Transcription:
Breastfeeding Basics

Melanie Cole (Host): Welcome to say yes to good health with Memorial hospital. I'm Melanie and I invite you to join us as we discuss breastfeeding and lactation. We're really giving a lesson today in breastfeeding basics or breastfeeding 1 0 1. If you want to call it that and joining me cause she's such an awesome guest is Laila Brooks, Fritz.

She's a certified nurse midwife and certified lactation counselor at Memorial hall. Lyla so glad to have you on again. So let's just start with some of the basics. First of all, why don't you just cover some of the health benefits of breastfeeding and really the health benefits for both baby and.

Lila Brooks Fritz: Well, that's a good point. There are many benefits for the baby. Everything from less sickness, less obesity as an adult. They don't over feed. It's the perfect solution for babies, less diarrhea. I mean, the list goes on and on and you know, anybody that's interested could just Google breastfeeding benefits for the baby.

Now, the thing that they don't always think about, that's a big factor is what are the benefits for the mother. So I'm glad you brought that up. Because sometimes that's how We sell breastfeeding is not the benefits for the baby. It's the benefits for the mother. So it's a convenience factor. They don't have to do any preparation.

They lose their postpartum weight. It helps with postpartum depression. There's actually a natural, relaxed. And basically when you are breastfeeding, it's like a little tranquilizer. So you sat still and breastfeed your baby. So it's going to help with things with the baby blues. I think the weight loss is a huge, big thing.

Getting back to shape faster. And then once you get through the initial struggle, the first month is a little hard. You get to the initial struggle. It's so easy. You don't have to do bottles and preparation, and you've got a healthy baby and there's a huge, big sense of. confidence that you have done everything to feed this baby, you look down at the baby and see them growing and you see their fingernails in their hair on their low belly, getting their, you think all of that came from the mother.

So it's just a wonderful thing, but there are some struggles in the beginning and I'm sure we'll talk about that a little bit.

Melanie Cole (Host): We certainly will. But before we get into some of those, I introduced you as a lactation counselor, a certified one. Tell us a little bit about what that means. What extra training do you need, because you're also a certified nurse midwife and tell us what training you need to be. Electrician, counselor.

Lila Brooks Fritz: Well, lactation And midwifery go hand in hand that we have always had a big sense of enabling mothers and babies to be one and healthy and preventing illness. So to go on, to get a lactation consultant, as a midwife was kind of like a wind. So I also had 40 years of experience at nursing, helping mothers breastfeeding my own babies.

But what I did is I went back to a training program and there are a lot online. There are some in person I'm kind of old school. So I actually went to a training class and it was intense. Originally. My husband said, what could you learn about breastfeeding? You've done it your whole life.

And I did. I learned about the science of breastfeeding. And of course the end of the benefits again, and things that were just fine tune. And it was from an evidence-based standpoint. So as a 40 week course of literally five days a week, eight hour days, long lectures, hands-on. And then finally a test that you pass to be, get your lactation degree, and then you have ongoing education after that, just to keep your status up.

So it was intense, but it was very enjoyable and informative.

Melanie Cole (Host): And rewarding. I imagine because it's something that you have passion for and you obviously truly love to help mothers with this. So let's get into it now. So first of all, how does breastfeeding compare to formula feeding? Because some women do have this question speak about claustrum how it helps babies, and then we'll get into some of the real basics of getting stuck.

Lila Brooks Fritz: Well, it's amazing. Breast milk has so many beneficial properties and even the best formula out there has not been able to emulate that they try over and over. But humans. Our space, it caught species specific. We need to have human milk cows and baby calves needs cow milk. You know, the animals are made to make milk for their babies.

So they're never going to get a formula. That's going to match breasts. And then when you add in the auto-immune properties and the fact that when the baby is full, it can be sucking, but nothing comes out with a bottle that keep sucking any of their sucker. They drown. So babies tend to overfeed on formula and the formula has certain allowed contaminants in it.

You've got to heat it up, you've got to buy it and breast milk is free. So it's something that. Has huge benefits, more benefits than money can buy and it's free. It's just a little hard to get going. And it is a little bit of input the mother has to put into it it's kind of difficult in the beginning.

It's very doable. And then once they get fast, that first month things just get so much easier. And sometimes we do have to throw a little formula in with the breast milk. What the modern day thing is, we're actually putting pasteurized breast milk to little babies in NICU because we know the huge benefits as the mother chooses not to formula feed or doesn't have enough milk, which sometimes does happen.

We can actually supplement they're actually milk banks where you can get breast milk. That's been pasteurized and tested for the babies because we all know that's the best for the baby.

