/node/21000

7) “Too Much Fluoride May Harm Babies’ Teeth,” Reuters Health, May 5,
2004

http://www.fluoridealert.org/media/2004c.html
Pediatric Dentistry. July-August 2000. “Risk factors for dental
fluorosis: a review of the recent literature,” by Mascarenhas AK

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10969430?dopt=Abstract

9) Dental Clinics of North America 47(2003), “Current and future role
of fluoride in nutrition,” by Warren & Levy, 225-243

More evidence that infant formula is linked to dental fluorosis:

http://tinyurl.com/AllFormulaContainsFluoride

More: Carrie’s Interview with Bill Osmunson DDS, MPH, and Fluoride Action Network Spokesperson on the risks of fluoride.

“Being stuck at home breast-feeding as he walked out the door for work just made me unreasonably furious, at him and everyone else.”

Really?

I might as well join the chorus of voices blogging this week about “The Case Against Breastfeeding“.

But instead of picking apart the author’s arguments (among them: the research doesn’t really show a strong benefit of breastfeeding, it takes too much time and makes meaningful work impossible, it shackles women and keeps them down, etc), I am just going to focus on the one quote mentioned above.

If breastfeeding your baby makes you “stuck at home” and “furious” at the world, then you probably shouldn’t do it.

That doesn’t mean it’s not best. It just means you have a major attitude problem.

I apologize for this week’s “lo fi” show. I’m sick and also have a vomiting 6 year old, so we’re couching out for a few days. I didn’t want this week’s show to be any later so I decided to publish the interview as is.

My guest this week is Lafe Larson of Lafe’s Natural Bodycare.

While some skin care companies are concerned about BPA in their products, Lafe has gone a step further.

His company recently released the first-of-its-kind organic certified baby line packaged in “baby-safe” plastic, free of estrogenic chemicals.

Listen to find out what Carrie’s favorite product was and how she put it to the ultimate test!

In addition to safe skin care for babies and mothers, Lafe’s offers deodorants and intimate products, free of questionable ingredients such as parabens, glycol, PEGs, and sodium laureth.

Lafe also helps clear up some of the confusion around plastics and their affects on the body. You can also read more information at EAFREE.com

A couple of days ago a reporter from ABC News called me to ask my thoughts on the whole Selma Hayek cross nursing an African baby thing.

Cross/wet nursing is controversial enough, but throw in a pair of award winning celebrity ta-tas and everyone is listening.

You can see some of the things I said to her here: Selma Hayek breastfeeding another woman’s child.

Among other things, I told the reporter that calling Selma “unfaithful” is ridiculous. If any mother saw a toddler fall down on the sidewalk and cut open her knees, and mom wasn’t around, she would pick that child up and offer her comfort.

Is that unfaithful?

Using that kind of language just harkens back to the cultural (and I said cultural on the phone, not culturally – not that I’m complaining) misunderstanding that exists about breastfeeding being somehow sexual.

Breastfeeding is intimate.
Breastfeeding is the end result of being sexual (because it completes the cycle of fertility that starts with ovulation, then copulation, then birth).
Breastfeeding feels good. (Or at least it should.)

But breastfeeding doesn’t have any more to do with sex than hugging does. Hugging my 10, 8 and 6 year old children isn’t sexual.

It’s just mothering.

I don’t hug my kids “for myself” once they get past a certain age.

I’ve talked before on this blog about my thoughts on cross nursing and wet nursing, and also mentioned to the reporter that I was personally cross nursed by the mother of a friend of mine. I was 5 days old and my mom had to go back in the hospital for observation. My Mom called her local La Leche League group and moms sent bottles of expressed milk over.

But, I wouldn’t take the bottles.

I’m sure my Dad was pretty terrified, with this tiny infant and his beloved wife in a hospital bed. Thankfully my mom’s friend was able to come over and breastfeed me during that time. Who knows what might have happened? I might have starved myself for two days in some kind of newborn baby depression and shock.

This morning I told my Mom about the story, and she reminded me that she also cross nursed a baby – a childhood friend of mine.

Apparently her mother’s milk was taking a long time to increase postpartum. (Some moms take a week for their milk to “come in”, there is nothing magical about the 3 days postpartum timeframe, it’s just typical for most women.)

Anyway, little Jennifer seemed to be starving and was screaming her head off, so my mom’s friends asked her to come over and feed her. Jennifer’s mother’s milk finally did come in and they had a happy nursing relationship for a long time. But, I wonder if my mother hadn’t done that, would the stress of the experience caused her mom to just give up and offer bottles?

Cross nursing has its place, even in our modern society.

I also told the reporter that (and she was so cute because she’s never had kids so didn’t know what I was talking about) when a lactating woman hears another baby cry – ANY baby – her body responds accordingly. It’s just a natural thing, like the empathy you might feel if you see an older child fall down at the playground. All the moms come running, especially if the real mom can’t help at that moment.

(Some of the babies at Blissdom had this effect on me. You know who you are.)

I bet that a lot of women, in that situation, would have done the same thing. I certainly would have. We just wouldn’t be the number one video on YouTube. Noone would be the wiser.

When I was still married and had young babies, I had my ex husband swear that he would find a nursing mother to feed my baby if I ever were to land in a hospital and were unable to offer that familiar comfort to my infant. Just knowing that he would have done that made me feel better.

Watch the video and look at the happiness on that baby’s face. Tell me there’s something wrong about that.

Tell me how you feel about this story.

Would you cross nurse another woman’s baby if she asked you? Would you want another woman to nurse your child?

photo credit http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Story?id=6864594&page=1

When we think of how breastfeeding saves lives, we often think of instances where a baby is highly allergic to formula, or has other special needs.

We rarely think about emergency situations, but in these cases, breastfeeding becomes even more important.

For one thing, in times of natural disaster, water supplies are often dangerously polluted. This makes it difficult to obtain clean water to mix up formula.

I read this news report this morning about how moms breastfeeding their babies saved not only the moms and babies, but perhaps other people too.

“… when terrorists stormed the Cama and Albless Hospitals last Wednesday.

“The terrorists were violently banging the locked iron grills and even the slightest noise by the babies could have alerted the terrorists,” said Dr Archana Garud, chief medical officer, who was on duty that night. “The ayah suggested that all mothers breastfeed their babies to hush them up.”

Garud said this brainwave saved the lives of patients as well as hospital staff.

Wow. Another testament to the power of mom’s milk.

Please take a second to welcome guest blogger Lexi Rodrigo

photo credit: Kelly Sue

August 1 to 8 was World Breastfeeding Week and this year’s theme was all about giving mothers the support they need to breastfeed successfully.

Breastfeeding advocates have long known that mothers need support in breastfeeding. Now there’s proof. According to a recent Cochrane Review of 34 studies in 14 countries, support from both lay persons and professionals help increase the duration of breastfeeding, especially exclusive breastfeeding.

Husbands or partners, in particular, have a big role to play to ensure that women breastfeed and continue breastfeeding.

Here are seven ways that fathers can support the breastfeeding mother and child:

1. Support the woman’s decision to have a natural childbirth.

Babies who are born without drugs tend to have a better start with breastfeeding. Mother and baby are both fully conscious and alert after birth. Babies who aren’t groggy from drugs have a natural instinct to nurse immediately after birth. Mommy should also be alert and strong enough to bring baby to the breast within the first hour of birth.

2. Allow the mother to room in with baby.

When mother and baby are together, they have unlimited opportunities to breastfeed. On the other hand, if baby is in the nursery, the mother will usually have to breastfeed according to the hospital’s feeding schedules. Meantime, baby gets infant formula or glucose water and a pacifier.

3. Take over most of the household responsibilities.

It takes time for a mother and her baby to settle into a good breastfeeding routine. A new mother also needs plenty of time to rest and recover from birth. Her husband or partner should take over the cooking and cleaning and give her plenty of time to bond with the new baby.

4. Wake up in the middle of the night, too.

Many fathers of breastfed babies are spoiled; they don’t need to get up in the middle of the night to prepare a bottle of formula! But do empathize with the nursing Mommy who has to feed a newborn around the clock. At least get up to burp and change the baby. If baby still has the days and nights mixed up, be the one to stay up with him or her. Learn how to soothe your own baby to sleep and let the new mother sleep.

5. Be proud when your wife/partner breastfeeds in public.

Women need support to breastfeed in public. Some women are so embarrassed they’d rather give a bottle of expressed breastmilk or formula than nurse when outside! Others give up breastfeeding altogether because they cannot overcome the embarrassment. If the baby’s father is proud to show off his child nursing in public, the mother will become more comfortable. Dads can help provide more privacy to the breastfeeding Mom, too, by shielding her from prying eyes while she gets settled into a discreet position.

6. Never question the purchase of breastfeeding supplies and gadgets.

Breastfeeding is free, but certain paraphernalia help to make breastfeeding more pleasant and more convenient. These include a breastfeeding pillow, breastfeeding clothes, a rocking chair or glider, a breastpump and breastmilk storage containers, breastfeeding blankets, and baby slings. And don’t forget the books about breastfeeding. Fathers should support this sudden obsession with anything related breastfeeding — within your family’s means, of course. Remember that anything that will keep a woman breastfeeding is well worth its price.

7. Promote breastfeeding to everyone you know.

Brag about your breastfed child; you have good reason to do so. Children who are not breastfed get sick more often and have lower IQ than breastfed children. Encourage pregnant women you know to breastfeed. Tell other fathers to encourage their wives to breastfeed, too.

Fathers have a crucial role in breastfeeding. Fathers also benefit when mothers successfully breastfeed their children breastfeed successfully. They have a happier, healthier family, and the economic benefits are significant.

Lexi Rodrigo is a stay at home Mom to 3 children, a freelance writer and Internet entrepreneur. Get more information on breastfeeding benefits and other natural parenting tips by visiting http://www.natural-moms.com.

NaBloPoMo #6

A recently published study shows that breastfeeding does not make your breasts sag. (An excuse that aristocrats have used for centuries to justify hiring wet nurses.) It’s factors like multiple pregnancies (and the hormones that go along with the condition), age and weight that are responsible.

Glad to see this research being published, although the information has been circulating in pro breastfeeding circles for years.

Another myth is that breastfeeding makes your breasts smaller. That may be true for some women but the effect is temporary and only lasts for a few cycles after weaning. Women often perceive their breasts to be smaller but that’s because their breasts got bigger during nursing.

Typically after several cycles, a woman’s breasts replace the bulk that was taken up with milk producing glands with fat, as they were before breastfeeding began. So if you’ve just weaned and feel smaller, just hang in there for several months.

Of course, for some women, their breasts stay larger after breastfeeding (like their feet?!).

Another study points to one reason by breastfed babies have less issues with overweight. Because they are better at regulating their caloric intake.

And finally here is a quick video from Australia about a family enjoying the benefits of raw milk, from Nourished magazine.

I remember hearing horror stories about older kids and their jealousy towards the new baby in the house. One friend of mine even said her daughter tried to suffocate her baby with a pillow!
photo credit: Phil Scoville

I can’t imagine how that must have felt. It was also totally foreign to me because I didn’t have any trouble at all with my toddlers trying to hurt their new sibling. I never even saw any signs of rivalry or upset at all.

I think it’s because of some of the things I did during the pregnancy and in the first few hours, days and weeks after I gave birth.

Here are some of those things. I hope they help you if you’re about to go through this!

Sell them on “big brother” or “big sister”.

Speak in positive terms to them about what it means to be a big sis or big brother. Really play up the importance of their role and help them to feel special and needed. You will want to discuss how they can be your helper and how much you need them because after the birth you will be sore and tired.

You may want to assign them a specific task, something age appropriate. For a younger child, fetching diapers for you might be a good one. With my babies, I invited the older toddler to come and join us during diaper changes to involve them. We would chat and I would let them help any way they could, and it was a pleasant time. Help your child to appreciate how much you need their help.

Don’t plan any other major changes.

This would not be a good time to introduce any other major changes into their life, such as potty training, different sleeping arrangements or any other similar changes. You don’t want to overwhelm them nor add any added stress to their lives or yours.

If your toddler is still nursing, there is no reason to stop during your pregnancy or even afterwards when the new baby arrives. Many moms have found that tandem nursing (breastfeeding siblings who are not twins) is very rewarding and a wonderful way to ease the transition for the older child.

When they are assured of your place in their lap, they are not as likely to be jealous or resent the new baby. I found this to be absolutely true with mine. My toddlers were all still nursing when their siblings were born, and it was wonderful to help them adjust. I shared my story in the link above.

Talk to them.

Children understand more than we think. So, spend some time talking with them about the big event. You can tell them about what will happen when you go to have the baby, where they will be staying, and what they can expect. If you are having the baby at home or in a birthing center, you might want to consider allowing them to be with you at the birth. Children who are close by the mother during her labor are more likely to view the new baby as “ours” instead of an alien intruder! Some parents have found it helpful to read books that talk about getting a new baby in the house. These often explain how new babies need constant care and feeding.

It’s also helpful to share the story of their own birth with your toddler. Young children seem to love to hear the story of their birth! Talk about how it was such a happy day for you because you finally got to meet them. Tell them details, and let them watch birth videos if you have them, and allow them to go through their baby books and pictures.

Involve them in the pregnancy.

Take your older child to prenatal appointments if you can. This helps them to start bonding with the unborn child. This is a lot easier if you’re getting care from a midwife, who will welcome your other children and allow them to listen to the heartbeat or play with the stethoscope and other equipment! My kids always had fun when we visited the midwife for our appointments.
photo credit: eyeliam

My oldest son even cut his two baby sister’s cords when they were born. I have pictures of him all decked out as Obi-Wan Kenobi, complete with light sabre, when his first sister was born. He was so protective of her and called her Padme for the first few months of her life.

Get help.

Going from one to two (or two to three, and on and on!) is a wonderful time to ask friends, family, Grandparents and others for a little help. While you and the baby are resting, could someone play with your toddler, arrange a playdate or take them to the park for a couple of hours?

A little extra one on one time with a beloved adult can make up for the fact that you are going to be giving the toddler a little less attention for awhile. This is a time for Dad to step up too. While he does need time to bond with the newborn, this can be a time of growth in the older child as he embraces Dad as someone who can also meet his needs.

Watch your language.

When the baby arrives, be careful how you phrase things. If your older child asks you for something and you can’t help them because you’re caring for the baby, don’t “blame” it on the baby. Say something like, “My hands are busy now, but I can play with you in a few minutes. Why don’t you come snuggle next to me and I’ll read you a story?”

Another tip that some moms have found helpful is to talk up the older child to the baby. We moms love to go ga-ga and talk goo goo over our babies, but why not brag on the older sibling? “Ooh look at what big brother is doing! He’s building a block tower and it’s sooooo tall!” This can make the older child’s heart swell with pride. I heard this tip from a mom I admired, and when I did it, I could see the older child’s face practically beaming. Of course, the baby can’t understand a word you’re saying, but that doesn’t matter!

If your child does express some negative feelings towards the new baby, do not deflect it or try to change their feelings. It won’t work! It’s insulting and we know how WE feel when someone does that to us. Instead, mirror them by saying something empathic, like “It’s tough having to share mommy with the new baby sometimes.” You don’t have to agree with them, just empathize. When we do that, they feel safe sharing their feelings, and are able to process and work through them better. But if we can all bent out of shape they feel misunderstood and frustrated, which doesn’t help matters.

There’s one thing that some people who come to visit your new family may do that you need to watch for. This always made me cringe every time I observed it! They overreact every time the older children touch the baby.

Another thing to be careful of when it comes to visitors is this: Don’t let them focus 100% of their attention on the new baby. People do this too, and they don’t mean any harm. But imagine how it feels to the older child when everyone around him is completely besotted with “baby this and baby that”. They don’t even ask him questions except to say, “So how do you like the new baby?” LOL!

If your guests or family members do this, tactfully steer the conversation around.

