You Can Help Your Breastfed Grandbaby!!

Congratulations! Your daughter or daughter-in-law has chosen to breastfeed your grandbaby, providing the very best start in life! Maybe she is following the example that you set when you breastfed. Or perhaps you didn't breastfeed and are wondering why she has made this decision. Either way, here is what you need to know!

Why Breastfeed?

There are many reasons that mothers decide to breastfeed. Here are just a few:

•  Breastmilk is the ideal infant food. It is perfectly designed to meet all of your grandbaby's nutritional requirements. Furthermore, as he grows, his mother's milk will change to meet his changing needs. It truly is a miracle food. When his mother catches a cold or is exposed to a virus, her body makes antibodies which he receives every time he nurses. That's one reason why breastfed babies are statistically healthier than their formula fed counterparts.
• Breastfeeding is convenient and inexpensive. Your grandbaby's mother has made an economically sound decision by breastfeeding him. She is saving an average of $200 a month in formula costs. Even is she buys a state-of-the-art breast pump and has a lactation consultant come to her home, she will still save at least $1500 during the first year of her baby's life! Furthermore, she can nurse anywhere, any time. She doesn't have to stop to mix formula and make sure it's the right temperature. Breastmilk is always available and always the right temperature!
• Breastfeeding is good for the mother. When she nurses her baby, hormonal cues help her uterus clamp down quickly to avoid excessive bleeding. She will regain her pre-pregnancy figure more quickly, even though she continues eating for two. Furthermore, women who breastfeed for at least a year have a reduced incidence of pre-menopausal breast cancer.  It also offers protection against ovarian cancer and osteoporosis. Finally, the hormones oxytocin and prolactin which make breastfeeding work also help mothers to be more relaxed and to feel more motherly.
• Breastfeeding provides wonderful bonding opportunities. When your daughter or daughter-in-law nurses your grandbaby, she is creating a deep bond with him that only exists between a nursing mother and her child. That doesn't mean that a mother who formula feeds isn't bonded to her child. However, the breastfeeding mother has a hormonal bond that is unlike any other.

What You Need to Know About Breastfeeding (but didn't know to ask...)

• Breastmilk is supplied on a "demand/supply" basis -- the more a baby demands, the more his mother will supply.
• Breastmilk is designed to be absorbed quickly by an infant's intestine. Therefore breastfed babies need to nurse every 2 - 3 hours. A newborn will nurse 8 - 12 times in 24 hours. This is normal. It doesn't mean that he's starving. It means that he is doing what he's supposed to do! 
• In order to make enough milk, Mom needs to get sufficient rest.
• A breastfed baby shouldn't have an artificial nipple or a pacifier until breastfeeding is well established. Some babies may become confused and not nurse correctly when they have something artificial introduced too early.
• Stress or fatigue will affect the mother's ability to produce milk. The hormones involved in breastfeeding are affected by adrenaline which is produced by stress. So it is important to help the new mother remain as stress-free as possible.
• Babies go through growth spurts when it seems like all they want to do is nurse. That doesn't mean that Mom doesn't have enough milk. She just needs to nurse him as often as he needs to nurse. Typical growth spurt times are 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months. However, any time a healthy baby starts nursing more frequently, he may be in a growth spurt. Mom needs to rest as much as possible and nurse frequently. A growth spurt may last from 3 to 7 days.
• Breastfed babies don't need any other food until they are 6 months old. When they show signs of readiness for solids, then they can begin. Dr. William Sears has some great advice on this topic.

What You Can Do to Help

 When a grandmother realizes how wonderful breastfeeding is for both her grandbaby and his mother, she will be eager to do all she can to support them both. Remember, that a you can help make or break the breastfeeding relationship. When you encourage your daughter or daughter-in-law in the following ways, you will contribute to her success!

• Protect her privacy. Try to ensure that she gets the rest she needs, especially while she's still in the hospital. If well-meaning friends or relatives want to visit before she's ready, help her husband run interference. In fact, you might suggest to extended family members that they wait until the new family gets home to visit. Make sure you understand the boundaries that she wants enforced ahead of time. 
• Please don't get your feelings hurt if Mom and Dad just want to bond with baby alone during the first hours in the hospital. This is a critical time for getting breastfeeding established. If they ask for it, give them their space. 
• Go to bat for her. If others make negative comments about her breastfeeding, stand up for her. Tell them how proud of her you are. Never indulge in negativity about breastfeeding yourself.
• If you breastfed successfully, tactfully offer your help, but understand if she doesn't want it. Remember that this is all about her and the baby, not about you.
• Offer to help with meals or the house. A great gift would be several months' worth of maid service.
• If she has other children, keep them occupied. This can be their special time with Grandma. Their mother will be eternally grateful to you for making them feel important and freeing her up to focus on the baby.
• If you think she might be having breastfeeding problems, help her find a lactation consultant.

If both sets of in-laws live close to the new parents, both grandmothers can take turns helping. Don't allow your feelings to get hurt if the new mother calls on the other grandmother instead of you for something. However, if in-laws live out of town, then it might be a good idea to plan for the new mother's parents to come first; then the new father's parents can come a little later.

Having a grandbaby is truly a blessing, so make the most of this opportunity! Enjoy every moment with him, but remember that your job now is to support and encourage the new family in every way possible!

Cookies to Help Mom Make Milk!

Did you know that there are certain foods that help your body produce more milk? Oatmeal, brewer's yeast, flax seed, wheat germ, whey protein, avocado, malunggay (a food from the Philippines) and even stout beer are some of the foods that our moms have had success with.

Last year I discovered that a company had produced "Lactation Cookies" that they were selling for an arm and a couple of legs. I decided that we wouldn't be stocking them because I can't justify the pricing, especially when it's so easy to make them yourself! And honestly, the homemade ones are so tasty that these cookies will quickly become a family favorite!

So here is our tried and true recipe:

Mommy Milk Cookies

Ingredients

1 Cup Butter
1 Cup Raw or Natural Sugar
1 Cup Brown Sugar
4 Tablespoons Water
2 Tablespoons Flaxseed
2 Large Eggs
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 ½ Cups Flour
½ Cup Wheat Germ
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 (Generous) Tablespoons Brewers Yeast
3 Cups Rolled Oats
9 oz. (Minimum) Chocolate Chips

Directions

- Preheat Oven to 375 Degrees
- Mix Flaxseed and Water, set aside for at least 3-5 min.
- Mix Butter and Sugar in a large mixing bowl
- Add Eggs to butter and sugar, mix well
- Add Flaxseed and Vanilla, blend
- In separate bowl sift dry ingredients except the Oats and Chocolate Chips
- Add Dry ingredients to Butter/Sugar/Eggs and mix well
- Add Oats, Mix
- Add Chocolate Chips, Mix!
Bake 8-10 min.
Makes approx. 4-6 dozen

Help Us Help Local Military Wives!

If you follow our blog at all, you have probably realized several things about A Nurturing Moment:  we are passionate about helping moms breastfeed; we are deeply concerned about meeting the needs of low-income mothers; and we love and appreciate our military!  It is truly devastating to realize just how many military wives are also very low-income mothers. Their husbands are risking their lives for us, and the least we can do is find a way to give these precious women whatever help and support they need!

The Problem
A couple of weeks ago a young mother called for breastfeeding help. She was experiencing a lot of pain when baby latched on and was about at the end of her rope. Her husband has served in both the Army and the Marines, but she barely had enough money to drive to our office. We were able to provide her a Medela Symphony pump at a reduced rate, and her mother helped pay for the consult. But this is the reason we have a sliding scale for our consults. We desperately want to help every mother who needs it!

The Solution
Just yesterday Intuit announced a contest that we are really excited about! It's the Small Business Big Wishes contest. Beginning on December 3, Intuit will give $5000 grants to one business each day for a total of 15 days. We submitted the following wish:

We want to help the wives of those who serve our country by providing breast pumps and breastfeeding support to military wives.These brave women often survive at or below poverty level. Being alone while her husband is deployed is hard enough, but having a new baby doubles the burden. $5000 would provide postpartum support and breast pump rental to local military spouses at Redstone Arsenal.

How You Can Help
Intuit is looking at the number of votes that each project gets as part of their decision-making process. So we need to get the word out and get as many votes as we can. You can vote one time every day, so please take a few minutes to do the following:

• Go to the contest page and vote.
• Share by clicking the share button - you can share on Facebook, Twitter or via email
• Take just a minute to vote every day from now until we win!!

Thank you so much for coming alongside this project and helping us help our military wives!

We Love Our Military Heroes

Today I want to take a few minutes to say thank you to all of our military families and our veterans. Your service to our country is something I deeply appreciate. When a young man or woman makes the commitment to serve in the armed forces, he or she fully realizes the risk involved. The military is dangerous! Yet without the service of these young men and women, we would not have the amazing country we have. The freedoms we enjoy have been bought with a high price.

Lance Corporal Kendall Bane with his girlfriend
Jessica Stender before the Marine Ball.

Saturday was the birthday of the Marine Corps and the Marine Ball. One very special young man was in attendance. Lance Corporal Kendall Bane graduated from Westminster Christian Academy in 2011 and joined the Marines. He deployed to Afghanistan on May 4, 2012. On September 20 his family was notified  that he was shot several times. The first shot was taken straight to the head. Fortunately he was wearing his helmet. He took three more shots: one to each leg and one in the abdomen.  Since September 28 Lance Corporal Bane has been at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. However, last week he came home! His family and girlfriend Jessica have been by his side throughout his recovery. He is still in a wheelchair and has a long way to go, but he has an indomitable spirit.

In our ANM family, we have many military men and women who have faithfully served this country. Military wives deserve special recognition because of the sacrifice they are making. It isn't easy raising children when Daddy is gone. We appreciate each one of our military families so much. Please take a moment to share about your military hero in the comment section. We would love to hear your story. And to honor you today, we have a special sale!

Congratulations to Our New IBCLC!

We are thrilled to announce that one of our very own employees just passed her IBCLC exam! Kelly Clements is a labor/delivery nurse at Huntsville Hospital who also works at A Nurturing Moment occasionally! With Kelly's new certification, we now have three IBCLC's available to serve you around the clock!

What Is an IBCLC?
That's a great question! An IBCLC is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. In order to receive that designation, she (or he -- I do know some male doctors who are IBCLC's, and one male midwife who is) must pass a highly specialized board exam which is given once a year on the last Monday of July.

However, not just anybody can sit for the exam. First a candidate must have a university level educational background in the health sciences. Then she must complete at least 90 hours of education in breastfeeding and human lactation. Finally, she must obtain a specified number of clinical hours in breastfeeding depending upon the pathway to certification she chooses to follow. It is a challenging and rigorous preparation which insures that those who sit for the exam are well prepared.

Why Choose an IBCLC?
Many breastfeeding moms can offer great advice. That's the reason that mother-to-mother support groups like Mommy Milk Meet-up and La Leche League are so helpful. La Leche League leaders receive training that enables them to help most nursing mothers very effectively, but they also know when to refer a mother to an IBCLC. In fact, many La Leche League leaders actually end up becoming IBCLC's.

However, if you want to be certain that you're getting the very best evidence-based information about your specific situation, then you need to see an IBCLC. She is the only health-care professional who has the advanced educational level specific to breastfeeding and human lactation that will enable her to provide the most effective intervention possible.

There are other types of breastfeeding professionals. The Healthy Children Project offers a Certified Lactation Counselor program which actually fulfills half of the required 90 hours in lactation education that is needed for IBCLC certification. This course offers excellent preparation with instructors who are personally committed to seeing students succeed in the field of human lactation. Breastfeeding Support Consultants offers a Breastfeeding Counselor course which provides the full 90+ hours needed to sit for the IBCLC exam.

Both of these breastfeeding professionals are very capable. However, they also realize that there are occasions when they may need to refer a mother to an IBCLC. A critical component of a truly professional practice is recognizing one's limitations and knowing when to refer.

How Do I Know if Someone is an IBCLC?
There are a couple of ways to verify that you are working with an IBCLC. You can go to the IBCLC registry and look for her last name. Or you can ask to see her IBCLC card. All IBCLC's have a laminated card that identifies them with their name, IBCLC number and certification expiration date. If someone claims to be a lactation counselor, ask her where she received her training - she should have a card or certificate verifying her claim.

Be very careful about accepting breastfeeding advice from someone who claims to be a lactation counselor but is unable to substantiate her claim in some way. We have seen cases where mothers were actually given very inaccurate information by someone claiming to be a lactation counselor. Recently we heard from a mother who actually quit breastfeeding because of the advice she had been given by one of these "pseudo-lactation counselors." So if you are at all unsure about a person's credentials, ask for proof! When you come into A Nurturing Moment, Glenni, Melissa and Kelly will all be happy to show you our cards!