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 …read more

Mommy’s Little Breastfeeding Book: 101 Tips Your Baby Wants You to Know about Nursing is a great book! I love the concept and the philosophy presented. This little breastfeeding book is condensed enough to read in an hour yet it is jam-packed with helpful tips for successful breastfeeding. It has all the things I would want to tell a pregnant friend to encourage her to make the decision to breastfeed and to help her get started. One of my favorite tips?
41. A good rule of thumb is that Mommy puts the food in and Daddy takes it out.
A little …read more

In this video Dr. Jack Newman guides a woman in using the cross-cradle hold to latch her baby onto the breast. While there are many different breastfeeding positions, the cross-cradle hold can be particularly helpful for newborns. Note how the mother is not forcefully pushing the baby’s head onto the breast, but rather is simply supporting the head and bringing the baby tummy-to-tummy and using her arm on the baby’s back and hand under the baby’s face. This position also allows for breast compressions (using the mother’s thumb on top of the breast and four fingers underneath the breast to …read more

My newborn and I had our first “official” outing (other than to the offices of the pediatrician or midwife) on the day she turned three weeks old. We attended the community talent show at the local library, which I was pleased to see had a huge display of breastfeeding information (see above) in honor of World Breastfeeding Week! The talent show was so great. There is nothing cuter than: a 3-year-old belting out How Great Is Our God, a 4-year-old barely whispering the ABCs, another 4-year-old humming the Indiana Jones theme song, and a darling girl tap dancing on industrial …read more

Welcome Carnival of Breastfeeding readers! For Pregnancy Awareness Month, this round of carnival entries focuses on pregnancy and breastfeeding. Because I have already shared my stories of breastfeeding during pregnancy and of tandem nursing, I want to share ten tips on how a pregnant woman can prepare for breastfeeding.
1. DO NOT let anyone tell you it is necessary to toughen up your nipples for breastfeeding.
2. DO some reading about breastfeeding. Good choices are:
~ The Breastfeeding Book: Everything You Need to Know About Nursing Your Child from Birth Through Weaning
~ The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding: Seventh Revised Edition
~ The Nursing Mother’s …read more

Ameda offers a free online instructional video “Your Baby Knows How to Latch-On.” The five-minute clip talks about proper latch and demonstrates how a newborn latches himself on the breast with a minimal amount of guidance from his mother. The video is offered through these links in English and in Spanish.
Click here for more breastfeeding videos. For more help with latch-on, see the Checklist for a Good Breastfeeding Latch.

The Department of Health in the United Kingdom pledged the funding necessary to establish a new breastfeeding helpline in conjunction with The Breastfeeding Network and the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers. The new helpline number will be: 0844 20 909 20. The Government News Network notes:
3. The National Breastfeeding Helpline will be available in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
4. The National Breastfeeding Helpline is staffed by trained volunteer mothers from the Breastfeeding Network and the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers who have all breastfed themselves, and who take calls in their own homes. Calls will be charged at 5p per …read more

Note: Contest has ended.
Tanya at the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog is looking for readers’ breastfeeding tips and advice to be published in an upcoming Motherwear catalog. She’s offering U.S. $25 Motherwear gift certificates for any submissions that get selected for publication! Important note: you only have until noon EST on Friday, January 19, 2007, to get your submission in.
Tanya links to the collection of previous tips for an idea of what to submit. Once you’ve got your own idea, send Tanya an email with your name, home address and phone number along with your suggested advice. Winners will be …read more