Welcome to the podcast feed site for the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog! This site houses the podcasts for the Motherwear Blog, but there is much more to this blog than what you see here.
Please visit the main Motherwear Blog site for more information, support, contests, and a little humor to make your breastfeeding experience a positive one. And you can find your way back to the Motherwear iTunes store here.
Thanks for visiting!
- Tanya
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Interview with Linda Smith author of The Impact of Birthing Practices on Breastfeeding.
Ever wonder how epidurals, IV fluids, c-sections, or pitocin impact breastfeeding? Or how hospitals care for newborn babies and mothers right after birth affects how breastfeeding goes?
Maybe you're thinking about your upcoming birth and wondering what you can do to give yourself the best odds for a good start with breastfeeding if your birth involves some interventions, medications, or a c-section?
Or maybe you want to know the most important things to do to get breastfeeding going well when you've had a labor and birth that puts you at risk for having breastfeeding difficulties.
I'm very pleased to share a podcast interview of the impact of birthing practices on breastfeeding today. In it I speak with Linda Smith, author of The Impact of Birthing Practices on Breastfeeding, Second Edition about all these issues.
You can listen to this podcast using the player below, listen to it in Quicktime, or download it for free at our iTunes store.
Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog? Subscribe here. Want an RSS feed? Subscribe here. Want to subscribe to our breastfeeding podcasts on iTunes? Click here.
http://motherwear.typepad.com/Birthing_practices_and_breastfeeding.mp3
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Interview on breastfeeding late preterm (sometimes known as 'near term') babies with well known breastfeeding expert Marsha Walker.
Was your baby born at 36 or 37 weeks? Did you struggle with breastfeeding a sleepy and jaundiced baby who took her time to gain weight?
Not all late preterm babies follow that pattern, but many do. And because these babies often look like they're feeding well, hospitals tend to send moms and babies home with little support or guidance, just to re-admit them a few days later for jaundice and poor weight gain.
That's why I'm very pleased to present a podcast interview on breastfeeding late preterm (sometimes known as 'near term') babies with well known breastfeeding expert Marsha Walker.
Marsha is author of many books on breastfeeding, and most recently wrote Breastfeeding the Near Term Infant.
In the podcast we discuss why these babies are sometimes called "impostors," what happens during the last weeks of gestation which can impact breastfeeding, typical breastfeeding problems of late preterm infants, why breastfeeding is important to these infants, and solutions to common problems.
You can listen to it by clicking on the grey bar below, or by clicking here to listen to it with Quicktime, or find it at our free iTunes store.
Breastfeeding the Late Preterm Infant, with Marsha Walker
http://motherwear.typepad.com/Birthing_practices_and_breastfeeding.mp3
In the interview Marsha refers to two references for best practices in support of breastfeeding late preterm infants:
Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog? Subscribe here. Want an RSS feed? Subscribe here. Want to subscribe to our breastfeeding podcasts on iTunes? Click here.
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Interview with Karen Kerkhoff Gromada, author of Mothering Multiples. Karen is a mother of breastfed twins and long time expert on breastfeeding multiples. We discuss prenatal preparation for nursing twins, common challenges, nursing in public, and how on earth you nurse triplets!
You can listen to the podcast by clicking on the grey bar below, opening it with Quicktime, or downloading it at our free iTunes store. Check out past podcasts here.
http://motherwear.typepad.com/breastfeeding_twins.mp3
Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog? Subscribe here. Want an RSS feed? Subscribe here. Want to subscribe to our breastfeeding podcasts on iTunes? Click here.
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Interview with Hilary Flower, author of Adventures in Tandem Nursing about nursing in pregnancy and beyond.
Hilary and I discussed a number of questions about tandem nursing, including:
- How safe is nursing during pregnancy?
- What are some of the things moms weigh when considering tandem nursing?
- What are some common baby and toddler behaviors during tandem nursing?
- How do milk supply and composition change during pregnancy?
- How can a mom take care of herself during tandem nursing?
You can listen to the podcast using the player below, by listening with Quicktime, or by downloading it at our free iTunes store.
Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog? Subscribe here. Want an RSS feed? Subscribe here. Want to subscribe to our breastfeeding podcasts on iTunes? Click here.
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Learn to speak Spanish to help mothers breastfeed, with audio portion of Chapter 1 of Spanish for Breastfeeding Support, written by the host of the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog.
http://motherwear.typepad.com/Chapter1.mp3
<a href="http://motherwear.typepad.com/Chapter%201.mp3">Download Chapter 1.mp3 (16634.9K)</a>
I'm very pleased to share with you a Spanish lesson today, aimed at helping those of you who work or volunteer in breastfeeding support speak a little "breastfeeding Spanish."
This podcast is the audio portion of the first chapter in my book, Spanish for Breastfeeding Support. You won't have the text to accompany it, but I think that you'll be able to learn some basic vocabulary and phrases that will be useful.
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Interview with Danielle Friedland, founder of the Celebrity Baby Blog, on celebrities and breastfeeding.
The Celebrity Baby Blog is an extremely popular site, getting over 20 million page views a month. Danielle has included information about breastfeeding in her posts on celebrities, and has even considered working in breastfeeding support as a future career.
You can listen to the podcast through the player below, download it and listen with another player, or download it through our free iTunes store.
<a href="http://motherwear.typepad.com/Danielle_CBB.mp3">Download Danielle_CBB.mp3 (27180.6K)</a>
Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog? Subscribe here. Want an RSS feed? Subscribe here. Want to subscribe to our breastfeeding podcasts on iTunes? Click here.
