Blogging for Babies, Breastfeeding and Mothers

Breastfeeding, as I said in my last post, doesn't always work. Yesterday's phone call was another example. I sensed the hesitancy in her voice and then she blurted out, "I've given up." We talked awhile; I praised her for her hard work and then we said goodbye.

I was driving down the highway reflecting on our conversation and I realized that I wanted to tell her story. She had indeed worked very hard to make breastfeeding work and yet she was calling after a few weeks to say "enough". I called her right back; I heard the smile in her voice as she agreed.

Do you know how hard it is for a woman to speak these words to her lactation consultant? after all she had a private prenatal class with me and two home visits. She had chosen to formula feed her first two children and was so excited about breastfeeding this baby. She left my office that day full of hope and feeling very much at peace. She had learned everything I could teach her before her baby arrived. So what happened?

In the mother's own words, "I wish I had called you while I was still in the hospital." She started with damaged nipples the first feeding and of course had tons of pain. Formula was brought in because she didn't have 'enough milk.' She was sleep deprived as all new moms are and she had two other children. Life took over and she kept thinking it was going to be better tomorrow. She forgot in her exhaustion and pain that her breasts make as much milk as the baby is drinking -- downward spiral began.

So many mothers tell the same story. Aren't we as women notorious for putting off taking care of ourselves? Why do the airlines have to tell us every time we fly, "Put your own mask on first, then assist someone else."

By the time she called me, her milk production was not matching the baby's appetite. We met and she began faithfully plugging away at pumping until she just couldn't do it anymore. What an incredible mom. It's difficult enough to pump with one baby, but with two other children? A daunting task.

So what was the problem I ask again? Lack of support from a seasoned breastfeeding mother or specialist walking her through each day. We need it ladies. It's not a weakness, it's a part of the tapestry of being a woman. Women, not books or websites teach women how to breastfeed by being there.

Another booby trap for breastfeeding? Best for Babes will agree. This is the organization that will set breastfeeding free. Check out their mantra on my home page.

Your story? Your booby trap? Your feelings?

and When we use the word 'but' it negates the first statement; whereas if we join the two statements with 'and' both statements speak the truth.

All of us have known or heard of someone that wanted to breastfeed, but wasn't able. There are many reasons a woman does not produce plenty of milk, with the number one reason in the US being "perceived milk insufficiency".

I say perceived because there is a very small percentage of women that do not actually produce a full production of milk for their baby. To beat the dead horse again: introduction of formula in the early days and weeks leads to low milk production for many women, but by the time they realize it, they are convinced that the reason they needed formula was because they didn't have enough milk . Convoluted but reality for many. But what about those women that do not produce lots of milk no matter what they do?

What are some of the causes of true milk insufficiency?

1. Hormonal issues
2. Lack of sufficient glandular tissue or breast tissue damage
   
3. Damage to the nerves in the breast
4. Heavy smoking
5. High Body Mass Index (BMI)

Breastfeeding is more than providing all the milk your baby needs.

1. Breastfeeding is a bond between mother and baby
2. Breastfeeding is much calmer than bottlefeeding -- as measured by the stress hormone cortisol
3. Breastfeeding meets the emotional needs of the newborn
4. All babies need a fourth trimester at their mother's breast
   

Dr. Allison Steube talks about this in her blog When Lactation Doesn't Work.

I implore you to breastfeed even if you son't think or you know you don't have a full production of breastmilk. Many of my clients have breastfed for months or years even though they needed to supplement with donor milk or formula. You can finish the feeding at the breast or you can use a feeding tube at the breast to supplement while you are feeding. Again, breastfeeding is not all or none.

Here's the Lact-Aid supplemental nurser system that many women, including adoptive mothers use.

What are or were your challenges with milk production?

Our Mothers are Amazing, Our Babies are Awesome and

Breastmilk is Phenomenal

Anyone remember the breastfeeding campaign---- Babies Were Born to Be Breastfed-- a few years back? Billboards and commercials contained various images of reasons breastfeeding is the better choice for feeding babies. Many people were angry and some were outraged to the point that the Ad Council canceled one of their commercials-- the one where a pregnant woman was riding a mechanical bull: 'You wouldn't take a chance with your baby while you are pregnant so why would you take a chance after your baby is born?' Now Ohio has come out with their own campaign and set of billboard messages.

