Getting Back to Blogging (and Breastfeeding)

Hi all! I've missed writing, and I'm so sorry for skipping 6 months worth of blogging, but I've been a bit overwhelmed lately. What with the birth of my 3rd baby, having my husband home (he was away for the first 7 months of this year for military training) and wanting to spend every second with him, and then beginning to plan our World Breastfeeding Week celebrations... time has just slipped through my fingers. But I'm back now, so be prepared to have your noggins filled with breastfeeding knowledge!

I have a book called "Breastfeeding Answers Made Simple." I refer to it as my big book of answers, and it really covers EVERYTHING in its 864 pages (index not included). Starting now, I'm going to be flipping to a random page and writing about the issues printed. My goal is that by reading this blog, you'll learn everything you need to know to successfully breastfeed and get over any hurdles that may block your path.

The topic: Illness In the Breastfeeding Baby. Colds, flu, ear infections, and breathing problems. I'm obviously not a doctor, so take everything here and use some common sense. If your babe is sick for more than 3-5 days, and seems to get worse over time rather than better, go to your doctor. My solutions here are to get your baby to nurse, which should help him/her get better. If it doesn't, it might be more serious than just a cold.

With colds, flu, and ear infections, there's usually a lot of fluid build up in the sinuses, which may make nursing difficult. But don't worry! There are solutions to nurse your stuffed up baby. To start, keep baby upright in a sling or in your arms so the sinuses can drain a bit. If that doesn't quite do the trick, use a bulb syringe to suck out the ickies.

You can breastfeed in an upright or laid back position to facilitate breathing, and I've even found that nursing for a short while in a position where baby's head is tilting back slightly can cause the milk to come out the nose, thus clearing out some of that fluid build up. Looks gross, but it is quite effective.

If baby is refusing to nurse because (s)he is struggling to breathe, you might try pumping and feeding baby with either a bottle or a cup, and still frequently offer the breast. Squirting your breast milk up baby's nose can help clear it up, and squirting it in baby's ears (many times a day) can help kill the infection within.

A warm, steamy shower can help loosen up those fluids, and it's a lovely experience to sit in the shower and nurse a babe. One of my favorite things to do when my kiddos have gotten colds.

My next post will be on stomach illnesses, so stay tuned (and if I fall behind, somebody poke me!).

Happy breastfeeding!

Breastfeeding Supply Issues and CCK: Your Supply Is Fine, It's Your Timing That's the Problem!

Here's a post I want to share with you, which I originally wrote for Daily Momtra, and can be found here.

"My baby eats all the time! I think I need to give him formula to satisfy him.”

“When my baby falls asleep with a pacifier, he seems much more satisfied, but I’m always engorged.”

“No matter how often she eats, I feel like she wants to eat again in 10 minutes! I must not have enough milk.”

It’s a very common issue: mommies think that because their breastfed baby just wants to eat and eat (and eat and eat), that they’re either not producing enough milk, or the baby just needs way more than mom can make. I’m here to tell you, in most cases, it’s just not true!

Babies have this neat hormone in their system that tells them when they’re full (high levels) and hungry (low levels). It’s called cholecystokinin (CCK), and it aids in digestion and gives feelings of satiation and well-being in mom and baby. When a baby nurses for a good amount of time, their levels rise and they may get that milk drunk look or just fall asleep. After a nice little nap, their CCK levels drop a bit, so they want to nurse again. They may not actually drink, but just suck until they fall back asleep.

Giving a pacifier can trick this hormone, since it’s created by sucking, but can mess with your supply, and make baby cranky when she wakes up. Breastfeeding your baby when she’s fussy is the best way to restore those full CCK levels and make a happy baby once again. It’s been found that babies with colic have lower levels of CCK in their systems, usually because of an abnormal amount of spitting up. These babies may need a pacifier to help calm them and raise their CCK, when nursing just won’t cut it. The most important thing to remember when using a pacifier is “If you have to, use it, don’t abuse it, quickly lose it.” (Dr. Sears)

CCK is nature’s alarm clock; a very well organized “schedule” to keep your baby well fed and build up your supply. So keep feeding that baby on cue, don’t give that unnecessary bottle or pacifier, and you’ll find yourself in a happy nursing relationship for months (or years) to come.

Happy breastfeeding!

Your Birth and Breastfeeding

How your baby comes into the world can have a large effect on your initial success with breastfeeding. More and more information has come out about how birth affects breastfeeding and hospitals are becoming "Baby Friendly," to encourage and support breastfeeding immediately after birth.

Mothers are having out-of-hospital births (in birth centers and at home), because the chance of them having interventions that hinder breastfeeding are slim to none. I'm going to share with you how each part of today's "normal" births can put a roadblock on your path to successful breastfeeding.

