Posing with Dr. Bob Sears after his lecture

La Leche League conferences are great because children are welcome at the lectures. As I chased my 10-month-old around the back of the room (until she finally fell asleep in the sling as you can see above), I managed to take in a lot of valuable information from the lecture. Dr. Sears discussed the occurrence and severity of various childhood illnesses, how vaccinations have affected the prevalence of those illnesses, toxins in vaccines, delayed and alternative vaccination schedules, the debate about vaccines and autism, and how the “same” vaccines vary by manufacturer and brand. I like that he offers an opinion on particular vaccines but does not push vaccination or not vaccinating; it’s all about the parents making an informed decision. If you get an opportunity to hear him speak, it’s well worth it! He stayed long after the lecture ended to answer individual questions, and I took the opportunity to ask him some questions I had about my daughter’s potential reaction to the rotavirus vaccine.

One tip that’s not in The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child: be wary of any future swine flu vaccination developed for humans. I plan to stay tuned to Dr. Bob’s blog for The Vaccine Book for the latest information on that and other vaccines.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

How have you handled working and breastfeeding? Do you have a story to share about how you made it work, or how you came to a decision to stay at home? Leave a comment!

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Bonding through Breastfeeding

The show “Young Moms Ask the Experts” focused on parenting questions. It tackled seven main questions and right off the bat the first question touched upon breastfeeding. The mother talked about how she felt disconnected from her daughter from the start. The husband explained, “Angie had difficulty breastfeeding her and that immediately made Angie feel like a bad mother.” Dr. Phil gently questioned the mother.

Dr. Phil: “You had some trouble breastfeeding?”
Angela: “Yes.”
Dr. Phil: “And you had some reactions to that emotionally right?”
Angela: “Yes. She didn’t want to cooperate and I didn’t know what I was doing and so the whole thing was just a ….” [her voice trailed off].

Dr. Phil expressed his belief that Angela had experienced some post-partum depression and said what a shame it was that no one recognized it and stepped in to help. Dr. Sears assured Angela that she was a good mother and that she simply had been “blessed” with a high-need baby.

Angela’s story really struck a chord with me (and not just because we have the same name!) When my first daughter was born, I developed post-partum Graves’ disease (autoimmune hyperthyroidism). I was sick for nearly a year before blood work at a routine annual physical diagnosed my overactive thyroid. I remember thinking: “Is this really what motherhood is? Is it this hard for everyone? Why am I so tired and stressed out and why am I not handling this as well as other mothers seem to be?” Lucky for me the one thing that was going well was breastfeeding. My daughter nursed well and breastfeeding gave me a way to feel that I was doing my best for her. It helped feed and soothe her and our nursing sessions were peaceful and restful.

The Angela on the Dr. Phil show was not so lucky. She felt shame and guilt when she most needed validation and support. I can see why mothers might quickly turn to formula if their efforts at breastfeeding make them feel like a failure. If only more mothers sought help in the early days — I’m talking within the first five days of breastfeeding — right at the start when mother and baby need help learning how to latch, and again a few days later when the mother’s milk comes in and another adjustment period takes place.

Angela needed help re-connecting with her daughter, now age three. The doctors gave her a few key pieces of advice:

1. When your child is having a tantrum, try to see the situation through your child’s eyes and express in words what the child wants. Say, “You really want that, don’t you?” even if you are not willing to give the item in question to the child. It’s enough just to give voice to the feelings and show that you understand what the child feels.

2. Don’t spank, ever. It causes distance between the child and parent and that’s the last thing you need when things are not going well. It doesn’t work and can be particularly disastrous with a strong-willed child.

3. Bond. Spend some one-on-one time reading, playing dolls or snuggling on the couch.

Self-soothing through Hair Pulling

The next question revealed an interesting link to breastfeeding. A 14-month old child had started plucking her own hair out on one side of her head and had developed a large bald spot. The mother had seen several doctors about the problem and had been told several different answers: it’s normal, it’s obsessive-compulsive disorder, it’s abandonment issues. As it turns out, the hair-pulling started when the girl’s pediatrician advised the mother to wean her daughter at 12 months. At the same time, the mother stopped bringing the baby into the parents’ bed at night. Dr. Bob said that it was simply too much to cut off both the breastfeeding and co-sleeping at once and that’s what triggered the behavior. The family needed to work on sleeping arrangements that would help the daughter feel secure, and the mother certainly could start breastfeeding her daughter again (the mother had raised this as an idea) or merely simulate “nursing” her by cuddling her at the mother’s chest.

