Babywearing and Breastfeeding

When it comes to breastfeeding, the benefits of babywearing are many!

!. Babywearing a newborn keeps the baby close to the breast during a critical time for establishing breastfeeding. Many babywearing advocates talk about how gestation lasts 18 months — nine months “in” and nine months “out” with both skin-to-skin contact and carrying close to the chest in a carrier.

2. Babies who are worn cry less, which reserves the baby’s energy for feeding and makes for happier parents and babies!

3. Breastfeeding while babywearing keeps the mother’s hands free to read a book or tend to older children who might otherwise be jealous of that time spent with the newborn.

4. For mothers who prefer more coverage while breastfeeding in public, a sling or other baby carrier can help a mother feel more comfortable.

5. Baby carriers are great for easily distracted babies who have a hard time settling down to nurse. Dr. Sears explains that the same is true for babies who have a hard time organizing their sucking:

Some babies breastfeed better on the move, especially those problem suckers who need movement to organize their sucking. Tense babies (those with a suck problem called tonic bites) and back-archers often breastfeed much better in the sling because of the organizing effect babywearing has on their entire physiology. As the baby’s whole body relaxes, so do the suck muscles.

6. Babywearing is especially helpful for babies who are gaining weight slowly and at risk of failure to thrive. It makes sense that babies who are worn are reminded to breastfeed more frequently. Babywearing can also help a mother become in tune with her baby’s feeding cues. Again the close contact itself can help the baby organize, relax, and thrive!

I recently mastered the hip carry with my home-sewn sling which is going on seven years of hard use now! (Instructions to make your own baby sling are here). My toddler discovered she could nurse in that position and often settles herself to sleep for the night while the family takes our evening walk.

Do you breastfeed while babywearing? Which type of carrier do you prefer for breastfeeding and babywearing?

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iPod Shuffle by H. Rotgers

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Photo by Abdulaziz Almansour

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“Swear words are almost always about sex or religion in every language,” says Jay. “It depends on what the [cultural] taboos are. In countries where religion is more powerful, phrases such as “Sacred mother” or “Holy mother’s milk” are typical.”

Photo by Julia F.

Now “Holy mother’s milk” was not what I said this morning when I accidentally sat on my peanut butter toast. I’m not proud of myself, but I said, “Oh crap!” Unfortunately, my four-year-old heard — sort of — and asked, “Mama, why did you say ‘Oh tramp?’” Feeling no need to correct her, I explained that I had sat on my peanut butter toast and had gotten peanut butter on my new blue jeans. “Oh,” she nodded wisely. “That is so trampy.” Yes, my dear, I suppose it is.

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Photo by Bradley Gee

DEAR ABBY:

You are absolutely right to tell “PRIVACY PLEASE” not to be ashamed of pumping at work. I hope you take it one step further and let her and your readers know that California law requires an employer to make reasonable efforts to provide a location other than a toilet stall for the employee to express milk in private (California Labor Code Sections 1030-1033). An employer can be fined $100 for every violation of the law!

Please encourage all breastfeeding mothers and all employers to check the 50 State Summary of Breastfeeding Laws compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures: http://www.ncsl.org/programs/health/breast50.htm. Even if state law does not require employers to provide a place to pump, it’s an excellent business practice to do so! Not only does providing a pumping room boost employee morale and company loyalty, but breastfeeding also reduces healthcare costs for mother and child and results in fewer work absences due to a parent having to care for a sick child.

The United States Breastfeeding Committee reports that employers save $3 for every $1 invested in breastfeeding support! The Committee provides an excellent resource on Workplace Breastfeeding Support which details the components of adequate, expanded, and comprehensive breastfeeding programs for the workplace. I hope mothers print out the resource and take it to their employers as a way to open the discussion about sanitary and private options for a pumping room.

Sincerely,
Angela White, volunteer breastfeeding counselor and breastfeeding blogger at Breastfeeding 1-2-3

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It’s a complex and somewhat disturbing book that is more like four books in one. The thing that keeps me reading though is the relationship of the women. In the red tent each month they celebrate their femininity and their abilities to create and sustain life. Take this passage describing the birth of the narrator Dinah:

After Rachel wiped me clean, she handed me to Zilpah, who embraced me, and then to Bilhah, who kissed me as well. I took my mother’s breast with an eager mouth, and all the women of the camp clapped their hands for my mother and for me. Bilhah fed my mother honeyed milk and cake. She washed Leah’s hair with perfumed water, and she massaged her feet.

Now that is how we were meant to give birth, to be initiated into parenthood, to receive the support necessary to care for ourselves and our children. Imagine how wonderful it would be if each new mother were attended to by some combination of her mother, grandmother, sisters, aunties, and midwives! Imagine if each breastfeeding mother had the on-going support of other mothers experienced in nursing! The La Leche League model of mother-to-mother support has filled in some of the gaps, but I still wish such support were passed from generation to generation within each family as well.

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Lactation consultants and authors Diana West and Lisa Marasco have written a must-have guide for breastfeeding mothers and lactation professionals alike. The book expertly packs a wealth of information into an easily readable format. Starting with “How to Know If There Really Is a Problem,” the book then proceeds to detail the physical, hormonal, and psychological causes of low milk supply and how best to address them. It also offers practical information about how to establish a good milk supply in the first place, and, if supplementation is indeed necessary, how to supplement without decreasing the existing milk supply.

This is the one book I wish I could press into the hands of every woman who has ever asked me, “Are there some women who just can’t make enough milk?” (My answer is that sadly some women do not get the support they need. Very few women simply cannot produce enough, but many women receive erroneous advice from family members and medical professionals). It would be a blessing if delivery nurses, obstetricians, midwives, pediatricians and family practitioners — anyone in a position to advise the breastfeeding mother — had a copy of this book.

For more about The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk, resources on low milk supply, and information on breastfeeding after a reduction, see the authors’ website Making More Milk.

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Let’s be clear though — breastfeeding is wonderful for babies with food allergies. Do not interpret these results to mean that breastfed babies are more likely to have food allergies, because in fact the opposite is true! To learn more about the protective effects of breastfeeding, read “‘A’ is for Food Allergy Prevention and Reduction.”

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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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Have any tips for the newbies on using Twitter? Leave a comment!

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