Jessica's second breastfeeding story is a dozy! When we have our second baby we think, well this has to be easier than the first time. Right? In Jessica's case this was not true! Her breastfeeding story is powerful! Yes, those baby worries weren't there (you rarely worry that you might accidentally kill your second baby like you do your first), you know the signs of a well fed baby, and your …
All Things Breastfeeding 56: New Breast Pumps
New Breast Pumps? What are these new pumps? Jessica and Barbara are going to talk about two types of relatively new pumps that are on the market now. We wanted to make sure that these pumps were reliable before we gave our thoughts. In the pump market that takes 2-3 years! The first few thousand families who buy these pumps are essentially paying for the privilege to be a tester! The …
Haakaa Survey: For Parents, For Professionals
The Haakaa The Haakaa is new tool for breastfeeding families and our profession. The research on this tool does not exist at this point in time. The purpose of these surveys is to get a sense of how and why the Haakaa is actually be used by families and how lactation professionals play into this data. Here are the links to the survey: Parents: …
All Things Breastfeeding 55: Is it time to wean your baby?
Know when it's time to wean your baby is not always easy. When is it time to wean your baby? Only you get to decide! Once a baby is over six months of age you can start to get pressure from others. Is that baby STILL nursing? Yes! Remember, the World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for at least 2 years! Here at The Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor we think the longer the …
Differences between breastmilk and formula
People often ask me what are the differences between breastmilk and formula? The short answer: a million. The long answer: are you ready for a whole lot of science? Often I will write about the benefits of breastfeeding but often people will say, "but I was formula fed (or I formula fed my child) and I (they) are fine!" But are they really? For one thing, I think we have to turn this whole …
All Things Breastfeeding 54: Jamie’s Breastfeeding Story
Jamie's Breastfeeding Story In this podcast episode Barbara and Jessica talk to Jamie about her breastfeeding journey with her little one Zelda. Each breastfeeding story is very different and Jamie's is no exception. She struggled with unexpected infertility which made her story very different than she planned before getting pregnant. Take a listen and enjoy! At The Breastfeeding Center of …
All Things Breastfeeding 53: Partners and Breastfeeding
Partners and breastfeeding? How do partners fit is with breastfeeding? This can look many ways, there is no one size fits all. In this podcast Jessica and Barbara talk about options for how this can look for families. The sound is a little wonky in this podcast so please forgive us! Many times if a family is breastfeeding, we think of the partner as the one who changes the diapers. Literally …
All Things Breastfeeding 68: The Beauty of Hand Expression
What is hand expression? Great question! Basically it means getting breastmilk out of a lactation breast without a baby or a breast pump. At The Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor, hand expression is a typical tool we review with most of our families because you never know when you might get caught with no baby, no pump, and a full breast! Literally a life saver. Practice does make perfect …
All Things Breastfeeding 52: Nipple Shield Survey Results!
Nipple shield survey results! Our nipple shield survey is discussed in this podcast. We had a whopping 4500 families and 500 lactation professionals fill out the survey! We got so much interesting information from this survey. Of course there are some limitations from the information we gathered. First of all, this survey was only distributed from Facebook. I put an announcement on …
All Things Breastfeeding 51: Breastmilk Changes Over Time
Breastmilk changes over time! Really, this is true! Yes, in this podcast Barbara and Jessica talk about how breastmilk changes over time. It is really quite amazing! Many health care providers tell families there is no nutritional value for babies from breastmilk after one year. Like it turns into water! Breastmilk is a living, dynamic fluid that works in real time to protect babies with the …
Were you ready for breastfeeding? Our breastfeeding check list could have helped!
