NJ La Leche League conference info

FYI

registration for the 2012 Conference for LLL of the Garden State is now open. The conference is April 20-22. Please visit www.lllgardenstate.com to download the 2012 Conference Registration Booklet and Registration Form. A fantastic weekend is planned and we hope to see you there!

Of course, babies and children are welcome at all of our meetings. Refreshments are served and free informational reprints are available. As a mother to mother support group, meetings are a wonderful place to ask questions to other moms who have "been there & done that".

Membership: While a mom does NOT need to be a member to come to a meeting and receive the support she needs, we ask moms to consider membership if they feel they are benefitting from the group. We are a volunteer nonprofit Group and all membership fees go directly to helping moms and babies. Membership is $40 per year and includes access to our lending library and discounts for conferences.

If you have any questions about the meeting or individual questions about breastfeeding, please call one of the Leaders; Aleksandra: (973) 744-2971, Andrea: (908) 810-5645, Emily: (973) 218-1122, or Miriam (973) 533-6887.

Jenna's right, breastfeeding may not make the baby weight come right off

Photo Credit: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic - at Screen Actor's Guild awards

In US Magazine, Jenna Fischer of The Office says losing the weight she gained while pregnant has not been the breeze she had heard it would be, but that's OK

"I think I'm just going to be a little bit bigger for a little bit longer," Fischer said, "and that's fine with me."

Nice to see a celebrity mom telling it how it is for most women...

Read the whole article here

everybody's doing it

Love this image! And now that I'm checking out the blog, I really like it too...
As seen on BLUE MILK
Image credit: “Yo Mama” breastfeeding her daughter while sitting with her teammates from the Anarchy Angels Roller Derby Team (photo by Russ Desaulniers) via Avital Norman Nathman.

lovely

from a story in People, Victoria's Secret model, Miranda Kerr, nursing her son Flynn (actor Orlando Bloom is the dad) while on a work break...I appreciate her putting this out there...

Is my baby getting enough milk? (1 of 4)

skin-to-skin

little actions, big payoffs

Often we do things a certain way because, well, that's the way we do them. We have good reasons and don't really question whether there is a better way. But maybe we should...

An example: after a baby is born in a hospital (where most babies in the US are born), the baby might be put on its mom's chest for a minute, though usually on a blanket. That blanket is used to dry off & stimulate babies. That makes sense, though I know plenty of midwives who feel we overdo the stimulating via drying.
But soon after, usually while the birth of the placenta is being medically managed (which is what usually happens in a hospital birth & may be wise - read more here***), the baby is taken to a corner of the room & looked over & then wrapped up and given a hat before being handed back to the mom. A baby burrito...cute, but should we be doing this?

Randomized studies detailed in The Cochrane Library say no...you can read the whole abstract, or this plain language summary (the bolding of the conclusion is mine):

Early skin-to-skin contact for mothers and their healthy newborn infants
Skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby at birth reduces crying, improves mother-baby interaction, keeps the baby warmer, and helps women breastfeed successfully.

In many cultures, babies are generally cradled naked on their mother's bare chest at birth. Historically, this was necessary for the baby's survival. In recent times, in some societies as more babies are born in hospital, babies are separated or dressed before being given to their mothers. It has been suggested that in industrialized societies, hospital routines may significantly disrupt early mother-infant interactions and have harmful effects. The review was done to see if there was any impact of early skin-to-skin contact between the mother and her newborn baby on infant health, behavior and breastfeeding. The review included 30 studies involving 1925 mothers and their babies. It showed that babies interacted more with their mothers, stayed warmer, and cried less. Babies were more likely to be breastfed, and to breastfeed for longer, if they had early skin-to-skin contact. Babies were also, possibly, more likely to have a good early relationship with their mothers, but this was difficult to measure.

If you are pregnant or if you work with birthing women and new babies, think about this and really consider making skin-to-skin happen if at all possible. Certainly any skin-to-skin, at any time in the early days or weeks is important...but we do not get these first moments and hours back.

***regarding the medically managed third stage, I wish the study/ies had looked at whether it contributed to issues with retained membranes, need for D&Cs, related complications and extended lochia (bleeding for the weeks following birth)

sharing the wealth

When I was born, there was another baby who needed milk & his mom was unable to feed him, so my mom did (at the hospital's request, as there were some sort of special circumstances)...I've never nursed someone else's baby, but I have donated my milk to a baby who's mom was undergoing chemo.
What about you - would you do this for another? If your baby were very hungry and you couldn't feed her, would you welcome someone else doing it? I know there are questions of health etc. (in the case of my donation, medical questions were asked of me), but I'm talking about how this feels to you, in your heart? I say yes & yes.

