Chest/Breastfeeding
Robin Kaplan
Breastfeeding the Older Baby - What to Expect ...

Wondering what breastfeeding/chestfeeding look like when your baby is 6-9 months? As our little ones continue to grow physically {begin to roll over, sit up, crawl} and developmentally {sleep longer stretches at night and interact more with the world around them}, we notice the impact of these changes on their feeding patterns.

Breastfeeding the Older Baby - What to Expect at 6-9 months
Bottle Feeding
Robin Kaplan
Help! My baby won’t take a bottle!

So your breastfed baby is refusing bottles.  Isn’t the typical concern that a breastfeeding/chestfeeding baby may prefer bottles over nursing and not the other way around?  While breastfeeding refusal can happen as well, any type of feeding rejection is your baby’s way of communicating that something is feeling challenging.  So let’s dive into some of the reasons why a nursing baby rejects the bottle and some tips to remedy a bottle feeding aversion.  

Help! My baby won’t take a bottle!
Prenatal
Robin Kaplan
Building Your Lactation Team: Empower your ...
Building Your Lactation Team: Empower your Journey with Community and Family Support
Chest/Breastfeeding
Robin Kaplan
I'm Told that my Breastfed Baby Needs to be ...
I'm Told that my Breastfed Baby Needs to be Supplemented.... What Should I Do?
Bottle Feeding
Robin Kaplan
Bottle Feeding the Breastfed Baby FAQs

Did you know that lactation consultants not only help with breastfeeding, but can also help with bottle feeding?  It’s true! We are here to offer guidance with all aspects of feeding (introducing solids, as well!) and know a ton about bottles and how to balance them with breastfeeding.

Bottle Feeding the Breastfed Baby FAQs

Prenatal

Building Your Lactation Team: Empower your Journey with Community and Family Support

It takes a village to raise a family.  

In a perfect world, all parents would feel supported in their infant feeding decisions and practices, but that often is not the case.  Even those with the best intentions can sabotage a lactating parent’s journey with an unsupportive statement or unthoughtful question. 

So, how can you make sure you're getting the support you need from your partner, healthcare providers, and community to help you experience the best lactation journey possible? 

Open Communication with Your Partner

Teamwork: Start by sharing your chest/breastfeeding goals with your partner. Establish yourselves as a united front and make decisions together. This joint effort helps in setting a strong foundation for your chest/breastfeeding journey. Together, inform family members about your goals and ask for support as needed.

Education Together: Consider taking a prenatal chest/breastfeeding class as a couple. This will equip both of you with the knowledge and understanding of the chest/breastfeeding process, making your partner feel more involved and prepared to support you.

Regular Check-ins: Encourage your partner to ask how they can support you, whether it’s through moral support, running errands, or simply being a sounding board. Sometimes, a kind word, a snack, or a gentle back rub can make a world of difference.

Bonding Time:Help your partner build their own unique bond with the baby during exclusive chest/breastfeeding by actively interacting, carrying, cuddling and caring for the baby. Find soothing techniques, like babywearing and infant massage, that they feel confident using with the baby.


Support from Your OBGYN/Midwife

Finding the Right Practitioner: Choose an OBGYN or midwife who is lactation supportive, knowledgeable, and unbiased. This person will be crucial in guiding you both before and after the birth of your baby.

Understanding Your History: Your practitioner should be aware of your medical or personal history that may impact chest/breastfeeding and provide strategies to overcome potential challenges.

Accurate Information: Ensure they are up-to-date with the latest information on medications and chest/breastfeeding to avoid unnecessary interruptions or recommendations to discontinue.

Community Connections: They should also connect you with community-based lactation support to provide continuous care and support, when needed.


Choosing a Supportive Pediatrician

Aligned Values: Select a pediatrician who respects and supports your chest/breastfeeding goals. This alignment will ensure you don’t have to filter through unsupportive advice during your visits.

Informed Recommendations: Your pediatrician should provide you with well-informed current rationales for formula and/or donor milk supplementation and not prescribe infant formula without a proper medical indication or your desire.

Collaborative Care: A pediatrician willing to work with your entire care team ensures a cohesive support system for you and your baby.

Working with a Judgment-Free Lactation Consultant

Your Goals Matter: An unbiased lactation consultant will start each interaction by asking what YOU would like to accomplish in your appointment and what YOUR overall goal is for chest/breastfeeding/providing human milk and tailor their support accordingly.

Continuous Learning: Choose a consultant who is committed to expanding their clinical knowledge to provide you with the best possible recommendations and care.

Coordinated Support: They should be able to connect you with other healthcare providers to offer comprehensive and coordinated infant feeding care when additional support is needed.

Feeling Heard: Most importantly, you should feel seen, heard and supported throughout your chest/breastfeeding journey. Any challenges you experience should be addressed with a clear, achievable plan.


Providing your milk to your child is a beautiful, yet sometimes challenging journey that becomes so much more rewarding and accomplishable with the right people by your side. Embrace open communication with your partner, choose healthcare providers who truly understand and champion your goals, and find a knowledgeable lactation consultant who inspires confidence. By surrounding yourself with a nurturing network, you create an empowering environment for you and your baby to thrive. You deserve all the love, encouragement, and empowerment every step of the way. 

