What Is A Nursing Strike?

Many babies go through a nursing strike at one time or another. Often, moms will mistake this for “weaning.” It is rare that infants self-wear prior to 12 months old and weaning never takes place suddenly. It is always a gradual process.

A nursing strike on the other hand – typically comes on without notice. All of a sudden you little bundle of joy stops wanting to nurse or starts refusing to nurse when offered. A nursing strike can last for a few days all the way up to a few weeks.

So what’s a mom to do? Your baby has to eat right? Well, the best thing to do is to keep offering your breast at every opportunity and try to do so in situations where the lights are dimmed and it is quiet and free from distractions. Nursing strikes often happen when your baby is just starting to explore his/her environment or prior to particular milestones like walking, crawling, cutting teeth, etc. There are so many other things to see and do! Going into a dark room, and laying down to nurse will often be enough to coax your baby back to the breast.

If the strike lasts for a long time, you’ll also want to pump to keep up your milk supply. Even though you may be able to get your baby to nurse in a dim, quiet room – it may still take a week or two before he/she is ready to nurse in the hustle and bustle of daily life. So hang in there, keep doing what works and remember

“This too shall pass!”

My son went on a nursing strike when he was 13 months old. I was going on a business trip and he and I were traveling alone together for the first time. My parents were meeting us in at our destination to watch him while I attended to “business.” Well – since we were traveling alone and I had my baby with me, I decided to check my breastpump in my luggage – something I had never done before!

Well, our flights were delayed, we missed a connection AND my luggage got lost. And my son chose this day as the day that he would refuse to nurse! He used sign language at the time to communicate and he would often sign that he wanted to nurse. He did this several times through out the day. When I lifted my shirt to allow him to nurse he would start to put his mouth on my breast, and then would pull away – with a look of “disgust” or “disdain” on his face. He would then sign to nurse and pull away again.

I tried hand-expressing my milk in the airport bathroom because after several hours of this, I was getting pretty full – but I have never been able to successfully hand-express – and this day was no different. I’m sure my stress over our missed flights and my baby refusing to nurse didn’t help! When we arrived and found out that my luggage did not, I was even more distraught – because that meant my breast pump didn’t make it either.

Finally, before bed that evening, I was able to coax my son to nurse by lying down in a dark room with him. For about a week, this was the only way I could get him to nurse – by lying down in the dark. Luckily my pump and luggage showed up the next day and my son went back to his old habits and nursed like a champ for a long time!

For more great information on Nursing Strikes, please visit the links on Kelly Mom

When Breastfeeding Doesn’t Go As Planned

By Alicia Schisler

In my family – babies are breastfed. It’s pretty simple. I have two older sisters – who have given birth to nine children between them (one has three, one has six. Unlike me, neither dealt with infertility!) After giving birth – baby is put to breast – and that’s that. There are no visits to lactation consultants .. there are no tears .. there is no supplementing with formula .. there is just the “simple” act of breastfeeding and away we go.

And so – when I was pregnant – I fully expected to breastfeed my child. It was a given. I would never feed my child formula – such a thing was just not done in my world. My two sisters, breastfeeding champions the both of them, in fact looked down on formula feeders .. thought of them as lazy or less giving to their child.. an opinion I had grown to share since I KNEW I would breastfeed my lucky little baby…

Yeah. Well. Then my baby was born with a condition called “ANKYLOGLOSSIA” or “tongue-tie”. Basically – it’s a condition that results in a short frenulum – that tiny piece of tissue under your tongue that sort of anchors your tongue to the floor of your mouth. My son Jack’s extended all the way to the tip of his tongue. And prevented him from being able to extend his tongue past the tip of his teeth. Breastfeeding and tongue tie don’t go so well together. The baby’s tongue is an important component of successful breastfeeding and successful latch. I knew none of this. I had never heard of tongue tie – had no idea what was around the corner…

The day that Jack was born via planned C-section (he was frank breech and lassoed in place by his cord, so could not turn or be turned) – my husband was great, he was very successful in urging everyone to HURRY UP so that Jack could be at my breast within one hour of my C-section – that was the magic number I had been told – under an hour!! – for successful latch. I had Jack at the boob within 59 minutes of his birth. And – he latched on – and started sucking. It was so cool. And I was so happy. The midwife who had come to my C-section as a support person was thrilled – she said it’s rare for C-section babies to latch on so easily – and left shortly thereafter.