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Interview with Penny Simkin on breastfeeding and early sexual abuse, including common feelings of survivors about breastfeeding, and ways that breastfeeding support people can support survivors.
Penny is the author of When Survivors Give Birth, on early sexual abuse and birth, and has recently been lecturing on breastfeeding and sexual abuse.
This
is a topic that no one talks about, but sexual abuse is frighteningly
common, and undoubtedly affects many women's breastfeeding experiences.
A note about comments: If you'd like to comment but want to do so more anonymously, feel free to email me, and I'll be happy to post the comment for you.
You can listen to the podcast through the player below, or download it through our free iTunes store.
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Interview with Kathi Barber, author of The Black Woman's Guide to Breastfeeding, and founder of the African American Breastfeeding Alliance.
Kathi and I talked about the history of breastfeeding for black women in the U.S. from slavery through the 20th century, challenges specific to African American women, and the role of health care providers and fathers in supporting breastfeeding. I also asked Kathi if she thinks that breastfeeding is perceived as a "white woman's issue" in the black community.
You can listen to the podcast through the player below, download it and listen with another player, or download it through our free iTunes store.
Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog? Subscribe here. Want an RSS feed? Subscribe here. Want to subscribe to our breastfeeding podcasts on iTunes? Click here.Afrid
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Conversation with Dia Michels, author of If My Mom Were a Platypus, on how other mammals nurse their young.
Ever wonder how on earth a whale baby nurses underwater? How common is it for mammals to nurse other mothers' babies? And do other mammals have insufficient milk?
I'm so happy to have had a chance to ask these questions and many more in an interview with Dia Michels, founder and president of Platypus Media. Dia is author of If My Mom were a Platypus, a children's book about mammal mothers and their babies.
You can listen to the podcast through the player below, download it and listen with another player, or download it at our iTunes store.
Dia has also agreed to give away 3 copies of If My Mom were a Platypus. To enter to win a copy, leave a comment below. If you have a mammal nursing story to share (this is not necessary to enter), please leave it!
Here are a few links to things we mentioned: Meerkat Manor, The Story of the Weeping Camel.
Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog? Subscribe here. Want an RSS feed? Subscribe here. Want to subscribe to our breastfeeding podcasts on iTunes? Click here.
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Interview with Dr. Alison Stuebe, OB/GYN and professor at the University of North Carolina, on formula company diaper bags given out at some hospitals.
Though her work with the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition, Alison helped organize an effort to stop hospitals from distributing these bags. That effort became known as Ban the Bags.
You can listen to the podcast with the player below, download it and listen with your own player, or download it at our iTunes store.
Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog? Subscribe here. Want an RSS feed? Click here.
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Interview with Ellyn Satter, registered dietician and author of Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense about starting solid foods.
This book was a guide and comfort to my family when we started solid foods, and I hope you'll enjoy the interview. Ellyn answered some of my questions and a number that came from readers.
You can listen to the podcast with the player below, or download it for free at the Motherwear iTunes store (available soon).
Download Ellyn_Satter.mp3 (29261.4K)
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Sarah Rubenstein Gillis discusses breastfeeding images and scenes in mainstream American film. Based on her article "Reel Milk" in Mothering Magazine. Sarah discusses scenes in Me, Myself, and Irene, Training Day, Meet the Fockers, and other films.
What does film say about how we feel as a culture about breastfeeding?
In this podcast Sarah discusses what she found when she went hunting for references to breastfeeding in mainstream American film.
On her website, Sarah lists all of the movies in which she's found references to breastfeeding.
You can listen to the podcast using the player below, or download it from our iTunes store. Check out past podcasts, too!
Download Reel_Milk_Podcast.mp3 (0.0K)
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Lisa Marasco, IBCLC, discusses hormonal causes of low milk supply, such as PCOS, thyroid problems, prolactin levels, hypertension, diabetes. She also discusses the effect of environmental toxins on milk supply.
Here's a very special podcast for those of you who have struggled with low milk supply. I was thrilled to be able to record this interview with Lisa Marasco, IBCLC, on maternal hormonal issues and milk supply.
As a lactation consultant I see mothers who seem to have all the right 'equipment' and have done all the right things, and yet they struggle terribly with low milk supply. In the back of my head I often wonder if hormonal component to the problem, but there is little to go on.
Last year I saw Lisa speak at a breastfeeding conference and was blown away by her presentation on the many ways in which our hormones - such as thyroid hormones, prolactin levels, insulin, hormones involved in PCOS, and many others - can affect milk supply, and the small but emerging base of research on these topics.
Lisa is co-author of a book I'm dying to get my hands on: The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk. She wrote the section on hormonal causes of low milk supply, among others.
You can listen to this podcast using the player below, or download it from our iTunes store.
I interviewed Lisa's co-author, Diana West, for a podcast on common causes of low milk supply and strategies for increasing supply. You can listen to the podcast in streaming audio here, and donwnload it at our iTunes store (up later today).
Two notes before you listen: First, this is a long one. I just couldn't cut it down. Second, it's pretty "techie" at points. You can handle it, but I thought I'd warn you so you won't be surprised.
And for those of you who are interested in the effects of environmental toxins on different aspects of our health, please listen in at the end - skip to 36:40. I won't forget the study she describes anytime soon.
Hope you enjoy this one! More podcasts are here and at our iTunes store.
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Download Lisa_Marasco_Podcast.mp3 (0.0K)
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Tanya Lieberman, IBCLC, describes different certifications available for people interested in working or volunteering in breastfeeding support, including International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, La Leche League Leader, Certified Lactation Counselor, and Breastfeeding Peer Counselor. Work and volunteer opportunities are also discussed. Links are provided on the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog.
