Episode 217

Season 7 –    Breastfeeding Bites #1 – Normalize Breastfeeding

In today’s show, Lori introduces this seasons theme called Breastfeeding Bites.  This is going to be a series of educational shows about breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding is a normal thing that moms do in their everyday life of taking care of their babies.  To calm their babies moms hug and rock and sing to them.  We cook and clean and shop and play with our babies.  In between all of our daily activities, it is normal for a mom to just breastfeed her baby.

Just like millions of mothers have always been doing.  It is normal to breastfeed your baby.  That is our take home message.  Listen in next week as Lori brings to you some information about breastfeeding babies and their teeth.

Show Info:
https://www.allaboutbreastfeeding.biz/

https://www.allaboutbreastfeeding.biz/topics1/

 

Episode 219

Season 7 – Breastfeeding Bites #2 – Dental Caries

So glad you are here for our Breastfeeding Bites. The place where we give you small bits of good information that you can take in, a little bite at a time.

To kick off our Breastfeeding Bites theme, I thought it would be fun to start off talking about your babies teeth. Let’s start with one of the most popular myths surrounding breastfeeding that was quite prevalent when my kids were younger. At most pediatric visits, I was told that I should stop breastfeeding at night because it increased by babies risk for cavities. In fact, I was often told that by babies would definitely get cavities if I did not stop this behavior.

http://www.aapd.org/media/policies_guidelines/g_infantoralhealthcare.pdf
vertical transmission from mom to baby

http://www.juniordentist.com/window-of-infectivity-in-dental-caries-primary-and-permanent-teeth.html
window of infectivity

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10197331?dopt=Abstract

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11200729

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22725605

http://www.brianpalmerdds.com/caries.htm – studied human skulls – showed minimal decay and bad bites were also rare.

Season 7 –    Breastfeeding Bites #3 – Weight loss and breastfeeding

How to prepare for breastfeeding if you had weight loss surgery

In todays show, we will be talking about the impact that weight loss surgery has on the breastfeeding mother. Weight loss surgery has the potential to cause rapid weight loss and make it difficult for you to absorb vital nutrients. A common surgery is gastric bypass surgery where the stomach is made smaller and reroutes the intestines. Surgeries like this one and similar ones, result in rapid weight loss, lower daily intake and increase the risk factor for nutritional deficiencies. With this in mind, it is recommended that you work closely with your physician during pregnancy and postpartum. As a result of your surgery, you will need lifelong vitamin/mineral supplementation.

Season 7 –    Breastfeeding Bites #4 – Grandparents and Breastfeeding

In today’s show we talk about grandparents and how they can best support the new mother in the early days of newborn mothering.The tips shared will also be good for the new parents to hear so they can apply it to their relationship to their parents or in-laws.

To the Grandparents – You can feel really good if you received a link to this show from one of your kids. This means that they really do care about you and are already thinking positive about ways in which you can all enjoy each others company when the new baby is born and how you can best help each other.

Season 7 –    Breastfeeding Bites #5 – Preparing to go back to work

Making the transition from employee to a Stay at Home Mom during your maternity leave to transitioning back to work can be overwhelming for some moms and quite emotional too. Planning ahead will help ease this transition.  Let’s talk about some actions you can take beforehand that will help with this.

Today we will be talking about how you can best speak to your employer about breastfeeding/pumping when you return to work.  My goal is to have you thinking and planning for your return to work, long before you complete your maternity leave.  We will cover the most concerns moms have when pumping at work.  They are:  1.  Finding the appropriate place to pump, and 2.  Finding the time to pump during your work day.

https://www.dol.gov/whd/nursingmothers/faqBTNM.htm

Season 7 –    Breastfeeding Bites #6 – Going back to work

Making the transition from employee to a Stay at Home Mom during your maternity leave to transitioning back to work can be overwhelming for some moms and quite emotional too. Planning ahead will help ease this transition. Let’s talk about some actions you can take beforehand that will help with this.

Last week we focused on working with your employer to ensure that when you return from maternity leave that you have an appropriate place to pump and the time during the day to pump as frequently as you need to. Today, I would like to get you thinking about your return to work. The best time to plan for this is, yes, during your pregnancy. Taking action now, will help to relieve some of the pressure that you could be under when the calendar tells you that your time for staying home is up.

The link to these 5 shows on pumping and going back to work can be found here:

https://www.allaboutbreastfeeding.biz/pump/

Season 7 –    Breastfeeding Bites #6 – How to help with breastfeeding pain

The next few episodes are going to be chock full of great information which will be focused on a very important aspect of breastfeeding – your babies mouth and how important the lips, jaws, palate and cheeks are to breastfeeding. Honestly, before I began training to become an IBCLC, this is just not something I thought much about. When the door was opened just a bit and I learned a few things, I became and continue to be incredibly fascinated with this information.

There are times when it appears that your baby has a good latch and yet breastfeeding is not going as well as you know it should. When your baby breastfeeds it is quite painful for you. Perhaps you realize after a few days that your baby is spending a very long time at the breast. You have always been told that babies breastfeed frequently and for long periods of time so you just accepted what your baby was doing is normal. Your baby may have some challenges with breastfeeding and this is going to be our focus today.

Season 7 –    Breastfeeding Bites #7 – your babies cheeks and jaw

In last weeks Breastfeeding Bites, I talked about how important it is for a baby to achieve and maintain a good lip seal around the breast tissue to breastfeed well. When I notice the lip seal is poor, the reasons for this could be quite simple and with a few adjustments breastfeeding could be going really well. Or the reasons could be more complicated and a good assessment will tell me how to proceed.

In addition to good lip seal being important to breastfeeding, so are the cheeks and jaw of a baby. In my early days as a student studying anatomy and physiology I learned two words that always struck me as sounding funny. Who knew that this knowledge was going to come in handy as a lactation student. Buccal pads are the two words.

Season 7 –    Breastfeeding Bites #7 – Oral facial structures – The Palate

Just to recap the last few shows, we have learned about how important the lip, cheeks and jaw are to normal breastfeeding. When any one of these oral structures are not fully functioning it can throw the whole breastfeeding thing way off. Today we are going to learn more about the palate and its relationship to breastfeeding.

The palate is located in the roof of the mouth. It separates the oral and nasal cavities and provides stability to the facial structures. When you touch the roof of your mouth with the tip of your tongue you will be hitting the hard palate. In breastfeeding, the hard palate’s function is to assist with the positioning and stability of the nipple when drawn into the mouth.