My colleague and friend, Julie Whitfield, graciously spoke with me about her work supporting families welcoming their newborns as a postpartum doula and IBCLC. You can find Julie and her services at www.firstdaze.com

Be sure to join us in our social media accounts to be up to date with the progress of our project!

And… Don’t forget to share your brelfies using our HT #BreastfeedingWorld 

–

[col1][/col1]

[col2][/col2]

[col3][/col3]

Adara Blake

Adara is a speech-language pathologist and IBCLC currently living in Philadelphia. She is a proud alumna of New York University as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Adara seeks to use her clinical background in pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders to complement her lactation training, in order to better serve families who are experiencing difficulty during breastfeeding. She also has an specific interest in improving visibility and support for breastfeeding among women of color.

The post Interview with Julie Whitfield, IBCLC and Postpartum Doula appeared first on Breastfeeding World.

Human Milk Banking started in Austria in 1909!

HMBANA was started in 1985, but formal milk banking has a much longer history. While wet nursing was a common historical practice, the push toward “hygienic” health care practices in the western world led to the development of milk banks in the early 1900’s as a more medically friendly way of delivering human milk to babies who needed it. The first milk bank was started in Vienna, Austria in 1909, and in 1919 banks opened in Boston and Germany. The Dionne quintuplets of Quebec, Canada were some of the early famous recipients of donor milk, receiving over 8,000 ounces of milk in the 1930’s.

Amid the AIDS crisis of the mid 1980’s, HMBANA was formed to create rigorous standards for milk banking and protect the dwindling number of banks. Over the last 30 years, milk banking has flourished, with 24 banks in operation across North America and 5 more in development. While supplies are concentrated towards premature infants in hospital NICU’s, milk banks also serve babies living at home with medical conditions and occasionally healthy babies who have been adopted or are otherwise unable to receive their mother’s milk.

In 2015 approximately 552,761 ounces of milk were dispensed!

Mothers interested in donating to a milk bank must meet several requirements, including donating a minimum of 100 ounces and free from most medications or supplements. If a mother meets the requirements, the milk bank handles any shipping and screening costs. In 2015, the number of donors increased by over 100, and 552,761 ounces of milk were dispensed!

Donating pumped milk to a milk bank can be one way of connecting with the larger community of mothers and babies. If you or a nursing mother you know are interested in formal milk donation, check out https://www.hmbana.org/locations to find the location closest to you!

Information adapted from www.hmbana.org

Have you ever donated Breastmilk to a milk bank? What was your experience? We’d love to hear about it! Drop us a comment below!

Be sure to join us in our social media accounts to be up to date with the progress of our project!

And… Don’t forget to share your brelfies using our HT #BreastfeedingWorld 

–

[col1][/col1]

[col2][/col2]

[col3][/col3]

Adara Blake

Adara is a speech-language pathologist and IBCLC currently living in Philadelphia. She is a proud alumna of New York University as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Adara seeks to use her clinical background in pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders to complement her lactation training, in order to better serve families who are experiencing difficulty during breastfeeding. She also has an specific interest in improving visibility and support for breastfeeding among women of color.

The post Human Milk Banking appeared first on Breastfeeding World.

Adapted from “Development of Feeding Progression,” by Erin Sundseth Ross, from Pediatric Feeding Disorders: Evaluation and Treatment (2012).

While most people could tell you that babies typically start eating solids around 6 months, few understand why. Just like other areas of child development, oral feeding follows a typical progression of skills.

Prenatal: Developing babies start demonstrating sucking and swallowing movements as early as 14 weeks gestation.

Birth-3 months: Initially feeding is largely reflexive and characterized by a suckling pattern (front to back movement), but becomes volitional and transitions to a sucking pattern (up and down movement). Babies also begin bringing hands to midline and may hold mom’s breast or their bottle.

5-7 months: Baby is physically able to sit up in a high chair and support their own head and neck. Initially babies may thrust food out of their mouths. Soon they will begin using a mix of suckling and sucking to clear food from the spoon, move it backward in the oral cavity, and swallow. Tongue lateralization, or movement side to side, forms around 6 months. Tongue lateralization is important to forming cohesive balls of food for swallowing.

