Breastfeeding 1-2-3 » survey

Pumping, Expression, Breastfeeding: A Poll

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:02:30 +0000

The implication of the Medela Breast Milk Commercial that women will need a breast pump if they plan to breastfeed got me wondering — in the last two months, have you used a pump? Was it electric or manual, or do you prefer to hand express?

Medela Swing Breast Pump

Did you not require a pump or hand expression in the last two months? What is your opinion on whether a breast pump is necessary? As a stay-at-home mother, I used a manual pump with my first child but quickly found that my baby would not take a bottle and I only needed to express milk to relieve engorgement or get rid of a plugged duct. I preferred hand-expression for those tasks.

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Breastfeeding Photos: A Poll

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:39:28 +0000

In light of the controversies about breastfeeding photos on Facebook, MySpace and LiveJournal, I am wondering how you feel about the appropriateness of having breastfeeding pictures taken of you and your nursling. Do you have them taken?

Leave a comment!

If you have had breastfeeding photos taken, what do you do with them? Have you shared them with friends, posted them on a blog, or used them for avatars on web sites? Is there an age of the nursling after which breastfeeding photos are no longer appropriate? What about this news story (via Blacktating) that tells how a family’s children were taken away by child protective services when the photo development service saw pictures of the baby nursing?

Poll removed; please leave a comment!

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Infant Sleep Survey

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:50:10 +0000

Speaking of sleep, two prominent researchers in the field of breastfeeding are conducting a survey of mothers’ sleep and fatigue. Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, Ph.D., IBCLC, Research Associate at the Family Research Lab, University of New Hampshire, and Thomas W. Hale, Ph.D., R.Ph., Professor of Pediatrics, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, invite mothers of infants 12 months and younger (breastfeeding or formula-feeding or both) to participate in the study by answering a survey online [Edited to remove link. The survey is now closed! Thank you for your interest!]. They explain:

In this survey, we will be asking you some detailed questions about how well you and your baby sleep, where members of your family usually sleep, and how tired you feel on most days. We will also ask you some questions about things that can interfere with sleep. There are very few studies on this important topic, and we will use the results for a research study.

The researchers obviously understand the realities of being a new mother, because they say:

It will take about 20-30 minutes to complete the survey. If you are not able to finish the whole survey in one sitting just close the survey when you need to take a break, by clicking on the X in the upper right corner of your screen. Come back to the same Internet address, at your convenience, to continue.

So click on the link above [link removed because the survey is closed] if you’re interested in contributing to this important research on mothers, sleep, and fatigue. I did and found it very interesting. The two things I would have liked to have seen addressed in the survey: (1) Back to Sleep. I did not see any questions about whether the baby is put to sleep on tummy or back, and I think that significantly affects how well babies sleep, and (2) length of awake times in the night. (a) Say I get a total of eight hours of sleep per night: eight and a half hours from bedtime to waking time, minus half an hour of time awake with the baby. Seems like a good amount, right? But what if that eight hours is broken up into four increments of two hours each, with five to ten minutes of time up with the baby for each waking? Not so good. I find I need at least one block of four hours in a row to feel decent. Anything else and I feel quite sleep deprived (and I’ve gone for years feeling quite sleep deprived!) (b) And how long is the baby awake for each waking at night? I am lucky in that it only takes a few minutes for the baby to nurse back to sleep in our bed at night. But what about mothers who are up for half an hour or more at a stretch? I imagine that would make it much harder to fall back asleep.

What is your sleep situation like? Do you feel sleep deprived? How do you think breastfeeding affects your quality and quantity of sleep? Please leave a comment!

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

How Has Breastfeeding Affected Your Sex Life? A Poll

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:52:45 +0000

The reaction to this “Bond with your baby. Bond with your man” poster was strong and the comments section developed an interesting discussion. I would like to open the question up to everyone — how has breastfeeding affected your sex life? Does your partner enjoy your new bustline, and/or has breastfeeding left you “touched out” at the end of the day? Do you feel the breastfeeding hormones have affected you in any way? Or are you simply too tired as a new parent to make this anything but a moot question?

{democracy:48}

Feel free to leave a comment to explain your answer.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Have You Ever Tasted Breast Milk? A Poll

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:26:03 +0000

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}

To see all past poll results, click here.

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)?

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Poll Results: Attending a La Leche League Meeting

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:01:08 +0000

In a pool of 143 voters, 52 percent had attended a La Leche League meeting and an additional 35 percent are interested in doing so. An overwhelming 91% of those who had attended a meeting found it helpful, while only 9% did not enjoy it.

Here are the complete results:

Please vote in the new poll in the side bar!

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Breastfeeding Polls

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:25:00 +0000

I always keep a poll running in the right-hand sidebar of this blog and I enjoy tracking the votes! If you have a particular question you would like featured in the poll, leave a comment on this post and I just might use your question for a future poll! Be sure to browse the past polls and poll results first. I have run over 40 polls so far and the results never fail to fascinate me.

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La Leche League Meetings: A Poll

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:53:24 +0000

La Leche League recently celebrated its 50th year of mother-to-mother breastfeeding support. I am curious — have you ever attended a meeting?

{democracy:46}

Leave a comment with your opinion as well! Has La Leche League been helpful to you? What would you like to see change in La Leche League? Are you a leader and if so, how long have you served?

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Poll Results: Nursing in Public

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:43:23 +0000

Nearly 200 voters expressed their opinions on the age, if any, that breastfeeding in public becomes in appropriate. I was glad to see that 35% of voters felt that nursing in public is always appropriate. I was surprised to see 6% of voters say it’s never appropriate. The overall breakdown:

Vote in the new poll in the side bar!

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Formula Versus Breast Milk: Poll Results

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:03:56 +0000

Sixty-four percent of 111 voters said their most recent or only child had only had breast milk and had never had any artificial milk. That left 36% of voters whose child has had at least some artificial milk at some point. Here is the complete breakdown:

Special shout-out to the 11 percent of voters who started off supplementing with formula and made a successful transition to exclusive breastfeeding!

Please vote in the new poll!

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3