Comments for The Milk Mama

Comment on Reflecting on some big events by KosherAcademic

KosherAcademic — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 09:02:04 +0000

Glad it all went so well! Can’t wait for your annoucement at the end of Oct. In the meantime–take a deep breath and relax!

Comment on Circumcision and breastfeeding by Donna

Donna — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 09:12:34 +0000

Wow! This is the first time that I am finding out about a correlation between bf problems and circumcision. I was reluctant to have my first son circumcised. I did not know if I should or shouldn’t. I called my husband and he said that it was ok. I was heartbroken by how upset my son was after the procedure. I was already having latch problems and my milk was not letting down. To make things worse, I had a visit from my in-laws that day. They kept blaming his tears on breastfeeding and told me to just give him a bottle. I now think that the circumcision only made things worse. I am 9 months pregnant. I will not have my second son circumcised!

Comment on No more breastfeeding for my baby by monica

monica — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 03:14:32 +0000

niecy..did your baby forget??? I am in the same boat and soo sad and scared she will too??

Comment on Circumcision and breastfeeding by Public Service Announcement: Breastfeeding Challenges for Newborns | The Middle of Everything

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:44:20 +0000

[...] it may be difficult or impossible for them to latch on to the breast. The personal account in this blog article is not an unusual situation, and she does a good job of summing up the available information on the [...]

Comment on Circumcision and breastfeeding by Hannah

Hannah — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 00:39:49 +0000

I don’t know about that. An adult can be put under anesthesia and express how much pain relief (Tylenol or stronger) they need afterwards. Infants have neither of those options and usually don’t even get much pain relief during or after the procedure. If your religion states to do it on the 8th day, I guess that is best, but if you’re doing it for cultural reasons alone, I think waiting until adulthood is best.

Comment on Circumcision and breastfeeding by Hannah

Hannah — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 00:33:56 +0000

I am one of those with “strong feelings” about circumcision, I guess. Most moms don’t realize that the chance of circumcision interfering with breastfeeding is yet another way that circumcision endangers their child’s life, health, and well-being.

Alexis, sorry to hear about your troubles breastfeeding your last child. It sound hard, too, to be at a disagreement with your husband about it.

As a fellow Christian, I found it interesting when making my decision about this, that as well as the 8-day custom, early Jewish ritual circumcision was much less invasive than current medical circumcision. It was a ritual shedding of a few drops of blood, the Hebrew word used to institute circumcision is “clip” or “to cut shorter”, not “remove” or “amputate”. Regardless of it’s extensiveness, I’m so thankful that circumcision, for Christians, is made obsolete by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and replaced by the sign of baptism. We no longer need the shedding of blood (circumcision and animal sacrifices) to point forward to Christ, because he has already come and paid the price once and for all!

Comment on Fighting the post-weaning weight gain by Naptimewriting

Naptimewriting — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 06:17:31 +0000

I had the same experience…gained a pound for each feeding he dropped, then another 5 after he weaned. He still woke a lot at night, though, and I think the stress of that kept the weight on. I’ll never know if I could have lost it because I got pregnant again when he was three and I was at my all time high. Second son is just over a year and still nurses a lot. And I haven’t lost a pound since coming home with him. Hope it goes away when he weans but I’m exercising for stress relief and for strength so we’ll see if that helps my poor rear end.

Comment on How I got my bottle-guzzling, breast-phobic baby to love nursing by alexis

alexis — Tue, 17 May 2011 18:58:26 +0000

i was only able to BF for 4 months because i wasn’t producing milk and my son never got the hang of it. he never learned a really decent latch, and was impatient and lazy. we never established BFing in the hospital, and i didn’t get the support i needed from the LCs there. i had some postpartum cardiac complications, and the meds screwed up my milk supply. i tried EVERYthing: finger feeding for six weeks (which was depressing itself), nipple shields, “milk cookies” and “milk tea,” fenugreek, reglan, using an SNS, BFing support group weekly with LCs, pumping pumping pumping … i was heartbroken when nothing worked. my baby would cry frantically and fight when i would try to nurse him. it made me so sad. i started to feel i was going to traumatize him, so i tried to pump and bottle feed my milk to him. at the end i would pump and get only drops. i started to get very depressed about it and i felt like that was affecting my baby, so i finally gave up. milk banks were not an option and i couldn’t find anyone to donate milk, so he was supplemented with formula pretty much the entire time. i didn’t want to supplement at all, but he began losing so much weight at the beginning that i had to. my physician refused to write me an Rx for the domperidone compound that the LCs recommended. my baby is 10 months now, and i am due with our 2nd baby in three months. i am anxious and excited to have this opportunity to try again. i feel like i failed at BFing the first time and i am determined to succeed this time. i am hoping to have enough extra milk pumped that i can share some with him, or even (hope beyond hope?) that he might be interested in trying to nurse again.
thank you for your article! love your site!

Comment on Breast milk cheese: Want some? by alexis

alexis — Tue, 17 May 2011 18:44:40 +0000

that is so interesting, Victoria! i would like to know more about breastmilk for the elderly … commencing research

Comment on Circumcision and breastfeeding by alexis

alexis — Tue, 17 May 2011 18:24:56 +0000

our experience:
i had done extensive research on breastfeeding and natural parenting before the birth of our first child. up until our (now 10m old) son was born, i worked in surgery at our local hospital, and was hyperaware of risks/complications/anethesia/surgical practices – i did know that breastfeeding problems were a risk of circumcision, and these were two of many reasons why i did not want to circumcise our baby if we had a boy; my husband, for reasons of his own, very strongly wanted to circumcise, and i ultimately deferred to him.
our small town medical community did not allow us the option of having our baby circ’d on the 8th day after birth (which was one of my conditions in accepting my husband’s decision). i, too, do not blame all of our breastfeeding problems on the circumcision, but i definitely think that it contributed. my baby was also sleepy when they brought him back after the procedure, and fought nursing later. he didn’t latch well and would only nurse for the briefest period. we never established breastfeeding in the hospital; my milk didn’t come in for a week. my 8 lb 4 oz baby lost down to 6#15 by his fifth day with us, and we were forced to supplement. we finger-fed him (with the syringes) for 6 weeks while attending a weekly lactation support group. he was never a good nurser and i never produced more than a half ounce each side per pumping session (and that was at the most), despite the supplements and reglan. we even purchased an SNS (like adoptive moms use) but all my efforts were to no avail. i gave up on nursing at 4 months, but continued to pump for two more weeks. it was so frustrating and depressing.
i can’t help but feel a little resentful; i know the trauma of the circumcision didn’t help. now, pregnant with baby#2 due in three months, i am almost hoping for a girl, just so that i am not faced with the same situation. i dread the trauma my baby will endure if he is a boy, because i will again defer to my husband – i even spoke the Archbishop about it, and i believe this is what is right for our family. i don’t want to feel sad and guilty every time i change a diaper those first weeks. i don’t want us to struggle with breastfeeding, which should be such a natural and enjoyable, nurturing time for us.
we are roman-catholic, but i am planning on seeking advice from the Temple in our town, and seeing if they can point me in the direction of a good mohel (in the event we are blessed with another son). our pediatrician performed the circumcision in the hospital, and he did a wonderful job and was also very thorough in his follow-up, but i think i will have to insist that the procedure be delayed the traditional eight days this time. i believe that God implemented the eighth day rule for very good reasons (blood-clotting factors, breastfeeding) and i would prefer to follow the Jewish custom if we have another boy.
this was our experience, and i pray that it is not repeated.
great non-biased article; i will be back for more … you have been bookmarked!