My C-section was on a Monday. By Wednesday – my nipples were raw and starting to bleed. By Thursday – they were forming black scabs and nursing had become very painful. I saw the hospital lactation consultants every day. It wasn’t until my last day in the hospital that one of them suggested that Jack was tongue tied - and that it was having a negative impact on our attempts to breastfeed.

Well I don’t mess around. We left the hospital on a Thursday – had his first out of hospital pediatrician visit that Friday morning – got the name of an ear, nose & throat specialist – and had Jack in HIS office Friday afternoon – at which time the tongue tie was corrected. Basically, they clipped the frenulum – so that he would have greater freedom of movement. He was just four days old. My little baby. But we did it in an attempt to save our breastfeeding relationship – and also because from what we read about tongue-tie – breastfeeding was not the only issue. Speech impediments – and physical discomfort can also result from tongue-tie. So having it corrected seemed like a good idea all around (and I still think it was.)

By Saturday – breastfeeding was still very painful – moving rapidly toward excruciating – and I started making calls. I called the Breastfeeding Center in my town .. I called the County Breastfeeding Helpline .. finally I got a call back. It was suggested to me that I be seen at the Breastfeeding Center – and that I get a prescription for something called All Purpose Nipple Ointment. I got the ointment later that day and started using it – and made an appointment at the breastfeeding center for the following Monday.

Oh – I should mention too that on that Saturday, at five days old, Jack was NOT interested in nursing. He was very, very sleepy, somewhat jaundiced, and probably in a little pain from having the frenulum clipped the day before. My milk had sort of come in – but wasn’t terribly impressive.

I was getting very worried – but never thought I’d run into a problem that couldn’t be fixed.

Unfortunately – things continued to go downhill. After several visits to lactation consultants, my breasts were a mess – there were chunks of flesh missing from my nipples – and Jack began losing weight. I was told to start supplementing by his pediatrician (and by the LC’s at this point) – and at his two week appointment – to take him off the breast. This was beyond upsetting to me. But I was told that the damage to my breasts was so severe that to continue letting him nurse could mean permanent damage. And so I started pumping – against the advice of the doctor who told me that too would prevent healing. But I knew that if I were to have any chance of getting him back on the breast – I had to keep milk flowing.

I was so angry. Angry at the universe. I didn’t understand why this was all going so wrong. I felt that my child DESERVED breastmilk – and deserved to nurse at my breast. And yet it wasn’t possible for us. But at least by pumping I could continue to give him my milk.

In the interim, at 16 days old, Jack was admitted to Children’s Hospital. Even though we were solely bottlefeeding breastmilk and supplementing with formula – he wasn’t gaining weight. His little system had become “depressed” when he wasn’t getting enough milk from me – my supply was very low for a while and the extreme pain I’d experienced while putting him to the breast had affected letdown. Finally, within four days – he started to gain weight in leaps and bounds. And during our stay at Children’s – I kept pumping. In a lonely, ugly “lactation room” – exhausted and frightened – I kept pumping. And pumping. And pumping. Up to 10 times a day initially, for 30 minutes at a time, to try and establish a full supply.

It would later turn out I was allergic to the ointment I’d been prescribed (but no one figured that out until I’d been using it for several weeks and it had done more damage to my boobs on top of the damage Jack had done. In fact the midwife I saw at eight weeks was so concerned by how bad my breasts looked she called a breast cancer surgeon to consult — and he is the one who flagged my allergy to an ingredient in the ointment.) By the time the allergy was diagnosed – I had been earlier misdiagnosed with mastitis – taken antibiotics that gave us both thrush … a few weeks later come down with REAL mastitis – was sick as a dog – more antibiotics – and more thrush. Plus the severe inflammation from the allergy. Um, it was not easy to keep pumping through all of this – to say the least!!

Once I stopped using the ointment for good – I also did a two week course of diflucan (that I had to beg my midwife for a prescription for, she was REALLY leery of it) and it knocked out the thrush (finally!) – and for the first time since my son was born – at around 10 weeks of age – the last sore healed over (and left a nice purple keloid scar on my nipple as a souvenir) and I could finally pump without pain.

