Battling a cold or flu while chest/breastfeeding can be overwhelming, especially if symptoms or dehydration cause a dip in your milk supply. Fortunately, there are safe remedies to help you recover while maintaining your chest/breastfeeding journey and milk supply.
When it comes to chest/breastfeeding, parents often wonder whether on-demand feeding or scheduled feeding is best. Explore the differences and find what works for you.
Wondering what breastfeeding/chestfeeding look like when your baby is 6-9 months? Get tips for nursing an older baby from our team of San Diego lactation consultants.
Is your breastfed baby refusing bottles? Don’t panic! Dive into some reasons a nursing baby rejects the bottle and some tips to remedy bottle-feeding aversion.
Welcome back to our new series, I’ve Had My Baby - Now What? This is a guide with basic information to help you navigate the first days, weeks, and months of breastfeeding your new baby.
Today we’d like to talk about weeks 3 through 6 of your baby’s life, and what breastfeeding looks like. What can you expect for normal behavior from your new baby, and when do you know there’s a problem that you should seek professional help for?
Welcome to our new series, I’ve Had My Baby - Now What? This is a guide with basic information to help you navigate the first days, weeks, and months of breastfeeding your new baby.
Today we’d like to talk about the second week of your baby’s life, and what breastfeeding looks like. What can you expect for normal behavior from your new baby, and when do you know there’s a problem that you should seek professional help for?
To help parents understand a bit more about how tongue and lip ties can affect breastfeeding, over the next few weeks we will be featuring stories from moms whose babies experienced these challenges. We would like to extend a HUGE thank you to the brave mamas who submitted their stories for our blog! We know you went through a ton of challenges and we are so appreciative that you were willing to share your stories! If you have a story you would like to share on our blog, please send it to robinkaplan@sdbfc.com.
For more information about tongue and lip ties and how they can affect breastfeeding, please see our article:Does Your Baby Have a Tongue or Lip Tie?
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Aubrielle was born on August 3rd, 2013 at 36 weeks due to my preeclampsia. She was 5lbs 13 ounces of tiny beautiful joy. I knew from the moment I found out I was pregnant that I wanted to breastfeed (my goal being for a year). I had no idea then, that it would be such a wonderful, beautiful, bonding, humongous part of my life. We were in the hospital for 5 days because of Aubrielle being considered a "late premie" and all of the meds I had to come off of to make sure I didn't have a seizure. Aubrielle was immediately diagnosed with a severe tongue tie by the pediatrician and two lactation specialists. We made an appointment to have her tongue tie snipped at 4 days old with ENT. In the mean time, she was latching, and eating as best as her little mouth could while we supplemented with pumped milk and feeding her through a tube and syringe.
To help parents understand a bit more about how tongue and lip ties can affect breastfeeding, over the next few weeks we will be featuring stories from moms whose babies experienced these challenges. We would like to extend a HUGE thank you to the brave mamas who submitted their stories for our blog! We know you went through a ton of challenges and we are so appreciative that you were willing to share your stories! If you have a story you would like to share on our blog, please send it to robinkaplan@sdbfc.com.
For more information about tongue and lip ties and how they can affect breastfeeding, please see our article:Does Your Baby Have a Tongue or Lip Tie?
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Written by Cinda Brown
Lily and I had a rough start with our breastfeeding relationship from the very beginning. She latched soon after she was born and in that instant I felt sharp pain and noticed there was blood. She had caused damage with her first latch. We stayed at the hospital for about 24 hours, and in that time she had pretty severely damaged both of my nipples. I consulted with friends and professionals who had breastfed before, but didn’t get the kind of guidance I probably should have. No one’s fault, but no one had seen or experienced what I was going through so they gave me what they thought was very well meaning advice. Unfortunately I really needed to see an IBCLC, but I didn’t know that such a person existed.
Today, I'm thrilled to introduce a new guest blogger, Lindsey Hurd, MS, RD, LDN, IBCLC. Lindsey is the owner of Angel Food Lactation & Nutrition, LLC, a business in Wilmington, NC that specializes in perinatal nutrition and lactation services. Over the next several months, Lindsey will be sharing her brilliant knowledge about breastfeeding and nutrition, including multiple articles about breastfeeding children who have food intolerances.
Before Lindsey starts writing her monthly articles, we wanted our readers to have the opportunity to get to know her first. Welcome to our blog, Lindsey! We are so excited to have you share your passion and expertise!
To help parents understand a bit more about how tongue and lip ties can affect breastfeeding, over the next few weeks we will be featuring stories from moms whose babies experienced these challenges. We would like to extend a HUGE thank you to the brave mamas who submitted their stories for our blog! We know you went through a ton of challenges and we are so appreciative that you were willing to share your stories! If you have a story you would like to share on our blog, please send it to robinkaplan@sdbfc.com.