7-9 months: Once babies are sitting independently, they transition to finger foods. Their ability to voluntarily pick up and release objects develops around 8 months. Early chewing is typically a munching pattern. Small up and down movements of the teeth and gums are used to break down food.

10-24 months: Between 10 and 12 months rotary chewing emerges, adding a shredding movement to the vertical chewing (helpful for table foods!). Children begin to use utensils around 11 months; they are expected to use a spoon between 12 and 18 months. Efficiency with utensils continues to improve until mastered around 36 months.

Be sure to join us in our social media accounts to be up to date with the progress of our project!

And… Don’t forget to share your brelfies using our HT #BreastfeedingWorld 

–

[col1][/col1]

[col2][/col2]

[col3][/col3]

Adara Blake

Adara is a speech-language pathologist and IBCLC currently living in Philadelphia. She is a proud alumna of New York University as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Adara seeks to use her clinical background in pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders to complement her lactation training, in order to better serve families who are experiencing difficulty during breastfeeding. She also has an specific interest in improving visibility and support for breastfeeding among women of color.

The post Feeding Skill Development appeared first on Breastfeeding World.

Most new moms do not need to be told how important their relationship with their own mother (or other maternal figure) is as they embark on this new stage of life. But in April 2016 authors Joel Negin, Jenna Coffman, Pavle Vizintin and Camille Rayes-Greenow published a research literature review demonstrating the significant impact grandmothers can have on the breastfeeding success of their daughter and grandchild.

Particularly in lower income communities and countries, grandmothers are an important part of the family unit and may be viewed as the expert and authority when it comes to decisions regarding child rearing.

Despite this influence, the authors found that few global health studies directly examined the relationship between grandparents and infant outcomes. With this review, they sought to “quantify the impact of the grandmother on influencing a mother’s breastfeeding practices.”

A beautiful grandma joined our photo session for our project: NYC’s Breastfeeding World

A grandmother’s unfavorable opinion of breastfeeding could decrease a mother’s likeliness to breastfeed by 70%

A majority of the included studies, looking at social factors impacting breastfeeding in various countries, “found that there was a significant positive impact on breastfeeding when grandmothers of the infants had had their own breastfeeding experience or were positively inclined towards breastfeeding, resulting in effects of between 1.6 to 12.4 times more likely to exclusively breastfeed or refrain from introducing solid food…” Perhaps even more illuminating was the authors’ finding that a grandmother’s unfavorable opinion of breastfeeding could decrease a mother’s likeliness to breastfeeding by 70%. While the range of impact was wide, it is clear that grandmothers exert a strong influence on the feeding outcomes of their babies.

The authors conclude that rather than just seeking to change the behavior of the mother, healthcare providers seeking to support mothers in breastfeeding should include grandmothers, and perhaps in particular effort to understand any traditional practices or beliefs that may be at odds with the evidence-based information being provided.

Full research article available at BioMed Central Pregnancy and Birth.

We would love to hear from you: What was the impact your mother had in your breastfeeding journey?

Be sure to join us in our social media accounts to be up to date with the progress of our project!

And… Don’t forget to share your brelfies using our HT #BreastfeedingWorld 

–

[col1][/col1]

[col2][/col2]

[col3][/col3]

Adara Blake

Adara is a speech-language pathologist and IBCLC currently living in Philadelphia. She is a proud alumna of New York University as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Adara seeks to use her clinical background in pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders to complement her lactation training, in order to better serve families who are experiencing difficulty during breastfeeding. She also has an specific interest in improving visibility and support for breastfeeding among women of color.

The post Influence of Grandmothers on Breastfeeding Rates appeared first on Breastfeeding World.

Breastfeeding-specific education within Speech-Language Pathology is still lacking

From the beginning, I’ve been perplexed by how few speech-language pathologists have expertise in breastfeeding, because to me the two fields complement each other so well; the specific training in swallowing anatomy and physiology, as well as feeding skill development can greatly inform problem solving through breastfeeding difficulty – particularly in situations where the infant is medically fragile. At the very least, the lactation consultant and a breastfeeding-informed speech-language pathologist can make an excellent team.