I headed back to work when Jack was 12 weeks old. I rented a hospital grade pump before then – and used that pump at home – and my Ameda Purely Yours at work. I was not able to put him back on my breast. Had I not had to go back to work – I likely would have tried with the help of an LC.

I pumped and fed Jack breastmilk in bottles every day until he was six months old.

He got one to two bottles of formula a day as well. At six months – I decided to hang up the horns. Exclusively pumping (meaning, no nursing at the breast) is an arduous task – I describe it as all the work of breastfeeding with none of the beauty of putting a baby to your breast – plus all the work of formula feeding – washing bottles, storing milk, sterilizing nipples.. It was very, very time consuming – and took time away from Jack during those early months of his life. There were times when I questioned if I was making the right decision by continuing to pump. But I wasn’t ready to stop until he hit six months. And even then, I found it emotionally difficult to no longer be providing him with breastmilk. Had we been nursing – I like to think we would have continued well past a year. I don’t know. It will always make me sad that is not part of our story.

I learned a lot from my experience. I learned that breastfeeding CAN go terribly wrong – that it can be really hard – and that doesn’t work out for everybody, even those who really, really want it to. And that judging people who don’t breastfeed is stupid – because you NEVER know somebody’s reasons. (And my sisters, the breastfeeding champs, have learned this too. And changed THEIR attitudes as well.)

My son is now nine months old – and very healthy – and the love of my life. I’d walk on hot coals for him, and I am very proud that I pumped and fed him breastmilk for the first six months of his life.

Alicia Schisler is a writer and television producer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has managed to win a few impressive awards along the way … but her proudest accomplishment by far is the day to day mothering of her much loved and long awaited baby boy, Jack. Alicia can be reached via email at: afschisler@yahoo.com

Childbirth Followed By Mastitis

This post is our third in a series on Mastitis. We have asked three moms to tell us about their experiences. You can see the other two posts here and here.

By Jenny Wiegley

Ten days after giving birth to my daughter, I called my best friend to complain about how sick I felt. I blamed it on the entire box of crackers I’d just eaten, which she agreed hadn’t been the best idea. But long after we’d hung up, I still felt sick. Actually, I felt woozy and dizzy, like I do when I have a fever. So I pulled out the digital thermometer, stuck it in my mouth, and lo and behold—101 degrees.

Figuring it might be an aberration, I got back into bed—the cozy spot from which I had not really moved since birth (given that my baby was sleeping between us in the bed, and didn’t do anything but sleep or nurse). Two hours later, the fever was up to 103, so I called the midwife, fearing the mastitis I’d read about before birth.

My midwife told me that it might just be a plugged duct, and recommended that I stay in bed, nurse frequently, and put warm compresses on my breasts before nursing. There was a smallish lump in my right breast, so I paid extra attention to it. I did NOT want to take antibiotics, since I never react well to them, and didn’t want them passing through my milk into my tiny daughter.

By the middle of the night, it was clear that I did have an infection, as my fever continued to rage. I felt like I had the worst flu I’d ever experienced. Every part of my body ached, I felt like throwing up, and I was completely dizzy and incoherent. I took Tylenol and my midwife phoned in a prescription for an antibiotic. Unfortunately, I’m allergic to Penicillin, the first line of defense for mastitis. It’s the only drug that really works quickly and well for the illness. Instead, I had to settle for the second-choice, another old school antibiotic that must be taken every four hours for two full weeks. Oh, and did I mention it causes extreme stomach upset? Lucky me!
For days I continued to feel terrible, but I kept nursing, nursing, nursing. My little baby was oblivious to the drama, and she ate well and remained very content. I never got out of bed, it seemed—just laid there, popping as much Tylenol as I could, and stuffing down snacks I didn’t even want for every dose of my medicine. As bad as it makes you feel WITH food, I would have certainly been vomiting if I’d taken it on an empty stomach.

What worried me was how I didn’t start feeling better quickly. And the lump in my breast grew larger. Fearing an abscess (which requires surgery, talk about terrifying!), my husband hauled me and the baby into my doctor’s office, where they performed an ultrasound. The doctor said it looked like old-fashioned mastitis, and emphasized what a shame it was that I couldn’t take the best drugs for the infection. Gee, thanks, Doc.

