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

Interesting to read all your experiences and to see what a common problem this is…I’m in a tough situation so your advice would be helpful.

I’ve co-slept with my son since he was 3 months old, and it has worked great for us. He wakes up to nurse, then falls right back asleep. Neither of us wake up fully, so I’ve been able to have great sleep from from about 12 mos until now (24 mos.)

But over the last 2 weeks his sleep has been terrible. He won’t go to bed until 10:30 (used to sleep easily at 8:30) and wakes up 3 times a night nursing voraciously (like, 30-40 minutes!). I’m pregnant (2 mos) and get so irritated with this! I take him off the breast but then he cries and cries. My husband then comes and tries to comfort him but he won’t go to him at all during the night, and gets really agitated.

I’m so worn out and am thinking of night weaning, but hate the thought of having him cry for long periods of time. Partly cuz I don’t want to cause him upset, but also cuz it is horrible to listen to during the night.

Any suggestions?

Rosemary, congratulations on your pregnancy! Breastfeeding while pregnant can be a challenge emotionally and physically. My guess is that your milk supply has started to diminish a bit (which is normal during pregnancy) and/or your milk has started to taste a little salty (also a normal change). Some nurslings (like my first daughter) continue on nursing as if nothing had changed, but others are affected by the changes.

Photo by Jessicafm

I highly recommend that you check out a copy of the book Adventures in Tandem Nursing: Breastfeeding During Pregnancy and Beyond by Hilary Flower. It describes the experience of breastfeeding while pregnant and the various emotions it triggers in both mother and nursling. You are not alone! Two other books that might be helpful are Mothering Your Nursing Toddler and How Weaning Happens.

As for more immediate, practical advice, try offering your son a bedtime snack and some extra fluids (my suggestions would be water, milk or a cow’s milk alternative like almond milk). Does he drink from a cup, a sippy cup, or a cup and straw? Offer him his alternative drink in that cup. Have the same cup — this time filled with water only — available for drinking during the night. You can still nurse him for as long as you are willing, then offer the cup. I found that it helped to give my nursling some warning, either by offering to nurse for the length of the ABC song, or by counting down at the end of a nursing session (10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-done!). Be sure to talk to him about the plan ahead of time, during the day and not just as you’re going to bed. “Mommy is extra tired and would like to get a good night’s sleep. We will nurse while I sing the ABC song, and then you can have your special cup! If you wake up in the night, your cup will be right there and I can sing you back to sleep.” Keep repeating your plan, whatever it might be, throughout the day and then remind him at night. “Remember how we talked about nursing to the ABC song?” He might still be upset, and you might have to keep working on a plan that suits you both. If he is verbal enough, you might even try asking him to help come up with a solution. “Mama’s mum-mums aren’t making as much milk, are they? What would you like to drink instead? Would you like your sippy cup or this special straw?” You never know, your son might surprise you! Different children have different temperaments, and you know what will work best with your son.

Does anyone else have advice for Rosemary? If you breastfed while pregnant, what was your experience like?

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Image by Sanja Gjenero

My husband is a great father and very good with the kids, so it should not be quite so newsworthy, except my other daughters refused to be settled back to sleep by anyone other than me (and my mum-mums) until they were over two-and-a-half years old! So the fact that my husband was able to settle our third daughter at the tender age of 15 months is amazing and gratefully received. Not just once, not even twice, but THREE times, which means it is not a Fluke and might actually be Repeatable. Clearly I am giddy with the additional sleep I received.

Last night was especially wonderful. I felt pretty cruddy from the cold to which I finally succumbed after several irresistible toddler pointing games of “Baby’s (runny) nose” and “Mama’s nose.” I needed the sleep and was none too pleased when I woke to nurse the baby at 4 a.m. and she had trouble settling back to sleep for a full 45 minutes. When it was clear she didn’t need to nurse again but she couldn’t stay asleep, I finally gave in and called to my husband at 4:45, and he was able to snuggle her to sleep. For some reason she accepts sleeping on his chest, as if she knows that’s the best he has to offer and she might as well enjoy it. And enjoy it she did — we all slept until it was time to get up at 7:15! Heaven.

