Posted on

The Perfect Formula for Breastfeeding

“I just fed him every two hours or when he woke up, then everything went much better!”

“We were trying to get him to sleep in the crib for naps, but I missed him too much so he sleeps in my arms now.”

“My pediatrician said he should be sleeping 5 hour stretches by this time, but he is so much happier when I feed him, is this a bad habit?”

Woman bites nails with furrowed brow
I read 500 books, but I forgot the right way to take care of my baby!

You read all the books, scoured all the websites and got all the (sometimes unsolicited) advice from your friends. Now, you feel you are going into this big, important, life changing thing prepared and knowledgable. Filled with confidence about breastfeeding, you are ready…and then the baby arrives.

Nowadays, new parents believe that knowledge gives them the best chance to feeding their babies easily. The more information the better right? Education is not bad, and it is good to know what to expect. However, downloading the perfect app, going to the perfect class, and creating the perfect schedule will not ensure perfection. What if I told you there is no perfect baby?

A parent who goes into breastfeeding with absolutely no expectations is a beautiful thing. These parents go with the flow! They give their baby whatever they need, whenever they need it.  This ease allows them to hold their babies close, sniff their little heads, and get to know their cries. Parents who respond to their babies, instead of trying to force them into a box, tend to have less stress.

Skin to skin isn’t just about all the great benefits like temperature and blood sugar regulation. When you hold your baby close, you learn who they are. When a baby is away in another room, swaddled, pacified, and monitored electronically, you may miss the little nuances. You might even miss early feeding queues that are so obvious when the baby is nestled on your chest, resulting in a very unhappy little camper.

The thing is, a perfect formula to breastfeeding just doesn’t exist. Every parent and every baby is different. So often to solve an issue, it takes an IBCLC. We will look at all the variables to make a specific plan for your family. It isn’t as simple as just consuming all the information you can find, because here is the thing, no book or blog has ever been written about your baby. No math equation will work without fail with every single baby and parent. There is no perfect class, app, or professional who can predict what kind of baby your baby will be. A good IBCLC will teach you what is normal, help you get comfortable, and show you how to interpret cries and cues. I can’t wait to help you to write your own book.

Posted on

5 Reasons to Hire an IBCLC

How do you know when to throw up your hands and call a professional to help you with breastfeeding?

1. The pain of breastfeeding makes you wish for the days of leather straps and a strong shot of whiskey.
Breastfeeding should not make you dread every feeding. It should not make your toes curl. It should not make you cry. Sometimes, yes, it can be mildly uncomfortable for the first couple of sucks, but it should not make your nipples bleed, bruise, or bevel. That is not normal, and you should seek help from an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) before help from a plastic surgeon is needed.

2.  Your baby isn’t gaining weight
Don’t reach for that handy dandy bottle of formula that came in the mail just because you signed up for a baby registry! Instead, pick up the phone and call for help. If a baby hasn’t gained their birth weight back by 2 weeks, it doesn’t mean your milk isn’t good, or there isn’t enough. It could mean that they aren’t able to transfer enough because of latch or perhaps because they would rather sleep! Simple tweaks to breastfeeding management might be all they need to get them gaining again.

3. The baby won’t latch
Sometimes, due to extenuating circumstances, babies develop a preference for the bottle, and prefer not to nurse at the breast. If this happens, you aren’t alone, you don’t have to give up, and breastfeeding CAN be regained!

4. You would like to have your boobs back but you don’t know where to start…to stop.
IBCLCs have knowledge to help you from pregnancy all the way to helping you come up with a weaning plan. Weaning gently is one of the hardest things to do emotionally, don’t go it alone.

4. Something went wrong the first time
If this is your second (or third, or fourth) and you have struggled with breastfeeding in the past, set yourself up for success, and get a prenatal consult. Talking with a professional with what went wrong before can help you work out how to avoid the pit falls and “boobie traps” that are so common in the first weeks of parenthood.

5. Any other reason that you feel like you can’t do it alone
If you want to punch the next person that tells you how “natural” breastfeeding is, it might be time to call in an expert. If it is a quick question, call me, I do free help over the phone. If it is a problem big enough to warrant a home visit, then we will take those steps, but questions are normal.

Ultimately, the early days of parenthood is rough enough without trying to take it all on alone. Peeing is also natural, but if it burned every time, and you started seeing blood, you would go to a doctor, right!? Don’t feel like you must go this alone. Historically, we used to have our aunties, mothers, cousins, friends, sisters, all who breastfed openly and around us, to be our lactation consultants. We have ALWAYS needed help learning this skill, we just don’t have the support systems and knowledge we once did (thanks Similac!).

 

Posted on

The Lip Tie that Binds

The below story was written by one of my warrior mamas, and reposted with permission.Below you will find her story regarding upper lip tie.

