I was called to be a teacher a long time ago. One summer day, I was with my sister Up North in a field near a place we visited every year. I was sharing some information about the wildflowers that I had learned. We were both having a great time. My much younger sister was feeling empowered and important. I was feeling like I was guiding her to a stronger place of knowledge and self-esteem. This …
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Breastfeeding Secrets
At this point in my career I have seen thousands of mothers and babies. Something that has always struck me that mothers share is that they will be somehow "trapped" by breastfeeding their babies. They will be too close to their babies. They will loose themselves. I remember this feeling as a young mother! Mothers talk to me about needing schedules, limiting time at the breast, not wanting to …
The breastfeeding study I want and why it will never be done
I was just looking over a 2013 meta-analysis on the long term benefits of breastfeeding. It was done by the World Health Organization so I know I can trust the results. Two things struck me. One, how few quality studies we have on breastfeeding. The second thing that really hit me was the fact that many of these studies were looking at babies who were formula feed and babies who were breastfeed, …
Increasing Your Breastmilk Supply
I get google alerts for many things each day, all related to breastfeeding of course, and came across an article on how to increase your breastmilk suppley. I almost didn't follow the link because it was on the Fox News site. They were the ones who recently had a story about inappropriate, cruel, and unhealthy ways to make your baby sleep more. But, know your enemy, I always say! I went and was …
Purposeful parent confusion?
There are many things that happen that make me upset. You too? I know! However, what really get my goat is when things are done, in what appears to be in an intentional way, to purposefully confused unsuspecting people (in my case parents) for their own profit and potentially to the unsuspecting person's determent. One example of this is human milk donation. Most people who donate their …
About Time! New Protection for Breastfeeding Mothers!
Breastfeeding mothers have it tough. Breastfeeding laws and protection vary from state to state making it hard for a breastfeeding mother to feel confident with what her rights are to provide her milk for her baby. My colleague, Jake Marcus, JD, has a great site which provides all of this information. However, in a new ruling, breastfeeding while working falls under the Pregnancy Discrimination …
Breastfeeding or carrying weapons in public? You decide!
Warning: If you cannot read this as humor, tongue in cheek, don't read further. I thought the commonality was funny. But if you are already offended, read no more! Of course these groups are worlds apart. The weapons people seem, a little, hmm, overzealous? Breastfeeding in public is not dangerous at all. The most that will happen is perhaps a little squirt of milk in the eye and that is only …
You Can’t Force It!
I just read a story about human mammals and eating which really intrigued me. At first glance, I didn't understand the author's point. I thought, is she another breastfeeding hater? Saying breastfeeding sucks? No! This dietician has gotten the message that no one likes to be forced to do anything! Whether we are a baby, a child, a teen, or an adult, eating the healthiest way possible might …
Big Changes at The Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor!
It has been a very busy winter this year for The Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor. Good thing right? We haven't had much time to think about all of the freezing cold days! As April approaches we are reaching the conclusion of our sixth year in business! I have been launched as a national speaker! I have been hired to speak at a national WIC conference, ICEA, and Lamaze/DONA! Check out my …
Bursting Out of the Closet, into Spring, Breastfeeding in Public
March is the time for new beginnings. Shaking off the blah of winter. Let's come out of our houses and apartments and breastfeed whereever we want, with confidence knowing that we are doing the best thing possible for our babies and our communities. Be bold! We all need some fresh air and a new attitude about breastfeeding in public! I live in a town where breastfeeding in public is pretty well …
Top Five Reasons Mothers Stop Breastfeeding- Don’t Become a Statistic!
1. It hurts! I know people say that pain is normal at the beginning of breastfeeding. I disagree. While it is common for there to be pain in the beginning, it is not normal. It may be sensitive, a bit tender, but not out right pain. If you have pain that is not getting better or getting worse, if you have visible damage, blood, scabbing, blistering, get help! This is not normal. 2. You …
The Secret to Helping Bottle Feed Your Baby
Listen, most mothers go back to work and so most babies need to have a bottle to get through the day while mom is away. Also, once breastfeeding is well established, I find that as long as parents bottle feed in a way that is like breastfeeding there isn't a problem going back and forth between breast and bottle. That is what I am talking about, bottle feeding in a way that helps sustain and …
Formula Helping Breastfeeding?
