Breastfeeding is the best for baby as well as for mommy. Yet, there are women out there for whom breastfeeding just wouldn’t work no matter how much they tried. Most often these women are confronted with frustration not to mention guilty feelings. “Where did I go wrong?” is the question always asked.

Researchers have now found the reason why many women cannot produce breast milk in ample amount and the message is clear – it’s not your fault, mom. It’s something in the environment. And you are not alone, either. There are between 3 to 6 million other moms like you in the US who are facing a similar problem.

The reason why breastfeeding doesn’t sometimes work may be due to dioxins.

So what do we know about dioxins?

• It is produced when waste, especially plastics, is incinerated.
• It is present in large amount in the environment.
• It is can enter the food chain and get into our food – e.g. fish, meat, and dairy products.
• It accumulates in our fatty tissues.
• Prolonged exposure may affect the immune system and developing organs.

So how is dioxin linked to breastfeeding and breast milk production?

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center has found that dioxins can

• Affect breast tissue development during pregnancy. It can, for example, interfere with the proliferation of breast cells a well as six days into the pregnancy – even before mom knows she is pregnant.
• Change the induction of milk-producing genes, which usually happens on the 9^th day of pregnancy
• Decrease the number of ductal branches and mature lobules in the mammary tissue.

Unfortunately, the researchers cannot give information on how to protect ourselves. However, there is an indication that watching what we eat during pregnancy might help reduce dioxin’s adverse effect on breast development. Timing is also of importance. It seems that when the harmful exposure occurs early in the pregnancy, the mammary gland still gets to recover. Later exposure might cause irreversible damage.

It is not clear what the effects of dioxin are on newborns but it can’t be any good. Who knows? Maybe it is for the best that breasfeeding moms don’t get exposed to dioxins that might get into the breast milk.

According to a government report conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, around 3 out of every 4 women breastfeed their children. This is an all time high according to researchers who track this sort of thing. Some reasons for the increase include public awareness, changing perceptions about breastfeeding, and educational campaigns geared toward encouraging people to breastfeed.

I always have mixed feelings about studies like this, simply because I know of women who have tried to nurse their children, and have for a variety of reasons, not been successful. So, that ?one? woman may have wanted to nurse, but may not have been able to nurse, for a variety of reasons. I remember very vividly how saddened my one friend became when she realized that her child would have to be bottle fed. Adding to the sadness was the opposition she faced from family and friends when she had to bottle feed.

I had just the opposite with my family when I decided to nurse my oldest child 15 years ago. They were very opposed to nursing and they were very vocal about those feelings. I remember spending many family gatherings in the back bedroom nursing my children just to get some peace and quiet. However, my persistence paid off and many of my younger cousins decided to breast feed their children. It was with pride that I noticed they were able to nurse without being confined to the back bedroom during family gatherings.

I?ve also noticed a positive change since my breastfeeding days 15 years ago. At that time, if your child needed to nurse, you pretty much had to go to the restroom and find a stall where you could feed your infant if you were out in public. Now, it?s common to find rooms in public places for nursing mothers. When my husband and I took our children to a local amusement park, I noticed that there were rooms at the first aid stations where mothers could nurse. There were bathrooms that had a stall specially designed for nursing mothers! Yes, I was back to nursing in a bathroom stall, but at least I wasn?t forced to sit on a toilet seat to do so.

I still think we have a long way to go at least in the United States as far as this issue goes. There are still mothers who are asked to leave malls for nursing, even discreetly, in public. There are still women who face opposition from their families for making the decision to nurse their children. There are also women who face opposition if they are unable to nurse, but must bottle feed their children.

Whatever you decide, I encourage you to do what is best for you and your baby. That may mean breast feeding your child. It may mean using formula in a bottle. It may be a combination of breast and bottle feeding. It?s important to ignore the negative comments and do what you need to do!

What have your experiences been with feeding issues? Have you faced opposition when you decided to breast or bottle feed your infant?

