Boob Scoop: It's not necessary for you to pump at the exact times your baby is feeding at daycare. However, it is recommended that you stimulate and drain your breasts the same number of times as your baby feeds. Pumping both breasts at the same time increases pumping output and decreases pumping time. On average, women double pump for about 10-15 minutes per pumping session. If you find that you can get most of your output before that time-frame, that's fine too!
Boob Scoop: Some mothers may notice their expressed milk will have a “soapy” appearance and a taste/smell that becomes sour-smelling rather quickly after being stored. This results from an excess of the enzyme lipase in their milk and only affects a small percentage of mothers. Lipase is responsible for breaking down the fat in breastmilk. If there is an excess of Lipase, then the fat gets broken down too quickly after being expressed, and results in the soapy appearance and sour smell described above. The milk is not harmful and most babies are not bothered by the mild change. However, the longer the milk sits in room temperature, the more apparent the taste/smell becomes to the baby, which of course, may result in more aversion. For more information, check out this helpful link: http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/milkstorage/lipase-expressedmilk.
Boob Scoop: 'Tis the season for colds. However, you don't need to stop breastfeeding when sick. It's especially important to continue nursing since your body creates and passes antibodies into your milk in order to fight the infection you or your baby are experiencing. Oftentimes, a breastfed baby will be the only member of the family who doesn't get sick or the one to get a milder version of the bug. Breastfeeding also allows you to get the needed rest to recover since you can feed while in bed. A win-win scenario!
Boob Scoop: Mothers often delay a dental visit because they're concerned that if they receive local anesthesia, the medication will be passed onto their breastmilk. However, most medications used for oral and IV sedation are considered compatible with breastfeeding. Therefore, there is no need to interrupt breastfeeding after receiving novocaine or other local anesthesias, such as bupivacaine and lidocaine. In addition, Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) sedation is also compatible with breastfeeding because it is insoluble in the bloodstream. That is, once administered, it goes from your brain to your lungs, to the room air, immediately after you stop ingesting it.
Boob Scoop: Massaging the breasts and gently shaking them prior to a pumping session can help you increase pumping output since both aid in moving breastmilk towards the front of the breasts. Another effective way to increase output is to use manual expression after your pumping flow stops. Your hands tend to do a better job than the pump at extracting the breastmilk that comes at the end of a pumping session since the hand motion involved during manual expression is more similar to a baby's suck. In the end, all three methods (massaging, gently shaking and hand expressing) promote better milk removal, which in turn leads to increased milk production..
Boob Scoop: After the first few months, you may be surprised that your baby is not nursing as frequently as the early months, which may lead you to question whether something is going on. As babies grow and become more efficient with nursing they don't need to be at the breast as often. Feeding frequency varies from baby to baby and is partly dependent on the mother's breast storage capacity (http://yummymummystore.com/blog/Breast-storage-capacity). But no need to worry - efficiency is usually the driver of your baby's less frequent feeds.
Boob Scoop: As a baby gets older, it's normal for his latch to not be as wide as the early months. The reason for this is that as his mouth grows, he can fit more breast tissue into his mouth without needing to open wide. Older babies can actually look like they're nipple feeding, when in fact they are covering enough of the areola to make breastfeeding comfortable for the mother.
Boob Scoop: The return of your period does not mean the end of breastfeeding. During menstruation, breastmilk does not "go bad" or become less nutritious. Some women do notice a temporary drop in milk supply in the days prior to a period and for a few days into one, due to hormonal fluctuations. However, once menstruation begins and hormone levels return to normal, milk supply will boost back up again. Most babies can compensate well for this temporary drop in supply with more frequent nursing.
Contributed by Carly Snyder, M.D., a specialist in comprehensive reproductive psychiatry and women’s mental health services.
Newborns are natural night Owls. Infants often sleep throughout the day, but wake up like clockwork every three hours to eat all night long. This schedule puts new moms in a predictably difficult position. Add in recuperating from delivery, hormonal changes and the incredible emotional rollercoaster every new mom experiences and you have a recipe for an incredibly exhausted, often overwhelmed and potentially unhappy new mom.
You’re newly pregnant and it’s time to find the right health care provider to take care of you and your gestating baby. Or perhaps this is your second or third pregnancy and you feel it’s time for a new provider. You’ve heard about midwives and want to know more about what they do, and any benefits that you could experience if you hire one. Here’s the scoop on working with a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) or Certified Midwife (CM).
