Kai LOVES boobies!

Just a picture I thought I would share.

You have a full Milk Supply

I try not to be judgmental about people's reasons to not breastfeed. It literally stinks to see people not breast feed because they don't want to, it hurts, going back to work, etc. It's so good for their babies. It hurts me because I have had to supplement as I had a breast reduction and all I want to do is give my baby breastmilk. I am jealous of girls who have breastfed their babies for 6 months, with nothing but their breastmilk, I am also super proud of them as well!

We started solids at 3.5 months though, so I don't think solids are necessarily a bad thing, especially if the baby is breastfed, you can see my post from a couple days ago about how solids early for breastfed babies does not increase the risk of obesity. It helps keep the amount of formula I have to give to a minimum, we rarely supplement anymore after we started solids.

I don't see how people with full milk supplies can not breastfeed! I feel it is selfish to not at least try!! The colostrum, which is the pre-milk is so good for babies, it helps keep jaundice at bay, gives babies immunities, and helps get out that black bilirubin. Even if you don't plan on breastfeeding very long, at least do it in the hospital or until you go back to work, every drop counts. It's simple, and best for your baby, plus no prepping bottles!

Question and Answer!

I recently had an acquaintance post on my facebook wall. I thought why not create a blog post of questions and answers! Hopefully, these will help at least one mother out there who reads my blog.

Question: Since you're basically the only breast feeding mother I know, does kai have a favorite breast and is it hard sometimes to get him to take the other?

Answer: Kai's favorite is the right. Usually babies have a favorite because either the milk flows faster and you have more milk in that one breast. I'd try to offer the boob he rejects first, put him on the other one, and then put him on the one he rejected to build up your supply in the one he doesn't like to take

Statement: I don't want to breastfeed because I like to have a drink or two occasionally.

Answer: It is completely fine to have a moderate amount of alcohol, especially if your baby is an older baby as newborns have immature livers and it is harder for them to process it.

Pumping and dumping is not necessary unless you need to pump for your milk supply, pumping will not get rid of the alcohol in your milk if it is still in your blood. So only pump if you are going to miss a couple of nursing times and want to keep up your supply or to relieve any engorgement you might have while you are away from your baby.

Nursing while you are drunk or frequently nursing when you've been drinking -- those are problems. But, according to Newman, "Reasonable alcohol intake should not be discouraged at all ... Prohibiting alcohol is another way we make life unnecessarily restrictive for nursing mothers." In all, breast milk with alcohol in it, is still superior to formula.

Question: I feel like I am not making enough milk for my baby, what can I do?

As a breastfeeding after reduction mother, I know all the ways to increase your milk supply. I have not used all of these methods as some are much more expensive than others, or they have risky side effects I don't want to mess with. I have not listed them all but I have listed most of the common and most widely and useful ones.

Things that I have tried:

Fenugreek- you can order this herb online or in a healthfood store, or you can buy it as a herb in bulk and add it to your foods, or put it in capsules yourself. They worked best for me used at 3 610mg capsules a day, 3 times a day. You can buy a bottle of 100 of them for around 5 bucks. It increased my pumping output about an oz or so.

Blessed Thistle- This is another herb that is supposed to increase milk supply. I have noticed a bigger difference when I combine this with Fenugreek. This herb runs about 7 dollars for a bottle of 100.

Oatmeal- Eat this in the morning, I don't know why it works but it does!

Things that are great to use if you can afford them or want to risk not feeling to hot!

Domperidone- This can get expensive as it is not FDA approved in the United States :(. It should be approved by the FDA as it has little to no side effects, as it does not pass the brain-barrier, unlike reglan. You can find this drug online, it will be shipped to you from countries like Mexico or Canada. It hits the pocketbook though at 100 tablets for 25 dollars. They usually come in 10mg pills and the recommended dosage is 50-80 mg per day.

Reglan- It is known to cross the brain barrier which can cause undesireable side effects on you . Including, depression. Severe side effects of long-term Reglan use include tardive dyskinesia , the jerky muscle movements associated with Parkinson's disease.The cost depends on your insurance.

How to increase your Milk Production:
Things that have WORKED for me.

• Keep the baby at the breast as long as he wants to nurse.
• Pump after you are done feeding your baby for 5-10 minutes to get any extra milk to save, as well as to make your body produce more milk.
• Rent a Hospital grade pump (ex. a medela symphony)
• If your baby sleeps through the night, wake yourself at least once to pump
• Take a nursing vacation, keep your baby with you for the whole day, no solids, or anything, just nurse your baby whenever he displays any need for food.
• REMEMBER, the more milk you remove from your breasts, the more it will make.
• RELAX! Your body will not let your milk ejection reflex let down if you are not relaxing, try not to be stressed out.
• Use sensory imaging, to get your milk flowing. Imagine you are sitting on the Niagara falls, and you are producing so much milk that your milk is falling down Niagara falls causing them to be white. You could visualize your breast milk raining, pouring, etc. BE CREATIVE, it works!
• Get a breastfeeding pillow to make nursing more comfortable for you.

I am *NOT* a lactation consultant, I am a very educated breastfeeding mother, if you have a serious issue or problem, please contact a health professional, or a certified lactation consultant.

If you have a question, please post it below and I will include it in my next question and answer blog post.

Growing up so fast.

My son Kai. I am so lucky to have him. I took these shots right after I got him out of the bathtub last night. He now is the source of my inspiration for my photography. I always try to capture a toothless smile or a sweet moment, but as soon as I break out the camera, he's like screw you mom! What's that contraption. I can't wait to document him growing up, and look back at older pictures to see how much my baby has grown. It feels like just yesterday I shot pictures of him as a newborn with his Daddy. They grow up too fast and I think it is super important to document that process.




