This 12 week series highlights  the most asked questions Lori  gets as an IBCLC

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FAQ Podcast Page

Episode 1

ibclc-impact
What is an IBCLC?
I am going to start by telling you what all those letter stand for: An International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) is a health care professional who specializes in the clinical management of breastfeeding.An IBCLC works in a wide variety of settings, providing leadership, advocacy, professional development, and research in the lactation field. We have to adhere to standards of practice and a code of ethics, and work within a defined scope of practice. We must maintain our certification every 5 years by continuing education or by exam.   Before sitting for the exam, candidates must demonstrate extensive clinical experience ( 1000 hours) and advanced lactation education ( at least 90 hours). IBCLCs are prepared to help with any breastfeeding issues, from very basic problems to complex situations.

You will find IBCLCs working maternity units in hospitals, in the NICU and SCN.  We work in outpatient clinics in WIC offices, pediatric and physician and midwives offices.  IBCLCs also have private practices where they meet with moms on an individual basis in their office or in your home. There are currently over 28,000 IBCLCs practicing in over 102 countries.  We even have one day a year that we celebrate IBCLC Day, which is on the first Wednesday of March.   All this, and to think that this profession was not around 35 years ago.

International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners –http://iblce.org/

International Lactation Consultant Association – http://www.ilca.org/home

United States Lactation Consultant Association – https://uslca.org/

Episode 2  Why did I want to become an IBCLC and How did I go about it?

  I have to honestly say that I did not start out wanting to become an IBCLC.  It is one of those things that I really did just fall into.  After the birth of my first baby, I was not thrilled at how I was treated prenatally or during the birth.  So, I purposefully set out to make things better for myself for my next pregnancy.  I became a certified childbirth educator and learned so much for myself and began teaching others what I had learned.  Along the way, I realized I wanted to help other woman, not just educating them about their pregnancy, but also saw such a need to help them during their labor.  There was a void in the continuous care they needed. I recognized this and decided to become a birth doula.  I began going to births and WOW!  This was one of the most amazing times of my life.  I had 3 children by this time, became a birth junkie.  I started my own business and called it Pregnancy Connections.  I taught childbirth classes and attended births as a doula. I soon began having bigger dreams as I fantasized about becoming a midwife.

Episode 3  How do the Breasts Make Milk?


Pregnancy is considered to be the period of the most extensive and rapid growth of the mammary gland. Changes occur the fastest during the later states of pregnancy, which coincides with the most rapid period of fetal growth.

Breast changes are one of the earliest signs of pregnancy.  The areolas ( the dark areas of skin that surrounds the nipples) begin to swell followed by the rapid swelling of the breasts themselves.  Many pregnant women experience tenderness down the sides of the breasts and tingling or soreness of the nipples.  This is because the growth of the milk duct system and the formation of many more lobules.

Episode 4 What do your hormones have to do with Lactation?

Most mothers whose hormones are in the proper balance and who have normal breast development during puberty and pregnancy, will make plenty of milk for their baby.  Despite all their best efforts, there will be some mothers who will struggle with supply. I find that most mothers I work with, who struggle with supply, well they actually have one or more potential risk factors for low supply, however, they were just not made aware of it.  There are some very real factors that can put you at risk for not making enough milk and some you can know ahead of time and others take you by surprise.

Episode 5 There is Liquid Gold in Them Breasts

Come along with me for this ride on the colostrum train and you are going to see exactly why we get so excited about this life giving substance that is all part of human milk that newborns receive. By the time we are done here today, you are going to be as equally excited about colostrum and its benefits to newborns.  You will understand why physicians are doing whatever they possible can to ensure that all newborns received colostrum, and in particular our most vulnerable sick and/or premature newborns have colostrum.

Episode 6 Tips about latching

Since this is not a video and I don’t have a baby right now, this is not going to be a tutorial on how to latch your baby on. I can help you thought with sharing with you some tips about latching on and how do you know the latch is good, in ways other than practicing with your baby ahead of time.  A good latch with a mom and baby that is comfortable, is the foundation for good, productive and enjoyable breastfeeding.

How do I tell if I need to be concerned about the latch?

Episode 7 How do I tell if I need to be concerned about the latch?

