Can You Suggest Any Helpful Breastfeeding/parenting Books?

Hello A.,
Sorry to hear you're facing so many challenges right now but things will get better soon. It sounds like you're doing a super job in spite of the difficulties. I have nursed all 7 of my babies and had 3 with colic, so I am deeply sympathetic.
I have found the very best parenting book to be Dr. William Sears's The Baby Book. It covers all the subjects you mentioned and is a VERY encouraging book. It was definitely the secret of my success with all my babies. Do your best to avoid medically unsound books like "On Becoming Baby Wise" which have been known to cause a large number of women to lose their milk supplies and quite a few babies to be hospitalized for dehydration (http://www.ezzo.info/)
I have never been able to express with a pump enough to make it worth my while. But to build up my milk supply I have followed these "6 rules": 1) eat a lot,keeping plenty of good fats in diet (dairy, nuts, avocadoes, natural oils, etc.), 2) drink 8 glasses of water a day, avoiding sodas (which upset babies' sensitive tummies) and avoiding alcohol (which, in even small amounts, can cause FAS, fetal alcohol syndrome, i.e. brain damage), 3) go to bed as early as possible and rest in daytime, 4)at the very least, nurse no less than every 2 hours or whenever baby's waking or going to sleep (or better yet, give baby a little nursing snack in between those 2 hours to give extra nipple stimulation which generates more milk), 5)nurse as long as possible at each session, getting yourself super comfy and letting baby hang out at the breast for as long as he wants (better yet, lie down with baby for nap or at night and let baby fall asleep at breast... that really triggers good milk-making... I have had tremendous success sleeping with my babies beside me), 6)eliminate stress from your day (relax, think positive thoughts, count your blessings, pray and tell God everything you're worrying about or dreaming of, be around happy people, etc.)
Remember with nursing it's all about supply and demand. The more you nurse, the more milk your body will make. So nurse like crazy and take extra good care of yourself. This will help you be patient when baby has colic (which is one of the greatest challenges a mom can face!) and feel "in control." Find other mommy friends and get together for mutual support and encouragement consistently and frequently.
You're going to be fine and this hard time will be over very soon. Just keep falling in love with that baby because it's that love that carries you through and makes it all worth it. Enjoy him and keep your sense of humor. I will keep you in my prayers!
Congratulations...and welcome Baby Logan!
L.

A., I noticed you said your son has reflux. My son has reflux as well and the zantac did not work for him, he needed to be put on prevacid and let me tell you it was like night and day. So it may just be that he needs to be on a different medicine...just a thought. Good luck!

I highly recommend "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" published by La Leche League. I found it extremely helpful while nursing both my girls.

Chances are, your milk supply is perfectly fine. When babies go through growth spurts, they start eating a lot more than usual. Nursing on demand, just as you are doing, will naturally increase your milk supply.

I find I produce much more milk when actually nursing compared to when I pump.

As far as colic is concerned, I really recommend taking him to a good chiropractor. They can do wonders for colic! If you are in the Tucson area, send me a private email and I'll give you the name and number of a fantastic chiropractor who specializes in babies.

:-) T.

Hang in there girl! It's really hard with little to no sleep. There's a vitamin you could try to increase your supply naturally. I'm sorry I can't remember the name, however if you go to the heath food store, GNC, etc. they can show it to you. My friend used it and it worked wonders. I know some fussy kids get that way with what you eat. Keep a food log and see if he is less or more fussy depeding on what you eat. Also when my little guy got fussy we would take one of his blankets and put it in the dryer for a few minutes, then wrap it around his tummy, place him tummy to tummy with me and it really helped. Keep doing what you doing and hang in there. It's not easy sometimes, but you know it's worth it. :)

If you are in the Mesa/Gilbert area, there is a free breastfeeding support group at Banner Gateway Hospital every Thursday at 10:00am. There is a lactation consultant on hand (either Debi or Lyrae) and she will help you (no charge). You do not have to have delivered there to attend or get help. Go in the main entrance (not the women's center entrance) and head straight down the hall, past the cafeteria. You'll see an alcove on the right with a huge door leading to the conference rooms. The group is held in one of those 3 rooms (you'll hear the babies and moms!) Good luck!!