So, What's in your Latch book, Robin?

So, What's in your Latch book, Robin?

Since we announced the release of my new book, Latch: A Handbook to Breastfeeding with Confidence at Every Stage, many of our readers have asked what they can expect to find in the book. 

Well, let me tell you!

 

First we start off with how to prepare for breastfeeding.  Most of us spend months preparing for the birth of our child, but don't give much thought about what happens after our baby is born.  So, this book starts off with the basics of how milk production works, all about latching, as well as how to put together your Dream Team of Support for once your little one is earth side.

Help A Mama Out: Ways Partners Can Bond with Baby Besides the Bottle

Help a Mama Out Topic of the Week: How does your partner bond with your baby besides giving a bottle?

So many partners who take my prenatal breastfeeding class want to know how they can start bonding with their babies besides giving bottles.  Here are a few articles about partner support, as well as YOUR fantastic tips about how your partner and baby bond together.

Why Women Should Attend a Breastfeeding Support Group WHILE Pregnant

Why Women Should Attend a Breastfeeding Support Group WHILE Pregnant

There are few things that I really focus on when a pregnant mama asks what she should know about breastfeeding before her baby is born.  One, it is incredibly beneficial to take a prenatal breastfeeding class to learn about positioning, latching, following baby’s feeding cues, and how to tell if your baby is getting enough.  Most importantly, though, when it is all whittled down to the core, in my mind what helps a mom reach her breastfeeding goal has all to do with support!  When mamas share with me why they stopped breastfeeding, the most prominent theme is lack of support and assistance when breastfeeding challenges became complicated. 

So here’s the deal - breastfeeding is something you learn on the job.  In really supportive jobs, we usually have professional development at the start, as well as throughout our employment to keep us up to date and provide needed support.  Parenting is definitely a full time job, yet we often have to seek out our own unpaid professional development, to have our questions answered and continue the learning process.  This ‘professional development’ can often be challenging to find, as well as not all support is equally beneficial.

What Advice Do You Wish You Had Heard Before You Started Breastfeeding?

This is a question I hear quite often, so I thought I would share my favorite tips, as well as share the amazing comments we received from our Facebook page when we asked our fellow breastfeeding mamas!

My Top 5 Pieces of Advice Every Woman Should Have Before She Breastfeeds:

1. Find a lactation consultant in your area before you have your baby. 

No one should have to google this information at 3:30 in the morning when you feel like your nipples are going to fall off.  Instead, spend a few minutes on the computer, in between your stroller and diaper research, to find an international board certified lactation consultant who seems like a really great person. Check out her Yelp reviews and ask your friends who they would recommend. 

How to Prepare for Breastfeeding Before Your Baby is Born

How to Prepare for Breastfeeding Before Your Baby is Born
Dear SDBFC,
What should a first-time expectant mother who wants to breastfeed expect at the (big, traditional) hospital in the way of breastfeeding support? It would be nice to know what we're allowed to expect/ ask for. Should the hospital lactation consultants be sufficient or should we plan on working with an independent LC right away? Is there anything we can do before birth to help ensure smoother breastfeeding?
Sincerely,
Jenny

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Dear Jenny,

That is an excellent question, and to be honest very difficult to answer.  The type of breastfeeding support you will find at a hospital will vary greatly depending on which part of the United States you live in, whether the hospital is Baby-Friendly, its yearly breastfeeding rates, if they have certified lactation consultants (IBCLCs) on staff, and if their postpartum nurses have had recent breastfeeding training.  One hopes that the hospital lactation consultants will be fabulous, but that may not always be the case.  Also, a new mom typically won’t even see a lactation consultant in the hospital unless she is high-risk for breastfeeding challenges or she asks for one directly.

Partner Support: Can It Make or Break Your Breastfeeding Experience?

When Ben was born almost 7 years ago, I had no idea how much I would rely on my husband to be my pillar of support.  When I was gliding along my roller coaster of postpartum hormones, it was my husband who gave me space, as well as made sure I stayed somewhat sane.  He brought me water while I was nursing, ordered in dinner when we were too tired to cook, and made me laugh when I thought all I could do was cry.  He was also the person who got on the phone to call the lactation consultant when I had no idea why breastfeeding wasn’t going the way I have envisioned it. 

Breastfeeding was important to US and we knew we could make it work.

5 Ways to Get Rid of Postpartum Visitors without Offending Anyone: Advice for the mom-to-be

Birthing classes, breastfeeding classes, baby showers, etc.  Everyone wants to be prepared for the arrival of a new baby, especially when it is your first.  But, there is one IMPORTANT point, one DETRIMENTAL point, which most of your class instructors and friends with kids will neglect to tell you. 

Limit the number of visitors you are willing to see each day!

“Why would I do that?” you may ask.  “Don’t I want to have everyone share in the joy of having a new baby?”  “Won’t my family members get upset if they can’t spend every minute with the new baby?”

Let me describe my postpartum scenario for you.  If it not unlike most of my friends’ experiences after the births of their babies as well….that is, until I shared this advice with them.