Trust Yourself and Your Body

Welcome to the October Carnival of Breastfeeding! Today’s topic is “I wish I had known….” It’s perfect timing for my sister, who just made me an aunt over the weekend with the birth of her beautiful baby boy!

Today I share a guest submission from a woman who does not have a blog but who felt strongly about sharing her breastfeeding wisdom in hindsight. At the end of her comment you can find the links to all the other carnival participants. First, Crystal offers the following insight:

What I wish I had known…to trust myself and my body to do what nature intended…which I am currently doing with breastfeeding my 7 week old twin boys!!!

I am currently a 27 year old mother of 3 beautiful boys. My first born son was breastfed for 18 months and weaned himself at that time. He breastfed with no problems and is as healthy as can be at the age of 4.5. Now I just recently had twin boys at 38 weeks gestation born on August 26th 2009 who are also breastfeeding on-demand. I had mixed feelings about my body making enough milk and having enough support for me to continue breastfeeding….etc. Many people said I wouldn’t be able to do it and even my boys’ pediatrician said I needed to supplement with formula because they were not gaining enough weight.

My twin boys are very healthy and are gaining weight through breastfeeding only. I am not and will not supplement with formula. My midwives said I am making enough milk for both my boys and that they are breastfeeding beautifully. Also they said that my body knows what it needs to do as long as I am eating and drinking enough. I am an experienced mother and I am experienced at breastfeeding. I must trust myself and my body to do what nature intended it to do:

To breastfeed my babies!!!!

I am happy to say that despite having my up and down days with breastfeeding two babies as it is difficult; I am never going to regret or give up on my decision to breastfeed my boys as they are worth it and much more.

Thank you to all the wonderful breastfeeding mothers who gave me advice, support, and encouragement in breastfeeding my singleton and then again in breastfeeding multiples. I believe in myself and in my body to continue breastfeeding my twin boys!!!

Congratulations Crystal and thanks for your submission!

Other Carnival Participants

Sarah Fancy Pancakes: Wish I’d Heard More Good Things
The Milk Mama: When breastfeeding begins badly, and what I should have done about it
Hobo Mama: What I wish I’d known when I started breastfeeding
My World Edenwild: What I Wish I’d Known Then: A Poem
Happy Bambino: I wish I had known then that it wasn’t up to me alone
Three Girl Pile-Up: 4 things I wish I’d known about breastfeeding
Birth Activist: What I Wish I Would Have Known About Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding Moms Unite!: You Don’t Have to Grin and Bear It
Momma’s Angel: What I Wish I’d Known Then: My List For Next Time
The Starr Family Blogg: I Wish I Would Have Known
Whozat: If I’d Known Then
Massachusetts Friends of Midwives: What I wish I’d known back then about breastfeeding
Fighting Frumpy: When Breastfeeding Feels Wrong
Breastfeeding Mums: 15 Breastfeeding Facts I Wish I’d Known as a First Time Breastfeeding Mum
Cave Mother: Nursing Wisdom
Blacktating: Breastfeeding Is Life-Changing
MumUnplugged: Six Things I Wish I’d Known

The Essential Guide to Breastfeeding

The new book Great Expectations: The Essential Guide to Breastfeeding by Marianne Neifert, M.D., is a wonderful resource for pregnant women and women who are currently breastfeeding. It contains comprehensive, up-to-date information in an easy to read format.

It’s refreshing to see evidence- and practice-based breastfeeding recommendations from a doctor. While most physicians receive very little education in breastfeeding, Dr. Neifert has many years of experience practicing breastfeeding medicine as a pediatrician, co-founder of one of the very first breastfeeding centers in the United States, and co-founder of the Denver Mothers’ Milk Bank (among a long list of credentials, not the least of which is having breastfed her own five children!)

The book strikes the perfect balance between informative and accessible, enthusiastic and non-judgmental. It gives women the tools and encouragement to get breastfeeding off to a good start and to continue breastfeeding through any challenges or changes in the breastfeeding relationship. It covers common breastfeeding problems, working and pumping, special circumstances such as medical issues or multiples, toddler nursing, breastfeeding during pregnancy and tandem nursing. I liked the tone of the book and agreed with the vast majority of the breastfeeding and parenting advice presented in it. The only issue on which we part ways is bed-sharing/night-time parenting (I’m a huge fan of co-sleeping to maximize sleep for mother and baby and to help maintain a good milk supply for the mother especially if she plans to return to work), but I was still pleased to see Dr. Neifert offer some guidelines for safe co-sleeping.

I very highly recommend Great Expectations: The Essential Guide to Breastfeeding. What about you? Have you read the book? Please leave a comment with your own book review!