"Formula Feeding Saved Me as a Breastfeeding Mom" What??? This kind of headline drives me crazy! What the mother is saying, I think, is that by using a bit of formula as a transitional tool, she was able to keep breastfeeding. Do I like the idea of needing to use formula? No. But my first rule in lactation help is to FEED THE BABY. If you don't have enough milk, you use formula in our …
Is Breastfeeding Bad for Our Babies and Ourselves?
There was just a book published, Your Breasts Are Trying to Kill You, by author Florence Williams. It seems as though she is taking a serious, yet humorous look at what our breasts do and don't do for us. I think there is much truth in this book. I haven't read it yet, just the review, but have ordered it and will read it. More to come on that. That is not what I want to talk about. I want …
Are We Breastfeeding Friendly?
We need to be questioning our baby feeding norm in this country. We are a formula feeding culture right now in the US whether we like it or not. This means that more people feed their babies artificial baby milk then breastmilk. We are also a bottle, not breastfeeding culture. Even if we are interested in the negative health consequences of formula feeding, we want our babies to have …
Being A Parent is Hard!
Parenting is hard! I just read an article on parenting research and had to respond. The article is about a study which found that parenting basically sucks and we are lying to ourselves if we say otherwise. This research paper was published in Psychological Science. Research proves parenting is costing us $193,000 and change per child to raise them, and this doesn't take into account the …
Trying to become more Technologically Savvy!
What do I love about technology? Not a whole lot! I have been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century by necessity. My friends make fun of me because I am such techno phobe. However, it spite of this, I have a website, a blog, a face book page, read the daily posts from my listserve (which I love!), host webinars, and can use word and power point with the best of them. Oh, the …
Diabetes Prevention and Breastfeeding
Why are diabetes cost are going through the roof? According to an article in the New York Times, it is costing us $174 billion dollars a year to cover the health costs of people who have developed diabetes in their life time. More and more of our population is developing diabetes. "“Diabetes is the noninfectious epidemic of our time,” said Dr. Ronald Loeppke, vice chairman of U.S. Preventive …
Working and Breastfeeding: What do Mothers Need?
When a breastfeeding mother returns to work she actually doesn’t need very much from her employer to be successful. Really, working and breastfeeding requires at a minimum; time to remove milk from her breasts, a place to do this, and a way to do it. An employer does need to provide the first two necessities, time and space. However, most mothers expect to provide the means, ie, hands or a …
Working and Breastfeeding in the United States
Many mothers in the US return to work when their babies are quite young. If they are breastfeeding and want to continue to exclusively provide breastmilk for their babies, it can make things more complicated. In most industrialized countries there are laws and governmental policies that help mothers of young children. In Canada for instance, mothers receive 15 weeks of paid leave. After that, …
Breastfeeding is Green in Ann Arbor!
From 6-9 this Friday, June 11th, Ann Arbor will be hosting our Green Fair on Main Street. This exciting event celebrates and shares what businesses and organizations are doing to help our environment. I heard about this fair last year. One of my neighbors, John Harding has an electric scooter business and he was going to have a booth at the Green Fair. I thought the idea of a “green fair” was …
Breastfeeding: What does the Research say?
Wow! Who knew that feeding a baby could be so controversial! I want to make sure it is clear that it is my job to help mothers feed their babies in the manner of their choosing. I get calls all the time from families who want to/need to wean, and from formula feeding families who have questions about appropriate feeding for their babies. There is not much support out there, period, and I …
What Formula Feeding is Costing US
Lately, there has been quite a bit of reporting in the news about artificial baby milk (formula) feeding. The costs of our mothers choosing to feed their babies formula is tremendous. According to one recent study, if mothers breastfed their babies for six months we would save staggering amounts of money each year. “The United States incurs $13 billion in excess costs annually and suffers 911 …
What One Doctor Says About Breastfeeding Training in the United States
So, why are mothers and babies having such a hard time with breastfeeding? I just received a link to this blog which I thought was very interesting. In the blog, this doctor admits she really knew nothing about breastfeeding until she took a special course on breastfeeding. Is she unusual? I don’t think so. When I think about all of the things a doctor would need to know about a baby, about …