Now, 16 months later, I don’t remember much about my mastitis. I know that it took me a full two weeks to recover, and that it made nursing on the affected breast painful at times, but it really wasn’t so bad. If I hadn’t been so determined to make breastfeeding work, maybe I would have been tempted to give it up. But seeing how happy it made my little newborn to nurse, how could I stop? I made it out of the woods, and by 6-weeks postpartum breastfeeding was the easiest thing in my life! My daughter is still nursing (and still loving it!) at 16 months, and I have no plans to stop until she’s ready.

I did learn something very important from my mastitis—wear a comfortable nursing bra in those early days when the milk comes rushing in! Mine was cheap, and too tight, and I’m certain it put too much pressure on my milk ducts. With the next baby, I’ll know better—but if mastitis comes around again, I know I’ll get through it if I must.

Jenny Wiegley has one daughter and lives in Los Angeles, where she is a practicing attorney. She is fascinated with all aspects of natural birth and parenting and thinks breastfeeding is pretty much the greatest thing ever! You can find her on twitter @quazydellasue.

Did you have mastitis? Do you have any tips or tricks to pass along to new moms? Please share them by leaving a comment at the end of this post.

Experiences Of Mastitis

This post is our second in a series on Mastitis. We have asked three moms to tell us about their experiences. You can see one of the other two posts here and be sure to come back next week for the third!

By Sylvie Foxworthy

When I had my first born nearly 17 years ago I had absolutely no idea that women could suffer from the uncomfortable, painful and debilitating condition that is mastitis.

When my son was just 2 weeks old and feeding very frequently I awoke to find my breast lumpy and inflamed. To add to the worry I also felt as though I was coming down with flu. Headache, sore eyes and the hot and cold shivering of a temperature. My Mum was worried and called the Doctor who, amazingly enough, came to the house to see me. He diagnosed mastitis and prescribed an antibiotic.

Now, all these years later and I am breastfeeding my 4th child who is 15 months old. Thankfully I have learned from experience and many trips to (sometimes ill-informed) doctors that antibiotics are certainly not always necessary.

My 2nd son Leon, now 3, was a difficult baby to feed and I had a dreadfully frightening experience whilst away in Spain with my husband. The circumstances were sad enough. My Father-In-Law had been diagnosed with terminal cancer so this was not a holiday by any stretch of the imagination. As a little treat my sister-in-law paid for me to have a massage in the hotel where we were staying. I was a little apprehensive that morning as Leon had missed a feed. That was my initial mistake. The masseur showed me how to lie on a bench on my stomach with a towel around my breasts. Already I was uncomfortable..my second error!

After the massage my breasts were feeling lumpy and engorged, caused by the missed feed and lying flat down on them. I tried to feed Leon to alleviate the pain and engorgement but he was very restless, probably because of the pressure of the milk in the sore breasts. By that evening I was really ill..my breasts were both inflamed with little red thread veins evident on the surface.

I had a lump in one breast that no amount of feeding would shift. I had a raging temperature and my neck felt like it was locking up. Little did I know that a dose of ibuprofen could have really helped if taken in the early stages! Not speaking any Spanish it was extremely frightening finding a health center and getting medication.

By that time I had no choice but to take antibiotics and was given wrong advice to stop feeding on the lumpy breast. Luckily I instinctively knew this was wrong and carried on feeding although it was agonizingly painful.

Since that very unpleasant experience I have read as much as I can on mastitis and have gotten to the stage where I can recognize the early symptoms and nip it in the bud. Luckily, with Reuben, my latest babe, I have not had one serious bout of mastitis.

I would give all women the following advice although obviously there is a wealth of knowledge out there on the internet.

Firstly, if you feel a lumpy sensation and sometimes pain and/or redness try to carry on feeding as much as possible of the affected side. It often helps to try to position baby so his nose is facing the sore area.

A dose of ibuprofen can help the inflammation and does no harm to the baby although always check with your doctor if unsure. I have had to use my breast pump on occasion if I have a stubborn lump and my baby doesn’t want to nurse.

