Sharing is caring!26sharesShareTweetPin It!HOW TO CLEAN YOUR BREAST PUMP Do you know what is one of the least favorite things about breastfeeding? Cleaning breast pump parts. I have never heard a mom say this was something she looks forward to. Not once. That probably doesn’t come as a big surprise to you. It’s the breastfeeding …
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Sharing is caring!28sharesShareTweetPin It!21 Ways Make Sure You Are Bed-Sharing Safely The best laid plans. I wasn’t planning to bed-share when I had my first baby. The issue of bed-sharing safety never even crossed my mind. I thought a baby in my bed would disrupt my sleep. Then baby Nicholas came along and laughed at …
BREASTFEEDING AND REFLUX You’ve seen those cute baby bibs that say “Spit happens.” You may have chuckled the first time you saw one. It’s all fun and games until spit is happening all the time. If it’s a screaming baby who is doing all that spitting then the fun and games are definitely over. A …
Dressing for Breastfeeding With Style When I was enormously 9 months pregnant, I wanted two things. I wanted to hold my baby and I wanted to be able to tuck my shirt in again. After my baby was born, I realized that tucking your shirt in is highly overrated. You may think wearing a shirt …
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Simple and Easy Guide to Building Your Breast Milk Stash I was working in labor and delivery when I got the dreaded call from my husband. I was working an eight-hour shift and baby Nicholas had polished off all the breast milk I had left. This was a problem. We didn’t keep formula around the …
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How To Stop Breastfeeding When It’s Time To Wean When you stop breastfeeding having a plan will help you avoid tears and pain. Deciding to wean can happen for different reasons. It may be your decision to stop breastfeeding. Perhaps you had a goal to breastfeed for a certain length of time. You may be …
Clearing a Clogged Milk Duct I remember when I got my first clogged duct. I woke up with pain in my left breast. When I felt it I discovered a small lump. It may have been small, but it caused a big pain. I did what I heard you were supposed to do. …
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Breastfeeding for Beginners The first time I breastfed I felt like I was supposed to know what I was doing. How in the heck would I know how to do something I had never done before? You may feel just as clueless when you begin your breastfeeding journey. Although I had helped countless moms with …
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Exclusive Pumping Sometimes when breastfeeding gets really hard a mom will ask, “Can I just pump and bottle feed?” This is know as exclusive pumping, or EP. And it’s a huge commitment. It takes time, energy and dedication. Studies have shown that about 6% of moms are exclusively pumping. Why Choose Exclusive Pumping? …
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Breastfeeding Hacks Every New Mom Needs Let’s be real, breastfeeding can be hard. These breastfeeding tips will make it so much easier for all of you new mamas. I have been a lactation consultant for 25 years. I breastfed my own babies for a total of four years. These are the best of the best breastfeeding …
Sharing is caring!467sharesShareTweetPin It!Why Every Mom Needs These 15 Essentials in a Breastfeeding Basket Breastfeeding takes a lot of time. I am not going to do the math. Trust me, it takes a lot of time. I never tried to calculate all the hours that I breastfed, because, what’s the point? It is time well …
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How block feeding can help breastfeeding Do you feel like you are making gallons of milk? Does your baby struggle during breastfeeding? If you answered yes to both of those questions you may have an oversupply of breast milk. Moms who don’t make enough milk often get sympathy. Moms who make too much milk are …
NIPPLE SHIELDS FOR BREASTFEEDING I was alarmed when I saw nipple shields on so many Pinterest “breastfeeding essentials” lists. Pinterest is the place that so many new and expectant moms go to see what accessories they will need for breastfeeding. They want to be ready. I started reading the mommy blogs about breastfeeding and found the …
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ESSENTIAL STEPS TO HAVE A GOOD MILK SUPPLY Raise your hand if you’ve ever worried if you are making enough milk for your baby. This is a really common concern expressed by breastfeeding moms (no pun intended). In fact, it is one of the most common reasons a mom stops breastfeeding. Keep reading to see …
How To Decrease Breast Milk Supply “If breastfeeding is so natural, why is it so hard?” We’ve all seen the pictures of the blissfully content mother cradling her infant at her breast. And isn’t it true that they are usually in a rocking chair? Would your picture show a miserable mother and miserable baby? …
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SURVIVING A COLD WHILE BREASTFEEDING One minute you are fine. The next minute you are starting to feel that scratchy throat sensation. You sneeze, your nose starts to run, and then you are in the clutches of a full-blown cold. Nobody likes being sick. Breastfeeding moms have not only themselves to think about. They also …
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BREASTFEEDING AND RETURNING TO WORK Breastfeeding and working can be challenging, but it has so many benefits. Continuing to breastfeed when you go back to work may seem like it is going to be a lot of work and a big, fat hassle. I can assure you, it is worth it. Breastfeeding has both short …
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Using a Supplemental Nursing System, or an SNS can be helpful with many breastfeeding problems. This video covers How to use a Starter SNS How to use a Regular SNS What reasons there are to use an SNS https://youtu.be/DMACBwr_Gm4 Andrea TranAndrea Tran RN, MA, IBCLC Andrea has been working with new families as an RN …
SURVIVING SECOND NIGHT SYNDROME Newborns sleep, eat and cry. This we know. But how much sleeping should we expect? How much crying is normal? Is eating all the time a warning sign? What you really want to know is, “How do I know if my baby is okay????” Keep reading and I will tell you what you want …
5 Easy to Remember Tips for Breastfeeding the First Week The classes pack a lot of information into a couple of hours. The books often don’t seem relevant when you’re still pregnant. When you are pregnant you are just trying to figure out how that baby is going to get out, and when that is …
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The Best Breastfeeding Accessories Have you ever put the word “breastfeeding” into the Amazon search bar? You’ll get over 20,000 results! And searching on Pinterest is not much better. (There is even one item I see on a lot of those lists that makes me cringe. I’ll tell you which one that is a …
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Your brand-new baby has arrived. The moment you have been waiting 9 months for is here. Now what? You think of all the things you have heard about skin to skin. You remember that you should breastfeed right away. Breastfeeding is so important to you and you want to make sure you do everything right. The …
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PUMPING BREAST MILK – ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW When I was a fresh-faced new nurse the hospital where I worked had exactly one pump. That was for 150 moms who gave birth there each month. It was not in use most of the time. Now, some hospitals have a breast pump in every room. …
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Essential Oils for Nursing Moms Essential oils are wonderful for so many things including cleaning your home, cosmetic use and treating injuries. However, there is some debate among professionals about essential oil use for pregnant and nursing moms. Let’s look at essential oil use if you are one of these women. My Story Before Essential …
From the moment I found out I was pregnant, I knew I wanted to breastfeed. I didn’t know much about it, but I knew it was healthier and free (compared to formula that cost a lot of money that I didn’t have). When my daughter was born and they told me I needed to …
How I Didn’t Let Tongue Tie End My Breastfeeding Story Baby B was my third baby. I thought I knew what there was to know about breastfeeding. I’d done it before. However, there I was. Sleep deprived, irritable and feeling like something wasn’t right. I hadn’t slept more than 2 hours a night in 5 …
Cluster Feeding – Things You Need to Know Catching Up This is a typical conversation with a mom after the second night after her baby’s birth: “My baby ate all night long. He must not be getting enough.” This is my typical response: “This is normal and healthy behavior. Your baby is trying to do …
When I was pregnant with my first child, breastfeeding was something I just assumed would happen. It never occurred to me that I wouldn’t be able to nurse my child. I had a scheduled c-section due to my severe Crohn’s disease. Once I was all stitched up we tried to latch my new baby on. …
Going Dairy Free for Your Breastfeeding Baby I learned quickly that going dairy free for your breastfeeding baby could be very helpful when a baby is very fussy. Early in my lactation career, I got a call from a mom that went like this: Mom: My baby cries all the time. Do …
There are many things you do that encourage a good milk supply. There are also things you can eat that can decrease your milk supply. Eating peppermint has a powerful effect on milk supply. In fact, this is one of the suggestions I make to moms who have too much milk and that is causing …
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Milky Minute – Breastfeeding Failure and Guilt Don’t Let it be a Thing I did a consult with a mom recently. As I got her history she said she was exclusively pumping and bottle feeding. She said she ran out of patience with the problems they were having with latch. I sensed that she felt guilty about this decision. I …
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Breastfeeding and Traveling Tips Vacation, business trip, long distance move. These are all reasons why you might be traveling while you are breastfeeding. For some parents, the thought of traveling with their baby strikes fear in their heart. Worry not. Read on for the best breastfeeding and traveling tips. With my first baby Nicholas, we …
Bottles and Breastfeeding Breast is best, but breastmilk in a bottle is pretty awesome too If you’re a brand new breastfeeder, you may be asking when you can or should introduce a bottle. Full disclosure, I’m a lactation lady who believes that it’s a good thing for a breastfed baby to take a bottle. I have …