Induction: When a mother is induced, there's a chance her baby is not yet to term, which can cause a delay in the mature milk coming in. Inductions can also double the chance of a c-section, which can give a whole new set of problems.

Pain medication (especially the epidural): When a mother gets an epidural, she must remain in bed until well after the baby is born. She also must have a saline IV, which fills her body with extra fluids that can cause pathological engorgement (breasts not overly full of milk, but of saline [which can't pass through to the milk]) and make latching extremely difficult. The saline can also raise the baby's weight, distorting the actual birth weight and causing unnecessary concern over weight gain.

Cesarean- Mothers can successfully breastfeed after a c-section just as they can after a vaginal birth, as long as they remain committed and have the baby near them as soon as possible after delivery. Some may still struggle, and the milk may have a delay in coming in, but it's just as possible, and even more important for a baby born via c-section to breastfeed.

With determination, education, and support, every woman can have a fighting chance at successfully breastfeeding from birth. Check out Breastfeeding 101: Surviving the Hospital and Newborn Days for more tips!

Happy breastfeeding!!

Support: The Key To Successfully Breastfeeding

Once your brain is full of all the breastfeeding resources and information you can handle, the next step is building your support system.

Some women are blessed to have family and friends all around them that are supportive of breastfeeding, having nursed many children and for quite a long time. Some women have a few cousins or maybe a sister that nursed their babies and know the benefits, but weren't really all that into it. Most women have nobody around them to give them the support they need to succeed.

If you have no friends or family, but have the internet, you're in luck! There are great social networking sites that can connect you with like-minded moms across the country and throughout the world. I've met several moms on the website Cafemom.com, who have encouraged me, supported me, become great friends, and have helped me in so many more ways than I can list. They turned me into a lactivist, reminded me why I was nursing through a pregnancy when it got hard, and we all love to share information with each other. Though I've met very few of them in person, we have such amazing bonds that I don't have with many people locally. There are several other mom-sites to join, too!

I've linked it a couple other times, but check out La Leche League for awesome local support! Many hospitals also have breastfeeding mom groups run by IBCLCs (internationally board certified lactation consultants), that can be a good alternative if there isn't an LLL meeting in your area.

You may know of friends from high school or college that went on to become full time moms, and nursed their children... now would be a great time to reconnect with them! I've had several friends and acquaintances from high school find me on Facebook for advice about breastfeeding, and I'm oh-so-happy to help and share what I've learned!

For an un-supportive spouse, see the post before this about the father's role in breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding can be tough, and having a good support system will really help you succeed!

Happy breastfeeding!

What You Need to Know While You're Still Pregnant

That first BFP (big fat positive) on the pregnancy test can bring up so many emotions. I started balling when I got my first. Not strictly out of happiness... more fear, stress, and an overwhelming "ohmygawdwhatamIgoingtodo?!" The second and third just put a HUGE smile on my face, and I immediately started planning. Books I needed to get (and read!); appointments needing to be made; baby registries to be started.

Of everything that needs to be done, I feel that the two most important are: deciding on your birth plan, reading EVERYTHING you can to ensure that you know fully what to expect -good and bad- and making an early decision to breastfeed. Not, "Well, I'm going to try..." but a very determined, "I AM going to breastfeed my child." At the bottom of this post, I'll list some amazing books (and a couple to avoid) to get you started in the birth and breastfeeding arena.

Most hospitals offer breastfeeding classes, and many birthing centers do as well. They're bare bones "get you started" classes, and can be a great jumping off point! Take what you learn there, and look more deeply into subjects online, in books, or by asking friends and family that have nursed. It's definitely not enough information to call it good and expect breastfeeding to go smoothly, but is still worth the 2-3 hours.

Once you've begun your information download, the next step is to start attending your local La Leche League meetings (the link will take you to a map of all the groups worldwide!). LLL is a mother-to-mother support group, full of women that are pregnant for the first time up to older women with grown children that have nurslings of their own... a fantastic resource for all mothers. These women have discovered how breastfeeding blossoms into nursing, and how mothering at the breast creates an amazing bond and makes breastfeeding so much more enjoyable, and more than anything, want to share.

Just like you've begun to write out your birth plan, you should begin to look into making a breastfeeding birth plan. This includes the most natural birth as possible (as epidurals and c-sections have been proven to delay breastfeeding and can sabotage the nursing relationship), breastfeeding within the first hour after birth, and limiting visitors in the hospital/birthing center and also when at home. Here is a fantastic article about getting started with breastfeeding at the hospital.