Clueless Aunt: “So, little Johnny, how do you like the new baby so far?”

Little Johnny: “Um, he’s ok. I guess.”

You: “Auntie, did you see the picture Johnny painted? It’s over there on the refrigerator. Johnny, would you like to show Auntie your new picture? Maybe she can get your paints out and you can draw a new one for her to take home to Aunt Joe.”

You might want to even ask family members and friends to bring a small gift for your older child when they come visit the baby. If they’re not cool like that, stash some presents or treats of your own, and whip them out when baby has a gift to unwrap.

Babies just aren’t that fragile!

It’s more important that your older child bond with the baby, and much of that takes place through touch. Train and teach your older kids how to hold and touch the baby. With a toddler, you may have to guide his hands or tell him to touch “Soft, like a butterfly.”

Don’t freak out whenever the older kids come around the baby, or they’ll come to resent him. You don’t want them to feel like useless, clumsy clods around the “precious” baby. It’s very hurtful to them. There were so many times that my older kids jostled the new baby like s/he was a sack of potatoes, and the baby never even woke up most of the time, much less minded.

Babies like stimulation and they find their big sibs extremely exciting! I noticed that my babies would turn their heads and follow a sibling around the room with their eyes. I made a point of saying this out loud to my older kids. I also reminded them that the baby KNEW them already because of hearing them for so many months in the womb.

They were really impressed by that.

Another thing alone these lines is, allow your toddler or older child to see and spend time with you as soon as possible after the birth. Don’t let other family members, including your husband if he’s overzealous, prevent them from reconnecting with you. Especially if you’ve been away at a hospital birth is this true. Don’t make a big deal over the new baby. Let them hug and kiss YOU and then notice the baby (who ideally should not be in your arms for this little reunion).

Don’t feel guilty.

It’s very common for moms to feel guilty about displacing their older child. I know I certainly felt this way when I was pregnant with my second child. I grieved for what I felt was a loss, and I was worried about my older son – as if he was losing something instead of gaining!

Remember that children have been dealing with the arrival of siblings since the beginning of time! They will be just fine, and will gain a playmate and perhaps a lifelong friend. Be positive about the transition and your child will likely pick up on your emotions.

Practice babywearing.

A baby sling or carrier can be invaluable for several reasons. For one, you can have your hands free in a sling, meaning you can play with a toddler almost like baby’s not there, where s/he naps peacefully. You’ll always have a free arm to pour a glass of milk, get a snack, offer a hug, a boost onto the swings, or to hold a book to read a story. Kids don’t mind so much the arrival of a new sibling as they mind the demand on your time. If you can still do most of the stuff you did before, it’s all good.
photo credit: PhylB

Be prepared for your own emotions.

Nature has set things up so that your priority is to your newborn infant, and that’s as it should be. A lot of times we are surprised by the ferocity of our own feelings of loyalty to our new babies. It’s not that we don’t love our toddlers, because we do.

But during the early weeks, don’t be surprised at your feelings. You might see your toddler differently and are a little afraid that you’ve fallen out of love with him!

Don’t worry! These feelings will subside, and you’ll soon be seeing your toddler through normal eyes. A little extra sleep helps too!

Some recommended resources:

On Mother’s Lap

This book helps young children to see the “expandable” quality of a mother’s love.

The New Baby

I loved reading this book to kids #2 and #3 before and after baby #4 came along. They loved it too.

Siblings Without Rivalry: How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Live Too

A wonderful book to teach you all about empathic listening and dealing with kid’s strong emotions.

Adventures in Tandem Nursing: Breastfeeding During Pregnancy and Beyond

A must read for a mom who is nursing while pregnant and wants to know “what to expect” afterwards.

Maya Wrap Baby Sling

This was my favorite all time sling. The unstitched style of the tail and no padding make it great for getting a truly hands free hold.

What was your experience with helping your older child make the adjustment to a new baby?

photo credit: mahalie

During our pregnancies, especially with our first baby, many of us spent a lot of time imagining what motherhood would be like.

We saw peaceful scenes in our mind like rocking our babies in a recliner while they effortlessly breastfeed.

We imagine the things we’ll do while baby sleeps the hours away. We wash and fold (and refold) baby clothes and get the baby’s things ready. We daydream about our little one and how we’ll care for him.

Often, we’re quite unprepared for the reality of the experience of new motherhood.

While having children is a blessing, the postpartum period is one of huge adjustments. In fact, there probably is no other experience that is more life altering than the entry into parenthood!

Our expectations are often quite different from the reality. Many new moms experience some or many of the following challenges:

Fussy babies – Having a colicky or fussy, “high need” infant can shatter a new mom’s confidence and cause major stress. When your baby cries for hours at a time, it can put strain on your relationship with the baby’s father and undermine your emotional well being.

Often there is little that can be done for a fussy baby other than holding him and waiting for him to outgrow it.Some babies will feel better if they nurse all the time – this was certainly true of my oldest. A baby sling can be a lifesaver for fussy babies. Research shows that babies cry less when they are “worn” close to the mothers body.

Mood swings – The baby blues is a very common experience for new moms in our society, and there are many theories as to why so many moms experience this phenomenon.Contributing factors may be: the stress of such a massive life change, sleep deprivation, the physical demands of childbirth, lack of proper support, and hormonal adjustments.

After I had my first baby, I would have persistent thoughts of tripping near an open window and throwing him out. It was a little scary, but the feelings subsided, especially when I got some more sleep.

Certainly it is wise for a new mom to lower her expectations of herself. Getting out of the house for some socializing, exercise, and sunlight can be a huge help. Good nutrition and avoiding sugar and caffeine are also smart moves. Read more about breastfeeding and postpartum depression here.

Relationship difficulties – Some new moms become resentful of their partners. While a mom’s life changes drastically after the birth of a new baby, a dad’s life doesn’t change so much. His apparent freedom can be the cause of negative feelings. If you read the magazines at the checkout counter, Angelina Jolie seems to be suffering from a little of this.

Good communication skills are important here. Moms can tell their partners what they need, and affirm his place and importance in the family. Letting him care for the baby on his own to learn his own style is a good idea.

Bonding issues – When moms read about the bonding that is so essential for baby’s development, they’re sometimes stressed or worried if they don’t feel an instant connection with their new infants. Bonding is different for each mother/baby dyad.

Some moms experience an instant feeling of deep love for their newborn infants the moment baby is put into their arms. For others, the feeling develops over time. There is no right or wrong way to bond.

One thing that helps a mother develop a deep attachment to her baby is to wear him close to her body in a baby sling. Babywearing helps baby adjust to postpartum life gradually, leading to less crying. A happier baby means a happier mom. It’s also easier for mom to get things done around the house, increasing her sense of accomplishment.
photo credit: Ja-nelle

Breastfeeding challenges - Breastfeeding can be a wonderful experience, and for some mothers it comes easily. Others experience difficulties.I will never forget when my big sister asked me if I planned on breastfeeding. I told her, “Of course!”. She said that after the first few weeks things would get easier, and that it could be a little tough right at first. She said this while latching on her own 6 month old at the breast. I was so ignorant – I remembered thinking, “What’s the big deal? You put the baby on your nipple and they drink!“ 

Painful breastfeeding can increase the risk of postpartum depression, but successful breastfeeding decreases the risk. A mom who is experiencing pain should get help immediately. Often all that is needed is a slight adjustment in positioning or latch to stop the pain.

New moms need support and information to have a happier postpartum adjustment. Talking with other mothers can be extremely helpful. Thankfully there are many mother’s groups that a new mom can reach out to in order to get the community she needs. Groups like La Leche League, Holistic Moms Network, Attachment Parenting International, and others.

What about you? How was your experience of being a new mom different from the reality? How did you cope with the transition?

Recommended Resources for New Moms:

* The Hidden Feelings of Motherhood

This is an amazing book that every mother should read. Written by one of my favorite authors, Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, PhD. It examines the feelings commonly felt by new moms in our culture and how to help yourself during the transition.

* The One-Armed Cook: Quick and Easy Recipes, Smart Meal Plans, and Savvy Advice for New (and Not-So-New) Moms

This was my favorite cookbook after my 4th child was born. Everything in its pages can be created with only one hand! Written by attachment parenting enthusiasts and foodie moms, this cookbook will make it possible for you to feed yourself again. I promise!

* 25 Things Every New Mother Should Know

Martha and Bill Sears have 8 kids between them. He’s a Pediatrician, she a nurse and La Leche League Leader. Think they know some secrets about surviving postpartum? Oh yeah. This one is easy to read in snippets while you’re sitting in the nursing chair.

And finally:

* Porn for New Moms: From the Cambridge Women’s Pornography Cooperative

Save the hate mail ladies. Wait until you check it out. Because laughter is a great cure for the new mom blues!

Carrie:  You’re back with Carrie at Natural Mom’s Talk Radio.  I am joined this week by Jodi Selander, with http://www.placentabenefits.info.  Good morning, Jodi.

Jodi:  Good morning, Carrie.

Carrie:  We’ve had some pretty unusual topics on this show before, but this one is definitely one of the top unusual topics, I have to say.  I’m pretty sure this show is going to get some definite interest and comments and questions and such.  Okay, your web site is all about the benefits of placenta encapsulation.

Jodi:  That’s right.

C:  So, let’s just do a quick overview of what that is.  What is placenta encapsulation, and why would a mom consider doing it?

J:  Well, basically, what I advocate through the web site placentabenefits.info is when a  woman has her baby, saving the placenta and through a fairly easy method, it can be dried, and then ground and put into capsules.  Then she can take those capsules for the first few weeks post partum, and they help her recover from the birth and the pregnancy much more quickly than she would do on her own.

C:  The first thing that comes to mind when I saw your web site was that this is something that a lot of animals do naturally.  For some reason, they have that instinctive wisdom to do that.

Is this something that is becoming more popular in recent years?  How did you get into this line of work?

J:  I got into it due to my own – I have some issues with depression.  During my first pregnancy, I didn’t know about this option, and I was on actual medical pharmaceutical antidepressants.  They had me stay on those through her pregnancy, and after she was born.  After I had her, I had some issues postpartum.

After she was born, I started doing a lot of research, and finding more natural ways of dealing with health and nutrition and things like that.  So when I got pregnant with my second daughter, I wanted to have a completely natural pregnancy.  I didn’t want to be on pharmaceuticals, and I went off my antidepressants at that time.

During my pregnancy, I heard about placenta, and using the placenta perhaps to stave off postpartum depression.  I was very curious about it, because here was a natural option that I could use.  I was no longer on pharmaceuticals and I didn’t want to go back on.  I started researching it, and it was just mentioned.  I wanted to find out if there was any actual research to back this up, or if this was just something that was just talked about among the very natural women.

I started doing the research, and I found that it was very compelling.  There was a lot of health and nutrition and a lot of benefits to be gained by the placenta.

And when I found out that you could actually make it into capsules, I was absolutely willing to give it a try.  While I wasn’t personally comfortable with eating it, per se, I could definitely take a few capsules.

So when my second daughter was born, I had a homebirth, and I had a special bowl set aside for the placenta.  My midwife put it right in there, and it went right into the fridge.  The next day, I started doing a process to prepare it and make the capsules. Within a few days, I was taking her capsules.

I had a fabulous post partum recovery.  I had a lot of energy, I never had any sort of blues or weepiness, or feeling like I couldn’t handle having – I had my three year old daughter at the time and my newborn, and was breastfeeding.

I actually had so much energy that my midwife had to tell me to slow down. She was like “You are still recovering from the birth, and you have to take it easy.”  My uterus was shrinking back down to size more quickly than she would have anticipated, especially being a second time mom. I just felt really great.

And that’s what launched the whole movement, was my own experience.  Then I started doing the service for women here, in my community, in Las Vegas.  After doing it for seven months and hearing story after story from my clients, where they really feel that capsules helped them and it was beneficial, and once they do it, they would never give birth without doing it.  That’s when I launched the web site.  When I realized that it wasn’t just me, or her, it wasn’t just her, this really helped women, and I really wanted to start a dialog about it.  It just was not being discussed openly.

C:  Right.  Wow.  You’ve talked about some anecdotal reports of women, and your own experience.

Is there any medical research that has shown that using the placenta has any benefits?  What is it about the placenta that is so beneficial?  What is it, specifically?  Is it the hormones?  Is it something else?

J:  There has been some research out there.  Let me go back to the fact that the placenta has been used medicinally for centuries.  Chinese medicine has been preparing the placenta for medical use for hundreds of years.
photo credit: damph

C:  I didn’t know that.

J:  Yeah.  It’s one of the most powerful tonifying medicines in their arsenal.  It’s used for a wide variety of ailments.  The two that I latched onto as far as being beneficial for post partum women, is that TCM uses it to treat lactation and fatigue.

In the 50s, there was a study done where they took dried placenta, and they selected over 200 women who they felt were at risk for having insufficient milk production for their babies. They gave part of the group dried placenta.  Since they weren’t sure by which mechanism the placenta would increase milk production, they thought perhaps it was the protein in it.  They did a control group with like dried beef.

They found that the dried placenta group had a significant increase in mil production in about 86% of the cases within 4 days of taking placenta.  They found that pretty much 100% of the women over the course of seven days had an increase in milk production in the placenta group.  That really backed up the TCM principles of placenta for lactation.

C:  It sounds like there’s more going on there than just – you can’t just compare the placenta to an organ meat, which is highly nutritious.  There’s something else going on.

J:  There is something else.  It wasn’t the protein, so it’s not just the fact that it’s a meat, kind of.  There is something else going on.  They were not able to discover exactly the mechanism.

What it could be is that the placenta, being an endocrine organ, meaning that it induces hormones, does retain hormones upon the birth.  There’s a wide variety of hormones that the placenta is instrumental in regulating in a pregnant woman’s body.  One of those is prolactine, which is a milk producing hormone, and, of course, oxytosen.  It could be one of those, and further study would need to be done to see if those are exactly the mechanisms by which it does increase milk production.

So those are the studies.  Anecdotally, as well, I’ve had clients who have had a first baby, they weren’t able to produce as much milk as they would like.  With their next child, they went ahead and encapsulated the placenta, and found that it did indeed increase.  They had a much easier time nursing their second child.  That is one of the key benefits, then.  If you are worried about milk production, it is something very safe and natural that you can try.
photo credit: diluvi

The other main benefit, according to the TCM, traditional Chinese Medicine principle is fatigue.  And that is the other thing that I’ve really found, is that the capsules really help you with feeling so wiped out after the birth and after the pregnancy.  It really gives you a lot of energy, just makes you feel a whole lot better.

The mechanism behind that, we feel is likely due to the high iron content of the placenta. It’s packed with iron.  They’ve found that by supplementing with iron, it actually staves off the post partum fatigue that can occur.  Now, post partum fatigue and iron deficiency are both key factors in the development of post partum depression later on.  If we can kind of knock out, two of the big risk factors for post partum depression, then we can logically assume that it will probably help post partum depression down the road.

What I always talk about is that placenta is great for avoiding the baby blues, because postnatal mood disorders are a wide spectrum.  It can go all the way from baby blues, being the “mildest” form, all the way over to post partum psychosis.

The majority of women, 80% or more, suffer with some sort of post natal mood instability. Because your body will eventually regulate itself, and because the majority of women suffer from it, it’s not really considered even a disorder.  So women that have all these symptoms, the weepiness the irritability, the mood fluctuations, feelings of anxiety, just being overwhelmed, crying jags, things like that, they have these symptoms for a period of weeks, but they aren’t  able to get any help or support from it, because your body will eventually regulate itself.

So that’s what I advocate using the placenta for.  Why go through that, even for a few weeks?  For anyone that’s just had a baby, that’s the last thing that you want to be dealing with.

