Leche, Baby!

A great rule of thumb to ask yourself before eating is:

“Does this food give my baby and me nutrients or just calories?”

If your answer is the latter, then eat something else!

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that pregnant women in their second and third trimesters should eat 300 extra calories a day and nursing mothers should add about 500.

It isn’t as much as you might think…

Three hundred extra calories is roughly equal to one cup of whole-milk yogurt plus an apple. Add two slices of whole-wheat bread to that and the total jumps to 500 calories.

For great information about nutrition during pregnancy, read this article published by the University of Rhode Island’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program.

To learn more about children’s nutritional needs, visit the Children’s Nutrition Research Center. Look under “consumer news” and nutrition on the web site. They have a great electronic newsletter that you can sign up for too.

Photo credit: James Gathany/CDC

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I have completely weaned my two-year old toddler and the transition was surprisingly gentle!

For the past 6 months or so I have nursed my son only for his afternoon nap. I was very reluctant to try to completely wean him because I was afraid he would stop napping altogether (his nap lasts a good 2 hours and during this time I get a lot of my work done).

Last week, we unexpectedly weaned. He skipped his nap, and nursing time, on Monday because I had to be away from him in the afternoon. The next day, at nap, I said, “let’s just pretend to nurse”, so he did. He curled up into my arms and pretended to nurse over my shirt. He is familiar with pretending: we often pretend to cook or eat, or pretend to swim, etc. He was surprisingly agreeable to pretend to nurse. After all, I wasn’t saying “no” and we still got to cuddle. But after about 40 minutes of him doing flips and tossing and turning in bed, I gave up trying to get him down that day.

The next day we did the same thing. We pretended to nurse and this time he did fall asleep, after about 30 minutes. I was shocked! I probably shouldn’t have been (kids need to sleep), but for the past two years I (or more accurately, my nipples) have been the only thing to get him to nap. If he was going to wean, I reckoned, then the best way was going to be to spend a few days apart. I never imagined it possible to wean him the way I did.

It has now been almost two weeks. Other than having an engorged breast, things have gone smoothly. He still asks to nurse and I let him (pretend) whenever he wants. He has been asking to pretend nurse more often and I let him–I don’t see the harm. It’s now much easier for my husband, my mother and his babysitter to get him to take a nap, which I am very thankful for.

Ending nursing brings mixed emotions. I am sad because this beautiful part of our relationship has come to an end. And yet it’s a milestone, a necessary and inevitable part of my son growing up.

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Welcome, Carnival of Breastfeeding readers! The topic for this carnival is “Beginnings and endings”. My post is about the process of weaning a toddler.

I found myself wondering, after reading Tara’s post, Weaning a toddler while pregnant, how many women need advice like this? What percentage of women are still breastfeeding a toddler and what percentage of those toddler nursing moms are willing to endure the pain of nursing, due to sore nipples from pregnancy, in order to continue breastfeeding? I would guess very few.

When my son was nearing a year, friends and family started asking me how long I planned to nurse. They also tried to convince me that my son didn’t need the breastmilk anymore. A very good friend of mine even told me that I had to “cut the cord” and that breastfeeding “had no nutritional value” after a year. The funny thing is that at one point of my life (prior to having a child) I believed that.

It is true that breastmilk comprises less of a baby’s overall diet as it grows and begins to eat a variety of foods, but it is certainly not true that breastmilk loses its nutritional value.

“Breast milk continues to provide substantial amounts of key nutrients well beyond the first year of life, especially protein, fat, and most vitamins.” (Dewey 2001)

Kellymom put out a fantastic fact sheet about the value of
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Technorati Tags:
home birth, child birth, epidural, caesarian

While watching “The Business of Being Born” film, I found myself feeling defensive of the medical establishment. Much of it was cast in a poor light, and yes, much of it rang true for me. But I don’t believe that obstetricians are all “Cesearean Samurais” anxious to rush women to the operating room.

Unfortunately, similar to the environmental movement, showing the worst problems or scariest issues in order to make a point and get attention on these incredibly important issues can be quite effective. Perhaps very balanced reporting of the issue would be too boring to garner worldwide attention. But the downside is that they (the makers of BOBB and extreme environmentalists) lose credibility; or it may have the opposite of the intended effect: such a one-sided view can make the viewer reject the premises all together, which is pointed out by Slate’s Dana Stevens in a recent review of the film.