Thanks to Cooler Than The Cat for posting...

promoting breastfeeding

So great! An NHS ad...found c/o Nicole at Bellies and Babies

look closely!

lactivist's reaction to the Facebook controvercial ban on certain breastfeeding shots...check out how the picture was made...very cool:



Thanks for the heads up, Kristen!

my review:20/20

So I thought the 20/20 segment on Orgasmic Birth was pretty fantastic (but not the show as a whole). I do wish there had been a clear soundbite about how orgasmic birth does not have to mean that actual climax is achieved...they may have said this & I missed it, but I felt the segment seemed to indicate that an actual orgasm was a necessary part of the ecstatic birth experience rather than just the happy icing on the already-awesome birthday cake. Anyway, way to go, Debra!

But I have complaints on the show as a whole (of course!): First, the warning that the Orgasmic Birth segment might be inappropriate - wow - what about giving that warning when showing a highly interventive technocratic birth? That could certainly be more dangerous to one's psyche than seeing some women smiling and laughing.

I know the show was about "extremes" in motherhood but why the need to find such unusual examples to put with Orgasmic Birth? The piece on unassisted birth really pissed me off because they lumped in The Business Of Being Born and all homebirth with unassisted birth. I'm not commenting negatively on people who wish to have UC, but the births they showed, aside from Laura Shanley's birth footage appeared to be from BoBB and attended by midwives (at least one of which was filmed in a hospital birth center, not even at home)...UC is a small portion of homebirth and I think to suggest otherwise is at best misleading and sloppy and serves to reinforce the just-now-changing-for-the-positive mainstream opinion that homebirth is selfish (in fact that was a comment/question posed to Ricki Lake on the homebirth /UC piece last night) and foolhardy. Most people who birth at home do so with extremely qualified medical assistance. I found that segment quite hostile.

Same with the breastfeeding piece - people who are nursing 9 year olds are quite rare & that's why they make the news. But the piece started with a woman nursing 3yo twins - not rare at all, given that the average age of weaning world-wide is 4 years (props to 20/20 for mentioning this)...yet it was still portrayed as though the twins mom was doing something a little bit weird or wrong. And then there was the whole "what does your husband think - isn't he left out sexually" angle that was pretty lame, imho.

The life-like dolls...hmmm - I don't quite know what to say other than the segment made me feel a little sad. And once again, I did not appreciate the created context of "wacky/screw loose people" in which to view Orgasmic Birth & homebirth.

What about you? Please share your reactions!

I can quit anytime I want...

OK - not to be all about Hollywood folk, but I do think that since our culture is pretty focused on celebrities, it helps to get the word out when they are being positive role models.

According to Mama Knows Breast as quoting the New York Post, actress Rebecca Romaijn is preparing to nurse her twins due in January. Her Ugly Betty co-stars threw her a baby shower and actress Vanessa Williams gave lessons on the double football hold.

Another well-known, happy nursing momma is Salma Hayak. In a Huffington Post story (covering The Times story) she talked about nursing her 14 month old daughter, and though she found nursing hard at first, now:

"I'm like an alcoholic," she shrugs. "It's like, I don't care if I cry, I don't care if I'm fat, I'm just gonna do it for one more week, one more month, and then, when I see how much good it is doing her, I can't stop. (It's) a very powerful thing you know."

birth trauma's impact on breastfeeding

A recent study backs up what we already knew...traumatic birth can impact breastfeeding...read whole release at the link or some portions below:

STORRS, CT — Up to a third of all new mothers report suffering through a traumatic child birth.

For some – believed to be up to 9 percent – the birth is such a traumatic event that they experience posttraumatic stress disorder, the same debilitating disorder that scars the lives of combat veterans and victims of rape and other violent crimes.

...Her results showed that the impact of birth trauma can lead new mothers down two strikingly different paths with regard to breastfeeding.

For some, the trauma propels them into persevering in breastfeeding to prove their “success” as a mother and perhaps to make up to their infant for the difficult birth.

...Yet for others, birth trauma sets in motion a chain of events – intrusive flashbacks, detachment from their child, and physical pain – that can curtail their attempts to breastfeed.

...Beck concludes that intensive one-on-one support for traumatized mothers may be necessary to help them establish breastfeeding. Sensitivity and awareness by medical professionals of the traumatized mother’s needs may also be helpful.

During the postpartum period, it is suggested that healthcare providers be attentive to the symptoms that may indicate a new mother is traumatized, such as being withdrawn, having a dazed look, or suffering temporary amnesia.

