Breastfeeding Tips & Breast Pump Guide | Lactation Connection

     As the New Year and New Year's Eve parties are approaching, this is a question that Lactation Consultants get asked repeatedly.  While the advice has changed from a pump and dump approach to a you can have as much as you want mentality, the truth is really somewhere in the middle.       It is safe to have a New Year's toast after your baby has gone to bed.  It is also safe to have an occasional glass of wine.  The key is moderation and timing.  Alcohol does enter the blood stream and your breast milk.  It is also metabolized quickly.  So one glass of wine or beer or an alcoholic drink that contains one shot of liquor is metabolized in one hour.  If you baby nurses every 2-3 hours and you have one drink, there is no need to pump and dump.  If you have multiple drinks, you should pump and dump.  This is not to get rid of the alcohol as time will do that, but to keep you from getting plugged mil...

      Although I have advocated for breastfeeding for over 20 years, breastmilk is not that important. I personally was not a breastfed baby. My mother had difficulty nursing her first child and was told she did not make enough milk. She was too discouraged to try to nurse her subsequent children so I did not get a drop of this precious substance.       What my mother did give me was my upbringing. She raised me to know the truth about who I was. I am not an entitled human being who can do no wrong. Nor am I perfect in the eyes of my parents. I am flawed. I have a broken relationship with my creator and a deep need for healing. This I learned from my parents.       My mother taught me to trust with every time she picked me up while I was crying.  My mother taught me about Jesus from the first time she sang to me. When she rocked me to sleep, she taught me of His love for me.  ...

     New moms have told me that they wish they had been given more information on positioning and latch as well as the various holds associated with breastfeeding.  So I have decided to reveal these breastfeeding "secrets" here.  1.  What is the secret to preparing for breastfeeding? Holding the breast properly!  The c-hold is the proper way to support the breast when learning to breastfeed and should be practiced by expectant and new mothers because almost every new mom does it incorrectly.  How?  Moms tend to place the thumb on top (correct) but place the bottom fingers in the wrong place.  The bottom fingers need to be near the chest wall.  The index finger usually ends up on the bottom of the areola preventing baby from getting a deep latch.  Whether you are already breastfeeding or still expecting, check your c-hold in a mirror to make sure your fingers are out of the way. Also make sure the flap of your nursing bra...

     The breastmilk allergy myth was further perpetuated on the TODAY show's #bornTODAY series this morning causing me to have to speak out against irresponsible and incomplete journalism.  The Myth: Some babies are allergic to their mother's milk. The Facts: Human milk is the most natural physiological substance that baby c an ingest which is why breast milk can be used as a "clear liquid" if a baby is ill with a stomach virus and it is also why breast milk does not sting when placed in the eye as a remedy for conjunctivitis.        If a baby shows sensitivities related to feeding, it is usually a foreign protein that has been consumed by the mother and entered into mother's milk, and not the breast milk. The remedy for this is to remove the offending food from mother's diet for 3-4 weeks.  One example is dairy.  Dairy is difficult to digest and can take 10 days to two weeks to leave the mother's system and another 10 days to tw...

     The truth is fenugreek is a great tool to boost milk supply in most moms.  However, in the two decades that I have been helping nursing moms, I get this comment a lot, "Fenugreek didn't work for me."  How can it be that an herb with such great success stories doesn't work for a large number of mothers.  In most cases, the answer is in the quality, dosage or delivery method.      Many moms buy Fenugreek at a local health food or grocery store in brands that are not stored or bottled in the best way to keep them at full potency.  Also, shelf life factors into this so buying from a store that doesn't cater to the largest market for Fenugreek, nursing mothers, will not have the best turn-around.  It is always a good practice to check the expiration date on any herb before using.  Fenugreek capsules work best when taken in a quality brand like Nature's Herbs or Nature's Way Fenugreek and in the appropriate dosage or...

Just for fun in honor of World Breastfeeding Week 2013, I thought I would write something from baby's perspective as a breastfeeding tip for mom.  Here is one tip for every day of this week! 1.  Birth-day Initiation:  My stomach is the size of a marble.  I am loving being skin to skin with Mama and the reward of a swallow of golden colostrum! 2.  10-Day-itis:  After 10 days, I start my first growth spurt.  I want to eat every hour or two and can't get enough of this liquid gold. 3.  6 weeks:  Breastfeeding is easier for me, but pooping is harder.  I am going through another feeding frenzy and things seem to be changing!  I was pooping all the time, but now only once in a while! 4.  3 months:  Another growth spurt.  Love it!  I get to eat as often as I like and no one complains, but I do get a little distracted 'cause there is so much to see while I'm eating. 5.  6 months:  I'm ...

     In my practice as a board certified lactation consultant, there were times when it was medically necessary to supplement.  Whether it was due to a poor suck or mismanaged milk supply, we need options when recovering from these issues and getting back to breastfeeding.  Many times, I would recommend finger-feeding with a syringe to keep moms from using a bottle nipple.  I would have rather recommended a Supplemental Nursing System which has a container with tubes that runs to the breast; but I didn't want to see mom spending the extra money when her budget was so tight.  At that time, the only options were the Supplemental Nursing System (SNS) by Medela and the Lact-Aid Nursing Trainer.   These cost mom $50 or more and had small tubes to be cleaned which were cumbersome.   Now, with more options available, Moms can use a short-term feeding tube which accomplishes the same thing and can be cleaned for a few days before ...