Breastfeeding/Chestfeeding Archives - Bare Birth

Breastfeeding Challenges or Concerns

Amanda Hilton — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 04:19:26 +0000

Breastfeeding Challenges & Concerns

Early Problems: How to Avoid + How to Heal Potential Problems

Engorgement

The Basics

hard, painful, swollen breasts – ouch!
may initially present between days 3-5 post birth when milk transitions from lower volume colostrum to higher volume mature milk
can reoccur when this is a mismatch between milk production & milk removal

The Causes

early postpartum engorgement happens due to an increase in blood & lymph fluid to support mature milk production
may begin to feel overly full when milk is not being moved (by baby or expressing) at regular intervals
skipping feeds
skipping pumps
baby sleeps for a longer stretch
inability to remove milk

The Treatments

ice to reduce swelling
lymph massage to move fluid
reverse pressure softening: pressing around the areola gently to disperse fluid
warm shower may help to soften tissue
hand expressing to get milk flowing & soften the breasts
get baby feeding often & well
avoid long stretches between feeds or pumps
keep the milk moving!

Low Milk Supply

The Basics

motto: must move milk to make milk
everyone has different amounts of milk making cells (glandular tissue) & milk refill rates
milk is made on a demand & supply basis
1st milk is colostrum: a specially formulated, low volume milk for a newborn’s tiny tummy
most people don’t feel flowing milk until it transitions on day 3-5 after birth (see Engorgement above)

The Causes

mature milk may be delayed in a cesarean or complicated birth
if milk is not removed with a baby or a pump frequently, your body gets the signal to downregulate milk production
if the milk cells are constantly full of milk, your brain receives signals to stop making milk
dehydration – your body needs water to make milk
hormonal concerns like PCOS may impede the hormonal component to making milk
previous breast surgery (reduction) may affect the milk ducts or tissue
insufficient glandular tissue means a lack of milk making cells
introducing bottles of formula before milk supply is established may fill your baby up and reduce their amount of feeds

The Treatments

move the milk – at least 8-12x/24 hours
offer dinner & dessert at each feed (both sides)
ensure baby is latching properly & actually removing milk
work with a lactation consultant to boost supply with special pumping/feeding schedules designed to stimulate production
galactagogues: foods, herbs & medications that can increase supply
supplementing with donor milk or formula to feed your baby while working on your supply

Sore Nipples

The Basics

usually presents a few days after a baby starts latching
look for signs of improper latch before pain starts: nipples may be creased or look like a lipstick
improper feeding/pumping may lead to bleeding or bruising on the nipples
may also happen when pumping is initiated and not done correctly

The Causes

#1 reason is an improper latch
poor positioning may make a good latch difficult
oral restrictions like tongue or lip ties can contribute
pumping too vigorously, too long or with ill fitting flanges
infections like thrush can be painful in the nipples as well

The Treatments

fix the latch
release oral restrictions if necessary to attain a good latch
soothe the nipples
lanolin cream for moist wound healing on the nipple
your own milk is very healing so let it drip on your nipples
silver nipple shields may heal & prevent infection on wounded nipples

Mastitis Inflammation Spectrum

The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine released newly updated mastitis protocol guidelines in 2022. The inflammation spectrum is broken down into 3 categories, outlined below.

Swollen Milk Ducts

The Basics

low level inflammation causes swelling & narrowing of the milk ducts
may feel sore, small lumps
very localized

The Causes

oversupply of milk
disrupted breast microbiome

The Treatments

ice & anti-inflammatories
no massage, heat or trying to remove “plugged ducts” (it is not a plug of milk)

Mastitis

The Basics

breast tissue is infected
systemic flu-like symptoms: pain, fever, body aches
may see red streaks on the infected breast/chest tissue
very sore & painful on the infected side

The Causes

oversupply of milk
disrupted breast microbiome

The Treatments

ice & anti-inflammatories
feed or hand express to keep milk moving
do not overstimulate the infected side
milk is still fine for baby
downregulate milk supply
work with microbiome to rebalance healthy bacteria

Bacterial Mastitis

The Basics

breast tissue is infected
systemic with flu-like symptoms: pain, fever, body aches
may see red streaks on the infected breast/chest tissue
very sore & painful on the infected side
not resolving within 24-48 hours with treatment

The Causes

oversupply of milk
disrupted breast microbiome

The Treatments

ice & anti-inflammatories
feed or hand express to keep milk moving
do not overstimulate the infected side
milk is still fine for baby
downregulate milk supply
work with microbiome to rebalance healthy bacteria
may add in antibiotics per healthcare provider’s advice

Milk Making Resources

Support for all stages of your lactation journey is available in many different platforms.