Hi A.,

You have gotten some great advice, so I just want to reiterate a couple of things. A lactation consultant could help you be more confident and the one from Baby Mother and More is very nice. Also, contrary to popular belief, you are not going to get more than a couple of ounces when you pump if you are solely nursing. Your body knows the difference between baby and pump, so if the baby nurses more, your body will make more milk, but it may not give you much when you pump. There are teas, hops and brewers yeast and such that can help with supply, but it doesnt really sound like you need that. Just drink lots and lots of water. You need water for milk and water for your body, so more than the normal 8 glasses. :) Also, visit a La Leche League meeting. I was nervous the first time or two that I went and then I was totally comfortable and it was really helpful talking to and listening to the other moms. Plus you can take your other kids with you; the meetings are usually in a very kid friendly place. And I too didnt breastfeed my oldest very long, but breastfed my daughter for nearly a year. It was great. I also did a lot of research online and reading about breastfeeding and such really helped. :) Good luck and enjoy!

Huggs A.! You are doing a very good thing for Logan. I love all the books by Dr. Sears. Check out the Fussy Baby Book -- http://www.amazon.com/Fussy-Baby-Book-Parenting-High-Need...
also Dr. Sear's breastfeeding book. 3 oz in 15 minutes doesn't sound too bad. Your baby will go thru 'growth spurts' when he wants to nurse almost constantly -- that's normal and good. It will have the effect of increasing your supply. You may want to consider if some item(s) in you diet could be causing him distress (painful gas?) My second was miserable when I ate eggs. That lasted a few months and then his little gut could handle the eggs.

Hope that helps. Hang in there. If you are in Tucson, I highly recommend a Lactation consultant at UMC named Renee -- I don't have her last name or phone number but you should be able to track her down if you call the hospital. She visited with mw a couple time for no charge.

www.askdrsears.com is very helpful. Any doctor searas books are awesome too!

As far as the reflux, my son was really bad. What I found works best as far as day time sleep is I bought a wrap (http://www.gypsymama.com/shop/breeze.htm but you can even make one for free without having to sew it.... http://www.mamatoto.org/Default.aspx?tabid=121) and I wore him around during the day in it. He napped in it and was FINALLY peaceful and didn't cry! I have a few wraps that you are welcome to come over and try if you think it would help. Now that my second baby is basically the same, she pretty much lives in it! It's such a lifesaver! We also co-sleep which has really seemed to help.

I never had to medicate my son, even though it was really bad, because I took him to Dr. Kail at Arizona Advanced Medicine. He's a naturopatic doctor and I had him do NEAT (natural elimination allergy treatment) on him. It wasn't cheap, but it helped desensitize him to allergies he was having with food I was eating. I also took him to Dr. Kirk VanMetre who is a gonstead Chiropractor. He worked on fixing the spots in his neck and back that were out. Between the two, he was a brand new kid! I am now working on all of this with my daughter. She also has reflux in addition to her spina bifida and hydrocephalus.

We cloth diaper too! Isn't it great???

Hi A.,

How is your baby growing? I had a similar situation with my first - he cried nonstop and always wanted to be nursing. After about 2 months I realized he wasn't gaining weight. I am guessing this might also be the cause of your son's fussiness.
So, I called Doris - another mom already recommended her. She was fabulous! Books don't do it justice, and I can't recommend the other lactation consultants. They are not all created equal! Call Doris, yes you have to pay, but imagine the money you will save by not having to buy formula for the next year of your baby's life. It's well worth the investment.

Hang in there! I am nursing my four month old and I also just switched to cloth diapers around Thanksgiving. Good for you!

My advice about breastfeeding is in two parts. Number one is --relax. You are most likely to "let down" your milk when you relax. This means quiet, calm, maybe soothing music, even a picture of your smiling baby helps you "let down" especially when you pump. Number two is hops. It's an ingredient found in beer. Hops is known to help in increasing milk supply. If you drink a regular beer, while you nurse, the small amount of alcohol will help you relax and your body will absorb the alcohol without any danger of any getting into your milk by the time you nurse again. And it will also give you some hops to increase supply. If you just want the hops and not the alcohol, you can get "near beer" --non alcoholic, and still get the hops.

As for books, I recommend the Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, done by La Leche League. You most often can find it used either at a used book store or amazon.

Good Luck!

If you can, I would strongly recommend contacting Doris. She is an excellent source of support! She runs a Mom's group every week where you can go and talk to her and other breastfeeding moms. And you can call her too - do it today!! http://www.pump-n-go.com/moms%20group.htm

And congrats on wanting to stick it out with breastfeeding - hang in there, it is SO worth it!!