You can listen to it using the player below, or download it with another player, or download it from our iTunes store.
Here are some links mentioned in the podcast.
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Interview with public interest lawyer Jake Marcus on nursing in public and the law.
Jake discusses the different types of breastfeeding laws, what to do
if you're harassed for nursing in public, and where to get information
on the law in your state. We also discuss whether nursing mothers
rooms are a convenience or a form of quarantine. Jake recently wrote a comprehensive article in Mothering Magazine on this topic. Mothering also produced a great pocket guide (pdf) on breastfeeding in public and breastfeeding and air travel.
You can listen to the podcast with the player below, download it to your iPod at the Motherwear iTunes store, or download it to play on your computer with another player.
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Thanks to reader Jennifer, I have more Baby Blues breastfeeding cartoons to share! She's been collecting them and was kind enough to send them to me.
For others Baby Blues breastfeeding cartoons, see this post.
And here's another great one from the comic Rubes, send by reader Beth: Nursing in public
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*To learn how to win a copy of this book, see the directions at the bottom of this post.
A friend of mine who grew up on a farm once told me how she knew that their cats' kittens were being weaned. One day, she said, the kittens would try to nurse, and the mother cat would just start batting them away. That was it.
For us humans, weaning is often quite a bit more complicated. How do you know when the time is right? Should you do it gradually? What if you can't? What if your baby or toddler shows signs of distress? What do you use to fill the nutritional and/or emotional space that weaning occupied? How will you feel after you've weaned? If you don't want to wean but feel you must, what are some ways of keeping the nursing relationship going?
The Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning (Kathleen Huggins and Linda Ziedrich, Harvard Common Press, 2007, 2nd ed.) is a book for mothers who want to spend some time thinking and exploring the process of weaning.
The introduction to the book provides a history of weaning practices in the Western world. This walk through weaning history may be more than most mothers might need, but those with a broader interest in breastfeeding will find it fascinating.
The main section of the book is divided into chapters tailored to the age of the baby at weaning, from infants to age three and beyond. This is helpful in that the issues are quite different depending upon the age of the child at weaning. Each of these sections concludes with several color-tabbed pages of the nitty gritty practical information a mother needs.
A good portion of the book is devoted to trouble-shooting problems that might lead a mother to wean before she wants to. For mothers exploring the idea or on the fence about weaning, these sections may prove quite helpful. If a mother has already made the decision to wean, this emphasis may be a bit troubling. There is an interesting section at the end of the book - a post-weaning epilogue of sorts - that discusses life after weaning. The authors write that there is little written about the physical and emotional changes mothers experience after breastfeeding is concluded, but I still found their discussion very interesting.
This is the second edition of this book, and in addition to some attractive graphic changes, the book has been made easier to read by highlighted boxes which summarize main points, and color coded pages of practical information.
Not everyone needs to read an entire book about weaning, but for mothers who want to explore the idea in depth and get detailed practical advice, The Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning is a good investment.
I have a copy of this book to give away. To enter to win it, please leave a comment below by the end of the day on May 25th. I'll pick a winner randomly and notify you by email if you've won. Please remember to use a "real" email address so I can contact you. U.S. addresses only, please.
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When I tell people that I run this blog they always assume that I'm technologically savvy. I'm really not. I know no HTML and almost nothing about Photoshop. The fact that I can do this is just a testament to how easy blogging software has become.
So, it took me quite a while to do it, but I finally set up an iTunes store for the Motherwear Podcasts, and I've been patting myself on the back ever since.
If you use iTunes (which you can download for free), check out the new Motherwear iTunes store. You can download all of the podcasts to your iPod or other mp3 player for free, and you can also subscribe to the podcast feed so you'll never miss an episode! The little icon to the left on the sidebar will also take you there.
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Interview with Diana West, IBCLC, on milk supply. Diana is best known for her work supporting mothers who have had breast surgeries through her website Breastfeeding after Reduction Surgery and her book, Defining your own Success.
Diana is co-author of a new book, The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk, which will be out in December of this year and is available now for pre-order. This is the first book to focus solely and in great detail on milk supply, and it looks like a wonderful resource.
This interview is divided into two parts.
Part One discusses what determines milk supply, what causes low milk supply, what mothers can do to increase milk supply, and what feelings are common among mothers with low milk supply. You can listen to it on the player below, or download it.
In Part Two Diana answers your excellent questions about milk supply (shown in the comments section of this post), on topics including the impact of birth on milk supply, suggestions for maintaining milk supply when pumping at work, how stress and periods impact milk supply. You can listen to it on the player below, download it.
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Part II of an interview with Diana West on milk supply. Diana answers readers' questions about birth and milk supply, keeping up milk supply while working, and how stress affects milk supply. Download it.
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Interview with Heather Cushman-Dowdee, creator of the Hathor the Cowgoddess comic strip.
Welcome to another Motherwear Podcast! My guest for this recording is Heather Cushman-Dowdee, creator of Hathor the Cowgoddess, shown to the left nursing and drawing in her kitchen.
This was a very fun interview. I got to ask Heather about how she draws, the inspiration for Hathor, and the time she baked breastmilk bread with 150 college students. Bonus knock-knock joke at the end!
This one is a bit long, but I just couldn't bear to edit it down more. It was such a fun and interesting conversation.
You can listen right here using the player below, or download it.
Heather's new book, Hathor's Zines, Slings, and Do-it-Yourself Things, (cover to the left) is now available for pre-order!
Be sure to check out a few past posts featuring Hathor:
The Zoops (video)
Hathor on covering up to nurse in public
Hathor on Applebee's breastfeeding policy
And more podcasts are here.
