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I'm very pleased to post a new podcast interview with Danielle Friedland, founder of the Celebrity Baby Blog, shown here with her daughter, wearing matching "supply" and "demand" shirts.
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.
Celebrities and Breastfeeding Podcast
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A few years ago I wrote about the new WHO growth charts, which use the growth of breastfed babies as the norm.
Research has shown that formula fed babies grow differently than breastfed babies. The most obvious difference is that formula fed babies do not slow down in growth the way breastfed babies do between 4 and 6 months. But most health care providers in the U.S. still use growth charts that use either formula fed growth, or a mixed formula/breastfed growth (whatever that is) as the norm. More information on those charts is here.
What this means is that for some time, breastfed babies have looked "underweight" when they've been growing normally. That has led to supplementation and early weaning. And children at risk of overweight have been less likely to identified as such. The key here is that these are not charts "for breastfed babies." They're charts representing normal infant growth, to be used with all babies.
It's been three years since the WHO released its growth charts based on breastfed growth, but it's taking a while for the charts to become accepted and used.
That's why I think it's very exciting that the U.K. will be adopting charts based largely on the WHO charts as of May 1st. The National Health Service website says, "[The charts] will replace current charts that were based on predominately formula fed babies. The new charts will help parents and healthcare professionals identify children at risk of obesity at an early age."
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It's decidedly spring around here, with a mixture of beautiful sunshine and drizzly days. The daffodils and tulips are finally blooming.
But when I stopped by the Motherwear photo shoot last week and it was all about summer.
Dara, buyer for Motherwear, says:
"We have a lot of cute new nursing tanks, and more built-in bra nursing styles than ever before.
We also have a new built-in bra for our tops that provides more moderate support than our former light support shelf bra. It also gives you more definition."
We also have a lot of items in great summery colors: papaya, aegean, and a pretty turquoise swirl print."
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The US Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women’s Health wants to know what you think DHHS should do in the next decade to promote and support breastfeeding in the United States.
The Office of Women’s Health is looking for comments in the following twelve areas:
Comments are requested until 31 May 2009. Here's the link where you can make your voice heard! You can read the comments left so far.
This is your opportunity to help influence and shape the decisions that may affect breastfeeding promotion and support in the United States for the foreseeable future.
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Welcome to April's Carnival of Breastfeeding!
This month's theme is "how to." Be sure to check out the contributing bloggers' posts, linked at the bottom of this post.
My contribution is on how to stop using a nipple shield.
We get started using nipple shields for a number of reasons, but it usually comes down to babies' inability to latch, or latch well, without one. That might be because of inverted or flat nipples, a sucking or tongue problem, prematurity, 'nipple confusion' from bottle use, and even overactive let down. They can be lifesavers. In some hospitals they're treated like contraband; in others they're handed out like candy.
Whatever the reason for getting started with nipple shields, it's often hard to stop using them. That's because babies get used to latching with them. It's another form of 'nipple confusion,' which is really a misnomer, because babies are rarely confused - it's more accurate to call it a 'nipple preference.' Most mothers I know don't like using them - they get lost, or you feel petrified that you'll forget it at home. Most mothers find it harder to nurse in public with them, too. And for some mothers it's a big disappointment to not be able to nurse without one.
I should also say that some mothers want to use nipple shields long term, and if they're happy doing that I think that's just fine.
But if you want to get rid of the shield, how to you break the habit? Here are my suggestions:
Start early. It isn't always possible to work on this right away, I know, but I have seen babies wean off of nipple shields in the first week when mothers have really focused on it. Medela's instructions for their nipple shields suggest: "If the Nipple Shield is being used for a baby having difficulty latching onto the breast, remove the nipple shield after a minute or two of breastfeeding...Continue to do this with each feeding until the baby is able to latch-on without the shield. Some babies need only one or two sessions with the shields, while others may need more."
If your baby has developed the preference, remember some basic things. The best resource I've seen on this topic is at kellymom.com. There are many great suggestions on that page, and they represent some basic ideas:
1) Try to make your nipple feel more like the shield before attempting to nurse without it. You can do this by rolling it between your fingers, pumping, or even putting something cold on them before nursing.
2) Don't force it. It doesn't work, and it'll just make you both upset. You also don't want your baby to associate being at the breast with a fight. So if you feel your blood pressure rising, or if your baby seems distressed, take a break and try it another time.
3) Try it when your baby is less likely to notice that it's not there. For example, try not using it on the second breast after nursing with it on the first. Or try it when your baby is sleepy, or not hungry. They tend to have a lot of difficulty when they're ravenously hungry.