Most importantly, please do not let the worry or actuality of mastitis put you off breastfeeding. It can easily be remedied and certainly will not always need an antibiotic.

Nothing can beat the satisfaction of helping yourself over mastitis and carrying on with the wonderful and fulfilling joy that is breastfeeding!

Sylvie lives in The United Kingdom with her four children. You can find her on Twitter @Fizzyladyrx8.

Have you had mastitis? What helped you the most? Please share your experiences and advice for other moms!

Homebirth – One Mom’s Magical Journey

By Erin Ely

It’s been 15 years since I had my home birth, wow how time flies. Who would have guessed it would pass so fast. I have two children, Locke my son, who is 19 and Maggie, my home birthed daughter, who is now 15. In order to tell you about my home birth, I first need to give you the background on how I got there.

This is a tale of two births, dramatically different from each other.

I was a “career” woman. I have a Forestry degree and I worked on one of the largest national forests in the Pacific Northwest. While my main job was Forestry related, I also spent many summers fighting forest fires and was on a hotshot fire crew one summer. I was committed to the world of Forestry. I never imagined myself with kids. I did not like kids, really, I never baby sat as a kid and when I would go places, I generally would steer clear of kids. OK I didn’t hate them, I just did not connect to them. I was not a “kid” kind of person.

As a “career” woman, I did not ever imagine that I would have a child and leave my job but, that’s what happened after the birth of my first child, my son Locke. I worked right up to the minute with my first pregnancy with Locke. My water broke at work during the morning and then I had to go home and get ready to go the the hospital for my birth. I called my midwife and said I would stay home until I was in labor, but, it just never came. After holding off as long as possible, late afternoon, I finally went to the hospital. They tried several natural ways to get my labor started but it just was not working. I went through the night with no real signs of labor. Eventually I ended up on pitocin. It seemed like hours of pitocin-induced labor and the minute they took the pitocin away, my labor disappeared. It had been over 30 hours since my water broke, I was exhausted I could not do it anymore and they were ready to take the baby out. At the time, it seemed like there was no way around it, I was exhausted…so my first birth was in the hospital and a c-section.

One thing lead to another. For every action there is a reaction, I was sick from the anesthesia for the c-section so they gave me another drug to fix that, I can barely remember the whole experience I was so drowsy and out of it. After several hours of pitocin, the anesthesia, the drug to stop my nausea, this really affected my ability and the baby’s ability to nurse. After a week in the hospital, I went home with my son, using a nipple shield so he could latch on to nurse. Unbeknown to me, the use of the nipple shield slowly was decreasing my milk supply over time. This happens because your milk ducts do not get the same stimulation, as if you were nursing directly without the shield. Once I got home I could not get my son to latch on without the use of the nipple shield, I was exhausted and he was not getting enough to eat, but I did not know that. Finally after two weeks and a Doctor’s visit, we realized he was not gaining enough weight. The standard prescription was given, give him artificial baby milk and put the baby on a bottle.

I remember thinking to myself, this is just not going to happen, there was something in me that would not go along with that, for some reason I just could not do that.

I called my local La Leche League and went to a meeting. That was my first exposure to nursing toddlers. I was so freaked out by that, I thought I would never go back to another meeting. I eventually ended up meeting one on one with an amazing La Leche League leader who came to my house. Because I did not want to use bottle, she helped set me up with a Supplemental Nursing System (SNS). The SNS is a small bottle that you wear around your neck with two tubes. You put your pumped milk in the bottle and tape one tube to each nipple. The baby latches on to your breast and gets milk from the bottle while learning how to milk your breast at the same time. This also helps stimulate your milk supply. To make this work, I had to pump every two hours round the clock, which I did for several months.

My routine of pumping, setting up the SNS, cleaning it, etc took about an hour, then I would have to do it all over again soon after. While everyone around me was telling me to use the bottle and artificial baby milk, I just could not, it just did not feel right to me. My husband thought I was crazy, my friends thought I was crazy, but it was the way I had to do it. Finally after about 3 months of non-stop pumping and using the SNS, my son was gaining weight and was finally able to nurse on his own without the additional help of the SNS. I was like a zombie during those first three months but I made it to the other side. I was supposed to go back to work when my son was 3 months old, but after all this, there was no way I could leave him with someone else to take care of him. I took an extended leave of absence from my job and after two years, I ended up resigning to be home with my son.

