Mama's Milk, No Chaser

Engorgement: Just Keep Cool (Cabbage Leaves On Hand)

hollymilkowski March 17, 2016

Via drgreene.com

It’s pretty sucky when you’re up to your armpits in swollen milk machinery, none of your clothes fit, and your boobs suddenly feel like they might actually burst open as if they, too, overindulged in too much Easter feasting the day prior (ugh, when will they start making nursing bras out of stretchy pants?).

I had oversupply, and would wake up many mornings for months so engorged that I could see my milk ducts rippling through the taut skin, totally horror flick style. The problem was exacerbated during my four months -long pumping stint, which tricked my body into scrambling to provide for MaiTai’s nonexistent twin, or so it felt convinced. And so, every day it made sure my milk-makers were stretched out to wazoo. It defied the laws of physics, really.

Colic in the Breastfed Baby

hollymilkowski March 12, 2016

Via mybabyneedthis.com

Preparing Big Sibling For a Baby

hollymilkowski March 3, 2016

Not too many weeks after the positive pregnancy test, we told MaiTai he was going to be a big brother.

We wondered if he even knew what it meant to be a brother… to have a brother or sister… or even the differences between himself at not quite three years old and a newborn baby, much less one in a womb. He knows what a womb is, right?

We had a lot of work to do! Or so I thought.

It’s OK to Love Your Pregnant Body

hollymilkowski February 29, 2016

You are interesting. You carry a mystery, an unexplained power, a blessing that gets bigger every day. Do you not see the way you evoke turned heads with that package of life centered right on your body, one that might feel fragile to you, or burdensome with its new demand for constant responsibility and attention?

Have you forgotten (or have you ever really considered what it means) that “a woman’s body is the first environment”?

I tell myself this now…

But almost four years ago as a first-time mother, I couldn’t appreciate the changes in my body during three trimesters’ worth of pregnancy and the fourth trimester postpartum.

In Pregnancy When My Breasts Dried Their Milk Tears

hollymilkowski February 21, 2016

Alright. It’s time I write about this.

About being tired of breastfeeding.

So tired I was hating it. So tired… and no longer looking forward to it. How could all of me feel like “I love him and I love this” and “I don’t want this to stop yet,” but at the same time all of me worried about feelings of “I hate this.”

I wanted to feel normal again; I wanted to feel my breasts cry of milk instead of pain.

Maternity in Photos & Words

hollymilkowski February 15, 2016

“The life of a mother is the life of a child: you are two blossoms on a single branch.”

– Karen Maezen Miller

What Breastfeeding Isn’t

hollymilkowski February 7, 2016

Often I see this normal form of infant feeding and child comforting compared to farting, losing one’s bowel functions in public, pedophilia, a cry for attention, or a number of other things that are definitely not breastfeeding. So here’s a little reminder for those of you who are still confused about what breastfeeding actually is.

Let’s Stop Defending Ourselves With “Nothing Was Even Showing!”

hollymilkowski February 4, 2016

I hear it all the time — women defending themselves for breastfeeding in public. Adamant that they deserve to feed their babies whenever and wherever needed, they say: “It’s not like you could see anything! Nothing was even showing!”

Great, but if you could see ‘something’… or if it had been ‘showing’… so what? Is it truly a valid defense for nursing a child in non-private situations?

Infant Feeding Today Pt. 4: Help With Mixed Feedings

hollymilkowski February 2, 2016

Via NancyMohrbacher.com

Can You Supplement with Cow, Goat, Soy or Nut-Derived Milk?
Homemade Formula
Formula Supplementing Help

**Also read Part One (Why Isn’t Every Baby Breastfed?), Part Two (Cow-Made, Man-Made, or Mother-Made?), and Part Three (Making a Baby-Friendly Culture Amid formula Marketing) of this series.**

Mixed Feedings

One of THE most important things to remember for those who are struggling to meet the recommendations for mama milk exclusivity: Breastfeeding does NOT have to be ‘all or nothing.’ If you cannot breastfeed but can express some breast milk, some is better than none for as long as you can. If you’re a full-time working mom who cannot nurse on the breast very often, it will help to breastfeed when you can, even if it’s only at night to put your baby to sleep, or only on the weekend to mostly dry-nurse, or something in between.

Infant Feeding Today Pt. 3: Making a Baby-Friendly Culture Amid Formula Marketing

hollymilkowski February 2, 2016

From ‘Talkabout Baby’ by Ladybird Books, via sianuska.blogspot.com

THE TRUTH ABOUT FORMULA MARKETING

What Formula Companies Want You to Believe

MAKING A BABY-FRIENDLY CULTURE

Can You Support Formula Feeders and Fight Formula Marketing?