C:  Yeah.  I remember with my oldest, having that period of weepiness, the baby blues.  Just hearing over and over that it was normal, and I remember, at the time I lived in an apartment that was on the second story, and it was hot summer, but it was really beautiful weather.  I had the windows open.  I remember every time I would walk past my window to get to my bed, I would have this overwhelming fear that I was going to throw the baby out the window.  It really caused me a lot of anxiety.  Something was going to trip me, or some vacuum was going to inexplicably suck the baby out of the window.  I just thought “Oh, that’s normal.”  I had read that that’s normal, and blah, blah, blah.  Common and normal is not the same thing.

J:  Exactly. It’s common.  Becoming a mother is stressful, and you just want to do everything right. When you’re sort of having these strange thoughts and crying … Women internalise everything.  “What’s wrong with me?”  “Why am I feeling this way?”  “Does this mean I’m not a good mother?”  Let’s just avoid all that.  Does something that can really help make us feel a whole lot better.  All we want to do is feel normal, feel like ourselves.  I found that the placenta can really help with that.

C:  Why do you suppose that this has not caught on more than it has?  I’m sure that for a lot of my listeners, this would be the first that they’re hearing of it.

J:  I think that’s the main reason, is I just don’t think that it was spoken about at a level where the majority of women would be able to hear about it.  It’s been talked about, and midwives have known about the benefits for decades, and often encourage their clients to go ahead and ingest the placenta after the baby’s born.

But being modern women, that’s kind of a hard concept to get around, actually cooking it, or eating it.  That’s not something that the majority of women are going to do.  That’s the way it’s been presented, is make a smoothy, Placenta Pizza, there’s all these recipes and things.

I think that is just not something the majority of women can get their head around.  I couldn’t.  But the capsules are a very easy way to make this accessible to the majority of women.  Anybody can take a capsule.  I know a lot of us who do take charge of our own health, we do take herbs and various concoctions, and we’re used to taking herbal supplements.

So this, just the encapsulation part, I think really makes it accessible.  Hopefully now, through speaking to you and getting to your audience, with the web site, I’m just really trying to get it out there so that at least women know that it’s an option, and it’s something they can do.  Because you can’t have informed choice without knowing all the options.

C:  Right.  That’s right.  For me, I had three of my babies at home, so I still have three placentas in my freezer.  For a mom who’s giving birth in the hospital, is it possible for her to keep her placenta?  I noticed on your blog that you’re kind of celebrating that a mom won the battle to take her placenta.

To me, it’s just amazing that it’s even a conversation.  You birthed it out of your body, why is it a fight to keep it? I don’t understand that.  Talk to us a little bit more about that.  What would a mom do who had a hospital birth?

J:  Each individual hospital can make its own policy.  There is only one state in this country that protects a woman’s right to take the placenta home from the hospital after it’s born.  That is Hawaii.  No other state has any legislation.  It’s up to the individual hospitals.  Here in Las Vegas, I’ve worked with many of the hospitals.  I’ve gone in and spoken to the staff.  I have really tried to create this dialog about it.  Because I would have clients go in and ask for their placenta.  A lot of times, this is the first time they’ve had that request.  Any time it’s a first time, it’s unusual, there’s a lot of fear.  Coming from the hospital community, the placenta is regarded as medical biohazard waste instead of being a part of the baby.  We’ve had to do some advocacy and things like that.

There  was one hospital who had the request last year, the first one, and they told the woman that she couldn’t have it without a court order because someone at the hospital, [this is my personal opinion], but somebody at the hospital was personally offended by what she intended to do with it.  So they started this whole legal battle.  We won the court order last year, and the judge told them that it was hers.  She didn’t have any communicable diseases. She didn’t have HIV or Hepatitis C, or anything that would create a public health risk.  It was hers, and she could choose what to do with it, and it was basically none of their business.  So they had to give her the placenta.

Subsequently, I had four clients go to that same hospital, and they were told the very same thing.  “You can’t have the placenta without a court order.”  So here, we won this whole battle, and we thought we made some progress.  And here, they just decided to make every single woman go through the same thing.  A lot of moms, they just want to have the baby, they don’t want to cause trouble, they’re worried that fighting for it will cause some issues with staff, so they just let it go.

Then in April of this year, one of my clients said “I’ll go ahead and get the court order.  I want the placenta, I should have it, it’s part of the baby, and I want to do this.”  She went ahead and started proceedings to go to court, and then I again started organizing the protest, and sending out press releases basically saying that despite a former ruling, this hospital is still not mother friendly.  The same day that this woman, Erin Martinez was her name, she filed the paperwork; the press releases came out in the paper.  The hospital started getting calls, asking “What is this policy, and why are you continuing to deny women their placenta?”  They reversed their stance.

I had a call from a hospital spokeswoman, saying “We just wanted to let you know, we’re going to give her her placenta.”  So, by this time, knowing what their stance was, I was like “This is wonderful, and thank you.  That’s great.  But what about the next woman who asks?”  They said that they were revising their guidelines and would be releasing the placentas to women who requested them, given that they’re healthy of course.  Then we had, instead of a protest, a celebration rally the following Monday, and thanked the hospital.  Now, every hospital in Las Vegas releases placentas to mothers upon request.  It can be done.

Hospitals are businesses, and if their clients start requesting this, and saying that this is something that they want, women do have a choice where to give birth. If your hospital will not support your wishes, then you can choose to birth somewhere else, somewhere that will support your personal choice.

All I suggest is that she ask.  Just call ahead, don’t wait until the day of the birth.  Call ahead and talk to the nursing staff.  Ask to speak to a charge nurse if necessary.  Just start the dialog.  Say “This is something that I want to do.” You don’t have to say “I’m planning to eat it,” or anything like that.  A lot of times they’ll ask, just because they’re curious, but you don’t have to tell them just start the dialog, before you have the baby, to see what your hospital says.

C:  Good idea.  If there’s any time in a woman’s life where she’s entitled to make noise, it would be at her birth.

J:  Absolutely.

C:  Make trouble, be trouble.

J:  We can be empowered about our birth choices.  And, on the front page of the web site, too, with http://www.placentabenefits.info, you can go there and I have a whole page of tips on how to get your placenta released from the hospital.  It’s a common question, so I have a whole guide, basically, for how to do that.  If a woman is curious, I do have that all written out for you.

C:  How does a person find someone to do this encapsulation?

J:  We have developed a placenta encapsulation specialist training and certification course, where I’m getting women set up in communities all across the country to do this, to do the placenta encapsulation service for women in their community.  If you want to have this done, you can actually have a person who’s been trained and knows what she’s doing, and is knowledgeable about the process and how to handle placentas.  They’ll come right to your home.  You get the placenta home, and they’ll come right to your home and take care of it for you.  You never have to deal with anything.  All you end up with are the capsules, and you can start taking them just a few days post partum, then.

You can come to http://www.placentabenefits.info, click on find a specialist, and it’s all listed there by state, the service providers.  If there’s not somebody in your state currently certified and practicing, I do have the do-it-yourself encapsulation kit.  I give you the instructions, I tell you how to do it, I give you most of the basic supplies you’ll need, and you or your Mom, or husband can actually do the encapsulation process for you.

C:  And how complicated is that?  Tell us a little bit more about what it entails?

J:  It does entail some work in the kitchen, so you need to be somewhat handy in the kitchen.  But if you can cook a meal for your family, then you can pretty much prepare placenta.

C:  Okay.  Cool.  Well, and one more question.  How long does a Mom take placenta after her baby is born?

J:  She only needs to take the capsules for at least two weeks, and then she can start weaning off and see how she feels.  I have some clients who take them every day until she runs out of capsules.  That usually takes about five or six weeks post partum.  But most of the time, they’ll start weaning off after about two weeks, so two to three weeks post partum.

C:  It’s interesting.  I was going to ask how long does the placenta last if you encapsulate it and take it every day.  Because five to six weeks is the traditional – across many cultures, post partum women are encouraged to take it easy for that length of time.  That’s an interesting coincidence there.

J:  It is, isn’t it?

C:  Jodi, thank you so much for sharing this information with us.  This is definitely awesome for moms to know, that it’s an option, especially if they’ve had issues in the past with post partum depression.  But really, for all moms who just want to have the best post partum experience possible.  Thank you so much.

J:  You’re very welcome.  Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share it with your audience.  I appreciate that, as well.

photo credit: benklocek

A (discreetly too I might add) nursing mom was asked to leave a Kentucky McDonalds. A family friend who was dining with mom said:

“When she feeds, you can’t see nothing,” Doan said. “It’s ain’t like she exposes herself to the world.”

(Just in case you’re wondering, not all Southerners talk like that, just the ones the media grabs for a quote.)

One step forward, two steps back…

photo credit: augustineisnotmyname

photo credit: Alexander Tundakov

As World Breastfeeding Week draws to a close, I thought I would list some of the cool blog posts I’ve read this week, as well as share some of the posts published by yours truly on the subject.

Amy at CrunchyDomesticGoddess is hosting a giveaway and has some fantastic tips on supporting breastfeeding mothers.

My thoughts on (and personal experience with) cross nursing.

Interview with breastfeeding expert Amy Spangler, author of several books on breastfeeding.

This week a mom was asked to leave McDonalds for discreetly nursing her 4 month old.

My personal experiences with tandem nursing and nursing through pregnancy

Tiffany Washko says breastfeeding is green! How exactly does breastfeeding help the environment?

Feeling tied to the nursing chair – does breastfeeding take too much time?

What to do about sleepy breastfed newborns and slow weight gain

Breastfeeding and yeast infection – taming the yeast beast

Interview with Kristen Chase of League of Maternal Justice on the Facebook and YouTube debacle

Breastfeeding not nitpicking – thoughts on being a “real” breastfeeder

Doctors who still proffer bad mastitis advice like this

Interview transcript with Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, on breastfeeding and depression

Wow – there are tons more articles on breastfeeding here on this blog. Enjoy reading

Ok, I’m confused.

Nell at CasualFridayEveryday tagged me with this meme. But since she was combining both a “6 Random Things” AND a “7 Interesting Facts” meme, I’m totally confused as to which one to do.

It’s late, I’m tired and hungry too.

Oh wait.

Here’s an idea.

Since it’s World Breastfeeding Week, I’ll do THAT as a theme!

Ok. Here are 6 (or maybe 7) Random and (hopefully) Interesting Things About Breastfeeding. And Me.

1. I was Wet Nursed. Also called Cross Nursed. Here’s the story.When I was only 5 days old, my mom had to go back to the hospital. She was having chest pains, and the Doctor was afraid she might have a blood clot that had moved to her heart, so she had to stay overnight in the hospital for observation.

   Thing is, she was determined that I was not to have f*rmula, so she called up the local La Leche League group and several ladies sent over bottles of breastmilk.Which I resolutely refused. (Cause, like, I wasn’t going to take a poor imitation of the real thing! At 5 days I had distinguished tastes already!)

   So, fortunately, my mom’s close friend (and the mom of my future childhood friend) was lactating, so she came over and nursed me. And I accepted this arrangement.

   Of course, when she went home, I wouldn’t take a bottle, and my Dad said I slept all night on his chest sucking on his little pinky finger. Which is incredibly sweet and sad all at the same time! I think we have a special bond to this day because of going through that together.

2. I was a La Leche League leader for 6 years. Hmm… wonder if there’s a connection?
3. The left is bigger, produces more and was everyone’s favorite. TMI?
4. The above phenomenon is actually quite common. On all 3 counts. It’s probably because the left one is closer to the heart (hence the heartbeat) and consequently has richer/more abundant milk.
5. The hardest thing I ever had to do as a LLLL was to NOT tell a mom what I really thought when she asked for advice on what to do with her 3 week old infant while she took a vacation with her husband. Away from baby.
6. 4 1/2, 4 1/2, 5 and don’t know yet. You figure it out.

In honor of World Breastfeeding Week, I thought I would publish a transcript of an interview I conducted before I started this blog. My guest was Amy Spangler, author of Breastfeeding Keep It Simple. Enjoy reading

Carrie Lauth: I am talking with mother and author Amy Spangler. She is a nurse, a board certified lactation consultant and the author of several very good books on breastfeeding including Breastfeeding, Keep it Simple, which is a personal favorite.

I am talking with Amy about how we can all help produce a more breastfeeding culture in our society. I think every mom who has nursed a baby is in some way a little bit of a lactivist. Every time she chooses to breastfeed her baby out in the open instead of hiding or every time she shares with another mom who may be expecting a baby the benefits that she has experienced with breastfeeding, she is supporting a breastfeeding friendly culture. But there is probably other things that we can do to help produce some more breastfeeding friendly culture and Amy and I are going to be expounding on that a little bit.

Amy Spangler: Hi there Carrie.

Carrie Lauth: It is such an honor to talk with you Amy because I have read at least a couple of your books and I have been a big fan. And you are a fellow Atlanta native! It is nice to talk to a fellow Georgia Peach.

Amy Spangler: Well, I was thrilled with the invitation. I am pleased with what you are doing and the information that you are sharing and it is wonderful to participate.

Carrie Lauth: You know we are celebrating breastfeeding this month because it is the 50th Anniversary of La Leche League and it is World Breastfeeding Week, which is usually celebrated in August. It is good that we are talking.

Amy Spangler: Yes it is. Your timing is perfect.

Carrie Lauth: We were just talking before about this controversy over the Baby Talk Magazine and it really illustrates one of the things that we are going to discuss; and that is how our community, the entire community, our whole society needs to come together to support breastfeeding.

Amy Spangler: Absolutely! I think the magazine cover was a reflection of the progress that many of us in the breastfeeding arena feel we are making in terms of making breastfeeding the cultural norm. At the same time, the reaction of readers and the public to the cover when they saw it is a reminder of how far we still have to go. Their reaction that this (a picture of a baby latched on to his mother’s breast) is in some way indecent, embarrassing, inappropriate, so many different words were used and yet you know the sad part is it could not be more appropriate. It is really the single most important activity I think that women can undertake to ensure optimal health for their babies.

Carrie Lauth: I am going to mention your book really quickly, Breastfeeding, Keep It Simple. That was probably the first one that I read and it is great. It is just a very simple guide, not complicated at all, but it covers everything. Breastfeeding, A Parent’s Guide talks about some of the facts and myths of breastfeeding and Breastfeeding, Your Guide to a Healthy Happy Baby. I agree with you that breastfeeding is one of the most important things that a mother can do to give her baby and herself the best chance as far as their health. It is interesting how we find out more and more to support that every year.

Amy Spangler: I think the reaction of members of the public to situations like this whether it is the cover of the Redbook Magazine, or the cover of Baby Talk, or even the cover of the Time Magazine. It generated that somewhat negative response when it showed the refugee woman fleeing during the Bosnian War carrying a child that was at the breast with almost no breast visible, and yet engendered the same kind of response. I think what it says to all of us individuals like yourself and myself who are very supportive of breastfeeding and consider ourselves breastfeeding advocates, that we need to really think about how we deliver our message, how we frame that message so that we can do it a way that invites support from every member of the breastfeeding community or from the public community and does not alienate segments of that community and that is the hard part.

I think that the National Breastfeeding Awareness Campaign was a reflection of that. It was a campaign that wanted very much to convince mothers that would otherwise not choose to breastfeed, that breastfeeding is something they should think about. So it delivered those risk‑based messages which generated lots of controversy. And we were back that same position of asking ourselves how do we deliver a positive message and change behavior and at the same time not make those mothers who for whatever reasons choose not to breastfeed feel uncomfortable with the choice they have made. That is the hard part and I think it will continue to be the hard part.

photo credit: Daquella manera

Carrie Lauth: That is true because everyone is coming from a different place. Even people who are supportive of breastfeeding, some of them are still uncomfortable with some of these issues like nursing in public.

There are still people who feel very strongly that breastfeeding was the best choice for them and they did nurse their own children but they did it in the bathroom.

They still feel that that is the way it should be handled as if breastfeeding was necessary and good but like urination it should be hidden.

