After I moved to California I quickly realized how easy it was to become mildly dehydrated in the hot summer months if I didn’t pay attention to getting enough water and other fluids to drink. However, it’s also all too easy for breastfeeding mothers to get dehydrated in the cold months with the dry indoor air from furnace heating. Mothers of newborns in particular need to watch out for early signs of dehydration simply because new mothers can get so busy caring for a newborn that they neglect their own needs.

Recommendations for Fluid Intake for Breastfeeding Mothers

When it comes to fluid intake for breastfeeding mothers, the mantra is “drink to thirst.” That means that a woman should drink enough water to stave off thirst, and not drink in excess of thirst in the mistaken belief that she needs the extra water or that more water will boost her milk supply. How do you know whether you are getting enough? If your urine is pale yellow, then you are getting enough fluids. If your urine is a dark, concentrated yellow, then up your fluid intake. In addition to water, fluids such as milk and juice also count, but keep in mind that fluids with caffeine (tea, coffee, certain colas) can actually have a dehydrating effect. So make sure to balance the types of fluids and get enough water to keep yourself adequately hydrated.

How and When Dehydration Might Affect Breastfeeding

The good news is that dehydration would have to reach severe levels before it would even affect milk supply at all. The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk says:

A pervasive myth in many cultures is that not drinking enough water causes low milk supply. While it’s true that life-threatening, severe dehydration may cause you body to cut back on milk production, the mild dehydration that most of us operate under does not. An old but still valid study from 1939 reported that nursing mothers who were given one liter less of water a day than was recommended continue to produce plenty of milk.

So what’s the danger in becoming mildly dehydrated? If the nursing mother (any mother!) gets dehydrated, it can affect her energy level, mood, and ability to care for her nursling. If you find yourself becoming particularly run-down and overwhelmed, it’s a good idea to sit down and have a glass of water and a snack. You might be surprised how that simple step boosts your mood! It can help to keep a glass of water by your bed and your other usual nursing locations. Have easy snacks at the ready too — carrot sticks, raisins, apple slices.

The Danger in Over-Hydrating

One study showed that consuming 25 percent more fluids than the “drink to thirst” recommendation led to a decrease in milk supply. I also learned from lactation consultant Linda Wieser at the LLL area conference that drinking more than 80 ounces of water per day can reduce a woman’s potassium levels and have a negative impact on milk supply. The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk explains:

The body’s reaction to excessive water intake (well beyond thirst) is to dump the excess fluid through the urine in order to maintain the proper electrolyte balance. Water is diverted away from the breast, and lower milk volume can result.

Your Experience

Have you noticed that your fluid intake affects your energy level and mood? Do you have any tips to share to help breastfeeding mothers get enough fluids?

Other Carnival Entries

Cave Mother: A Mother’s Christmas
Mama Knows Breast: A Breastfeeding Poem: Twas the Breastfeeder’s Nighttime
Chronicles of a Nursing Mom: Don’t Forget the Pump!
Accidental Pharmacist: Motherhood Statement
Hobo Mama: Breastfeeding and the holidays: How to take care of yourself
Mommy News & Views: The Holidays And Being A Breastfeeding Mom
The Adventures of Lactating Girl: Breastfeeding and Holidays
Happy Bambinos: How to Take Care of Ourselves during the Holidays
Breastfeeding Moms Unite!: Caring for a High-Needs Baby during the Holidays
Breastfeeding Mums: Looking After Yourself During the Holidays: 7 Tips for Breastfeeding Mothers
Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog: Taking Care of Yourself and Your Baby during the Holidays

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Photo by Debaird(TM)

What about when my toddler is a preschooler? I know I never nursed my first child when she was at her preschool. I don’t think the teachers even knew she was “still” breastfeeding. I thought they might be uncomfortable with it and would treat her (and me) differently.

So, what are your thoughts? Are there any restrictions you place on when, where, or at what nursling age you will or will not nurse in public?

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Image by Chris Baker

Who takes care of the mother when she is sick?

When a nursling sleeps in a longer stretch than normal, why does the mother still wake at the usual time? Why couldn’t she sleep through and enjoy that wonderful gift and not panic that something has happened to her child?

Why do people feel it’s at all appropriate or welcome to ask about a couple’s reproductive plans, whether that couple has no children or three? Does the answer somehow change how many children the questioner wants to have or wishes she or he had?

What is the significance of holiday gift-giving in a society in which many people already have too much “stuff” and generally buy whatever they truly need anyway? And if someone is actually in need, shouldn’t we be giving to that person year-round and not because it’s a holiday?