Crying It Out

Parents of a four-and-a-half-month old baby disagreed about whether the mother should respond to the baby’s cries in the night. The pediatricians assured the mother that she absolutely should listen to her own instincts and respond to her baby’s cries. They talked about the dangers of letting a child “cry it out” including depriving the child’s brain of oxygen and flooding the brain with stress hormones. They recommended co-sleeping, using a co-sleeper next to the bed or at least moving the baby’s bed into the parents’ bedroom (which by the way is the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics to reduce the risk of SIDS for babies younger than six months old).

Co-sleeping is the one issue on which Dr. Phil and the Sears family do not agree. Fortunately Dr. Phil was very respectful of his guest experts and simply acknowledged the difference of opinion. One of the best parts of the discussion was hearing Dr. Phil’s wife Robin say that she never listened to her husband when he said “you’ve got to let that baby cry”! She always listened to her instincts and comforted her children, so she was very glad to hear the Sears family backing her up!

Starting A Baby on Solid Foods

The discussion of when to start a baby on solid foods basically echoed what I said in “Starting Your Baby on Solid Foods: When, What and How.” The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends holding off on starting solids for the first six months. That’s best for allowing the baby’s intestines to develop more fully and to reduce the risk of food allergies. Once the baby starts on solids, the pediatricians suggested avoiding rice cereal (because it’s all carbohydrates) and instead choosing ripe mashed banana or avocado (as several mothers in our poll did).

Colic

I loved hearing Dr. Bill say that “colic” is a five letter word meaning the pediatrician doesn’t know what’s wrong. He said the two main causes of excessive crying are GER (gastroesophageal reflux) and food allergies. He recommended feeding the baby twice as often but half as much at each feeding, and holding the baby upright after a feeding. The other pediatricians noted that if the mother of a colicky baby is breastfeeding, up to half of the cases of excessive crying are attributable to dairy in the mother’s diet. Another culprit could be wheat. (If a breastfeeding mother suspects food allergies as a cause of colic, she should talk to her doctor and consider going on an elimination diet). I’ve gone on an elimination diet before and it’s not easy. If it helps a hurting baby though it’s more than worth it. Never give up trying to find a cause for colic.

The other recommendation for colic was to hold the baby a lot (no surprise there). Martha showed a mother how to do what my friends used to call a “cocktail shaker” hold in which they’d cradle their son on one arm and gently bounce him up and down to the rhythm of a constant beat.

All in all I thought the show was very interesting and informative and not nearly as controversial as I thought it might be. It was great to hear that Dr. Phil plans to have the Sears family back on the show to answer more questions in the future.

Did you watch? What were your thoughts on the show?

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

While occasionally a pediatrician may advise parents to start their baby on solid foods sooner, the current conventional recommendation is that solid foods should be introduced sometime around six months of age. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, and the World Health Organization agrees it’s best to delay solid foods for a full six months. One Breastfeeding 1-2-3 reader shared her story of six months of exclusive breastfeeding, and updated with a report on how her son’s first tasting of solid food went!

There are several advantages to waiting until six months of age:
– a more fully-developed digestive system;
– decreased health risks from contaminated foods (particularly in countries without safe water supplies);
– ready acceptance of solids due to the baby’s abilities and interest in food; and
– frankly, it’s easier for the parent too! Solids can be messy and inconvenient and it can be very frustrating trying to feed a baby who isn’t ready for solids.

For the breastfed baby and nursing mother, there are even more advantages to waiting:
– decreased risk of the baby developing allergies and ear infections;
– natural child-spacing through the Lactational Amenorrhea Method of birth control (click on the link to read my opinion on the reliability of that method);
– maintenance of the mother’s milk supply; and
– steady weight loss for the nursing mother.
(Source: The Breastfeeding Answer Book).

So, assuming your baby is showing all of the tell-tale signs of being ready, what should your baby’s first food be? Small bits of ripe banana are just the right consistency and flavor, and banana is nutritious, inexpensive and easy to prepare. I attended a La Leche League meeting on the very topic of first foods, and learned that ripe avocado is another good choice. Baked sweet potato can be broken up into small pieces or mashed and thinned with a bit of breast milk or formula.

