It was posted:
Come on, let's be real!
Show me a mother who has a low lactation, so is hand expressing or
pumping post feeds, trying to feed frequently and trying to get some
rest in as well, who is happy to be grinding up seeds, hunting down oil
spread and baking cookies which may have no effect whatsoever.
Let's be professional and advise galactogues which have been trialled
and have the backing of credible data PLEASE! And better still talk
about HEALTHY EATING not just for BF mothers, but as a lifestyle choice
for you, your partner and your children's longterm health.
----------------------------------------------
Jaye again. You know, we can ask questions and have comments and not subtly
tear anyone down with them if we take the time to reread what we wrote and
soften it up a bit. I for one did not care for the tone of this post -
perhaps it wasn't meant the way it sounded. And I hope that is the case.
Everyone on this list (based on those who speak up most around here) is a
professional and acts as such. Frustration is one thing - subtly insulting
others as unprofessional is another.
Frankly, I have never been one to suggest the Lactation Cookies - why?
Because I forget about them. It is my moms who go and find the recipes and
make them and tell me about them. When they are struggling, some moms will
bust their butts to do whatever they can to increase their supply -
including grinding up seeds and hunting down oil spreads. I've seen it.
And strangely enough, the majority of them see an increase. When they use
the quality products to make the cookies they increase their calories and
nutrition as well as their digestion ability and their supplies tend to go
up. Placebo effect? Perhaps. But it happens. And they tend to be
perfectly happy doing this, btw - because they are being proactive for
themselves - and that goes a LONG way to the stressed out frustrated brain
of a new mom. And I had a mom bring a box of those Lactation Cookies she
bought online. She shared then with out Parent Group. 3 of the four moms
who tried them had immediate increases overnight from eating 1 cookie. And
they were damn good cookies!
As far as advising galactogogues that have been trialed and have the backing
of credible data - does any of that really exist? Maybe it does - BUT as
far as prescription meds go for galactogogue use Reglan is bad, bad news and
it surprises me that anyone even suggests it anymore. We can't get
Domperidone easily in the US so moms either do without or buy overseas.
Herbs are common around here but then one must deal with quality and dosage,
etc. And there are LOTS of opinions on that one. I believe that when it
comes to galactogogues it is likely impossible to have any trials and
studies sitting in a drawer to pull out and hand to a mom or Dr to say -
Here do this! Much of what we do is anecdotal and experiential - which I
feel is probably even better in many cases than some research study. But
that is my own personal opinion. Sometimes evidence based isn't all that
evidence based...
And as far as nutrition goes, not many of us are nutritionists - and telling
a mom to eat healthy may mean one thing to them and a completely different
thing to them. I know a smidge about nutrition - mainly now it is what I
have learned from Jennifer Tow and others who actually study nutrition and
ARE nutritionists... But I don't have the time to add a whole other course
of study into my world.
As far as talking about better eating for a long term health sometimes you
just can't do that. Sometimes you just have to meet the mom where she is -
and if you can suggest small changes to her diet to improve her nutrition
(such as lactation cookies she makes or buys) and they help, she can
gradually build that in to a long term thing. But in the middle of a crisis
for her, the LAST thing I am going to do is lecture her on her nutrition for
the long term - I will give her what she needs for the short term and insert
comments here and there about the long term benefits.
Changing ones diet from abysmal to stellar is incredibly difficult. And I
know this from personal experience. My diet used to be abysmal - but I
thought I was eating well - I ate how I was raised. Lactnet helped me learn
more about nutrition (boy was I shocked to learn how poorly I was feeding my
family when I thought I was doing so well!) and over the past 15 years I
have taken my family from nearly 90% processed foods and canned
fruits/veggies etc, to only 10% processed foods and NO canned fruits/veggies
(except the few remaining cans of stewed tomatoes.). We've been eating this
way now for about 7 years. Now we are working on eliminating HFCS, most
sugars and going organic and grass fed. It is not as easy as it sounds!
Many people, like myself, do NOT do change well. It takes time to learn and
to adjust. And quite frankly, I do not consider myself any kind of
authority on educating others about proper nutrition - I'll tell them what I
believe, but I also tell them to do what I did: Research it or talk to a
real nutritionist.
Bottom line for me is this:
Lactation Cookies work for some. Some moms are more than happy to bust
their asses to do whatever it takes to make more milk. What moms do in one
area of the world may be vastly different from what moms do in another area
of the world. They are not the same all around.
Nutritional changes must be made gradually as the person/family can adjust
and we need to be sensitive to the stress levels of the family already
before pushing for dietary changes. Sometimes we have to start small and
keep the message clear but gentle. I agree with Jennifer Tow that another
area of study that should be required for IBCLC's is Nutrition. I also have
my own set of ideas about other areas of study that should be required for
IBCLC's but I will leave those for another post.
We do NOT know it all - we CANNOT know it all. And Anecdotal/Experiential
evidence is much of what we use when helping moms. What is one of our most
common lines Ladies: Many Mom have found......
Warmly,
Jaye
Jaye Simpson, IBCLC, CIIM
Breastfeeding Network
Sacramento, CA
www.breastfeedingnetwork.net
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