While breastfeeding might be a natural way to feed your newborn child, it isn?t always the easiest. A variety of problems can arise when learning to breastfeed, low milk supply being among the most common. Returning to work, exhaustion, and simply not eating enough or drinking enough fluids can be cause for a reduction in breast milk supply. Fortunately, there are some things you can do about it; try one or more of these five common home remedies to boost your milk supply.

1. Pump or breastfeed more frequently. If you are exclusively breastfeeding your baby, try using a breast pump and pumping for five to ten minutes after each nursing session. You can also try adding a pumping session or two to your routine during the day to boost your supply, such as first thing in the morning or while your baby sleeps or naps. Use a hospital-grade pump if you can ? especially if you are exclusively pumping; it?ll help to more efficiently remove your milk.

2. Drink plenty of fluids. Keep track of how much water you?re drinking during the day; is it enough? Try drinking a glass of water every time your baby nurses to ensure that you?re drinking enough.

3. Rest and relax. While it can be difficult to get much rest with a newborn, make an effort to take care of yourself, rest when you can, and get enough sleep. Try taking a nap during the day or just resting on the sofa with your little one.

4. Eat oatmeal. Many new moms have said that adding oatmeal to their diets increased their milk supply. Steel-cut oatmeal is the most effective (available at most health stores). Have a bowl or oatmeal for breakfast, or snack on oatmeal-granola during the day.

5. Take away the pacifier. It may help to take away the pacifier if your baby uses one; his or her need to suck will ensures that enough time is spent at the breast in order for baby to be fed and your supply to be sufficient.

Many moms also rely on herbal remedies, such as fenugreek, to increase their supply. While it can be a short-term breastmilk booster, you should always consult with your doctor before taking any herbal remedies.

Close your eyes and picture your typical breastfeeding counselor. Female, kindly, at least 30 years old, with a kid or two of her own and has her own breastfeeding stories to tell.

So what would you do and think if your counselor turns out to be Henry Hale, 25 years old – and male?

Henry is the first man ever to be a certified breast-feeding peer counselor at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center. Men and women couldn’t believe it at first and thought he is doing what he is doing for some ulterior motive – to have access to breasts all day. But it’s more than that for Henry. He believes in what he is advocating – that breast milk is the best nutrition for the baby – as inspired by his daughter. The girl, aptly named Miracle, was delivered at 24 weeks weighing just 1 pound, 3 ounces. Yet, she survived and thrived on her mother’s breast milk which her mom pumped for several months. She is now three and happy to have a baby sister.

The fact is, both Henry and the girls’ mom Scott both decided to qualify as breastfeeding peer counselors after their experience with Miracle. However, it was Henry who attracted attention and was dubbed by the Chicago Tribune as “pitchman for breast milk”.

As a breastfeeding counselor, Henry does not necessarily have to work with women. Instead, he is aiming to work with fathers and show them how to support their wives/partners in breastfeeding and pumping.

In a previous post, the importance of a lactation consultant was discussed. I don’t know whether it is the same as a breastfeeding counsellor. It doesn’t matter. I believe we need more men like Henry. To be honest, I won’t be too comfortable having a man show me the proper way to breastfeed. However, I would have loved to have Henry around to give my husband some tips during my breast pumping stint more than 5 years ago!

It was the most gorgeous day yesterday, one of those early fall days where everyone wants to be outside in the sunshine as much as possible because winter is only a few weeks away. I took my son to the local playground, and ran into another mom I know, her sister, and their children.

One of the moms had to run to the car, leaving her baby with her sister. The baby started to wail that his mom was leaving, and the first mom jokingly suggested she nursed him to calm him down until his mom got back.

You know when you are joking, but there’s actually a little truth in what you say?

Nursing another woman’s child is unthinkable for many of us. And there’s even legislation against it: In the state of Oklahoma it’s actually illegal to nurse another woman’s baby without a special state issued license.