PODCASTS:

The Milk Minute
The Badass Breastfeeder
Spilling the Milk
Breastfeeding Outside the Box
The Boob Group

WEBSITES:

BOOKS:

Work Pump Repeat by Jessica Shortall
Latch by Robin Kaplan
Boobin’ All Day, Boobin’ All Night by Meg Nagle

APPS:

LactRx for medications
Medela Family Baby Tracker
iLet Down
Latch ME
Breastfeeding Solutions

The post Breastfeeding Challenges or Concerns appeared first on Bare Birth.

Tattoos + Making Milk

Amanda Hilton — Sat, 06 May 2023 00:16:41 +0000

Can I get a tattoo while Breastfeeding?

The Naked Truth: Tattoos + Making Milk

Just like every other decision we make for ourselves during the perinatal period; that glass of wine, eating soft cheese and sushi, continuing to run during pregnancy, hiring a doula, postpartum visitors and on and on, the decision is yours. The short answer is hell yes! The longer answer is for you to weigh your options and then make the decision that is best for you.

I am obviously biased because I am a milk enthusiast + an ink enthusiast. I breastfed my 3 children for a combined 12 years and I have over 20 tattoos, many of them acquired during lactation. That’s a lot of milk & a lot of ink! I did my own research (spoiler alert: there isn’t a lot), and made my own decisions.

What is in a tattoo?

The truth is that there are still unknowns when it comes to tattoo safety & lactation. What we do know is that body modifications including scarring, tattooing, piercing & branding have been performed worldwide for the past 5000 years.

Tattoos are created by injecting ink into the 2nd layer of the skin, the dermis, with needles where it gets trapped. What actually traps it you might wonder? A study from 2019, complete with tattooed mouse tails, looked at why ink persists in this skin layer despite constant skin cell rejuvenation.

Macrophages, white blood cells regulated by the immune system, actually eat up the tattooed pigment, technically known as phagocytosis, thus keeping it trapped in place. When that white blood cell – the tattooed macrophage if you will – dies, it then transfers it’s pigment into the newer one, thus your design lives on forever.

Anyone with older tattoos knows that there is a certain amount of fading over the years; apparently your immune system is working really hard to break down that tattoo over time – trying to undo some of the mistakes your mom warned you about in the first place.

Inks used for tattoos are regulated by the FDA, but are not approved for injection under the skin and they can contain heavy metals. There are also synthetic and vegan inks for tattoo artists to choose from. It is not definitively known if it is harmful to humans or not, but ink particles have also been collected from lymph nodes and have been observed in the liver inside special cells that remove toxic substances.

Most concerns center around the ink molecules passing into milk and then onto baby. Even though most of your tattoo ink stays walled off, it is presumed that some ink at the time of tattooing is whisked away by your immune cells trying to clean up the colorful invaders, and there is some evidence that it may migrate in tiny particles to lymph nodes and livers which means it is being carried in the blood.

Milk Making 101: human milk is made from your blood

During tattoo removal, lasers break down the ink pigments which are fragmented and filtered out by the immune system. The particles are considered too big to pass into the breastmilk which would hold true during the placement as well. So even if we have some rogue ink particles floating in our blood, they are not necessarily making it into the milk supply.

Tattoo Safety

We do know that anybody receiving a tattoo, lactating or not, should seek out a reputable studio/artist that uses Universal Precautions. These include: proper hand washing, wearing gloves, sterilizing the tattoo machine/needles, using single use inks, cups & bagging the machine to avoid cross contamination. Sadly, I can’t say my first tattoo dude 30 years ago on Venice Beach followed these guidelines.

