After I posted about the Advertising of Infant Milk, two commenters mentioned how much they liked the Medela commercial that has been running on the Discovery Health Channel. Curious to see the “breast milk commercial” myself, I found the 31-second ad on Medela’s website. (Go on, watch it. I’ll wait. Then come back and let me know what you think please!)

What do you think of the ad? My first thought was, “Way to go Medela! You actually showed actual breastfeeding, on television!” (Yes, actually, that is how I actually thought it LOL). Apparently though this version of the ad is …read more

Many of us tasted breast milk as infants of course, but have you ever tasted it as an adult? Maybe you were curious like Friends on television, illustrating a point like this professor, using it to treat cancer, or you have a breast milk fetish.
It’s the easiest poll ever!
{democracy:47}
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Feel free to leave a comment! Have you tried breast milk, why, and what did you think (keep it clean or I won’t approve your comment)?

This week I am looking for your input on Traditional Medicinals Organic Mother’s Milk Tea (16 bags). The Baby Book says, “Herbal teas promoted as galactagogues (substances that increase milk supply) are harmless and may work, though there are no scientific studies that confirm this. Herbs to be avoided or used with caution during lactation include comfrey, sassafras, ginseng, and licorice.” p. 157.
Have you tried Mother’s Milk Tea (either the regular or organic versions)? How did it taste? Did you find that it helped your milk supply at all? Did you use it in combination with any other techniques or …read more

Some women end up with a bountiful stash of frozen breast milk — be it from oversupply, a baby in the NICU, or an infant who turns out to be allergic to something in the milk pumped so far. Some of those women are moved to donate the excess milk to a non-profit milk bank. In the past few days, I have heard two women express (no pun intended) frustration at the restrictions posted on women who wish to qualify as breast milk donors. One, whose oversupply and dairy-free diet could certainly have benefited a milk bank, was turned away …read more

I received this question today:
If breastmilk has been thawed and wasn’t used, can I refreeze it? If not, and I store it in the fridge, what’s the shelf life?
Good questions! If breast milk has been thawed and was not used, it should not be refrozen. In the back of the refrigerator (not in or near the door), thawed milk can be stored up to 24 hours for later use.
For more information on storage and handling of expressed breast milk, see:
LLLI.org: La Leche League Storage Guidelines for Pumped Milk; For an update from June 2008, see La Leche League Updates Breast …read more

With my kitchen torn apart for a redecorating project, I indulged in a lot of take-out food recently. That meant yummy Thai, Mexican and Chinese food. I enjoyed a tantalizing array of flavorful food, but when I bit into a particularly spicy chile relleno (stuffed pepper) the other night, it occurred to me to wonder whether the spicy foods I enjoyed made my breast milk spicy.
In fact, spices in a mother’s food do flavor the breast milk. Does that mean that nursing mothers should avoid garlic and spicy foods in favor of a bland diet? Absolutely not! The varied flavors of …read more

The way breast milk miraculously adapts to the changing needs of the baby reminds me of the old joke about the befuddled man first encountering a thermos. “It keeps the hot things hot and the cold things cold. How do it know?”
Colostrum. Colostrum is the nutrient-rich early milk that the baby receives for the first few days after birth. The yellowish “liquid gold” colostrum is low in quantity but high in quality. Colostrum contains beneficial immunities that help protect the baby from illness while the baby’s own immune system is still developing. It acts as a laxative to help the baby pass …read more