But before infant formula existed, it was common for a woman to nurse a baby that wasn’t her own. It’s an everyday event in countries where formula is unavailable or too expensive for most families. What else could you do for babies who’s moms died in childbirth, or where their mother was sick, couldn’t or just didn’t want to look after the baby? The easiest solution is to find another nursing mom.

Often upper-class women hired women to look after their babies, including nursing them, as they considered breastfeeding beneath them, or because of social pressure on them to not breastfeed.

But today, in the western world, where infant formula is safe and widely available, nursing another baby has become unthinkable. Health reasons are a large part of this, as we know that diseases like AIDS and Hepatitis can be transmitted through breast milk. And there’s the modern trend of thinking of body functions are private, so therefore breastfeeding should be discrete and between a mom and her baby.

But formula is not perfect, and very early premature babies often can’t digest even the most sophisticated formula. In a situation with a premature baby, and a mom who can’t breastfeed – common in early preemies, born before the mother has started to produce milk – donated breast milk is used to feed the baby. Several hospitals operate breast milk banks for lactating moms to pump and donate breast milk. The milk is screened for pathogens, pasteurized, and used to feed premature babies. It’s saved many premature babies lives.

There have been situations where a breastfeeding mom has been in an accident, in a coma, or needing medication that stopped her breastfeeding, and her baby was fed by other nursing moms until she recovered.

And in the spirit of upper-class ladies who considered it beneath them to nurse their own babies, Hollywood moms can hire wet nurses to feed their babies. Celebrity staffing agencies offer lactating nannies to nurse celebrity babies. Perhaps because silicone-enhanced breasts often can’t produce milk, or breastfeeding is so time consuming if you have to jet-set around the world, make movies and party?

But what about when a breastfeeding mom feeds another mom’s baby in a non-lifesaving situation? Is that unacceptable, or are we all just too squeemish about breastfeeding in 2008?

It’s a popular belief that alcohol consumption actually helps in milk production. I’ve never tried this myself during my breastfeeding – er- rather breast milk pumping months but some mothers swear to this technique. The question is – is there scientific evidence to support this belief? And perhaps, an even more important question is how alcohol affects the mother and baby.

Surprisingly, the answers to these questions are not simple “yes” or “no”. Lactation is a highly complex process, according to Philadelphia researchers in a paper published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

The authors have observed that drinking alcohol can affect the hormonal status of a breastfeeding woman and disrupt milk production – at least in the short term.

The researchers studied 13 lactating women and measured the effect of alcohol on milk quantity and prolactin responses. Prolactin is the hormone that is produced by the pituitary gland to stimulate milk production.

Results of the study showed that milk production is significantly lower in mothers drinking alcohol. However, there seems to be no effect on prolactin response. The effect of alcohol on milk yield seems to depend on the time elapsed between alcohol consumption and breast pumping.

In some culture, alcohol consumption is part of postnatal rituals. In China, for example, women are fed chicken soup with rice wine as part of the “postpartum ‘doing-the-month’ ritual.” During this period, Chinese researchers also observed disruption in the mothers’ milk production. However, they claim that the hazard posed by alcohol to breaastfed babies is very minimal. To get rid of all potential health risks, they recommend a 3-hour time lapse between alcohol consumption and breastfeeding.

It is evident that more studies are needed before the interactions between alcohol consumption and lactation can be truly understood.

What about you? What’s your policy about drinking and breastfeeding?

Experts try their best to protect us from iron-deficiency anemia, a condition that can result in poor development in babies and pregnancy complications in women. Iron is an element that the body needs to synthesize haemoglobin, the “oxygen carrier” in red blood cells.

While breast milk can provide a baby its iron requirements during the first 6 months, other types of milk – unless fortified – can’t. A typical US infant formula is fortified with 12 mg/mL of iron. The amount in other countries, such as those in Europe is usually lower.