Proper aftercare protocol to reduce wound infections and boost healing is always recommended – always follow your artist’s aftercare instructions that could include keeping the wound clean by washing with warm water + soap, keeping it covered while it heals and possibly using a topical ointment.

Risk of serious infection when breastfeeding is a concern so minimizing risk is best practice for you and your baby. Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV are blood-born illnesses that can be passed through your milk to your baby, but the risks of actually contracting these during safe tattoos is almost non-existent. Ensure you are in a licensed studio with an artist practicing Universal Precautions.

It is also usually recommended that you give your body time to recover from birth and wait 9-12 months before getting inked. Let that healing happen first!

La Leche League International Guidelines on Tattooing

Full Disclosure

The reality is that we don’t have any concrete evidence to prove it’s safety or dangers. You will have to weight the pros and cons for yourself, your body & your baby. You have to own this decision just like every other one you have made thus far.

Your tattooist might have strict protocols though. Blanket recommendations to avoid many things during pregnancy and lactation abound, regardless of hard evidence to avoid it, and body modifications are no different. Most professionals will err on the side of caution when it comes to tiny babies.

Fair warning: Every tattoo consent form that I have ever signed asks if you are pregnant and if you are breastfeeding.

This is a conversation between you & your artist.

Click here for a breastfeeding tattoo artist’s perspective on the pros and cons including logistics like placement & pumping.

Final thoughts:

It’s your skin.
That slow, deep birth breathing is a really useful pain-coping tool during tattoos.
Even if you decide to wait until your baby has weaned, it will happen one day, and then you can resume inking.
If you plan to get pregnant again, maybe a few well time tattoos between gestations would be wise.

The post Tattoos + Making Milk appeared first on Bare Birth.

Birth & Breastfeeding Podcasts

Amanda Hilton — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 01:51:07 +0000

Birth & Breastfeeding Podcasts

Awesome Podcasts to Boost Knowledge & Skills

The following podcasts are full of evidence based information, a variety of birth & parenting experiences and are an awesome way to learn on the go (or during that 2 am feeding) from professionals and other parents. Enjoy!

Breastfeeding/Chestfeeding

The post Birth & Breastfeeding Podcasts appeared first on Bare Birth.

Benefits of Breastfeeding

Amanda Hilton — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 03:27:47 +0000

Benefits of Human Milk

Breastfeeding - Chestfeeding - Bodyfeeding

The American Academy of Pediatrics updated their recommendations to reflect the idea that breastfeeding beyond the first year should be the norm. At the very least, it shouldn’t be chastised if parents are continuing to feed into the toddler years.

This isn’t a new concept. The World Health Organization has been recommending biologically normal feeding for a long time, and before they were setting standards, mom-baby dyads have been figuriging it out for millenia. Here is the basic breakdown :

0-6 months: only human milk
6-12 months: continue with milk as the primary source of nutrition while introducing complementary foods
12-24 months: keep on keeping on, toddlers feed much less frequently than younger babies, they are busy exploring the world
beyond the 2nd birthday: biological weaning usually happens sometime in the near future (read next few years) if you let children wean themselves
the reality is that every family will decide what works best for them

If you’re still with me after talking about toddlers with teeth on your boob, good on ya! You do you; whether you chestfeed for hours, days, months or years, way to feed your baby.

Breastfeeding/chestfeeding looks different in every family. There is no one right way to do it. It could look like:

Straight from the Source
Exclusively Pumped Milk in Bottles
Using Syringes, Cups or Spoons (typically when baby is learning or having challenges)
Combo Body + Bottle
Using Donor Milk
Human Milk + Formula
Going with the Flow (taking it one feed at a time)

Perfect Nutrition

Human milk is a living fluid that is constantly changing to meet the needs of your baby.