Now I can hear all of you out there shouting, “What about baby cereal? Don’t babies need iron-fortified baby cereal? What about vegetables, shouldn’t those come before fruit?” Consult your child’s pediatrician whenever you have questions. Baby cereals are highly processed, and the iron in them is not as readily absorbed as that in breast milk or in fresh whole foods (tip: serve iron-rich foods with those foods rich in vitamin C to boost iron absorption). Furthermore, bananas are less likely to cause allergic reactions. Vegetables are fine first foods also, however, I don’t buy the argument that once a baby tastes sweet fruit he won’t want vegetables. Babies don’t know they aren’t “supposed to” like vegetables–remember, if the breastfeeding mother has been eating a varied diet of flavorful foods (following the general rule of everything in moderation), the baby has enjoyed those flavors in the breast milk too!

The “how” component of starting solid foods is almost as important as the “when” and “what.” Keep in mind that these first solid food feedings are for learning and experimentation. This is a whole new sensory delight for your child! The point is not to force food into your baby’s mouth (that’s simply not nutritionally necessary), it’s to teach him to enjoy food! Make meal times fun and safe by sitting with your child. Allow him to *gasp* play with his food, feeling it, mashing it around and occasionally eating a bit of it! I found both my children enjoyed solid foods much more when they were capable of picking up bits of steamed broccoli or tender bits of shredded meat.

Offer new foods in the morning, a time when the baby is generally happy and receptive to experimenting with food, and a time that allows for you to watch for any allergic reaction in your child throughout the day. However, there is no hard and fast rule. Breastfeeding mothers may wish to offer solids at night instead when their milk supplies are generally lower.

Some experts recommend offering solid food just after you’ve breastfed or given a bottle, but others caution that it’s best to offer solids in between breastfeedings because some solid foods can interfere with absorption of the nutrients in breast milk. Personally I found my children to be most interested in solids when they were hungry but not ravenous–perhaps an hour or two after nursing.

Introduce only one food at a time, waiting four to seven days before introducing another new food so that you can watch for a signs of allergic reaction such as rash, wheezing, stuffed-up nose, fussiness or digestive trouble. Of course this is particularly important if there is a family history of allergies. That brings us to the foods that should be avoided:

– those that are particularly allergenic like cow’s milk, eggs (especially egg whites), peanuts, corn, pork, fish, soy, tomatoes, citrus fruits and some berries (among other foods);
– those that are dangerous like honey, which should not be fed to babies under one year of age due to the risk of botulism, or foods that pose a choking hazard such as whole grapes, nuts, hot dogs, or popcorn; and
– those that are not healthful such as junk foods and foods high in saturated fat or salt.

Renowned pediatrician Dr. Sears offers more information on feeding infants. I found his Family Nutrition Book to be a practical nutrition guide for the whole family. For those interested specifically in infant nutrition and making your own baby food, Super Baby Food is a comprehensive, easy-to-read resource.

Vote in the poll in the side bar to let us know what your baby’s first solid food was, and please leave a comment if you have some tips to share about starting babies on solid foods.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

“I knew I would breastfeed. When my oldest was born, I didn’t take any classes or even read all that much. I assumed it would come naturally to me like it had to the few friends of mine who’d already had kids. It didn’t. It was painful, I bled, I scabbed, it was awful. The help that I tried to get was not helpful. The advice was just to keep putting the baby on, no matter what, every 2-2.5 hours. I would try to feed her, then would dread and fear every minute that counted down to the next feeding time. I was starting to resent the time spent trying, and I didn’t want to start turning that resentment toward the baby. I only lasted 2 weeks. I felt guilty for 2 years. I truly felt like a failure, especially when friends who delivered after me just plopped their babies on and succeeded. Ugh.

When I got pregnant with my second, I knew I wanted to try again. I read Dr. William Sears’s The Breastfeeding Book until I had the whole process memorized. Every position, every angle, every detail, every problem shooting scenario. I also told myself that I would not feel guilty if it didn’t work. My daughter was raised on formula, and is healthy, smart, and wonderfully well. There was no reason to feel guilty.

I succeeded with both of my boys. One nursed for 7 months, the other for 6 months. To be honest, though, neither of them nursed easily. One of my closest friends had all three of her babies nurse just perfectly naturally. Mine both took lots of work and training to get it all to happen. It was worth it, but it wasn’t easy.

I often have other mothers-to-be ask me my thoughts on it all. I tell them that, if they have any touch of a desire to nurse, to give it everything they’ve got. It would be worse to be talked out of it and always wonder what the experience would have been like. So, give it your best. But if it doesn’t work for them, that there is nothing wrong with a baby raised on formula. I have one, and she’s just as awesome as the other two. And NOT to feel guilty. No one benefits from that.”

Kerri writes several blogs: My Name Is Mommy, Play Library and The 80s Club.

If you’re interested in submitting your breastfeeding story, click here.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3