When my oldest daughter was 18 months old, she got chickenpox. She had it very mild, only 10 pimples all over her body, but one of them was right inside her mouth. When she was breastfeeding, the milk stung her little mouth (breast milk has antibiotic properties); it hurt her so much that she didn’t want to breastfeed anymore. So she gave it up suddenly. Within a few hours, she went from everything to nothing. She spent a couple of…
It’s the time of Christmas, holidays, and New Year celebrations, and many of you will see family and friends, go to parties, get-togethers, and other celebrations. But are you ready for what’s to come? It makes no difference whether you are a breastfeeding or bottle-feeding mother, bring your baby in a sling, baby carrier, pram, or stroller. When you go to meals, engagements, and celebrations with a baby that inevitably becomes the center of attention, it’s difficult not to receive…
The supplemental nursing system (SNS) is relatively unknown until you need it. We receive many consultations on using a supplemental nursing system (SNS) as a supplementation method during breastfeeding. When we think of a system to supplement milk to a baby, the first thing that comes into mind is usually a baby bottle. So, we have talked in another article about the different types of supplementation methods, and today, we focus on the supplemental nursing system (SNS) and answer the…
For babies, the association between sucking (the breast) and sleep is very powerful. Breastfeeding is so much more for them than just eating and falling asleep with breastfeeding is ideal for them. Sucking gives them pleasure, relaxation, and well-being, and that means they fall asleep quickly and effectively. But then, as they grow up and for different reasons, mothers may feel the need for night weaning or have to wean them at night. And then, depending on the age of…
What is subacute mastitis? We are often contacted by women who, for days or weeks (or even months!), have had a stinging feeling in their nipple, especially at the beginning of the feed and right after it. Sometimes, there is also pain in the breast and a prickling feeling that moves towards the ribs. The nipples are often pinker than usual, and, in some cases, milk blisters or wounds appear that don’t heal or that come and go. All these…
Official maternal and child health guidelines for protecting and promoting breastfeeding recommend maintaining breastfeeding along with complementary food for a minimum of two years. But what happens at this stage? Few mothers know that there is one more hurdle to overcome. More and more mothers reach this milestone in breastfeeding, and then, to their surprise, at two years of the child’s age, awaits the last, unexpected, and final breastfeeding crisis, in what we call the two year breastfeeding crisis. This…
One day, we posted a picture on our social media page. It was a little bottle with breast milk, and we asked what color the milk was. Is breast milk white? Who would doubt if milk is white, the sky is blue, the grass is green, and the sun is yellow? Well, sometimes breast milk is not white, and we are not only talking about colostrum, which always has that spectacular yellow to orange color. We are talking about breast…
Many mothers talk about a breastfeeding crisis at 5 or 6 months of the baby’s life. It has taken some time to understand this crisis, which does not appear in manuals and happens almost exclusively with an exaggerated increase in demand for night feeds. We have already talked about the 3-month breastfeeding crisis and the developmental leap at 4 months (also called sleep “regression”), where most babies go through a so-called breastfeeding crisis. Babies start to sleep less at night,…
Many breastfeeding mothers are afraid that they are running out of milk. After ending their lactation journey they wonder: how long will I have breast milk? But the surprise comes when breast milk is still produced months or even years after stopping breastfeeding. The mammary gland is created to ensure the nutrition of the baby, and the body does not allow for stopping breast milk production suddenly unless a particular medication is taken or if the mother suffers from severe…
What is tandem breastfeeding? This practice is getting more and more common and out of the tabu zone and refers to breastfeeding two children of different ages. In this article, we answer the most asked questions about it. Remember that you can always send us more questions, and we will happily answer! Do I have to take any special precautions? Most mothers are worried that the older child will “take” the milk away from the younger baby, and some mothers…