By ABBY GOODNOUGH from NYT Health http://ift.tt/2sa9awH
via IFTTT
While at a breastfeeding meeting held at a park the other day, I was given a cool recipe by a friend of mine for Chocolate Chip Cookies. It was called ‘Lactation Cookies’ by the Midwives of New Jersey (midwivesofnj.com) The ingredients include flaxseed meal, oats, and brewer’s yeast.
The brewer’s yeast is called saccharomyces cerevisiae and it is widely used for winemaking and baking. It has chromium, potassium, and many B vitamins. Oats (and whole grains) are an important part of a breastfeeding mama’s diet. Oats have iron and are helpful in decreasing cholesterol. One of the interesting facts about herbs that increase mother’s milk supply is they also decrease cholesterol. Therefore, oats and oatmeal are often suggested as a food source to help mother’s milk supply. Lastly, flaxseed meal is ground flaxseeds. Flaxseed is made up of alpha linolenic acid which helps to make DHA in the body. This is beneficial for both mother and baby.
The meeting at the park closed just as a summer rain shower began. It was the perfect time to head home and make some awesome chocolate chip cookies. Enjoy yours!
Ingredients:
Directions:
I’ve decided to write this down because I’ve been hearing a few new mums recently say that they are struggling or were struggling in the beginning and I found it beneficial to read other people’s stories.
When I first had my baby, my milk took a very long time to come in. I know that a lot of midwives will tell you, just keep feeding it will come in sooner or later, but this wasn’t quite the case for me and I needed some assistance to bring in my supply. I think this was largely due to the way in which Maddison came into the world (that is a whole different story) and the stress that I felt after her birth and on the labour ward.
I was very motivated to breastfeed. I had anticipated that it wouldn’t be as easy as pop the baby on and ‘Bob’s your uncle’ but I also hadn’t anticipated what a struggle it would be. I was discharged from hospital Tuesday morning after having her Sunday night via emergency C section. Maddison however was kept another day in special care as she was receiving some antibiotics. Luckily the special care nursery allowed me to stay an extra day in there with her. However the first 48 hours after her birth I really struggled with the feeding and I found it very painful. I did have midwives to show me how to get her to latch correctly, however I felt a lack of support getting to her to feed and I wasn’t sleeping because I was worried that she would need me as she wasn’t in my room. I produced a very small amount of colostrum the first couple of days, however by the Wednesday when we both went home my colostrum had dried up. Again, I think this was mainly due to stress, and the stress kept building as I was so upset that I wasn’t able to feed my baby. There was talk of supplementing her with formula while in hospital but I wasn’t keen on this idea as I thought that my breastmilk supply would never come in if I started with formula so early. This is not an ‘anti-formula’ post, I believe everyone has to do what is right for them and their baby. However, I was so keen to breastfeed my baby, and was getting more and more stressed that she wasn’t eating or getting enough fluid.
I had midwives come out to see us at home and basically tell me that if I did not give her formula she would end up back in hospital. So I watched while they fed my newborn baby and I stood by feeling helpless. The first 2 weeks for us where really just a blur, I still regret not being able to enjoy her during those early days but I was so upset and feeling like I was failing her, I was struggling to sleep and she was struggling to feed.
I had midwives teach me feeding positions, lactation consultants in the breastfeeding clinic watch us feed and tell me not to worry about it and that I needed to just get over the stress of her birth. I also made the mistake of taking a bottle of boiled water and had already added the formula before we went in to the clinic (I didn’t know at that stage that you were meant to keep them separate before feeding) and had the lactation consultant tell me off, which again resulted in tears.
I spoke to one of my good friends who is a paediatric dietitian and she recommended going to see my GP and getting some domperidone. I started on this 3x per day and hired a hospital grade pump and begun a very strict 2 hourly, round the clock pumping regime (this left me very little time to eat or sleep, let alone bond with my baby). Luckily I had the help and support of my Mother-in-law to help me feed Maddison around the clock.
This continued until day 10…. when my milk finally came in!!!! I started to produce colostrum again after a couple of days on the strict regime but actual milk started to flow on day 10. I was so happy, I can’t even begin to tell you. That’s not to say my milk came in and it was a smooth breastfeeding journey ever since. I did get her back onto purely breastmilk but I still really struggled with the latching. All the professionals said the first 6 weeks are the hardest…. I found the first 12 weeks for me were difficult and then it got a bit easier. It really wasn’t until the 4 month mark that I would say it was easy and felt natural. But I am happy to say we are now 10 months on and still breastfeeding! Maddison loves her solids and often prefers to feed herself rather than breastfeed but she still has about 3 good milk feeds in a day.
For some people breastfeeding really is a tough journey and if you are one of those people and you want to breastfeed your baby but you’re not sure if you are physically able to, please go to see a lactation consultant or trusted GP first. There are people that can help you to feed if you want to persist with it. Though if you choose to formula feed and that is best for your mental health, that’s really important too. I just wanted to tell my story so that if there’s someone out there struggling with it, I hope this provides a little bit of support.
