Posted by: madisonbreastfeedinghelp | September 1, 2010

Why an IBCLC?

New video from the organization that certifies International Board Certified Lactation Consultants about how IBCLC’s are trained and what they do to help families:

The video is a little bit dry but has useful information about what to expect. Also some really cute footage of babies in good positions with good latch.

The video is about promoting our profession so it does not address the issue of deciding whether a lactation consultant is the best person to help with a particular problem. To help with that, read this from Diane Wiessinger some guidelines to help families choose whether an IBCLC is the appropriate helper for their situation:

What do you need? Help with medical care? With a standard birth? A sympathetic ear? Household help? Someone who can help you figure out why breastfeeding isnít going well? Someone who can help you fix it? When you match the helper to the need, you’re more likely to have a satisfying outcome.

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Posted in Breastfeeding

Posted by: madisonbreastfeedinghelp | August 27, 2010

Not much time for blogging…

Just a note about my summer… I’m a mom with a bunch of kids at home so between work spending time with new mamas and babies and my own kids’ stuff I haven’t had time for writing about breastfeeding. I have been posting current breastfeeding news and research on Happy Bambino’s facebook page, though, so if you’re interested check it out. It is also a good place to have a conversation about parenting in the Madison area.

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Posted in Breastfeeding, On-line breastfeeding resources

Posted by: madisonbreastfeedinghelp | July 31, 2010

World Breastfeeding Week

World breastfeeding week is the first week in August. It is a chance celebrate mothers nurturing their babies as well as a chance to let people know how important breastfeeding is to mothers’ and babies’ health.

The US Surgeon General used it as a chance to announce her plan to be a breastfeeding advocate

This fall, I will release a Surgeon General’s “Call to Action” that will draw from the best available science to explain how all sectors of the community can help create an environment that is supportive of mothers who choose to breastfeed. It will show how a community-wide approach can help reduce disparities among breastfeeding mothers and children of all backgrounds, and how to improve support for nursing women in their workplaces and communities.

Read the press release here.

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Posted in Breastfeeding, Breastfeeding in the news, advocacy

Posted by: madisonbreastfeedinghelp | July 16, 2010

On-line learning opportunity

Health e-Learning offers great lactation education online. For the last three years I have participated in their breastfeeding conference, GOLD (Global On-line Lactation Discussion) and it was definitely worth my time. Anyway, I am plugging them here because they are offering a couple of their conference sessions for free and both are worth watching. Karleen Gribble’s presentation is about infant feeding in emergencies – something that we all should be aware of as we prepare in our own communities or contribute to aid organizations in other communities. James Akre talks about culture and breastfeeding promotion.

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Posted in On-line breastfeeding resources

Posted by: madisonbreastfeedinghelp | July 8, 2010

Skin to skin contact with babies

Holding babies skin to skin is so good for babies and mamas! Here is a website with nice online video to enjoy. The babies are adorable, the information is invaluable. http://www.mystfx.ca/InfantSkinToSkinContact/

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Posted in Breastfeeding Tips, On-line breastfeeding resources, Parenting

Posted by: madisonbreastfeedinghelp | June 25, 2010

Coming to peace with low milk production

Not making enough milk for your baby even when you are “doing all the right things” can be very emotional. Here is a video from a mother that went through that sadness, came to peace with it, and wanted to help other mothers.

Got Milk? from Martha Groom on Vimeo.

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Posted in Breastfeeding, On-line breastfeeding resources, Supplementing

Posted by: madisonbreastfeedinghelp | June 17, 2010

Uppity Science Chick

Kathleen Kendall-Tackett does it again – she is the greatest resource for breastfeeding and mental health. I just found her website about evidence-based information about depression and new mothers, uppitysciencechick.com.

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Posted in On-line breastfeeding resources

Posted by: madisonbreastfeedinghelp | June 12, 2010

Social barriers – post from ABM

It is easy to say “all babies should be breastfed” but then ignore the social context that mothers have to work within as they try to breastfeed their babies. This post from the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine does a great job addressing this issue. Here is a taste:

These issues transcend breastfeeding. Why, for example, do we pit “stay at home moms” against “working moms,” rather than demand  high-quality, affordable child care, flexible work, and paid maternity leave so that each woman can pursue both market work and caring work, in the proportion she finds most fulfilling? Why do we accept that, if a woman devotes all of her time to caring for her family, she does not earn any social security benefits, whereas if she gets a paying job and sends her children to day care, she and her day care provider earn credits toward financial security in old age? And why do we enact social policies that subsidize child care and require poor mothers to enter the paid work force, rather than support poor mothers to care for their own children?

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Posted in Breastfeeding, Working, advocacy

Posted by: madisonbreastfeedinghelp | May 28, 2010

Spacing your children…

The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine just put up a post about new guidelines from the CDC for hormone birth control and breastfeeding mothers. These guidelines suggest that it is ok for breastfeeding mothers to begin some hormonal birth control methods soon after birth. The new guidelines may undermine breastfeeding success:

Clinically, breastfeeding support providers report a negative impact on breastfeeding when these methods are introduced too early, and one preliminary study found dramatically lower breastfeeding rates at 6 months among mothers who underwent early insertion of progesterone-containing IUDs, compared with insertion at 6-8 weeks postpartum.

If you’re wondering what birth control options are compatible with breastfeeding, The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine has a protocol on contraception and breastfeeding. If you’d like a discussion of your options that is a little less clinical sounding (maybe a little easier to read as an overview) here is a link to a summary from La Leche League International. Two birth control methods that are totally compatible with breastfeeding (one of them depends on breastfeeding!) that many people overlook are NFP and LAM.

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Posted in Breastfeeding, Milk supply

Posted by: madisonbreastfeedinghelp | May 20, 2010

Dads vulnerable to depression too

It looks like we just plain need to pay attention to new parents. Both new mothers and fathers need care and support. Here’s a link to an NPR story summarizing a study of new fathers and depression.

Pregnancy-related depression comes as a surprise to most men it hits. Psychologist Will Courtenay of Berkeley, Calif., has made a career of helping men with depression and maintains the website SadDaddy.com. He says there’s a myth in this country that men don’t get depressed, and that’s a danger.

“The cultural myth that men don’t get depressed also communicates to men that they shouldn’t get depressed — or at least, not express it. And so they don’t. They’re more likely than women to try to hide their depression or to talk themselves out of it,” he says.

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Posted in Fathers, General Info, Parenting

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