For inspiration and support, it can be helpful to read other women’s breastfeeding stories. For the May Carnival of Breastfeeding we ask you to share a story: your birth story as it relates to breastfeeding, your breastfeeding experience, overcoming a particular challenge, a cute or funny story about your nursling, or your weaning story.

Photo courtesy of Steve Woods

Have a story you want to share in a carnival post on your blog? Email me your submission by May 18, 2009, for consideration for the carnival on May 25, 2009. 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 edit your post to link back to each of the other participants in the carnival.

As students young and old head off to school this September, we’re calling for Carnival of Breastfeeding submissions related to the subject of Learning about Breastfeeding.

Potential subjects include:

- Books on breastfeeding
- Taking a breastfeeding class during pregnancy
- Training to become a breastfeeding peer counselor, La Leche League Leader, or lactation consultant
- Attending a breastfeeding support group
- Breastfeeding education in the schools: elementary school, high school, nursing school, or medical school
- A person who taught you about breastfeeding by her example or by being of support to you.

If you would like to submit your own post on Learning about Breastfeeding, email me your submission by September 15, 2008, for consideration for the carnival on September 22, 2008.

As a reminder, here are the guidelines that will increase the chances a post will be selected for inclusion:

– 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 edit your post to link back to each of the other participants in the carnival.

Welcome to the June Carnival of Breastfeeding: Pumping It Up! Check out all the contributions on the topic of pumping and hand expression at the end of this post.

Here at Breastfeeding 1-2-3 I am pleased to share this guest post from Holly, whose son has benefited from her exclusive pumping over the last 10 months!

Breastfeeding, Pumping, and Cleft Palate, by Holly

The breastfeeding relationship I share with my son is nothing like I expected it would be.

He was born last August, healthy in every way but one–he had a cleft palate. Nine days after his birth, we ended up in the Emergency Room of the local Children’s Hospital because he was dehydrated. That’s how we learned that try as we might, DS couldn’t nurse. (It’s like drinking through a straw with a hole in it: you get some liquid, but it takes a lot of work. He was burning more calories than he was taking in.) I’ve been exclusively pumping and bottlefeeding him since that day.

The nurses in the ER–and in the NICU, where we spent the next three days–were wonderfully supportive of my desire to breastfeed. They introduced me to breast pumps and showed me what to do. When it turns out that my milk had gone back to colostrum because I wasn’t getting enough stimulation, they made sure I didn’t give up hope. The hospital’s lactation consultant was a great help too, answering our questions and helping my husband and I learn to use the special Haberman nipple (see an example of a complete Haberman Feeder with a bottle here) that helps him eat.

Those early days were hard. It was discouraging to sit at the pump for 15 minutes, and see only a few milliliters of milk in the bottle! Slowly but surely, my supply caught up to my son’s hunger and he has had almost exclusively breast milk since that hospital visit. I was afraid that it would be hard bond with my son, but it wasn’t. We’re not often skin to skin, but all that close snuggling can’t be beat! And my husband gets to share the bond, since he shares the feeding.

In many ways, I am very lucky. Not only are my husband and those nurses supportive, so are my family, friends and coworkers. Before my son was born, I bought a pump from a friend in preparation for going back to work, so I had what I needed at home to start pumping right away. The book The Milk Memos made me realize how lucky I am at work: I have a second pump in my office and can pump while I work (with the door closed and a “Dairy in Operation” sign blocking the window.) I am also grateful that this was my first child, so I’ve never known what it’s like to breastfeed. My situation is far from ideal, but it works for me since it’s the only one I know.

Don’t get me wrong: exclusive pumping is not fun. It’s impersonal and kind of uncomfortable. And oh, so time consuming! Ideally, I pump every 2-3 hours (except at night, when I only get up once) so it seems like every time I turn around, it’s time to pump again. And let’s face it–it’s a lot harder to discreetly attach yourself to a machine with a motor and plastic tubing than it is to discreetly nurse an infant. Our dining room table is full of the pump and all the things I keep nearby to make the best of the time I’m stuck in front of it: my computer, books, crosswords, Sudoku, the calendar where I’m recording the new things my son is doing.

