“Laugh and Learn” sent me a set of DVDs to review. Each DVD gives a class in childbirth, newborn care, or breastfeeding. The classes are presented by Sheri Bayles, BSN, RN, IBCLC. Overall I enjoyed the DVDs very much (and my children did too!) and I found Sheri to be an excellent public speaker with a confident and easy manner. Please read on for my individual reviews of each class — I have a few comments about the “Laugh and Learn about Breastfeeding” in particular that are important if you are considering buying this set of DVDs. Then stay tuned …read more

Here’s another guest post from pediatrician and author Dr. Marianne Neifert. I enjoyed her new book so much that not only did I review Great Expectations: The Essential Guide to Breastfeeding on my blog, I also took the time to post my first-ever review on Amazon.com.
Today she talks about how breastfeeding success begins in the hospital:
Five Hospital Practices that Extend Your Duration of Breastfeeding
Your hospital experience — brief as it may be — can have a powerful impact on your long-term breastfeeding success. Making hospital changes in maternity care practices has been shown to significantly increase breastfeeding initiation and duration …read more

Mommy’s Little Breastfeeding Book: 101 Tips Your Baby Wants You to Know about Nursing is a great book! I love the concept and the philosophy presented. This little breastfeeding book is condensed enough to read in an hour yet it is jam-packed with helpful tips for successful breastfeeding. It has all the things I would want to tell a pregnant friend to encourage her to make the decision to breastfeed and to help her get started. One of my favorite tips?
41. A good rule of thumb is that Mommy puts the food in and Daddy takes it out.
A little …read more

La Leche League of Argentina produced this helpful breastfeeding video “Breastfeeding in 10 Steps” in Spanish: “Amamantar en 10 Pasos.”

In this video Dr. Jack Newman guides a woman in using the cross-cradle hold to latch her baby onto the breast. While there are many different breastfeeding positions, the cross-cradle hold can be particularly helpful for newborns. Note how the mother is not forcefully pushing the baby’s head onto the breast, but rather is simply supporting the head and bringing the baby tummy-to-tummy and using her arm on the baby’s back and hand under the baby’s face. This position also allows for breast compressions (using the mother’s thumb on top of the breast and four fingers underneath the breast to …read more

My newborn and I had our first “official” outing (other than to the offices of the pediatrician or midwife) on the day she turned three weeks old. We attended the community talent show at the local library, which I was pleased to see had a huge display of breastfeeding information (see above) in honor of World Breastfeeding Week! The talent show was so great. There is nothing cuter than: a 3-year-old belting out How Great Is Our God, a 4-year-old barely whispering the ABCs, another 4-year-old humming the Indiana Jones theme song, and a darling girl tap dancing on industrial …read more

Welcome Carnival of Breastfeeding readers! For Pregnancy Awareness Month, this round of carnival entries focuses on pregnancy and breastfeeding. Because I have already shared my stories of breastfeeding during pregnancy and of tandem nursing, I want to share ten tips on how a pregnant woman can prepare for breastfeeding.
1. DO NOT let anyone tell you it is necessary to toughen up your nipples for breastfeeding.
2. DO some reading about breastfeeding. Good choices are:
~ The Breastfeeding Book: Everything You Need to Know About Nursing Your Child from Birth Through Weaning
~ The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding: Seventh Revised Edition
~ The Nursing Mother’s …read more

Ameda offers a free online instructional video “Your Baby Knows How to Latch-On.” The five-minute clip talks about proper latch and demonstrates how a newborn latches himself on the breast with a minimal amount of guidance from his mother. The video is offered through these links in English and in Spanish.
Click here for more breastfeeding videos. For more help with latch-on, see the Checklist for a Good Breastfeeding Latch.

A good latch is the key to breastfeeding success. It minimizes discomfort and maximizes the transfer of breast milk. So how do you know whether or not you’re doing it right? Go down the checklist:
__ In the cradle or cross-cradle positions, the baby should be resting on his side, his tummy facing your tummy, shoulder and hips aligned, mouth level with the nipple
__ The baby’s mouth should be covering at least a half inch of the areola, the dark area of skin around the nipple
__ His nose is touching or nearly touching the breast
__ Both the top lip and bottom …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