Let’s face it—after having a baby nearly everything about your relationship with your partner is different. You are both sleep deprived, she is experiencing wild hormonal changes as well as recovering from childbirth and possibly even surgery. You are looking at your wife as a new person. She is suddenly a mother. The mother of your baby. 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
A phone consultation is a great way to get some expert help at about half the cost of a home visit. Bonus: You don’t have to leave your comfy chair! It’s appropriate for a wide variety of situations. I commonly provide phone consultations for return-to-work planning, milk supply problems, breastfeeding management concerns, weaning and sleep issues. Phone consultations work best when breastfeeding is going well (or has in the past) but there are other issues that need to be addressed.
You caught my daughter’s posterior tongue tie over the phone & with emailed pictures when other health care professionals completely overlooked it! It’s now being corrected next week! I’m really excited to see how this improves her breastfeeding! *THANK YOU*
What can you expect from a phone consultation?
With the arrival of the New Year many of us make resolutions about improving our health by eating better. As a breastfeeding mom, you may be wondering if it’s possible to eat well and safely lose weight while still caring for your baby.
Weight loss immediately after birth is quite dramatic. Birthing a baby, placenta and fluids can result in the immediate loss of 12 pounds or more. In the weeks and months that follow, however, your “baby weight” will come off more slowly. The good news is, most breastfeeding mothers lose weight easily, without depriving themselves of anything! In fact, many mothers find they have to eat more than they ever did before and STILL they lose weight. Those baby pounds come off like magic!
Since breastfeeding is such a great calorie burner, you may be tempted to eat a less than ideal diet. But just as in pregnancy, keep in mind you are eating for two! Continue reading
Relaxing with Baby
Back in the day, before I was an IBCLC, I spent hours on the phone as a La Leche League Leader, listening to and trying to help breastfeeding mothers. My co-leaders and I were very active with 2 well-attended group meetings per month. It was not unusual for me to talk on the phone with several mothers each day of the week. After a year or 2 of this work, I began to notice a trend. During major holidays, almost all of the calls were about plugged ducts, mastitis and milk supply.
I discussed this with more experienced leaders. “Yep,” they agreed, “those breastfeeding problems happen more during major life events—especially holidays!” It was such a recognizable phenomenon, we were able to predict the types of calls we could expect based on the time of year. Toward the end of November, we started preparing for the flood of plugged ducts and mastitis calls. Continue reading