Author: B. Jody Segrave-Daly, RN, IBCLC

Mother feeding newborn, toddler watching.

My Inability to Exclusively Breastfeed Was a Constant Destructive Force in My Life After My Son’s Birth – I Had a Suicide Plan

6 Comments

Written by: Allison Stillwell Young, RN, BSN, Graduate Student and Team leader of the fed is best foundation mental health advocacy team

is an oncology nurse at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, Tennessee. A graduate of Belmont University, she has spent her entire nursing career between research oncology and behavioral health. After the birth of her older son, she developed anxiety and depression directly related to difficulties she experienced with breastfeeding including low supply and feeding judgment. She discovered Fed Is Best during her recovery from PPD/A and found the Foundation to be indispensable when feeding her younger son. As a researcher and mother living with chronic mental illness, she believes that the treatment for perinatal mood disorders should have evidence basis, and she therefore co founded a large, online pro-science peer support group for those experiencing PMADs in 2016. She sits on the board for the Tennessee chapter of Postpartum Support International and functions as one of their state support coordinators for the Midstate.

I had our second child last Monday. Since that evening, we’ve been supplementing with formula due to the fact that I have insufficient glandular tissue (IGT) and I am not physically able to exclusively breastfeed. Yesterday, our older son wanted to help feed his baby brother a bottle and, while he was helping, my husband took this picture of them that I loved. I made it my profile picture, and the fact that I felt comfortable posting a picture of my sons with a bottle really shows a sea change in my feelings about infant feeding. Because of that picture, I wanted to post my story about lactivism, which is extremist exclusive breastfeeding advocacy, and how it affected my postpartum mental health after my older son’s birth. It’s pretty long, but I hope my story illuminates how The Fed is Best Foundations provides important support for new mothers. Continue reading →

Landon's first day of kindergarten!

Dear Doctors: Just One Bottle Would Have Let Landon See His First Day of Kindergarten

Leave a comment

Written by Jillian Johnson

Dear Doctors,

My name is Jillian Johnson and I am speaking to you on behalf of The Fed Is Best Foundation. I am mother to Landon Johnson of Landon’s Legacy. Landon was my firstborn son who died because he was starving while exclusively breastfeeding.

LandonP5

Today has been a very bittersweet day for me. My littlest babe turned two. And while we celebrated from the moment she awoke to the moment she laid her head down for the night, I couldn’t help but feel a bit sad. You see, today, my sweet Landon should have started his first day of Kindergarten. I should have been able to make him a special breakfast, pack his backpack, and walk him to his classroom for the first time. I should have been able to meet his teacher and new friends. Today, I should have packed his lunch and left a sweet note like, “You’re going to be amazing today!” But, I do not get to. As I made my daughter her birthday breakfast, my heart ached knowing we have an empty seat at the table that should be filled. As I baked her cake with her older sister, I knew there should be an extra set of hands helping me stir the batter and fight over who got to lick the spoon. I’ve always looked forward to being able to create the “my first day” sign for my children, and as I made Landon’s today, I couldn’t fill in the blanks. So I wrote this letter instead–requesting that medical professionals step up and help fight for change, and support the cause that would have saved my son’s life. Continue reading →

Bags of donor breast milk.

Donor Breast Milk – Is It Worth It?

3 Comments

Written by Hillary Kuzdeba, MPH

Many women in developed countries like the U.S. find that despite their best efforts, they are unable to exclusively breastfeed due to supply problems or other circumstances. They may feel pressured into finding some other way of ensuring their babies are exclusively breastfed, even though they cannot produce enough for baby. Adoptive parents may also feel pressure to provide breast milk. A lot of this pressure to provide breast milk comes from the over-exaggeration or misinterpretation of the benefits of breast milk on long term health outcomes, or from unfounded fears about infant formula.