Please note that taking care of yourself; eating well, drinking fluids and sleeping is soooo important too! I wasn’t doing this adequately in the early days and it definitely hindered my milk supply.
Since my struggle with breastfeeding I have come across the most amazing lactation cookies – Milk and Cookies by Jewels, which come in a variety of different flavours. Full of breastmilk boosting goodies such as oats, brewers yeast and flaxseeds. You can get these at her webpage or a great supplier: http://ift.tt/2tj8Tvg;
This episode of Qiara TV news discusses research findings relating to caesarian section births and the incidence of subsequent infant hospitalisations and breastfeeding problems following C-section. The study analysed data from 626,700 births in NSW between 2001 and 2008. It found that women who gave birth by caesarean were 70 percent more likely to be diagnosed with a complication affecting breastfeeding.
Babies of the women with breastfeeding problems were then 30 percent more likely to be hospitalised with gastrointestinal problems. Website: http://ift.tt/2tduyEM
With over 100 trillion bacterial microorganisms living in the human gut, it is absolutely necessary to have a proper balance of gut flora for an immune system to grow strong. Gut bacteria balance may be one of the most overlooked health systems in the human body today. Dr. Forno noted the massive overprescription of antibiotics, which destroy good gut flora. He believes Medical science could eliminate many modern days, heavy-metal laden vaccinations if more people understood that a strong immune system begins in the gut. Join Qiara on Facebook: http://ift.tt/2tdLsDl Visit: http://www.qiara.com.au
Here’s a video explaining the process:
Exhibit: Domperidone’s effects. Reblogged from Eventual Mama.
As someone who suffers from numerous breast feeding issues, I didn’t think Domperidone would work for me. We finally figured out what was going on with my body, and why despite my best efforts I could not increase my milk supply. My problem is three-fold: I suffer from mammary hypoplasia (also known as IGT), have a slow refill rate and low prolactin levels. Each problem in itself is easily rectified…..the three together is somewhat more of a challenge.
Mammary hypoplasia, IGT, occurs when a woman does not develop proper glandular tissue during adolescence. While breasts can be either small or large, the most common characteristics are narrow widely spaced breasts, swollen/puffy areolas, asymmetrical breasts where one is much larger than the other, and milk that either never comes in or comes in after 3-5 days after delivery. Women with hypoplasia will never be able to exclusively breast feed (or at least…
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NOTE: This post will be discussing breastfeeding and will occasionally mention body parts that are used for breastfeeding. If this makes you uncomfortable, please do not read any further. :)
It has been a WHILE since my last post. After giving birth, I barely had enough energy to even look at a computer. Now that my baby is three months old, I think I have gotten used to sleeplessness in general. That means I can now get back to documenting my motherhood journey!
The first thing I would like to talk about is breastfeeding. This has actually been my primary topic of research for the last few weeks. I am a full time mom now and have been breastfeeding my baby since she was born. I did not have any problems with my milk supply so all I had to worry about was whether or not my food will affect my baby.
Everything was fine and dandy until earlier this week. We had to move to a new apartment due to our former landlord wanting to renovate her entire property. As expected, it was exhausting to haul all our stuff on our own. It took us three days to get everything settled. I am mentioning this because I suspect the stress from moving is the culprit when my milk supply suddenly dropped.
I used to be able to pump three to four ounces every time my baby feeds. After the move, I could barely pump an ounce. This isn’t really much of a problem since I only stash milk for emergency purposes (emergencies being trips to the salon). Regardless, I wanted my supply back so I looked up lactation aids to see which ones are effective.
There is so much information out there regarding lactation that it was hard to figure out which ones actually work. That gave me an idea to experiment with my supply for a bit. There are several options for moms who want to increase their milk supply. There are powders, pills, cookies, brownies, drinks, and so on. For my experiment, I decided to just focus on lactation aids that I can drink. Why, you ask? Well… pills and powders aren’t any fun to try and I can’t bake. Lactation cookies and brownies can be bought but they are expensive! So lactation drinks it is. :)
To start off my experiment, I tried a drink that is so common I was surprised it had anything to do with lactation. A lot of moms on Facebook swear that Milo (a chocolate malt drink) helps increase milk supply. The malt in it is the supposed secret ingredient. I drank about two mugs of Milo per day. Weird enough, it seems to work a bit. From less than an ounce, my pumping sessions now yielded 2.5 ounces. My breasts feel slightly heavier too. It’s not mind-blowing but it’s something, right?
Since my experiment was a bit informal, I can’t really say for sure if it worked or my supply just returned because I have recovered from the stress of moving to a new apartment. That is why for my next post, I will be continuing my experiments. I have a few other drinks to try including Quaker Oats drink, Gatorade (was surprised by this one), Vita Coco (coconut water drink), and Moringga tea.
I’ll look into some other common lactation aids and see if I can add to my list. :)
P.S. If you’re wondering about the red warning up top, that’s because some of my friends have been grossed out when I talk about these things. I figured other people might be so it’s best to warn ahead of time. :)