In today’s show, we are going to answer the question:  How do you tell If you need to be concerned about the latch.
It is unrealistic to think that I can help you assess and fix the latch in this show, however, I find that education and prevention
can go a long way.  I meet with so many moms who did not know the signs of a poor latch.  They just did not know anything was wrong until they started to have severe pain or until they went to a pediatric visit and found out there baby has lost too much weigh.

Breastfeeding - Day 1-4 What to expect the first week

Episode 8 Breastfeeding – Day 1-4  What to expect the first week

You just gave birth, you have begun breastfeeding your baby.  Now you need to know, beyond the latch, what should you expect from you, from your baby, in the first 4 days, as far as breastfeeding goes.

Episode 9 Breastfeeding –  Milk is in Now  Day 4 – 14

Your baby is now 4-5 days old.  You are just beginning to get the hang of breastfeeding. Sure you might feel awkward with it all, however, you are now getting use to a baby feeding at your breast 8 times a day. You are continuing to experiment with different positions to find which ones seem to work best for you and your baby.  In some places you will find you need to use a pillow and a stool. Other places where you breastfeed, your set up will be different

Breastfeeding -Engorgement - Definition. Why it happens. Prevention. Treatment

Episode 10 Breastfeeding -Engorgement – Definition.    Why it happens. Prevention.  Treatment.

 

Welcome to the club of early newborn breastfeeding and being one of many of us that are in the same boat.
We are rather clueless about how the whole breastfeeding thing works.For some of us, just like other things in life, breastfeeding comes rather easily. For others, the learning curve is quite steep. For some, your bodies seem to cooperate during the early days and even though you are stumbling around, your body and baby figure it out and you are no worse for the wear. and for others, like myself, we wind up with issues such as what we are talking about today –  engorgement.

Episode # 11- What if my baby won’t breastfeed?

 

Now on to todays show. This is the second to last FAQ.  We sure have come a long way from the first FAQ where I talked about what an IBCLC is and why I became one.
Sometimes, despite everything that you have learned. Despite following everything that you know about early breastfeeding, well, sometimes you can get off to a rocky start.
There are actually quite a few reasons why you can struggle with early breastfeeding.  Here are some possible scenarios that you might find yourself dealing with a baby who is not breastfeeding well:
  1.  Probably the most common reason for a hard start is a premature birth.  When babies are born early it can make it more difficult for them to breastfeed.
  2. The reasons can be numerous so it is not helpful at this point to conjecture.  What we really want to do is say.. okay, this is the situation, now what do we do about it.
  3. Ohhh, I love this question because it is probably one of the most easiest questions I get to answer.

How do you know that Breatfeeding is going really well?

Episode # 12- The 2 week mark – How do you know that Breatfeeding is going really well?

What I recognized as a Breastfeeding Educator though is that we were so busy talking about normal newborn breastfeeding, that we left parents with no tools in their toolkit, so to speak, if they did run into problems in the early days.

Episode  # 13- Breastfeeding and Medication

Breastfeeding and Increasing Your Milk Production

Episode  14-  Breastfeeding and Increasing Your Milk Production – Do you need to?

 

Have you heard of the word galactagogue?  Basically it means a food or a drug that promotes the flow of a mother’s milk. It can also be described as a substance that increases milk supply.
Why would a mother need to increase her milk supply? Don’t all mothers make enough milk for their babies?
Can it be that some mothers do make enough, but think they don’t?
Can it be that some mothers do make enough, but they want to make lots more?
Can it be that some mothers don’t make enough milk for their babies?

Lori J. Isenstadt, IBCLC

Lori Jill Isenstadt, IBCLC is a huge breastfeeding supporter. She has spent much of her adult life working in the maternal health field. Once she became turned on to birth and became a childbirth educator, there was no stopping her love of working with families during their childbearing years. Lori became a Birth doula and a Postpartum doula and soon became a lactation consultant. She has lori-transparent-75-2been helping moms and babies with breastfeeding for over 25 years. Lori founded her private practice, All About Breastfeeding ( allaboutbreastfeeding.biz) where she meets with moms one on one to help solve their breastfeeding challenges. She is an international speaker, book author and the host of the popular itunes podcast, All About Breastfeeding, the place where the girls hang out. Lori is the proud owner of the online membership site – All About Mothering (allaboutmothering.com) You can reach Lori by email at: aabreastfeeding@hotmail.com or contact her via her website: allaboutbreastfeeding.biz/contact

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