Please pardon my absence this week...
I'm currently in the middle of a really, REALLY fascinating 40 hour training program for breastfeeding counseling this week. I am learning so much and thoroughly enjoying every minute of my classes. I've gotten to network with some really interesting women from all over the country and world (one lady has come all the way overseas from Qatar in the middle east!!) and learned about how many of them support breastfeeding mothers in their various programs/clinics/hospitals: doulas, nurses, dietitians, peer counselors (WIC breastfeeding), Help Me Grow, social workers, etc. etc. The two women facilitating the training are so intelligent and inspiring.
I'm also having to unlearn some outdated information even from college and the early part of my career in WIC because of the astounding amount of information they're providing with new studies that have come out in the last year or so. Things have changed! For example (for those of you who've breastfed or learned anything about breastfeeding): the concept of fore and hind milk and which is higher in fat and calories? Totally out the window. Not consistent enough to be true information to stress to mothers when counseling. What??? It also turns out the number of additional calories a breastfeeding woman needs in her diet is probably much less than was previously believed... because previous testing was done on cows! (I still say just follow your own appetite. It has to depend on the woman.) Oh! And almost NO babies are "lactose intolerant" as I've long suspected despite the fact that soooooo many scripts from our patients' docs use that as a diagnosis for formula changes.
As I sit and listen to all this information, I am learning so much more about my own breastfeeding experiences - why Will probably had difficulty latching, why his nursing sessions were so long, etc. - and wishing I could do it all over again. I loved breastfeeding! And while I'm a little baby crazy this week (haha!) I'd love to just rewind time and get to do it all over with my own two babes. I watched (not kidding) THE MOST BEAUTIFUL VIDEO I've ever seen of a newborn baby moving through the nine (known) steps of natural attachment on his mother's chest in the first hour after birth. I had tears in my eyes and I was just so in awe of the miracle of women's bodies (seriously, ladies, we are awesome!) and the instincts of a newborn. These tiny babies are so smart when given the chance to show us!
The whole training is making me all the more passionate about encouraging and supporting breastfeeding and also making me think about furthering my education and perhaps my career in the direction of lactation consulting or even, perhaps, as a doula. That would definitely be years from now IF it happened. I would want my kids to be grown before I'd consider being in an on-call position (for births). It's all just so cool and fascinating... and I love it!
Anyway, there is so much I want to post from last week and the weekend - we were busy and I hate getting behind 'cause life doesn't exactly slow down! But right now my evenings are devoted to studying the material we're learning each night after I do all of my normal family duties. Umm... anyone out there who's gone back to school with a baby or young child(ren), I commend you! This is only a week and it already feels a bit overwhelming! Wow. So glad I finished college before having babies.
So, wish me luck! I have an exam to pass on Friday!
3 comments:
This sounds sooooooo interesting!! I'm wondering if you have discussed/learned any differences in baby boys and baby girls and the way they nurse?? When a lactation consultant came to check on me after the twins were born, I said that Emmy had no issues and nursed immediately, while Jaxson was totally uninterested and fell asleep quickly when he did attach. She told me she's seen many sets of boy/girl twins, and in almost every case the girl is the stronger nurser. I first of all wondered if that was generally true amongst all boy/girl twins and even singletons. (Like, was Sophie "easier" than Will?) I hope I'm making sense with my question...little people are pulling at me from every direction, ha!!
Kelly...all of the lactation consultants/nurses I talked to about nursing before delivering the girls told me that girls are almost always easier. I don't know why but they said they are and that in twins there is usually a "lead baby" who is stronger at nursing.
Kelly, I'll e-mail you with a response so it's not too lengthy here. :)
Post a Comment