How long should I breastfeed?
The length of time a mother chooses to breastfeed her child is a personal decision. Some mothers choose to only breastfeed for a few weeks or months well others choose to breastfeed their children into their toddler and pre-school years. Any length of time spent breastfeeding provides health benefits to the child!
In the United States, breastfeeding is most commonly thought of as an actvity for infants and women who choose to breastfeed children older than one year are often faced with scuitany. However, breastfeeding children older than one year is “normal” and should continue for however long a mother and her child choose. In fact, throughout much of history and in most parts of world, children are breastfed for years rather than months! Continued breastfeeding beyond one year provides additional health benefits and can promote independence when children wean themselves.
The American Academy of Pediatrics
“Pediatricians and parents should be aware that exclusive breastfeeding is sufficient to support optimal growth and development for approximately the first 6 months of life and provides continuing protection against diarrhea and respiratory tract infection. Breastfeeding should be continued for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child.”
World Health Organization
“As a global public health recommendation, infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life to achieve optimal growth, development and health. Thereafter, to meet their evolving nutritional requirements, infants should receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods while breastfeeding continues for up to two years of age or beyond. Exclusive breastfeeding from birth is possible except for a few medical conditions, and unrestricted exclusive breastfeeding results in ample milk production.”
Resources for “extended breastfeeding”
Breastfeeding Toddlers by Barbara Higham Ilkley
This excerpt on the LaLeche League website tells one mother’s story of extended breastfeeding and provides great advice to other mothers!
ParentingWeb: Extended Nursing Breastfeeding beyond the first year
A variety of articles and information on breastfeeding toddlers.
Breastfeeding Children with Teeth
Breasts are BPA free!
Are you tired of worrying about what products are safe for your child and which products are not? If you are breastfeeding your baby, you don’t have to worry about recent safety concerns of the controversial Bisphenol-A (BPA) in bottles and lining of formula cans- your breasts are naturally BPA free! BPA is often used to make the clear plastic water bottles and baby bottles. It is also found in the lining of nearly every soft drink can to food product. The concerns of this chemical are that they appear to have estrogen like effects. In animal studies, they appear to accelerate puberty as well as pose a cancer risk. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has deemed this chemical safe, a scientific panel recently faulted the FDA saying it ignored important evidence when reassuring consumers that BPA was safe. The controversy continues…
If you are pumping or occasionally need to use a bottle, there are BPA free bottles, however, currently these bottles are more expensive.
Picture taken by Voodoo Pile http://www.flickr.com/photos/22528361@N05/2584942780/
Picture from Google images, tykekoons.com
Get Pumped about Breastfeeding!
Pumping your breasts sounds a little intimidating indeed. If you are a first-time mom, breastfeeding may have been a process in which took some adjustment time for both mother and baby. Now, that you may have the hang of it, going back to work or school will most likely take some mechanical help in order to sustain the milk supply that you worked so hard to achieve.
Reasons for Pumping
- Early on in breastfeeding when your milk has first come in, pumping can help to relieve breast engorgement, which will in turn help baby to latch on, as well as help your milk to flow.
- If your baby is premature or there is some medical reason you cannot initially breastfeed, pumping will help you sustain your milk supply until baby is ready.
- If you are going back to work, pumping will be necessary in order to keep you milk supply adequate.
- Helps to relieve a blocked milk duct in which frequent feeding or pumping is necessary to clear the blockage from the duct.
Pump Prices
I myself, was initially skeptical about needing a pump- they are so expensive! Yet after breaking down the costs, I would have to say that my pump has been invaluable and well worth it!
RENTAL- Some of the most common brands of pumps available for purchase or rental are either Medela or Ameda Egnell. These are typically available to rent from your local medical equipment company or hospital for approximately $49-$52/month, plus the cost of the pumping kits that is compatible with the pump you rented for approximately $50.
PURCHASE-Most double electric pumps available for purchase are typically in the range of $250-$300. If you plan on pumping more than 3 months, a high quality pump will have paid for itself in 3 months. If you plan on having more than 1 child, your pump purchase gets even more economical!
What is also important to factor into your decision making when thinking about purchasing a pump is that formula costs anywhere between $20 and $25/week or $100/month. By breastfeeding and pumping, you are saving additional money.
World Breastfeeding Week!
picture by Daquella manera, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/daquellamanera/2397006173/
Mothers, and mothers-to-be, may be interested to learn about the World Breastfeeding Week events! This is a World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) annual event. The aim of this event is to celebrate and support breastfeeding, and to educate the public about its benefits and increase the cultural acceptance of it. They hope to increase support for mothers to achieve the “gold standard of infant feeding: breastfeeding exclusively for six months, and providing appropriate complementary foods with continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond.”
Listen to the NPR discussion based on the 2007 World Breastfeeding Week event on breastfeeding barriers, issues and current state. (If you have problems with the link, copy and paste the following into your browser: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12556598).
Go to their website www.worldbreastfeedingweek.org to find out when the next event will be, and to learn about the past events.
101 Reasons to Breastfeed!
How many advantages are there to breastfeeding? More than one would think! This video displays advantages of breastfeeding to mothers and infants. There are also many advantages of breastfeeding to society! Learn things you didn’t know about breastfeeding along with artwork of mothers and infants and calming music!
Breastfeeding in Public
Breastfeeding in public can potentially be embarrassing, and you might be worried about people making comments to you that might make you uncomfortable… Some onlookers may not appreciate the right for a woman to feed her baby in public. There are several initiatives and policies to protect a woman’s right to breastfeed in public. One interesting site, MommyGuide.com, has a section on breastfeeding in public, Oops! You Caught Me Breastfeeding. This site includes handy business card sized cards you can download and print directly from their site to pass out to anyone who may make a comment or look at you funny while breastfeeding in public! The cares include lists of famous women who breastfed their babies, qoutes from famous people, and are informative and funny…
Here are 2 examples of what the cards say:
Amazing Breastfeeding Facts:
The antibodies in breastmilk provide immunities that protect
against infections of ears, lungs, stomach, and G.I. tract, so baby
will have fewer illnesses, ear infections, allergies, asthma, etc.