Why did my daughter’s preschool put out a calendar at the beginning of the school year and then change the date of the Christmas Songfest without a big announcement that the date was actually a change in date, so that the smug among us who already had the date of the Songfest on their calendars didn’t note the new date and found themselves driving to a Songfest that is actually scheduled for two days from now?

Why are some people more grumpy during the holidays? Is it because they are mothers who have no one to care for them when they are sick with a cold? (Kidding. Sort of. Achoo!)

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

We too, have tried Dr. Jay Gordon’s method, but modified it exactly as you would, and had great success… until those molars started coming in! Now we are back to about two nursing sessions a night. It is a bit of a bummer, but I know the extra waking is due to the teething and will pass with time. My question, though, has to do with naps. For every nap since she was born, my 27 month old has fallen asleep nursing, she sleeps about thirty minutes, and then cries for me. I go in and nurse her back to sleep, which takes anywhere from fifteen to thirty minutes. She then sleeps another half hour to forty-five minutes, cries for me, and I go in and nurse her back to sleep. It is impossible to get anything done, and I am so beside myself about her not being able to get a solid nap in, that even if I stay in bed with her I can’t fall asleep! I’ve tried the suggestions in The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers, but to no avail. Today I even tried completely separating the nursing from the nap and that totally backfired because she never took a nap! I am feeling pretty hopeless about this and any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I feel your pain Rachael! I have been there and in fact today my 16-month-old napped for 30 minutes, nursed back to sleep and slept another five minutes. It’s amazing I get any blogging done

When I had just the one nursling, I had the luxury of sitting in the rocker while my daughter napped on me for three hours. If she woke I’d nurse her back to sleep and continue reading my book or watching all the television shows I had taped. Of course, I couldn’t get anything else done that way, but at least I got a “break” of sorts. That wasn’t really an option when my second child came around, and in fact it became even more difficult to juggle nap time as I was trying to coordinate the naps of a 2.5-year-old and an infant.

I have a few thoughts for you and then I hope other moms will chime in with comments on what they do for nap time.

1. Use a sling to carry your nursling to sleep. Get the right babywearing gear and you can comfortably carry a toddler to sleep. While that might not result in longer nap times right away, it is at least a start at separating nap time from nursing. Once you’ve carried your toddler to sleep, you have two choices — very carefully lay your child down and slip yourself out of the carrier, or continue carrying your child while you get a few things done with your two free hands.

2. Go for a walk. Many, many of my children’s naps have taken place in a Baby Jogger. I felt a lot better when my child napped and I accomplished the important task of getting some exercise. In nice weather we would walk outside and both get some fresh air, and in bad weather we would walk at the indoor mall. Again, this technique has the benefit of separating sleeping from nursing. It also works well even when you have more than one child.

3. Go for a drive. Okay, so this isn’t the most environmentally-friendly method of getting your child to nap, but desperate times call for desperate measures. And hey, I have often mentally justified such activities by weighing the effects of burning gasoline against the effects of the anti-depressants I might need if my child didn’t get some sleep during the day! (You think I kid….) Seriously though, once my toddler converted from Child Who Hates Car Seat to Child Who Sleeps in Car, I would go for a drive just long enough to get my toddler to sleep, then go home and transfer her from her seat to her bed.

4. Try the No-Cry Nap Solution. You mentioned The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers. Elizabeth Pantley also has a book dedicated entirely to naps (obviously we are not the only ones to struggle with this issue!) You can read my book review of The No-Cry Nap Solution here.

5. Give it some time. As with all things, time makes it better. I do not mean to minimize the frustration of having a child who cat naps and/or needs to nurse back to sleep. What I do mean is to offer hope from the realization that one day your child will sleep well again at nap time. I found that pre-school wore my three-year-old out. Same with a day at the park or a playdate. There will be times when your child sleeps poorly, but the times your child naps well will slowly increase.

Moms, what do you do for nap time? Have you faced the same nap time dilemma and what solutions have you found? Please leave a comment!

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

International Breastfeeding Symbol on a sign at the Santa Monica Pier; Photo by Wha'ppen

Texas Law Loophole Explained
Nationwide Nurse-ins Planned at Denny’s Restaurants over Asheville, North Carolina Incident

It’s a Baby’s Right Too

If some people bristle at the thought of a civil right for the breastfeeding mother, it can be helpful to keep in mind that this is not just a “mother’s right” to breastfeed — it’s a baby’s right to be nurtured by the mother!

Won’t Civil Rights Legislation Lead to Excessive Lawsuits?

If the concern is raised that mothers will attempt to go out to breastfeed in public simply to get asked to leave and trigger a claim — that somehow this will explode into many claims by mothers — I would say that is totally unfounded. It’s very humiliating for a mother to be asked to leave a business and it’s highly unlikely that a mother with a nursling would put herself in that contentious position. Also, the claims process takes an extremely long time. For an example, see the case of the mother who was asked to de-board a Delta Airlines flight in 2006. It’s been three years and that claim has not been resolved and the mother has just now decided to file suit.