It was my connection to La Leche League that sent me off onto a completely new path. I was so grateful for the help I got, I became very involved with La Leche League. This had to be one of the single biggest influences in my life as a parent, as many of the choices I made about parenting and choosing a homebirth came from my connection to La Leche League.

When my son Locke was 3, I got pregnant with “my Maggie”. I knew before I even got pregnant that I was not going to use a medical doctor for this birth. I found a lay midwife in my area. We are lucky to have several very good lay midwives in our community. I did not see a medical doctor once during my pregnancy. I would go to my midwife appointments and she would talk to me and check my vital signs but not once did she ever give me an internal exam. This was such a different experience. I met her at her home for my appointments. Also, by the way, I was 39 when I had my second child. I had no tests of any kind, no ultra sound, no medical procedures. My pregnancy was great, I never had any problems.

One evening, we were getting ready for dinner and, my water broke. I called my midwife to let her know…but I was not having any labor pains. It seems like the same situation I had before, when I had a c-section. At the time, we lived 15 miles out of town. My midwife and her assistant, came to my house. The evening progressed but my labor did not. I went through the night, off and on with some labor pains, but nothing significant. My midwife gave me some black cohash to help my labor but it just made me sick to my stomach and I threw up.

The night progressed, I slept off and on, but my labor did not. This is starting to sound familiar. During the day, we tired different things, my midwife suggested several positions I could use to help stimulate my labor. I was tired and the day passed, still with no significant progress on my labor and birth. It had been about 24 hours since my water broke and my midwife decided she would go home for a bit, while I was in a very slow, almost non existent state of labor. I was so scared of the pain, that I think mentally I was halting my own labor. Even after one birth this was still unknown territory. When I look back, I realize now, I was afraid and not mentally prepared to give birth “naturally”, so while intellectually, I wanted to do it, subconsciously it was not happening.

I realized that something had to happen, so now that my midwife had gone home for a break, about 30 minutes away from my house, I changed my position and my labor began to progress. I had to call my midwife and she had no sooner arrived home and then had to turn around and come back to my house. Finally, my labor was progressing, I was scared but it was going to happen.

By the time my midwife arrived, I was in a pretty good state of labor, things were progressing, finally I got to the point of pushing. I choose the bathroom, as it was easier to be supported by sitting in an upright position. OK, so I thought I would be able to do this right? The time had come, well, not exactly… my mind again, working against my body. I spent three hours pushing “my Maggie” out. It was sheer will of force that made this finally happen. I pushed Maggie out from a very high position in my cervix and ended up with a 4th degree tear, lots of blood loss and a bit of a woozy feeling, but I was awake, not drugged and Maggie was here.

My midwife was very quick to act, she put me on oxygen, had me laying down and they grabbed the baby and everything was fine. Although at the time, it all seemed normal to me, later I found out that my tear was pretty severe and there was some concern about my loss of blood and bleeding.

Because of my 4th degree tear, I had to go to the hospital to get stitched up. Once everything was taken care of, I was stabilized, the baby was taken care of, we were off to the hospital for the repair of my 4th degree tear. Well, you can only imagine the reception I got when we got to the hospital. I laugh when I think about it now. I know you can read all kinds of horror stories about bad problems after a 4th degree tear, but I never had any problems. I had it stitched up, I took care of myself, healed fine and now 15 years later I have never had a problem.

For me the homebirth was a magical experience. It is something I cannot explain how lucky I feel to have had.

Once we got home with Maggie, everything was so amazing. My breastfeeding went great, Maggie gained plenty of weight, right away. Everything went smoothly. It was like a fairy tale. My son Locke was also there at the birth and we all remember it like yesterday. Once we got home, we all laid in bed with Maggie, the four of us. I did not leave the house for at least two weeks, it was a peaceful time. We took the time to enjoy the experience all four of us together. I have to say it was really one of the most amazing things I have experienced in my life.

