Blogging for Babies, Breastfeeding and Mothers

Yes, children mimic their parents. They role play all aspects of daily life from washing dishes to going to work to driving the kids to school. I've never heard angry comments about little girls cutting the grass or little boys vacuuming, but some people are calling a poster of a little girl breastfeeding her doll 'disgusting'. It's happening at the children's ward of Rochdale Infirmary in Lancashire, UK.

Visitors as well as feminists are calling the poster shocking and abnormal. One is going as far as to say it is something that a pedophile would use to convince a child that doing what grownups do is normal. Now this is what is shocking.

Val Finigan, infant feeding coordinator and an avid promoter of breastfeeding, said: "This poster is part of a larger campaign to raise awareness among children because many of them may have no knowledge of breastfeeding."

Are we working too hard to raise breastfeeding awareness? Are we using the wrong tactics? Teaching children that breastfeeding is normal is the place to begin. Get it into their thinking while they are young. Most western children do not even see animals feeding their young, so breastfeeding is very foreign.

How many of you have watched your own children breastfeed their dolls or stuffed animals? It would be great to have some pictures posted.

I stumbled upon this poem published in 1928 by Pam Brown. It spoke to my heart and I wanted to pass it along. So many mothers struggle with breastfeeding. Some get it all worked out just in time to go back to work and watch it quickly unravel. Others, no matter how hard they try, can't get it to "work." In western cultures, some will reach their breastfeeding goal and stand proud and at peace, but their numbers are small. I want you to realize that you will always do the very best you can given the resources available to you.

Perfect Mother 

You mothers

have a habit of blaming yourself

for everything that goes wrong.

You were so determined to get it right-

to bring us up perfectly.

You forget. There's never a rehearsal

for every child is totally unlike the others.

Of course you made mistakes

but I don't want a perfect mother.

I want one who is human and can understand

and lets me make my own catastrophes.

You haven't feet of clay-

just ordinary human feet

subject to callouses and fallen arches.

I love you exactly as you are.

Mothers are amazing. The love thay have for their children is unmatchable.

Thank you to my mother who has loved me well.

Debbie

The debate around supplementing breastfeeding babies with vitamin D continues. Not all experts agree this is necessary. However, there are newly recognized disease risks associated with vitamin D deficiency as documented in a report published in December 2008 Breastfeeding Medicine.

In a paper entitled, "Does Vitamin D Make the World Go ‘Round'?" the authors state that "vitamin D is now viewed not simply as a vitamin with a role in promoting bone health, but as a complex hormone that helps to regulate immune system function. Long-term vitamin D deficiency has been linked to immune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, type I diabetes, and cancer."

According to Ruth A. Lawrence, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Breastfeeding Medicine, from the Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, "Vitamin D is a hormone not a vitamin and it is not just for kids anymore. Perhaps the most startling information is that adults are commonly deficit in modern society. Vitamin D is now recognized as a pivotal hormone in the human immune system, a role far beyond the prevention of rickets."

Adequate vitamin D in childhood may reduce the risk of developing osteoporosis (weakened bone disease) in later life. Vitamin D is also important for the immune system and the prevention of a range of autoimmune diseases, diabetes and cancer.

Dr Carol Wagner, member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Section on Breastfeeding Executive Committee and who co-authored the report "Prevention of Rickets and Vitamin D Deficiency in Infants, Children, and Adolescents" Pediatrics, November 2008; vol 122, with Frank R. Greer said:

"Breastfeeding is the best source of nutrition for infants," but "because of vitamin D deficiencies in the maternal diet, which affect the vitamin D in a mother's milk, it is important that breastfed infants receive supplements of vitamin D".

This new recommendation follows a review of recent clinical trials on vitamin D that show 400 units of vitamin D a day not only prevents but also treats rickets, the bone-softening disease.

A sufficient amount of vitamin D stops children from developing rickets. Exposure to sunshine (our skin makes vitamin D from sunshine) is the best way to receive vitamin D, but there are problems with determining what is a safe amount of exposure to the sun. According to Anne Meerwood, director of the Breastfeeding Center of Boston Medical Center, "While a sunburn should be avoided, even a small amount of time spent outdoors was protective against deficiency [in the women]."

The peak incidence of rickets is in babies aged between 3 and 18 months, but there are also reports of the disease in older children and adolescents. Rickets continues to occur in the US and other western countries.

Current AAP recommendations:

• Babies who are fully or partly breastfed should start having a daily supplement of 400 IU of vitamin D within a few days of birth.
  
• Babies who are not breastfed, and older children, who consume less than one quart (about 2 pints or 1 litre) of vitamin D-fortified formula or milk a day should also be taking a daily supplement of 400 IU of vitamin D.
  
• Adolescents should also be taking a daily supplement of 400 IU of vitamin D if their diet does not give them this amount every day.
  
• Some children may need higher doses, for instance if they are taking certain medications that put them at higher risk of vitamin D deficiency.
  
• Healthcare providers caring for women during their pregnancy should consider monitoring their vitamin D levels, given the growing body of evidence that vitamin D is important for fetal development.

I'd love to hear what the Pediatricians and Family Practice doctors in your area are recommending. When you leave your comment be sure to tell us where you live since hours of sunlight vary around the world.
 

Anne Meerwood, director of the Breastfeeding Center at Boston Medical Center, invetigated the vitamin D levels in mothers and their newborns within 72 hours of delivery. Questionaires and medical charts provided information about the women's vitamin D supplementation, while blood tests revealed the vitamin D levels.

Of the 433 mothers interviewed 36% were vitamin D deficient. 58% of the 376 newborns studied were deficient. Two thirds of the subjects were severely deficient. 

Even women who took vitamin D suppplements at least 5 times weekly throughout their pregnancy were ~30% deficient.

A vitamin D deficient mother is 5 times more likely to have a vitamin D deficient infant. Infants of African American descent, those born to obese mothers and those born in winter versus summer are also more likely to have a vitamin D deficiency.

Infant care providers have debated for some time now the issue of routine vitamin D supplementation for breastfeeding babies.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the exact vitamin D requirement of lactating mothers and breastfeeding babies is not currently known.Therefore they are recommending breastfeeding babies get a daily supplement of 400 IU of vitamin D.

Our skin makes vitamin D from sunshine making it the most ideal way to get vitamin D. Very few foods in nature contain vitamin D:

• fatty fish - the flesh of fish (such as salmon, tuna, and mackerel) and fish liver oils are among the best sources.
• beef liver - small amounts
• cheese - small amounts
• egg yolks - small amounts
• Some mushrooms provide vitamin D
• Fortified foods provide most of the vitamin D in the American diet, such as vitamin D fortified milk.