Unfortunately, Stevens is so caught up in describing weaknesses of the film (admittedly, there are many), that she doesn’t explore the simple notion that there really might be an institutionalized, growing problem in hospitalized birth.

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The Department of Health and Human Services has released a report about the potential toxicity of bisphenol A. Marion Nestle, the author of What to Eat has a nice summary and a link to the report on her blog.

For pregnant women, infants, and children, the panel has some concern about effects on the nervous system and behavior, but minimal concern about accelerated puberty. Mostly, the panel thinks more research is needed. The report is now open for comment.

Bisphenol A is the controversial chemical used in many plastic products, including childrens sippy cups. I have written about this before here and here.

Technorati Tags:
breastfeeding, bisphenol A

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My friend Tara and I went to see a screening of a new documentary called “The Business of Being Born” at my local art center, which was packed full of dulas and midwives. It was an amazing movie that shows how the culture of birth, in the United States, is based on mis-information. Tara sent out an email (see below) urging friends and family to see it. It will be released nationally in January at limited locations and will be available on Netflix in March.

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Hello Friends,

If you are a woman, are having a baby, thinking someday you might, have had babies and now have a daughter, I think you would enjoy this movie to learn more about birth and well woman care in our culture and it’s future. Or maybe all of them! Or you have a practice where you can spread this news around.

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Don’t limit the baby on the breast: Don’t let people tell you he isn’t getting enough. People say the stupidest things that will make you feel like a loser, just ignore them. Your baby is getting enough if there are wet and dirty diapers, weight gain and if the baby is content after eating. We all know how babies act when they’re hungry, if the baby isn’t acting this way he’s full. Also, always let the baby finish, the hind milk has a higher fat content then the milk in the beginning of the feeding so don’t take the baby off the breast once you start. Babies all nurse differently; there is no right way. Some baby’s nurse from both breasts at every feeding, some alternate, and some babies will only nurse from one breast. The latter is fine for the baby but sucks for you cause then you’ll have one big boob!
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Food and Water: Try and have food ready to eat in the fridge, you’ll be really hungry and tired and getting food fast is good. Always have water near you when you are nursing, nursing makes you very thirsty. Especially during the night don’t forget to drink plenty of water, if you don’t drink enough water you can get constipated. And trust me, really not fun after you push a baby out from down there!

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My friend Tara was a great help to me with support and encouragement with breastfeeding. She found breastfeeding to be very challenging, the beginning especially, and put together an amazing list of useful tips to help new mothers. I’m publishing her tips in this post and the next few.

Thanks Tara!
Danish Wool breast pads: Really help to avoid sore nipples or make them feel better. They have 2 kinds, ekstra and regular. The ekstra are double layered if you leak a lot. I do, and even through them! But I found if you just put a disposable one behind the wool one, it catches any leaks. Any other breast pad made my nipples really sore. The lanolin in the wool is what helps with the soreness. It’s the same idea as the stuff in the tube: Lansinoh brand lanolin. Also the wool pads don’t smell bad after they catch the leaks. If you don’t leak they still help with the soreness.

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I received my Klean Kanteen sippy and I think it is a good solution to the Bisphenol-A leaching sippy cups. The Klean Kanteen comes with an adapter and a toddler spout by Advent that is made from non-leaching polypropylene plastic.

Pollution in People is an informative website that has a section on Safer Consumer Products for children and babies. There is a section on baby bottles and sippers where they recommend more alternatives that are not made from polycarbonate plastic, which can leach Bishenol-A:

“Choose bottles made of tempered glass, polypropylene plastic, or polyethylene plastic, such as Evenflo glass or pastel bottles, Gerber opaque bottles, or Medela bottles. Choose sippy cups made of polypropylene or polyethylene, such as Avent Magic Cup, First Years Take & Toss, Gerber Color Change, and Playtex Sipster. “

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During the first few weeks of nursing my nipples were very sore, even though baby had a good latch (this is normal). The Nansinoh lotion with natural lanolin helped a lot and was especially good because baby could nurse even with it applied. But what gave me the most relief was the LANACare nursing pads. They are made of 100% wool (which is where lanolin comes from), and are very soft and comfortable. After sleeping with them on for a couple of days my nipples felt much better. Also, the nursing pads are not as obvious under your clothes as the other store bought ones. They are a bit on the expensive side, but well worth it.

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