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.
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.
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.
Breast milk storage guidelines can be incredibly complicated to decipher. With each pump company and breastfeeding website having its own storage and handling recommendations, how's a mother to know which one to follow? Plus, throw in whether the baby is full-term, pre-term, healthy, or in the NICU, and we have quite a confusing situation.
After delving into our lactation consultant guidelines for human milk storage, I think I have the definitive list for you….at least for this year!
Written by Anna Choi, BS, IBCLC
Welcome back to our blog series, Breastfeeding the Older Baby – What to Expect and How to Adjust. Last month we took a closer look at what breastfeeding might look like for a 6-9 month old, and tackled some of the most common questions and concerns we hear from parents with little ones in that age range. We hope you found the information helpful and relevant and are happy to have you join us again!
When I hear this saying, I immediately envision sleeping deeply, soundly, and for 10 hours straight. Whoever came up with that saying clearly didn’t have children! All of the babies I know definitely do not sleep soundly for an extended period of time until at least toddlerhood… and even then sleep can be disrupted by teething, colds, and just regular night waking. With current infant sleep recommendations stating that babies should learn to sleep on their own, all night, by 6 months, I have to wonder how much of this information is hearsay and old-wives’ tales and how much is evidence-based (using good research models).
So, let’s break this down using the most current research.
In honor of World Breastfeeding Week 2015, we are sharing inspirational stories from breastfeeding/working moms.
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As a new mother, the fear of going back to work haunted me as my maternity leave days grew smaller and smaller. Although I am one of the most fortunate mothers in the world who got to bring their child to work, I still feared that somehow it would not work out. I worried that my company would decide my bundle of joy was not so joyous, or I would completely collapse under the pressure of feeding a 3 month old in my office. I personally struggled with postpartum. I had irrational fears about what it would be like at work, felt completely helpless on multiple occasions, and had a very hard time letting my son out of my sight even to run to the bathroom (when my husband was home). As those small fears subsided, coincidentally my bigger fear of breastfeeding in my new work environment grew. For the summer, my office would be shared with my boss as I am her assistant and during the school year I would have my own office (which happens to be all glass). I work for the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Dieguito and while “Bring your child to work,” has always been a motto for our club, the fear of breastfeeding with 70-150 kids on the other side of my door was very apparent. I envisioned curling up on a toilet wiping everything down with cleaners or hiding in dark closets on the floor while I lulled my 3 month old to sleep while comfort nursing. While I was promised a, “Safe,” environment to nurse I had no idea what to expect. The struggle of postpartum and the struggle of a new environment breastfeeding made me so nervous. I had never nursed in public, let alone nursed in front of my co-workers and peers. Personally I was too scared and too naive to understand the support I would have at my job.
In honor of World Breastfeeding Week 2015, we are sharing inspirational stories from breastfeeding/working moms.
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When I found out I was pregnant as I was about to start a surgical fellow, which can mean a seven day, sixty (sometimes eighty) hour work week with erratic long nights of call, I thought a lot about what it would be like to do the work while pregnant and how to manage maternity leave (six weeks, worked the day I delivered). What I didn't think about was how I would establish a breastfeeding relationship during those first few short weeks and how I would manage to keep breastfeeding when I went back.
In honor of World Breastfeeding Week 2015, we are sharing inspirational stories from breastfeeding/working -- moms.
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I’m an active duty Navy officer and mother of two girls. My journey to becoming a working, breastfeeding mother started almost 4 years ago with the birth of my first daughter. Breastfeeding was challenging in more ways than I could have imagined. I thought that it would just be easy and natural, not knowing that those two little words can mean so many different things.
In honor of World Breastfeeding Week 2015, we are sharing inspirational stories from breastfeeding/working moms.
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When I had to go back to work I knew I wanted to keep providing my son with the very best I could offer and one of them was his dear breastmilk. I was very confused with the whole pumping at work idea. I had done some research at work before delivering as to where the lactation room was and what the process was to reserve the room. I work at a hospital and I thought that just by going to the L&D department everyone would know where our lactation room was and it was going to be very easy to find. Well to my surprise, no one knew exactly what I was referring to, all the nurses looked at me with puzzled faces and confused as to why an 8 month pregnant employee was asking about this room and they didn't even know where it was! When I finally found it, it was a rather disappointing, sad room that looked like a utility closet, but at least it was clean and it had the necessities: a chair, a desk and a fridge.
In honor of World Breastfeeding Week 2015, we are sharing inspirational stories from breastfeeding/working moms.
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Prior to May 27th, 2014, the word baby meant something very different to me: my baby was my business. At the young age of 17, I entered the world of cosmetology. Knowing I wanted to strive and create greatness in my industry, I focused on building. In 13 year's time, I had nurtured my baby and created a small empire. One of the leading educators for the world's largest professional beauty company, I frequently traveled to teach my craft. In the heart of North Park, I opened my very own salon. My baby was thriving and I was the proud mother, spending further countless hours tending to make it what it is today. Then, May 27th, 2014 happened, changing everything I knew about babies.
The test was positive. To my shock, my work "baby" was going to be replaced with a real-life, micro-human! My pregnancy was something my husband and I had been hoping for and we were thrilled!
In honor of World Breastfeeding Week 2015, we are sharing inspirational stories from breastfeeding/working moms.
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I had a long, stressful delivery that resulted in an emergency c-section, a tongue tie revision on day 2, followed by 48 hours in NICU. I was given a nipple shield, instructed to supplement with formula through an SNS and sent on my way. Breastfeeding was painful and difficult even with the shield, I went to many support group meetings and did weighed feeds and was able to stop supplementing. We were also dealing with a "colicky" baby until about week 8 . Then at week 10, I was able to get off the nipple shield with the help of an LC at Mary Birch. I was supposed to go back to work after 12 weeks but I was so exhausted and we were finally starting to turn a corner where we could actually enjoy our time with baby, I thankfully was able to extend my maternity leave to 16 weeks.
This prelude is to say that with all the struggles we went through in the beginning, I was very anxious about going back to work, whether I would make enough milk, whether he would get nipple confusion or a bottle preference. I worked so hard and suffered through so much literal blood, sweat, and tears to make breastfeeding work I started to really resent the fact that I had to go to work and interrupt our breastfeeding relationship.
In honor of World Breastfeeding Week 2015, we are sharing inspirational stories from breastfeeding/working moms.
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Being a freelance contractor has its benefits to a work-at-home mom, that’s for sure. Flexible schedule, control over your workflow, and a certain sense of freedom comes with working for your own business instead of someone else’s. However, when it comes to maternity leave, freelancers don’t have the advantage of six weeks of paid leave that some employers offer. I returned to work two weeks after the birth of my daughter, who is now 18 months old, and started working only ten days after my son was born in June. To complicate matters, I was determined to breastfeed my babies.
We had this terrific question posted on our Facebook page:
“Dear Robin,
I leave tomorrow for a four day work trip and I can't take my baby with me. She has 6 feedings a day (one of those at night) so I'll be doing a good amount of pumping while I'm gone. Do you have any tips, specifically for pumping at airports and/or on planes? I'll be on a red eye there and a direct flight on the way back.”
Absolutely! Just because you have to travel for work doesn’t mean that you can’t protect your milk supply while you are gone.
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