It won't surprise any of you that people are already taking offense to some of the images, and no...they are not images of babies breastfeeding. They are pictures of babies. The one getting the flack is a baby with milk dripping out of his mouth. I'll admit that my first thought was "yuck"; not because it was breastmilk, just because I couldn't quite tell what was on his mouth.

Will this campaign increase the publics' knowledge of breastmilk's role in public health? Will more people breastfeed as a result? I imagine some will. What are other ways to accomplish this; and are there ways to promote breastfeeding without making someone, somewhere miffed?

Our Mothers are Amazing, Our Babies are Awesome, and

Breastmilk is Phenomenal

• History of Donor Milk - Kara Swanson, PhD

• Anti-tumor Activity of human Milk - Anders Hakansson, PhD

• Human Milk: What About Viruses and Disease Transmission? - Robert Lawrence, MD

• Environmental Contaminants in Human Milk: Are They Harmful? - Ardythe Morrow, PhD

• Making Enough Milk: The Key to Breastfeeding the Preterm Infant - Jane Morton, MD
  

• Donor Milk Banking Around the World - Gillian Weaver & Frances Jones MSN

Wet nurses - women breastfeeding children other than their own - have been around since ancient times. If the natural mother died or was too sick to breastfeed, someone else would breastfeed her baby. In the 1300s wet nurses made more money than any other female workers. In the 1700s it was the most advertised of all professions. In the early 20th century, with awareness of disease transmission, it became difficult to find wet nurses.

In the early 1900s doctors began finding milk donors, typically single mothers - each donor was used specifically for one baby. These women collected their milk at home where they were paid upon pickup. One donor, over time, made $3500 and was able to buy her own house. Later, the hired donors were required to leave their own child to take up residence in the recipient's house. When it no longer made sense for the donor to live with the baby she was breastfeeding, a home was started for the collective group of donors to reside in.

The next step in donor milk was human milk banking, which had its beginnings in Boston at The Boston Floating Hospital. When mothers began feeding their babies cow's milk, mixed with sugar, the babies did not fair well and the infant illness and mortality rate increased. These babies did particularly poorly in the summer months when there was no refrigeration for these baby milks. This common illness became known as "summer sickness". Mothers in the Boston area would bring their sick babies to the floating hospital to be cared for. Human milk was needed for these babies, so every morning he hospital would pick up milk from women along the Boston shore. This milk was then distributed amongst the babies on board. So it was no longer one donor providing her milk for a particular baby; it was multiple women donating their milk to the hospital to distribute among its patients.

Now there are milk banks around the world. Representatives from Australia, UK, Canada, Thailand and other countries were at the conference. I learned so much and am excited to share with you tidbits from the other topics. Breastmilk is fascinating to say the least. There's much more to learn as the researchers were pointing out. Babies need breastmilk, if not from their mothers then from donors.

Would you consider donating milk?

Have you used any donor milk for your baby/babies?

Our Mothers are Amazing, Our Babies are Awesome and

Breastmilk is Phenomenal

In all of my years as a lactation consultant and of course, breastfeeding advocate, I have never seen such a stir in the community as the recent article about breastfeeding saving lives. But breastfeeding isn't the only thing that saves lives. Hold on to you seat. Take a look at what Kangaroo Mother Care does.

New research shows 'Kangaroo Mother Care' reduces newborn deaths more than 50 Percent. Up To Half A Million Newborn Lives Could Be Saved Each Year.

"We are more confident than ever that Kangaroo Mother Care works," said South African-based Dr. Joy Lawn, newborn health expert for Save the Children, and lead author of the analysis.  

 

 

For those of you not familiar with Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC), it involves the following:

• Skin-to-skin contact
• Exclusive breastfeeding
• Support to the mother infant dyad.
  

Preemies benefit the most from KMC, but even term babies need it the first week of life or longer. Every day I have the privilege of assisting mothers and their babies bond and breastfeed. When someone comes into my office, skin to skin contact is the first thing I have moms do. Why? Because:

• Babies need it
• Moms need it
• Babies learn to breastfeed better and faster
• Moms make a lot more milk

Planning for a baby? Become a believer in Kangaroo Mother Care; it can mean the difference between exclusive breastfeeding or early formula supplementation.Am I against formula? NO. However, let's raise the bar and aim for exclusive breastfeeding or breastmilk. There is more to breastmilk than meets the eye.WE'll talk about that later.