Hi A.,
congratulations on your new addition, and kudos to you for continued breastfeeding. There are a lot of good posts, so I'll just hit two points that were important for me and my son (now 19 months). He is and has been sensitive to dairy and corn. He spit up a ton his first 3 months of life. I cut out dairy completely and saw almost immediate improvement. I also started to notice a pattern of major spit up after I ate corn tortillas or tamales. I cut out corn, and he has been doing great since. Dropping dairy seemed impossible at first, but it turned out to be pretty easy. I was a total cheese addict, so that surprised me. Try eliminating dairy for 2 weeks. If you see an improvement, then continue eliminating dairy. If you see absolutely no improvement, then that is not your culprit. If you eat cheese like I did, the worse that will happen is that you will lose a few pounds. It does take about 6 weeks for dairy to completely clear your system and your BF child, but you should see some improvement before that.

On your milk supply, Mother's milk tea does help. Nursing is the best thing to keep your supply up though. Your son's crying at the breast could easily be due to sensitivities to something like dairy in your diet. I noticed after I ate something corny that my son would cry at the breast, which he normally never did. It is possible that if you eliminate what is bothering him, he may nurse more contentedly.

Also keep in mind that babies are much more efficient at nursing than your pump. I have a friend who exclusively breast fed for 6 months and her daughter really thrived, but she never could pump more than an ounce or two. Seems her breasts were very particular about releasing their milk to just any sucking action.

Good luck with this!!

LOTS OF PROTEIN AND WATER! With my first baby I started to dry up at 7 months, so I drank an herbal tea every day called Mother's Milk (I got it at GNC or Hi Health) and my milk came back full force. There are also stronger concentrations and tinctures of herbal mixtures that aid milk production (like Fenugreek) you can take that might even be more effective. Try Desert Sage Herbs on Alma School & Warner (www.desertsageherbs.com, phone is ###-###-####) for freshly mixed herbal tea to aid breastmilk production that is potent and effective at helping me keep up a healthy milk supply. Ask for a blend of Kim Lineweaver's recipe. Try to eliminate stress from your life, as that can hinder milk production. And if you worry about this too much, it will only make it worse. But I got very stressed when I started drying up because I really wanted to nurse for a year, so I know it's easier said than done.

With my second baby I asked my doctor upfront what I can do to prevent drying up and she said her biggest advice was LOTS of WATER WATER WATER and PROTEIN in my diet. So I eat a whey protein shake every day (bought the powder at Costco) nuts, peanut butter, beans, fish, tofu, and meat. I don't like meat much, so my diet was very deficient with my first baby, but now that I'm aware I am very careful and eat high-protein and high-caloric foods since I went underweight last time. I think that's why my body started drying up last time. I've also heard brewer's yeast can help.

Good luck! I was able to produce milk and nurse my first child until he was 1 year old after thinking it might be over at 7 months. I hope you have success as well.

Hi A....I only briefly read through some of your responses so I apologize if I duplicate info. I too attend the moms' group at Banner Gateway. I am still breastfeeding my 8 month old son all thanks to Lyrae! The mother's milk tea is great, it helped me when my supply was low...but I drank a lot of it. 5-6 cups a day, which meant I was buying more every couple of days and at $4-$5 a box it got kinda pricey. Anyway, I switched to taking fenugreek and milk thistle--3 pills of each, 3 times a day and it helped, too. I still use the mother's milk tea if I'm sick or on my period and feel like my supply is a little low. The best help I got was from the Medela book that comes with the pump...it's just a little brochure but it answered a lot of my questions. If you are getting 2-3 ounces and your baby is 6 weeks old then you are pumping the right amount! Right now your baby doesn't eat much, his stomach is still very small. Don't judge how much your baby is eating by how much you pump, your son is much more efficient at getting milk out. If you come to the mom's group they have a scale there so you can weigh him before and after he nurses to get an idea of how much milk he is getting. As far as the colic, we thought maybe my son was colicky at first but then found out it was the reflux. We did zantac for a short while, but he quickly outgrew it. Now we use Prevacid and it works pretty well, but is VERY expensive if you don't have good insurance. We found that when he would be really uncomfortable it would help if we gave him an extra dose of Zantac. It wasn't a full dose, usually just half. Then we would also give him gas drops. Finally, we would carry him around or rock him in the strangest positions. He really seemed to like being carried face down but with no pressure on his stomach. He also enjoyed having his stomach rubbed, I think because of the warmth. You might try eliminating dairy from your diet (it takes a few weeks of NO dairy to really work). That helped my son more than I could have ever imagined. I really miss milk, but he's so much better now. I also eliminated all caffeine and that seems to have helped, also. Dairy and caffeine are the two worst things for reflux in infants. If you do decide to come to the moms' group just go in the entrance by the Women's Health. There is an information desk near the gift shop and you can ask them how to get to the conference rooms (they're right past the cafeteria but can be easy to miss). Lyrae and Debbie are wonderful and can answer pretty much any question you have about breastfeeding, if they don't know, then one of the mom's probably has some info. I was worried it would be weird to have a bunch of moms sitting around breastfeeding, but it's totally casual and you don't even notice when people are nursing! Good luck, feel free to message me if you want more info about the moms' group or anything else.