Try self attachment. I've seen this work a few times, and it's amazing. Try this when your baby is a little hungry (but not ravenous), and in a quiet alert state. Take off your shirt and strip your baby down to a diaper. Place your baby on your chest, between your breasts, with his head under your chin. Support him, but make sure he's free to move on his own. He will probably "bop" his head against your chest a few times, and then start sliding down toward one breast. Let him do this, and just move his bottom to the opposite side to help. Then wait. He just might latch on without the shield on his own. Even one suck without it is a triumph and a sign of progress.
Have patience. This can take some time, and it happens gradually, in my experience. Then one day, your baby refuses to nurse with it. Sometimes this takes six days, sometimes it takes six weeks, or even six months! So have patience and faith. It'll all work out.
Expect to re-learn latching. Latching with a nipple shield is not like latching without one, and if the reason for the nipple shield was a sucking problem, your journey might not end when you stop using the shield. If you find yourself having any pain once you've ditched the shield, get some experienced help right away.
Don't miss these posts from other bloggers (updated throughout the day):
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Just in time for Earth Day, I have ten of these great Motherwear bumper stickers to give away!
To enter to win one, leave a comment below by midnight on Earth Day (4/22/09). U.S. addresses only, please. Winners will be chosen using random.org, and announced in the comments section of this post.
And if you're wondering how 'green' breastfeeding is, check out this post. Happy Earth Day!
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I've been thinking a lot about what mothers can do when they get unsupportive or uninformed care around breastfeeding from their doctors. Some of you have left comments on this blog about providers who tell you to wean or pump and dump unnecessarily, who state that breastfeeding has no value after a few months, who blame all dental problems on breastfeeding... the list goes on and on.
So I decided to ask a few breastfeeding-friendly doctors what they think we can do when we get bad advice.
This response is from Dr. Jenny Thomas, a pediatrician and lactation consultant in Racine, Wisconsin. She offers great breastfeeding advice on her website, (see especially the section labeled 'soap box'), and even has a 'page of fame' gallery of babies who were breastfed for a year (who also get special t-shirts). This summer she will become Chief of the Chapter Breastfeeding Coordinators for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
I think we’ve given away a lot of what “mothering” is to experts and books. My wish is for mothers to take that incredible power back. It is not the responsibility of that mother to make herself heard. As doctors, it is our responsibility to listen.
Here’s the thing: we are the hired help. We are the people that family has chosen to help them through their journey. We are not the arbiters of right or wrong, good or bad. We are the people who are supposed to give the information they need to make an informed decision, to help aid in the encouragement of and confidence in parenting instinct. So much of what we do as providers, so much of the advice we give, is counter to maternal instinct which makes me sad to my soul. If there was a right or wrong way to parent, like six of us would make it to adulthood and that’s not good for a species that wishes to continue to exist.
My first day of medical school, one of my deans told my class “fifty percent of what we are teaching you is wrong - we just don’t know which fifty percent,” a phrase that has stuck with me when I begin to feel like I have it “right” or I know what is “best” for a child in my practice. It keeps me humble and open to change. All we can do as providers is give the information or make a recommendation (not make a command) based on our current knowledge base and be willing to learn and adapt when the fifty percent starts to change. I hope the parents are then enabled to integrate that advice into what works for them as a family.
I am a big fan of giving messages that make sense to a family, of encouraging the course of action they have chosen (as long as it doesn’t involve juggling chain saws near the kids or parenting while on heroin or something else we can be pretty sure is going to stay a non-recommended parenting practice!). I can’t and shouldn’t dictate a course of action or stifle a dialogue on topics where we might have differing opinions. In the end, as long as the debated parenting practice is not illegal, I am the paid employee. If that kind of dialogue is not encouraged, if that freedom to parent is somehow curbed by a provider who is sure they have it right, if that mother feels as if she somehow has to modify what she says or outright lie about how she parents for fear of backlash from a physician, that family should fire that provider and hire a new, more-compatible employee.
And if she is stuck with only one doctor on the planet, then well, she should speak up. Take the power of motherhood back. If that isn’t going to work, I would suggest using another doctor to help. For example, my families will ask me to intervene if they have been asked to discard milk after surgery or if they have been given other advice with which they don’t agree. I can advocate for those families by engaging their provider.
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Motherwear's semi-annual bra sale is now through April 17th.
Most bras are marked down 20%, including the hands free pumping bra and the light support sports nursing bra (at right), and the strapless nursing bra. Check it out!
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