Breastfeeding

I finished a module! Feels great to get back on track.

This is an interesting one to write about, since breastfeeding is such a charged political topic. For me, it comes down to three basic principles: 1) breast milk is the best possible food for babies to eat and breastfeeding has actual short and long-term benefits for both mother and baby, 2) most women want and need help with breastfeeding - there are great, supportive resources in the Bay Area!, and 3) not all women can or want to breastfeed and the decision should be up to them. I have never and will never encourage a woman to breastfeed unless she wants to.

Here are some of the facts I stumbled across during my research (courtesy of La Leche League):

* The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies are breastfed until at least one year of age.

* The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding (meaning nothing but breastmilk) for six months and they suggest breastfeeding can continue up to two years or more (in addition to food).

* In one study, women who received epidurals during labor had more problems breastfeeding at 24 hours after birth and were more likely to stop breastfeeding by six weeks.

* Breastfeeding protects against Type 2 diabetes, respiratory infections, recurring ear infections, obesity, asthma, heart disease, high cholesterol, alcoholism, mental illness (including schizophrenia), and some forms of cancer. The list goes on...

* Women who breastfeed have a reduced risk of obesity, breast cancer, and endometrial cancer.

* Breastfed babies have higher IQs than babies who are formula-fed.

* Around the world, breastfeeding saves lives. In places where there isn't clean water to drink, babies being fed formula are dying (but US formula companies continue to send formula and encourage its use).

What I find interesting based on personal observation is that EV-ER-Y-BODY has some difficulty with breastfeeding at the beginning. Lots of times the difficulty is minor, but for such a natural act, it sure doesn't come naturally to most people. In my experience, most American women have never seen a birth, taken care of a newborn, or really witnessed breastfeeding. The more "American" a woman is, the harder these things are, made harder by the fact that their mothers usually aren't much help (hence the need for the entire doula profession).

Having attended and helped hundreds of women through birth and the immediate postpartum, including breastfeeding, I have seen a total of two women who physically could not breastfeed. One was a woman who had had breast surgery and the other had a hormonal imbalance that didn't allow her to produce milk. With the exception of those two women, everybody else who wants to breastfeed has been fine, including mothers of twins.

Speaking of help, the Bay Area is full of resources for women who need help breastfeeding. If someone is having their first baby, I always give them info on places they can get help, assuming just about all of them will need some guidance.

Here are my favorite recommendations:

Kaiser Hayward, Kaiser Oakland, and Kaiser Walnut Creek have lactation consultants on staff. Women who give birth there should request/demand to see a lactation consultant after the birth and before they head home. Each hospital also sells and rents breast pumps*

Alta Bates has lactation consultants and sells and rents breast pumps, as well.

La Leche League is an organization that is dedicated to improving rates of breastfeeding around the world. They publish books and research and do all kinds of advocacy work. Locally, there are groups that meet regularly where women can get hands-on help with positioning, advice, and equipment. The best part about the local groups is that they are totally FREE. In the East Bay, there are monthly meetings in Oakland, Fremont, and Walnut Creek.

The Nursing Mothers Council has a 24-hour hotline for women in the Bay Area who need breastfeeding help. The number is 650-327-6455.

My two favorite lactation consultants are:

Janaki Costello
(www.janakicostello.com)
Located in Albany

and

Sylvia Boyd
(www.mybreastfeeding.com)
Located in Hayward

Both are IBCLCs which stands for International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. They're not cheap (~$125 an hour) but they know their stuff.

*A word on breast pumps. Again, based on personal observation of lots and lots of breastfeeding women, I would recommend that someone skip buying the expensive Babies R Us pump and rent the hospital-grade one from the hospital. You can rent breast pumps from the hospital even if you've had a home birth. They are much more efficient and way less of a hassle. The hospital-grade pumps can be sterilized and returned when you're done. The pumps you purchase cannot be sterilized, so you can't (or shouldn't) pass them on to anyone else and they just end up in landfill.

I suppose that's my two cents. I'd love feedback.