March 2008 (1.5 years after the incident) Vermont Human Rights Commission rules:
Commission Finds Airline Discriminated against Breastfeeding Mother

November 2009 settlement negotiations fall apart and mother sues:
Burlington Free Press article “Breast-feeding Mom Sues Delta”

Breastfeeding in Public Is an Existing Federal and State Civil Right

When I ran my thoughts by attorney and breastfeeding advocate Jake Marcus who blogs at Sustainable Mothering, she agreed and had this to add:

[B]reastfeeding discrimination should properly be considered covered by current federal and state civil rights law in that it is sex discrimination prohibited by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the state laws that are its parallel. Unfortunately, as with pregnancy, several courts have drawn a distinction between reproduction-related discrimination and sex discrimination. Congress passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in 1978 explicitly condemning judicial decisions that excluded reproductive discrimination from protection against sex discrimination. In the preamble to the pending Breastfeeding Promotion Act, it states also that the proposed inclusion of lactation is a *clarification* of the Civil Rights Act and not a change to the law.

So, state civil rights legislation like the breastfeeding bill pending in Michigan is necessary to see that the federal civil right Congress created in 1964 is enforced.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Image courtesy of Martine Lemmens

As a reminder, here are the guidelines that will increase the chances a post will be selected for inclusion in the carnival:
– A well-written, grammatically correct post
– Thoughtful commentary directly on point for the carnival subject
– Overall quality of the rest of your blog and whether the general subject matter is something of interest to our readers (breastfeeding, parenting)

If your post is selected for inclusion, you will be asked on the day of the carnival to publish or re-publish your post with links back to each of the other participants in the carnival.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

[T]he more women who are out there speaking up for their rights, the more the prejudices will get chipped away. Georgia state representative Sally Harrell is one such trailblazer. When her son, Joseph, was 10 days old, the state House of Representatives went back into session. “I decided that because he was so young, I would take him with me.”

Not everyone was welcoming; in fact, several other representatives told the house speaker that they objected. “It’s very male-driven,” Harrell says. “I had to talk them into letting me bring the baby at all.” According to her, no other women in the legislature had ever tried to breastfeed on the job. “In the beginning, I’d borrow someone’s office, but when I got good enough, I nursed him on the floor because I realized that I was missing votes.”

“The first time I did it, it was really scary,” she adds. Even though she felt like everyone was watching, she kept nursing. Then she turned to a female colleague behind her and whispered, “We’re making history.”

Model of the Georgia Capitol building by Wvpress

Rep. Harrell co-sponsored legislation that eventually led to the 2002 amendment of the Georgia law which used to permit breastfeeding public only if the mother “acts in a discreet and modest way.” The Georgia law now reads:

31-1-9. Breast-feeding of baby. The breast-feeding of a baby is an important and basic act of nurture which should be encouraged in the interests of maternal and child health. A mother may breast-feed her baby in any location where the mother and baby are otherwise authorized to be.

What a wonderful example Sally Harrell set when she nursed her baby on the floor of the general assembly, and how great that she was able to make a difference for breastfeeding women in Georgia by eliminating those awful, subjective terms “discreet” and “modest”!

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Image courtesy of David Siqueira

1. Denny’s Restaurant harasses nursing mother. After Crystal Everitt was asked to cover up while breastfeeding at an Asheville, North Carolina, Denny’s restaurant, the regional management issued an unsatisfactory response. Local breastfeeding supporters went ahead with a nurse-in at the restaurant.

2. Dear Abby on pumping at work. Back in March, advice columnist Abigail Van Buren rightfully advised a woman not to be ashamed of pumping at work, but she failed to point out that a bathroom is not a pumping room and that California law protects pumping mothers in the workplace. The following June, the Dear Abby column published several follow-up letters with helpful information.

3. Parents Magazine advises being “discreet.” In April, I wrote to the Parents Magazine etiquette columnist about her belief that nursing in public is only okay as long as the breastfeeding mother is being “discreet” by utilizing shawls, scarves, dark booths and quiet corners.

4. Acosta Tacos fires woman for breastfeeding at work. The owner of Acosta Tacos in Los Angeles, California was ordered to pay Marina Chavez $21,645.00 in lost wages plus $20,000.00 for emotional damages after the owner fired Chavez for breastfeeding her baby on her breaks. In this groundbreaking case, the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission found that breastfeeding is intrinsic to the female sex and thus breastfeeding discrimination is sex discrimination under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). The owner was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine, establish a written policy on sex discrimination, and post a notice regarding the company’s FEHA violation.