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Part II of an interview with Kathleen Kendall-Tackett on breastfeeding and postpartum depression. The role of inflammation and omega-3 fatty acids, and ways of advocating for breastfeeding-friendly treatment plans are discussed. Download it.
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Part I of an interview with Kathleen Kendall-Tackett on breastfeeding and postpartum depression. Causes, treatment options, and new research is discussed. Download it.
I'm
very pleased to bring you another Motherwear Podcast! This one was
very eye-opening for me, and I hope you'll learn as much as I did.
My guest is Dr. Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, a psychologist and professor at the University of New Hampshire. She is also a lactation consultant and La Leche League leader. She has written several books and articles on postpartum depression in new mothers.
This interview was long, so I've divided it up into two parts. Both address the growing recognition that depression is related to inflammation.
The first part can be heard above or downloaded as an mp3. This part answers these questions:
The second part can be heard above or downloaded as an mp3. It answers these questions:
Here are a few more resources from Dr. Kendall-Tackett on breastfeeding and postpartum depression:
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Interview with Cate Colburn Smith, co-author of The Milk Memos.
Here it is - the first Motherwear Podcast!
I had the pleasure of interviewing Cate Colburn-Smith, co-author of The Milk Memos for this recording. You can also read my review of this book, and here's a picture of us when we met in San Diego this summer. I have to say that I'm feeling pretty proud for just having figured out how to make one of these things and get it up on the site!
You can listen to it right now with the player below, or download it and listen with another player.
Cate was kind enough to give me ten of her breastmilk storage magnets (pictured at left) to give away. To win one, leave me some feedback about the podcast in the comment section by the end of the day on December 5th.
I'll pick ten names at random from among the comments. Be sure to
leave a "real" email address so I can contact you. International
addresses are fine.
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No, this is not about cookies made with breastmilk, though I wouldn't blame you for thinking so after Monday's post. It's about cookies that contain ingredients which increase milk supply.
I baked a batch of chocolate chip, oatmeal "lactation cookies" for my breastfeeding support group this week. The moms at the group thought that they were really good.
You can find the recipe on Epicurious if you'd like to try it out. The recommended "dose" is four cookies a day. Oh, how I wish someone would write me a prescription for cookies.
Before I talk about the ingredients in these cookies, I should say that these cookies would certainly not be among your first options for increasing supply. For a list of good ways to increase supply, see this page on kellymom.com, or Dr. Jack Newman's handout on milk supply.
So, what are those special ingredients? Oats, brewer's yeast, and flaxseed meal.
Oatmeal is a frequently recommended food for increasing milk supply, possibly because it contains iron and nursing mothers are often iron deficient. It's also a good source of fiber, and I'm told that if you ask a dairy farmer what they do to increase milk yield, they say that they increase fiber intake.
Brewer's yeast has long been recommended to increase milk supply, though there are some doubts that it does the trick. It does contain lots of B vitamins - another area where nursing mothers may be deficient. At a minimum it might give you a bit more energy. When eaten in large amounts it also might give your baby a "yeasty" smelling diaper, and I'm not sure if it's recommended for mothers who are struggling with thrush. The recipe said 'no substitutions' for this ingredient, but I couldn't find brewer's yeast in time, so used nutritional yeast instead.
Flaxseed oil (this recipe calls for flaxseed meal) is considered by some to be a galactagogue, but I had a hard time finding much on its effects. It does contain Omega-3 fatty acids, and many nursing mothers are deficient in that area because our stores are used in breastmilk. Omega 3s from fish oil are considered a promising therapy for preventing and treating postpartum depression (see the podcast I did on this topic), but the Omega 3s in flaxseed oil are a different form and are not viewed as effective for this purpose.
For more on lactogenic foods, check out this great page on the MOBI Motherhood website!
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Motherwear's 25th anniversary continues with another monthly $25 gift certificate contest!
This time we're celebrating Mother's Day by asking you to leave a comment with your favorite advice from your own mom.
Here are a few from my mom that I recall
on a daily basis:
When I got overwhelmed: "First things first."
When I was trying to carry too many things: "Take two trips."
When I lost something: "Don't forget to look under."
Leave your favorite advice from your mom in the comments section by the end of the day on May 9th. I'll pick a winner randomly and notify you by email if you've won. Please remember to use a "real" email address so I can contact you.
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I was in Whole Foods last week and did a complete double take. There, in the supplements section were several brands of colostrum for sale. And to make it even stranger, next to the colostrum was a bottle of lactoferrin (another component of breastmilk) for sale.
I checked out the bottles and of course found it was bovine colostrum and lactoferrin on the shelf. But this experience really got me thinking about the complete acceptance we have of cow's milk and the at best uneasy relationship we have with human milk.
As I'm sure you know, we're the only species that drinks another mammal's milk. I consume it daily in many forms. But it wasn't until a friend pointed out to me that the milk I drink was made to meet the exact nutritional and immunological needs of a baby cow, that I started to look at my morning cereal differently. What messages was this milk sending my body about the way to develop, say, a baby cow's brain, or fend off a disease that a baby cow might be subject to in a pasture in another state?
I'm not arguing that we shouldn't drink cow's milk, or that we shouldn't make formula. But I do object to the squeamishness we have about human milk when cow's milk is treated as normal. Your thoughts?
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May is Pregnancy Awareness Month, and for this month's carnival we're seeking posts on the topic of pregnancy and breastfeeding.
