Lactation Assistance Services

Kangaroo Mother Care — it’s all about keeping mothers and newborns together so that babies can thrive. Here’s a handout by one of the original KMC advocates, Dr. Nils Bergman. I’m posting it here with his permission. Print it out, share it with care providers, friends, and family. Good stuff.

Kangaroo Mother Care Handout

Most mothers feel really good when their milk lets down (Milk Ejection Reflex (MER)). The surge of oxytocin (also sometimes called the “mothering hormone”) makes lots of women feel relaxed and calm. But it’s not this way for everyone. Some women feel a surge of negative emotions when their milk lets down. The website D-MER.org has information, quotes, and treatment ideas. A sample quote from the site:

“I had no idea that this was a common thing! I’ve had that every time I breastfeed! But I didn’t experience it with my other 2 kids, just my 3rd, who’s 4 months old now. I expect to feel a totally hollow, nauseas & weirdly depressed feeling for about 1 min. each time I breastfeed so I’m sure to not have food in my mouth or something because it will make me gag. But then it goes away completely a minute later! I have always blamed it on hormones, but I’m excited to hear that I’m not the only one!”

It’s hard to get back in shape after baby is born but here’s a fun video that combines a breastfeeding baby with working and working out. Workout advisor, Bob Harper, shows up at a mama’s office where she works on the computer (while taking care of her breastfed 4-month old) to help her figure out how to fit exercise into her life. (”Weighted squats (baby optional)“…) Cool.

It’s sponsored by Jello and Oreos so it’s not quite perfect. Oh well. Maybe they’ll get a CSA sponsor in the future.

A new study shows breastfeeding leading to smarter kids. Other studies have found that breastfeeding goes along with being smart. This new study is exciting because it was designed to try to figure out whether breastfeeding causes higher IQ or if they just happen together for other reasons.

Exclusive breastfeeding enhances children’s cognitive development
By Lucy Piper
12 May 2008
Archives of General Psychiatry 2008; 65: 578-84
MedWire News: Children who are exclusively breastfed for at least 3 months have better cognitive development as measured by IQ at age 6.5 years than other children, research indicates.
Michael Kramer (The Montreal Children’s Hospital, Quebec, Canada) and colleagues carried out a large randomized trial to assess the effects of prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding on the cognitive ability of 13,889 infants at age 6.5 years.
In all, 7,108 of the infants were born at hospitals that promoted and supported breastfeeding as part of a World Health Organization initiative, while 6,781 were born at hospitals adhering to standard practices and policies.
Significantly more babies born at the intervention hospitals were breastfed at 3 months and remained so throughout the first year.
Scores on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence Measures, showed a 7.5-point improvement in verbal IQ for breastfed infants compared with control infants. They also scored 2.9 and 5.9 points higher for performance and full-scale IQ, respectively.
The researchers note that while breastfeeding appears to improve children’s cognitive development, it is still uncertain whether this is due to components of breast milk such as fatty acids or the physical and social interaction that accompanies breastfeeding.
They say the findings “should prove helpful in encouraging further public health efforts to promote, protect, and support breastfeeding.”

I hadn’t realized what breastfeeding could do for me as a mother: a study found that “women who breastfeed for more than eight weeks are more relaxed, have a higher tolerance to monotony, and score higher on a socialization index” (from Hale and Hartman, Textbook of Human Lactation, p. 150).

We usually hear that breastfeeding is good because it is good for individual mothers and babies: bonding, good nutrition, good health. But breastfeeding is good for our environment too: no packaging, no transportation, no waste. The Australian Breastfeeding Association has some great posters that celebrate the way breastfeeding protects our environment. I wish I had a place to display these (a disadvantage doing home visits instead of having an office…). My favorite is the one with the cute baby feet: “Breastfeeding leaves no footprint.” What’s your favorite?

There are so many aspects of breastfeeding that we just don’t see in our society until we’re nursing our own children. And even then, we really only see ourselves and our own babies. It’s generally not socially acceptable to look at other women’s breasts or to carefully watch other women’s babies latching on. So if we’re wondering if we’re normal we don’t have anything for comparison.

The website 007b.com (double 0 seven breasts — you’ll have to read their explanation on the site for the title) works on normalizing breasts and breastfeeding. You can look at pictures of a lot of different breasts that have successfully breastfed babies.

Snow has been the big news story in Madison this winter. My son told me that in January it snowed on 23 out of the 31 days of the month. Since I remember it raining on at least one or two days, that means that it was cloudy and precipitating pretty much the entire month. It has only gotten worse in February. This means that even those of us that aren’t at risk for feeling down might be getting a bit blue.New parents — especially new mothers — are so vulnerable to feeling depressed. Whatever the cause (hormones or no sleep or the constant needs of a newborn or the difficulty getting out of the house or…) the reality is that it is easy to end up in a really dark emotional place. One of my friends moved to Maine and had a new baby in another year of record snowfall. She called me a lot that winter but it wasn’t until years later that I realized that she was calling to hang on to sanity.

She was afraid to say just how hopeless she was feeling at the time and I was too busy with my own 3 little ones to catch her subtle signals over the phone. Fortunately conversation, a loving spouse, and a supportive church community were enough to her through that winter.

If breastfeeding is going well then it helps mothers feel calm and protects babies from the negative effects of their mother’s depression. There are lots of good ways to treat depression that are compatible with breastfeeding: exercise, supportive friends, cognitive therapy, omega-3 fatty acid supplements, light boxes, and many antidepressant medications. Check out Kathleen Kendall-Tackett and Nancy Mohrbacher’s website, breastfeedingmadesimple.com, for more information.

A lot of us get through the blues by talking with other people. Sometimes it really helps just to hear that another mother is struggling in the same ways we are. Research has shown that women may respond to stress by taking care of our children and reaching out to our friends (see the article at Postpartum Support International). In Madison we are so lucky to have a lot of mother-to-mother support groups (lots of places to find friends that understand!): La Leche League, Happy Bambino (Beyond the Blues, age specific, breastfeeding), hospital mother-baby, and the Madison Birth Center.

As a lactation consultant I’m here to help you have a good breastfeeding experience as you define it — not as I define it. So I’m interested in your story not my story. I’m here to give you the combined experience of many women and scientific research not the particulars of my own breastfeeding experience.

But that doesn’t make exciting blogging. It’s a lot more fun to read about the experience and feelings of being an individual nursing mama. Just like with talk radio, it’s a lot more entertaining to hear from the people with out-spoken opinions. So if you want to read fun blogging about breastfeeding check out The Lactivist. Jennifer Laycock mixes stories of her own breastfeeding and pumping experiences with news and advocacy. (And if you’re into funny and in-your-face breastfeeding promotion t-shirts, she’s got them for sale.)

This sweet video of Big Bird (from Sesame Street) learning about breastfeeding is one of my all time favorites. I hope you enjoy it too: