The Struggle is Real

Recently, an Indianapolis new station, Wish-TV 8, did a story on the breastfeeding rates in Indiana. The findings were surprising. The article states that while the numbers of infants exclusively breastfed by 6 month is low across the country (22.6%), in Indiana, the number is only 16%. (Find out more about the national and state averages on the 2016 CDC breastfeeding report card, here.)

It begs a question. When 81% of infant’s are born with the parents intending to breastfeed, why is it that only 22% (or 16% in Indiana’s case) are still going strong at 6 months of age?

Photo Credit Phosphorus Photography for Breastfeeding World:

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There are many factors at play. Whether the rates are low due to proper support in the hospitals, educated lactation care, mothers returning to work, relying on a pump, societal pressures- it all comes down to one simple answer.

Lack of support.

The Concept is Simple

Our team at Breastfeeding World stewed over how we can help these rates. As a Breastfeeding project geared towards mother support, normalizing breastfeeding, and “Sharing the Breastfeeding Love”, we figured that the best thing we could do is to create an emotional support system for mothers who want to meet those breastfeeding goals.

And so, Milk Mates was born.

The idea behind the Milk Mates Project is simple. Pair an experienced mom (who has nursed 1 or more children for 6 months or more) with a new or struggling nursing mother or pregnant mom, in a “Big Sister, Little Sister” type of format. Our hope is that with more emotional support, mothers will feel more inspired to reach their goals. At minimum the Milk Mates program is an excellent way to connect like-minded women in the community. Motherhood is lonely! Milk Mates can be a solution, particularly for women who feel they don’t have the proper support in their personal environment.

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What Milk Mates is NOT:

Milk Mates is not designed as a substitute for seeking help from a trained medical professional. For lactation-specific questions, Breastfeeding World always recommends seeking help through a local IBCLC or Breastfeeding USA counselor. You can find a working list of Central Indiana lactation counselors, support groups, and IBCLC’s in our Facebook Files.

Interested in Joining Breastfeeding World’s Milk Mate’s Project, Central Indiana?

Find out more details here.

Register to be a “Milk Mate Mentor” or “Milk Mate Sister” here

And don’t forget, Central Indiana Moms; keep up with the latest breastfeeding news in our community by joining our Facebook Group. Central Indiana’s Breastfeeding World.

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

And… Don’t forget to share your brelfies using our hashtag

#BreastfeedingWorld #LatchingwithLove2017

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Lauren Lewis

Lauren Lewis is no stranger to childcare development, having spent over 10 years as a nanny or family childcare provider. She’s the wife of a travel geek, mother of two vivacious children, and has an amazing talent for trailing lost things behind her a la Hansel and Gretel. Her passion for lifting up women and advocating for children pours out in her work as a Central Indiana Event Coordinator, Writer, and Social Media Relations Director for Breastfeeding World. Her life is full of busy, crazy and LOUD. It is full of love and hope, ups and downs. And coffee, always lots of coffee- but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

www.raisinglaurenslittle.wordpress.com

The post The Motherhood Support System You Were Looking For Is Here- The Milk Mates Project appeared first on Breastfeeding World.

26-27 weeks pregnant with my son.

A few years ago, my husband and I decided to try and be vegetarian, and possibly practice some vegan eating habits, as well. During this process, we read countless vegetarian and vegan books, we watched many hours of documentaries, and we really embraced the vegetarian lifestyle. We even had two Thanksgivings completely vegetarian, and it was delicious!

It was going so well, I managed to be vegetarian my entire pregnancy with my son. I felt amazing and I had no cravings. My midwife and OB both said (at completely different practices) my levels and vitamins were good so that’s probably why I never had any cravings. I was so healthy and getting the right vitamins and nutrients because I was vegetarian.

Our first Ayurvedic Cookbook.

Another thing about being vegetarian is there are different ways to practice this lifestyle. One method is Ayurveda. One night my husband brought home this cookbook on Ayurvedic diet and it’s healing traditions from India dating back 5,000 years. My husband has always been very interested and intrigued by the culinary industry, and his parents have owned restaurants his whole life. Because of this, he knew what he was doing and dug deep into all avenues of vegetarian and vegan diets once we switched.

There’s a lot to the history of Ayurveda, so I’m not going to go in to all of it; however, I will share the benefits of practicing an Ayurvedic diet when it comes to motherhood.

Many benefits to practicing Ayurvedic diet traditions have been linked and proven to improve or heal many stages of motherhood for women. The first is that it has been known to help with fertility; second, it can provide the appropriate nutrients and vitamins to sustain a very healthy pregnancy; third, it helps the postpartum healing and helps minimize negative postpartum effects; and fourth, it boosts your milk production with breastfeeding!

Breastfeeding Lil Miss in the morning while I eat a yummy lactation treat from Mrs. Patel’s.

There are important things to consider when practicing an Ayurvedic diet to make sure you are truly getting the right concept and balance of Ayurvedic food to truly benefit your body. You can get a cookbook and follow an Ayurveda, vegetarian diet within your home, but when it comes to getting all the other benefits it’s best to reach out to families or professionals who traditionally know Ayurveda tradition. Specifically speaking, for example, eating the right foods and treats to help boost milk production while breastfeeding. Now, I tried a few in the beginning with my son, consisting of little homeopathic traditions with a some Ayurvedic herbs, but nothing seemed to work, so we naturally did what we had to do to increase my milk. I only wish I knew about companies that know the tradition, practice it, and have grown up with it to specifically help mothers with milk production; One being Mrs. Patel’s.

Mrs. Patel’s was born after the founder had her own son and was struggling after going back to work 7 months postpartum to keep her supply up while pumping. Her mother had already made her a batch of Ayurvedic treats when she gave birth, following her families Indian tradition; however, she didn’t think twice about how important it was to continue eating the family treats until she was faced with such a breastfeeding challenge. So, she followed her family recipe and turned it in to a successful company, named after her mother.

Me eating yummy lactation treats from Mrs. Patel’s.

Mrs. Patel’s has a wide variety of treats that are so delicious (seriously, I’m not joking!) that you forget you’re only eating them to help with your milk production. If you haven’t already tried an Ayurvedic diet or Ayurvedic Breastfeeding, go do it now because you’re missing out!

NOTE: Taking Mrs. Patel’s products, and other like it, when pregnant is not suggested. These products are specifically designed for postpartum and lactations purposes only. The herbs are too potent to digest while pregnant.

DISCLAIMER: Breastfeeding World is not receiving any monetary compensation from any brand. The recommendations of product that we have done is our writer’s personal experience with it. 

We would love to hear from you, have you ever tried the Ayurvedic Diet?

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 #NYCBreastfeedingWorld 

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Page Rose

I am a 27-year-old WAHM to two intelligent and amazing toddlers (3 and 1.5 years), and two stepdaughters (12.5 and 8.5 years). I am a very active and passionate birth advocate working to change regulations, laws and cultural norms in the U.S. to provide parents to be educated and empowered to know all birth rights and options. I am a proud emergency, unplanned c-section, turned all natural, non-medicated VBAC experienced mama! I am a modern-hippie mama practicing attachment parenting, who loves babywearing and toddlerwearing, and of course breastfeeding! I love to laugh with my amazing husband/best friend and to travel to new places with our beautiful family.
For more of my lifestyle and mommy blogging updates, check out my Instagram page @PRbabywearingMama.

The post Ayurvedic Diet and Breastfeeding appeared first on Breastfeeding World.