It is not about making women feel guilty who choose a different path but we cannot be dishonest at the same time.

Amy Spangler: Absolutely! We do not hesitate to tell individuals about other important public health activities like car seat safety, bicycle helmets, and healthy eating.

Carrie Lauth: And cigarette smoking in pregnancy …

Amy Spangler: Someone asked me recently, so often we try and draw similarities between cigarette smoking and giving babies infant formula. That recent bill that was put forward by Senator Harkin calling for disclaimers to be put on all infant formula products.

I was asked what my position is on that and I said, “I probably am a member of the advocacy arena that would likely not draw similarities between mothers who smoke cigarettes and mothers to get their baby formula because in reality there is no consumption of cigarettes that is ever recommended, that has ever been official.”

Yet with formula use, there are moments when it is recommended and it has been official.

So, my argument with the formula industry is not always the product that they produce, it is how they market that product. How do we get that idea across? It is not the “good guys and the bad guys”. It is “how do we come together in the best interest of mothers and children everywhere”?

Carrie Lauth: That is a good point.

Well, when it comes to this whole controversy about the Baby Talk Magazine, I could not help but think when I heard some of the comments that were made and reported on, that part of women’s reaction is coming from their loathing of their own bodies.

Being uncomfortable in our own skin so that something that comes so naturally and is so natural, we have this response to. Do you think there is any validity to that? Is it that we are just very uncomfortable with our own womanliness, our own bodies, and that explains some of that response?

Amy Spangler: Well, I think that is certainly true of some women. I am sure that there are probably an equal number of women that are very comfortable with their bodies and do not hesitate to display their bodies in ways that are provocative, or flattering, or inviting, or whatever the case may be.

I like to think more that it is a reflection of the fact that when there is an activity that is not commonly seen, when something is not in the mainstream, when it is infrequently observed or happens with rarity, then when it does happen it triggers a response, not always a positive response. I feel like that is where we are with breastfeeding.

If breastfeeding in public were something that women did nationwide and you saw it everyday, you would not even give it a second glance because you would think that that is just culturally acceptable and normal and therefore why should I observe or think twice about whether it is or is not appropriate. Of course, it is appropriate. That is truly the case in cultures where breastfeeding is the normal way to feed a child.

In America, bottle feeding is the normal way to feed a child and the most common method observed and more importantly the most common method displayed in all segments of the media. You see magazines with fathers giving babies bottles and mothers giving babies bottles. You see baby dolls sold in stores with the baby bottle that comes along with it. We reinforce all of those concepts that this is the normal way to feed a child. Therefore, to do that in public is fine because that is the norm, but to do something that is not perceived as the norm, it causes a reaction. I think that is where we are. We are on that continuum of trying to make breastfeeding the cultural norm. I have to say I do not think, as I approach 60, it will happen in my lifetime. I am confident it will happen in my children’s lifetime.

Carrie Lauth: I believe that, too. The reason that I said what I did was because I have noticed that men seem to be more comfortable with breastfeeding in public than women do.

Some of the really vitriolic comments seem to come from women, so it makes me think that.

One of the women that were quoted in this news coverage that I saw said, “I would not want my husband to accidentally see a breast that he did not want to see,” and she actually went so far as to shred the magazine and I thought you know I have never known a man to be offended by accidentally seeing a breast!

Amy Spangler: My temptation with these mothers is that I always wish I had the opportunity to say to them “please tell me what your experience with breastfeeding has been”. I cannot help but feel that women who respond in that negative a fashion had a very negative experience with breastfeeding; either personally or through friends. Some incident has embedded in them an attitude that truly is not an attitude I think we would see or that can be taught or learned. I think experience has to have given them that.
photo credit: _Shward_

Carrie Lauth: Whenever there is an emotion that is strong there is pain behind that somewhere.

Whether guilt pain, or just some kind of pain somewhere and it is not necessary to have that kind of pain.

I have a good friend; and it is funny because we are opposite in every way and our mothering styles are very, very opposite. She hates breastfeeding and she is very unapologetic about it, but she does not feel the slightest bit of guilt and so it is very refreshing. I have no problem nursing my 11-month-old around her. She has no problem with it either, but she is very open about the fact that “Oh, I can’t wait ’til this baby’s 3 months old so I can wean him, I hate breastfeeding!” She is very, very unapologetic about it. So has decided what is best for her and what is best for her family. She has told me that breastfeeding makes her feel very caged like her flesh is crawling.

The guilt aspect is something that people often bring up. They say we are making women feel guilty for not breastfeeding.

Amy Spangler: I think your comment is very, probably very perceptive, and very, very important in that you made the reference to the woman having a sense of hurt and that it was really not so much anger that causes those negative comments, but some kind of a hurtful experience that that woman had and I think those of us in the breastfeeding community need to always keep that in mind that when we have someone that makes a very negative comment about something like a Baby Talk Magazine cover, we need to be above the fray.

We need to step back and not do that knee jerk response like “Uh! What kind of individual are you? What kind of mother are you?”

We need to be able to say, “Gosh! What was your breastfeeding experience? Did something happen to make you feel this way?”

I think we all might be amazed at the outpouring of emotions that we might get in return.

If we give those individuals a chance to say why they feel the way they feel because I just think that it is a response to something bottled up inside of them. Maybe guilt is what is driving part of that and I am a firm believer that we do not make woman feel guilty. Guilt comes from within. It belongs to each of us. We allow ourselves to feel guilty based upon decisions we make or choices we make that we felt were outside of our control and like your friend she had significant control over her decision.

So, she is making a decision knowing what the information is and therefore she is comfortable with it. It was not the decision that you make for the child but you can mutually respect one another and that is the point that we all need to get in order for us to achieve a breastfeeding culture.

Carrie Lauth: Yeah. Compassion is always the answer.

Amy Spangler: Absolutely.

Carrie Lauth: No matter what the question, that is always the answer. That is a good point to keep in mind about asking a woman about her experience. That is something that I have told women who are having trouble with their mother or their mother-in-law, you know, undermining their breastfeeding.

That can be such a sensitive time post partum if you are having help around your home, your mother or your mother-in-law, is helping you. You need that help and you need that support but it is often that person who is supporting you and other helpful ways subtly undermining or not so subtly undermining your breastfeeding choice but instead of arguing about it or trying to convince them — talking, listening, and asking questions, it can do wonders.

Amy Spangler: I can remember when I used to teach classes and the concern on the part of many of these young expectant moms was when that mother or mother-in-law came after the baby was born.

The fact that they have not breastfed, would they indeed be supportive or would they actually be a detriment, and I would always encourage them — I do not know what your relationship with this mother or mother-in-law is, but it is always best to be proactive and if possible during the pregnancy say, “I am so looking forward to the help that I know I am going to need afterwards, but I do have some concerns about breastfeeding, can we talk? Because I know you didn’t breastfeed me or you didn’t breastfeed my husband and therefore I want to make sure — you have an understanding of why I’m making this choice and how important it is to me.”

I think if you can diffuse it and get that person to be less defensive, they are more likely to be on your side as a supporter instead of as an adversary.

Carrie Lauth: Yeah, and that is important. That is a good skill to practice and you might as well get it over with right away because when you have children you are going to be having to set boundaries with yourself and your parenting when it comes to other people.

“This is what my husband and I have decided. This is how we are going to do things and we value your opinion very much; however, the final decision rests with us.”

Amy Spangler: I think for many grandparents, the hard part is for them to understand that because you are making a different choice does not mean that you are denigrating their choice. What you are saying to them is I have different information available to me.

Now when I am pregnant with my child than you had when you were pregnant with my husband or my partner or whomever. Oftentimes that grandparent feels like “oh, this mom that is breastfeeding is saying I wasn’t a very good mother because I bottle fed this baby’s father.” That is not what you are saying at all, so I think to open up that discussion and put it out there allows for everybody to quit walking around and to be able to have a comfort level with it.

Carrie Lauth: Right. Well you mentioned that if you we are going to come to a place where breastfeeding is normal then the entire community has to be involved. What does that look like?

Amy Spangler: Oh Gosh! I have a perfect image in my mind. Number one and I think this is at the top of my wish list, if we are going to create a breastfeeding community it would be a community in which breastfeeding education is part of the kindergarten through twelfth grade curriculum. That does not mean for all of those people who might be listening to this that I think we should have mothers coming in and breastfeeding their babies in a third grade class.

It means that in kindergarten we should talk about mammals and we should discuss what is a mammal and what makes it a mammal because it provides its own milk to its young. There are dogs with puppies, there are cats with kittens, and there are human beings with human babies.

It sets that foundation and then we build on it. When my boys were in high school, they are now approaching 30, they had a health assignment, an issue paper that they needed to write.

Five young boys came to my home who were sophomores in high school at the age of 16. Among the topics that they could choose was the topic “The Benefits of Breastfeeding.” Now, they did not come to my house because they thought “oh gosh, this is a wonderful topic.” They came to my house because they knew I would have everything they needed to write this paper in the smallest amount of time, but that is okay because as a result of that these boys will be very different fathers and very different husbands.

That is what has to happen. We need to see it there and then we need to see a worksite where when mothers return to work at a reasonable period in time, not at six weeks post partum, but closer to three months or 12 or six months post partum. Ideally, yes, would a year be wonderful, but is six months reasonable to ask for? Yes, it is.

Even at three months it is far more negotiable and will interface better with breastfeeding than at six weeks but when those mothers return, they have co-workers that say, “Oh gosh! I’ll answer your phone for the next few minutes. I know you need to go and pump.” Or better yet, onsite childcare where you could go and breastfeed your baby and come back to the worksite.

There are so many things at the worksite that need to happen and in my mind a breastfeeding community would provide that kind of support. When you went to church on Sunday, you would have a place where if you wanted to breastfeed privately, a little room attached like we do at out church, it is the family room and you can sit in there with a noisy toddler, but there is a glass window that you can see the surface and that is piped in through a sound system so you can hear what the minister or the priest is saying. So those are just a few examples.

I used to say that a breastfeeding community would have — every state would have a law to protect the mother’s right to breastfeed and yet the reality is in a breastfeeding community you do not need a law to protect the mother’s right to breastfeed.

Laws are something we put in place as we try and move along in this continuum. I used to say that it would a place where when mothers came in for their prenatal visits, you would not ask them are you planning to breastfeed or bottle feed. You would simply say to them please tell me what you know about breastfeeding. You would make that assumption that breastfeeding is something every mother does and so this is the time to begin to learn more about it and for us to know what you do and do not know so we can fill in around it.

So those are the things that I think probably highlight — you look at all the service centers, you look at the national parks, we say, “Oh gosh! We want all of these public places to have a room where a mother can go.” Breastfeeding is the norm. A mother should be able to breastfeed wherever she is. We should not have to put her in a room behind a closed door even if it is not a toilet stall, even if it is a comfortable room with a chair and a footstool.

We are still isolating her and suggesting that what she is doing is something that should not be seen or heard and I find that unfortunate. That is why I encourage young women, if they have a comfort level doing so to please breastfeed their babies wherever they are because until we get that critical mass of women doing just that, we are not going to change the attitudes of the general public. It is going to take repeated exposures to help people along that comfort level continuum.

Carrie Lauth: Yeah. That is true. Well, you mentioned education in schools. I was just talking with a couple of teenagers yesterday. One of them had been home-schooled for years and was about to enter high school, public school, and the other one had not been home‑schooled. They were just talking about some of the things that they learned in school and how useless they feel as it is and they wish that they could learn some of the useful things like how to balance a checkbook. I thought that was interesting. How to be a good parent? Why do not we have parenting in classes in high school? How to be in relationships? How to fight fair? How to be emotionally intelligent? Well, we have sex education in school, what is wrong with breastfeeding education? I do not know if — I know that sex education is pretty uncomfortable for kids in school so I do not think adding a breastfeeding mother would be that much worse.

Amy Spangler: You know the fact that sex education is uncomfortable says something to us. Maybe it goes back again to if your premise is true that women have a discomfort with their bodies, that is a discomfort that they learn at a very young age. They learn it in the schools or at least if they learn it at home, the schools could play a role in helping them have a different attitude toward their bodies and body parts and why you have arms and legs, breast and teeth, and all of the other pieces.

Carrie Lauth: Uh-hmm. Yeah, that is right.

Women who embrace breastfeeding and do not have kind of a block with it, they find it pleasurable, not in a sexual way at all, but pleasurable the way that me hugging my 5-year-old is pleasurable or holding my 8‑year‑old’s hand in the store is pleasurable.

Perhaps it does go back to that being comfortable with our bodies. I am sure that is part of it. One other thing I was thing and now I have forgotten, but…

Amy Spangler: In response to the comfort issue, I remember when I first breastfed my first child and I was not that young girl that was comfortable with her body. I was a young girl where I grew up in an era where sex education in the home was you were given a small little booklet on menstruation and so forth and how mothers become pregnant and where babies come from and I remember being handed that book by my mother with directions “if you have any questions ask me.”

photo credit: brooklyn

Well, after I read the book I was shocked. I was appalled. I thought, “Oh, my gosh!” and I was so embarrassed I said I will never ask my mother a question.

First of all, I cannot believe that my mother and father would even do this. So here you are this young adolescent and then there was no reinforcement. Rather than it being that mother saying, “I want you to read chapter one and then I’m gonna ask you some questions and we’re gonna sit down and talk about this.” Again, that was just my mother probably if I could clone her I would because she was the most wonderful mother and grandmother, but she brought with her her own attitude toward sexuality.

She passed those on to her children and then we, as we grow up, try real hard to pass on the good things and not the things that were not so good to our children. So when I breastfed my child for the first time, it was not because I was necessarily comfortable with my body. It was because as an educated nurse I knew this was what was best for my child, but then as you said the joy and the pleasure that it gave me and not at all from a sexual standpoint, but when I teach classes still I say to parents I never make the assumption that a mother who is pregnant has made the decision to breastfeed.

I always make the assumption that they are thinking about it and then I say to them of all of my parenting experiences, it is the one that I would most like to do again because I loved every minute of it. There is not many things in parenting that we can say that about.

Carrie Lauth: Right, that is true. That is something that you will experience when you are out and about with your nursing and, say, you will have woman approach you. I have had that happen so many times, “Oh, I miss those days.” I have only had one negative experience ever with breastfeeding in public, but I have had many, many, many positive experiences, so I know that things are changing.

Oh, but I remember what I was going to say about schools. When we talk about mammals, we need to remind people, children, that a cat or a dog does not worry whether she is going to have enough milk.

Amy Spangler: Yes, you are right.

Carrie Lauth: She just nurses the babies when they want to.

Amy Spangler: They all have multiple babies!

Carrie Lauth: Yes, but she does not ever worry about her milk supply.

Amy Spangler: I find it interesting that we are supposed to be the most intelligent of the mammal species and yet we are the one with the greatest amount of doubt and insecurity about our ability to do what should be very basic body functions.

Carrie Lauth: Right. Yeah, it comes from that huge intellect that we have.

Amy Spangler: Yes, maybe we think too much?

Carrie Lauth: We do. We think too much. We do not feel enough and we do not rely on our instinct enough.

Amy Spangler: I used to think as a lactation consultant and a nurse, is there a point where we worry too much about the guilt issue and how it is going to make someone feel and if the price we have to pay is someone feeling guilty in order to promote something that saves lives maybe that is a fair tradeoff, but deep down inside I want to believe that we can do both.

We can sell breastfeeding in a manner in which it should be sold as optimal activity for every mother and not make those mothers who choose not to breastfeed feel badly about that decision. I think we can find a happy meeting point. I just think we need to continue to work on that.

Carrie Lauth: Yes. Well, Amy, it has been a pleasure talking with you.