Currently, there are two types of donor breast milk available to moms in the US, but only one type that is supported and recommended by major medical bodies like the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)(1, 2) and by the Fed is Best Foundation. Donor milk obtained from a milk bank or hospital is a safe and healthy alternative to mom’s own milk. (2) Milk banks thoroughly screen their donor moms to ensure the safety of the milk and pasteurize it following strict food safety protocols to destroy bacteria that can make infants very ill. Milk banks are similar to blood banks. These organizations are designed to make sure human body fluids, whether breast milk or blood products are screened and safe before they are used by vulnerable people like newborns and sick patients. This is because human body fluids, including breast milk, can pass transmissible infections like HIV from person to person.(3-5) For more information on the milk bank process, please visit https://www.hmbana.org/. Continue reading →

Adorable baby boy sleeping soundly.

I Supplemented My Starving Baby When My Hospital IBCLC’s, Doctor and WIC Counselor Told Me Not To

1 Comment

By Kristen, Fed is Best Mom and Advocate

My son was born weighing 7 lb 5 oz. Within his first week he lost 11% of his body weight. Babies at Risk; Loss of 10% Birth Weight  By week three we had been to approximately 7 weigh-ins and saw 3 lactation consultations. I had two lactation consultants texting me around the clock, day and night to ensure I was successful at breastfeeding. My lactation consultants were aware that I had a breast reduction several years ago that impacted my supply with my first baby. She lost a pound in her first week of life but at that hospital, the doctor had me supplement my baby immediately.  Babies At Risk; History of Breastfeeding Failure 

AAP12percent2

 Babies At Risk Stanford Medicine Breast Surgery : Many women with breast reduction report they were not well informed about the risks of under-production, and therefore anticipate they will be able to exclusively breastfeed. They typically feel their milk “come in” and can easily express small volumes. Due to the disruption of the collecting system, it is the exceptional mother who can exclusively breastfeed. This may be a risk for any mother with peri-areolar incisions. Mothers should be encouraged and taught proactive measures to maximize production, and yet be provided realistic expectations, close follow-up and clear indications of inadequate milk intake.  

At his three week weigh in, he had actually started to LOSE weight and he was 7 ounces below his birth weight.

KimberlySBlog2

Continue reading →

A mother kissing her newborn infant

My 6th Lactation Consultant Saved Me When She Focused On My Needs First

Leave a comment

By Beth Kao, Fed is Best Mom and Advocate

When I finally got pregnant via IVF with my son Ike, I decided that I wanted to breastfeed him. Why?  Immunological benefits, possible lower obesity and diabetes risk, possibly smarter… As a scientist, I didn’t quite buy the higher IQ selling points of breastfeeding, but the immunological benefits seemed plausible to me. My two siblings, who seemed to have far fewer instances of illness and health issues, were breastfed while I was exclusively formula fed, so anecdotally, it seemed that breastfeeding made a positive impact on health. I delivered my son at a hospital that was touted to have one of the best birth centers in the Bay Area.  One of the key takeaways from the birth center tour was that breastfeeding was specifically embraced and emphasized, so I put on my birth plan that I planned to breastfeed.   

Labor and delivery was difficult. After 27 hours of labor, nearly 4 hours of pushing, and a failed vacuum extraction, Baby Ike was delivered via C-section. When the nurse handed Ike to me to breastfeed him, he would not latch, but would push me away and scream like I was trying to murder him–and this would happen each time I tried to breastfeed him.  Despite this, the nurses had me adhere to a breastfeeding schedule every 2 hours (because, they reminded me, my birth plan stated that I wanted to breastfeed). Each time the nurse or my husband handed Ike to me to breastfeed, I was filled with dread. I fought the urge to break down into tears as Ike pushed me away and arched his back while screaming as I tried to coax him into latching onto my breast.

 “I think our baby hates me,” I said to my husband after the umpteenth failed breastfeeding attempt.

My milk did not come in while I was in the hospital recovering, and did not come in until 9 days post-partum. Since my baby wasn’t latching, a breast pump was delivered to my room to help stimulate milk production.  I was not given instructions on how to use the pump and I used the wrong size flange and made the mistake of turning the suction power all the way to the highest level.  I also was pumping dry breasts for over 45 minutes which led to sore, cracked nipples and not a drop of milk!   So I hand expressed as much colostrum into a 1 cc syringe and fed my newborn whatever I could squeeze out of my breasts.   Continue reading →