I don’t have any more milk!
By juliejohnson | Category: The Journey of Motherhood | Posted Wednesday, October 31, 2007
The most common complaint among breastfeeding mothers is, "I don’t have enough milk for my baby." Even though that statement is often told to every lactation consultant in America, it isn’t being told to every lactation consultant in the world. Women outside the United States usually don’t have issues with low milk supplies.
So let’s think about this for a moment. Why here and not there? Why might one woman have enough milk for her entire city, and another appears to not have enough to give her week old baby? This can be a complex question and hopefully I can distinguish between actual low supply and thriving milk supply.
In the beginning stages, many new mothers find that they need the "sign" of engorgement before they feel comfortable that their milk is coming in. Actually, it is the complete opposite. Not having engorgement is what you do want. Severe engorgement can actually kill mammary cells and, therefore, in some cases lower a milk supply for good. Engorgement actually indicates that the baby is not being fed enough or perhaps not accurately. Having some firmness during pregnancy and having a baby nurse frequently starting right after delivery is what you do want.
Moms may be confused when their baby wants to suck a lot at the breasts and never appears satisfied. The baby who wants to suck at the breasts all day while maintaining weight and having "enough" wet and dirty diapers IS getting enough. Perhaps the baby needs to suck for soothing and comforting as well as for food. On the other hand, if mom is experiencing pain with vigorous and continual sucking, she needs to see a lactation professional to rule out sucking issues that possibly are causing the baby to continually work "harder" for his food.
The main culprit of low milk supply is lack of breast stimulation. No magic pills can compensate for lack of good stimulation. Occasionally, medication or herbs are additionally needed, but always accompanied with at least 8 or more good feeds at the breast a day and/or using a hospital grade breast pump.
When in doubt about offering supplementation, get a lactation consultant to help make sure that this is in the best interest of the baby and your milk supply. One final comment, the more supplementation and rubber nipples the baby receives, the less milk will be produced …and that is may be one different from other cultures.
For those special circumstances, don’t forget to purchase Earth Mama Angel Baby’s "More Milk Tea" and other breastfeeding essentials from www.birthandbreastfeedingsolutions.com
CAPPA’s Certified Lactation Educator and Trainer
International Board Certified Lactation Consultant
Lamaze childbirth educator
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owner of Birth and Breastfeeding Solutions
Roasting Pumkin Seeds – Halloween Fun
By christinesteendahl | Category: Recipes & Kitchen Tips | Posted Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Halloween is just around the corner. We grew pumpkins this year in our garden, so we ended up with about 12-14 pumpkins. The kids have been begging to roast pumpkin seeds this year so we will probably do that tomorrow.
Roasting pumpkin seeds in the oven creates a snack every bit as tasty as sunflower seeds.
Baking pumpkin seeds is easy and fun. Your kids will want to help if only to get their hands messy with the "pumpkin guts". You may as well do something with all the seeds you remove as you carve your jack o’ lantern anyway.
While you gather the supplies, let the kids have all the fun of cleaning out the pumpkins. To avoid a big mess, dress them in disposable aprons and gloves. Cover the table with newspaper or a plastic tablecloth. They can begin after you’ve cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin for their hands.
As for the rest, you will need a large cookie sheet or two, a colander or other strainer, and some salt. If you are watching your salt intake, use a lighter salt mixture.
After the pumpkin seeds have been removed, separate them from the stringy pulp. Discard the pulp in the trash bin. Place the seeds in a colander and hold it under running water to thoroughly wash them off.
Once the seeds are clean, have the kids spread them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle the seeds with the salt. Pumpkin seeds should bake at 350 degrees for about twenty minutes. In the meantime, round up all of the newspaper and throw it away. Cleaning as you go allows everyone to enjoy the treats as soon as they pop out of the oven.
Check the pumpkin seeds every five minutes or so to make sure that they are not getting overdone. Turning once during baking gives an even roasting to all of the seeds. To see if they are done, scoop out a couple of seeds and taste them once they cool. You can add more salt if you need to.
If you have never roasted pumpkin seeds, you are in for a treat! To keep the kids coming back for more of this healthy treat, try different toppings. Sprinkling a touch of your favorite seasoning or popcorn topping on the seeds will produce any number of interesting flavors. Healthy snacks don’t have to be boring afterall!