Amy Spangler: Carrie, you also. You are just a delight. My reassurance and hope for the future is always reinforced when I talk to young mothers with babies that are being breastfed well beyond those early weeks and hopefully well into that into the first year and into the second and who knows how far beyond because you are really the model of what we want other moms to be able to follow and have a comfort level with.

Carrie Lauth: Well, one mother can change the future of the world because of the way that she parents her children. I had a funny experience at a restaurant one time, my 5‑year‑old who was 4 at the time he saw a grandmother bottle-feeding an infant and my children cannot keep their hands off of babies. If they see a baby anywhere they are just right there oohing and cooing over the baby, but Julien looks up at me and he goes “Mommy, what is that lady doing to that baby?” “I suppose she is feeding the baby.” He goes “What is that thing?” It was so out of his…

Amy Spangler: It was so foreign to him. I love it.

Carrie Lauth: It was so foreign that he had absolutely no idea that that was a bottle and that she was feeding the baby and so I had to explain that some mommies give their babies milk from their mimmies and some mommies give their baby milk in a bottle, but that one thing just illustrates that his perspective is that breastfeeding is normal. Anyway, we could go on and on for hours…

Amy Spangler: You are right and hopefully both of us will be around long enough to see the day come where maybe it will be a bottle-fed baby on a cover of a magazine and it will incite such commentary that people will say, “Oh yeah, you’re right. We probably shouldn’t have done that.”

Carrie Lauth: Okay. Well Amy you have a wonderful day.

Amy Spangler: Carrie, thank you. You take care.

Have you ever wondered if you can breastfeed your baby when you get pregnant again?

A lot of moms automatically assume they must, or they are told to wean by their Doctors.

The truth is, however, is that most women don’t have to wean their currently nursing child. The thinking that a mom can’t breastfeed while pregnant comes from the fact that the uterus contracts during breastfeeding, and the possibility exists that contractions can cause early labor or miscarriage. This isn’t the case however. The uterus contracts during normal activities and sex, so as long as these activities aren’t deemed off limits by your Doctor, nursing is probably ok too.

While weaning may turn out to be the best decision as your pregnancy progresses, you don’t have to assume that at the beginning. Many mothers have kept  nursing while pregnant and then gone on to nurse both children after the baby’s birth. You can join that rare breed of tandem nursing mamas if you and your child want to simply keep nursing. Moms who have tandem nursed have found that the older baby experiences less sibling rivalry and feels less displaced by the birth of the new baby.

There are other benefits too – for instance, tandem nursing moms enjoy a very plentiful milk supply yet don’t experience engorgement. Personally, I found that nursing while I was pregnant and very sick with nausea helped me get some much needed rest with a toddler who was otherwise keeping me on my feet! Here’s what’s in store for you if you decide to breastfeed through a pregnancy.

The first part of tandem nursing is nursing through an entire pregnancy. It is possible to temporarily wean during pregnancy and have the older child resume nursing after the baby’s birth. The child may want to, or she may not. In either case, you will be nursing through a significant part of your pregnancy.

The pregnancy hormones cause nipples to be more sensitive to touch in general, and nursing may be uncomfortable for you. At times it can be painful. Every woman’s body is different so you will have to decide what you can tolerate. In many cases, the discomfort comes and goes at different times of the day or stage of the pregnancy. If it starts to hurt, you should try to figure out if it hurts all the time or if there’s a pattern you can detect. There are reasons why a mom nursing an older baby may have soreness that have nothing to do with pregnancy – for instance she and the baby may have gotten into some sloppy habits and aren’t latching on and positioning properly. This can happen even if you’re an “old pro”. If despite taking measures to prevent nipple pain there’s still too much discomfort, that may be a good reason to wean.

Another change pregnancy brings is in the taste of the milk. Often called weaning milk, the milk a mother produces during pregnancy is often more salty and the nursing child will notice this change in milk quality. Many children will wean on their own because they don’t like the taste of the pregnancy milk. Some children will enjoy nursing so much they’ll put up with the saltiness. This was the case with my own breastfeeding toddlers – they hardly seemed to mind the change, it was a small price to pay in exchange for the continued closeness with Mom.

The quantity of your milk will also decrease. You will produce less and less as your pregnancy progresses. Some children will wean because there isn’t any more milk (my kids who nursed through their sibling’s pregnancy never seemed to care). Others will continue to comfort nurse even though they aren’t getting any milk.

It can cause discomfort or pain when a child is nursing and there is no milk. That may be another reason to wean. Regardless of whether you produce no milk or a little milk, your older child will be getting most of his nutrition from solid foods. Once the baby’s born and the milk comes in, there will be plenty more milk for both of them if the older child is still interested – and he might very well be, although some rare toddlers will wean when their mother’s milk supply returns in abundance. Mine didn’t, but I’ve heard of this happening. Mine just acted like they had hit the jackpot. The Milk Fairy had returned. lol!

While it is possible to continue to nurse through a pregnancy, it’s going to be an extra drain on your system in addition to growing the new baby. You will need to consume enough nutrient dense foods to make sure you have enough reserves for yourself, your children, and the many activities you no doubt will be doing throughout your pregnancy. Make sure you are eating well and often and getting much needed rest. Remember that since nursing is a relationship, there is nothing wrong with setting limits with your nursling in order to make yourself more comfortable.

Read more: Adventures in Tandem Nursing

Marie Ynami interviewed me over at MommyFest and we had a great time talking about one of my favorite topics, breastfeeding. Go have a listen if you’re wondering about stuff like:

• Combining working and breastfeeding
• What kind of food you should eat while nursing
• How to make sure your baby is getting enough

And other good stuff. She’s even giving away a free breastfeeding ebook.

Plus Marie has lots of other interesting guests discussing topics of interest to the mommas. Check it out!

I have a question for you nursing moms (or those who have breastfed at some point in their lives). Did you ever feel like you were tied to the nursing chair?

I remember when one of my childhood best friends had her first baby. She told me that she started out breastfeeding, but weaned her baby very young because, as she said, “eventually I had to get off the couch.” I didn’t really understand what she meant because I didn’t have a little one of my own yet, but as my kids started to make their appearances, I began to get it.

I love(d) nursing and didn’t resent the time spent doing so, but I would have the rare twinge of impatience at a baby or toddler who seemed to take foreeeeeeever to finish up. Maybe I wanted to do “other things”. Maybe I was feeling a tad hormonal or touched out. Maybe the child was older and I was feeling a little impatient with his or her demands in general, and that was showing up in the nursing relationship.

When I felt like this, I tried to distract myself by multi tasking. Most babies don’t mind if you check email or read a book (or pray or practice relaxation breathing!) while you nurse. When my oldest was a baby, he was a high needs kid who nursed all the time – it was the only time he was happy. I got a LOT of reading done that year lol! I also discovered baby slings and learned how to nurse in one, hands free. I could wash dishes and breastfeed at the same time!

photo credit: footloosiety

But overall, I knew that breastfeeding on demand, or as I prefer to call it, breastfeeding “on cue” was the right thing and would actually save me time in the long run.

Each nursing session is an investment in mine and baby’s health and their emotional well being. And each breastfeeding released hormones (oxytocin, prolactin) that made me feel less stressed out and that relaxed me. These hormones are nature’s gift to help us be better mothers.

That doesn’t mean I never set limits with my nursing toddlers because I did – it’s a nursing relationship and there’s nothing wrong with them learning the give-and-take that occurs in relationships.

What about you? Did you ever feel tied to the nursing chair? When? And what did you do about it?

I got an email from a friend asking me for some breastfeeding advice and she agreed that I could share with you all in case this information comes in handy.

And by the way, if you have a breastfeeding question please don’t hesitate to email me ok? I love helping moms with breastfeeding. I was a La Leche League leader for 6 years and have helped a lot of women breastfeed their babies. Plus I have almost 10 years now of nonstop breastfeeding myself. Ok here’s her question:

My little one arrived on the 10th. She weighed 6lbs 6oz at birth and when we left the hospital on the 12th she was 5lbs 12 oz. On the 15th we went to her first doctor’s appt and she had gained (6lbs 1oz) and the dr. said that was good (averaging 1oz. a day). Today she went for her 2week check up and her weight was 6lbs 4oz which isn’t to her birth weight yet, but close. I’m a bit concerned about this and so was the lactation consultant/nurse practicioner.

After some talking and her watching her nurse, which she latched on fine, she recommended that I take Fenugreek and Alfalfa (1-2 pills 3 times a day of each). She also recommended Mother’s Milk Tea. Seems it is a matter of milk supply and/or the baby not staying awake at the breast long enough to get to the hind milk. She falls asleep rather quickly most of the time.

I have to admit that I really thought she would have been back to or over her birth weight by now and I’m concerned about supply. I’m just curious what you think of the combination she told me to take. Do you have any experience or know other mother’s who have used those herbs for increasing milk supply? If so, how long should it be before I see a difference in my supply?

Also, if you have any suggestions of holds, etc. that might keep her awake longer while nursing could you pass those on as well.

Thanks so much for your help Carrie! I am so afraid that I might end up having to supplement or switch to formula and I don’t want to if I can keep from it and I really do look to you for true and honest information. Thanks again!

Hey Arika,

Here is your clue: “She falls asleep rather quickly most of the time.”

This is pretty common, and believe it or not some babies will sleep themselves into slow weight gain. So, if you work on this you will start putting the weight on her in a few days.

My second born was like this, always feel asleep on the breast within seconds. Here are some tricks to keep your baby awake long enough to get more into her tummy.

• Don’t overdress her. When she nurses you might want to remove a layer of clothing, even everything but a diaper, and just put a light blanket her. If it’s warm in your house skip the blanket even. If she’s too warm it will make her very sleepy – like how an adult feels when they drive in a warm car.
• When she starts falling asleep at the breast before she’s actively been sucking for about ten minutes or so, keep her awake. Tickle her feet, change her diaper, break her suction on your breast and switch sides… whatever you need to do to keep her actively sucking and swallowing for ten minutes. Later on you won’t need to do this, but during the sleep newborn period it’s important.
• Is she nursing at night? If not, wake her up. I know that goes against the age old wisdom to never wake a sleeping baby – and I know you need your sleep! But if she sleeps longer than 5 hours at a stretch, wake her and put her to the breast.
• The herbs are fine, but frequent nursing will work better. Take enough Fenugreek until your sweat smells like maple syrup.
• Another trick to get her interested in actively nursing if she starts falling asleep: Put your fingers around your breast, with thumb on top and fingers underneath, high up so that you don’t break her suction. Squeeze gently. You will probably notice that she’ll get a surge of milk and it will get her interested again.

Try these tips for the next 3 days and sleep and rest and nurse as much as possible. Usually 2-3 days of increased feedings is enough to increase your supply – it that’s even the issue here, it probably isn’t. The sleepiness is probably the issue.

Arika wrote back to say:

Thanks so much Carrie. I really think the sleeping is a big part of it too and I appreciate the suggestions and will definitely use them.

I think a lot of it might be what you said about her being warm and comfy when nursing. I’ve also found a sitting up position seems to keep her awake longer too. As for night feedings, she is nursing at night and she might give me 1 or 2 four hour stretches when she sleeps but only once has it been more and that was 5 hours, so she’s making sure she’s nursing at night…which is a good sign.

Did you have any issues with a sleepy newborn and slow weight gain? How did you handle this?

Last year on the show, I was honored to interview Lysa Parker, cofounder of Attachment Parenting International.

Attachment parenting was a word I heard a Mom say over 9 years ago at a meeting for parents who had taken Bradley Method childbirth classes. I thought it sounded so strange, but then I realized it embodied what I believed and what I had been doing with my young baby: cosleeping, nursing on cue, responding to baby’s needs, wearing him in a soft cloth carrier, etc. 

API has some exciting stuff going on right now to help parents learn and keep the principles of attachment parenting and I’m happy to help them spread the word.

What Is Attachment Parenting International?

API is a non-profit organization that promotes parenting practices that create strong, healthy emotional bonds between children and their parents. Some of the changes they would like to announce include:

• A newly redesigned web site and new logo at Attachment Parenting.org;
• Attachment parenting worldwide support forums;
• Parent Education Program – a comprehensive series of classes for every stage and age of child development from infancy through adulthood;
• A new book based on API’s Eight Principles of Attachment Parenting by API co-founders Lysa Parker and Barbara Nicholson which is expected to be available this summer;
• A series of podcasts, webinars, chats, and forums with API Advisory Board members and other supporters of AP. Future events are scheduled with Dr. Bob Sears, Dr. James McKenna, and Kathleen Kendall Tacket. Check out the events page for more information.

These are just a few of many exciting things going on at API. I hope you’ll stop by and check it out for yourself.

Now that it’s getting warm out, it’s time for me to write about an issue that might be affecting a nursing mommy out there: breastfeeding and yeast infection (thrush). Troubles with yeast are more common in the warmer months because yeast loves to hang out in damp warm sweaty places.

Thrush is one of those things that can creep up on a nursing mother and cause pain, even lead to her giving up breastfeeding. Sometimes women have no idea that a yeast infection is what’s causing their pain. It’s not understood very well and many women don’t even know that yeast infection of the breast exists. But it does!

I struggled with it for a long time when my oldest was born. At first it was just painful nipples, but because I didn’t know how to resolve it, it got much worse. The pain was very bad – I felt as if someone was sticking ice picks into my back. (This is because the yeast can colonize the milk producing glands high in the breast.) Even my shirt rubbing across my chest hurt. It felt like sandpaper.

I wonder how many moms have given up breastfeeding because they thought it was “supposed” to hurt like this?

I finally kicked it, but me, my baby AND baby daddy had to be treated. (Yes, it can be passed through THAT kind of contact too, and men are usually asymptomatic.) He and I took Diflucan, and that was enough to stop the cycle of transmitting it back and forth.

As was mentioned before, sometimes a breastfeeding mother will suffer from pain during nursing which she thinks is “normal”. But breastfeeding is not supposed to hurt. Repeat after me: pain with breastfeeding is common, not normal. If everyone knows what they’re doing and there are no anatomical anomolies (I just love saying that!), then there won’t be any pain. I had no pain nursing babies 2, 3 and 4 because we didn’t have this issue.

What often precipitates yeast troubles is that mother takes antibiotics around her birth (often in the case of a Cesarean delivery or a postpartum urinary tract infection) and comes down with symptoms. The baby may have thrush in his mouth, or he may not. He may have a diaper rash or he may not. But the baby and Mom pass the yeast infection back and forth. Baby may even be fussy at the breast. Mom thinks it’s “her milk”, and weans. This is a sad outcome.

While it is “normal” (again – in the sense of common) to experience some soreness with the initiation of breastfeeding, especially in the first time Mom, this should be little more than a temporary discomfort that goes away after the first few days or weeks. The tissue is becoming used to a new activity. It Mom is having PAIN, that is not normal and is a sign that something is wrong. Normal soreness typically only hurts when baby first latches on, then subsides as the feeding continues. Yeast hurts all the time, even when baby isn’t feeding and gets worse over time.If Mom has seen a Lactation Consultant or La Leche League leader and corrected any problems with latch on or positioning and baby’s anatomy is normal, she should suspect yeast.

This is especially true if Mom has had antibiotics, eats a high sugar diet, baby has any signs of thrush (white patches in the mouth, crying/fussing when feeding, diaper rash) or Mom’s partner suffers from yeast related symptoms (itching in the boy bits, although as I said, men usually get off scott free in this area).Keep in mind that weaning won’t make the yeast go away. It will just move to the vagina or gut if Mom weans the baby (it’s probably already there anyway), and the baby will have pain in his mouth when he bottle feeds also. Better to just get rid of the yeast altogether. Shall we?

Natural Treatments For Breast Yeast And Infant Thrush

Baking soda
Baking soda can be an effective treatment for thrush. It changes the ph of the skin, inhibiting fungal growth. You can make a paste of baking soda and water and apply it to Mom’s nipples. Rinse off before feeding the baby. Baby can also take baths with a little baking soda sprinkled in the water, which will soothe any yeasty diaper rash (it looks bright red and hurts).