You might write about:
- What you did (or wish you did) in pregnancy to prepare for breastfeeding
- What you thought/are thinking about breastfeeding during your pregnancy
- Your advice to pregnant women about breastfeeding
- Breastfeeding during pregnancy
We'll be looking for posts that are:
Email me your submission by May 20th, 2008. The carnival will be on Tuesday, May 27th, 2008. Please note that, if your post is selected for inclusion by our regular group of bloggers, you will be asked to link to each of the other participants in the carnival. We reserve the right to choose posts for inclusion. Examples of past carnival posts can be found here.
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New data from the CDC shows that breastfeeding initiation rates hit a 20 year high of 77% in 2006. And there were especially big gains for African American women. The Associated Press reports:
About 77 percent of new mothers breast-feed, at least briefly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
"It looks like it is an all-time high" based on CDC surveys since the mid-1980s, said Jeff Lancashire, a CDC spokesman...
The percentage of black infants who were ever breast-fed rose most dramatically, to 65 percent. Only 36 percent were ever breast-fed in 1993-1994, the new study found.
For whites, the figure rose to 79 percent, from 62 percent. For Mexican-Americans, it increased to 80 percent, from 67 percent...
The latest CDC report found rates of breast-feeding were also lowest among women who are unmarried, poor, rural, younger than 20, and have a high school education or less.
I should note here that these statistics show an increase in the number of women who initiate breastfeeding. Sustaining breastfeeding, especially exclusive breastfeeding, is a different story. But any upward trend is something to celebrate, right?
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I was just reading The Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning, which has an interesting introductory section on the age of weaning through history. This quote put the poster in context:
"...by 1915 [the recommended age of weaning] had declined to seven to eight months. Several trends coincided, moreover, to make many women wean earlier than recommended and others fail at breastfeeding or never even attempt it. First, women spent more time away from home; while the Industrial Revolution sent poor women into factories, some wealthy women entered professions, and even more joined volunteer organizations...At the same time, the extreme prudishness of Victorian culture made public breastfeeding inconceivable...
Thanks to Amanda for this one!
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This clip cracked me up. Hope you enjoy it!
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With apologies to those of you who don't live in my area, here are several announcements for moms who live in Western Massachusetts:
I'm working with some other women on advocating for pumping rooms at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. We're having our first organizational meeting this week on Monday, April 28, 2008, at 4:00 at the Everywoman's Center. Email me if you'd like to come, or if you'd like to be on the mailing list for the next meeting.
Our breastfeeding coalition is selling some great organic, fair trade Dean's Bean's coffee as a fundraiser. If you're interested in ordering (local folks only, please) see our coalition's website for the order form. Our next coalition meeting is on May 8th at Motherwear. If you don't live in the area you can still support our coalition by buying a sticker or shopping at our Cafe Press store!
UMass professor Dr. Kathleen Arcaro is seeking breastmilk samples for her research. If you're interested, contact her through this website. Here are some pictures from her visit to our breastfeeding support group last year.
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I was over at Motherwear a few months ago for a photo shoot and decided to take some pictures of the office.
Motherwear's administrative office is located in a renovated mill building in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
It's one of those buildings with really high ceilings, lots of light, and beautiful weathered and polished wood floors.
So here are some pictures of the hallway, the main entrance - note our breastfeeding coalition's sticker!
To the left is Dara, Buyer for Motherwear. She purchases the fabrics and scouts new products. You may also recognize her from a few pictures in the online catalog.
And of course there are clothes everywhere. Recently I've been able to give away a bunch of seconds and discontinued items to nursing moms in my area.
Also to the left is a shot of the planning for a catalog. When it's in this planning phase it looks a little like a storyboard.
To the right, behind the model, is Jeanne, CEO of Motherwear, working on the shot for this shirt.
Also to the right is 
Tobye, Motherwear's Creative Director, checking out images from the photo shoot as they appear on the laptop.
To the left is a bulletin board in the conference room which our breastfeeding coalition was using to plan some projects. We meet at Motherwear every other month.
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I sent out the first e-newsletter of the Mothers' Milk Bank of New England last week. I wouldn't ordinarily post about it, but it's the first one I've ever done, and I'm feeling a little proud!
You can see it in the newsletter archive site, and you can subscribe by following the link at the bottom of the newsletter.
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Tell me what you think of this issue. From the Salt Lake Tribune:
The Texas judge overseeing the polygamous FLDS sect's case today refused to make any ruling that would allow breast-feeding mothers to remain with their children in state custody.
Walther was addressing a request for temporary restraining orders filed by attorneys for four of the nursing mothers, but on behalf of all mothers there. The request asked the court to stop Texas child-welfare workers from separating mothers and children, to allow private prayer, and to give the women and children telephone access to their lawyers.
The judge said she would leave it up to CPS officials and the attorneys to work something out on the breast-feeding. The attorneys, however, replied that they have so far been unable to come up with a workable agreement.
CPS officials plan to separate 68 women with children under five from their kids once DNA samples are taken. The sampling began today.
In a separate article:
[Judge] Walther acknowledged the nutritional and bonding benefits of breast-feeding.
"But every day in this country, we have mothers who go back to work after six weeks of maternity leave," she said.
...The judge's decision drew a rapid response from breast-feeding proponents, who began rallying around the FLDS mothers. Nicole D. Hoff, a certified lactation counselor in Texas, set up an instant Web site - http://fldsbreastmilk.blogspot.com.
"While we may not agree or understand the circumstances, I think we need to fight for the right of the children to have the best care and nutrition, which includes breastmilk," she said in a message on the site.
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Welcome to the April Carnival of Breastfeeding!
This month we're bringing you posts on the topic of breastfeeding problems and solutions. Be sure to check out the posts below for great stories overcoming thrush, blebs, plugged ducts, oversupply, and other breastfeeding challenges.