Somewhere around the eighth month mark, I was DONE. My son developed a new habit of sitting just out of reach, bawling. I was sick to death of my life being ruled by the need to hook up to the milk machine. Luckily Angela pointed me to the pumping forums at KellyMom.com, and one of those moms told me about EPers, a Yahoo group just for women like me who exclusively pump. What a godsend! Those ladies helped me keep going when I needed it most.

From the start, my goal was to pump until his cleft palate repair surgery at nine months, then try to nurse him. His surgery was last month, and was a success. Unfortunately this is the most hectic time in my work life, and adding nursing to all the other demands on my time isn’t working out well. Despite early good intentions, I did not keep up with putting him to the breast for comfort all these months, so we’d have a lot of learning to do. Instead, I may forgo the nursing and keep pumping until he’s a year old. I know better than to make such a big decision when I’m stressed out, so I’ll decide for sure when this work crunch is over.

Regardless of what happens, I will always be proud that I have been able to give him so much mama’s milk. Breastfeeding has always seemed like the healthiest and most natural choice to me, so even though pumping is a drag, I never really considered not doing it. The fact that it’s free and locally grown (so to speak) are icing on the cake! I will be glad to put this demand on my life behind me, but will never regret choosing to pump to feed my son.

More Carnival Entries on Pumping and Hand Expression

Please enjoy these contributions to the carnival as they come in:

Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog: Tips for Introducing a Bottle
Mama Knows Breast: Enter to Win a Medela Freestyle Pump (deadline July 1, 2008)
BreastfeedingMums: Electrify Me
Adventures of a Breastfeeding Mother: Pumping Tips
Raising Baby Bee: Pumping at Work
The Attached Mother: Donating Milk
Hobo Mama: Thrills and Chills of Person-to-Person Milk Donation
Mike and Toni’s: Hands-Free Pumping Invention

Some of my favorite posts are the Carnival of Breastfeeding compilations, which gather contributions from many breastfeeding and mothering blogs. There’s a wealth of information and a nice balance of opinions on each subject. It’s hard to believe these breastfeeding blog carnivals have been running monthly since November 2006! From the oldest to the most recent, here are some of the more valuable carnivals:

1. Baby Love

2. Good Advice and Bad Advice on Breastfeeding

3. Breastfeeding: What I Didn’t Expect When I Was Expecting

4. Breastfeeding and Sleep

5. Beginnings and Endings

May is Pregnancy Awareness Month, and for this month’s Carnival of Breastfeeding we’re calling for submissions on the topic of pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Potential subjects include:

- What you did (or wish you had done) in pregnancy to prepare for breastfeeding
- What you thought/are thinking about breastfeeding during your pregnancy
- Your advice to pregnant women about breastfeeding
- Breastfeeding during pregnancy

If you would like to submit your own post about pregnancy and breastfeeding, email me your submission by May 20, 2008, for consideration for the carnival on May 27, 2008.

As a reminder, here are the guidelines that will increase the chances a post will be selected for inclusion:

– 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 edit your post to link back to each of the other participants in the carnival.

Welcome to the April Carnival of Breastfeeding, “Thrush and Mastitis and Blebs, oh my!” This month several contributors share their experiences with different breastfeeding challenges and offer links and resources for overcoming those challenges. First I will talk about using gentian violet or grapefruit seed extract as alternative remedies for thrush, but make sure to read on for links to the other contributions at the end!

Oversupply

When my first daughter was born, I struggled with oversupply. In theory oversupply sounds great because it eliminates any worry about having enough milk for the baby. In reality, it can cause a lot of problems including painful engorgement, an overactive letdown (which can cause the baby to choke, sputter, and pop off the breast), a foremilk-hindmilk imbalance (leading to green and gassy stools), plugged ducts, and mastitis.