Vinegar
Vinegar also kills yeast by changing the alkaline/acid balance of the skin, in the opposite way that baking soda does (obviously you would choose one or the other, not both treatments!). It can be irritating to the skin however, so care is needed. One tablespoon added to a cup of water and applied to Mom’s nipples several times a day with a cotton pad can help.

Olive Oil and Coconut Oil

Olive and coconut oil are highly nutritious for lactating women and should be used daily in the diet. Both have antifungal properties and coconut oil in particular is excellent for immune system health. Coconut oil is delicious for baking, added to smoothies, used to cook eggs, etc. Olive oil is delicious in soups, casseroles, used to cook meats, etc. Olive oil and coconut oil can also be taken straight from the spoon.

Some moms have had success applying a bit of oil to their nipples. both for pain and to help heal the infection. I wouldn’t recommend leaving it on if the baby is a newborn, but it’s fine for older babies who are eating solid foods.

Don’t shy away from healthy fats if you’re in your reproductive years ladies. These two fats don’t make you fat. Nursing Mothers all over the world since the beginning of time have thrived on high fat diets. Low fat is not healthy for the lactating or pregnant woman. And eating cheap oils means the fat in your breastmilk is of lower quality.

Strict Hygiene

Fungus is very hardy. Good hygiene is important if you want to prevent reoccurence. Wash your nursing bras and pads, panties and cloth diapers in hot water and do a double rinse. Add vinegar to the first rinse to help kill yeast and prevent irritation from detergents. Wash your hands well with hot soapy water after using the toilet or changing diapers.

If you’re using any bottles or pacifiers, boil them before use. Throw away nipples and pacifiers after treating the thrush and buy new ones. Or better yet don’t use them if at all possible. Be sure to sanitize your breast pump parts too if you use one.

Avoid plastic backed nursing pads. They create moisture and heat which yeast loves. Use cloth nursing pads instead. Go braless when you can to let the breasts air out. And don’t use any type of soap on the breasts, ever.It’s a good idea for Mom and baby to use their own towels and washcloths for awhile. Launder them separately, using the vinegar rinse mentioned above. If it’s hot and sunny out, hang them in the sun to help kill yeast.

Wipe baby’s mouth with a clean wet washcloth or cloth napkin after feeding.

Herbal/Supplements

Garlic and Pau d’Arco have antifungal and immune building properties. Caprylic acid and oregano oil are also antifungal, and they’re found in Yeast Assassin. Oregano oil is antifungal also. You can find many supplements that contain these ingredients in one formula.

Nutrition

Another thing that will help is supplementing with probiotics. Eat plenty of plain yogurt, kefir and cultured veggies like homemade sauerkraut. These kinds of foods contain lots of beneficial bacteria that help keep the yeast in check in the gut. It’s also very important to eliminate sugar while treating yeast infections. This will be hard because you’ll crave it something terrible! But stay strong and remove sugar, white flour, all junk food and simple carbs (white rice and even fruit) for awhile. Eat plenty of meat and protein, and tons of vegetables while you’re clearing the infection.

There are some prescription medications that you can get for yeast troubles from your baby’s Pediatrician or your OB/GYN. One is Nystatin. It’s commonly prescribed as a liquid suspension. It’s sticky and full of sugar. I hated using that stuff. It didn’t work, and it only made me and the baby and my clothes stick together like glue. And the sugar content – hello!

Another old fashioned remedy is Gentian Violet, sold in some pharmacies. I tried this one too and it’s messy to work with because it stains everything bright purple. I couldn’t take my baby out for a week because he looked like Papa Smurf. And I had to wear an old purple T shirt so as not to ruin my entire wardrobe. But it is pretty effective. There are some concerns about Gentian Violet being carcinogenic with long term exposure, but it typically only has to be used for a day or two to work so most people who care about babies and mothers say it’s ok for this short term use. It’s also very inexpensive and available without a Doctor’s prescription or even a visit to the office.

Diflucan was the ticket for me. Along with the nutrition and other self help measures listed above, we finally kicked it for good. The thing with Diflucan is that a lot of Doctors who are ignorant of how breastfeeding works will tell you that it’s not safe for nursing moms. That’s pretty ridiculous because Diflucan is prescribed for premature infants! Medications and Mother’s Milk is considered the authoritative source on the safety of various drugs for breastfeeding women and Diflucan gets the ok. As for me, we had tried everything else first and the meds helped me get relief, fast so it was worth it.

Have you ever had breast yeast and what did you do about it? Do tell!

I find certain things really, really irritating. One of these things is when people blame every little thing a breastfed baby does on its mother.

Did the baby hiccup? Must be something you ate! Does he have gas? Uh-0h. Better go on a strict diet cutting out all dairy/corn/wheat/gluten/soy/bad ingredient du jour. Did he poop too much/too little/too often/too infrequently? It’s your fault. You have to give up your favorite beverage!

Feh.

I read an article today that the pendulum is swinging back the other way. Apparently the AAP has reconsidered their previous advice telling third trimester and nursing moms to avoid certain foods. There’s just no evidence that it works to prevent baby’s allergies.

Man, they could have saved all that time and embarrassment if they had just asked me.

I never wear nursing shirts anymore since my youngest almost never needs to nurse in public, but oh my goodness when I browse the cute styles available nowadays I almost want to buy some!

These are so cute you could totally wear them whether you were breastfeeding or not. Enter:

This looks like something Gwyneth Paltrow would wear.  

And this one is simply dreamy with its filmy look.
I love that the new styles aren’t cut for maternity – duh – like we want to look pregnant once the baby’s out! More pretty nursing shirts

Here’s something for Think About it Thursday.

The other day I was reading Jennifer Laycock’s The Lactivist blog. Jennifer is a wonderful blogger who is obviously devoted to the cause of breastfeeding. But lately she’s under fire from a few nitpicky mothers who want to strip her of her lactivist title… because she’s weaning her two year old.

Yep, you heard that right. Jennifer is referring to the backlash as “Weaner Gate“. Turns out you can’t be a lactivist unless you allow your child to decide everything about the nursing relationship! Bet you didn’t know that did you?

Last time I checked, giving a child 2 years of breast milk was a pretty darn good accomplishment. After all, according to recent stats, only about 12% of tots in this country get breast milk at one year of age, and it’s probably far less for 2 year olds. Instead of getting a pat on the back, Jennifer is getting criticism.

Hmm.

I probably wouldn’t have posted about this except today I got an email from a woman who subscribes to my newsletter. She had a problem with my mentioning that Tylenol would be ok for a nursing mom suffering pain from mastitis. She said:

“I would appreciate a correction of this statement to use tylenol.  It’s simply not good advice.”

While she did say that she “loved my work.  I felt all of your other tips were wonderful advice.”, she still felt the need to comment that:

“I disagree with your suggesting a mother take tylenol for the pain of mastitis.  That is not anything close to a natural handling and is actually destructive advice.  Tylenol has known to cause liver damage and even death from a regular dose.  It’s dangerous.  Have a look on mercola.com for more data.  Also, the baby would get the drug in the breastmilk and a young baby does not have a fully developed elimination system to metabolize the drug in his or her liver… I know of the dangers of drugs from my work.”

Now, I am not picking on this woman in any way. I actually agree with most of what she’s saying. I personally don’t take Tylenol for aches and pains and don’t give it to my kids either. However, I also know a couple of things from my work.

I know that most nursing mothers have an overly cautious view of using medications while breastfeeding due to the ignorance of the health care community. Time and time again I’ve heard moms say that their Doctor gave them that old knee jerk “pump and dump or wean” response when they were faced with having to take some medication. Many people in the health care community (erroneously) think that NO meds are safe for nursing moms – and weaning is recommended as the answer. That’s very rarely true.

In fact, many medications can be used during lactation. There are several factors to weigh including the age and weight of the baby, the seriousness of the mother’s health condition, the emotional effects of weaning, and the individual nature of the drug in question.

The comprehensive resource for this would be Medications and Mother’s Milk by Thomas Hale. It’s not a bad idea for a nursing mom to keep a copy of this book around, or at least have the phone number of a La Leche League leader who owns one.

Point two: For some women, especially those susceptible to it, breastfeeding pain will trigger postpartum depression. Mastitis can be awful. I had a bout with it several months ago when my youngest went on a nursing strike and I felt like I had the flu. My entire body hurt. I shook in bed all night long because of the fever and chills. But I knew what was going on and knew how to solve the problem so I chose to tough it out.

I would much rather see mom take a dose of an over the counter pain medication to feel better fast and then tackle the problem than to give up because nursing hurt. This is what so often happens:  Women start out breastfeeding, run into a problem they can’t solve, and quit.

I’m for breastfeeding, not perfection.

There are those who think you’re not a “real” nursing mom if you do this or don’t do that. I’m for stopping this elitist type of thinking and celebrating any amount of breastfeeding.

Carrie: You’re back with Carrie at Natural Moms Talk Radio and I’m joined this week by Marni Matyus from The Sling Station and Peppermint.com.  Good morning, Marni. 

Marni: Good morning! 

Carrie: How are you today? 

Marni: I’m great!  How are you? 

Carrie: Very good.  I think it’s finally cleared up here.  We’ve had a couple days of sort of pseudo rain, which is kind of good, but we need so much more.  We’re having a bad drought right now.  It’s nice to see the sun, but I wish it would just really drench and give us some rain.  Well, we’re going to talk about kangaroo care.  Now, you’re obviously a baby-wearing expert with your website and your business.  First of all, for those who aren’t familiar with you and what you offer on your website, tell us about The Sling Station and Peppermint.com. 

Marni: Okay.  With both websites, we offer a wide variety of baby carriers.  We represent many of the major manufacturers and in addition to all the different types of carriers, we also have people on our staff who are baby sling experts, who have used the carriers with their own children and they are available by phone and by live chat or email to help moms design which carrier is best for their needs and also to use the carriers if they’re having trouble using their carrier after they received it. 

Carrie: And I’m sure that’s an issue because I know I’ve heard that from many moms, “Oh, my baby doesn’t like it,” or “I can’t get it to work.” 

Marni: Right, right, and that’s what we really try, to provide the service to those moms because when you first get it out of the package, it can be a little intimidating, but if you’ll just step through it and give it a chance and look at our videos on our website and we also have some printable instructions in addition to what’s provided by the manufacturers.  Most people, once they give it a try or give us a call and we can give you help based on your baby’s age and your particular situation what carrying position might be best for you or some tips to help you use your carrier. 

Carrie: Oh, that’s great.  Okay, so on the topic of kangaroo care and I’m sure most of our listeners are familiar with that, but if you want to just explain briefly what kangaroo care refers to. 

Marni: Absolutely.  Kangaroo care really is skin to skin. What happened is in the 1970s in Columbia, they didn’t have the money to buy incubators and they were having a lot of premature babies that were dying. So they tried using the mother as an incubator, so when these babies were born, they literally put the baby on the mother’s chest, skin to skin, the baby’s only wearing a diaper and actually inside the mother’s gown or shirt and the mothers wore the babies 7 x 24 and they actually slept in a semi-upright position with the babies tied to their chest. 

They found that those babies did better than the babies that were in the incubator and the hospital on the top of the hill, they did have money for incubators.  Surprisingly, first of all, these babies were surviving and then as we did more and more research and in other countries, kangaroo care is really implemented much the same as it was in Columbia back when it first started where the babies are held for most of the day on the mother’s chest. 

So, what we found out is their heart rates are more stable, their breathing is more stable, their cortisol levels and their stress hormone are at the 10x lower than a baby who is in an Isolette or an incubator.  The babies that are held skin to skin and held close to their mother were getting out of the hospital faster, they were nursing better, they were gaining weight better, and they have actually a higher survival rate. 

Carrie: Wow.  You know, I had read about the benefits of kangaroo care before, but listening to you tell that story, it occurred to me I wasn’t aware of the fact that they actually encourage the mothers to have the baby sleep on their chest. It made me think that kind of decries the whole “co-sleeping is unsafe” thing and I wonder how many women have done this.  Is it a large enough group of women that we could use those statistics to disprove some of the co-sleeping detractors? 

Marni: You know, I’m really not sure.  I do know that Niles Bergman who provided most of the information that I know of, they’re very specific on the way that the babies are tied onto the mother when they are sleeping, especially that they want to make sure particularly that the baby’s airway is protected.  That is a big concern to them, especially with premature babies. 

Carrie: That would be kind of an interesting thing to investigate just as a side point. 

Marni: Absolutely. 

Carrie: Well, you mentioned some of the benefits to the baby, but what about the moms and dads too?  Dads participate in kangaroo care as well, don’t they? 

Marni: Absolutely.  I mean it’s often focused on the mother because she’s obviously there.  She’s nursing the baby in a lot of cases, but when the mother cannot hold the baby or kangaroo the baby, obviously the dad is the natural choice.  For the mother particularly — for the mother, for me, it was getting my life back when I’m dealing with a newborn — when I had my first baby it was difficult to even get a bite to eat and with the baby held tight to my body, I could now fix myself a meal, I could actually eat using two hands, walk around, things that were difficult with a newborn that wanted to be held constantly. 

Now, with kangaroo care, we’ve actually found out that some mothers have a lower incidence of postpartum depression.  Bonding is easier and they are able to get to know their baby’s needs faster to understand what the baby is needing and obviously respond to their cries faster and then obviously just to be able to do some things that they might not be able to do otherwise. 

Carrie: Yeah.  I know I always felt sorry for moms with preemies and one of the biggest reasons why is because when you see these pictures or footage of babies in these little incubators and the mommies cannot touch them and hold them, it always made me feel so sad for the mom because it’s just an instinct to want to just be close to that infant and protect them and everything and I thought, “Oh, that’s got to have some kind of emotional repercussions.”  So, that makes total sense to me that it would impact postpartum depression rate. 

Marni: Absolutely.  I think we have a physiological need to be with our babies because they have a need to be with us.  It’s a very natural phenomenon and it’s so much easier for the moms even in hospital setting if they can use a carrier to kangaroo their babies, they’re more likely to hold them longer to give them more skin to skin time, which the babies really need if they can sit there and read a book or if they can walk around the hospital a little bit.  Even if the babies have to be connected to breathing machines or IVs, the mom still has a little bit more freedom with physically having to hold the baby with her arm, so that babies tend to get more mom time, more skin to skin time.  Kangaroo care is not just for premature babies.  They’re also for newborns.  They experience the same benefits for newborn babies, which also have a need to be close to their mother.  They actually have the same benefits to a full-term baby as to a premature baby. 

Carrie: Right.  Well, back to that thing that we were talking about earlier about moms who say, “Oh, well, you know, I tried that (babywearing).  My baby just screamed.  They didn’t like the sling.  They didn’t like the carrier…” What suggestions do you have? 

Marni: First of all, starting early.  A lot of times, if you carry a baby from their very early weeks, they don’t know any different.  It’s very natural to them.  That’s a very natural place for the baby to be, so obviously it’s what they are used to. 

A lot of babies also are particular about the positioning.  So, with the newborn, the best position we found is upright on the mother’s chest.  So, with the baby’s head above in between the breasts you want to hold the baby high so that you can reach down to kiss the top of their head.  A lot of babies don’t like to have their heads covered and a lot of babies don’t like to be in a reclining position, especially if you have a baby who’s colicky or reflux, it may hurt them to be in a reclining position.  They do much better sitting upright and you want the baby to be facing you, so they’re leaning against the mother.  That way, they’re not having to support their own weight or their own spine. 

You want to fully support them so they’re leaning against you and then usually there’s fabric behind the baby’s back.  Now, when you have a little bit older baby and you’re just getting into baby wearing, you may need to show them that the sling is a nice place to be.  So, obviously, put them in a carrier and, again, for most babies, we still recommend almost at any age when you’re just starting to wear your baby upright, leaning against the mother, facing the mom.  Put the baby in the carrier, make sure they’re comfortable and walk around. 

