My friend told me a story about when she was pregnant and her milk suddenly showed up unexpectedly. She was out to lunch with her husband and mother-in-law when she suddenly realized everyone was staring at her chest.  She looked down and was horrified to see that her breasts were leaking milk right through her shirt and everyone at the table was watching, wide-eyed.  Without warning, her mother-in-law burst into tears of happiness, announcing to the whole restaurant that her soon-to-be-born grandchild would indeed have milk to drink.  My friend was a little horrified, but at the same time was glad to know that she wasn’t going to have any problems with her milk.

My milk didn’t show up until after my baby was born, but I did have some warning signs that it was on its way. My breasts getting bigger was the first sign, but I think it was when I was around seven months pregnant that I started feeling soreness in my breasts that I had never felt before. It wasn’t necessarily painful, but it felt like something was going on. Changes were happening, and I was happy at the prospect of the milk getting ready to make its appearance.

When I was closer to my due date I noticed what looked like dried colostrum on my nipples. There wasn’t a lot of it and it wasn’t bothersome, but I was really happy when I noticed it. I think I was afraid that my milk might not ever show up and I wouldn’t be able to nurse my baby, but seeing this let me know that it was on its way.

I never did have a moment when any milk dripped out before I had my baby. Believe me, though, when I say that it didn’t take long after labor until suddenly my breasts were huge and I had more than enough milk available. If I hadn’t been looking for the signs beforehand then I may not have noticed all the changes my breasts were going through. For this reason, I urge you to not panic if you don’t notice any huge changes to your breasts indicative of milk on the way.

After all, if you’re anything like me you’ll have plenty of opportunities after the baby is born to have your milk leak while at a restaurant with in-laws.

The bra I’m wearing right now is frilly and feminine and has an under-wire.  Why am I telling you this? I’m revealing this personal tidbit because I want to get across to all you nursing moms that you won’t have to wear an ugly, milk-stained bra forever, despite how you may feel right now with regards to your status as a lactating machine.

I nursed for almost three years straight.  I stopped nursing my daughter when she was fifteen months old (and I was five months pregnant) and then nursed my son until he was thirteen months old.  During my four month respite in between the two my milk never stopped producing so I didn’t dare go back to any of my pretty bras because I didn’t want to ruin them…and besides that I couldn’t stuff my breasts into my old bras even if I wanted to.

I spent three years wearing horribly plain white nursing bras.  I wore the kind with sensible straps and panels that opened in the front.  They worked wonderfully for the purpose I needed them to serve.  It was great to be able to somewhat discreetly unhook the front panel of my bra so my baby could nurse without giving everyone around me a peep show.  The thing I couldn’t stand was how horribly plain they were.  I’ve always been the type of gal who wants to have a pretty bra on underneath my clothes so no matter how sloppy I looked or how much spit-up was dried up on my shirt I could still feel pretty under my shirt.  With the plain white bras, however, I didn’t feel very feminine.

Isn’t it funny that I wouldn’t feel feminine despite the fact that I was doing something only women can do (nursing my babies, that is)?

At any rate, I spent some time looking into buying some more ornate nursing bras.  You can find them in some stores at the mall, but none of the ones rivaled my pre-pregnancy bra collection.  There are a few stores online offering really beautiful nursing bras that look like they came straight out of the Victoria’s Secret collection but the prices are usually pretty outrageous.  I couldn’t talk myself into buying one of those because of the cost.

So if you’re nursing right now and you find yourself grumbling every time you pull on your plain nursing bra, don’t worry.  The time will come – probably sooner than you realize – when you will own your breasts once again and can house them in any bra you wish.  Until then, be sure to use nursing pads so you don’t stain the plain bras you’re wearing nowadays.

Karen Speed, like many women around the world, has a Facebook page where she uploads pictures of herself and her three sons. But when this Canadian woman recently tried to log in to her account, she was surprised to find out she had been suspended for inappropriate use.

“I was kind of confused,” said Karen Speed, whose boys are 20 months, four and nine. Soon, she received emails from Facebook warning that she would be banned from the social networking site if she did not remove photographs containing nudity. The site’s administrator removed an offending photo in demonstration—one in which she was breastfeeding her son. Originally, Speed created the page expressly for the purpose of providing nursing support (she does this locally, as well). But to underscore their seriousness, Facebook also deleted her online nursing help and contacts.

Facebook explicitly states that they do not allow pictures that show “nudity, drug use or other obscene content.” They defend their decision by noting that photos of nursing mothers are allowed, as long as they do not contain nudity, which is a violation of the agreement all users “check” when signing up in the first place. In other words, you can see a baby at its mothers breast, as long as you can’t see the breast itself. For what it’s worth, MySpace does the same thing—delete “obscene” breastfeeding shots.

Not surprisingly, Facebook’s decision has drawn a mob of angry moms. In response to Facebook’s stance, and in support of Karen Speed, a new breastfeeding petition group has emerged, called “Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!” At the time I looked at the page, the group had 62,937 members. On the front page of the site, the group’s moderator asks, “What about a baby breastfeeding is obscene?” and requests that Facebook allow all breastfeeding shots. Self-described ‘lactivists‘ have uploaded hundreds of nursing shots.