When my toddler woke for good that morning, I went in to find her snuggled next to her daddy AND her four-year-old sister who had wandered down the hall to find someone to snuggle her back to sleep. So cute!

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Spare me the horror of accidentally smothering my child while I sleep. God forbid.

Certainly every mother, whether breastfeeding or co-sleeping or not, worries about her child during the night (and may even repeatedly check to make sure the baby is still breathing). Times have changed since that prayer was written though. Now we know about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), defined essentially as the sudden death of a baby younger than one year old without a known cause. Back then, if a child mysteriously died in the night, a mother mistakenly might have believed she smothered her child.

Furthermore, the risk of SIDS has declined dramatically over the years. The latest Center for Disease Control figures put the annual incidence of SIDS in the United States at slightly over 1 in every 2,000 live births. (Translation: take reasonable precautions but do not let worry over SIDS interfere with enjoying your new baby!)

Nowadays, tragic stories about babies being smothered generally involve mothers who were intoxicated and who shouldn’t have been co-sleeping. Breastfeeding and co-sleeping mothers are particularly sensitive to their children, and co-sleeping can be done safely if a few guidelines are followed.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that an infant be placed to sleep in a crib or bassinet in the parents’ room. Dr. William Sears argues that an infant sleeping in the parents’ bed is far safer than in a crib, and that both co-sleeping and breastfeeding reduce the risk of SIDS.

Personally, I used an Arm’s Reach Co-Sleeper next to my bed when my baby was little. Once she grew a bit older, and also harder to lift in and out of the co-sleeper, I brought her into my bed but left the co-sleeper in place for diaper changes and for extra protection against the baby falling out of bed (I had a bad experience with bed rails and do not recommend them unless you are absolutely positive they are the proper ones for your mattress size/height and they are installed safely).

Clearly further research needs to be done about SIDS and about the safety of co-sleeping. In the meantime, it can’t hurt to offer up an extra prayer for the safety of our little ones in the night.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

“Breastfeeding has always been a wonderful, easy, and cheap way to feed my children. I don’t recall any particular moments from the past few years of nursing my children, so I’ll tell the stories of beginning to
breastfeed each of my children.

When I got pregnant in 2002, I made a sudden switch from being an
engineer, interested in all the latest technology and science, to
being a mother, interested in all the healthiest and most natural
concepts. I found amazing midwives to care for me during my pregnancy and birth, researched natural childbirth, and didn’t even consider whether or not I would nurse my child.

When my son was born, I was disappointed that he came out blue because that meant that he couldn’t crawl up to my chest and start nursing right away. It took them just seconds to determine that he was fine, though, so they put him on my chest and I shoved my nipple in his mouth before I even took the time to appreciate how gorgeous he was. He took to it like a natural and we never had a moment of trouble with it. He nursed enthusiastically until I had to start weaning because I was unable to become pregnant while breastfeeding. He was about 20 months old at that point.

I got pregnant the month after we started to wean. My daughter also
latched right on, but I had a lot of pain with her, like red hot
needles being jammed through my nipples for the first minute or two
that she was latched on. It was awful. Pain like I have never known,
even after two drug-free labors! When she started rooting one time I
remember thinking that I’d rather go through labor again than suffer
through this one nursing session. Despite that, it never occurred to
me to quit nursing or supplement. Someone suggested that after about a month, when I was still crying during every session, but I knew it wasn’t an option for me. I knew that I would continue nursing her until she quit, even if it hurt that much for the entire time. It just felt like the right thing to do, and heck, it was just pain! Why deprive her (and me) of the benefits just because it hurt? Luckily, the pain started to subside after about eight weeks, and now she nurses without any discomfort.

My kids have each nursed nearly exclusively until they were a year
old. My daughter turns one in a week and she’s just starting to eat
food now. They were both very picky and disinterested in baby food or table food, perhaps because they knew the good stuff was sitting right next to them. I love looking at my daughter’s solid little body and knowing that I have provided every ounce she’s gained. Not only did I get to be her home while she developed for 10 months, but I have been exclusively responsible for her growth ever since she came into the world. What an honor!”

Thanks for sharing your story, Jen! Other readers interested in sharing their stories can find more information here.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3