I'm very pleased to share a story of overcoming a tongue tie problem, written by Lisa, a mother I know and admire. A picture of him as a baby is to the left.
In the hospital, one of the nurses looked into my son Joe's bassinet and said offhandedly, "looks like he's tongue-tied."* My husband and I were confused because the kid was crying at the time but she was gone before we could ask her what she meant.
I was determined to breastfeed, and while the milk was there and the effort was definitely there on both of our parts, Joe was not able to get a good latch. He would get just about in the right place, but there wasn't the right seal and he couldn't stay on the breast. The nurses told me that I didn't have any of the common problems like inverted or shallow nipples, so surely it would work out fine. We both kept trying and were told that it takes time and is a learned process.
When I took him to his first doctor's appointment after we got home from the
hospital, I told the doctor that I was still having trouble
breastfeeding. She told me "Oh, it's easy" and that was the end
of it. I showed her what I was doing and she said it was right, just keep trying. My mother told the doctor that she thought Joe had
"brick dust urine," and she said she'd never heard of that. I said that I had heard that he might be
tongue tied, and she said that he wasn't. It was very discouraging because my nipples were cracked and bleeding, I
was tired, sore, and now starting to panic that my son was starving.
Luckily, our hospital offered an evening breastfeeding clinic, so I left the
doctors and went to see Tanya. She was
calm, reassuring and took the panic-y edge off. We tried different
positions, and she suggested trying a nipple shield to see if it would be
effective, but nothing seemed to help; he just couldn't get that seal
right. He would try to latch on and then just scream. Tanya noticed that Joe's frenulum (that little
piece of skin that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth) was very
short and it was up near the tip of his tongue. His tongue only moved back; he definitely could not stick it out.
When he cried, his tongue looked kind of heart shaped. Tanya also looked up the signs of
dehydration, and he had several.
Tanya was worried about Joe, and suggested that I give him a
bottle of formula. It took him a very
long time – maybe 40 minutes - to take a few ounces from the bottle.
It was pretty late by then, and that night Tanya faxed the pediatrician and
told her of the problem. The next morning the doctor called four times to tell
me that frenotomies are rare and "major surgery." She said that she consulted another
pediatrician, who wouldn't do the procedure, and he in turn referred her to
another pediatrician - best pediatrician in town – who also wouldn't do it but
might refer us to see an ear, nose and throat specialist. I immediately
made an appointment with the "best pediatrician in town" and he sent
me to the ENT specialist.
There was a consensus among everyone that yes, the frenulum was tight, but no one was sure that having it released would have any positive effect. We did a little research, and decided that we needed to try something. Also, a big factor in my decision to go ahead with it was that I actually dated someone in college who was tongue tied. He didn't have a speech impediment or anything, but he was self-conscious of it, and truth be told...he was a very bad kisser (!).
The actual procedure was a lot like an ear piercing--a
little numbing spray, one quick stroke and it was over. I held Joe the
whole time and he only cried for a minute. It took 30 seconds and there was as much blood as a tiny papercut.
Here's the best part: he latched on perfectly in the waiting room-I could
feel the difference. His lips made
a seal this time. He's been nursing like a champ ever since, and he's still
nursing now - at 18 months!
The general attitude I got from all of the doctors was that I was making a big deal out of nothing. I heard a story later about midwives in olden days keeping one of their fingernails long so they could just slice through any frenulum that looked remotely tight. How did we get to this?
Be sure to check out more posts on breastfeeding challenges on the blogs listed below (updated throughout the day):
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Just in time for Earth Day, I have four of these great Motherwear bumper stickers to give away.
To enter to win one, leave a comment below by midnight on Earth Day (4/22/08). I'll choose four winners in a random drawing. Be sure to leave a 'real' email address so that I can contact you if you win. Winners will be contacted by email.
And if you're wondering how 'green' breastfeeding is, check out this post from last year. Happy Earth Day!
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By now you've probably heard about Bisphenol-A, the estrogen-mimicking component of some polycarbonate plastics which is found in most baby bottles and some formula cans. I posted about its health effects last year.
BPA has been in the news quite a bit this week, with a Los Angeles Times article reporting that the National Institutes of Health now expresses "some concern" that BPA may harm fetuses and infants, and with the news that the Canadian government yesterday banned BPA from baby bottles, deeming it a toxic substance. There were reports that Walmart has started pulling bottles with BPA off shelves. Nalgene announced that it would get rid of BPA in its bottles and started pulling remaining stock off the shelves, and Senator Charles Schumer announced he'd introduce a bill in the U.S. Senate to ban BPA from bottles, dental sealants, and food containers.
The plastics industry representatives, through the years of debate, has maintained the BPA is safe, but it seems pretty clear that the market is going to have the last word on this one. Nearly every family I meet these days has heard of BPA, and all of those Avent bottles I used to see pumping moms use have been replaced by Born Free and Medela bottles. I might add that I started noticing moms making this switch before the federal reports started coming out. We're such smart cookies.
So, while it seems to me that the manufacturers are already backed into a corner, we might as well take the opportunity to wag our finger at them. After all, as late as Thursday a representative of the plastics industry was offering his "reassurance" that products made with BPA are safe.
Check out this Moms Rising petition which they'll send to the manufacturers of the major manufacturers of baby bottles, asking that they discontinue using BPA in their bottles.
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Baby Blues is one of the few mainstream American comic strip that dares to take on breastfeeding, and I love seeing those strips. Another one which recently dealt with the topic is Stone Soup.
I've compiled links to the ones I could find below. I know that there are more, including a great early one involving breastmilk and coffee. If any of you can find links to strips in addition to these, please email me!