**Also check out Part One (Why Isn’t Every Baby Breastfed?) and Part Two (Cow-Made, Man-Made, or Mother-Made?) of this series.**

The Truth About Formula Marketing

Formula companies literally spend billions of dollars every year on marketing, which means it’s a really, really, really ingenious kind of marketing. If you don’t think their advertising practices are ‘so bad,’ that’s because they worked — they are, in fact, so good.

Infant Feeding Today Pt. 2: Cow-Made, Man-Made, or Mother-Made?

hollymilkowski February 1, 2016

Via Danielle Page (@TheVeganPage) on Twitter

COW-MADE, MAN-MADE, OR MOTHER-MADE?

Under the Microscope
Moo Milk vs. Mom’s Milk
Modern Formula vs. Human Milk

TOXINS IN INFANT FORMULA

**Also check out Part One (Why Isn’t Every Baby Breastfed?) and Part Three (Making a Baby-Friendly Culture Amid Formula Marketing) of this series.**

Cow-Made, Man-Made, or Mother-Made?

“Although most doctors avoid saying so, out of fear of alienating some clients, formula-fed babies are generally less healthy than breastfed babies. The cognitive development of babies fed formula doesn’t equal that of those who are breastfed. Breast milk protects against disease and promotes optimal brain growth. Formula does neither of these things.” – Kathleen Huggins, The Nursing Mother’s Guide to Weaning

There we go again: formula is not an equivalent substitute to breast milk, it’s just a good alternative. The only breast milk I’ve ever tasted is my own and I’ve been doing just fine (I think?) in my adult life as a previously formula-fed baby. So when I say a “good” alternative, I don’t secretly mean a “poisonous” one.

Infant Feeding Today Pt. 1: Why Isn’t Every Baby Breastfed?

hollymilkowski January 31, 2016

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Photo Credit: Getty Images/Tom Merton

In this series you’ll find information about formula and other milks commonly given to young children, presented as may be relevant to breastfeeding mothers and their babies. This is, after all, a site speaking mainly to mothers who wish to learn about breastfeeding.

I hope I don’t come across as a breastfeeding snob, as this is not a formula-user bashing blog. No one can guarantee that I won’t be a formula feeder myself one day, or that I wasn’t one in a past life… And I myself was a 100% formula baby. I was made from the stuff.

We’ve all heard “breast is best,” but some of us would still be hard-pressed to name all the benefits of breast milk over artificial milk if randomly questioned. Many women admit they didn’t breastfeed simply because they weren’t aware of much difference between human milk and artificial milk, and many say they wish they had tried — if only they’d known.

According to the most recent numbers, lots of mothers do supplement with formula or cow milk or at some point switch to them entirely. As such, a discussion about these alternatives as used by breastfeeding mothers is an unavoidable one.

The Lowdown on Low Milk Supply and/or Slow Letdown

hollymilkowski January 25, 2016

Image text by Emma Pickett, IBCLC. Drawn by Estelle Morris. Via emmapickettbreastfeedingsupport.com.

Everyone wonders. Many are convinced.

Around the time of milk regulation when the breasts feel like they’ve turned into empty pita pockets seemingly overnight, the world shudders with populations of postpartum nursing women who cry in atonement for whatever sin caused their sudden lactational failure.

But are you sure you REALLY have low supply?

Don’t Let a Breast Lump Turn You Into a Grump!

hollymilkowski January 20, 2016

Via Etsy.com

I know, an extra bump in the lady lumps can be annoying! And confusing. Or worrisome. Painful even!

But before jumping to conclusions (and the medicine cabinet), it’s important to first determine what the lump truly is. An abscess? A plugged duct? Something more serious? Your health provider can give you a diagnosis and treatment options, but most of the time lumps found during breastfeeding can be resolved without a trip to the doctor.

Read on to find out more…

Taming the Thrush Monster

hollymilkowski January 18, 2016

Once you’ve heard of thrush, trust me — you’ll know it when it finds you.

Feeling the drag of what must be broken glass shards from the top of your breast, downward and heavy through the bottom to the release of letdown? That’s thrush.

The experience of seeming white-hot razor blades slicing round and round your areola in sickening circular motion as baby nurses? That also can be thrush.

Seizing up with dread before every feed, knowing (and sweating bullets over) the least pain that might come, and imagining the worst that could, and that sometimes does come? Well, that too is a hand-walker with thrush.