A friend recently had some dental work done over the course of several days and due to the need to anesthesia, couldn’t nurse. She had pumped in advance, but as often occurs, couldn’t produce enough milk and ended up supplementing with formula. She asked for help so I had the following advice:
1. Mother’s Milk Tea – It often helps increase production.
2. Pump while you supplement – Supplementing creates a vicious cycle by keeping your production level from ever catching up. Pumping will help you get back to your previous production level.
3. Nurse more often – This is the only way for your breasts to stabilize production levels to what your baby needs.
Do you watch The Office? I do, though I admit I am a little behind on my saved episodes. I just watched the episode with Jim and Pam’s new baby a few days ago.
For those of you who haven’t seen it, it wasn’t exactly pro-breastfeeding. Pam’s desire to room in with her baby is displayed as a humorous first-time mom thing to do. The nurse says,”Lots of babies take bottles and they are just fine.” My husband, who was watching it with me, became angry and shouted,”She’s a horrible nurse!” I thought it was great that he took Pam’s breastfeeding so seriously
This brings me to my point. Is rooming in the only way to go if you are deciding to breastfeed? I have had two babies with C-sections both times and I will tell you that it definitely would have been easier to send them to the nursery. Unfortunately, this is a crucial time for milk production and successful breastfeeding. Rooming in dramatically increases the success of breastfeeding for the first three months. Are you a bad person if you send your child to the nursery for a little while? Of course not, but if you are trying to breastfeed every use of a bottle before the baby is 2 weeks decreases the likelihood of continued breastfeeding, even to 6 weeks.
Now, what if you have multiples or a premature baby and rooming in just isn’t an option? I recently heard a story from a woman who was told not to pump during her first 24 hours while her daughter was in the NICU. Wrong!
If you are separated from your infant and do want to breastfeed then you need to pump every 3-4 hours. It won’t look like much, but it ensures that your milk comes in and that you will produce enough once you are reunited with your baby. Plus, newborns greatly benefit from colostrum which is a unique substance that is only produced in the first few days post-partum. Is breastmilk similar to formula? Yes, but colostrum is entirely different and is the best way to prevent jaundice.
I could go on and on, but I’m out of time. What do you think of rooming in? Has it worked for you?
Spring is here and so it is once again time for bright colors and cheerful flowers! La Dolce Mama has added a line of adorable tutus and beanies for your little girl! Also, make sure to check out our new sexy HOTmilk nursing bras with more to come in April!
This past week I have been MIA because I had a horrible sinus infection that pretty much shut down my ability to do anything. I am finally better enough to catch up on my recorded TV shows and was watching a couple-week-old episode of House. In it, a man with cancer demands a prescription for breastmilk because it “cures cancer”. Now, House does some pretty wacky things, but this time they don’t write him the prescription for breastmilk as a cancer treatment.
Has breastfeeding become just another punchline? In our quest to help women understand the benefits of breastfeeding are we overstating the medical benefits and undermining the emotional and bonding elements? Of course mothers who can’t/didn’t breastfeed have a bond with their child, but breastfeeding adds a different connection, too. Not better. Not worse. Just different.
My son is almost a year. Healthwise, he has already experience the greatest medical benefits of breastfeeding in his earlier months, but he still likes it and so do I. Breastfeeding provides lots of room for comedy, as do most things about motherhood, but I hate to see the medical benefits of breastfeeding become a joke because we moms aren’t willing to talk about other reasons that we breastfeed.
It can be so easy to forget how wonderful this time in the lives of our children is. I hear it every day – this is the best time of your life, enjoy it. When the laundry piles up, the dishes fill the sink, and large quantities of toys and crackers fall out of the car, I sometimes think,”Why oh why did I give up my glamorous career and childless weekends?” But of course, I wouldn’t do it any other way, even if I had a do-over button.
I came across the link to this post on twitter and though Valentine’s Day is over, I thought it was a great Valentine for moms and from moms. Read it, share it, and remember this is the best time of our lives! Valentine post
We spend all day at our computers or sitting in uncomfortable chairs, so we hunch. Then we have a baby, start breastfeeding, and completely forget what the lactation consultant said about bringing the baby to you. Then our shoulders hurt and we blame breastfeeding.
A few weeks back, I got a massage, went to a chiropractor, and took a couple yoga classes. I felt great – for about two days. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong until I visited my friend who had just had a baby. The lactation consultant was there and was helping her bring the baby to her. She had her shoulders back and was not at all hunched. My son then decided that he needed to nurse, too, and I realized just how different my posture had become.
I went to yoga the next day and this time, brought what I had learned home. With shoulders back, heart open, and an invisible string pulling my head to the ceiling while breastfeeding, my headaches and shoulder pain have finally gone away. We learn something new from every person we meet, no matter how small.
Today was supposed to be my “mom”day. Most days are a balance between work and kids and honestly, sometimes work wins. I try to have at least two days a week where I just do stay-at-home mom things, like play with the kids, do laundry, cook dinner, read stories, eat bon bons and watch TV, but as my career and kids grow, it gets harder. I am glad I breastfeed because it at least makes me spend time with my son every few hours. It has become a luxury in my otherwise busy day.
After working for 2 hours this morning,my daughter came in and said, “Mama, you’re supposed to go in the playroom. You’re just hiding in the office.”
So here it is ladies. What are your top tips for managing babies, breastfeeding, work(either inside the home or out – the housework and laundry alone can kill you) all while waking up in the middle of the night to banish bad dreams and tell your husband to roll over?
Breastfeeding has become so PC, that it’s hard to imagine a time when doctors would have told mothers over 30 that they were physically incapable of breastfeeding due to age. Whether you are not sure about La Leche League or are a big fan, this video about the history of LLLI is fascinating!
The headaches began before the holidays. No surprise, right, except I barely get headaches. I had been looking at before and after pictures of Anne Hathaway in a fashion magazine on my 5 minute break(my children will be getting a letter from the Department of Labor) and noticed the improvement in my posture. Then I adjusted my posture. My headache actually started to go away a little.
Off I went to the chiropractor. After a massage, adjustments, and stretching I was feeling much better, but the x-rays explained it all. I had developed a classic “nursing slump”. Now if anyone should know the importance of good posture while breastfeeding, it should be me and yet, I had not been paying attention. In the x-ray, my neck hung forward like a the neck of a mama dinosaur and my shoulders were very rounded.
Now, I have a few new New Year’s resolutions! I have begun paying better attention to my posture while nursing and using the computer – things that probably take up 80% of my day – and have gone back to frequent yoga classes. Last night my yoga teacher focused on shoulder and chest openers and I realized both how good they felt and how much farther I have to go!
So it’s not exactly shocking, but a recent story in Business Week proves what many of us already know, shorter maternity leaves reduce the likelihood that women will breastfeed exclusively for six months or longer. Business Week Article
I have posted on this topic before because it is a challenge that all of us moms who work outside the home confront. What do you think? Did your length of maternity leave affect your breastfeeding choices? Were you ready to go back to work or did you wish you could be home for the first year?