A policy statement by a Committee on Nutrition of the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1999 strongly endorses this level of formula fortification because of the lower than unexpected rates in breastfeeding.

A recent study by researchers at the University of Michigan suggests that too much iron can actually be harmful for babies. The researchers conducted a study in Chile which compared IQ scores of 494 non-anemic children based on the amount of iron in their milk formula as babies. Results of follow-up after 10 years show that some of the children who received highly-iron-fortified formula had lower IQ scores, as well as lower scores in visual-motor integration and spatial memory. The measurements will be repeated again in six years’ time.

In the meantime, experts see no reason to change the current recommendations for iron fortification of baby formulas based on these results. Since its initiation in the 1970s in the US, the incidence of iron-deficiency anemia in babies dropped significantly. Further studies are needed to confirm these results.

The moral of this study is that you won’t have to worry whether your baby is getting too little or too much iron if you fully breastfeed during the 6 months.

Codeine is a common active ingredient in many painkillers – including those prescribed to women right after a C-section.

However, a recent study by researchers at the University of Western Ontario indicates that codeine may actually present a danger to breastfed infants. This is contrary to what the American Academy of Pediatrics says – that codeine is compatible with breastfeeding.

Codeine itself is harmless. However, it is transformed by the body into morphine, which is the actual substance that eases the pain. The researchers discovered that some individuals have a genetic predisposition that makes their body metabolize codeine faster than normal. In lactating women, this can cause a build up of morphine in the breast milk, thus putting babies at risk of morphine overdose. This predisposition is very rare but it definitely exists and should therefore be taken into consideration when prescribing painkillers to breastfeeding women. With the increasing rates of C-section, more and more women and their babies will be put at risk.

Several cases of babies who have suffered from morphine overdose via breast milk have been reported in Canada and at least one case proved fatal. Morphine overdose leads to central nervous system depression in babies.

This month, California Milk Processors filed a lawsuit against a mom who decorated shirts with “Got Breastmilk?”, a take on the national “Got Milk” campaign.

Mountntop Designs & Baby Bugs Clothing, run by Barbara Holmes out of her home in Alaska sells adorable tie-dye and batik baby clothes. I especially like her “Don’t Moose With Me” shirts. But a “Got Breast Milk?” shirt is what caught the attention of the California Milk Processor Board, the entity behind the “Got Milk” campaign.

The board filed a lawsuit claiming that Homles’ shirts would confuse consumers. They demanded that Holmes cease selling the shirts, and to ship the board all the t-shirts, onesies and equipment used to make them, as well as an accounting of any profits, “to avoid resorting to litigation.”

Barbara hired her own lawyer and sent a letter back to the board, defending herself as a pro-nursing advocate, and that her right to parody the “Got Milk?” slogan is protected under the free speech provisions of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

She says “They say I’m going to confuse milk consumers. How can you get confused between a boob and a bottle of milk from the store? They’re two different kind of jugs.”

Well, quite, although I might not put it exactly like that in court. Hopefully it will never go that far. The board has written letters to other mommy businesses making similar shirts, including a mom in Oregon, who never heard back from the board after the first letter.

“Got Milk” parodies are very popular, there’s over 4,000 “Got Milk” inspired shirts, hats and baby clothes at CafePress, including ones that concern me more than the breast milk shirts. How about “Got Kalashnikov” and “Got Crack” – which you can buy printed on a bib. Why anyone would want one of those confuses me much more than the difference between cow milk and breast milk.

Could I suggest that the California Milk Processing board’s lawyers, who of course have the right to protect their trademark, refocus their attention to the more disturbing uses of their slogan?

When my first baby was born I was wildly protective of her, and because of this protective nature I had I always sampled whatever she ate before she ate it for the first time. This means that I’ve sampled the whole gamut of things that might go into a baby’s mouth:

• Baby Food
• Infant’s Tylenol
• Infant Vitamins
• Breastmilk

Yes, I drank my own breastmilk. I had to try it once just to see what it tasted like, and then once I tried it to see if it was true that what you eat actually changes the taste. I didn’t notice any difference, but then again my palate is a little more used up than my daughter’s was as a newborn.