A.,
I love Dr Sears books..
You are doing wonderful! Honestly sounds like you have NO issue w/ supply. Its all about supply & demand so never supplement w/ formula because your body will think Logan doesnt need that feeding. If you are exclusively nursing & then pumping IN ADDITION, then that extra 2-3 oz in 15 min is EXCESS!!
Trust your body. It is providing as it was intended =) LLL says less than 1% of moms don't make enough milk & his tummy is tiny still!
Sounds like he may have an allergy to possibly dairy or soy.
good luck, this is THE most rewarding experience. My sweet girl is 12 mo & our goal is 24 months of bf'ing =) It gets sooo much easier!

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding is by the founders of La Leche League. I found it very helpful. The more the baby suckles, the more he will get, albeit not always exactly when he wants it. When it does come in, sometimes it is a bit too much! Water and yeast is excellent, as well as listening to classical and other stress-free music, and just enjoying the time. I have never heard of giving a baby Zantac. (Unless I was mistaken). Well, whoever is taking it for whatever reason, I would recommend, perhaps, a second opinion, as any medications could interfere with proper feeding or milk flow.
A woman's body is meant to do this, so try not to feel inadequate when things don't go perfectly.
Good luck.

Hi A.,

Congrats on your new addition. Why are you thinking that your milk supply is going down? Is your little guy wanting to nurse more frequently? He may be going through a growth spurt. They start to go through one at around 6wks.
As far as his reflux goes, my son is sensitive to coffee and soda. So I eliminated this from my diet, except on weekends, and maybe one soda in the middle of the week. If I have it for a week in a row or something, he starts spitting up like crazy. It sucks because caffeine is exactly what I need now, since I don't get much sleep either.
But I hate to see him suffer.
I tried pumping also and you got more than I did. I couldn't even get an ounce. I know it takes some time to build up an additional supply if you are going to pump so just keep at it if you want to do this.
I tried Mother's Milk Tea and it is very tasty. I wasn't having trouble with my supply I was just trying to increase it to see if this would help my little one sleep at night, it didn't. But I hear that it works very well.
I'm sorry to hear about the colic. I find the best breastfeeding/parenting books are from Dr. Sears. The Baby Book is huge and has tons of good advice in it. He also has a Breastfeeding Book.
Good luck and I hope you get some rest soon.

S.

Happiest Baby on the Block for calming -- I thought it was silly and didn't read it til my kid was 10 weeks, and was so irritated that I hadn't done it sooner.

I agree with the previous posters that if you were pumping in addition to feeding, that 3 oz is a decent amount. I liked Working without Weaning since I had to figure out how to pump every day (http://www.amazon.com/Working-without-Weaning-working-bre...) It has a fair amount of good information about keeping your supply up as well.

The herb is fenugreek, by the way. I was never good enough about taking it that I saw a difference, but I know it helped some friends.

Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers by Newman and Pitman. It's the only thing I use. Good luck. I've been breastfeeding over 3 years. I hope you'll stick with it.

A.,

Congratulations on choosing to breastfeed your son. That is one of the best things we can do for our newborns. My name is T. and I am a doula. A few tips that I can share with you are these:

1. Are you drinking enough fluid yourself? Sometimes with three children we can forget about ourselves. If you are dehydrtaded you won't produce enough breastmilk.

2. You said that your son is feeding on demand. That's great! Be sure that he is feeding often though. Breast milk is produced on an as needed basis. The more you nurse, the more your body is signaled to produce.

