All About Breastfeeding Podcast: Breastfeeding|mothering|parenting|pregnancy|postpartum|birth|expert Advice

All infants in need deserve to have human milk.  Our most smallest and sickest of babies need to have donor milk to help them get the best start in life.  Donor milk will help dramatically reduce the risk of succumbing to necrotizing enterocolitis  (NEC), which is a really bad infection that causes their gut to slough off and die.  Premies are more susceptible to this then full term babies. The reason donor milk is often needed for these babies is because their moms have not gone through the full 40 weeks gestation. This time period allows their mammary glands to prepare for milk production.  Between the early birth and the stress associated with it, some moms just don't have milk available for their baby - just yet.  Read More

Come along with me for this ride on the colostrum train and you are going to see exactly why we get so excited about this life giving substance that is all part of human milk that newborns receive. By the time we are done here today, you are going to be as equally excited about colostrum and its benefits to newborns.  You will understand why physicians are doing whatever they possible can to ensure that all newborns received colostrum, and in particular our most vulnerable sick and/or premature newborns have colostrum.

A few things have happened since I began doing some research for this seasons Tour of the world of breastfeeding.  I wanted to be able to take my listeners on a tour, if you will of breastfeeding around the globe from ancient to current times.  I knew that  I would be covering times when babies were wet nursed and cross nursed.  I knew that  I would be covering times when babies were removed from their biological mothers arms and given to other woman to nourish them.  I knew that there were times in history when wet nurses were just your average citizen, some were paid very well and others average to even low wages.  I knew there were historical times and places where they moved from their home to live in nice homes of their employer and times when they were so revered they were treated like royalty. 

Julie Bouchet-Horwitz is a nurse practitioner and international board-certified lactation consultant (IBCLC). She is the founder and Executive Director of The New York Milk Bank and has a private practice specializing in breastfeeding in Irvington, NY.  She formed a team of 5 women who over 3 years developed the New York Milk Bank which officially opened its doors two weeks ago in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York . The New York Milk Bank will provide safely pasteurized donor human milk to premature and sick babies in hospitals and in the community throughout New York State and beyond. Reas More

Most mothers whose hormones are in the proper balance and who have normal breast development during puberty and pregnancy, will make plenty of milk for their baby.  Despite all their best efforts, there will be some mothers who will struggle with supply. I find that most mothers I work with, who struggle with supply, well they actually have one or more potential risk factors for low supply, however, they were just not made aware of it.  There are some very real factors that can put you at risk for not making enough milk and some you can know ahead of time and others take you by surprise.

In last week's show, we took our breastfeeding tour through England and Germany and discovered similarities and differences in the culture regarding wet nursing. We have  learned that wet nursing, which is a woman who breastfeeds another's child, was a common practice all over the world, before the introduction of the bottle and formula.  From 2000 BC all the way to the 20th century, wet nursing evolved from an alternative of need to an alternative of choice.  We have learned that wet nursing became so popular, which actually caused some problems, so much so that it moved to become a well organized profession with contracts and laws designed to regulate its practice. Wet nurses were hired by agencies and where they practiced and what they were paid was regulated by the agencies.    Read More

Her passions are business, health and motherhood. Being a mom has opened her heart and soul in countless ways. She started her breastfeeding experience two years ago and continues to nurse her toddler today with no intentions of stopping anytime soon. Read more

This week a member of ours expressed some fears associated with her upcoming scheduled c/sec.  There are times when members rally around moms and take the time out of your busy mothering lives to respond to these posts and for this I am so grateful and appreciative. You share words of support, encouragement, offer assistance and information.  Sharing is caring and I love how much you are caring for each other. 

Pregnancy is considered to be the period of the most extensive and rapid growth of the mammary gland.  Changes occur the fastest during the later states of pregnancy, which coincides with the most rapid period of fetal growth.  Read more

Next country on our breastfeeding tour is England.  Records show that the pattern of wealthy married women hiring wet nurses in France, was quite the same in England also.  Historians came to this conclusion based on the stark difference in birth rates between English upper and working class women.  The wealthy women gave birth every year and the working class women had longer intervals with births about every 3 years.  While not 100% accurate, women who were wet nurses experienced a suppression in ovulation, which made wet nursing a relatively reliable contraceptive.  I find this so interesting as the wealthier women, who should have enjoyed a healthier life were not so healthy largely because of the number of pregnancies and births they had which were commonly between 12 - 18 by the time they were less than 40 years old.  These high number of pregnancies was very hard on their bodies. They spent a better part of their married life pregnant, while the lower class women who were busy nursing babies and having

Her writing and commentary have appeared in publications including The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, American Baby and The Huffington Post, where she wrote two long-running columns for the Green section. A leading expert on environmental issues, she has been featured by MSNBC, WGN and NPR, as well as numerous online outlets and blogs. Read More 

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Lisa is also the founder of FertilityFriday.com and the Fertility Friday Podcast - a weekly radio show that she created to connect women with a deeper understanding of how fertility and overall health are connected and intertwined with menstrual cycle health. Each week she conducts in depth interviews with professionals who specialize in helping women to restore their fertility naturally.   Read More

An International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) is a health care professional who specializes in the clinical management of breastfeeding.    read more

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My guest today does not know this, however, I met her many years ago, in a friends home on Long Island, NY.  The Birth Partner was a fairly new book and my childbirth educator friends and I were just learning about what it means to be a labor support person and were learning about this new profession called a Birth Doula.  We were a small group of less than 10 moms and we were suppose to meet for about 2 hours and we wound up talking until the wee hours of the morning.  She really left us with a good impression and I have followed her career ever since.   Read more

I am repeating Episode #43 as we lead into Season 2 that starts next week on Monday, October 10th, 2016   There is so much misinformation given about the early days of breastfeeding that I was motivated to do a show that I titled:  Normal newborn breastfeeding behavior.  Moms are being given very specific advice about the early days of breastfeeding.    Read More