So, the first thing you should do when you get the baby in the sling is take a walk, if the weather is nice preferably outside.  I found that just walking around and patting the baby, often they’ll calm down because for an older child that’s not used to being in a sling, it might be just something different, something they’re not used to.  So, they may be a little apprehensive.  If you can calm them down, they’ll soon learn that that’s exactly where they want to be is in mom’s arms.  So, the sling is a way for them to get what they want basically. 

Obviously, the other thing to think about is if the baby just is not happy in the sling, put it away and try it another day.  The other thing you can do to make the baby more comfortable is to make sure you’re comfortable with the sling before you put the baby in.  So, practice with a doll or even with a sack of rice and make sure you understand how the sling works before you actually try it with your baby.  That way, they’re not picking up on your apprehension or any insecurities you may have with the sling because they do pick up on our emotions. 

Carrie: That’s right.  You know, my oldest was a very high need baby and I picked up a sling when he was about 5 weeks old at a consignment shop and it was the worst sling for my body that I could have chosen.  That was one thing.  It was the wrong kind of sling for me because he was tiny and I’m kind of petite and I got a NoJo at a consignment shop.  I didn’t know that there was a difference among all the slings and it just so happened that the NoJo is about the worst possible sling for my frame.  I needed a Maya or something that I could adjust the tail independently to get him nice and tight, so that was one thing.  Secondly, for me, what worked with him was I had to put him in it and immediately start moving, almost be bouncing while I’m adjusting it and take off walking. 

Marni: Absolutely. 

Carrie: And that really helped us, but it was a lifesaver for me.  I always say that I was blessed with a high need child first because everything after that seems easier.  It was trial by fire. 

Marni: That’s absolutely correct. 

Carrie: Oh boy.  The sack of rice thing, I’ve not heard that.  I’ve heard of using a Cabbage Patch doll, but I think a sack of rice is better because it’s heavier and fluffier. 

Marni: Absolutely and if you’re afraid of your baby falling out of a sling, when you put a sack of rice in there, it’s slippery and it’s heavy and it has no arms and legs and if you can keep the rice in there, it probably is not going to be an issue to keep your baby in a sling or a wrap. 

Carrie: Right, yeah.  The thing about going outside is great.  Sometimes I would have to do that too.  I can immediately walk outside because most babies tend to calm down the moment they get outside in the fresh air.  Yeah, that was a great tip too. 

Marni: Absolutely. 

Carrie: Well, you actually had an opportunity to educate some folks in Dallas, medical staff, about kangaroo care.  Tell us about that. 

Marni: I did and it was a fantastic opportunity actually and we had nurses, physical therapists, midwifes, like patient consultants and a few doctors that actually came to our workshop.  Obviously, most of them know about kangaroo care in general because they have lots of workshops.  They understand the value of kangaroo care for the baby, so we were able to show them how to use a carrier to implement kangaroo in there in a hospital setting and they are working with not only premature babies, but also special needs children. 

So, in the child life centers, they’re dealing with children that may have cancer, may have breathing difficulties, may have brain damage or brain trauma, and they found that the carriers are very calming to the babies that when they’re held, when they’re carried they’re much happier.  It’s sometimes easier to work with them with certain physical therapy activities or when they undergoing medical treatment.  We have had a great response.  The staff was very encouraged about what we had to show them and made it easier for them and easier for some of the parents and they are able to now go and teach the parents how to use baby carriers and to encourage them to do more kangaroo care with their babies. 

Carrie: That’s great!  You know, I’ve never thought about that, babies with special needs and how they could also benefit from baby wearing.  That’s great.  Well, what kind of slings or carriers do you recommend for that? 

Marni: Well, I showed them all of the carriers and my suggestion is typically a wrap and without fail, that’s always their first choice to use once they see the benefits and learn how to use it.  Some people are a little bit intimidated by a wrap at first, but really we find that the easiest carrier for moms to get the babies in comfortably and securely is also the most versatile when dealing with babies with special needs because you can position the baby exactly where you need them and then tighten the wrap around them.  You can also vary the carrying positions depending on the baby’s needs. 

Carrie: Well, that’s really interesting.  That’s good to know.  Well, Marni, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing that with us.  I know I’ve seen your banners from Peppermint.com, especially all over the Internet, especially the blogosphere, and you’ve got just a wonderful variety and great articles and stuff on your site, so I encourage our listeners to check you out and see what you have to offer.  Thank you so much for sharing this information with us today. 

Marni: Thank you for having me.

Susan over at 5 Minutes for Mom blogged about her bout with mastitis last week. She mentioned that her Doctor told her to stop nursing on the affected side and to pump and dump… and that made me really mad. She got a ton of comments to that post from other mad mommies who knew that was bad advice.

So I decided that since this bad advice was still being proferred by medical folks who don’t have a clue, and to participate in the Motherwear Carnival of Breastfeeding, I would share some mastitis tips here. Mastitis is very common at this time of year, for reasons I’ll mention below.

To treat mastitis, it’s important to get lots and lots of rest. If at all possible, go to bed with baby for a day or two. Get help with your other children if you can. Increase your fluid intake and sleep and nurse as much as baby will let you.

It’s important to keep nursing, offering the affected breast first. This might be a challenge because the affected side will be sore. If you can’t bear to nurse on that side first, then don’t, but make sure you nurse on that side often enough for it to stay soft. You may want to hand express or pump if baby is unwilling to nurse. While you nurse, try to massage the sore area if you can feel a plugged duct.

The reason to keep breastfeeding is because weaning now will only make you much more uncomfortable, and it’s an extreme measure for a simple problem. If you got a cold, would you cut off your nose? Didn’t think so.

Breastfeeding improves the flow of blood to your breast, and the presence of your milk itself also helps to clear milk ducts of infection. Your baby will not be harmed by your milk when you have mastitis. Your baby has already been exposed to whatever caused the infection in the first place, and if you wean her, you’ll deprive her of the antibodies that are present in your milk and the other benefits of nursing.

Before putting baby to the breast, use a warm compress and massage the affected area which will help with milk flow. Try the same treatments mentioned for clogged milk ducts. Nurse baby soon after you do this, and don’t worry about baby getting the thickened milk, it won’t harm her! Using these self care measures usually means you’ll be feeling better in a day or two.

If you call your Doctor s/he may prescribe antibiotics, which is fine (although unnecessary). Most antibiotics are safe for nursing Moms, but double check with your health care provider, La Leche League leader, Lactation Consultant or Poison Control Center. It’s also ok to take a Tylenol for the body aches and discomfort you feel during mastitis.

Another thing: Often mastitis happens around busy time (like the holidays) when you’re busy, distracted, and running around. Baby might not be nursing as frequently, leading to a plugged duct which can get worse, causing mastitis.

Be sure to take nursing breaks when you are traveling or enjoying company! If baby won’t settle down easily, take her into another room away from the hustle and bustle, use a sling or a nursing cover to help her focus. Mastitis is especially common at around 9 months when babies start getting more interested in crawling and discovering their surroundings, so take precaution.

Another common problem is when other family members develop colds and flus. For some reason, the nursing mom in the family will sometimes come down with mastitis. So be sure to drink fluids, eat well, sleep enough, etc and take care of yourself. If you get mastitis frequently, suspect underwire bras. Some nursing moms just can’t wear them, so find a good softcup bra that’s supportive. I hope those tips are helpful. To recap:

Avoiding Mastitis:

• Nurse often
• Drink and eat well
• Get enough rest
• Avoid underwire bras

Treating Mastitis:

• Nurse often, on the affected side first if possible
• Massage
• REST REST REST
• Warm compresses

More on mastitis: What is mastitis? What are the symptoms of mastitis? Pretty nursing bras that come in soft cup, not underwire.

Jen talks about how she gets her daughter to eat all her lunch.

Super cute video of a nursing Mom on Sesame Street, hat tip to Melodie. According to Big Bird, breastfeeding is sweet.

Join the fun – grab a graphic on the right sidebar!

Alyssa of LifeFromMyLaptop (which, by the way Alyssa is one of my favorite domain picks, ever) invited me to do a little cross blog conversing with her. She asked me this question on her blog to kick things off:

My first question for you is about natural parenting. Carrie is the host of Natural Moms Talk Radio so I know she practices this, but frankly I have never really understood all the ins and outs so I know that Carrie can clear this up.

What is it like to be a “natural mom”?

When I first read this, I thought you were asking what a natural mom IS… which is also a great question! So I’ll answer that first. There probably isn’t any real definition of that term, and it means different things to different people, but for me, being a natural mom means tuning in to your (and I believe they are God-given) instincts first and when you’re in doubt.

It doesn’t mean I’m the expert of everything or that I don’t look for expert opinions. It does mean that I’m the one who loves my children the most and it’s also my responsibility to care for them, and since I also spend the most time with them, I’m the expert of them.

One thing that I used to tell moms all the time when I was a breastfeeding counselor is to trust your instincts – you are the expert of your baby. Anthropologists will tell you that “breastfeeding difficulties” are a purely Western, modern phenomenon. We think breastfeeding will be hard and so it is, but it’s not true for native women who do what comes naturally and don’t have anyone telling them they don’t know what they’re doing!

Women doubt themselves so much, and it’s true we’re not animals that are guided solely by instinct… but I believe women have a special sixth sense that alerts them to danger, and we should use that to protect our little ones. Have you ever read The Gift of Fear? It has nothing to do with parenting, but it illustrates this instinct that mothers have beautifully. I think that gift should be used. I believe that mothers go against that inner voice and they and their children sometimes suffer as a result.

So there are some behaviors that come out of that philosophy. As an example, cosleeping. While the experts debate whether it’s “safe” to do so, my strong feelings, and the behavior of my child, tell me it’s a good choice for us. I don’t need someone else’s opinion to make that decision.

You know at one time in this country and all over the world, women were told that formula feeding was “better”, “cleaner”, more “scientific”, more “advanced”, the thing that wealthy women did (and in some countries, the way WHITE woman did things which was obviously insulting to mothers) and the way of the future. Obviously those experts were wrong! One of the reasons I don’t go with the status quo automatically but question the way things are done is because I have seen how that “sheeple” mentality so often turns out.

Being a natural parent also means doing things in a natural way as much as you can. When I was pregnant with my oldest, my Mom talked to me about how much she enjoyed using cloth diapers with me. I thought it would be a great way to save money, so I started looking around at diaper services and cloth diaper systems. People laughed at me, but 4 kids later I still love cloth diapers.

A lot of natural parents reject circumcision because it’s a painful, unnecessary (for health anyway) surgery and vaccination because they’re unconvinced that the shots are effective or safe, and they prefer to build their child’s immune system naturally. Most natural parents reject spanking. They often prefer a gentler discipline style. Many of them are homeschooling. Most of them are interested in nutrition.

But we’re not all the same. I know moms who are far more crunchy than me who vaccinated their kids – I didn’t. I know other moms who had their babies at home but who wouldn’t use a cloth diaper if they were paid to. And I know moms who are NOT natural in any way but who I admire for some of their mothering skills.

You know as I type this I realize that natural parents do what they do for slightly different reasons. Some are motivated by environmental concerns, some by politics, some by findings in the field of psychology and some by philosophy.

For me, it’s largely from my belief that when God made moms and babies, he didn’t make a mistake. I trust that a woman’s body is capable of birth and of feeding her baby. I trust that a baby’s cry is supposed to be uncomfortable so it will motivate the adults listening to do something instead of it being ignored. I believe that people are more important than things and that things can’t replace human contact. So that belief is reflected in my parenting choices.

I’m sure that after I write this I’ll think of a hundred more things to say. I hope that makes sense for now

Ack! Sorry Alyssa, I forgot to post your question. I was trying to get this published while getting the kids ready to walk out the door. So here goes:

You’ve recently launched a ghostwriting business. Have you always enjoyed writing and what sparked that interest?

Tiffany has posted another awesome and informative article about safe bpa free sippy cups. I didn’t use sippy cups with my kids because my oldest started biting me when he nursed after exposure to a sippy cup, and the same thing happened with kid number two, and I didn’t feel like repeating the experiment with 3 and 4. LOL! Plastic has always given me the creeps and I didn’t want my babies eating on a plastic plate. Now I know why… more and more research is coming out showing the link between plastics and health problems.

If you use sippy cups, read her post to learn more about what bpa is and why it’s wise to keep it away from babies.

I read an article the other day that I feel compelled to share. Do you remember that scene in Indian in the Cupboard where the boys have taken the cowboy and indian to school with them and start fighting over them? Their teacher confronts them and Omri starts shouting: “They’re only Plas-Tek. PLAS-TEK!” to signal to them to pretend they were just toys?

That’s what this article reminded me of. We’re all turning into plastic. There’s plastic in our lungs, livers, and in our breastmilk. The sea is turning into plastic. Did you know that there is a floating mass of plastic in the ocean that is twice the size of Texas? That’s scary. It’s killing and deforming the sea creatures.

Now, I’m not a big “scare tactic” person. I prefer not to focus on all the bad stuff in the world. If I can’t fix it, it doesn’t do me any good to bring it into my conscious awareness. I don’t watch the news for this reason. I can’t do a thing about the fact that women keep throwing their babies into dumpsters or let their creepy boyfriends molest their kids. And my personal belief system is that man is not going to be able to turn this around on his own. It will take divine intervention to fix it. I believe that we’ll have a thousand years to clean up the planet, with God’s assistance, and turn it back into the paradise he gave us initially. The problem is simply too large for us to solve on our own. At the same time, I also believe that it’s my job to do what I can not to contribute to the ruining of the earth, and that those who willfully do so out of greed will be punished.

So after reading this article I’m committed to doing several things. Some of these I already do, but now I’m committed to doing them.

• Always always have a reusable bottle of water in the car so I’m not tempted to buy water in plastic containers
• Always keep my coffee travel mug with me so a run into Starbucks doesn’t mean one more plastic lid floating around
• Take the plastic bags I already have to the grocery store and when they run out, use cloth
• Using cloth menstrual products (I like my mother of eden and glad rags pads).
• Buying food in glass containers even if I have to pay more (since glass is infinitely recyclable!)
• Avoid plastic toys as much as possible and go for cardboard, wood and cloth (my kids like to make toys out of natural things too, like shells, rocks, sticks and mud, which I’m glad of). One exception would be Lego, because of their environmental stance and the fact that Lego do not lose value, which means when your kids are done with them, you can resell them on eBay for almost retail (sometimes more!) and keep them out of the landfills.
• Make my own stuff if I can’t find it in glass (like ketchup, here is a recipe)
• Making my own household cleaners instead of buying them in plastic (the detergent I buy comes in cardboard but I also want to try this recipe which is DIRT cheap)

What about you? What do you do to reduce, reuse and recycle the plastic in your life?

A few weeks ago on the show I interviewed Kathleen Kendall Tackett, a breastfeeding expert who talked about how depressed moms who are nursing their babies can be helped without medications. Here is a news piece that talks about this effect and quotes Dr. Kendall Tackett.

The research shows that breastfeeding needs to be “going well” to have the protective effect. So this underscores the importance of getting good information and support ahead of time. It’s invaluable to have a team of supporters (like La Leche League leaders, friends, breastfeeding friendly medical team, your relatives etc) to help you out – and to get that in place before the baby ever arrives.

Sorry, part of this post is missing. The newsfeed was throwing off my blog template.

Ladies, if you’re a mom who has combined working with breastfeeding, come over to this Mom Faq site and help a Mom decide whether she should try to nurse her baby when she’s going back to work.

Should this working mom breastfeed?

She could use your pumping tips and some encouragement!