I wish I had known more about correcting oversupply in the first place. In the end it took about 12 weeks for my supply to regulate.

Plugged Ducts

Off and on over that first year, I experienced several plugged ducts:

~ Kellymom on Plugged Ducts and Mastitis
~ NEW BEGINNINGS article on Plugged Ducts

I became adept at hand-expressing to remove the little white milk plug that was blocking the milk duct. One time, though, I found that I had damaged the nipple skin at the site of the plug, and the sore simply would not heal. I tried Lansinoh and I tried expressing breast milk on the nipple and letting it air dry. The white, cracked sore did not go away.

Thrush

Eventually I spoke to a La Leche League leader, who suggested I consult my doctor to see whether it could be thrush. I wasn’t in terrible pain and my baby didn’t have white patches in her mouth, but thrush can exist without such symptoms or signs. My gynecologist first prescribed Nystatin for me and my baby, and when that didn’t work, we moved on to Diflucan. (I also sanitized all of my clothing and any toys or other items that had been in my baby’s mouth). When Diflucan didn’t work either, I began to suspect I didn’t have thrush (that’s what I think in retrospect), or I had a stubborn case.

Gentian Violet and Grapefruit Seed Extract

I started looking for alternative remedies for thrush, and happened upon information about using Gentian Violet:

~ Using Gentian Violet - Dr. Jack Newman
~ Thrush Remedies including Gentian Violet (see also the warning on its use) — AskDrSears.com

Gentian violet is purple and does indeed stain your nipples, baby’s mouth, and clothing. I bought a few pink/purple outfits and put my baby in them for the duration of our treatment! Whether or not I actually had thrush, this is the product that finally helped my nipple heal.

Later on I learned about grapefruit seed extract and its antimicrobial properties. I tried Nutribiotic - GSE Liquid Concentrate anytime I had an open sore, or my baby developed a yeasty diaper rash. I also take it internally when I’m battling a bout of plugged ducts and/or mastitis. It’s also an effective cleaner! Just make sure you dilute it. Plain sterile water works for topical applications, and a little orange juice (or grapefruit juice!) works well to mask the bitter taste when you take it internally. A small bottle of GSE seems expensive ($10.50 or so on-line or at a natural foods store) but a little goes a long way and I still have my original bottle four years later.

~ Grapefruit Seed Extract for Treatment of Thrush - AskLenore.com
~ Identifying and Treating Thrush (with GSE) - Dr. Jay Gordon

It’s convenient that these remedies do not require a prescription, but as always, consult your physician, your child’s physician, and/or a pharmacist before using any medication.

Other Participants in the Carnival

~ Tongue Tie - Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog
~ Supplementing - Mama’s Magic
~ Oversupply, Blebs, Plugged Ducts, and Mastits - Half Pint Pixie
~ Plugged Ducts and Mastitis - Speech Act
~ Low Milk Supply and the Mini-Pill - Tales of Life with a Girl on the Go
~ Getting Rid of Thrush - Nurturing Notes
~ Sore Nipples, Engorgement, and Medications - BreastfeedingMums
~ Surviving Mastitis - Blessed Nest Perch
~ Supplementing during the First Week - Hobo Mama

This month the Carnival of Breastfeeding will focus on entries about “Thrush and mastitis and blebs, oh my!” We want to hear about any breastfeeding obstacles you faced and how you overcame them. Did you deal with thrush, plugged ducts, mastitis, a baby’s illness or disability, nipple confusion, or tongue-tie? Low supply or over-supply? Craft your entry so that it does two things: (1) tells the story of how you overcame a breastfeeding challenge, and (2) provides a list of links to the online resources you found most helpful for that problem.

If you would like to submit your own post about overcoming a breastfeeding challenge, email me your submission by April 15, 2008, for consideration for the carnival on April 22, 2008.

As a reminder, here are the guidelines that will increase the chances a post will be selected for inclusion:

– 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 edit your post to link back to each of the other participants in the carnival.