Nursing reduces a child’s risk of having eczema, food allergies,
respiratory allergies and asthma, and can lessen the severity of
those she has. Breastfeeding also has a protective effect against
juvenile diabetes, celiac disease, childhood cancer, rheumatoid
arthritis, urinary tract infections, multiple sclerosis, liver disease,
and acute appendicitis. Breastfeeding also provides a perfect,
nutritious, well-tolerated re-hydrating fluid if baby does get sick.
Amazing Breastfeeding Facts:
* Breastfeeding lowers a child’s risk of Childhood Leukemia,
Crohn’s Disease, Meningitis and Juvenile Diabetes.
* Breastfeeding reduces baby’s risk of SIDS 10 fold.
* Reduces a mother’s risk of breast, ovarian, cervical and uterine
cancer.
* Reduces the mother’s risk of heart disease and osteoporosis.
* So much more!
Falling Asleep on the Job!
It was my first week of breastfeeding, I was starting to gain confidence as baby and I were both getting the hang of this breastfeeding thing. Yet there was one small problem-every time I started to feed, baby would fall asleep. What was wrong? How was baby going to get the food he needed if he was always falling asleep? Was this normal? They didn’t talk about this in the breastfeeding class I took and I never read about this in the books, it always talked about latch on problems, positioning, pain, etc, – not narcoleptic problems!!!I I never thought I would constantly have to try to keep baby awake in order to feed-but I had to.
Excessive newborn sleepiness only lasted for a couple of weeks, but the following are tips I found to be useful in keeping my baby awake during feedings:
- First off, undress the baby down to their diaper. The skin-to-skin contact is not only good for establishing a bond with your baby, but it also keeps them from getting too hot so they can stay awake for feeding!
- Next keep a damp washcloth handy so that you can touch the cold cloth to baby’s foot or leg to wake baby back up.
- Finally, rubbing their arm or leg-not in a soothing manor, but a little more vigorously, (but not rough) will help to keep baby awake.
LaLeche League Support for Breastfeeding everywhere!
La Leche League is a worldwide organization of mothers who want to help support other mothers in breastfeeding. LaLeche league has a wealth of resources to help mothers achieve breastfeeding success.
LaLeche League is an excellent resource for breastfeeding mothers with chapters in all 50 states and around the world. Local chapters offer a variety of services such as support group meetings, mother-to-mother mentoring, and lending libraries for books and videos about breastfeeding.
The LaLeche league website contains information about numerous topics of interest to breastfeeding or expectant families. On the website families can locate information for the local chapter, obtain information on a widerange of breastfeeding topics and questions many families have, participate in forums to discuss breastfeeding with other families, attend online meetings, access podcasts on breastfeeding and parenting topics and shop for nursing equipment and supplies.
Breastfeeding information from LaLeche League
Breastfeeding Books
Knowledge is power. Breastfeeding can be a very scary thing and one way to relieve your anxiety may be reading more on the subject and becoming as informed as possible. The following are a list of breastfeeding books recommended by lactation consultants.
- The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers; Jack Newman, M.D., and Teresa Pitman
- The Breastfeeding Sourcebook: Everything You Need to Know; M. Sara Rosenthal
- The Nursing Mother’s Companion, 4th Edition; Kathleen Huggins
- The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding: La Leche League International
- Dr. Mom’s Guide to Breastfeeding; Marianne Neifert, M.D.
- Nursing your Baby, 4th Edition; Karen Pryor and Gale Pryor
- Nursing Mother, Working Mother- The Essential Guide for Breastfeeding and Staying Close to your Baby After you Return to Work; Gale Pryor
- Bestfeeding: How to Breastfeed your Baby; Mary Renfrew, Chloe Fisher, & Suzanne Arms.
- Breastfeeding a Parent’s Guide; Amy Spangler, MN, RN, IBCLC
- Breastfeeding Keep it Simple; Amy Spangler, MN, RN, IBCLC
- Breastfeeding Your Guide to a Healthy, Happy Baby; MN, RN, IBCLC
- The Complete Book of Breastfeeding; Marvis S. Eiger & Sally Wendkos Olds
- Breastfeeding with Confidence, a Practical Guide; Sue Cox, RN
Breastfeeding Tips Video from ParentsTV
Breastfeeding can be a bit of a mystery to a new or expecting mom considering whether it is right for them and their baby. YouTube, and other websites such as ParentsTV (click on the link or go to parents.com/parentstv to check out the website), can offer some insightful videos with tips and examples of how to go about breastfeeding your baby, as well as other very useful information.
On ParentsTV, there is a series of videos called Baby Basics that includes a Breastfeeding Tips video (click on the link to watch the video, or watch below), which you can also access through YouTube. This video features a lactation consultant, Stacey Brosnan, of Brooklyn, NY.
Stacey goes over such breastfeeding questions as:
-How to latch baby on to the breast?
-How to tell if baby is getting enough milk?
-How to know when to switch breasts?
-What is a recommended schedule for breastfeeding?
-How to tell if nipple pain or soreness is out of the ordinary and when to seek help or advice to address it?
-How to know when baby has had enough milk?
Stacey also shares some other tips, such as:
-It is important to not get discouraged or compare yourself to others
-Breastfeeding gets easier as time goes on
-After you figure out what works best for the both of you breastfeeding can be an extremely rewarding experience for both mom and baby
Milking Mothers 