For more information about tongue and lip ties and how they can affect breastfeeding, please see our article: Does Your Baby Have a Tongue or Lip Tie?
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Written by Julie Sanders
My issues with breastfeeding my daughter started pretty much as soon as we left the hospital. I started experiencing a lot of pain in my nipples. Not just while she was nursing, but all the time. I was told it was normal for her to nurse 8-10 times a day, but my daughter was nursing 20+ times a day. Essentially, she was constantly nursing, with maybe a 10-20 minute break between sessions. I found that since any side-lying, cradled position was extremely painful, only the football hold position worked for me. I went to a breastfeeding support group her second week, and I learned that my daughter was chomping my nipples while she nursed, and that’s why they were in constant pain. Nipples are supposed to come out of a baby’s mouth just as round as when they went in, but mine were shaped like a football after a nursing session. No wonder! Someone suggested I try nursing her lying down because she was perhaps trying to stem a strong flow of milk into her mouth, but that didn’t help. On top of it all, I also got a clogged duct, which was painful and scary. I was in such excruciating pain I would cry when my daughter wanted to nurse because I just wanted a break for my poor nipples to heal. I didn’t know why it was so hard or what was wrong. The only thing that got me through this period were gel pads. The moist, cold combination was wonderfully soothing.
Painful, cracked, compressed-after-breastfeeding nipples. Baby not gaining weight well. Constant breastfeeding sessions that seem to take over an hour. Excessive baby fussiness and gas. These are some of the many signs that your child may have a tongue and/or lip tie. So, what is a tongue and lip tie and how do they affect breastfeeding? What are ways to fix them and improve breastfeeding?
With several fantastic articles already written on this subject, we are going to give brief answers to these questions and link to our favorite comprehensive resources. Also, over the next month, we will be sharing stories from breastfeeding mothers whose babies had tongue and/or lip ties.
Duh Nuh Duh Nuh………….Duh Nuh Duh Nuh. (come on, you know you just read that out loud).
You know they’re coming. You’ve heard all the severe warnings from well-intentioned friends and family. You’re scared of what’s to come, but know you’ve gone too far to turn back. Shark-infested waters, you ask? Noooooo - a breastfeeding baby who has grown TEETH!
Somewhere around 6-8 months (sometimes earlier, sometimes later), your baby’s first tooth will erupt. This is most likely an event you will celebrate, both because of the milestone that it is, but also because it may be a temporary break from the cranky, drooly, mouthy baby who replaced your own sweet one a couple of months back. There are lots of symptoms that point to teething, but the most common ones are: red and swollen gums, increased irritability and drooling, sleep disturbances, and low grade fevers. Your baby has most likely learned that chewing or gumming on items helps ease the pain and will try to cram everything within reach into his/her mouth. As that tooth begins to emerge, there may be some small worries creeping in on your excitement about this next stage. What will it be like to breastfeed a baby with teeth? Will my baby bite me? Some moms will find that they do start to feel the baby’s teeth while nursing - baby may scrape teeth across nipple when latching or delatching. And yes, sometimes the baby will bite.
Welcome to our new series, I’ve Had My Baby - Now What? This is a guide with basic information to help you navigate the first days, weeks, and months of breastfeeding your new baby.
Today we would like to talk about that first week after your baby has arrived. Breastfeeding can often seem overwhelming and unfamiliar. New moms often receive a *huge* amount of differing advice from many well-intentioned people, which can be incredibly confusing and discouraging. Below is a quick guideline to what “normal” breastfeeding looks like, as well as some examples of when things aren’t going as they should and when you might want to seek help.
Welcome back to our blog series…. Common Concerns While Breastfeeding. These aren’t the complicated, ‘come-to-my-house-immediately’ phone calls we receive. Rather, these are the questions that come from clients and friends in the middle of the night, by text or by email, that don’t necessarily warrant a lactation consultation. They can often be easily resolved with a few simple tricks. So, we would like to share those tricks with you!
Many moms know the pain associated with a shallow latch during the early days, but have you ever had nipple pain suddenly begin after weeks or months of pain-free breastfeeding? After checking nipples for signs of a poor latch, you notice a white spot on the nipple in question - you pick at it for a few seconds, but it still remains. What is it? What caused it? What can you do to resolve it and get back to pain-free breastfeeding? This is what’s called a “milk blister” or “milk bleb” and is not cause for great concern, but it can be an uncomfortable and unwelcome guest!