So far, they haven’t changed any administrator’s mind. In an effort to call attention to their request and to protest what they deem as discrimination, oppression and injustice, the group is planning an “event”. On a new page called “M.I.L.C.” (Mothers International Lactation Campaign), coordinators are planning a full-frontal breastfeeding photo campaign, as well as real life nurse-ins. I suppose they feel that by bombarding Facebook with photos they don’t allow, they will change the site’s policy.

I am a breastfeeding mom. I do support (and occasionally practice) nursing a baby in public. I have a Facebook page with pictures of my kids. My husband has taken a few pictures of me feeding babies. But I never let him take pictures of, nor do I ever intentionally expose, the unlatched nipple. And I wouldn’t upload any of them to the internet, simply because there are some people I don’t want viewing my chest. I think that a site like Facebook, which tries diligently to keep their pages decent, needs to draw a hard line somewhere. They say no exposed breasts—for obvious reasons. If a member reports a violating photograph, the administrators take it down within an hour.

Now, most of use would say nursing shots are a different animal than a drunken shirt-raising shot, but it’s just more realistic for such a huge organization like this to say they don’t have time to make individual decisions. No boobs. I’m OK with that. I don’t really want to see someone else’s breasts, anyway. I don’t think it’s obscene, but it is unnecessary.

I know many of you breastfeed. Would you (or will you) participate in this campaign? Even if you don’t nurse or don’t want to expose yourself, what do you think about Facebook’s policy?

They are also referred to as lactation specialists, and these relative newcomers to the healthcare field help mothers with a number of issues. You may find them working in the hospital where you had your delivery, but some also practice privately. Many mothers are frustrated when their newborn refuses to latch when they try breastfeeding for the first time. Often there are other concerns about breastfeeding as well, especially for new mothers.

When I first held my child in my arms, I had only just finished fighting off the effects of the anesthesia. My joy was only broken by his refusal to take the breast. Although my husband tried to put on a brave face, I could tell he was worried too. One of the nurses suggested a lactation specialist and we were clueless as to what she meant. Even though we both declined the offer, I was still curious about this unfamiliar term.

In the most basic sense, a lactation consultant is a teacher who helps mothers with the basics of breastfeeding. She will provide a supportive and nurturing environment for women who are learning how to breastfeed. The consultant will also have up to date information on any devices related to breastfeeding such as breast pumps. Some consultants hold classes for small groups which many women may find beneficial. Often, women who are returning to work after giving birth may struggle with feelings of guilt, or worry about the baby being fed. The lactation consultant serves an important function in this regard as well. She will offer support and suggestions as to how to handle the transition especially if you still want to breast feed.

I wonder sometimes how older women feel about the concept of a lactation consultant. Would they feel that is something women should be able to handle on their own? Or did they seek the assistance of nurses when they had their own children? Whatever the case, a new mother needs a supportive and helpful environment, to make this beautiful experience everything it can be. If a lactation consultant can make this possible, then I say go for it.

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?

I had a nephew who did not taste a drop of breastmilk in his short life. And I say ’short life’ because he was diagnosed with a congenital type of cancer at age two. He, Pyro, valiantly fought for over a year but the cancer was too aggressive and his body so young. I had often wondered if things could have gone better for him had he been breastfed. He died at age three.

I was a breastfeeding advocate even before I got married. And when we found out that we were pregnant, we made sure we got all the help we can get to prepare for the baby. We attended breastfeeding seminars and in these seminars we were often told that one of the benefits of breastfeeding is lowering risks for certain types of cancer for both the mother and the child.

So having suffered much pain over the loss of my nephew, I vowed even more to breastfeed my child.

Breastfeeding was one of ten recommendations in the conclusion of a recently published report (Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective) by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). It was found that after looking at a host of variables with diet, nutrition, weight and activity, lactation was the only one found to lower risk of breast cancer throughout a woman’s life. This is especially good news since the breast cancer that afflicts women before menopause is different from the one they have after menopause. It is believed that the protection is linked to breastfeeding’s effect on a woman’s hormones, which delays the return of menstruation. It has already been established that the fewer menstrual cycles a woman has during her lifetime, the lower her risk for breast cancer gets.

Breastfeeding also protects the child from cancer in two ways. First, breastmilk provides protection from the more common childhood cancers like leukemia by passing on the mother’s antibodies which boosts the baby’s immune system and possibly stops any genetic changes. Secondly, breastfeeding protects from developing obesity in the child, possibly due to the transfer of appetite-regulating hormone leptin. Fats from childhood are carried over into adulthood, an excess of which has been convincingly linked by AICR experts to cause six common cancers: colon, kidney, pancreas, endometrium, adenocarcinoma of the esophagus and post-menopausal breast cancer. Essentially, not being overweight when you were young because you were breastfed will lower your risks for these types of cancer in adulthood.

These findings should especially encourage more women to breastfeed exclusively for six months to get maximum benefits. Furthermore, the longer a woman breastfeeds, the more anti-cancer benefits she gets for herself and gives to her child. Breastfeeding has been touted to have so many benefits and medical research has proven again and again that these are true. There really is no good reason NOT to breastfeed and surely, the threat of cancer is more than enough reason to insist on all the protection one can get… and in breastfeeding’s case, give.

Talk about long-term investments.

Source:
Medical News Today