Thankful for baby bliss.
Recently a client sent me a nice note with a generous check. She had been feeling gratitude for the help she received to breastfeed her son. There were multiple lactation consultations in her home, a frenotomy (the procedure to release a tongue tie) and body work for baby. There were many up-front costs–some of which were not covered by insurance. Here’s what she wrote: Continue reading
Getting some reassurance from an IBCLC
You have just had a baby. You’ve always known you would breastfeed, but things are not going well. Perhaps your nipples are sore. Or you’re struggling with engorgement. Maybe you’re worried about milk supply. Or your baby has hard time latching. Or maybe you just have a lot of questions. In any case, you and your healthcare provider have decided you need the help of an expert. It’s time to call a lactation consultant. Continue reading
Multi-tasking!
Alice came to me concerned about how she was going to keep breastfeeding once she returned to her full-time career. In her workplace, there is no such thing as 9-5. Everyone is expected to put in long days. I talked to her about asking for what she needed and setting some limits. We also talked about creative ways to meet her baby’s needs. She took my suggestions and ran with them—developing her own, unique style. Many thanks to Alice for sharing how she has managed to maintain her breastfeeding relationship and continue her fast-paced work life.
Christian is a big, healthy boy who is now enjoying solid foods in addition to mommy’s milk. Here is her success story: Continue reading
I have never, in all my years of breastfeeding help, seen a case of nipple confusion. There, I said it. For many years I thought I saw it. I bought the whole concept that introduction of bottles too early would cause a baby to reject his mother’s breast. That somehow the baby would get “confused” and suddenly not know how to breastfeed.
So what made me change my tune? The babies themselves. They proved to me over and over again that the idea of nipple confusion is nonsense. They showed me that they are infant mammals and that mammals are hard-wired to do this thing we call breastfeeding. And they showed me that they are born to be adaptable and perfectly capable of adjusting to a wide variety of challenges that life doles out on a daily basis. Continue reading
It is commonly understood that breastfeeding people returning to work face multiple challenges. Balancing work and parenthood, carving out time to pump at work and maintaining adequate milk production are all topics that any employed, lactating person can discuss at length. Studies have shown over and over again that employment outside the home reduces breastfeeding duration.
A new study recently published in the Journal of Human Lactation (August, 2011) has shed some new light on this topic. It sought to understand the relationship between breastfeeding and occupational type (professional, administrative, service, sales, etc.) and postpartum employment status. The researchers asked about initiation of breastfeeding as well as duration of breastfeeding. The subjects in the study included thousands of women in the U.S. from all walks of life. Continue reading