Here they are, starting with a very recent one. I've made up the titles.
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Last year a study proved something many of us have found out the hard way: much of the information nursing mothers get at the pharmacy counter is inaccurate. According to the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition:
The study's authors examined the safety information used by two large retail pharmacy chains on the East Coast, looking at 14 commonly-prescribed medications. For 75 percent of drugs that are considered unequivocally safe for breastfeeding, pharmacies were inappropriately advising mothers to stop nursing.
"We were surprised by the results, when we looked at all the resources systematically," said lead author, Monica Akus, PharmD, a pharmacist at Cambridge Health Alliance and Assistant Professor of Pharmacy at University of Rhode Island. Several well-respected sources used out of date information, most commonly resulting in inappropriate advice to stop breastfeeding. "As pharmacists, our training in drugs and lactation is often limited, so it's critical to spread the word to other pharmacists. Our knowledge is only as good as our resources," notes Akus.
The authors consider two resources to be the most reliable:
Have you received bad information at the pharmacy counter? Were you told that a medication was unsafe when it wasn't, or safe when it was unsafe? Tell us about it below.
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* This contest is now closed, and the winner will be notified by email. The correct answer was 1993. Thanks for entering, everyone!
This year marks Motherwear's 25th year supporting nursing moms!
To commemorate this event, I asked Motherwear to dig up copies of old catalog covers, and a few are shown here. I'll be posting more over the course of the year.
To celebrate this milestone, each month this year I'll be giving away a $25 gift certificate.
This month, I'm asking you to identify the year the first catalog shown (shown top left) was published.
I'll make it a litttle easier by giving you three choices: 1989, 1993, or 1997.
To enter, leave a comment with your guess below. I'll randomly pick a winner from the correct entries.
Be sure to leave a "real" email address so I can contact you if you win. U.S. addresses only, please. Good luck!
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A study just published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology reports that breastfeeding is associated with a decrease in risk for metabolic syndrome in mothers.
What's metabolic syndrome? According the American Heart Association, it's a combination of factors including abdominal obesity, high cholesterol, elevated blood pressure, insulin resistance, high inflammatory state. These factors significantly increase the risk of heart attack and Type II diabetes.
The findings also showed that the duration of lactation was associated with significance of the risk reduction. It also found that this reduction waned after the fourth child.
Medwire News reports:
[Out of the 2,516 participants,] there were 536 (21.3 percent) cases of metabolic syndrome, with rates among women who breastfed of 18.3 percent, compared with 26.7 percent among those who did not.
After adjusting for age, current smoking, parity, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, study site, physical activity, caloric intake, and high school body mass index, women who breastfed were 23 percent less likely to develop the metabolic syndrome than those who did not.
The researchers also report that the duration of lactation was significantly associated with the metabolic syndrome, with the risk decreasing by 20 percent for each year of lactation.
In a way this isn't too surprising, given that previous studies have shown that breastfeeding is associated with lower levels of several of the components of metabolic syndrome. I've written before about the effect breastfeeding has on reducing the risk of heart attack, and controlling levels of cholesterol, insulin, and weight.
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A while back Angela posted a great list of uses for leftover lanolin creme.
I loved it, and thought I'd do a post on how we use our old nursing stool now that it's out of commission.
Our nursing stool is a pretty popular item in our house. It's used as:
- A footrest used while working on the computer.
- A ramp for shooting cars through a poster tube.
- A stool for helping the height-challenged member of our house turn on the lights.
I also recently saw it used as a footrest for a model at a Motherwear photo shoot!
Have another use for your nursing stool? Send me your pictures or tell me about it in the comments.
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Thanks to Heather at Hathor the Cowgoddess for this one:
Cow and Gate formula company just introduced a formula called Cow and Gate Good Night Follow-on Milk. For those of us in the U.S. who aren't familiar with the term, consider yourself lucky. "Follow-on milks" are formulas marketed to families for use from six months. They also allow formula companies in the U.K. to get around restrictions on advertising of formula. So far they haven't caught on here, in spite of some marketing efforts.
First problem with this idea: there's no evidence that babies whose feedings are "thickened" before bedtime sleep any better.
But let's just say for a moment that this new formula does work and babies sleep longer.
Is that a good thing? There is evidence that babies' natural tendency to wake during the night is protective against SIDS. La Leche League says, "Breastfed babies sleep less soundly than artificially fed infants and are more likely to sleep with their mothers; thus, they may be more easily aroused when they experience a stop-breathing episode."
Whether you're a breastfeeding or formula feeding mother, I'd treat this new product with a thick dose of skepticism.
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Some of you have overcome some daunting breastfeeding problems like thrush, plugged ducts, Raynaud's, blebs, fast letdown, mastitis, low supply, nipple confusion, tongue ties, oversupply, breast refusal... the list could go on and on. Here's your chance to write about it!
We're looking for posts that do two things this time: 1) tell the story of how you overcame a breastfeeding challenge, and 2) provide your links to your favorite online resources on that problem. We hope that this will help other mothers find good information to help them through the same problem.
We'll be looking for posts that are:
Email me your submission by April 15th, 2008. The carnival will be on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008. Please note that, if your post is selected for inclusion by our regular group of bloggers, you will be asked to link to each of the other participants in the carnival. We reserve the right to choose posts for inclusion. Examples of past carnival posts can be found here.
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Here's a quick quiz:
Which are the four countries in the world that do not provide paid maternity leave, according to Moms Rising?*
Answer: Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, Liberia, and the United States of America.
