The best breast feeding position is the one that is comfortable and effective for you and baby. The most common positions are: CRADLE/CUDDLE Baby lies on your lap, tummy to tummy with you. His face and knees should be close in and facing you. Baby’s head fits in the bend of your elbow with his mouth directly in front of …
Human Milk Banking
Why did it take so many years for this vital service to return? Even though it is well known in Alberta that human milk is what all babies need to reduce the risk of illness and for optimum growth, Alberta lost its milk banks in Edmonton and Calgary the 1980s. [i] [ii] After more than 25 years, Calgary will again …
Breastfeed in public: anytime, anywhere
Breastfeeding is the biologically normal way to feed human babies. However, negative attitudes towards breastfeeding in public are still a barrier to breastfeeding for many women. Meeting our babies’ most basic need should not be fraught with anxiety. We have successfully changed attitudes before – women can vote now after all. Teresa Pitman reveals why it is so important to …
Tips for Breastfeeding in Public
1 Practice nursing in front of a mirror. The view from across a room is not the same as when you look down on yourself. Once you see how very little is revealed when nursing your baby, you will feel more at ease. 2 Nurse in a carrier of your choice. Upright nursing in a sling, wrap, or mei tai …
Resolving Tongue-Tie
On January 31, 2011, my baby was born 7 1/2 weeks premature. Isaiah spent three weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). While he grew and made tentative first attempts at breastfeeding, I pumped to bring in my milk supply. What a supply it was! I soon made enough milk to fill a freezer– much more than Isaiah needed. …
The Calgary Mothers’ Milk Bank: Jannette Festival, the visionary behind it all
Calgary has some amazing visionary women! One of those women is Jannette Festival, Executive Director of Calgary Mothers’ Milk Bank Association. In September 2010, Jannette Festival RN, IBCLC was working at the Foothills Hospital in the postpartum unit. A mother from Nelson, BC had a baby girl on the unit in palliative care. While caring for the girl and her …
Breastfeeding and Public Pools: Success at the Talisman Centre
We are all social creatures at heart. We all want to belong, to be treated as equals and to be respected. We are happiest when we are accepted and supported by our families and communities, by our workplaces and in our social arenas. Being publicly shamed and belittled can be devastating. Being shamed for a human act as natural as …
Breastfeeding and the Brain
At birth, our babies are born with a brain one-quarter the size of our adult brains. In the first year of life, our brains nearly double in size. By the time we are three, our brain has tripled in size. Critical brain growth happens in the first moments, the first days, weeks and months of life. Knowing we are growing …
Tongue and Lip Ties: Best Evidence
Tongue and lip tie (often abbreviated to TT/LT) have become buzzwords among lactation consultants bloggers and new mothers. For many these are strange new words despite the fact that it is a relatively common condition. Treating tongue tie fell out of medical favour in the early 1950s. In breastfeeding circles, it was talked about occasionally, but until recently few health …
“You can’t do that here!” What to do if you are harassed for breastfeeding in public.
It seems a month doesn’t go by in Calgary without a report in the news media or on social media that a woman and child have been asked to move, or to cover up, while breastfeeding in public. Recent incidents include: complaints from other patrons when a woman breastfed her baby while watching a film at a local theatre, a …