Breastfeeding Late-Preterm Infants

Today’s guest post comes from Marianne Neifert, M.D., author of the new book Great Expectations: The Essential Guide to Breastfeeding.

Just a Few Weeks Early
Breastfeeding Challenges in Late-Preterm Infants

Until recently, babies born a few weeks early — between 34 and 36 weeks gestation — were referred to as near term infants. However, the designation, near term, implies that an infant is almost term or almost fully mature, and the misnomer has often caused health professionals and parents to underestimate the medical risks in this large, vulnerable population of infants. Recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that infants born at 34, 35, or 36 weeks gestation be referred to as late-preterm infants to emphasize that these babies are physiologically immature and have special health care needs compared to full term infants (born between 37 to 41 weeks). In addition, the mothers of late-preterm infants are more likely to have medical complications themselves, such as gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, or C-section delivery. Read more

Photo of Breastfeeding Twins

Rebecca Romijn uses the double football hold to breastfeed her twins, while Angelina Jolie preferred to nurse her twins separately. There are different ways to breastfeed twins and when I came across this photo I thought it worth sharing.

I love that the mother is feeding those tiny newborns at the same time; I love that this picture is from the 1980s! It is hard enough to find support for breastfeeding, much less breastfeeding multiples, and this mother clearly made it work for her and her babies!

Gift Giving Guide

For this gift giving guide, I have made shopping easy by hand-picking my favorite book in each category! Simply find the category that best describes the person for whom you are buying (from babies to toddlers, mothers, fathers, grandparents, and medical professionals), and click on the book cover or link for the Amazon.com reviews, price, and purchasing information!

Pregnant Women – Breastfeeding Book

The Breastfeeding Book: Everything You Need to Know About Nursing Your Child from Birth Through Weaning

Pregnant Women – Birth Book

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth

Sleep-Deprived Mothers of Babies

The Baby Sleep Book: The Complete Guide to a Good Night’s Rest for the Whole Family (Sears Parenting Library)

Sleep-Deprived Mothers of Toddlers

The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers: Gentle Ways to Stop Bedtime Battles and Improve Your Childs Sleep (Pantley)

Fathers

The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Revised and Updated Edition)

La Leche League Leaders, Lactation Consultants, and Medical Professionals

Medications and Mothers’ Milk (2008 edition)

Mothers Nursing Toddlers

Mothering Your Nursing Toddler

Mothers who are Pregnant and Nursing

Adventures in Tandem Nursing: Breastfeeding During Pregnancy and Beyond

Parents of Two or More Children

Siblings Without Rivalry: How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Live Too

Mothers of Multiples

Mothering Multiples: Breastfeeding and Caring for Twins or More!

Pumping Mothers and/or Working Mothers

The Milk Memos: How Real Moms Learned to Mix Business with Babies-and How You Can, Too

Babies and Toddlers

We Like to Nurse

Grandparents

The Attachment Parenting Book : A Commonsense Guide to Understanding and Nurturing Your Baby

How to Find a La Leche League Meeting Near You

When I polled people to see if they had ever attended a La Leche League meeting, the poll results showed that 35% — 50 people — had not attended a meeting but would like to do so. I want to help people make it to a meeting!

Here are some things that might help:

~ Here’s how to pronounce La Leche League
~ There are regular series meetings that rotate through four general topics, but you can go to any meeting and ask any question, any time!
~ Meetings are offered in the daytime or the evening or both, depending on the area
~ Of course you can bring your baby, older nursling, and any older children too! Some groups welcome spouses as well — make sure to ask first!
~ You do not need to be breastfeeding to attend a meeting! It’s very helpful to attend when you are pregnant, or to continue attending even after you wean to help support other mothers. Doctors, nurses, students, grandmothers, and others are also welcome to attend (it’s nice to give the leader a heads-up in advance if you plan to show up, so the leader can be of most assistance and maybe even pass on free brochures to hand out!)
~ Meetings are free and while you are welcome and encouraged to join La Leche League, you can keep going to as many meetings as you like without actually joining.
~ In addition to the regular series meetings, there are toddler groups, groups for mothers of multiples, couples meetings, enrichment meetings, and informal park days or playgroups!
~ Usually there are snacks (depending on the location and group)
~ Often the group has a free lending library and you can check out birth, breastfeeding, and parenting books approved by LLLI!

Ready to go to a meeting?

~ You can use the LLLI tools to find a local group in the United States or other countries.
~ You can also search with a search engine tool like Google, using “La Leche League [your city or your state]” and you might find a website for your local group. Typical group websites include contact information for the local leaders and the date, time, and location of the next meeting. It’s always a good idea to call or email to confirm the information is up to date.
~ You can also reach an accredited La Leche League leader near you by calling 1-800-LA-LECHE (1-800-525-3243) and following the directions to find a leader by using your zip code. In Canada, telephone 1-800-665-4324, or (514) LA-LECHE for a French-speaking Leader.

