Journey to Motherhood
Mamas on Bedrest: Should Breastfeeding be the Law?
August 4th, 2010
Mamas around the US are weighing in on the “Breastfeeding should be mandatory”statement declared by supermodel Gisele Bundchen. Mamas on Bedrest, Should Breastfeeding be the law?
There are many reasons that mothers should be encouraged to breastfeed their babies. First of all, breastmilk contains antibodies that are protective to the newborn. We all know that a newborn has a very sensitive, immature immune system. Breast Milk contains many of the antibodies and protective agents from the mother that protect the newborn from illness and disease until its own immune system becomes more competent. Research has shown that babies who breastfeed exclusively for at least 6 months have a lower incidence of allergies, ear infections and other childhood illnesses. The following are many of the cited health benefits (from www.womenshealth.gov and www.aap.org):
Breastmilk adapts to meet the nutritional needs of the nursing child. The initial colostrum that feeds a newborn is dramatically different from the mature breast milk that nourishes a nursing toddler. Yet at each stage, breast milk is just the right composition of protein, carbohydrates, fats and water needed to meet the nutritional needs of the nursing child. Breast Milk also has enzymes that make it easier to digest so that there is little to no stomach upset in the child.
And one can’t deny the economics of breastfeeding. Breast Milk is free. It is always ready, no mixing necessary and it is always the right temperature. Some breastfeeding advocates has gone so far as to say that low income women should be forced to breastfeed. Low income, less educated women are less likely than women of higher economic and educational status to breastfeed. Their children are also more likely to have frequent ear infections, allergies, asthma and other childhood illnesses. Proponents state that educating and encouraging lower income and less educated women to breastfeed their babies could reduce healthcare costs and improve the long term health, intelligence and well-being of lower income children. (There is currently no data to support these claims)
But opponents of mandatory breastfeeding state that breastfeeding is not for every mom. Many women cite pain, inability to produce sufficient quantities of milk, lack of support for breastfeeding amongst their famiies and friends, work schedules and feeling embarrassed while nursing as reasons they did not breastfeed for very long or at all. Still, breastfeeding has many benefits for mama as well including:
- Reduced risk of breast, ovarian, cervical, and endometrial cancers
- Reduced risk of anemia
- Protection against osteoporosis and hip fracture in later life
- Reduced risk of mortality for women with rheumatoid arthritis has bee associated with total time of lactation
- Helps mother’s body return to its pre-pregnancy state faster-promotes weigh loss; 1/2 of calories needed to make milk is pulled from fat stores
- Helps delay return of fertility and to space subsequent pregnancies
- Moms miss less time from work due to child related illnesses
- Helps the uterus contract after birth to control postpartum bleeding
And althoug it is not listed here, breastfeeding has been linked to reduction in post partum depression. (Read our previous blog posts -April and May 2010-on the topic!)
US culture does not support breastfeeding as evidenced by restaurants and other public establishments banning breastfeeding or banishing breastfeeding mothers to restrooms to feed their babies. Breastfeeding mothers have had to file lawsuits to be able to breastfeed their babies or to have breastfeeding/breast pumping areas available in their workplace. The US’s lack of paid maternity leave makes it nearly impossible for new mothers to establish breastfeeding. When faced with the choice of staying home to breastfeed and/or adjusting their work environments or schedules in order to breastfeed, many women are not only unwilling but are also unable to make such concessions. Many women say they won’t have a job to come back to and can’t put their entire family’s security in jeopardy.
The breastfeeding debate will wage on and every mama will have to decide for herself what is the best method of feeding her baby. Since August is World Breastfeeding Month, Mamas on Bedrest, take this time on bedrest to consider what is the best method for you to feed your baby and if it is breastfeeding, gather your resources and support now. Mamas on Bedrest & Beyond is pleased to offer several resources for breastfeeding mamas on our website as well as in our Amazon.com store.
How are you planning to feed your baby? Share your comments with us below.
If we can be of assistance, don’t hesitate to contact us at info@mamasonbedrest.com
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The Mind/Body Connection: What it Means For Mamas on Bedrest
June 24th, 2010Yesterday was my oldest sister’s birthday. She turned 52. She may not be too happy to know that I have blasted her age
to the masses, yet her birthday is truly an extraordinary event. My sister was a preemie. She was born at 6 1/2 months (they didn’t really do weeks back then according to my mother) and weighed a mere 3 lbs. She subsequently dropped down to 1 pound and everyone in the neonatal unit was sure that she wasn’t going to make it. But my parents, the wide-eyed teens that they were, never for one moment doubted that she would make it and yesterday’s birthday is a testament to that fact. My mom says that “I just never even thought about her dying.” I believe it’s that spirit that kept my sister alive. My mom also says that every time she visited my sister in the NICU, my sister would move and squirm. The doctors believed that this movement helped her to deep breathe and contributed to her survival.