My Master’s thesis examined the breastfeeding knowledge and skills of SLPs who provide dysphagia (pediatric swallowing) services, and their experiences dealing directly with breastfeeding issues. Most Speech-Language Pathologists reported that they encounter breastfeeding issues regularly in their practice. While some clinicians did not feel comfortable addressing breastfeeding issues, many had taken the initiative to learn breastfeeding support skills and translate that into their practice, particularly after having their own personal breastfeeding experience. Most of the clinicians surveyed acknowledged breastfeeding as a clinical area that provides the valuable opportunity to collaborate with and learn from other professionals, namely IBCLCs.

Like so many other healthcare professions, exposure to breastfeeding-specific education within speech-language pathology is lacking. But as the number of breastfeeding women grows, so must the number of compassionate, knowledgeable professionals to support them. With the right education and clinical experiences, SLPs can be a huge asset to breastfeeding dyads and the clinicians who support them.

Breastfeeding Knowledge and Clinical Management Among Speech-Language Pathologists

The Speech-Language Pathologist and the Lactation Consultant: The Baby’s Feeding Dream Team

Be sure to join us in our social media accounts to be up to date with the progress of our project!

And… Don’t forget to share your brelfies using our HT #BreastfeedingWorld 

–

[col1][/col1]

[col2][/col2]

[col3][/col3]

Adara Blake

Adara is a speech-language pathologist and IBCLC currently living in Philadelphia. She is a proud alumna of New York University as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Adara seeks to use her clinical background in pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders to complement her lactation training, in order to better serve families who are experiencing difficulty during breastfeeding. She also has an specific interest in improving visibility and support for breastfeeding among women of color.

The post Speech-Language Pathologists as Breastfeeding Supporters appeared first on Breastfeeding World.

There are many moving parts when it comes to breastfeeding. One piece that is often overlooked or misunderstood is the process of swallowing.

 Source

Swallowing entails three phases. The oral phase- sucking the milk into the mouth and moving it towards the back of the mouth. The pharyngeal phase- when milk is squeezed down the throat. Third, the esophageal phase -milk moves from throat into the esophagus, the tube that carries the food to the stomach. During the swallow, the body seals off the passage to the lungs to keep us from coughing or choking. Typically sucking, swallowing and breathing occur at a 1:1:1 ratio in very rapid succession – suckswallowbreathesuckswallowbreathesuckswallowbreathe. You may recognize swallows as very brief pauses after the sucks. This is followed by a quiet “ah” sound – the puff of air being exhaled after the breath.

A common disruption to this sucking cycle often occurs at the beginning of feeds, if moms experience a forceful let down. Many babies briefly gulp to compensate for the extra milk flow. Signs that your baby may be overwhelmed include widened eyes, sputtering, or pulling off of the breast. If you find that this occurs frequently, try a more upright or laid-back position so that baby has slightly more control over the flow. You may also briefly take baby off and allow your milk to drip into a burp cloth for a few seconds before re-latching. Some moms with a more forceful supply may briefly hand express through their let down, before latching baby.

Healthy babies are typically able to protect their airways through a forceful flow of milk. If you find that your baby is coughing during feedings despite adjusting your position or providing a short break, this could be a sign of a swallowing problem. In a healthy person, food almost never reaches the vocal cords (the opening to the windpipe and lungs). Coughing is a sign that milk has reached the vocal cords and could go into the windpipe and lungs. Though breastmilk has lots of great antibacterial components, even trace amounts of liquid or food can damage the lungs. This can cause upper respiratory infections, pneumonia, and scarring.

If you find that your baby is frequently coughing while feeding, talk to your pediatrician. Your doctor may recommend consulting a speech-language pathologist who has expertise in pediatric dysphagia (swallowing disorders in children).

Find more information at:

• American Speech-Language-Hearing Association: Feeding and Swallowing Disorders in Children
• KellyMom: Fast Letdown

Be sure to join us in our social media accounts to be up to date with the progress of our project!

And… Don’t forget to share your brelfies using our HT #BreastfeedingWorld 

–

[col1][/col1]

[col2][/col2]

[col3][/col3]

Adara Blake

Adara is a speech-language pathologist and IBCLC currently living in Philadelphia. She is a proud alumna of New York University as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Adara seeks to use her clinical background in pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders to complement her lactation training, in order to better serve families who are experiencing difficulty during breastfeeding. She also has an specific interest in improving visibility and support for breastfeeding among women of color.

The post Infant Swallowing During Breastfeeding appeared first on Breastfeeding World.