Comments (1)

By rebecca, September 26, 2011 3:38 pm

First, feed from one breast per feeding. This helps to make sure the baby drinks past the more watery (and gassy, green poo-inducing) foremilk and gets enough of the calorie-rich, creamy hind milk. I find it also helps to drain the breast completely when dealing with engorgement in the first week or two. It also means you always have an extra stash of breast milk you can dip into later during growth spurts or if baby ever just seems ridiculously famished. Of course, no two milk supplies are the same and some women might need to feed from both breasts every feed. You should take that up with someone who knows what they’re talking about. Because, I digress.

Here’s the real tip: Whether you feed from one or two breasts per feed, you’re going to need to alternate which breast to start with. That means that on top of waking up every couple of hours all night and juggling a constant feeding/diaper changing/napping routine all day, you need to somehow remember which bloody side you’re on. With my first baby I ran the gauntlet of such methods as switching a bracelet from one hand to the other, moving a pin from one bra strap to the other and other maneuvering of one-sided accessories. The problem with these is that you’re never quite sure if you remembered to make the switch last time. I wound up going with the tried-and-true double breast pat in which you try to feel which is the fuller breast. It worked okay, but it’s still not foolproof. (Sometimes a breast might be fuller because you’ve fed more often on that side thus upping the demand for production, so continuing to feed on that side would just exasperate the problem.)

With baby number two, though, I stumbled upon a truly brilliant technique. Take one of those breast pad things designed to keep you from leaking through your shirt. (It can be reusable or disposable, it doesn’t matter. I use disposable; stop judging.) Then, this is important, don’t peel off the sticker-backing strip. Tuck the pad into the bra cup on the side you will be feeding from next. This is the side that will be the fullest and from which you’ll be most likely to leak. Leave the other side padless. That’s right, we live life on the edge around these parts. Then, when you feed your baby, the pad will slip right out of your bra and you just pop into the other side. You can’t forget to do this because what the hell else are you going to do with that nursing pad, right?

I know. You’re welcome. I’m using this method for the second baby in a row now and I must admit it is true genius. Just don’t forget to swap in a fresh pad every day or so because, yeah, sour milk.

Comments (4)

By rebecca, November 10, 2010 11:16 am

Did you think Facebook didn’t need to #suckit anymore? You were wrong.

Momzelle is a successful, small, local Toronto business run by the sister-brother team of Christine and Vincent Poirier. They sell made-in-Canada nursing tops that are specifically designed to allow for comfortable and discreet breastfeeding. While Momzelle does have a small store-front location (1593 Dundas St. W.), the bulk of its business is in online sales. So of course it had a Facebook page to help promote the nursing wear and breastfeeding in general. The page posted positive quotes about breastfeeding and informative news links and boasted between 600 – 800 weekly readers and 1600 fans.  It also had pictures like this:

Christine received a form email from Facebook on Monday afternoon informing her that her page had been taken down for not following the rules. It either promoted heinous hatred, personal attacks, or obscenity. Christine promptly replied to the email stating that there must be some kind of mistake and filled out a complaint form. At the time of writing this post, 30 hours later, she had yet to receive a response.

So what gives? Clearly, there is nothing offensive or obscene about the kind of image posted on the Momzelle Facebook page. In fact, the entire point of the nursing wear is to allow women to breastfeed discreetly and not have to expose their breasts. Christine is confident that no actual person working at Facebook could have viewed her page and deemed it obscene. It must be that some Facebook users have reported the page as “sexually explicit,” she speculates, and that after a certain number of reports a robot automatically takes down the page. “I love Facebook,” Christine told me. “I advertise with them. I can’t believe this is a real Facebook decision.”

The struggle for Christine and Vincent now is twofold. They need to get Facebook to hear them and have an actual person review their page and hopefully have it reinstated. They also need to address the problem of broader acceptance of public breastfeeding. The fact that any number of people would report a page like that is mind boggling. It also goes to show that rejoinders that claim that women just need to cover up and be discreet are often false in themselves. The very idea of a baby suckling on its mother’s breast is enough to offend some people.

When she first got the email, Christine couldn’t help herself. “I felt so shamed, like I was told to get out of a restaurant.” Which is, of course, exactly what her product is designed to avoid.

257,747 (and counting) people have already joined the Facebook group Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene! (Official petition to Facebook). You should join too.

Update: Momzelle has a new Facebook page up and running now. They could sure use some more likes.

Update: Thanks to a influx of support, Facebook has reinstated the original Momzelle page.

Comments (2)

By rebecca, March 16, 2010 8:36 am

Last week I wrote about needing to stop breastfeeding Irene due to a heavy-duty antibiotic I was prescribed. A couple commenters noted that most antibiotics are not counter-indicated for breastfeeding and that I should look into it. I did. The particular medication I am on and the duration for which I need to take it does pose a small, theoretical risk to Irene. Given that I had already stopped breastfeeding for two days before doing further research and that she seemed to be coping reasonably well I decided against resuming breastfeeding.

I would like to note, however, that many medications are safe to take while breastfeeding, even if they are not safe during pregnancy. Much more is able to pass from the mother’s blood through the placenta to the baby then is usually passed into breast milk. The baby then drinks the milk and is able to further process its contents through his own digestive system. Needing to wean your baby in order to treat most common infections is rare.

How can you find out if your medication is safe to take while breastfeeding? I’m glad you asked. Even if your doctor and pharmacist advise you stop breastfeeding, I urge you to check in with the following resources. Docs and pharmacists often get their information from the drug companies who mostly just want to cover their own asses. They can’t test their products on breastfeeding moms and babies, so they presume they are not safe.

• Motherisk run by the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto is a fantastic resource for pregnant and breastfeeding women. In addition to the information about drugs and toxins posted on its website, Motherisk has hotlines staffed by actual people who can answer all and any questions you may have. It is amazing.
• LactMed is a searchable database of medications and their compatibility with breastfeeding hosted by the United States National Library of Medicine.
• Kellymom.com is also a fantastic resource for breastfeeding and parenting in general with a lot of information about specific medications.