If you are like the taste of the southwest, add chili powder or taco seasoning to the seeds before baking. For a hotter taste, try red pepper flakes, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne pepper. You can even add hot sauce. Eat the seeds alone or make them part of a party mix.
This week as you snuggle up for a scary movie, or the "It’s a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown", roast some pumpkin seeds instead of popcorn for a fun autumn fare. Adding butter flavoring, cheddar cheese, white cheddar, or garlic salt to a bag of roasted pumpkin seeds provides fewer calories than the traditional movie munchies. If you happen to have any left, you can store them in a ziplock bag, but generally they don’t last long!
Enjoy and have a Happy Halloween!
Christine
"The Menu Mom"
For more fun Halloween Recipes hop on over to http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com/Kid%20Halloween%20Fun%20Recipe%20E-book.pdf and http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com/article-kids-halloween-recipes.htm
We are in the sixth semi-annual Great Cloth Diaper Hunt, come join in on the fun!
By Heather Ledeboer | Category: Surprize Me! | Posted Monday, October 29, 2007
Mom 4 Life is proud to announce our sponsorship of the sixth semi-annual Great Cloth Diaper Hunt™!
What is the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt? It is a really fun on-line scavenger hunt where you get to search for a diaper icon on mom owned websites and enter to win prizes along the way. it is a really fun way to be exposed to lots of really great websites and have fun and maybe win some cool stuff along the way!
How does the GCDH work? It’s simple! You register at http://www.diaperdecisions.com/pages/greatclothdiaperhunt.php on or after October 15, 2007 (the hunt starts on November 1). Then you visit all the participating sponsor sites and hunt for the Diaper Decisions™ diaper, to earn entries to the 65 random prize drawings, including Two Grand Prizes and one Ultimate Grand Prize!
For more details about this great event, please visit the Rules and FAQ pages at http://www.diaperdecisions.com/pages/greatclothdiaperhunt.php . See you at the hunt!
Software for your kids–PC Learning System
By Heather Ledeboer | Category: Hot New Finds | Posted Saturday, October 27, 2007
A little while ago I was sent a Easy PC Learning System from Comfy. I was very interested to see how my kids would react to it. Hunter is four and enjoys playing on the computer whenever we allow it. Ashlyn will be two in January and had not done anything on the computer. This learning system is unique to most others that I have seen because they provide a "keyboard" and software that work together and are very kid safe and friendly. I will tell you the "kid safe" part is something I really like! A while ago our son was playing on the computer and pushed something on the keyboard (we don’t know what to this day) but it really, really messed things up. My computer nerd husband couldn’t figure out how to fix it and ended up (if I remember right) had to reformat the hard drive to restore things again–ugggh! SO I really like the fact that this keyboard doesn’t have any keys that cause problems! There are several levels of software available ranging from age 1-5 and varying levels of difficulty so it is easy to find something that is right for your child.
Watching my kids play it for the first time I could tell they really enjoyed it and they have played it several times since then. It is interactive and playful, a bit slower paced than I am used to seeing in software for kids but it didn’t seem to bother my kids at all. I think this might be a really good choice if you are looking for something educational and interactive on the computer for younger kids and especially if you want them to have fun without the use of the regular keyboard.
Mom 4 Life Giveaway- Week Three valued at over $432.00
By Heather Ledeboer | Category: Mom 4 Life News & Giveaways | Posted Friday, October 26, 2007
It was really fun to read all of your entries this week telling us what being a "Mom 4 Life" means to you. I had the assistance of Monica and Anneke this week (two of my wonderful assistants) to help me out. We "fished" for your names over our banister and then tried to drop your names into a basket. The first name successfully dropped into the basket was our winner. Jodi G. was our BIG winner this week winning over $432.00! If you are reading this via email, click here to view the YouTube video.
This week we are giving away the full Signing Time DVD Collection Gift Set valued at $208.15!
To be entered in the giveaway this week: Click here to sign up for the Signing Time newsletter then, email me with "Week Four" in the subject line (please also provide your shipping address should you be our lucky winner). For more info, click here.
Your email needs to be sent to me by midnight PST on 10/31. The winner will be chosen randomly and revealed on our blog via a YouTube video on 11/02. Good luck!
P.S. You can catch me on the Babies and Moms Radio show live this morning at 9MT or listen via Podcast at a later time. I will be talking about some great products for solving feeding problems and we will be giving away many of these products to listeners so come join in!
