What to expect the first 2 weeks of breastfeeding

I found this great article on what to expect during the first 2 weeks of breastfeeding on askthelactationconsultant.com. She consistently gives great advice on breastfeeding topics most people do not talk about. I love this article because there are links to find out more if you want to know it. I hope this helps shed some light for those of you wondering... Pass it on to those it may help. I wish I knew this BEFORE I had my son! :) Nicole Days 2-10: Your milk will come in sometime between day 2-5. Your mode of delivery will impact when the milk comes in. As well as factors like illness, excessive blood loss, hormone levels, exhaustion and emotional state. Click here to learn how vaginal vs. c-section deliveries will impact your milk. The time your milk comes in can be affected by several factors. Your birth experience, health status, medications you are taking and exhaustion. Milk production is considered an "extra" function so if your body needs to concentrate on something more important, like keeping you alive due to excessive blood loss, milk production may have to wait until you are better. But lets now assume your milk is in. How do you know? Most women will experience engorgement. Click here to learn more about engorgement. If you do not experience engorgement (WHAT? Seriously, there are people who do not experience engorgement?!), then your first indication could be that you are now hearing your baby gulp with every suck. Or that your breasts are leaking. If you do not experience any of these signs by day 7 I highly encourage you to see a lactation consultant. When your milk comes in another sign can be LETDOWN . The letdown response can be uncomfortable at the beginning. For me it was. It felt like it feels when your hand or foot falls asleep and the blood is returning- that strong tingling sensation only on your nipple areola area. It was pretty intense. The good news is that it only lasts for 10-15 seconds. Not all experience this but most do. After your milk is in, you can change your feeding pattern up a little now to better empty the breasts by: Feed on one side per feeding instead of both sides at each feed. A simple way to do this is to feed for 10-15 minutes, take baby off to burp and put them back on the SAME breast until they fall asleep. Then for the next feed go to the other breast. Why change the pattern? We suggest changing the pattern because of the foremilk/hindmilk that you have once your milk is in. Once you have milk volume, the milk in is catagorized as fore and hind milk. Foremilk is a thinner/watery type milk that can be obtained at the beginning of a feeding. HIND milk is a fattier milk that can only be obtained toward the end of a feeding. The idea is that if you offer BOTH breasts for 10 min and 10 min your baby may not get to the hind milk thus causing them to feed more frequently and possibly be gassy because the of the foremilk. Learn more about ForeMilk and HindMilk here For the next week, you will have these days: Feeding every 2-3 hours, changing diapers, sleeping when the baby does, eating whenever possible, showering daily if possible, visiting with people that you will not remember visiting with, and repeating it over and over. Sounds crazy but it is pure bliss getting to know your child. Cherish it, the time is over before you know it. Go from days 2 to 10 to first 2 weeks main page Go from days 2 to 10 to askthelactationconsultant.com

Genetically Modified Cows Produce "Human" Milk

I just read this article titled Genetically Modified Cows Produce "Human" Milk. As I read the first few paragraphs I could not believe China had pulled off genetically altering cows milk and more importantly I could not understand why. But once I got through the genetic make-up mumbo jumbo, I understood it and I dare say it is brilliant (if they actually pulled it off) but is something so complicated necessary?

I did not realize that 90% of the adults in China are lactose intolerant and that they recently had a sickening of nearly 300,000 infants fed the tainted milk powder, which is what inspired this 10 year genetic project. Could a simpler solution be found by increasing support for and awareness of the benefits of breast-feeding itself and increasing enforcement of food safety laws?

This is very interesting, informative and had me saying "really" throughout the entire article so I thought I would share it and possibly spark some conversation. Share your thoughts!

FUN FACT: In ancient China, only the emperor and the empress could drink human milk throughout their lives, which was believed to be the height of opulence.

Click on the link to read the full article http://paper.li/60secondparent/breastfeeding

Top 7 must-haves in your postpartum kit

I was recently asked what I would have in my postpartum kit. That is one thing I wish I knew before I had my son so I thought I would share my insight. If you have a different item we'd love to hear it! Please share...

What would be in my postpartum kit?
*2-3 quality nursing bras: A quality bra is essential to maintain breast health. You should typically have one sleep bra and one soft cup to start with. Why 2-3? Because darn it, you will probably not be as on top of the laundry as you would like to be.
*reusable hot/cold packs: heat to help encourage your let down when you first start nursing(don’t worry, this will happen on its own once you become established. You will become so good at this that your boobs may respond to any crying baby, which is why you want the next item on my list) and for the cool relief on your tender nipples who are wondering what the heck is going on.
*soft, absorbent, reusable nursing pads-the key here is SOFT and ABSORBENT! The last thing you are going to want to place on your sore nipples is a scratchy nursing pad. Super absorbency is essential to prevent bacteria from forming on your breasts from a moist environment. I was not much of a leaker, but I liked to have the pad for the softness and the barrier for the cream so my nursing bras did not get gunked up. (softest I've seen is made by Willow Sprouts).
*nipple cream-make sure it is all natural and safe because inevitably baby will be coming in contact with it. This can rapidly improve healing if you should need that. (I like Mother Love nipple cream).
*phone number of a knowledgeable support person who makes house calls- because more than likely it is a factor of when you need her, not if you need her. I thought I was prepared since I had the phone number of the hospital lactation consultant, but really, this breastfeeding thing will be a piece of cake right? Boy was I wrong! Sure it is a simple process but it can be complex and sometimes painful. Having your support person come to you can be the single reason you decide to stick it out through the discomfort (and figure out what the real problem is) or quit. My breastfeeding support angel had helped hundreds of women and she took one look at my nipple (yes, there is no more dignity at this point) and gave me a nipple shield and instructions on how to prevent my son from continuing to cause me to crack and bleed (the tip of his tongue was flicking my nipple. from the outside, he looked like he had the perfect latch).
*reusable water bottle-and keep it filled because the minute you sit down you will think, darn I am SO thirsty! And believe me, the last thing you are going to think of when your baby is screaming to be fed is, “oh, hang on honey…mommy’s going to need some water”
*perineum bottle-no explanation needed here.
*good book on tape-this worked wonders to keep me awake for those middle of the night feedings. I learned early on that turning on a light to read an actual book was confusing my son to think that it was time to wake up! Bad.