What do you think is the factor that most influences whether or not a woman breastfeeds? Her determination? Baby’s ability? Interventions during childbirth? Mother’s milk supply? Family history of breastfeeding? The answer is: None of the above. Continue reading
Tongue-tied newborn
Let’s assume for a moment that breastfeeding is not important. That the oral development that breastfeeding provides is inconsequential. We will ignore, for just a moment, the fact that the act of breastfeeding helps develop the baby’s jaw, his facial muscles and properly shapes the palate to make room for his future teeth. We’ll ignore all of that so that I can give you a few other reasons to agree to have your baby’s frenulum clipped. Just in case the possibility of pain free, effective breastfeeding is not a good enough reason for you.
The reason I’m being just a bit sarcastic is because there are plenty of health care professionals out there who do not “believe in” freeing a tongue tied baby’s tongue “just” so he can breastfeed. “After all,” they say, “..you can just feed your baby pumped milk or formula from a bottle.” Continue reading
This is a test! Please read the following statements and respond “true” or “false” to each one.
1. If I breastfeed, I have to eat a bland diet.
2. If I eat broccoli, my baby will have gas.
3. If I have a glass of wine, I have to “pump and dump.”
4. I cannot drink coffee while breastfeeding.
5. If I eat chocolate, my breastfed baby will get diarrhea. 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