Amanda Cole

It's such an honor to be the only retailer in NYC to carry Bravado Designs Limited Edition Essential Nursing Tank designed by celebrity designer Rebecca Minkoff. 20% of all sales will be donated to Jessica Seinfeld's charity Baby Buggy, dedicated to providing families in need across the US.

Breastfeeding moms in the US have much to celebrate during this year’s World Breastfeeding week. Women pregnant when the US Department of Labor passed last year’s “Break Time for Nursing Mother’s” provision can now take full advantage of the law which requires employers to provide both a reasonable break time and place for employees to pump or otherwise express breast milk. In addition, a 2011 ruling by the IRS enables breastfeeding families to use pretax money from their flexible spending accounts to purchase pumps and other breastfeeding supplies.

Furthermore, good news has been released regarding the benefits of breastfeeding for both mom and baby. Results from a study by the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Medicine show that breastfeeding may lower a mother’s risk of Type 2 Diabetes. And in a review of 288 studies on breastfeeding and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) data, researchers conclude in July’s issue of Pediatrics that breastfeeding protects against SIDS.

For today’s moms, unlike past generations, breastfeeding is widely encouraged by both physicians and the media alike. Celebrities are frequently heard boasting about the many reasons they love nursing (weight loss! bonding! ease of use!) and some even pose for photos with baby at breast. Indeed breastfeeding is very much in vogue. And with Michelle Obama incorporating it into her campaign to reduce childhood obesity, it has seldom been as topical.

Breastfeeding is such a positive experience for most of the nursing moms at Yummy Mummy, the breastfeeding store I own and run, that many of my moms are unable to fight back tears when they think about their inevitable return to work and the prospect of pumping for their baby rather than breastfeeding. Pumping at works enables mothers to breastfeed for as long they wish even though they are separated from their baby. And many of my moms pump and breastfeed or exclusively pump very successfully. But pumping at work requires dedication. It also takes time and coordination that some working mothers feel is hard to find.

It is no secret that maternity leave durations in the US are much shorter than others around the world. In the US, the average mother is permitted just six weeks of time off and, because most often the time off is unpaid, many moms can’t afford to take any leave at all. Compare this to the subsidized 4 years both moms and dads can enjoy in the Czech Republic and the 16 months both parents are entitled to in Sweden.

In a new study by Pediatrics, researchers found that less than 65% of women who took shorter maternity leaves (one to six weeks) tried breastfeeding while close to 75% of women with longer maternity leaves (around 13 weeks) attempted to breastfeed. Countries with longer maternity leave practices, like Sweden, enjoy some of the highest breastfeeding rates in the world with initiation rates in Sweden close to 100%. Unfortunately, many mothers in the US are giving up before even trying.

The Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) breastfeeding objectives published in its Healthy People 2020 include increasing the percentage of mothers who breastfeed at six months and mothers who breastfeed exclusively at six months as well as reducing formula supplementation at birth and enhancing lactation support within hospitals and the workplace.

As important as the CDC’s guidelines are, for improved breastfeeding participation, especially among working moms, it will be difficult for the US to meet these goals without a new and enlightened maternity leave policy. Quite simply, the US’ six-week maternity leave is no formula for increasing breastfeeding norms to 6 months.

By Jessica Grose

Underneath Yummy Mummy’s cheerful purple awning on Lexington Avenue between 81st and 82nd Streets, a mannequin wearing a Boob brand striped nursing top has one breast peeking out. The cheeky tableau announces the shop’s mission as clearly as the slogan stenciled on the door: “Happy breastfeeding.”

Equal parts upscale boutique and Duane Reade, the bright, well-organized space offers new and expectant mothers practical nursing necessities and a little necessary pampering for their breasts. And with products like Nummies brand nursing bras, goat’s rue herbal supplements (to increase breast milk production) and Earth Mama nipple butter, it can be hard to tell which is which.

The store’s pumps, mostly made by Medela, camouflage their medical-equipment origins in smooth molded plastic and rubber-duckie yellow. A “pump in style” rig — if a backpack counts as stylish on the Upper East Side — runs the new mother $299; the “freestyle,” which clips onto her belt like an engorged BlackBerry, costs $379. Hospital-grade pumps are available for rental, as well.

On a recent early Thursday afternoon, a woman sat on a plush couch in the back to nurse her infant daughter while early Michael Jackson played in the background. She had just bought some nipple shields — small pieces of silicone that can make breast-feeding easier for infants. The store’s owner, Amanda Cole, lent her a hot-pink patterned pillow to strap around her waist to support the baby. Soon, her daughter was happily sucking away, and the woman was chatting with Ms. Cole about how her older son was adjusting to the new addition to the family.

In the Manhattan work-life ballet, doing what comes naturally can get pretty complicated. So when Ms. Cole, 36, opened the store in 2009, the idea was to offer nursing mothers both products and instruction: breast-feeding classes, prenatal yoga and events like “doula speed dating,” in which expectant parents can meet and choose a labor coach.

“When I first had to use my breast pump,” Ms. Cole recalled, “I called my sister, who luckily lived across the street, and I was like, ‘Get over here, I have no idea what to do, this apparatus is so scary.’ ”

The shop serves local professionals and stay-at-home moms and receives a steady stream of business from women visiting obstetricians affiliated with Lenox Hill Hospital nearby. On this Thursday, one woman arrived with her husband and baby in tow. The man stood uncomfortably amid the maternal miscellany while the woman tried on a series of nursing-friendly nightgowns in blue and black.

“They always feel like they’re the first dad that’s ever come in here,” Ms. Cole observed.

By 6 p.m., most of the shoppers had drifted out, and the women attending the evening’s prenatal breast-feeding class started to trickle in. Wendy Schwartz, who lives on the Upper West Side, was expecting her second child in two weeks and had come for a refresher. “We didn’t think we’d have another,” she said. “So we threw everything out and forgot everything.”

The class’s teacher, Kate Sharp, has been a lactation consultant for 24 years, and she projected a tidy and confident air. She wore very sensible shoes.

She put in a DVD, and the screen displayed a newborn scooting toward her mother’s breast without any help. Ms. Sharp turned off the sound (“goofy childbirth music,” she sniffed), but told the class to watch how the baby instinctively made her way to the food source.

Ms. Sharp had a baby doll dressed in a red onesie that she used to show the class proper positioning. She leaned back against her chair with the doll propped against her chest to show how easily a baby could be supported.

“Just do this,” she said, offering advice as old as motherhood itself, “and you’ll feel like a magician.”

See the article on the New York Times website…

If you've ever had a milk blister on your nipple, you most likely remember how painful one can be. Like a paper cut, it makes you wonder how something so small could hurt so much! Improper latching and an oversupply are the most common causes of milk blisters. Here's a helpful overview on what they are and ways to treat them: http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mother/nipplebleb/

Breast storage capacity refers to how much breastmilk a mother can hold in her breasts in between feedings. Storage capacity is not determined by breast size, although breast size can certainly limit the amount of milk that can be stored. A mother with a larger milk storage capacity may be able to go longer between feedings, without impacting milk supply and her baby’s growth. A mother with a smaller storage capacity, however, may need to nurse her baby more often to satisfy her baby’s appetite and maintain milk supply, since her breasts will become full quicker. In the end, either capacity can allow a mother to produce enough breastmilk for her baby.

Concise and practical information is usually all mothers need to get breastfeeding off to a good start. You'll be happy to have read this excellent piece if you're due soon. http://fullbellysisters.blogspot.com/2011/08/five-things-you-can-do-during-your.html

Sharen Medrano, Yummy Mummy Support Group IBCLC (www.nycbreastfeeding.com)