I’ll never forget the worst baby food I ever sampled. I was vacationing with my daughter in California and spied a jar of macaroni and cheese for babies. I was really excited because it wasn’t something I could find back home. I loved exposing my daughter to new flavors, but since she was still on jarred food (and I’m not crafty enough to make baby food from scratch) our options were limited.

I took one taste of that macaroni and cheese and was immediately assaulted with a horrible taste in my mouth. It was disgusting. On the other hand, I believe in letting my girl decide for herself, so I gave her a small spoonful and braced myself for the projectile spitting that would undoubtedly come back at me.

You probably can guess what happened next: She loved it. She couldn’t get enough. She reached for the spoon and kicked her little feet, and I fed her the whole jar…all the while cringing that she was consuming such vile stuff.

I guess it just goes to show that we can try to protect our babies from things, but once in a while they know what’s best.

A recent study by American and Argentinian researchers claim that the protective properties of breast milk against respiratory infections works better for baby girls than for baby boys.

The researchers studied 119 babies born with very low birth weights. These babies have a higher risk to develop severe respiratory infections than babies born with normal weight. The study compared the incidence of severe acute lung disease between male and female infants and between breastfed and formula-fed infants.

The results show that breastfeeding significantly decreased the risk of acute lung disease in baby girls but not in baby boys. Formula-fed baby girls showed the highest risk profile, with an 8-times higher risk for respiratory disease.

As such, breastfeeding did not decrease the rate of infections, but rather the severity of the disease and rate of hospitalization.

It has always been previously thought that the transfer of natural immunity from mother to child through breast milk is universal and not dependent on gender. This study shows that there is a gender disparity when it comes to breast milk protection.

Other lessons learned from the study are:

• Breast milk does not prevent babies from catching the disease but helps babies to fight the infection successfully.
• Baby girls who are formula-fed have the highest risk to get lung infection.

Despite the gender differences revealed in this study, breast milk is still the best food for babies, regardless of gender. And regardless of what they say about vitamin D deficiency.

Sources:

PEDIATRICS Vol. 121 No. 6 June 2008, pp. e1510-e1516

HealthDay News, 2 June 2008

A recent study gives the following disturbing statistics:

• 40% of American babies and toddlers don’t get enough vitamin D
• 12% of infants and young children are already deficient in vitamin D,
• 28% are at risk for vitamin D deficiency

Those especially at risk are breastfed babies. This is due to the fact that while baby formula is fortified with vitamin D, breastmilk seems to be deficient in this essential vitamin.

Vitamin D deficiency can lead to rickets and soft skulls in newborn babies. It is also linked to multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s disease.

According to the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that breastfed infants (exclusively and partially) should be given vitamin D supplement of 400 IU/day until they are weaned or shifted fully to vitamin D-fortified formula or whole milk.

In a previous post, Tamsen Butler recalls her experience with infant vitamin prescription for her breastfed baby. I can fully understand her feelings. We are fully convinced that breast milk is the best food for our babies and having to give them supplements goes against the grain.

In Europe, giving vitamin D or any vitamin supplement for that matter to infants is not a common practice. Breast milk is usually deemed to provide all the nutrients that a baby needs in the first months. I mixed-fed my twins for 4 months with pumped breast milk and formula. They needed a special formula for premiees because they were born premature with low birth weights. However, they never got any vitamin supplements at any time nor did our paediatrician ever mention it. At 12 months, like most German children of their age, they were drinking the normal milk we buy in the supermarket with 1.5% fat content but unfortified with vitamin D.

Older children in the US are also at risk for vitamin D deficiency. This is because vitamin D in the food we eat is very limited. Instead, our main source of vitamin is sun exposure. Supplementation is also recommended for older children and adolescents who don’t get the recommended daily intake of vitamin D in their daily diet.