Melanie Cole (Host): Absolutely. So why don't you speak about those beginning times when it can be just a little bit challenging? Is this something that. Starts right away. Do they have to learn anything before they have their baby? Tell us a little bit about that process of getting the baby latched on for the first time and then thereafter.

And how's that process?

Lila Brooks Fritz: Well, that's a good point. So, you know, in my conference, they made a statement that we don't want to necessarily tell the mothers too much information because they think this is going to be really hard and it's not hard, but having the. Uh, A good friend, a mother that's breastfed great OB nurse has been trained.

In course, the lactation consultant. That's all going to be very beneficial. And I do think it's PR it's good preparation to do some reading and some research or wonderful things online. We give a booklet to our moms has got a chapter on breastfeeding, lot of great information out there. And now with media out there and Facebook and the social media.

There's all kinds of groups that people can follow through, but it's a very natural event. It just sometimes needs a little bit of help. So, you know, getting the good latch. I always tell my moms have the baby in the room with you, but when you're breastfeed, have the nurse come in and look at the latch because if the baby is not latched right in the beginning, the mother gets sore.

Then she gets frustrated. And, you know, there's a high percentage of women who leave the hospital that wanted to breastfeed there aren't and that first month we lose up to 50% of our women sometimes. So working with a lactation consultant is a great, great idea. Cause we've got tricked.

Melanie Cole (Host): you do have tricks. So how do we know once the mother gets going and she's done this and you've told us about how you can help with that, how do they. When baby's hungry, how do they know how often to nurse, can you give us some of the signs and how do you know if the baby's getting enough?

Lila Brooks Fritz: well, that's exactly one of the few downsides of breastfeeding is that we don't see how many ounces the baby took. So a lot of it is, as you learn your baby, you get more experience. You kind of realize that. Now one of the cool things about breastfeeding is the baby can suck as much as They want.

And there's a period of time where they're sucking, nothing's coming. So as long as the mother's not sore, she never really can breastfeed too much. Now, a lot of what we monitor on his weight. So I actually have a very delicate scales. The mother will breastfeed and then I'll weigh the baby. And I can tell her how much the baby got.

There is a lot of pressure from the pediatrician about weight, gain, weight, gain, weight gain. So I kind of joke, well, you know, I can get you a fat baby by throwing in formula, but it's also gonna be a fat fifth grader because you screwed up breasts. So patients w you know, sometimes the mothers and babies struggle a little bit.

I sometimes see mothers every third day and I tell them, you know, this baby's not gonna starve to death, but we got to watch it closely to get that weighed up, but it takes two weeks to get up to the birth weight. So that kind of makes women a little bit worrisome, but the baby's nurse every two hours and the mother will match how much the baby.

So nature has got this all figured out and it, like I said, it's not, it's not real hard. Just a little bit in the beginning. A little lack of self-confidence because women have never done this.

Melanie Cole (Host): That's true. And you certainly would get better at it. The more that you do it. So do you have some advice for women about eating healthy while breastfeeding? We only have about two minutes left or so just give us some of your good advice about nutrition and what she should, and shouldn't be.

Lila Brooks Fritz: Well, the amazing thing about breastfeeding is the Muller can have pretty decreased nutrition and still do well. As long as she's drinking water, she's going to make breast milk so they don't have to have in it a hugely healthy diet. It's always helpful for everybody to make sure they got fluids. Eat the healthy food that actually helps lose their postpartum weight too.

But women in concentration camps good, still breastfeed their babies as long as they had. So they don't have to have a huge, fancy diet. it's helpful, but they basically will make milk regardless as long as they have fluids.

Melanie Cole (Host): So what about things like alcohol and spicy foods and, you know, we hear about all of those kinds of things. Do any of those.

Lila Brooks Fritz: Not really. The only thing that could be a little bit of a factor are things like nicotine caffeine and any of your more illegal drugs, marijuana, even though it's legal in many states is a no-no with breastfeeding because it stays in the fat. But if a mother has a spicy diet and she tolerates a spicy diet, the baby will grow up with a spicy diet and be fine.

So there's really not a lot of restrictions. On the diet from the mother, besides like the things I've stated more of the marijuana and the illegal drugs, but, everything else is probably going to be fine for that mom.

Melanie Cole (Host): And then our last minute here, tell us about breastfeeding classes or any services that you offer at Memorial hall.

Lila Brooks Fritz: Well, we actually in the past had a class called booty camp and we had a specific one on breastfeeding. And we talked about those things that we've been talking about, but the modern day. Patient not really coming in to classes in the physical. Now there are online things they can do. The American college of nurse midwives has got a midwife.mom.