How do you know you are ready for breastfeeding? Would a breastfeeding check list have helped? What do we mean by "breastfeeding check list"? While we don't have a lot of research on many aspects of breastfeeding one thing that has been studied is what factors seem to lead to families to being able to meet their breastfeeding goals. Here are some things on our breastfeeding check list that …
Bed Sharing: The Secrets to Help Make It Safer
Bed sharing Bed sharing and having young babies seem to go hand in hand. Little human mammals expect to sleep close to their parents and often won't settle if this doesn't happen. Up until the last 100-200 years babies commonly slept with their parent and around the world this is still common. It is more common for families who are breastfeeding to bed share but many families who formula feed …
All Things Breastfeeding 50: You’re being set up for breast feeding failure
Breast feeding failure? Most women in the USA want to breastfeed yet many of these women don't reach their breastfeeding goals which is often defined as "breast feeding failure". In some states, as many as 90% or more of families initiate breastfeeding. These states tend to be on the east and west coasts of our country. The lowest number of mothers who start out breastfeeding is Mississippi which …
Lies and the Liars Telling Them? Fed is Best
My dear friend Glenda sent me this today. Glenda and I met back in the day at a La Leche League meeting and have been friends ever since. Well, let me tell you, boy are my panties in a bunch! Fed is Best has been working on destroying the positive trend toward normal human feeding for over three years. I have been trying to ignore Fed is Best because I find them to be so hateful and filled with …
All Things Breastfeeding Episode 49: Nursing in Public
Nursing in public? Didn't we all decide that nursing in public was fine? Apparently not! There are still so many people who get their panties in a bunch when they see a family breastfeeding in public! Jessica and Barbara discuss the latest study on nursing in public. This article concerns the images of women nursing in public and how they are almost always of a woman by herself, not in a …
All Things Breastfeeding: All You Wanted to Know About Milk Banking with Kim Updegrove
Milk banking Non-profit milk banking in the United States is rapidly growing! We have the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA) here is the US, Mexico, and Canada. At this point we have 27 milk banks and 5 under development in North America. Milk banking was developed in 1985. These milk banks have donor screening, testing for bacteria, and pasteurize the donated breastmilk. …
Nursing Bras: Are You Comfortable?
Nursing bras that fit!!! I am so excited because I just received my first order from Cake. These are nursing bras in sizes that are hard to find! I have made it part of my mission to have nursing bras that fit almost any mother that walks through our door. Why am I so passionate about this? Let me tell you about how this came to be. My story (FYI TMI, don't read if you are interested!): When I …
All Things Breastfeeding 48: D-MER
D-MER? What is D-MER? This is a condition that every family should be aware of, not because it is going to happen to you. It is actually quite rare. But because when it does happen to a breastfeeding family the mother can feel like she is going crazy. So please listen to this podcast so you can help other families! D-MER stands for Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex. Let us explain. When a mother …
Nipple Shield Survey: For Parents, For Professionals
Nipple Shields The history of using nipple shields goes back in modern history for quite a long time. The debate about if they should be used, how they should be used, and why they should be used has caused many disagreements in our field. The research on nipple shields is limited. The purpose of these surveys is to get a sense of how and why nipple shields are actually be used by families and …
All Things Breastfeeding 47: Breastfeeding and Medications
Breastfeeding and Medications Breastfeeding and medications can cause a lot of confusion! Many mothers are told they cannot breastfeed while taking certain medications but this is often not true. We will discuss how medications can possibly get into breastmilk, a process called diffusion, FYI, and what families can do if they have questions or concerns about medication usage. Most …
Important Update! Changes to the IBCLC Credential
My dear colleagues Liz Brooks has a great summary of the new changes to the IBCLC credentialing process . I agree with Liz that most of these are a move in the right direction! I wanted to let people know about these changes and how they relate to my 90 hour course, the CCLS certificate. Proposed changes: The first change is to have specific required education credits for communication skills. …
All Things Breastfeeding 46: Busting Breast Feeding Myths
Barbara and Jessica are busting breast feeding myths! What have you been told about breastfeeding? So many things! People have all kinds of thoughts and opinions. Breast feeding myths come from many places. Family and friends have many old wives tales or assume that what happened to they must be going to happen to you, no matter how weird. Sadly, our health care providers can also harbor …
Quality in a Lactation Course?
Quality in a lactation course? What does that mean? First of all we have to look at what is the purpose of education in the first place. Then ask how can an instructor structure the educational content to make the time spent on it as valuable as possible. What is the purpose of education? Why do we bother with learning? In general, the purpose is to help facilitate positive behavior change. If …
All Things Breastfeeding 45: Top 5 Breast Feeding Concerns
What are the top 5 breast feeding concerns? Well, we have been busy bees figuring this out and helping to provide information to families! I have spent a lot of time and resources on marketing this past year trying to address the needs of my clients. This means a new website! I have created new sections on the website that address specific topics that many families have concerns about. The top …