While most milk products in the US are vitamin D-fortified, this is not true in Germany and Switzerland and many other European countries. Some foodstuffs though like breakfast cereals and fruit drinks may be fortified. However, our main source of vitamin D in Europe is still sun exposure. In winter time in Zurich where it can be pretty foggy, train signs would tell the passengers which mountain they should go to get some sun.

In recent years, there is more pressure for supplementation, even in Europe. Vitamin D deficiency is especially prevalent in northern European countries in spring and winter. Finland started fortification of some food products in 2005. In 2007, the Irish Food safety Authority (FSAI) recommended a nationwide supplementation in infants under 12 months old. In recent years, vitamin D deficiency has become a global problem. Lifestyle changes all over the world led people to spend less and less time outdoors, thereby less exposure to the sun. Even Singaporeans who live right smack on the equator are having health problems from lack of sunlight.

However, the practice of routine vitamin supplementation is still a subject for controversy. Many health experts recommend that exposure to midday sun without sunscreen is the best way to get vitamin D. Dermatology experts maintain that diet and supplements, and not sunshine should be the main source of vitamin D. This is to counter the risk for skin cancer. The American Heart Association does not recommend taking vitamin supplements in general.

Stem cell research used to be one of the most controversial fields in science because of the practice of using human embryos as source of stem cells. Since then, stem cells have been found in different organs of the body from the umbilical cord, from the bone marrow, even from the skin. Lately, stem cells were also found in the most unexpected places.

Stem cells in menstrual blood

For us women, it`s a monthly inconvenience we have to put up with. For scientists, it`s an exciting new development in the field of stem cells research. I`m referring to menstrual blood stromal cells (MenSCs) which are shed during our monthly period. These cells exhibit a great capacity of self-renewal and multipotency.

Stem cells in breast milk

We already know that breast milk is best for babies. Its nutritional qualities can never be matched by any infant formula since it also provides antibodies that give babies automatic immunity to diseases that their mothers are immune to. What we don’t know, however, is that breast milk may also be a key to treating illnesses like diabetes, spinal injuries and Parkinson’s disease. The latest research lead by Dr Cregan, a molecular biologist at The University of Western Australia, discovered that breast milk contains ‘nestin’ which physically resembles stem cells. This ‘nestin’ from breast milk has a potential of developing into special cells that may form into many types of human tissues.

Stem cells are unspecialized cells normally from embryos that can develop into cells with special functions. Many scientists believe that stem cells can be used to repair damage cells and can be used for treating cancer, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease and even paralysis. If nestin and MenSCs indeed behave like stem cells, then, we women are the veritable gold mines of ‘unlimited, noncontroversial, easily collectable, and inexpensive‘ stem cells for medical research. The controversy on the ethics of harvesting of cells from embryos would then be a thing of the past.

Sources:

Eureka Alert, 23 April 2008

Science Alert, 10 February 2008

Remember the post about carcinogens in your household? They are in your everyday kitchen equipment like non-stick cookware, in food packaging and in personal care products and they persist for a long time when released into the environment.

These perfluorinated compounds or PFCs seem to be more widespread than previously thought. They have been found in water supplies and animal life. Now they have also been detected in the blood of newborn babies as well as in mother`s milk. The milk samples were collected from 45 breastfeeding mothers in 2004 as part of a study that looks into environmental causes of breast cancer.

Though these findings may seem shocking at first, the amount of PFCs detected in breast milk is actually quite small and does not reach the minimum concentration that can be harmful to the baby as set by the U.K. Food Standards Agency Committee on Toxicology. In the end, the benefits of breast milk to the baby more than outweigh this minimal exposure to PFCs.

Source:

Science Daily 1 May 2008

Another good reason why breast milk is good for your baby- A recent study in mice shows that breastfeeding does indeed protect babies from airborne allergens that can cause asthma and allergic airway diseases.