5. Olive Garden requires modesty. In Michigan City, Indiana, Maggie Naas was asked to move to the restroom to breastfeed her baby because, according to that Olive Garden restaurant’s manager, she was not being modest enough.

6. Chick-Fil-A offers a towel to cover up. Thirty breastfeeding women staged a nurse-in at a Florida Chick-Fil-A after a mother was asked to cover her nursing baby with a towel. The mother attempted to contact the local and corporate management and apparently received no response. (One of my favorite pictures from the nurse-in shows the Chick-Fil-A mascot, a cow, looking on as a woman nurses. There’s a joke in there somewhere!)

7. Settlement negotiations between Emily Gillette and Delta Airlines end in lawsuit being filed. It’s hard to believe that it was three years ago that Emily Gillette and her family were asked to de-board an airplane when Ms. Gillette refused a flight attendant’s request to cover her 22-month-old nursling with a blanket. In October 2009 the Burlington Free Press reported that negotiations to settle the discrimination case collapsed and Ms. Gillette has filed suit in U.S. District Court in Burlington, Vermont.

Finally, an incident that I had to add after this post was already scheduled to publish:

8. Target store calls cops on breastfeeding mother. Earlier this week the mother of a four-week-old baby felt forced to leave the Target store in Harper Woods, Michigan after she disputed the security guards’ claim that breastfeeding in the store was illegal. Guess which store will not benefit from my holiday shopping this year? [Edited to add the good news that HB 5515, the pending breastfeeding discrimination bill in Michigan, passed out of committee on a vote of 11 to 2 after the hearing on December 2nd!]

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

AIDS Awareness ribbons; Photo by Subhadip Mukherjee

WHO now recommends that breastfeeding continue until the infant is 12 months of age, provided the HIV-positive mother or baby is taking ARVs during that period. This will reduce the risk of HIV transmission and improve the infant’s chance of survival.

2. CNN reports on the on-going story of the group of women who stepped in to breastfeed an infant when his mother passed away after giving birth. It’s been 11 months that baby Moses has been nursed by over 20 women. The baby’s father, Robbie Goodrich, said, “It’s been such an incredible outpouring of community love for this child of mine.”

3. Sinead at BreastfeedingMums covers the tragic story of a mother who fell asleep sitting up while breastfeeding her baby and accidentally smothered the child. As Sinead says, it’s important to pay attention to the guidelines for safe co-sleeping.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

The ironically nipple-like Target bullseye; Photo by TheTruthAbout...

MyFOXDetroit.com reports that on Sunday at the Target store in Harper Woods, Michigan, the mother of a 4-week-old baby was told by security that breastfeeding in the store was illegal. When the mother and her off-duty police officer husband disagreed, the police were called and the mother was so embarrassed that she felt forced to leave the store! Target headquarters issued this statement in response to the incident:

This specific situation escalated to a point where we were concerned for the safety of our guests, so law enforcement was called. We regret the incident in our store and will continue to provide a shopping environment that respects the needs of all guests, including nursing mothers.

Unfortunately this is not the first instance of alleged breastfeeding discrimination by a Target store. Back in 2006 an employee in a Minneapolis, Minnesota Target store told a mother she could not nurse her baby in a fitting room. At that time, Target issued the following statement:

Target has a long-standing practice that supports breastfeeding in our stores. We apologize for any inconvenience the guest experienced and will take this opportunity to reaffirm this commitment with our team members.

For guests in our stores, we support the use of fitting rooms for women who wish to breastfeed their babies, even if others are waiting to use the fitting rooms. In addition, guests who choose to breastfeed discreetly in more public areas of the store are welcome to do so without being made to feel uncomfortable.

Aside from the “disceetly” remark that’s an okay response, except now it’s happened again in another store.

Michigan Breastfeeding Law

Currently the Michigan state law exempts breastfeeding from the public nudity statute. Breastfeeding may also be taken into consideration in child custody cases. This most recent Target incident demonstrates exactly why Michiganders need to support the pending breastfeeding legislation, House Bill 5515. HB 5515 would allow a woman to breastfeed anywhere she may otherwise legally be. The law would amend the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act to state in part:

Sec. 302. Except where permitted by law, a person shall not: (a) Deny the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of a place of public accommodation or public service to an individual because of religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, or marital status or to a woman because she is breastfeeding a child.

I have written to the office of the sponsor of the bill to make sure she knows about this latest alleged breastfeeding discrimination in time for the legislative hearing tomorrow, December 2, 2009. Michigan mothers are invited to testify at the hearing.

[Edited to add the good news that after the December 2nd hearing, HB 5515 passed out of committee by a vote of 11-2!]

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3