My life went in such a different direction following the birth of Locke, both my kids nursed until they were 4.2 years old, we attachment parented, homeschooled and no vaccinations for Maggie. After Locke was born, I became a La Leche League Leader and for 8 years I helped other moms with their breastfeeding. Mother to mother support, the way it works best…passed on from one mom who has experienced successful nursing to another who is just beginning.

Erin lives in Eugene, Oregon with her husband Doug and two children Locke (19) and Maggie (15). In 1992, she left her job of 12 years as a Forester on the Willamette National Forest to be a stay-at-home-mom. For the past 17 years she has been a homeschooler. organic and local food advocate, “professional” volunteer and community and political activist. In 2005 she started a home-based business selling Miessence certified organic products. She also works as an on-site staff member at the annual Bioneers conference. After 16 years of working for corporate America, her husband left his job in October 2008 and they opened Bielefeldt Financial, offering Socially Responsible and Traditional Financial Planning.

Have you ever considered a homebirth? What made you decide to go for one or to choose not to do one? Please share your story by leaving a comment.

Breastfeeding, Exercise And Weight Loss

By Megan Adams

The female body is amazing and powerful. It provides your child with nourishing food for as long as you choose to breastfeed. Planning a nutritious menu day in and day out paired with an ample amount of water gives your body the fuel to do it all. Working out can only help a mother become strong and healthy.

I happened to gain 80 lbs when I was pregnant. Prior to my pregnancy, I maintained a healthy weight by eating healthy and exercising regularly. When I looked online I found several websites claiming that once you start breastfeeding, the weight just drops off. How disappointed I was to find that this was NOT the case with me. Although I did lose about half the weight almost right after giving birth, the rest seemed stick with me. I figured that once I started to work out, the weight would begin to move. I started exercising three months after giving birth; although I was rusty and my muscles were soft, I was back in the game. I found that after a workout (as well as after breastfeeding) I was starving! After a little while, I realized that adding a little extra food in the form of healthy veggies, and drinking more water daily helped me maintain a nourishing diet. I also discovered that my baby didn’t have any reaction to my workouts. She didn’t seem to be affected by lactic acid, or a salty, sweaty Mummy. (I do live in the scalding hot desert so I’m quite sure she was exposed to the sweaty aspect pre-workouts.) I ended up breastfeeding for a year and slowly upped my workouts to five days a week (where I was pre-pregnancy).

My biggest challenge was monitoring my calorie intake.

I was constantly hungry or stuffed, not a good feeling. I began to make sure I got five servings of fruits and/or vegetables a day, which was really the key to success. Any day I skimped on that, I could feel the difference even if I hadn’t worked out. Another rule of thumb is to drink half your body’s weight in ounces of water. For example: if you weight 160 lbs, drink a MINIMUM of 80 oz a day in water.

It is important to realize that your body may hold on to some extra weight to produce healthy breast milk. Refrain from overdoing it and compromising your child’s nutrition so you can feel like your old self. Taking the healthy route has never hurt anyone, although your ego may be compromised; everyone’s body is different. Most importantly, after giving birth and relearning your body’s new functions, working out should be about making YOU a priority. You’re a new mother now, you deserve it!

Megan is mom to a beautiful one year old girl. She lives in Las Vegas where she braves the heat, exercises and enjoys blogging at Wrapstar.us. She has a BA in Philosophy and is currently in training to become a Pilates instructor (which she has been practicing for over four years). You can find Megan on twitter (@Wrapstar) and in the blogosphere at Wrapstar.us.

Another tip from the Mommy News & Views Blog is to invest in a good work-out bra! La Leche League makes a high-impact sports bra that has nursing clips – so you can exercise and take a break to feed your little one along the way. Another tip that we have is to search locally for groups that exercise with their babies – there are lots of stroller-exercises classes and many hospitals or yoga facilities will offer post-baby exercise classes as well.

As part of our World Breastfeeding Week Celebration – we’d like to encourage you to get out there and exercise with your baby! To do this, we are offering 15% off of our La Leche League High Impact Sports Bra for one week only (offer expires August 14th). Just use coupon code “EXERCISE” and you will automatically save!

Did you exercise while breastfeeding? What tips can you share with our readers? We’d love to hear your stories!

How Breastfeeding Changed My Life

WELCOME Carnival of Breastfeeding Readers!!

