LatchSmith

09/23/2025

In light of recent news, we would like to highlight that the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has confirmed that taking paracetamol during pregnancy remains safe and there is no evidence that it causes autism in children.

www.gov.uk/government/news/mhra-confirms-taking-paracetamol-during-pregnancy-remains-safe-and-there-is-no-evidence-it-causes-autism-in-children

You can also take the usual recommended doses of paracetamol if you are breastfeeding. Find more information in our Pain Relief (Analgesics) factsheet:
www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/factsheet/analgesics/

If you need information on taking any medication while breastfeeding, please contact our The Breastfeeding Network Drugs in Breastmilk Service team on Facebook or via email: druginformation@breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk

If you are unsure about taking any medication when you are pregnant or breastfeeding, you can also talk to your GP, health visitor, or midwife.

[ID: MHRA confirms taking paracetamol during pregnancy remains safe and there is no evidence it causes autism in children. You can also take paracetamol at the normal adult dose if you are breastfeeding. Source: Pain Relief (Analgesics) and Breastfeeding Factsheet.]

08/10/2025

Alyse Ogletree of Texas has broken her own Guinness World Record by donating 2,645.58 liters of breast milk, far surpassing the 1,569.79 liters she set in 2014. Her contributions, primarily through the Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas, have provided critical nutrition to more than 350,000 premature and medically fragile infants. With one liter able to feed roughly 11 babies, her donations have had a massive reach.

Ogletree began her mission in 2010 after discovering she was producing more milk than her own child needed. She committed to a strict schedule, pumping every three hours — including throughout the night — for years. Her relentless effort has not only saved countless lives but also earned her global recognition for extraordinary generosity.

06/06/2025

06/06/2025

Does expressing milk at the end of pregnancy contribute to faster milk increase after birth? No, according to this 2025 study of mothers expecting babies with congenital anomalies. Its researchers taught the study mothers hand expression before birth, they practiced it, and it did not speed milk increase—aka coming to volume or secretory activation--after delivery. We know that learning hand expression before birth has other benefits. For example, it can boost confidence and reduce formula supplementation during the hospital stay. But it does not seem to affect how quickly milk production ramps up after delivery. Read more here:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40392630/

05/29/2025

Next Wednesday, I will giving a talk with Q&A after in Fairfield! Fit4mom Fairfield is great opportunity to exercise and find your community. Join us Wednesday!

Oooooo this is a good one! Join us after our Walk and Talk for some really expertise advice on this big milestone! 🚽🫠✨

05/28/2025

Would love to hear if anyone tries this!

02/10/2025

UPDATE!
LOOK!
The CUP FEEDING poster renewed and carrying endorsements! Please share to spread awareness of this safe, accessible, eco-friendly and interaction-promoting option - CUP FEEDING - for instances where a baby cannot directly breastfeed.
The poster, an adaptation of WHO/UNICEF information, is now endorsed by IBFAN, LLLI, SFC & BAA (click image to see bottom strip) – thanks to the excellent efforts of the poster’s originator, Dr Magdalena Whoolery – and I have further reworked the poster visuals! See the comments section for Dr Whoolery’s words on why it’s so important to get this poster’s messages out there in the face of global baby-bottle and breastmilk-substitute industry mass-marketing entrenched since last century.
Translation into many other languages is underway! ENGLISH & SPANISH available now! (thanks to LLLI for organizing the Spanish translation, and more to come soon…)
Both colour versions and black/white versions of the poster are being generated, to cater for different printing-resource situations.
Links to Poster PDFs (for printing), and poster images (for social media shares) are available at https://www.llli.org/cup-feeding/
The poster’s raw text (for on the spot auto-translations now), is here now below. If you have a language you would like this translated into on the poster, and can help, or know someone who can help with that translation, let us know!
CUP FEEDING
A BABY NOT FED AT THE BREAST CAN BE FED WITHOUT A BOTTLE
Cup feeding can be used from birth. It is suitable for both expressed breastmilk and infant formula. You can use any clean, open cup with a smooth surface.
Cup feeding has no notable difference to bottles for average time per feed.
Cups are safer than bottles. Bottle teats and screw tops trap germs that can get into the milk and make babies ill. Cups are easily cleaned with washing in hot soapy water, and do not need sterilising like bottles.
In emergencies, use disposable cups.
Feeding time is bonding time - lots of cuddles, eye-contact, talking, smiling, humming and singing.
CUP FEEDING IS AS EASY AS 1-2-3!
1. Sit baby upright on your lap and support their back and neck. With small babies it can help to wrap them with cloth, to keep their hands from knocking the cup.
2. Hold a small cup of milk to rest the rim lightly on baby’s lower lip. Then tilt the cup, keeping the milk at the rim of the cup, just in reach of baby’s lips. Baby should be alert, and open both their mouth and eyes.
3. Go Slow. DO NOT POUR the milk into baby’s mouth. Always let baby lead the pace of sips, swallows and pauses. Still keep the milk just at the cup’s rim. When baby is full, they will close their mouth and will not take anymore.
Babies will suck or sip the milk, or may use their tongue to lap it up like in this picture on the left.
Cup feeding gives babies freedom to move their tongue in a way that is closer to the ‘suckle’ reflex used for breastfeeding.
Did you know you can re-establish breastfeeding through a process called relactation?
Breastfeeding saves lives, especially in emergencies.
Reach out to a breastfeeding counsellor to learn more.
Adapted from The World Health Organization - Infant Feeding in Emergencies: A Guide for Mothers and UNICEF/WHO 20-hour Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Course by Magdalena Whoolery (PhD Health Studies, BSc Nursing, Dip HE Nursing) and Julie Fogarty (BFA, GradDipTchg), January 2020 (updated April 2020). Poster endorsed by the following: International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN, defending breastfeeding), Safely Fed Canada, Breastfeeding Advocacy Australia, La Leche League International (LLLI).

02/05/2025

This