Two sets of breastfeeding mice were tested. One set was exposed to the airborne allergen ovalbumin and another set wasn`t. Babies of exposed breastfeeding mice fared much better than babies of unexposed mice when ?challenged? with the same allergen.

Thus, it seems airborne allergens can be transferred from mother to newborn through breast feeding. This exposure through the breast milk can induce antigen-specific tolerance in the babies that protects them from developing airway allergies such as asthma. The transforming growth factor (TGF) which is found in breast milk seems to play an important role in this tolerance induction.

Source:

Nature Reviews Immunology 8, 168 (March 2008) | doi:10.1038/nri2277

Just last Monday, I published a post regarding my diminishing breast milk supply. In my quest to recover from the Over-worrying syndrome, I took my own advice. I advised others to “Call a lactation specialist, talk to other moms you trust, call your pediatrician“.

Here is the advice I got:

Other moms: Take some fenugreek. It worked for me. Also add another pumping session at work.

My lactation specialist’s advice: Keep breastfeeding more. And no, fenugreek will not really increase your supply. Don’t bother with it.

Mina’s pediatrician: You may want to try fenugreek although it may or may not increase your supply. But you must let her eat in demand and your supply should be just fine.

Well, as you can see, I got confusing reports on the effectiveness of the herb that’s been touted by some as a breast milk supply enhancer. That’s the thing with advice, you have to weed through the statements being said to you to find out what exactly will work.

I decided that since there seems to be no consensus on the herb fenugreek, I would nix taking it. However, I heard loud and clear that I need to pump more frequently (as I already nurse on demand), so it was up to me to look at my schedule and see when in my busy day I would fit in the extra pumping. I guess that’s another thing with advice, sometimes advice is hard to implement.

I’m a full-time worker, and I already pump on breaks, and need the lunch as a break from both work and pumping. When I get home, its go go go, in between eating dinner while catching up with my husband, taking care of dishes, nursing, playing a bit with my daughter before I put her to bed and wash her bottles, and get myself ready for the next day. I crash soon after all that is done.

But when your first duty is to be the best mother you can be, you must follow through with your plan of action. So, right before bed, I say hello to my pump again, and let it do its thing while I nod off a little. My husband usually shakes me awake about 15 minutes later, urging me to join him in our bedroom.

So far I haven’t had to supplement. In my mommy world, that is a real feat.

I had a bit of a crisis this past week and weekend. Of course, it was more a case of the Mom Over-Worrying syndrome. The new worry is whether my breast milk is enough to nourish my baby.

I have noticed several things: She’s nursing more often without appearing satisfied even with the introductions of solids. She’s been sucking her 4 0z. breast milk bottle dry at daycare where before she would leave anywhere from 1 to 1.5 oz.

What I did: I upped her her bottle contents to 4.5 oz just to see what she’d do. Again, they were sucked dry. I added, reluctantly, a bottle of formula right before bed and she ate that up, PLUS nursed as well.

My feelings: defeated, not good enough.

Then I took time to evaluate the situation and I realized:

I am enough for her. Now whether that means I have to pump more and nurse more, she is a thriving, growing, beautiful baby girl. She’s perfectly healthy and bright. She’s having enough wet and dirty diapers as well. All indicative of a fine baby.

Supplementing formula while I build my stored supply doesn’t mean I’m a failure. It means I’ve got a plan on how to go back to exclusively breast milk feeding her. It also means I’m flexible enough to adapt when a situation calls for it.

We moms sure know how to over-worry ourselves. But the important thing to remember is to deal with the situation with a clear head, and not get bogged down with feeling of guilt and recrimination. Call a lactation specialist, talk to other moms you trust, call your pediatrician. Get on a course of action to resolution.

I’m not gonna let this new challenge discourage me from breastfeeding. Mina and I will come through this.