We don’t talk much about my sister’s birth but it is still a clear memory for my mother. I realized this 8 years ago when I had my daughter at 36 weeks and 6 days and she was admitted to the NICU. My mother came down to support me and as we entered the NICU she stopped just inside and was momentarily frozen. I didn’t think much about it then but I now realize that my mother, in that moment, was reliving her own experience of entering the NICU to visit my sister. 44 years later, the NICU still had the power to halt (albeit momentarily) my mother.
Back in 1958 when my mother had my sister I am sure that no one discussed the mind/body connection and what it could mean for premature infants and their parents. But researchers now know that there is a very strong connection between the mind and the body-not only within an individual but also between people, especially between premature infants and their parents.
Last night I had the great fortune to attend a parent discussion group hosted by Hand to Hold, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting parents of premature infants and children utilizing a mentoring model. New preemie parents are paired with “veteran” preemie parents so that the vets can help the new parents navigated the complicated hospital system, cope with the myriad of peaks and valleys that constitute caring for a fragile child and to be a support and a caring, comforting ear. Dr. Jennifer Gunter, OB/GYN, Physiatrist, pain medicine specialist and author of The Preemie Primer spoke about the mind/body connection and how it can have a huge impact on premature infants as well as their parents. She talked at great length about her own experience carrying triplets, losing one at 22 weeks and subsequently delivering the two remaining boys at 26 weeks. “Everyday I would say to myself and to the babies, Not today, not until 26 weeks.” She actually gave birth to her boys at exactly 26 weeks. Dr. Gunter also offered several good, simple techniques for parents 
to use when they are feeling overwhelmed.
- Take a deep breath that expands the belly not just the chest
- Go for a walk, outside if possible. Walking eases tension, forces you to take deep breaths and the fresh air and sunshine will help lighten your mood
- Use positive affirmations. Positive affirmations change the brain’s chemistry and actually affect how the body reacts. Dr. Gunter keep telling herself and her boys “not until 26 weeks” and helped delay her delivery. My mom kept talking to my infant sister and held it in her own mind that her baby would come home and she did.
- Yoga. Yoga is a great stress reliever and helps with breathing and calming the mind
- Dr. Gunter recommends that parents of preemies be screened for post partum depression 2 weeks after the birth of their child. This is also a good idea for parents who had a traumatic birth.
Mamas on Bedrest are at risk for delivery complications and premature delivery. This knowledge can be very troubling causing mamas to worry and fret. This is no good for you or your baby. As Dr. Gunter said, the emotional state of the mother does influence the baby. Worry releases brain chemicals that can have negative effects on both mama and baby’s health. Likewise, a positive attitude along with positive affirmations will release brain chemicals that have a calming and health enhancing effect on mama and her infant. I encourage you to begin cultivating a positive attitude towards your pregnancy, labor and delivery. Speaking positively about your child’s health-not only to yourself, but to your child. Studies have shown that babies in utero and out respond to their parent’s voices and to their environment. Keep the environment as calming, soothing and positive as possible. Read to your baby, sing to your baby, play music or just talk lovingly to your baby. This will release calming, positive brain chemicals into your blood stream that will subsequently make the in utero environment calmer and more health enhancing as well.
You’re doing very Important work, Mamas on Bedrest! Here’s to you and to healthy, full term pregnancies, safe and uncomplicated labors and deliveries and to healthy, happy babies.!
The Smart Mother’s Guide to a Better Pregnancy: Book Review
June 22nd, 2010
I have had the opportunity to read The Smart Mother’s Guide to a Better Pregnancy and I have to say that this is a really handy little book for expectant mothers. The book is broken down into four parts
1) Selecting the Right Healthcare Provider
2) Routine Prenatal Care and Potential Problems
3) High-Risk Problems During Pregnancy
4) Thirty-Six Weeks and Beyond
Each section really gives great practical information about how to navigate our crazy US health care system and in turn, to minimize potential misunderstandings or worse-life threatening complications to mother and baby.