Anyone encouraged the hospital staff to stay in skin to skin contact with your baby all day?

Our Mothers are Amazing, Our Babies are Awesome,

Breastmilk is Phenomenal

If you were told how to save the lives of 900 babies every year, how would this influence you? Would you change your lifestyle? Would you become an evangelist? Would you go over and above the call of duty to proclaim the news? Most of us would answer yes to these questions.

Well, that's what breastfeeding the first six months will do and that's even if only 90% of women in the US breastfeed, according to a new study reported this morning by the online journal Pediatrics. And the drum roll doesn't stop there. It can save billions of dollars every year, yes billions.

The magnitude of health benefits linked to breast-feeding is vastly underappreciated, said lead author Dr. Melissa Bartick, an internist and instructor at Harvard Medical School. Breast-feeding is sometimes considered a lifestyle choice, but Bartick calls it a public health issue. 

The recommnedation is that babies receive nothing but breastmilk the first six months of life. However, as many of you know, the problem with breastfeeding exclusively begins in the hospital. I would say off the top of my head that three out of every five women that come to me for breastfeeding help have already been giving formula to their babies. And when did it start? Probably 90% of the time it started before the baby was even 48 hours old and sometimes it started at birth.

"Hospital practices need to change to be more in line with evidence-based care," Bartick said. "We really shouldn't be blaming mothers for this." She is right on. Having worked in labor and delivery many years, I know what happens. I'm a nurse, but until I learned in the late 1990's how breastfeeding works, I didn't have a clue as to how to support breastfeeding. Separate mom and baby at birth; bathe the baby; swaddle the baby and then expect her to breastfeed? She's lost those important minutes right after to birth to connect physically and emotionally with her mother. Now that's she is swaddled, she may forget that she has been born and dreams that she is still being fed by the cord. What follows? A sleepy baby not feeding well and a well intentioned nurse saying you don't have enough milk for your baby; let's give her a bottle of formula. Enter: the downward slope.

I still today have mothers tell me that health care professionals have told them that many babies can't breastfeed or that women are evolving away from breastfeeding. Really? Then how has the human race and all mammals survived for all of these years? Yes, there are reasons that babies may not breastfeed or women may not produce enough milk, but mark my words, these can almost always be traced back to our birth practices and hospital routines, which should start with a thorough understanding of newborns and breastfeeding.

Studies like this should turn every person that works with women during their pregnancy and delivery into full fledged evangelist. Support breastfeeding! Empower women! Save the babies! Oh, and along the way save the insurance companies and taxpayers and parents billions of dollars. Who wouldn't vote for that?

Our Mothers are Amazing, Our Babies are Awesome

and Breastmilk is Phenomenal

Have you ever felt blue? Down in the dumps? Totally uninterested in life? I certainly have. Most of us have at some time or other. But when these feelings last for days and weeks, you are probably depressed and need to seek help. What if you are breastfeeding or planning to breastfeed. What can you do?

Depression and the taking of antidepressants do not mean that you can't breastfeed. In fact, breastfeeding can help decrease depression and is definitely recommended. There are other things you can do to decrease your depression, such as diet and exercise.

Thanks to Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, breastfeeding mothers now have lots of great information on depression. Keep an eye out for for Kathleen's name, as she is the expert when it comes to mothers and depression. In her recent article, Do Fats Make You Happy?, Kathleen states:

Depression is on the rise-both here and abroad. And much of this increase is due to what we eat. Over the last century, we've increased the amount of Omega-6 fatty acids in our diets, while simultaneously decreasing the amount of Omega-3s.

She encourages mothers to increase their intake of Omega-3s. But she says, "With regard to depression, Omega-3s are not all created equal... If you want the anti-depressant effects of Omega-3s, you must look for foods or supplements containing the long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids: EPA and DHA." See her article to learn more about which Omega-3s are beneficial.

Healthcare professionals often tell women that they can not breastfeed and take antidepressants. Every week someone calls or emails me asking about antidepressants. Anybody have a story they would like to share?

Our Mothers are Amazing, Our Babies are Awesome and

Breastmilk is Phenomenal