The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog

Lactation cookies.

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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Breastfeeding stand-up.

This clip cracked me up.  Hope you enjoy it!

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A collection of Baby Blues breastfeeding cartoons.

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.

• Nice shot
• Once a breastfeeder...
• A little old?
• I have a question
• Favorite things
• Swimming pool series (copy is bad but the strip was great)
• Talking with your mouth full
• Phone call
• Solid food

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Milk Men.

Happy first day of April, everyone!

Can you identify these breastfeeding lines?

I keep a little running collection of funny breastfeeding quotes from TV and movies.  Can you identify any of these?  Leave the answers in the comments section!

"These are working breasts!"

"Jack, you have issues. I'm trying to understand why you run around with a rubber boob strapped to your chest. I mean, were you ever breastfed? My guess is no."

"Your chest is going to milktate."

"Take a picture, it'll last longer."

"Have you ever been to Knuckle Beach?  It's a totally different world.  A world where orange soda is an acceptable substitute for breastmilk."

"Those aren't boobs.  They're lies!"

"If he blows into one, does the other one get bigger?"

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Wordless Wednesday: I can put on my own pants.

Motherwear Podcast: Heather Cushman-Dowdee, creator of Hathor the Cowgoddess.

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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My favorite moments from breastfeeding classes.

I taught my last prenatal breastfeeding class this week.  I've been teaching these classes as part of childbirth series for about three years.

Last night's class was a really great group, and it got me thinking about some of the more memorable questions and comments I've heard while teaching at several hospitals.  Here are some, to the best of my recollection:

Me:  I wasn't always a lactation consultant.  This is a career change for me.  See if you can guess what happened.  About three years ago I had a... (no response) It starts with a 'b...'
Expectant mom:  A breakdown?

Me:  Let's say you're engorged and it's 4:00 am and the supermarket's closed.  What do you have in your house which you could use as a cold compress?"
Expectant dad:  Steak!
Me:  Steak?
Expectant dad:   Don't you remember that Brady Bunch episode where Bobby gets a black eye and they put a steak on it?

Expectant mom:  Can you eat while breastfeeding?
Me:  Do you mean are there certain things you should or shouldn't eat?
Expectant mom:   No, I mean can you actually eat while you're nursing the baby?
Me:   Oh, yeah.  I used to spill salsa on my baby all the time.

Expectant mom:   I'm definitely going to try to breastfeed, but if the baby bites my nipple off I think that's the point where I'd have to draw the line.

Expectant dad:   Upon seeing that the baby doll he had chosen had a heart sticker on it:  My baby's pimped out!

Me:  So, what do you want to know about breastfeeding?
Expectant dad:  How to make ice cream.

Expectant mom:  In my country, we say that one breast is for the baby, and one breast is for the husband.

Me: So, I want to encourage all of you dads to hold your baby skin-to-skin, too.
Expectant dad:  But if the baby latches on to me, how do I get him off?
Other expectant dad:  And get all of the hairs out of his mouth?

I'll also remember: 

Watching all the dads (it never fails) take the baby dolls we're using to practice positions and turn their heads around like in The Exorcist.  Apparently the hospital has to replace the dolls more often because of this - eventually this makes their heads pop off.

It's been a lot of work, but also very fun.  Except for the class I taught with my fly down...

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The 14th Carnival of Breastfeeding: What's so funny about breastfeeding?

Welcome to the 14th Carnival of Breastfeeding!  This month we're featuring posts on breastfeeding humor.  Be sure to check out the other bloggers' posts at the bottom of this one.

I'm reviewing two new breastfeeding humor books.  That's right, two books on the humor in breastfeeding have been published in the last six months.  Looks like the universe thinks we need a laugh.  For more breastfeeding humor, check out these past posts!

First, The Breastfeeding Diaries (Meadowbrook Press 2007, 155 pp.) by Kate Davis, a stand-up comedian.  This is a compilation of some of the funniest breastfeeding stories I've ever heard. 

It starts with a story by the author about stepping nude (it was required) into the hot tub at her gym and spraying the other women with milk.  My favorites include a story about pumping during a conference call that turned out to be a video conference call, and (this one just amazes me) a mother whose breast reduction/lip enhancement surgery (yes, they moved it from there to there) goes horribly wrong when she starts to breastfeed.  There are fifty stories in all.  I can't share more without giving away some fantastic punchlines. 

This little book is just hilarious and would be a great gift for a nursing mom who could use a laugh.  I hope that there's a sequel in the works.

Next, If These Boobs Could Talk, (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2008, 96 pp.) by Shannon Payette Seip, and Adrienne Hedger.  This book is a very clever and wonderfully illustrated ode to breasts.  Actually, it's written for your breasts. 

The book features games (mazes and quizzes), breastfeeding trivia, doodling pages for filling out with you toes while nursing, how-to lists (How to reward your boobs when they produce more milk) and a boob advice column.  It includes drawings depicting bad times to breastfeed (while learning to inline skate, during acupuncture) and instructions on how to hold a Boob Retirement Party. 

One of my favorites is a picture of the "Breastfeeding Circle of Life," which shows a circle of mothers' faces in varying states of distress and happiness.  The captions read start with "This is so difficult!" and "What did these huge rocks do with my boobs?" to "Hmm...this is getting easier," then "I love breastfeeding!" and finally "I don't want it to be over!" before the cycle starts again.

Again, a great gift for the mother who has been there, or who is there now and could use a lift, as it were.

Don't miss these great posts on breastfeeding humor on these other blogs (updated throughout the day):

• Stacie at The Twinkies shares the breastfeeding conversation she fears.
• Andi at Mama Knows Breast shares a dads' nursing in public video.
• Sinead at Breastfeeding Mums shares a pumping multi-tasking disaster.
• Amy at Crunchy Domestic Goddess shares several funny breastfeeding items.
• Carol at Happy Sad Mama shares why she loves to nurse her toddler.
• Angela at Breastfeeding 1-2-3 shares some crazy search terms that led readers to her site.
• Renata at Nurturing Notes shares a weaning story that made me laugh.

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Stone Soup comic strip takes on nursing in public this week.

The comic strip Stone Soup has been running cartoons about breastfeeding all week, complete with "nuk, nuk" captions for the nursing baby.  Check them out!  The titles below are mine.

• Monday:  "You can't do that here."
• Tuesday:  "You hang on to her..."
• Wednesday:  "Hooters"
• Thursday:  "Mooo"
• Friday:  "Teething"
• Saturday:  "Yikes"

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