Every once in awhile I get on a tear about some of the dubious breastfeeding advice I see in magazines, websites, and other places. Good information is vital for breastfeeding, so it really works my nerves to see bad advice from so-called experts, some of whom are male M.D.s who don’t even have breasts, or female M.D.s who have had unsuccessful breastfeeding experiences. Hmm….

So here is part one of my series on “breastfeeding tips you can ignore”. Enjoy

Breastfeeding rule meant to be broken Number One: Only nurse for XXX minutes per side

Fill in the blank here. It may be 5 minutes, 10 minutes or 15 minutes, but breastfeeding mothers are often told to watch the clock instead of watching their baby. Well meaning people (like the labor and delivery nurse who told me this after my oldest was born) say this because they think that soreness has to do with how long or how often baby nurses. It doesn’t.

Soreness has to do with HOW baby nurses. It has to do with how baby is latching on, how s/he is positioned, how mom is positioned, how much nipple and areola are in the baby’s mouth, his tongue’s position, the shape of his palate and a bunch of other things. Most of the time these different factors all come together nicely and mom and baby learn how to make it all work without a hitch. Sometimes the pair needs a little help making it work. But limiting time spent at the breast is bad advice.

Why is this poor advice?

Because babies can’t tell time. A newborn may take 15 minutes to nurse on one breast, especially if he’s (and you’re) still learning the ropes. Don’t set a time limit on your newborn’s nursings. There is no such thing as “non-nutritive sucking”. Baby will always be rewarded with ounces or drops of milk for as long as he is at the breast.

In addition, the milk that baby gets at the end of the feeding, after the second letdown, is higher in fat and calories.

Limiting time at the breast may, for some babies, lead to slow weight gain, fussiness, excessive gassiness and other problems caused by a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance, which is just a fancy way of saying that baby gets too much of the “skim” milk at the beginning of the feeding and not enough of the fattier “cream” at the end.

Bottom line? Don’t watch the clock.

Stay tuned for more bad breastfeeding advice.

Many of you may know that August 1-7 is World Breastfeeding Week.

Peek-a-Boo-B nursing covers is donating a portion of their proceeds to La Leche League USA. More info below.

Cayden Creations and Dana and I are ready to finally to step up and start fulfilling our corporate mission to support La Leche League-USA (LLL-USA) and other breastfeeding organizations.  In support of the LLL-USA World Breastfeeding Week August 1-7, 2007 we are doing a fundraiser from the proceeds of our Peek-a-Boo B Nursing Cover sales during the entire month of August. 

With all my heart, I thank you sincerely for spreading the word for us. 

Warmest regards,
Darlene and Dana

I’ve been interested in this issue for some time. Do HIV positive Moms harm or help their children by breastfeeding? Marian Thompson, one of the cofounders of La Leche League International, founded Another Look to take … well, another look at the research.

Here is a recent finding: Breastfeeding alone cuts the HIV risk. Mixed feeding, meaning partial breastfeeding and partial formula feeding, increases the risk because of the damage formula does to the baby’s gastrointestinal system which cause tiny “cuts” in the baby’s bowel, increasing the likelihood of HIV transmission.

Interestingly, the current party line here in the US is for HIV positive women to formula feed. But in developing lands, where formula is prohibitively expensive, and clean water to mix it with scarce or difficult to obtain, this is not so.

I’ve never used a breastfeeding cover when nursing a baby… technically. I have and do often use a baby sling to accomplish the same thing however. A lot of breastfeeding advocates are opposed to nursing cover ups, and I understand their argument. After all, why should you need to hide feeding a baby? It’s totally natural and normal.

At the same time, I’m more interested in meeting a woman where she’s at and getting more breastmilk into her baby for more months/years. To that end, I think nursing covers can be a good tool in a mother’s arsenal. For example:

• New babies- New babies typically need a little help getting latched on. They’re not old pros yet who can find the nipple in their sleep. It might take Mom a minute or two to get baby settled, and then she might have to stay put so as to avoid jostling the baby and causing him to lose his latch. So rather than leaving the room or pulling her blouse up to her throat, she could toss a nursing cover over her shoulder and get the job done.
• Distracted babies – Many babies, especially at around the 9 month mark, are very distractable during feedings. If you need your little one to get down to business instead of doing the on-again, off-again dance, a nursing cover may be just the ticket. This helps if he’s overstimulated and having trouble getting to sleep too.
• Nervous Mommies – If a Mom is nervous about breastfeeding in public, I would much rather see her nurse under cover than go to the trouble of pumping and feeding her baby a bottle that may cause problems for her baby (nipple confusion doesn’t happen to all babies, but for some, it only takes *one* bottle to cause difficulties).
• Unenlightened Relatives – Some of us, no matter how strongly we feel about breastfeeding, have relatives (or even friends) who think it’s “gross” to feed a child the way nature intended. If your family is going to spew out toxic energy and make you feel bad about meeting your baby’s needs, use a cover up. That way you head off a lot of the negative comments.

Personally I think that slings are more convenient as a nursing cover since they can also be used as a carrier. Many times I’ve been nursing a little one and had someone go so far as to peek in and not even know I was breastfeeding. There are some gorgeous slings around these days.

If you prefer some other type of baby carrier or don’t like slings, you can get all types of nursing cover ups too.

Well now I guess I might get a nasty letter from the Pork industry like my friend Jennifer aka The Lactivist did.

Apparently Jennifer has stepped on the pig people’s toes with her “The Other White Milk” breastfeeding advocacy tshirt. Read the whole story here: Pork people want to sue Lactivist

What are your thoughts? I try to stay away from pork anyway, but would seeing a shirt like this lower your opinion of the Pork industry?

What I really think is hilarious is their assertion that Jennifer is somehow insulting pork by using their slogan… as if breastfeeding were (yet again…) “dirty”.

Breastmilk is dirty and dead pig flesh isn’t. Hmm. Interesting.

At around 7 pm Tuesday night Sadie whined and pointed towards the bed, and I lay down with her and nursed, and she’s been fine since! I’m so glad it’s over, of course, I had a seriously bad case of mastitis as a result and felt like I had been hit by a truck.

It’s so interesting that we use the term breastfeeding “strike” to describe this. So many babies have been weaned when they weren’t ready because they went on strike and Mom thought they were done… but that’s not the case.

A worker on strike doesn’t want to quit his job, if he did, he would just leave. He goes on strike because he wants to stay at his current employment, but he finds something unbearable about the conditions.

And so it goes with baby. One minute, nursing fine, next minute, baby won’t nurse. Maybe her throat hurts. Maybe she has an earache, maybe she bit and you screamed (understandable, but frightening to some sensitive babies ). Maybe you’re on vacation and she can’t settle down to nurse.

And so the rounds of “negotiations” begin. While Sadie was striking it was:

Will you nurse in the sling? No.
Will you nurse in the tub? No.
Will you nurse if I walk you around? No.
Will you take your milk in a cup if it’s cold? Bingo!

And so I met her halfway by pumping and offering her my milk in a cup, but she would only drink it if it was cold. That helped me understand why she was on strike – her throat hurt. (She would also eat ice cream, which is soothing to a sore throat.)

Anyway, I’m glad it’s over and I learned something from this experience. It’s easy to rattle off what to do when your baby goes on a breastfeeding strike, it’s another to experience the emotional and physical discomfort – both hers and mine.

I learned that a Mommy is more than her breasts. My little one needed me more than ever – my lap, my arms, my attention. I learned that I’m still her favorite person in the world, milk or no milk. She clearly wanted and preferred me since she was so uncomfortable.

I hope I don’t take it for granted again.

Sadie is feeling much better today thank goodness, her fever is gone and she’s running around as usual. I finally got her to nurse right before she fell asleep last night, at around 7 or so. And she did nurse through the night.

Unfortunately I have a wicked case of mastitis at the moment. I shivered all night last night with fever and chills. And Sadie won’t nurse again today. I think it’s because of her stuffy nose. She will latch on but immediately pulls away.

I tried several things yesterday to woo her to the breast including wearing her a lot in a sling, walking with her, trying different positions, and taking a bath together. Nothing worked. She would only drink pumped breastmilk cold in a cup.

I hope she decides to nurse today when she naps.

It took me several hours to realize what was happening, but now I realize that I am in the midst of a full fledged nursing strike. This is my 4th child, almost 9 years of breastfeeding without a break, and I’ve never had this happen!

Sadie is 16 months, and still nursing frequently. Saturday evening she woke up from a nap feeling pretty warm. Her temperature was pretty high all day Sunday, and she was a tad listless and refusing food. Saturday night, all day Sunday and all night last night she was nursing almost without a break.

She refused solids and would only take a tiny bit of liquids. I wasn’t worried though because she was making plenty of wet diapers so I knew she was staying hydrated. She had no other symptoms so I figured her immune system was doing its job with the fever and didn’t worry too much, but Monday morning she was still hot, so I took her to the Pediatrician. The last time she nursed was first thing in the morning, around 7 am.

It’s now 5:45 and I’ve been unable to get her to nurse.

When I try she just whines and pushes me away. It’s funny, she is acting ‘off’ and grumpy even though her fever broke and she’s feeling much better. She’s up and playing and interacting, which she wasn’t doing yesterday. The Pedi said she had pus on her tonsils, and that she was probably in pain.

This is probably what’s causing the strike. Generally it’s something like an ear infection or sore throat that makes swallowing hurt, or teething that makes pressure in the mouth from the suction painful. It can also be caused by a strong reaction in baby to something Mom did, like scream after a bite. This didn’t happen in our case though.

Today at around 3:30 I realized that I was swollen and engorged, with that “clustered grape” feeling high up in my breast. Strangely, I thought it was odd that a couple of times when I had offered to nurse she had gotten down out of my lap, but I didn’t really think much of it until I felt the discomfort. She still wanted to hang out in my lap and be held all the time.

I didn’t even own a pump and have never really had to pump, but I didn’t want to risk mastitis so I went out and bought an Avent Isis Manual Breast Pump. It’s comfortable and easy to use, and inexpensive. Plus I owned one several years ago and found it effective.

Sadie is drinking a little breastmilk out of a sippy cup, the old Tupperware style that kind of drips out instead of the new kind that requires a lot of suction.

Still, I’m feeling sad and hoping we get through this quickly. I know this is probably not a weaning, since those happen gradually and almost never when a baby is sick, but still… I’ve heard of strikes ending badly, and the thought of her being “all done” saddens me.

I’ll keep you posted, and if you have any tips or stories to share, please comment here.

P.S. It’s over now, but I shared more of the story on day two and day three

How Breastfeeding Benefits a Daddy

You know that breastfeeding is best for mother and child, but what’s in it for Dad? Isn’t he going to miss out by not getting to share in the joy of feeding the baby? Let’s see how Dads benefit when a Mom chooses to breastfeed their child.

Cost Savings
This is a big one for Dad! Whether he’s the sole income provider or not, adding a new member to the family can be a source of worry for him. Let him in on the fact that one year of breastfeeding can keep over $1,000 in the family budget. That’s just for bottles and formula, that doesn’t include extra Doctor visits and prescriptions that happen when baby is formula fed.

More Sleep
Let’s face it. He doesn’t have the equipment to handle the job of night feedings. While some Moms choose to pump and let Dad offer a bottle at night, for many Moms, snuggling up with baby at night to nurse is the norm. In a lot of families, this means Dad can head off to work with a full night’s rest.

Proud Papa
When Dad sees how baby’s cheeks and thighs are filling out on Mom’s milk alone, he tends to view her as some kind of Dairy Queen. What an amazing capacity she has to help his child grow and thrive! Many Dads become huge proponents of breastfeeding when they see how healthy their babies are.

Health Benefits
Dads are especially impressed by the fact that breastfed babies gain an average of 8 IQ points over their formula fed counterparts. Breastfeeding also means that Mom is less likely to get ovarian or breast cancer. The extended nonfertility that many nursing Moms experience is also a plus in Dads book.

Focus on Mom
Since Mom is breastfeeding, Dad can find other ways to bond with baby and be a support to Mom. Some ideas: take baby for walks, burp and bathe baby, sing baby to sleep, massage baby and read to baby. He can also be in charge of helping Mom stay fed and hydrated in the early weeks while she recovers from the birth. And since Mom is handling the “input”, Dad can be in charge of “output”. Dads are far more likely to be willing to change diapers since a breastfed baby’s poop doesn’t have an unpleasant odor (until solid food is added!).

How does your baby’s Daddy feel about you breastfeeding? 

Every few years we find out another of the benefits to a Mother’s health from breastfeeding. Here’s a recent one:

Breastfeeding Mothers have less Rheumatoid Arthritis

Quote: Looking at total lifetime breastfeeding, regardless of number of children, women who had breast-fed for between 13 and 23 months had a 20 percent reduction in the risk of RA compared with women who did not breastfeed. Women who had breast-fed for at least 24 months – two full years out of their childbearing years – increased their risk reduction to 50 percent.

“Our data suggest breast-feeding confers long lasting protection against developing RA,” Dr. Karlson states, “because the mean time since the last pregnancy among women with RA was 25 years.”

Hey Moms,

What’s the internet for if not to help our fellow Moms? A subscriber wrote to me and while I have to run out the door to take the kids off for a fun outing, she gave me permission to post her question here. I’ll be back later with some suggestions, but in the meantime, if you’ve BTDT, give her some assistance

I am a full time working mom who is still fortunate enough to be bf while I’m home and I pump at work 2x a day. My milk supply is getting lower and lower during the day. I have only been able to get about 6 oz at a time, and I pump every 4 hours. I’m worried that I’m not making enough for him for during the day. He’s also been waking more frequently at night lately to nurse, but I think it may be his molars are coming in. I don’t know. He’s my first. Do you have any advice as far as getting my milk supply back up during the day and then maybe how to get him to sleep at night? This whole reverse schedule is exhausting! None of my friends are still bf, so they don’t understand, and they don’t really have any advice for me. I hope maybe you can help me out a little.

If you’re like me, you wait way too long to get new bras. I’m off to buy some new ones myself right now!

Especially when you’re breastfeeding, your size can change a few times postpartum. As you lose the baby weight, your band size will get smaller, and your cup size may also.

FigLeaves.com has a nice selection of nursing bras including the Daisy maternity bra and many of them are on sale. Click on the banner below to start browsing.

I always have to laugh when I hear the word meme, because that is 16 month old Sadie’s word for nursing When I hear “meme! meme!” It usually means I’m looking for the nearest flat surface to sit down on. Only not to blog, to breastfeed. Although I can do both at the same time. Like now. LOL

Jennifer aka the Lactivist has tagged me with this one, about what my water mug looks like. Mine is pretty boring… I usually just grab one of the big plain Target glasses I have. Although I would love one of these fancy red numbers, if I wasn’t such a klutz and had to buy a new 20 piece set of them every 4 months.

Although red glass might be easier to find and sweep up than clear! And why is it feet are such better finders of tiny glass shards than a broom and vacuum?

So now let’s hear from Jen, Tiffany, and Sarah

This is the first time I’ve participated in Motherwear’s Carnival of Breastfeeding. I was encouraged to share my goal for the upcoming year, which I did here. Here is what the other bloggers had to say:

~ Get some exercise (Breastfeeding123.com)
~ Plan ahead for quality family and couple time (BreastfeedingMums Blog)
~ Work on manageable goals (drink more water, volunteer, not overextend) (The Lactivist)
~ Get organized (Mama Knows Breast)
~ Do at least three things to support breastfeeding (Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog)
~ Consider what’s best for your child first (Momma’s Angel)

Did you know that when you order nursing clothing, bras or other supplies from Motherwear, you can help other Moms and babies?

Their innovative charitable program is designed to help nursing moms and their families in need, in local communities and around the world. When you place an order, 3% of your total will go towards various charities that work directly with nursing mothers.

PLUS, I have a special discount code that can get you an extra $10 off. The code is: WN51 Don’t forget to enter it at the end for your discount! Tell your friends and family too, they can also use the discount.

Go here to start browsing ===> Motherwear