If you are in Louisville or the surrounding area's you can check out my photography website here

Solids

(CBS) In the battle of breast versus bottle, it seems breast has won again.

That's the conclusion of new research from Children's Hospital Boston which finds that babies who are formula fed have a much higher risk of obesity if parents give them solid foods before four months. Breastfed kids can jump on the solids bandwagon whenever mommy feels it's right, as long as they breastfeed at least four months.

Scientists tracked 850 babies from birth to three years old, according to Reuters Health. Formula fed babies who started eating solids before four months had a one in four chance of being obese by their third birthday. If parents waited until after four or five months to introduce solids, the chances of being obese were one in 20.

For babies breastfed at least four months, parents could introduce solids whenever they wanted without any ill effect.

It's important research, because up to one third of American children are now overweight and 17 percent are obese, putting them at risk for heart disease, diabetes and a host of other health problems down the line.


This article was taken from here Thank you CBS



I was wondering about this as I have a 18lb 11oz son at 4.5 months, and I felt like he was ready for some solids, so i'm super glad that they came out with this saying it was okay for breastfed babies. I don't want to put him at a disadvantage to obesity, I want to to everything right from the start to feed my son healthy options. I started rice cereal at about 3.5 months. REMEMBER not to put the cereal in a bottle as that starts bad eating habits you always need to spoon feed solids.

How early did you being your breastfed babies on solids?

Breast is best

Hello, I started this blog because I think the best way of feeding babies is through breastfeeding. It takes a STRONG woman to stay committed to breastfeeding, and I want this blog to be a resource to breastfeeding women, and I want women to feel free to ask me about any breastfeeding problem and If I do not know the answer, I WILL FIND THE ANSWER.

My Story

Here's my story. When I was 14 I had back problems, it was because my breasts were heavy and too large for my frame . Of course when I had decided to have the surgery, I didn't care about breastfeeding. It wasn't until I found out I was pregnant at the age of 20 did I start to care about how I was going to feed my child. I read many books about how breastfeeding is best for babies. Breast milk contains thousands of active substances that formula does not!
I was determined to try to breastfeed my baby. Lucky for me, after my 25th week of pregnancy I was able to squeeze out some colostrum, which is a form of milk produced by the mammary glands in late pregnancy and the few days after giving birth. I was ecstatic! I met with a lactation consultant who told me she did not know if I could breastfeed, but it was a good sign. I read hours upon hours of stories of women who breastfed after a breast reduction. BFAR is a great resource for women after surgery!

When I had my son on September 15th, 2010, I had a c-section, and did not put him to the breast immediately, I put him on maybe an hour and half after birth, because I was sooo worn out, and groggy. Lucky for me my son was a sucklin' machine! My son had a slight tongue tie, which caused me very painful cracked nipples. Kai was born weighing 10lbs 1oz, and the doctors were concerned about his loss of weight, and were telling me to supplement. I wasn't ready to do this, nor did I want to cause any nipple confusion. I asked the hospital lactation consultant, what she thought. She told me the doctors were full of malarkey, and that I should keep the baby at my breast constantly. She said if I didn't my milk supply could be compromised. I had a feeling my son was getting plenty of nutrition so I went with the Lactation consultants advice. Kai lost a little over 10 % of his birth weight so when we brought him home he was a little over 9lbs. I took him to the pediatrician two days after we left the hospital, and to my amazement ,he had gained 3 or 4 oz! I highly recommend you listen to your Lactation consultant, instead of your Doctor, if you decide you need to supplement your baby.

I brought Kai home, and things got progressively better, my son learned how to suckle without cracking my nipples, my nipples healed (THANK GOD). I nursed him on an on demand schedule, and things were going great for us. At Kai's 1 month checkup he weighed 11lbs 3oz! He had gained his birth weight back plus another pound! He gained 2 lbs! I was so happy things were going so well, I hadn't even had to give him any supplementation. Although I had a hospital grade pump that I was using, to supplement if I had to go somewhere.

At around a month and a half he seemed fussy, like he wasn't getting enough to eat, so I started supplementing with formula every now and then. I was so upset I felt like a bad mother. I researched how to increase milk supply, and I decided to start taking fenugreek, I feel like it gave me an extra 1/2 oz or so at each feeding.


My milk supply started getting progressively worse after I had the flu, and had an IUD inserted. I also had to give back my hospital grade pump in November 2010. I did get an Ameda purely yours which is a great pump, but its not the same as a Medela Symphony. It was really rough and tough to keep up with my hefty son! I would pump after feedings, and if we had to supplement. We used a bottle because Kai did not have nipple confusion. If you are concerned about your baby becoming nipple confused. I would recommend using a SNS which is short for a supplemental nursing system. I would pump 10-15 minutes. I'd say we supplemented 2 4oz bottles a day at most. My original goal was to breastfeed for 3 months, because after the 3 month mark was when I was going to return going to school full time, and working 2 days a week. I hit that mark and I was like I CAN do this, so my next goal is 6 months, and then my big goal of a YEAR! I want to do self led weaning though, we will see how that plays out.

I finally was able to cut down on the supplements in January of 2011. I started taking Blessed Thistle in Feb 2011, and can usually pump out a good 4-5 oz every 4 hours or so. I also started school and work in January, but things are going great! I'm happy that I am still breastfeeding my son, and I started solids so far he has had Brown rice cereal, carrots, and sweet potatoes, he makes such a mess and it is so fun! The University of Louisville has provided me a room to pump in which is wonderful! At work I have to pump in the restroom, which is no fun, but it is a big private bathroom. I look forward to sharing breastfeeding insights, secrets, news, and my personal experience with new mothers out there!

If you have read my story, and love breastfeeding, I would love to have you comment on my post with your story of breastfeeding your baby.