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09/16/2024

Free baby wearing workshop!

08/24/2024

🤱 BREASTFEEDING FACT 🤱
"Cluster feeding is when a baby breastfeeds in short intervals, grouping the feedings by nursing for short periods of time but closer together than other times of the day."

Cluster feedings can happen at any time during breastfeeding but tend to occur more in the first 3 months.

This can be the result of normal growth spurts that occur at around 2-3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months, where the baby is in a time of rapid growth and needing to eat more. Breastfeeding more often will “demand” more from the mother’s breasts and will quickly increase her milk supply to adjust to the baby’s needs.

Cluster feeding also occurs anytime and especially in the evening hours when most babies tend to just be fussier.

This behavior is completely normal when breastfeeding, as long as the baby has wet and p**p diapers, and is continuing to gain weight. Moms should avoid supplementing with bottles at this time as that could decrease their supply.

Typically by the time the baby is 3 months old these fussy times and the cluster feedings that are associated with them start to resolve and the baby will eat at more regular intervals and sleep more regularly.

(📸: Fresh Pine Photography - St. Louis Motherhood Stories )

08/05/2024

Fun fact: one teaspoon of mama's milk contains over 3 million germ killing cells.

One teaspoon of artificial human milk substitute (aka 'formula') has none.

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https://kellymom.com/nutrition/milk/immunefactors/

05/20/2024

Diaper and gift card incentives available for breastfeeding mothers of infants who returned to work anywhere food is prepared and distributed to a customer (fast food, restaurant/bar, coffee shops, grocery stores, catering, bakeries, etc.). If you attempted to express milk for your infant at work, or are currently expressing milk for your infant at work, you are eligible to participate. Contact the email or phone number in the graphic for more information.

05/20/2024

When playing with your newborn or infant, consider what they can see when choosing appropriate visual toys. What is appropriate for them for learning a skill vs occupying time on the floor?

Newborns benefit from visual stimulation from black/white objects such as a book or picture cards. They also enjoy their family member's faces. Consider, if able, laying on the floor facing your baby. You can also prop a book or cards within 8-10 inches from the newborns face.

For the 6-month-old and beyond, having brightly colored toys throughout the environment is good incentive for visual tracking and development of depth perception. These kids are on the move in gross motor play (360 turns, rolling both directions, sitting, possibly early crawling). Encourage these kids to look for and find their favorite toy on various surfaces.

My takeaway for today with vision is to be INTENTIONAL with development and play. Children learn through play. It is their occupation, to learn and grow. By knowing a little more about development, we can be better parents and playmates!

05/03/2024

Did you know that a baby communicates with you they are hungry long before crying to eat? Babies do not eat following a clock or set time. Just like us, we eat when we are hungry! No two days will look the same, even length of feeding can vary! Following your baby’s hunger cues can be helpful. Here is what to look for:

▫️Lip and tongue smacking
▫️Head turning to look for the breast
▫️Opening and closing mouth
▫️Hands and fists moving to mouth
▫️Becoming more alert and active

As mentioned above, 😢 crying is a late feeding cue. We missed the memo! When you go to feed the crying baby, gently rock them to calm down and they will come to an awake moment. The more you know!

05/03/2024

💕 BREASTFEEDING MYTH 💕
"Breastfeeding moms should pump and dump their breast milk for at least 24 hours after surgery and/or general anesthesia."

This is INCORRECT advice given to many moms by well-meaning but misinformed doctors, nurses and health practitioners. Not only is this unnecessary, but it can be a big problem for a mom that is trying to continue breastfeeding her baby.

Most moms that are nursing and not exclusively pumping will not let-down as easily to a breast pump as she will to the baby. This can cause a decrease in milk expression and breast emptying which can lead to engorgement, plugged ducts, mastitis and even a decrease in milk supply.

While some moms may have advanced warning prior to the surgery to pump extra milk, others will not be able to store that much "extra" while also continuing to feed their baby at the breast. Not having enough breast milk stored prior to the surgery would cause her to have to unnecessarily supplement with formula.

While some babies can easily go back and forth between breast and bottle, others will have a harder time. Some babies may reject the bottle all together and some may actually develop a preference for the bottle after so many feedings in a row. This could risk the baby not wanting to latch back to the breast and wean earlier than desired.

Once you are awake and alert enough to hold your baby, you are safe to also nurse your baby! There is normally no reason to pump and dump, or wait for any particular amount of time.

The fact that you are awake means that the general anesthesia has cleared out of your body and system. Not only does this clear quickly out of your milk but whatever may be left will not work the same way if the baby was to ingest it.

Drugs that are given intravenously for sedation do not normally have the same effect when taken orally, which is how the baby would receive it through your breast milk.

**From my Online Breastfeeding Course - Simply Breastfeeding**

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05/01/2024

04/29/2024

Breastfeeding promotes the release of the hormone oxytocin - also known as the "love hormone" 💕 - but oxytocin not only make you feel the feels, it serves an important function in the early postpartum days! Oxytocin causes the uterus to contract & return to its normal size after birth, which in turn reduces the risk of hemorrhage and postpartum infection. 🤱

04/04/2024

Good to know 👇

03/28/2024

Can breastfeeding protect you against a future heart attack?
Breastfeeding is as much about your health as it is about your newborn’s. That surprising truth often goes unsaid.

By Elizabeth Lucal, MD, FACOG March 16, 2024
"Breastfeeding and heart health
Women breastfeed to nourish and bond with their babies. Some breastfeed because they know it decreases their risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer. But when considering the impact of breastfeeding on their own health, more women should be aware that the number one killer of American women is not breast cancer or ovarian cancer, but it is cardiovascular disease.

In most cases, neither the healthcare provider, the news, nor social media inform women that breastfeeding protects them from this health risk as well. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 60 million US women (44%) are living with some form of cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease, or heart disease, is
responsible for the death of 1 in 5 US women. Yet only 56% of US women recognize that heart disease is our number one killer.

So how then can breastfeeding, an activity completed years before women are even thinking about their risks from high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart attacks, reduce this risk? One way to think about this protection is that breastfeeding is not just something women can do for their infants; it is an activity that is actually part of the healing process after childbirth, preparing their bodies for the rest of life.

The activity of breastfeeding causes the body to lower its store of triglycerides and LDL (the body’s “bad” cholesterol)—while simultaneously reducing insulin resistance, increasing HDL (the body’s “good” cholesterol)—and promoting vascular changes that reduce the risk of high blood pressure.

A growing body of scientific evidence shows that all women, regardless of their pre-pregnancy diet, level of exercise, weight or smoking history, etc., receive these benefits from breastfeeding. Moreover, the more we study the benefits of breastfeeding the more we find that periods of breastfeeding as short as 3 months provide some of these benefits. Even partial breastfeeding (breastfeeding while providing children with solid food) has also been shown to provide cardiovascular benefits to mothers.

The protective advantage of breastfeeding exceeds the advantages of diet and exercise after pregnancy in women who don’t breastfeed. While the benefits are strongest in women who breastfeed exclusively for 12 months, the significant cardiovascular benefit to women who breastfeed for shorter amounts of time is extremely important to recognize.

Projective data demonstrate that if the US were able to support women in overcoming the numerous and individual obstacles to breastfeeding and increase the percentage of women who breastfeed from 20% to 90%, the cardiovascular benefits are staggering. Experimental calculations show that if 90% of women breastfeed for one year, we could reduce the number of heart attacks among women by 14,000 per year and reduce the number of women needing to utilize daily blood pressure medication by 54,000 women per year."
https://www.mother.ly/health-wellness/womens-health/breastfeeding-and-heart-health/