Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Happy Halloween!

My boys loved this orange liquid! Enter to win this Ghoulish vacation! Visit http://trumoo.com/goosebumps/

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Exclusive Pumping: What You Should Know

 When working with clients in pregnancy and in talking to friends, pumping comes up a lot. Sometimes I speak to  mothers who wants to exclusively pump. While I commend any mother for choosing to give her infant the most optimal nutrition possible, there are some important things to consider about exclusively pumping.

  • Pumping is a lot of work
 I know women who have pumped out of necessity for medical reasons, and most will tell you they would prefer not to. You have to pump, feed your infant, clean the pump parts and bottles and then repeat the process in a few hours. It is nonstop.
  • You run the risk of losing your supply.
 Babies naturally regulate their mothers supply to fit their needs perfectly. In a healthy breastfeeding mother and baby, babies are more efficient at establishing and maintaining this communication then even the best breast pump available. For this reason, maintaining a good supply long term while exclusively pumping is very challenging. Many mothers report a decrease in as little as three months if they are not given proper support to maintain it.
  • Pumping is more expensive. 
 While it is is still cheaper then formula feeding, you increase your feeding costs when you factor in the cost you may incur for a pump, for storage bags or containers to hold the expressed breast milk safely, and other associated costs.
  • Pumping takes time away from bonding with your baby.
 Women who need or choose to pump spend about 15 minutes every 2 to three hours pumping, they do this in addition to preparing and cleaning. This takes time away you could be spending with your precious baby. Breastfeeding at the breast is a  bonding experience especially in the early weeks. The closeness helps you learn your baby's personality.





If you feel strongly about pumping exclusively it is important to really identify your reasons, maybe the problems you have about breastfeeding at the breast can be solved with some support and counseling. In any case if you need to pump, even a little bit, it is important to discuss these with a qualified breastfeeding support person or lactation consultant. 

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Capturing A Moment: Are Nursing Photos A New Trend? Maybe Not As New Of A Trend As You Think.


Photo Credit: Katherine Hunt, Studio 412 Imagery

Recently my friend, pictured above, had these gorgeous breastfeeding photos taken at a local breastfeeding support  fundraiser. I would have loved to have had the wonderful moments and loving feelings associated with my breastfeeding experience captured in photo, but unfortunately it just wasn't that common. I asked around for some photographers who would do a breastfeeding photo shoot for me, and the only response I got was puzzled looks. In the last few years however, an increasing number of women are seeking to immortalize their experiences of becoming new mothers in pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding with  photography. Some think it is a little odd or dismiss it at a new fad that will pass. In doing some research recently, I learned something surprising, breastfeeding photos are far from new. Check out some of these amazing photos from our past.

This one is my favorite...



Thursday, May 30, 2013

Starting Southeast MMS

I am super excited to have this opportunity to provide my community with much needed services and supplies as they relate to breastfeeding.

It can be so challenging in much of our area to access the kind of care needed to continue breastfeeding problem free. Until now it was hard for my clients to find rental breast pumps when they needed them or purchase pumps that work efficiently enough for them to pump what they needed to. It was hard to find lactation consultants or other support persons to answer questions and make house calls.

In starting this practice I really set out to solve all of those common problems. I look forward to working with the moms and health care providers in this area and will continue to post tips and tricks on this blog.

Keep in touch and stay updated on what awesome things we are doing!