After you've made your birth plan and your decision to breastfeed, the next step is to ASK. Any questions you might have, even if you think it's silly or TMI. You need to know as much as humanly possible in order to succeed. Ask friends, family, LLL leaders, lactation counselors, the peer counselors at WIC (if you're on it), and me! If anyone gives you a piece of advice that you find yourself questioning, get a 2nd, 3rd... 17th opinion. Best intentions don't always equal the best information.

Happy pregnancy!


Some awesome books to read:

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, by Ina May Gaskin
Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn: The Complete Guide, by Penny Simkin, Janet Whalley, and Ann Keppler

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, 8th Edition, by LLL International
So That's What They're For, by Janet Tamaro
The Breastfeeding Cafe, by Barbara Behrmann
Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding, by Ina May Gaskin

Breastfeeding's Not Just For Hippies

Many people think that breastfeeding is outdated... it's what the cave women did, after all. The hippies in the 70s picked it back up after a long time of formula being the norm, along with not shaving their armpits and letting their hair grow to their waists.

But not only is breastfeeding not outdated, it is timeless. Every mammal in the world nurses their offspring; Mammals... Mammary glands. Get it? We're designed to put our children to breast as soon as they're born, and let them keep coming back until the "milk" teeth (baby teeth) fall out and adult teeth start coming in (between 4-7 years old).

Society puts a lot of pressure on new moms to go with the flow, do what everyone else is doing... be a sheep and don't educate yourself at all. Well, starting now, quit that. Use your education, your common sense, and your instincts to parent. When the baby's born, what do your instincts say to do (when there's not a bottle of formula waved in your face)? They tell you to give that baby the milk you've been making for the past 6 months (breasts start to produce colostrum, the first milk, around 10-14 weeks gestation), straight from the tap, as soon as possible after birth.

Breastfeeding is just biologically normal. Not super serum, or liquid gold as it's often referred. Just normal. Human milk for human babies (and toddlers!), because it's designed specifically for them. Of course it's been shown to affect cancer rates, IQs, a slew of diseases and conditions; but the question to ask on that (and I'll come back to it in a different post) is, "Does breastfeeding reduce these rates, or does NOT breastfeeding RAISE the rates?"

There's an environmental aspect to nursing: no waste from packaging, no waste from manufacturing, no water being used to make the milk besides what you're already drinking. That probably catches the "green" eye, but for most breastfeeding mothers, it's just icing on the already awesome cake.

Whether you're doing it for the environment or for your (and your baby's) health, breast milk is still the best thing for your baby... because it's what we're designed to do.

Here We Go!

Welcome to Boob 101.

My goal is to have a blog filled with information about breastfeeding, tricks and tools to assist you, and personal stories to help you know that you're not alone!

A little about me before we get started:

My name's Melanie. I'll be honest with you and tell that I'm 21 years old; I've been married to my wonderful husband, Austin, for 4 years; we have an almost 4-year-old son, Liam, and an almost-2-year-old daughter, Fiona; Baby Alaina will make her grand appearance in April. I began my parenting journey when I was 17 and had Liam; before then, I did no research whatsoever, and it's quite amazing to me that he turned out as well as he has. ;) Once I got a hold of information sources, I've held on tight and continued to learn as much as possible.

I've been breastfeeding since April 30th, 2007, nursed Liam through my pregnancy with Fiona, and then tandem nursed them for 16 months, at which point, I was pregnant with #3, and Liam self-weaned. Fiona is happily nursing through this pregnancy, and will tandem nurse with her little sister until she's ready to stop.

Helping other mothers with breastfeeding has been a passion of mine for a while... I started out quite ignorant, just nursed because my older sister did... and because I was completely shocked at the price of formula. When Liam was a few months old, I became a lactivist, with overwhelming ideals and an in-your-face position. After I learned that that doesn't actually accomplish anything, I took a more laid-back stance, and only answered questions when asked; only offered help when someone was clearly struggling.

The impact that breastfeeding my children has had on my life and my parenting is immeasurable. My decisions are all fueled by research in order to give my kids the best start to their lives as possible, and that includes exclusive breastfeeding, healthy eating, and child-led weaning.

My goal is to become an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC). I will be one by the time I'm 25-- just wait and see. I recently finished my certification to be a Lactation Educator-Counselor (CLEC), and I'm a leader of a mother-to-mother breastfeeding support group.

Though I am an activist and supporter for many things, I'm going to do my best to keep this blog about breastfeeding. Some things do cross into the realm of breastfeeding, and I'll very likely talk about them... but please, take what works for you, ask me to specify on things that you don't quite understand, and keep in mind that what I say might not be the most popular thing, or very mainstream, but it may be very worth it to give it a try.

Enjoy!