Photo courtesy of: Generation X-Ray

Breastfeeding and Celebrity Health Week

Jessica Alba and Cash Warren welcomed their daughter, Honor Marie Warren, last Saturday just in time to celebrate Celebrity Health Week here at the Health and Wellness Channel. Unfortunately, Alba had told Extra that she was more paranoid about breastfeeding than giving birth! One can only hope she attended a La Leche League meeting, and read “Ten Tips on How a Pregnant Woman Can Prepare for Breastfeeding” and the blog carnival on “ what I didn’t expect when I was expecting.”

Tori Spelling gave birth today to her daughter with Dean McDermott, Stella Doreen McDermott. She worked hard to breastfeed their first child Liam. Hopefully she finds it easier the second time around!

Angelina Jolie also has experience breastfeeding, but let’s hope she has done some extra preparation for breastfeeding this time. She’s breastfed a singleton, but now she’s expecting twins with partner Brad Pitt, and she could probably use some tips on breastfeeding multiples.

Woman Breastfeeding Nine Babies in Quake Crisis

A Chinese policewoman who recently gave birth is helping the earthquake disaster relief in China by breastfeeding eight infant quake victims in addition to her own baby. The Citizen reports:

A newspaper in Chengdu, the capital of quake-hit Sichuan province, devoted a special page to the 29-year-old woman, calling her a “hero.”

The woman from the quake-ravaged town of Jiangyou has just had a child herself, the Western Urban Daily said.

She is nursing the children of three women who were left homeless by the quake and are too traumatised to give milk, as well as five orphans, the report said.

The babies who lost their parents have been put in an orphanage which does not have powdered milk, it said.

Amazing what a life-saver breastfeeding can be in an emergency, and how wonderful that this woman has stepped in to help so many infants! It’s a testimony to the human spirit, not to mention the breast milk production function of supply and demand and the ability of a woman to breastfeed multiples!

For more information on breastfeeding during a crisis, see Infant Feeding during an Emergency.

Friday Five: Top Five Breastfeeding Interviews

These breastfeeding interviews tell fascinating and inspiring personal stories and offer some of the most current information and advice on breastfeeding:

1. Breastfeeding Advocate, Author, and Breast Cancer Survivor Kathleen Huggins (She is the author of The Nursing Mother’s Companion and The Expectant Parents’ Companion: Simplifying What to Do, Buy or Borrow for an Easy Life with Baby, and co-author of Nursing Mother, Working Mother and The Nursing Mother’s Guide to Weaning)

2. Dr. Jane Morton, Director of Breastfeeding Medicine at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and Clinical Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine (She also put together this free video on hand expression of breast milk)

3. Author Andi Silverman on Breastfeeding (She is the author of Mama Knows Breast: A Beginner’s Guide to Breastfeeding)

4. Registered Nurse, Lactation Consultant, La Leche League Leader, and Author Karen Kerkhoff Gromada (In addition to writing Mothering Multiples: Breastfeeding and Caring for Twins and More! she co-authored Keys to Parenting Twins, Keys to Parenting Multiples, and Care of the Multiple-Birth Family: Postpartum through Infancy)

5. Eight Things You Didn’t Know about This Breastfeeding Blogger (that’s me!)

Convincing a Pregnant Mom of Twins to Breastfeed (Mom to Mom #12)

This latest question relates to the discussion we had recently about promoting breastfeeding to pregnant women.

Dear Angela,

I have a friend who is on bed rest and will probably have premature multiples. I gently asked whether she plans to breastfeed and she responded with comments about how she isn’t sure but she’s sick of strong pressure from very pro-breastfeeding women. She says she’ll commit to at least 4 weeks of “trying,” but I could already hear excuses in her explanation, such as “I’m really tiny and I don’t think my body will produce enough”, and “I’ve heard they actually don’t want you to breastfeed premies because the babies don’t get all the nutrients they need, plus they can have trouble latching on.” She also says she’s having a night-nurse and that formula will be easiest for that situation. She also constantly comments on how she hates that she’s gained weight and is worried about getting “much bigger” during her pregnancy. I do know that she wants to do what is best for her babies, and I want to help her get her past her body issues that might be keeping her from focusing on what she needs to do. Any advice on what to say to give her the best advice without seeming to pressure or judge her?

Thanks for your expertise!

Readers, please chime in and leave a comment with your thoughts on how to reassure a pregnant woman about her ability to breastfeed. Any mothers of multiples and/or premature infants out there? I’d love to hear from you on this one.