Our upper lip tie story:

The first two weeks without the shield left my nipples cracked, bleeding and in agony. That first night feeding I remember doing it every 30 minutes. In the hospital, I asked the nurse for help, it was a weekend and the lactation consultant wasn’t available. The several nurses I had weren’t very helpful. For two and a half months we used a nipple shield because nursing without it was just too painful.

Nursing with the shield worked for a while. I still would feed every hour for the whole two months. We’d have good days and bad. Baby had awful acid reflux and gas. I thought it was the dairy so I cut it out. Turns out it could have been due to the lip tie. I’ve been off dairy for months and I’m not about to rule it out and start it back up though. I wondered if baby was colicky and after several attempts at bottle feeding with no luck, I was forced to quit my job. Nursing was the only thing that would soothe him. Acid reflux got a little better, but never fully went away.

As baby began to grow, his suck power increased. At 2 months old, the nipple shield started to hurt, pulling my skin through the holes with his incredible sucking strength. Over the next two weeks I started trying to feed with out the shield as often as I could. I began researching lip ties and found his. When feeding without the shield would hurt too much, I would switch back for a day or so to heal. Then I would try again.

That brings us to this 10 week mark. Baby has been really fussy nursing, getting worse every day. I made an appointment with our Lactation Consultant. She came by next day on Tuesday and saw all of my struggles. Baby was refusing to nurse and acting like he was in pain when he latched. She agreed with me on the lip tie and also felt that this was the problem. The relief of her support was emotionally overwhelming. Finally, someone listening to me! She checked his milk transfer by weighing him before and after a feeding and it was really low. This is why I’m having to feed so often. Baby isn’t getting fully satisfied and isn’t taking good naps during the day because of this. She said that if I hadn’t been so persistent in feeding when baby demanded, he would have had poor weight gain and I would have probably had mastitis, clogged ducts and a damaged milk supply.

Here is a picture of his class IV upper lip tie.
11112224_10205401522730397_2677395394799369913_n

We had a frenectomy done two days ago to release it. Immediately after the quick, easy procedure, I was able to nurse him for the first time pain free!

Several people tried to help (bless them) with advice on letting baby cry it out, but I absolutely refused to do this. I followed my new mom instincts and consoled my baby with nursing 24/7. Feedings use to take half hour to an hour, then he’d be hungry again in half hour to an hour. Now they take 15 minutes, with a satisfied baby at the end! We’ve even been able to go 2-3 hours without a feeding!

The pediatrician said, “In 15 years I have never seen a case where upper lip ties effect breastfeeding.” And maybe usually it doesn’t, but in my case it did.

I followed my instincts, did my research and found a huge lacking in the diagnoses of upper lip ties relating to breastfeeding issues.

Pretty much feeling like a super hero mom now and so glad I was so head strong on sticking to breastfeeding. If I hadn’t worked so hard and if I hadn’t found the solution, I don’t know what I would have done. There needs to be more support for this in the pediatrician and pediatric dental world. I have come across many many many stories similar to mine! I can only imagine the amount of women who don’t even know they have this same issue, feeling defeated, they switch to formula when they don’t really want to.

Thank you Rebecca for sharing with us your story! Click here for more information on lip tie symptoms and solutions.

 

Posted on

The Price is Right

babyhospitalIf you broke your foot, you would get an x-ray. If your tooth hurt, you would see a dentist. If you had a heart attack, you would see a cardiologist. Most likely, you wouldn’t even balk at their fee. Why? It’s because we know that good, quality help from educated, caring, medical professionals is worth every penny. Why then do we gasp when we hear the price that comes with “natural” healthcare?

Lactation consultants, are often times accused of charging exorbitant amounts for their services. I have been told to accept all offers, to provide a sliding scale, to barter, and to offer my services for free for a time. When was the last time you bargained with your doctor? One large problem is that insurance will gladly cover your echo-cardiogram, but they may not even know what a lactation consultant is. The undervaluing the services of these people by the healthcare mainstream doesn’t do people any favors. Some insurances may technically cover IBCLCs but their “preferred providers” might be not easily accessible.

When you hire a private practice International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) you get someone with years of lactation focused experience and education. Someone who, most likely, is available to you day or night, through texts, phone calls, emails, and home visits. They will sit with you, help you, and make you feel sane and in control again. They feel as passionate about breastfeeding as you do, and they are there to facilitate your goals. We are required to continue learning all the time, combing through research papers, attending conferences, and networking with other IBCLCs to make sure that you get the latest and greatest breastfeeding knowledge available. Not too shabby for $100/consult, even if your insurance carrier disagrees.

Consider for a moment all the other things that we happily spend on babies. How much is your baby’s crib? Their highchair? Their stroller? Now how much would you pay to insure that your baby has the best food available to them? If an IBCLC can help you breastfeed successfully, think of all the money you will save by avoiding bottles, formula, and having a statistically healthier child.

Having a support team doesn’t make you weak, it makes you strong. And a strong mother and baby seems well worth every penny to me.