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The seemingly endless feeds of your newborn won't last forever

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After the first month of breastfeeding, your baby may begin feeding quicker than she used to, which may lead you to think that she didn't feed enough. However, with an average of about three-hundred feedings in one month, it's likely that she has reached pro status and has just become a very efficient nurser. So if you have a newborn, try to enjoy the days when a feeding can allow for enough time to read through your Facebook newsfeed. These days will pass quicker than you can fathom right now ;)

Growth Spurts

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Right about when a mom feels she has hit her stride with breastfeeding, her baby will experience a growth spurt and instead make her second guess if breastfeeding is going well at all. Growth spurts are described as a time when a baby pops off and on the breast, nurses more often than usual and seems fussier. These spurts tend to to happen around 7-10 days, 2-3 weeks, 4-6 weeks, 3 months, 4 months, 6 months and 9 months. Remembering your baby's age on days when he or she exhibits growth spurt behaviors can greatly help to ease your mind.

When's a Good Time to Pump?

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When looking to increase your supply, pump 30-60 minutes after a feed. This informs your body that another feeding is occuring and therefore communicates to your body that more breastmilk is needed. If your baby decides to feed shortly after you've pumped, remember that your breasts are never fully empty. Although the milk flow may be slower, he will still find milk.

When Dipping into Frozen Milk Stash....

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Storing breastmilk in your freezer for an emergency can put your mind at ease and come in handy on a day when you miss a pumping session at work. However, pulling from the emergency stash on a consistent basis can have an adverse effect on milk supply since it may mean that you are pumping less times and making up for the milk your baby needs by pulling from the emergency stash. Maintaining milk supply is dependent on how many times you drain your breasts in 24 hours. So if your body receives less signals for milk removal it will naturally cut down production so that you don't feel uncomfortable.

The Amazing Quality of Breastmilk and How It Changes to Meet Your Baby's Needs

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Mothers often wonder how they will ever get to pump enough milk to fill up 8oz bottles, especially when returning to work. The reality is that most breastfeeding mothers won't ever pump that amount, so go ahead and sigh in relief. The reason for this is that after the first month, milk volume stays about the same, increasing somewhat during times of growth spurts, but instead changes in composition. The change in composition is the key element. Unique to breastmilk is the fact that it changes according to a baby's age. Remarkable, right? So although your baby is getting about the same in volume, from the end of month 1- 6, your breastmilk is continuously adjusting in composition to meet her growing and developmental needs. This is great news for protecting a baby's size by providing her with the right amount of food, without over stretching her belly. This is in fact, part of the reason why breastfed babies are at a lower risk for obesity throughout their childhood and later on in life.

Free Breast Pumps and the Cost of Health Care (NPR)

Yummy Mummy was featured recently on NPR.

Health insurance plans now have to cover the full cost of breast pumps for nursing mothers. This is the result of a provision in the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), and the new rule took effect for many people at the start of this year.

It's led to a boom in the sale of the pumps, which can cost hundreds of dollars.

Yummy Mummy, a little boutique on New York's Upper East Side, has suddenly become a health care provider/online superstore. The company has been hiring like crazy, and just opened an online call center and a warehouse in Illinois. Yummy Mummy even hired somebody to talk to customers' health insurance companies.

And new moms now seem more likely to splurge on fancy new breast pumps. Caroline Shany, a Yummy Mummy customer, spent her own money to buy a breast pump for her first baby. She may buy another one now because insurance will pick up the tab.

"Why not?" she says.

Weird things happen when you take price out of the equation for consumers. For one thing, they stop looking for the best price. But even though breast pumps are free for new moms, somebody has to pay for them.

"Health insurance premiums are driven by how much we spend on health care," says Harvard health economist Katherine Baicker. "The more things that are covered by health insurance policies, the more premiums have to rise to cover that spending."

Advocates of requiring insurance companies to pay for breast pumps say that the measure will pay for itself in the long run. Babies that are breast fed tend to have fewer health problems, and paying for breast pumps should mean more babies are breast fed.

Whether that happens may depend partly on how the new rules are implemented. Insurers are still trying to figure out whether to pay for extra-fancy breast pumps, or just basic models.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/01/25/170259620/free-breast-pumps-and-the-cost-of-health-care

Freezing and Storing Milk

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Moms returning to work often worry about not having enough milk saved in their freezer. The good news is that the only day you need to plan for, some days in advance, is your first day back at work. Therefore, two weeks before returning, pump one time each day after a morning feeding, when milk supply is the highest, and place your pumped milk in your freezer. On average, breastfeed babies drink one ounce per hour, so caculate the amount you will need for day one based on the number of hours you will be away from your baby. Pumping two weeks in advance is likely to result in enough breastmilk but if you rather have some extra, begin pumping sooner. Finally, once you're back at work, not only will you be pumping for the breastmilk your baby will drink the next day, but pumping will also keep your production steady.

Breastfeeding with a Cold

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'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!