I do have several thoughts to get the discussion started. I will break this complex question down into various issues that have been raised.

Information versus Advice

It is lovely that you want the best for your friend and her babies, and I am glad that you are trying to be sensitive to her feelings. One way to help her without pressuring her or judging her is to focus on sharing information rather than advice.

While breastfeeding cannot be considered a religion, or, heaven forbid (pun intended), a cult, bear with me while I make an analogy. Which person is going to have more success: (1) the one who gives someone a cross and says “You should pray! If you’re not religious, you are subject to eternal damnation!” ["You should breastfeed! If you don't, your babies will be sicker!"], or (2) the one who gives someone a Bible and says, “This really helped me. You might find it interesting” ["I found this parenting and breastfeeding resource to be really helpful. I thought you might like to have it"]? What about (3) the one who says, “I can’t believe you don’t plan to go to church on Sunday!” ["You're going to formula-feed?!"] compared to (4) the one who says, “The service on Sunday is about a topic you might like. I can give you a ride if you want to join me”? ["I know you have questions about milk supply, breastfeeding twins and breastfeeding premature infants. Here's the phone number for free breastfeeding information and support." Or, "I attend a La Leche League meeting each month. Let me know if you want to join me!"]

Contrary to popular belief, La Leche League leaders are trained to give information rather than advice. Leaders are there to support women who want to breastfeed, not to convert women who have no desire to so. Breastfeeding is a personal decision. Giving a pregnant woman factual information empowers her with the tools to make her own informed choice. Lactation consultants are also invaluable resources for information and support (and sometimes it can be easier for women to process the information when they are paying for the service — they’ve paid their money for the information and now it’s theirs to do with as they decide).

Breastfeeding after Infertility

The question does not mention whether this pregnant mother conceived through infertility treatments or not, but as someone who experienced primary infertility, I can recognize the self-doubt that sometimes comes into play. It’s hard to trust your body to do what it is meant to do (make breast milk to feed babies) when your body “failed” you when it came to getting pregnant in the first place. Add to that a need for bed rest, and it’s no wonder this woman is worried about her body producing enough milk.

A 2007 study showed that women who use assisted reproductive technology such as IVF to conceive are less confident about their mothering skills, more anxious about caring for a newborn and less likely to be breastfeeding at three months. Such women could benefit from additional parenting information and extra support for breastfeeding.

Small Breasts Make Plenty of Milk

The size of a woman’s breasts does not matter when it comes to milk production. Milk production is simply a matter of supply and demand (the more a baby or babies suckle at the breast, the more the mother will produce). Breast size can affect milk storage capacity (but not necessarily).

Milk supply is one of the biggest concerns among breastfeeding women.

Using Formula in the Night

Given that milk production is a matter of supply and demand, any feeding during which a baby or babies receive formula is a feeding during which the breasts are not being stimulated to produce milk, which in turn lowers the mother’s milk supply. Overnight feedings are particularly important for milk production. Substituting feedings for “convenience” in the night can become a vicious cycle in which the mother’s milk supply drops and she feels the need for further supplementation. Especially in the early weeks, if a mother is not putting a baby to the breast for a feeding, she should consider pumping during that time. Pumping is not as efficient as a baby’s suckling, but it can help maintain milk supply.

Breastfeeding May Help Promote Healthy Weight Loss

The good news is that breastfeeding burns extra calories! Many, but not all, women find that breastfeeding helps contribute to post-partum weight loss.

Breastfeeding Premature Infants

It’s troubling that this pregnant mother is already hearing negative things from medical professionals about breastfeeding. Unfortunately, doctors get very little (1-2 hours) of training on breastfeeding during their medical education. Check out this piece I wrote on how to get good medical advice on breastfeeding (it also has links for other articles on where to get good breastfeeding information). There is a lot of good information out there on breastfeeding premature infants.

To ask questions or read other mothers’ stories, check out this kellymom.com breastfeeding forum on NICU babies. La Leche League also has a forum on breastfeeding premature infants.

For inspiration, read this mother’s story of breastfeeding her triplets, born at 32 weeks and 4 days (they spent 18 days in the NICU).

Breastfeeding Twins

It is a myth that breastfeeding twins is too difficult to manage. One of the wonderful parenting and breastfeeding resources out there is Mothering Multiples: Breastfeeding and Caring for Twins or More! In this interview with the author Karen Kerkhoff Gromada, she shares her experience breastfeeding twins and offers lots of helpful information.

Kellymom.com has compiled a fantastic list of resources for breastfeeding multiples. There is also a La Leche League forum on breastfeeding multiples.

Readers, what do you think? How can this woman best support her pregnant friend? Does anyone have a story to share about breastfeeding multiples or premature infants?

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