Linda Burke-Galloway, MD, is the author and she really knows her stuff. She has specialized in high risk pregnancy for much of her career and has a particular interest in public health and safety. This passion is evident as you read through the book. She repeatedly provides vignettes pertaining to prenatal care and often provides real life stories of “what went wrong” to substantiate her recommendations. Several of her insights can only come from someone who has been there. This is especially true in “Selecting the Right Healthcare Provider”. Dr. Burke-Galloway gives step by step instructions on how to research a provider, including checking their credentials as well as investigating whether or not they have any legal judgments against them-past or present. She addresses the danger of selecting a provider from an insurance directory list without performing these crucial checks and she gives vital advice on how to deal with a provider who has decided not to obtain medical malpractice insurance as well as those with numerous satellite offices. An unknowing woman could easily fall prey to pitfalls of these practices, but with this book, they are educated, 
prepared and quite possibly protected.
My favorite section is, of course, the section on “High Risk Problems During Pregnancy.” Dr. Burke-Galloway gives very good explanations of chronic hypertension and pre-eclampsia. I have to disagree with her about incompetent cervix, however. She states that this is a fairly uncommon problem. Now perhaps it’s because most of the women that I work with are on bed rest or its this age of assisted reproductive technologies, but I see a lot of women with incompetent cervices. Now I don’t have over 20 years of experience like Dr. Burke-Galloway has, but in my observation and with the women with whom I am dealing, incompetent cervix is not “infrequent”.
One of the best parts of the book is the list of references at the end. Dr. Burke-Galloway gives an extensive list of resources for women to be able to do the research and to ask the questions that she suggests.
I was a little disappointed that Dr. Burke-Galloway did not address VBAC at all. There was no mention of giving a woman a trial of labor after a c-section or what to do if you wanted to try for VBAC. While Dr. Burke-Galloway may not be a VBAC advocate herself, I do think that this topic-so prominent in today’s health care debate and in discussions on how to reduce maternal mortality-at least deserved a mention. I was also disappointed that she did not mention methods of labor relaxation such as showering, using a birth ball or other tools, massage or other means of relaxation. It seemed like she was only advocating a “mechanized” labor and delivery-in hospital, in bed, fetal monitor attached. This tone will likely turn off a lot of women.
I was also surprised that Dr. Burke-Galloway did not speak more about post partum depression. She gave some important facts and statistics, but didn’t really delve into the etiology of post partum depression. I really think that it would have been helpful if she had talked about a patient of hers that had had post partum depression, how she diagnosed it and how she treated it.
Which brings me to my final comment about this book. I am a physician assistant by training so much of this book was a good review for me. Yes, I did learn some new things while reading it but much of it was review. As I read the book, I felt a real distance from the author. This is not a “warm read”. Now granted, these aren’t “warm and fuzzy” topics about which Dr. Burke-Galloway is speaking. Yet, for a book that is directed at mothers-and I am assuming laywomen-this book was too formal. For example, Dr. Burke-Galloway uses the term “Labor Assistant” in the section on labor and delivery. Why not use “doula”? I realize that there are more than one type of labor coach. It could be a spouse or family member. But in my experience, when women think of a labor coach or assistant, they are referring to a doula.
In some ways the book reminded me of a Grand Rounds presentation (a presentation where one health care professional is speaking to a group of other health care professionals). Much of this book made sense to me because I have previous education and experience from which to draw. My concern is that many women who may read this book may miss a few of the points that Dr. Burke-Galloway is trying to make because they won’t have the frame of reference in which to place the topic. For example, in one section, She talks about having “spirited discussion” over a case with another provider. Why not say “We argued”? In fact, if she could have shared some of the argument, I think it would have given meat to what she was trying to say. Much of her stories are bare bones facts and it would be nice to have more “flesh” to be able to draw a fuller mental picture. In one section she talks about a colleague who was delivering. Why not give her a name (even a pseudonym) and refer to her by name instead of as “my colleague”? She talks about feeling relieved after such a difficult delivery, but it would have had more impact if she had given just a few more details, let us know how concerned she was, the specific perils she faced and how she managed them and then talked about the relief she felt after.
These last comments are purely stylistic and in no way take away from this book. I am simply suggesting that if Dr. Burke-Galloway writes subsequent editions (which she says she wants to do in the forward and afterward) that she make the text more conversational. It is a good book and I think that it will help a lot of women-especially a woman who may be relocating to another area and needs to find a new provider or a woman who become s pregnant unexpectedly and is really unprepared for what she needs to do to take care of herself and her baby. However, I think that for a number of women, the cool tone and the lack of attention to more holistic methods will be a turn off.
