Giselle Bundchen breastfeeding

[caption id="attachment_2338" align="alignleft" width="150"] Giselle Bundchen breastfeeding her one year old[/caption]

 

I came across this image of Giselle Bundchen breastfeeding her 1 yr old. The article (link below) goes on about the usual argument of reality. Of course she has the luxury of having lots of people to help her. And good on her.
I like that she is a celebrity breastfeeding. We all know that celebrities have influence on huge on trends and choices people make- rightly or wrongly, but it's a fact.
I am hopeful that there will be more of this in the public eye to normalise breastfeeding and make assistance and support more readily available and acceptable. Any breastfeeding is good. As we educate not only women, but men too, about breastfeeding and how it works, we will achieve more women feeling like they have successfully breastfed their child or children for as long as it works for them. With understanding and knowledge we can achieve better experiences with breastfeeding for more individuals.


 

http://startwithmom.com/article-gisele-bundchen-rebrands-breastfeeding

Little known Breastfeeding Facts for success

[caption id="attachment_2306" align="alignleft" width="150"] Breastfeeding secrets of lactation consultants[/caption]

 

Most babies will feed very soon after birth and it goes very well.
Probably the most confusing thing for parents particularly, is that after the first feed sometimes it can seem like your baby doesn’t know what to do and can’t find the nipple again. Your baby may cry, get on the nipple, come off, cry again, move his or head mouth over, on, around the nipple, come off , cry and repeat a number of times.
For us looking on, it can be a bit frustrating. We think “ just get on, you are on it, just close your mouth and suck”.

This is all normal behaviour and is just your baby imprinting on the nipple, finding his or her way to the nipple, co –ordinating the suck and generally just imprinting into his or her brain abut feeding. The important thing is to be patient and let your baby go through this. He or she will get it again. If you try to force it by pushing your baby’s head onto the nipple it won’t work. Your baby will push back against what ever is touching the back of his or her head. Support the head if you need to but never force them.
Most babies don’t like the back of their head being touched . In fact most people don’t like the back of their head being push so it is easy to understand .
Often during this time a lot of babies will move their head back and just look at their mother, at the world around them and generally take it in. This is another time when I see a lot of parents be impatient and think something is wrong. It is not wrong, just your baby getting a handle on thing around him or her. Let your baby look around, do their thing and within a few minutes they will usually look for a feed again.
Sometimes, your baby will try to feed, get frustrated, have a little sleep and then wake up after 30-120 seconds and look for the nipple again. All this is normal. Sometimes they may have a little sleep a couple of times and then wake up and have a try. In normal circumstances this is normal and will pass. Sometimes it may take up to 20 minutes of on and off , looking around to get on, this is all normal especially if your baby was crying and distressed for quite some time before the feed.
Allow baby to bob his head around on your nipple. It may take him a little while to get there, but if he can do it himself , he will achieve a much better latch usually. Everyone needs to be patient at this time and allow your baby time to do his or her thing. If we take the pressure off around feeding for your baby, it usually helps it go much smoother.

Patience is key for breaastfeeding success.

Tongue tie and newborn feeding care

Tongue tie

 

Tongue tie is a relatively common occurrence in babies and adults.  It is often a family thing with either mum or dad having a tongue tie also.

 

After a long time where health practitioners didn’t really give much thought or credence to tongue tie and some of the challenges it can provide, we are thankfully knowing more about it and also taking action to help those for whom it causes discomfort.

 

Very broadly there are 2 types of tongue tie-

Anterior tie-  can see tight frenulum ( bit of skin in the centre underneath the tongue ) under tongue – often has a heart shaped tip.

Posterior tie- not so easy to identify – back of tongue is bunched or elevated.  When baby cries  tongue tip is up. Usually baby can’t extend tongue over bottom lip.

What to do with a tongue tie??

Anterior tie- can get it snipped by someone skilled in this . It is a simple procedure that takes a few seconds. In some cases the frenulum is embedded in the tongue making it difficult to snip.  This makes it a much more complicated intervention than a simple snip.
Posterior tie- there is nothing to snip.

 
We don’t always automatically snip a tongue tie.  We generally only snip a tongue tie in the case of breastfeeding when it causes poor latch for the baby and pain and damage to the nipple for the mother.  When a baby is bottle fed, there is not usually a problem with feeding and certainly no discomfort, so usually it does not become an issue.  Sometimes even with breastfeeding, the tie may look significant however if there is no discomfort and the baby is satisfied, there is no indication for snipping the tie.

 
Typically what happens is that the mother will breastfeed reasonably comfortably for the first 3-7 days. After this time as the baby’s feeding requirements increase and the baby also gets more co-ordinated and strong with their feeding, we see mothers in extreme discomfort -pain, with very damaged nipples.  It is at this point that many women stop breastfeeding – understandably.  Some women  at this point find help from a lactation consultant to work out what to do and why this is happening.

[caption id="attachment_2270" align="alignleft" width="150"] tongue _tie_in Newborn_baby[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_2271" align="alignleft" width="150"] frenulum_under_tongue_in_newborn[/caption]

Helping local communities in raising breastfeeding awareness

But there are still a number of reasons why breastfeeding take-up is low in many areas and these are the areas that need the help and support to raise the awareness of breastfeeding amongst the local mums. 

What’s the challenges that communities face raising awareness of breastfeeding:

the mental block of mums of finding breastfeeding intrusive on themselves and the unwillingness of feeding in public Lack of education/information for mums to make them aware of the benefits of breastfeeding lack of funding to hold events to raise awareness for breastfeeding or provide support to mums

These challenges large as they are can be overcome which is why Milkbug offers local communities support in raising awareness of breastfeeding. Already we have donated breastfeeding clothes to support a number of events and have offered advice to local communities on how breastfeeding clothes can help overcome some of the perceptions that breastfeeding is impossible in public. 

Supporting community projects is an important part of our business and is where we invest a large part of our time to help. If together we can help to raise the awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding, we are empowering women to make informed decisions on how to care for their babies as opposed to taking on others views on breastfeeding. 

At www.milkbug.co.uk we work with a number of local communities to help them in raising awareness for breastfeeding and to help them raise the levels in their local areas. We believe that as a business we have the ablity to help local communities to encourage mums to learn more about breastfeeding and therefore make an informed decision.

We offer mums who are conscious about feeding in public a large range of breastfeeding clothes which suit all shapes and all occasion. These breastfeeding tops and breastfeeding dresses help in half the battle of overcoming the anxiety of having to feed your child in public when you are feeling conscious about your own shape. 

Have a look at the projects we have helped so far with more in the pipeline:

http://www.milkbug.co.uk/MILKBUG-in-the-community

By: taj  -   About the Author :
  Taj owns and manages www.milkbug.co.uk and works closely to help local communities across the UK to improve breastfeeding awareness.