Beck’s latest research study: “Impact of Birth Trauma on Breastfeeding – A Tale of Two Pathways,” which appears in the July/August 2008 issue of Nursing Research, was co-authored by Sue Watson, chairperson of the Trauma and Birth Stress charitable trust.

breastfeeding & immunity

Facts about breastfeeding never cease to amaze me...check this new study out, particularly the bolded (by me) paragraph at the bottom:

How Breastfeeding Transfers Immunity To Babies
ScienceDaily (Oct. 27, 2008) —

A BYU-Harvard-Stanford research team has identified a molecule that is key to mothers’ ability to pass along immunity to intestinal infections to their babies through breast milk.

The study highlights an amazing change that takes place in a mother’s body when she begins producing breast milk. For years before her pregnancy, cells that produce antibodies against intestinal infections travel around her circulatory system as if it were a highway and regularly take an “off-ramp” to her intestine. There they stand ready to defend against infections such as cholera or rotavirus. But once she begins lactating, some of these same antibody-producing cells suddenly begin taking a different “off-ramp,” so to speak, that leads to the mammary glands. That way, when her baby nurses, the antibodies go straight to his intestine and offer protection while he builds up his own immunity.

This is why previous studies have shown that formula-fed infants have twice the incidence of diarrheal illness as breast-fed infants.

Until now, scientists did not know how the mother’s body signaled the antibody-producing cells to take the different off-ramp. The new study identifies the molecule that gives them the green light....
continue reading here

more Angelina

Even Fox news is reporting on the story of Angelina Jolie breastfeeding her twins.

breastfeeding, oh my!

The UK's Daily Mail says of Angelina Jolie's cover on W, "the revealing new portrait taken by partner Brad Pitt for W magazine Angelina shared an astonishingly private moment with the public."

Really? Yes, apparently, since some (and here too) seem to be quite troubled. A psychotherapist commented for the article, "The problem is that she is also an international sex symbol. So whether or not she says 'This is a beautiful way of nurturing my baby', every man who sees that photo will see those breasts as sexual."

Good God, people. She's feeding a baby. If that were so "astonishingly private", many of us would never have gotten out of our houses for years! I mean, I know I'm no international sex symbol, but I maintain that a baby nursing is about love and nourishment and biology...if some find it too sexy, well isn't that really their problem?

Angelina breastfeeding on cover of W magazine

Nice. A not-ordinary woman doing an ordinary thing, but on the cover of a popular magazine. Cool!

dar la TeTa es dar la vida

"to give the breast is to give life "
Thanks to Birth is Good, where I found this & lots of other great stuff!

HELP: key breastfeeding resource in jeopardy

From another blog:
breastfeeding institution, Dr. Jack Newman's clinic & website, is losing its funding and will close very soon unless they can secure funding through outside donations.
I have personally been helped through thrush by Dr. Newman & I refer people to his site nearly every day. I actually received emails and a call back from this man's office - for FREE! His expertise, via his website, has been available 24/7 to anyone and has likely helped countless women keep breastfeeding through challenges. From a public health perspective, this helps us all.
Please consider joining me in making a donation to save this - his work matters.

breastfeeding & emergencies

The USBC (United States Breastfeeding Committee) issued a press release yesterday, which reads in part,

UNITED STATES BREASTFEEDING COMMITTEE
URGES SUPPORT OF
BREASTFEEDING IN EMERGENCIES

Washington, DC—As the Southeast prepares for Hurricane Gustav and other potential storms
during hurricane season, the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC), a coalition of more than 40 organizations, including government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and health professional organizations, has issued a call to support breastfeeding mothers in their decision to give their infant the healthiest start in life possible.

USBC Chair Joan Younger Meek, MD, MS, RD, FAAP, FABM, IBCLC, affirms that
breastfeeding is the most important way to protect infants from a host of significant health concerns and is therefore especially critical in emergency situations where safe and sanitary water is not available, transportation is limited, and disease abounds.

According to Meek, this can include measures as simple as providing a safe and private area for women to breastfeed and receive counseling in large shelter environments, and helping women access the support of lactation consultants and other breastfeeding experts in the community. Women who chose not to breastfeed can be helped with "relactation" to bring in milk production, if desired. Both the International Lactation Consultant Association (www.ilca.org) and La Leche League International (www.llli.org) provide knowledgeable support personnel. Physicians from the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics can also offer needed assistance to induce or continue lactation.

Just one more reason to support breastfeeding. I'm thinking good thoughts for this storm to lose power and spare NOLA and other areas still on the long road back from Katrina. Blessings to everyone impacted.