Wonder what it looks like in our peer developing countries? Here's what Moms Rising reports that families are guaranteed in our neighbor to the north:
Canada gives the birth mother fifteen weeks of partial paid leave for physical recovery, and then also gives another thirty-five weeks of partial paid parental leave that has to be taken before the child turns one. These thirty-five weeks of parental leave can be taken by the mother or the father, or can be shared between the two. The pay during the fifty weeks total of leave related to a new child is 55 percent of the average gross salary over the past twenty-six calendar weeks. All in all, there are fifty weeks of partially paid leave available for new Canadian parents to spend with their child.
Sounds pretty good from here, right? But Canadians are probably envious of France, which provides three years of paid parental leave with guaranteed job protection, or Sweden, which provides 16 months of paid parental leave which must be shared by the baby's father. Swedish families are also legally entitled to work reduced hours until a child turns eight.
I felt sick to my stomach recently when a friend here in Massachusetts told me of a co-worker who went back to work at three weeks because she couldn't afford to miss work. I frequently meet mothers who have to return at six weeks. Obviously, this is unhealthy for both mother and child, but it is reality for many working mothers.
I was one of the extremely fortunate employees who got paid maternity leave from my employer, and the following year my former state (California) passed landmark legislation requiring 50% compensation for six weeks. It's a far cry from Canada or Europe, but it showed that it's possible to enact policy that recognizes the needs of families.
In this election year, we have an opportunity push this issue onto the candidates' agendas.
So, sign this petition sponsored by Moms Rising to let your representatives know that this issue is important to American families. It includes a nice statement about the relationship of between paid family leave and breastfeeding - a right guaranteed in workplaces in 107 countries. Can you guess who doesn't?
* Data from a Harvard University/McGill University study of 173 countries. Australia guarantees one year of unpaid leave, and is currently debating a paid maternity leave policy.
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This time last year a bunch of blogging friends and I formed a team for the Woman Challenge - a fitness challenge sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
We all encouraged readers to join, and I posted pictures (mine, and yours) from some of the walks we all did. It was a good experience, and even if we didn't all complete the entire eight weeks, we did get out and moving a little more because of it.
This year I'm not going to form a team, but I did want everyone to know that you can now register for the Challenge. Last year they sent out pedometers along with an information packet (not sure if they'll send them again this year). I'll be doing it again. Will you?
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I listen to NPR all the time. I turn it on first thing in the morning, and I listen to it throughout the day at home and in the car. I consider several hosts to be close personal friends who just haven't had the chance to meet me yet.
So I was pretty disturbed yesterday when I heard a piece on the program Day to Day, titled "Study puts breastfeeding benefits in question." At first I thought it was an April Fool's Day joke.
In it Dr. Sydney Spiesel speaks about a study done in Belarus about the benefits of breastfeeding. The study showed significant benefits in reduction of gastrointestinal disease and eczema, but failed to show other benefits. Dr. Spiesel focused on the absence of positive outcomes related to mental health in children.
There were several things that disturbed me about this piece. First, the title of the piece is pretty darn misleading. It makes it sound as if the segment will raise questions about all of the benefits of breastfeeding, when in fact the piece was largely about the fact that the study didn't find benefits one outcome - mental health.
Second, since when does one study trump thousands of others? Some of you have seen me cite, over and over, a meta-analysis from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released last year which looked at over 9,000 studies - from the developed world alone - and found significant effects on incidence of many health problems, including diabetes in children and breast cancer in mothers. Again, I just don't understand how a single study, however large, could be given so much weight when there are thousands of others which reach different conclusions.
Next, the host, Madeleine Brand, first asked Dr. Spiesel how he would be changing his advice based on this study. I would hope that my doctor wouldn't base his advice to me on a single study when the body of research on a topic is so large. Then she wrapped up the segment by asking if this study means that mothers shouldn't feel guilty if they don't breastfeed. He answered affirmatively. But is it really a doctor's job to tell us how we should feel about a behavior?
Finally, the study in question is part of the PROBIT series of studies. To learn about how these studies are funded and the affiliations of the researchers involved (trust me, it's relevant), don't miss this post on the International Breastfeeding Symbol Blog.
Fortunately, I wasn't the only one bothered by this story. The show got lots of emails about it, some of which they read on the air today.
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Last weekend we headed up to New Hampshire for our
cousin's annual maple sugaring party. It was like stepping back two months into the heart of winter. There was at least a foot of snow on the ground, and we spent much of the time sledding. At one point we heard my otherwise extremely cautious son say "Hey, look at me!" We turned in time to see him gleefully barrel down a steep hill, heading straight for a snow-covered ledge and some bushes below. My husband made a diving catch and grabbed him just in time.
Last week I went to a bag sewing get together, coordinated by a local effort called the Bag Share Project. Volunteers are sewing hundreds of cloth shopping bags which will be kept at the check-out counters at local businesses. People who have forgotten to bring bags will be able to take their stuff home in these cloth ones, and return the bags later. Each bag has a label stating where the bag should be returned. Even the inmates a
t the county jail have gotten in on the project.
My friend Alexis, who works in the high-end fabric business in New York, has been giving me samples of beautiful fabric, so I'm making some extras for us, like the one to the right.
Our local breastfeeding coalition still working on setting up a milk collection depot for the Mothers Milk Bank of New England, and our friend Mo recently wrote a really nice article about it for the local independent paper. It's looking like the initial milk processing will be done by the Mothers' Milk Bank of Ohio, with a gradual transition over to the New England milk bank as they get their facility set up. I agreed to manage the newsletter for the milk bank (you know that you're overcommitted when you try to hide a volunteer job from your husband!). If you want to be on the mailing list, email me. I also set up a Cafe Press store for them.
There are other projects which I'll write about soon, but that's all for now!
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