If you would like to you can go to www.ADOBEDULAS.com for resource information concerning breastfeeding.

Just remember to be patient with him and with your body. Don't give up and this phase of nursing will soon pass.

Keep up the good work!

T.

When my milk supply needed a boost I would "power pump". You pump for 10 minutes, then rest for 10, pump for 10, alternating every 10 minutes for one hour. Do this once a day (I actually did a twice a day a couple of times) for a few days until your supply comes up. Also, make sure you are drinking a TON of water. You can also get a supplement called "Mothers Milk" or "Milk Plus" (something like that) at health food stores.

As far as books go, the one that helped me a lot was "On Becoming Babywise". The main 'gist' of the book is that you have your child on a flexible schedule with sleep, eat, play, sleep, eat,play -in that order- every 3 to 4 hours. It really helped our kids to get enough sleep and the routine really helped them, too.

Good luck!

Hi,

Have you tried to get in touch with a lactaction consultant? There is one at Baby Mother and More in Mesa and her name is Mary W. She is great and I received a lot of help from her while I was breastfeeding my son who also had reflux. He was an eater and because of the reflux he ate even more to push down that burning feeling in his throat. My son also cried pretty much nonstop and that is because they are so uncomfortable. He finally grew out of it after he was about a year old. The thing that really saved us was a special wedge pillow that kept him on an angle when he slept. It was a lifesaver and I would be happy to lend it to you if you think you would like to try it out. I would also try to keep up with the breastfeeding because they say for reflux baby that breastfeeding is best for their digestive system. There is also a website breastfeeding.com that was very helpful to me as well. I had to cut back on certain kinds of foods, like chocolate and some dairy to try and see if that would help my son with his reflux any. There was a lot of experimental stuff that we had to do to try and make him more comfortable so he could sleep and not eat around the clock. It's just a trial and error thing but it was worth sticking with it because I wonder if his reflux would have been worse had I not.
I would be happy to talk to you more about it if you would like or like I said if you would like that pillow I am happy to lend it to you.
Good Luck!!

Hi A.,
Our OB/GYN wellness center is having a breastfeeding class next week. Janine is a great instructor, she could help you 'troubleshoot' the problems you are having. I have the details below.
(We are also having a baby reflexology class - its FREE - on Thursday of this week - Feb 19 from 11-12. I can help with the colic.)
Good luck to you
S. V

Breastfeeding
February 26, 2009
6:30p-8:30p

Breastfeeding with Janine!

Come discover and explore the beauty, wonder and the powerful impact of breastfeeding while creating a deeper sense of self confidence for you and your baby.

This class is $20/Couple. Class is held in the Community Room at the Center for True Harmony Wellness & Medicine™ PC. 2152 S. Vineyard #138, Mesa AZ 85210. Call us to reserve your space: ###-###-####.

I'm sorry I can't recommend any books, but I thought I might tell you some tricks that I have tried...

For increasing milk supply I drink LOTS of water and 1 to 2 beers per night. Dark beer is better and an import or microbrew shouldn't have preservatives. The beer made a huge difference in my supply. I don't let down well for the pump, either, but if I put the baby on one side and the pump on the other, I tend to get a little more. Not much fun, though.

For colic and reflux I would go see a chiropractor and/or cranial/sacral therapist (CST). I have a chiro that is both (she is in Carefree). Unfortunately, there isn't a pediatric chiro in the state of AZ right now, but I found there are some who work with children on a regular basis. Also, take a look at your diet to avoid stomach upset. You may want to remove dairy, acidic foods, etc. You can also get an infant probiotic at Whole Foods or Sprouts (in a powder form) to add to bottled breast milk to aid digestion.

All of these tricks, combined with time, worked for my two boys.
Good luck to you. I know what sleep depravation can do to a person and it is a difficult struggle. If you want the chiro's info, let me know.
B.
____@____.com

Hi A.,
Congratulations! You got some great suggestions. The Dr. Sears Breastfeeding book is good. Also, I highly recommend you contact Doris as in Amanda's post. She was a lifesaver of support for us, I learned WAAAAY more than in any book. She has a fee for consult when she comes to you, but her mommy's group every week is FREE! An invaluable resource. I learned so much about milk supply and production. Let me know if you need anything else, and if you "stick it out" it even becomes second nature. Hang in there, you'll be glad you did!