I always knew that I would breastfeed. When I was in college, I spent a semester studying in Kenya and I remember seeing all of the moms there carrying their babies on their backs while they did their work and breastfeeding. I always thought that would be me. I never imagined, however, how much breastfeeding and becoming a mother would change my life!

Even when I was pregnant, I never imagined staying home with my son. I always thought I would be dying to go back to work once the baby came. I never could have imagined how I would pass my day “just at home” with my baby. Even in my “Kenyan dreams” I always imagined going back to work with my baby on my back and never letting becoming a mom change anything – I would just work and carry and feed my baby. Of course, in my “real world” bringing my baby to work wasn’t an option. I had planned to take three months off, but figured I would be very eager to go back to work once the time was over.

BOY WAS I WRONG!

I cried for a whole week before going back to work. I couldn’t imagine being away from my baby and having someone else care for him! I actually ended up taking four months of maternity leave, not the three that I had originally planned.

Well, one week shy of four months, I went back to work. I started on a Monday (if I had to do that over, I would definitely start mid-week!) and it was a tough week. I was breastfeeding, and my son was a nibbler, so I had to pump often. My son nursed every hour during the day, but I couldn’t pump that often, so I pumped every two hours at work. That was FOUR TIMES a day! It was stressful and difficult, but I did it. I missed my son, I missed my “other life” that I had established while I was out on maternity leave. It was full of play dates and mommy groups! I lived vicariously through my nanny who went to all of the play dates and support groups in my place!

I lasted until my son was 15 months old. I had pretty high-profile corporate job which required long hours in the office and lots of out-of-town travel. I was lucky that my nanny was willing to travel with me – so for most of my business trips, I took her and my baby with me. It was a lot of work for all of us and after 15 months, I decided that I wanted to spend more time with my son. I had been exploring other “career options” and even went on a few job interviews. I was still breastfeeding, although only pumping once per day by this point. My son and I had a very difficult time getting started with breastfeeding and ultimately I decided that I wanted to find a way to help other new moms be successful at breastfeeding.

When my son was 15 months old, I left my corporate job and stayed home for 4 months. During those first four months I enjoyed every minute with my son! I didn’t even think about my new career yet – I went to mommy groups and play dates and took my son to his music lessons and swim lessons and the park and the zoo and everything else you can imagine. I just enjoyed being a mom!!

Then in January of 2007, after the holidays were over, I started formulating my business idea. And four months later, A Mother’s Boutique officially opened for business!! I love my job and the time that it gives me with my family! I love helping new moms! I write articles and participate in breastfeeding support groups. In October of 2008, I started this blog to be able to give back even more to moms everywhere! It has been a wonderful journey!

How did breastfeeding change your life? What things did you imagine? And what parts took you by surprise? My journey has taken to places I never dreamed I would be – both personally and professionally. I’d love to hear more about yours!

Thanks for visiting the Carnival of Breastfeeding for May! Take a look at these other great blogs and their posts which are part of this carnival (this list will be updated throughout the day)! Please leave us a comment to share your stories too!!

• Strocel: The Story Of Hannah’s Weaning
• Laura’s Blog: Weaning A Toddler
• Stepping Off The Spaceship: Life Death And Nourishment
• So Fawned: Sticking With It: Our Breastfeeding Story
• And All That Sazz: Flying Breastmilk
• GrudgeMom: Breastfeeding Failures and Success
• Baby Carriers Down Under: Kandy
• Massachusetts Friends of Midwives: Ben’s story: The best breastfeeding advice, from the least likely source
• Blisstree: Breastfeeding 1-2-3: The “I Told You So”
• Chronicles of a Nursing Mom: Breastfeeding is not easy but is definitely best for baby
• Breastfeeding Mums Blog: Breastfeeding Made Me The Mother I Am
• Motherwear’s Breastfeeding Blog: Story week post #1: “They said the latch was fine.”
• The Towells: For Women in My Situation
• Zen Mommy: Celebrating my chest, in honor of breastfeeding
• Breastfeeding Moms Unite: Can Early Piublic Breastfeeding Sightings Shape One’s Future Breastfeeding Practices?
• Blacktating: Nursing in Public
• Crystal Gold: A Found Memory

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