Finding Your Breastfeeding Tribe Moms need other moms. You weren’t meant to go through this powerful experience on your own. When you are breastfeeding, it is very important to find other breastfeeding moms, or what I like to call, your breastfeeding tribe. If I’m feeling really clever, it becomes your breastfeeding sisterhood. My Story When …
There are many things you do that encourage a good milk supply. There are also things you can eat that can decrease your milk supply. Eating peppermint has a powerful effect on milk supply. In fact, this is one of the suggestions I make to moms who have too much milk and that …
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Before my son was born, I knew breastfeeding was an experience I deeply desired to share with him. I was ready to do the work and learn how to breastfeed. Several friends told me not to pressure myself and to give it two weeks. If it wasn’t working within two weeks, they encouraged me to …
Milky Minutes – Public Breastfeeding Rant What year is it? Because when I looked it was 2018. Can I just say that I don’t understand why we are even talking about breastfeeding in public being a thing? I had my first baby in 1986. (Don’t do the math, ok? I’m old, enough said). I breastfed in public …
Many moms think that their baby will be ready and waiting to breastfeed as soon as they are born. It is true that some babies will do just that and will continue feeding frequently. Everybody will be happy, and no one will worry. Then there are the babies who are more interested in sleeping …
Having a breastfeeding baby who refuses to take a bottle can cause panic in even the calmest mama. Let’s face it, bottle refusal can be stressful for both the mom and the person watching taking care of a baby in her absence. If you are experiencing bottle refusal with your baby, chances are you have …
Weaning a Toddler Are you mom enough? That was the title on the cover of Time in May 2012. It was about a mom who believed in attachment parenting and was breastfeeding her three-year-old. There was a picture of her doing just that, for all the world to see and react to. And react they …
Hey, I’m Rebecca, a mum who loves to celebrate breastfeeding, natural parenting, holistic health, self-love and nourishing exercise. You can find me at bodhi-beautful.com where I share vegan recipes, affirmations to help us mums, and health tips for breastfeeding. When I became pregnant I knew that I would be breastfeeding my child. This was a …
Do you ever use a breast pump? Most women who breastfeed do. They may pump once. They may pump every few hours. They may pump for relief from engorgement or to get milk for a relief bottle. They may pump regularly at work. Whether by necessity or choice, more and more mothers are pumping …
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Birth and Breastfeeding Your baby is born, and he is placed on your chest. He looks up at you, wriggles his way to your breast, latches on and sucks strongly. You feel a rush of emotion that is filled with love and awe and power. Photo credit: Geek2Nurse on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC[/caption] You …
[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.4.1″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” text_font_size=”16px” text_font=”||||||||”]I was sitting at my counter today and started looking at the patterns in my countertop. I saw a breast! Do you see it? It’s right in the middle of the picture. Let me know in the comments …
Designed by Freepik THRUSH WHEN BREASTFEEDING There are three things moms worry about when they start breastfeeding. Sore nipples, not having enough milk and mastitis. I have written about all three. Thrush falls under sore nipples but deserves an article all of its own. Thrush and yeast refer to the same thing, and I will …
BREASTFEEDING AND BABY’S HANDS Babies love their hands. When a baby is new he will love to suck on his hands; when he gets older, he will try to cram both of them into his mouth at the same time. There will come a time when a baby will stare at his hands in fascination. Then …
BEST BREASTFEEDING GIFTS All you need are breasts. Breasts are all you need. La la la la. Sing it with me! (To the tune of “All You Need Is Love.” And please don’t tell me that you don’t know that song by the Beatles. And don’t even think of saying me that you don’t know …
This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I will make a commission. There is no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support. As a mom of seven, you’d think I’m a pro. You’d think that I have all my ducks in a row and all the “mom” …
MASTITIS, CLOGGED DUCTS AND BLEBS Ouch! Whichever condition you are worried about, it hurts. It doesn’t look right. It doesn’t feel right. You may be trying to figure out whether you have a plugged duct or a full-blown case of mastitis. You want to find out if there’s anything you can do about it. Your …
TEN STEPS TO MAKE BREASTFEEDING EASIER Breastfeeding is hard! Breastfeeding is easy! You will hear both of these proclamations. Which is it? The truth is it can be hard for some mamas, and it can be easy peasy for others. I’m going to share ten steps that can make your breastfeeding journey easier. I am all …