Human milk contains:

water (mostly)
more than 1,000 proteins
more than 20 amino acids
carbohydrates
5 types of antibodies
oligosaccharides (prebiotics)

vitamins
minerals
live cells
stem cells
over 40 enzymes
more than 200 complex sugars

other immune cells
hormones
growth factors
gene regulators
+ flavors of the food you eat just to mix it up a bit

Benefits for Babies

decreases respiratory and ear infections
less diarrhea, gut infection & bowel disease
lowers risk of asthma, atopic dermatitis & eczema
protects against SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)
less risk of developing Type 1 diabetes & obesity
boosts brain development
comforting & warm

Bonus Benefits

Your milk is always the right temperature straight from your body.
Travels well for meals on the go.
Don’t have to prepare anything or wash up after. That includes your breasts!
Human milk contains flavors from your diet so your baby’s palette is exposed to a variety of flavor profiles.
It is more than just food – you & baby both release feel good chemicals when feeding.
Your evening milk contains melatonin – mother nature has you covered because your baby doesn’t produce their own for a while.

Benefits for Adults

assists with postpartum recovery
decreases risk of osteoporosis & arthritis
decreases breast & ovarian cancer risk
decreases risk of Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure & heart disease
comforting & connecting

The post Benefits of Breastfeeding appeared first on Bare Birth.

Pumping Milk

Amanda Hilton — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 03:17:11 +0000

The Ins & Outs of Pumping Milk

How, When, Where & with What

There are many different ways to get milk out of your breast; a baby, hand expression, a simple hand pump, silicone pumps, single electric pump, double electric pump, hands-free pumps and hospital grade pumps.

Your needs will determine your pumping equipment & frequency. A parent who spends a few hours away from their baby periodically vs. a parent that is separated for a full work day will have different pumping styles & schedules.

Let’s dissect the different ways to get milk out.

Hand Expression

Hand expression just means using your own hands to massage the milk down and out. It is an awesome skill to have, especially in the 1st few days after birth when you might experience engorgement. It is also useful to know how to effectively get your milk out if you don’t have a baby or pump handy. (pun intended)

Many birth providers recommend harvesting colostrum daily from 37 weeks on and collecting the drops if there are any. Volumes vary – they range from not seeing milk, maybe just a glisten on your nipple, a few drops or more than a few drops. Colostrum is thick and there is only a small amount so it doesn’t just flow.

This is not an indicator of future milk production at all. This is really good practice and it’s not about the collection, it’s about connecting with your body in a new way.

Hand expression can be used alone or in conjunction with a pump to possibly yield more milk so practice, practice, practice.

Hospital Pumping

Hospital grade pumps are super effective, double electric pumps that are available in hospital if your lactation consultant recommends one. Pumping within the 1st few hours or days after birth can be utilized if your baby is separated from you, is struggling to feed or you are exclusively pumping your milk.

Occasional Pumping

If you want to offer your baby a bottle periodically, then a hand pump could be all you need. They are compact, only use your hand power, pump one side at a time and are usually sufficient to pump enough milk for infrequent bottles. Oftentimes, you can pump directly into the bottle you will feed from, remove the flange, pop the feeding nipple on and it’s ready to go.

It isn’t a bad idea to have a few of these portable, power-free, inexpensive pumps stashed in places like your work desk or car, just in case you need to pump without power.

Sidenote: If you have sensitive wrists, this might not be the best choice for you.

Daily Pumping

If you are pumping daily to replace a feed, do yourself a favor and use an electric pump; a single or double pump could both be useful, but the double pump, expresses both breasts at the same time which is a true time saver.

You can also pump simultaneously as your baby feeds to streamline the process. Practice feeding & pumping separately first before you attempt to double up.

Separation Pumping

If you will be separated from your baby for hours daily, a good quality, double electric pump & frequent pumping schedule will maintain milk supply and ensure your little one is still fed.

Navigating working and pumping needs a supportive environment and cooperation from co-workers. Most work settings legally must provide time, privacy & power to pump. Planning & prepping before you actually get back to work is optimal. Work, Pump, Repeat by Jessica Shortall is an invaluable resource for working-pumping parents.

Pumping 101

Getting Started, Frequency, Milk Stash, Hand Expression

Playlist

13 Videos