Help! Baby Won’t Take a Bottle!

A mother writes, “I have to go back to work soon and my 3-month-old baby won’t take a bottle. What can I do? Help!”

Congratulations on exclusively breastfeeding your daughter! It can be challenging to transition back to the workplace, so it’s great that you are being thoughtful about helping your baby learn another way to receive your milk. Let me assure you it is perfectly normal for a 3 month old baby to initially refuse a bottle. It is a foreign object to her. Why should she suck on a silicone nipple? Remember she doesn’t know that it is common for babies to bottle-feed in our culture.

Some professionals maintain that if you give your baby a bottle every day from birth that she will happily take a bottle throughout her baby-hood. This is not necessarily true. Even if she had been given a daily bottle since she was born, she may still refuse at about 3 months. This is the age when babies start taking more control of their world! Continue reading

Breastfeed Twins? Yes!

If you’re expecting twins, you may be wondering…Is it possible to breastfeed twins? Can my body make enough milk for two babies? Can I really nourish my babies without using formula? The answers are yes, yes and yes!

Your Dr., your doula and your childbirth educator may all have told you, “Most women can’t make enough milk for 2 babies.” Don’t believe them! If your body is equipped to breastfeed one baby, it is highly likely that you will have sufficient milk for two.

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Breastfeeding and Work: Jane’s Story

Jane contacted me because she had returned to work and she was worried about her milk production. Her baby, Ernie, was 3 months old and she’d just started working 3 days/week. We set up a phone consultation and she shared the following:

  • Away from her baby 8:30 a.m. To 4:00 p.m.
  • Pumps twice a day at the office for about 25 minutes each time.
  • Tries to pump at home so she can increase her supply as her baby grows.
  • Leaving 4 bottles of milk at the day care each day.
  • Ernie drinks 2-3 bottles at day care.
  • Feels rested and Ernie is thriving.
  • Eating milkmakers cookies for milk production.

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Breastfeeding and Obesity

You probably already know that childhood obesity has become a serious problem in the United States.  But did you know that formula feeding increases the risk that a child will develop obesity later in life? Breastfeeding your baby significantly decreases the chances that he will become overweight as an adult.  The Centers for Disease control and Prevention have reported:  “…for each month of exclusive breastfeeding, up to 9 months, the risk of obesity is decreased by 4%.”  In other words, the longer your baby breastfeeds, the less risk of obesity!

Here is a summary of a few other recent studies:  This information is from the “Meds and More Newsletter, by Hale Publishing, December 2012.

Early artificial feeding may increase childhood obesity risk by 15-25%

The research suggests that direct breastfeeding (as opposed to bottle feeding with breast milk) may help a child better regulate his food intake later in life.

Infant weight gain is influenced not only by the type of milk consumed, but the delivery method (breast vs bottle).

Human milk is low in protein compared to other milks and formula which appears to lead to decreased risk of obesity.

Every mother has her own personal reasons for choosing to breastfeed.  Maybe it’s because she is concerned about allergies. Perhaps she knows that formula feeding increases the risk of ear infections or other illness.   Whatever your reasons for breastfeeding, now you have one more.

So keep breastfeeding!   Every month brings new benefits!

For the complete press release: http://www.ibreastfeeding.com/newsletter/2012/12/issue-breastfeeding-and-obesity

Breastfeeding and Fertility

New mothers are often concerned about getting pregnant again before they are ready. With good reason! To address that concern, health care providers often counsel new mothers to begin a birth control method 6 weeks after the birth of a new baby. But if that mother is breastfeeding, an invasive birth control method may not be necessary.

Breastfeeding has many benefits to mothers—one of which is a delay in the return of fertility. Many mothers enjoy a year or more without periods after the birth of their babies. Breastfeeding as a birth control method is referred to as the lactational ammenorrhea method or LAM. When a mother is using LAM, any artificial method of birth control can be considered a back- up method. LAM is over 98% effective* when ALL of the following conditions are met: Continue reading