Bringing In and Maintaining Your Milk Supply

So we are now just past six weeks and our little guy is just under 12 pounds, so he is getting bigger and happier. My wife asked me to do check to see how to increase her milk supply. Here is what I found:

Ameda

• When do you start? If you can, start pumping within the first six hours after your baby’s birth. As soon as possible, pump at least 8-10 times every 24 hours. This is how many times each day your baby would be breastfeeding. In general, the more times each day you pump, the more milk you make. The reverse is true, too. The less you pump, the less milk you make.
• Until your milk "comes in" on Day 3 or 4, pump at least 10-15 minutes per breast.
• Pump at least once during the night. Don’t go longer than about 5 hours between pumpings. (Full breasts make milk slower.)

Maintaining your Breastmilk Supply
Suggestions for maintaining and improving your milk supply.

• Get enough rest and eat regularly.
• Drink plenty of water, herbal teas, and other liquids throughout the day.
• Drinks that increase milk supply:
• Fennel, fenugreek (in a tea or capsule form). Mother’s milk tea (Traditional Medicinals or Yogi brands).
  Teas made from nettles and raspberry leaf
• Dark/stout beers, especially Guinness.
• Amazake rice shakes in almond and hazelnut flavors (available in the refrigerated section at the Coop and Back to the Land).
• The book Wise Woman Herbal recommends the following herbal infusions: comfrey, alfafa, red clover, and borage leaves.
• Barley water (prepared by soaking 1/2 cup pearled barley in 3cups cold water overnight or boiling 25 minutes, then pour 1 cup boiling barley water over 1 tsp fennel seeds which you steep no longer than 30 minutes.

Foods that increase milk supply:

• Helpful foods include beets, leafy greens, shrimp, oatmeal, whole grains, brown basmati rice, and black sesame seeds.
• According to the book Wise Woman Herbal, other good foods include apricots, asparagus, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, pecans, parsley, watercress, and dandelion leaves.
  

Things that decrease milk supply:

• Mint tea – if you are an herbal tea drinker, make sure none of your tea has mint in it.
• Sage
• Avoid caffeine and alcohol (with the exception of dark/stout beers).
• Stress/Worrying about your milk supply!

What are some other suggestions that you may have tried or have heard about?

Circumcision?

So what are peoples thoughts about circumcision? In the hospital most nurses and doctors strongly recommended us against this. In most cases they scolded us for even thinking about it. We were more than frustrated. I have heard of a few cases where older men had to have this done and it was extremely painful and had major health implications. In the hospital they gave us very dated information that recommended against this procedure. In the last while I have heard information about why not to do this procedure but have never seen any data about health complications of males that do not have this done. Below is some reading that may help with your decision.

Circumcision - Wikipedia

Opponents of non-therapeutic circumcision claim infant circumcision infringes upon the individuals bodily rights, is medically unjustified and it adversely affects sexual pleasure.^[9] Circumcision advocates claim it is a worthwhile public health measure that has no substantial effects on sexual function and has a low complication rate when properly done.^[10]

The American Medical Association stated in 1999: "Virtually all current policy statements from specialty societies and medical organizations do not recommend routine neonatal circumcision, and support the provision of accurate and unbiased information to parents to inform their choice."^[11]

The World Health Organisation (WHO; 2007), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS; 2007), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; 2008) state that evidence indicates that male circumcision significantly reduces the risk of HIV acquisition by men during penile-vaginal sex, but also state that circumcision only provides partial protection and should not replace other interventions to prevent transmission of HIV.^[12][13]

The American Medical Association defines “non-therapeutic” circumcision as the non-religious, non-ritualistic, not medically necessary, elective circumcision of male newborns. It still advocates that medical associations in the US, Australia, and Canada do not recommend the routine non-therapeutic circumcision of newborns.^[36]

Circumcision advocates argue that circumcision prevents infections and slows down the spread of AIDS.^[37] Opponents of circumcision question the ethical validity of removing healthy, functioning genital tissue from a minor, arguing that infant circumcision infringes upon individual autonomy and represents a human rights violation.^[38][39]

^{Circumcision Benefits}

^{Circumcision - To Circumcise or Not Circumcise}

What do you think?

Sleeping Baby

Our little guy is now over three weeks old. As you can tell by my lack of posts we have been extremely busy. He seems to be sleeping at 2-3 hour intervals and then he is up feeding, fusing, getting changed and/or playing with us for 40 minutes. We are both learning how to be parents and loving ever minute of it. Does this sound right, in terms of the sleep? To answer this question I thought I would do some research and this is what I found.

The following information can be found at BabyCentre in the article Establishing Good Sleep Habits 0-3 Months:

Newborns sleep a lot -- about 17 to 18 hours a day for the first few weeks and 15 hours a day by month three. However, they almost never sleep for more than three to four hours at a time, day or night. We can sure vouch for this. He likes to sleep at the most three hours at a time!

The Canadian Paediatic Society recommends that babies sleep at night in a crib next to their parents' bed for the first six months. Other recommendations include:

• Put your baby down on his back to sleep, not his front or his side. We were sure worried about this because of SIDS. The first two weeks we made sure he stayed on his back but now he sometimes turns to his side and we let him.
  
• Put him with his feet at the end of the crib so he can't wriggle too far down under the blankets. We actualy are using bassinet right now and will soon be switching to his crib as he is getting too long.
  
• Keep your baby's room at a temperature of around 18 degrees C / 64 degrees F.
• For bedding, use a sheet and cellular blankets rather than a duvet. We are using organic sheets that we bought online and they are sure working well.
  
• Check that your baby isn't getting too hot or too cold by feeling his stomach: if he's too hot, remove a blanket, if he's cold, add one. Don't go by his hands or feet, as it is normal for them to feel cold.

One final article I enjoyed on sleep was Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night by Elizabeth Pantley found at Canadian Parents.

It talks about differnt options for sounds that you can use to put a baby to sleep to. Our little guy loves the sound of water or waves in the ocean. It seems to always do the trick. That reminds me I need to change the batteries.

If you have any other ideas please let me know!

Birth Annoucment

Well the big day for us has come and past and the rest is a blur. Our little guy was born on Friday, April 18 at 8:48 in the morning. He weighed 8 pounds and 15 1/2 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. We were sure excited to say the least. In the delivery room they thought that he was at least 10 or 11 pounds. We were able to go home on the following Monday, but wife was very sore after the operation. Things are going well right now, although we had some trouble with the breast feeding. Today we had our two week doctors appointment and found out that the little guy has regained all of his birth weight and now weights 9 pounds and is 21.5 inches long.

It has been some time since I last posted but I am back and ready to share what we learn along the way and hope you continue to give me feedback and suggestions.