In honor of National Nutrition Month, b5media’s Science and Health Channel compiled a wealth of information on nutrition. Looking for easy ways to make your favorite foods more healthful? Check out what Healthbolt has to offer. Want to know some great ideas for a variety of breakfast options? See what Kids Health Notes wrote up. It’s all available at the theme day hosted at Eating Fabulous.

Welcome to the January Carnival of Breastfeeding! Today the contributors have written about “Beginnings and Endings” related to breastfeeding. Now that I am 14 weeks pregnant with my third child, I am facing a beginning and an ending, specifically the ending of my nursing relationship with my 3-year-old, and the beginning of my nursing relationship with my next child.

When I was pregnant with my second child, my first daughter nursed right through the pregnancy and happily tandem nursed with her new little sister. My experience this time around has been different. My 3-year-old simply is not as attached to nursing at this point. She had already cut back on nursing to about three times per day, and my milk supply dropped quickly. As my milk supply dropped, I found nursing to be more and more uncomfortable, and I found myself limiting the length (but not the frequency) of nursing sessions. Once I became pregnant, I experienced both breast tenderness and a further decrease in milk supply. Consequently, we are down to one nursing session per day, which my daughter self-limits. At this point, she mainly wants to know that she can nurse if she so desires, but when she latches on she quickly finds there’s not much milk and she’s not all that interested in nursing after all. I can see that she will soon wean altogether.

The very helpful book (should you find yourself pregnant and breastfeeding) Adventures in Tandem Nursing: Breastfeeding During Pregnancy and Beyond notes:

Reports seem to indicate that 26 percent of children self-wean during pregnancy…. Although 31 out of 57 babies, or 57 percent, of the children who were nursing at the beginning of their mothers’ pregnancies were no longer nursing by the end, the investigator specifically records that the weaning was baby-led in 15 of those 31 cases and mother-led in 16.

I guess I’d characterize our weaning as part mother-led, part child-led. At any rate, I think we’ll be among the 57 percent who are not nursing by the end of the pregnancy.

After nearly six years of continuous breastfeeding, I am looking forward to a little break. At the same time, though, I am mourning the nursing relationship and all the benefits for my child and me. Right now my three-year-old has a terrible cold and accompanying cough. If I had the milk, I’d be getting as much of the wonderful antibodies into her as possible to help her fight the cold and hopefully prevent an ear infection. As it stands, I’m worried that she’ll get even sicker. I can remember way back when my firstborn was just four months old, and a La Leche League leader with older children basically lamented, “That first illness after weaning is the worst. Your child gets more sick than usual because he’s not getting the antibodies from you. Not only that, but he doesn’t have nursing to comfort him when he’s not feeling well.” Subsequently I heard other leaders say, “Of course when you wean is up to you, but I don’t recommend it during cold and flu season!” Ah, wise women!

For more thoughts on breastfeeding “Beginnings and Endings,” read these entries in the carnival (updated throughout the day):

~ The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog - Weaning
~ How to be a Badass Dad - The Breastfeeding Father
~ Leche Baby! - Weaning a Toddler
~ Mama Knows Breast - One Mom’s Story of Breastfeeding Challenges
~ Breastfeeding Mums - Beginnings and Endings
~ Adventures of Pip and Squeak - A Complicated Relationship
~ Nature Moms - Mama Knows Breast
~ Crunchy Domestic Goddess - Inauspicious Breastfeeding Beginnings
~ Tales of Life with a Girl on the Go - Breastfeeding Beginnings

This month the Carnival of Breastfeeding resumes with entries on “Beginnings and Endings.” If you would like to submit your own post about the early days of breastfeeding, about weaning, or any other beginning or ending, email me your submission by January 22, 2008, for consideration for the carnival on January 29, 2008.

As a reminder, here are the guidelines that will increase the chances a post will be selected for inclusion:

– 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 edit your post to link back to each of the other participants in the carnival.