Two weeks after giving birth to my now five and a half month old son I sent an email to all my mommy-to-be friends titled The Inconvenient Truth. The purpose of my email was to tell them everything I wished I’d been told prior to giving birth (about labor, not to scare, but to prepare them) but more importantly about the challenges of breastfeeding.  I read a recent post by a friend of mine that reminded me that I wanted to share my experience with other moms-to-be in hopes of giving them the best chance of having a great breastfeeding experience.

Firstly, there is a lot of societal pressure surrounding breastfeeding today. Moms are made to feel that if they choose not to breastfeed they are somehow not giving their child the best chance at life.  While it is well documented that breastmilk is the most nutritionally beneficial food source and specifically designed for each child, there are many reasons why breastfeeding might not be the right option for you, and your child. It is your choice whether or not to breastfeed and whatever you choose, for whatever reason, it is okay.

I had made the choice to breastfeed well before the birth of my son. I took a class (which I highly recommend), learned a few things, did some additional research but really thought I was just going to have to suffer through a few sore nipples and presto my son and I would be in breastfeeding bliss.  Well, that is not exactly what happened. While breastfeeding is natural, the majority of women have a tough time with everything from the latch to milk supply.  I had a pretty tough labor and birth experience and to this day I believe breastfeeding is more difficult. While the teacher in my class mentioned at one point you should try to stick it out for 6 weeks until giving up as did all the research I read, they really glazed over the reasoning. What I’ve outlined below is everything I wish had been told prior to starting to breastfeed so I was more prepared.

Take a Class – This is very important. The baby doesn’t naturally know how to latch and contrary to what most believe the baby doesn’t suck from the nipple. The baby “latches” with his top lip just over the nipple and the bottom lip well under the areola with the tongue pushing the milk out of the nipple and into the back of your baby’s throat.  I think its important to understand how this works so you can visualize what you are trying to teach your child to do.  Since you most likely will take the class prior to giving birth you won’t have a baby to practice with, but it gives you an idea of what is supposed to happen and a few tips and tricks.

Relax – Stress does not help produce milk and certainly does not help the baby feel comfortable enough to learn.  For the first few weeks while you both are learning and you are working to regulate your milk supply, find a comfortable chair/rocker, in a calm environment and nurse there every time.  It also helps to use a pillow to support your baby in the early days. My favorite is MyBrestFriend. I also liked to play soothing music. Baby lullabies work great too and the baby likes it.

Sleep – To produce enough milk you need enough sleep. Although it is difficult, try to block out the distractions of the world and sleep when your baby sleeps.  Forget about the laundry and chores and focus on sleep, which will give you good milk, which your baby will eat to satisfaction and then sleep longer. It’s a great cycle.

Eat Right and Drink Water – You burn an enormous amount of calories breastfeeding. It’s a great way to lose weight quickly when you leave the hospital. But in order to produce adequate milk you need to take in more calories than normal.  Protein is very important. It’s also important to drink LOTS OF WATER.  I estimate I drank 90 ounces a day. Breastfeeding is very dehydrating so always have a glass of water handy while you nurse.

Surround Yourself With Supportive People – The women that have the most success with breastfeeding are surrounded by supportive people. Have your spouse, significant other, caretaker or parents that already support you in your choice to breastfeed help you through the tough times. I also found it helpful to take them to any breastfeeding classes, lactation consultant appointments and breastfeeding support groups.

What Mom eats during pregnancy appears able to help protect her kindergarten-aged child from asthma and eczema. A little over ten years ago, researchers at the University of Aberdeen proposed that the recent dramatic increase in asthma and related conditions in affluent societies might be partly do to the decline of antioxidants in the diet. To study this idea further, they followed 1861 children beginning even before they were born. The mothers’ diets during pregnancy were analyzed by survey and by blood levels of antioxidant nutrients such as vitamin E and zinc. At 5-years old, the children were evaluated by parental questionnaire, objective breathing tests, and skin-prick testing. The latest results appear in the September 1, 2006 American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The higher the level of vitamin E in the mothers’ diets during pregnancy, the lower the chance that her kindergartener had wheezed in the last year or had ever had asthma. Children born to mothers who had the lowest vitamin E levels were more than 5 times more likely to develop asthma than those whose moms had the highest vitamin E levels. Similarly, the higher the mothers’ zinc levels during pregnancy, the lower the chance that her 5-year-old ever had asthma or eczema. The protective effects of vitamin E and zinc appeared even stronger in those children who had been breast-fed. They appear to help both the developing immune system and the organs themselves. This is exciting support for the role that good nutrition can have during critical windows of child development.

This study does not offer support for the idea of simply relying on vitamin E or zinc pills (though I do recommend taking a high-quality prenatal vitamin – especially one with vitamin E derived from food sources). The study does suggest, though, that eating foods rich in these antioxidants could have a powerful and lasting effect. Great sources of vitamin E include sunflower seeds, spinach and other greens, papaya, olives and olive oil, broccoli, blueberries, and kiwifruit. Look for zinc in foods like lean meats, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, yogurt, green peas, spinach, and mushrooms. Just listing these foods is getting me in the mood for a great salad and a bowl of fruit. Isn’t it wonderful that real foods (as opposed to junk foods) offer such profound immune, skin, and respiratory benefits?

Vitamin B12 consumed by nursing mothers can change the trajectory of their babies’ brain development. The Jan 31, 2003 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report told the story of a 15-month-old toddler with developmental delay caused by vitamin B12 deficiency.

She improved some after receiving the vitamin, but was still delayed. The story of a 2 ½ -year-old boy had a happier ending, with almost complete recovery.

In these stories, both mothers were vegetarians with vegan diets, who did not take a multivitamin while nursing.

A vegetarian diet can be a very healthy choice, but it is especially important for pregnant and nursing mothers to be sure to get B12, either in what they eat or as a supplement. A healthy diet, with a multivitamin  as a safety net, can help give your baby a great start!

Studies strongly suggest that if your breast fed baby is colicky, it is worth a try to eliminate cow’s milk from your diet. You will want to avoid cheese, ice cream, milk (in a glass or on cereal), yogurt, puddings, custards, cream sauces, and butter. This is not a quick fix, however. Cow’s milk protein can remain in breast milk for up to two weeks after the mother has stopped eating dairy foods. To see whether dropping dairy really makes a difference for your child, have your dietary experiment last about 3 weeks. If the change in your eating habits does improve your baby’s colic, you will probably want to avoid dairy at least until the typical colicky period is over — when your baby is 12 to 16 weeks old. If your child’s colic was severe and it turns out that he or she is especially sensitive to cow’s milk protein, you may want to avoid dairy even longer. Although many babies become tolerant of cow’s milk protein before their first birthdays, some children can take a full year or longer, and some never become tolerant.

I’m glad that herbal remedies were a topic of discussion at the 2000 annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Chicago. This is an important part of healthcare that deserves serious consideration. Not all news on herbs is good news.

Dr. Ruth Lawrence presented evidence at the conference that two popular herbal remedies for nursing mothers–fenugreek and comfrey–can pose a health risk to their infants.

Many mothers take fenugreek to increase their milk supply (though it has never been shown to be effective). It has been shown, however, to occasionally cause hypoglycemia in the nursing mother and it can raise blood pressure. It has also been associated with increased colic and diarrhea in babies. Comfrey, banned in Canada, isn’t just uncomfortable, but dangerous. It is rubbed on the nipples of nursing women to prevent dryness and cracking.

When used in this way, comfrey has been associated with serious liver disease and blood clots in the infants.