Mothers are taught that it’s rare not to produce enough milk to exclusively breastfeed in nearly every breastfeeding book, mommy group, and hospital breastfeeding class. The truth is we have limited studies that provide an accurate percentage of mothers who can produce enough milk for their babies for the recommended six months. Although actual rates of adequatemilk productionare unknown, some estimates range from 12-15 percent or more.
A translated article from YLE (Finnish national broadcasting network, owned 99% by the Finnish state) has published an article on how Finnish newborns are starved in Finnish hospitals, how midwives are holding back formula and then finding that the baby is hypoglycemic.
Elias was less than 24 hours old when his father noticed the jitters. Already the night before at the Katiloopisto Maternity Hospital. Elias had cried a lot. During the early morning hours he finally settled after he had been syringe fed some donated breast milk. He was given 10 ml of milk, a total of 2 teaspoons.
During mid-morning Elias had started to cry again angrily. It appeared to his father as if the baby was also having muscle spasms. Continue reading
Para familias que alimentan a sus bebes con formula, suplementan, hacen lactancia mixta o alimentan a sus bebés con leche maternal extraída.
Durante una emergencia, el perder la electricidad, el agua corriente y los servicios de asistencia de manera repentina, puede hacer imposible conseguir leche de formula o guardar leche maternal o de formula de manera apropiada. También puede pasar que no sea posible calentar agua. Estos son algunos consejos que te ayudarán a estar preparado en caso de desastre: Continue reading
During my pregnancy, I began reading the Fed Is Best Foundation’s feeding educational resources and feeding plan pertaining to breastfeeding and combo feeding. I didn’t have successful breastfeeding experiences with my previous children and wanted to try one more time. I went into labor when I was 37 weeks pregnant. My labor progressed extremely quickly. By the time we got to the hospital almost an hour later, it was already too late to set up an epidural. I struggled for hours with laboring and pushing, and both my daughter and I were profoundly exhausted after delivery.
It took all of the courage I had to put aside the debilitating amount of guilt I carried for five long years to tell Landon’s story—his birth, the first days of his life, and how he died. In fact, I still don’t know where I found that courage, but I am convinced Landon gave me the strength. I wasn’t prepared for the intense scrutiny my story received. I was utterly shocked because people came out of nowhere to discredit my story with a vengeance, but I quickly learned how to be gracious in such a vulnerable time.
After all, nothing anyone could say to me could hurt me more than the death of my newborn baby.
I can remember a very specific time, when I was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital and Landon was on life support. My dad was there with me and we were talking about Landon’s prognosis and I won’t ever forget him telling me what a special little boy he was and that he would do great things. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around what his words meant because Landon was most likely going to pass away, and my dad was talking about how he’s going to do great things. I never dreamed that his death would change the lives of so many people across the globe. Continue reading