That's actually an excellent site where they can get breastfeeding information. And I think using the social media, using the internet and then just having it checked with a lactation consultant. So you originally talked a little bit about some of the supplements, none of the supplements, things like fenugreek and things like that.

Nothing that is really panned out with evidence probably doesn't hurt anything. They have breastfeeding cookies. And in them. One thing I did forget to say is you talked about alcohol. We used to say, well, men, women would have to have a beer and they have to pump and dump. Well, we found out that really doesn't work.

So they are allowed to have one drink a day, and that is not going to hurt the baby. They don't have to pump and dump that's valuable breast milk. We would have don't want to lose. They basically don't want to have excessive alcohol or they might not be able to take care of their baby, but one beer, one glass of wine, one mixed drink a day is really not going to be a problem.

Melanie Cole (Host): Well, you have just made a lot of women, very happy Laila because

I'm thinking that's been something. Now we have to take a break now, but we have so much more to talk about and to schedule an appointment or to receive lactation counseling with Leila, please call 2 1 7 3 5 7 2 1 7 3. You're listening to say yes to good health.

With Memorial hospital and for more health tips, you can always visit our website@mhtlc.org. I'm Melanie Cole. And we will continue after this quick message about Memorial hospital. Welcome back to say yes to good health with Memorial hospital. I'm Melanie Cole. Before the break, we were discussing breastfeeding and lactation with Laila Brooks, Fritz. She's a certified nurse midwife and certified lactation counselor at Memorial hall. Lyla. So before the break you had just told a lot of happy women that they're allowed to have one beer or a glass of wine and they don't have to pump and dump.

So that was really great. I'm sure, very encouraging for many women who say, I just want one glass of wine, but now. Tell us about some of the difficulties that you've run into because you really you've said that it's not easy for everyone. And some women find it painful or they get red sore. Tell us some of the solutions that you have and how you help women with.

Lila Brooks Fritz: Well, probably the biggest thing is the poor latch and just the stress that women. Have of not getting that baby's weight up fast as the pediatrician, once it, but the scab nipples, the poor latch that even if you get a good latch after the initial bad latch, it's still going to be painful. And then we have to worry a little bit about things like nipple, yeast infections that can be like stabbing pains in the nipple.

We worry a little bit about mastitis that usually happens more of like two weeks into the process. Women can feel like they've been hit with. Truck flu like symptoms, red breaths painful, and that those are all taken care of with medication. So as lactation consultants, if we see those women, we can do something about it.

And then sometimes I do kind of prep them ahead of time. Hey, if you've got this going on, you need to be calling me. This is like a breastfeeding emergent. So, those were kind of like the main things is just getting the milk supply in. And then of course, one of the biggest problems with breastfeeding is the back to work environment.

And in Illinois, we do have a law that the employers have to give the women I time and a place to breastfeed. So if they're not doing that, I'm usually on the phone call. So the back to work thing is hard that women really need to Pompe a couple of times at work to keep their supply up. And you know, I think that law has, we see the failure at six weeks because women are back to work.

So they've got to be determined and work at it. but most of the problems with breastfeeding, they have correct.

Melanie Cole (Host): Well, I think they probably do but speak about things like pumps because there's so many probably on the market today, manual electric, I don't know. There's just a ton of them. So can you speak about how you advise. And on these, do you have any favorites that you want to recommend?

Lila Brooks Fritz: Well, actually you're right there. The world of palms has really come a long way since I breast fed my baby 40 years ago at a handheld pump, but they the insurance or mandated to pay, do the rent or buy a pump. So even if a person has public aid, they can get a hundred dollar double electric pump.

That's going to work perfectly fine. Now they've got a lot of. Comms can be as high as $500. There are pumps that just fit into the bra. So while the woman's working, she's walking around, she's actually pumping at the same time. We have a plugin lighters to the car that she can go car and she can pump in the car.

So the pump world has really gone a long way. In fact, a couple of years in time, mag. For one of the outstanding products of the year, it was a $500 breast pump. So they vary a lot. You have to kind of check your insurance and there's a lot of new products out there that are hugely improved in the pump world.

Melanie Cole (Host): Yeah, kinda interesting. How that's really evolved now women that do. And they're going back to work or, you know, they've just are making an excess and supply. How do you properly store breast milk for short and longer term speak about the best ways? Do you freeze it? Do you refrigerate it? How long?

Tell us about some of those details.

Lila Brooks Fritz: well, refrigeration is the best and the beauty of breast milk is that it can stay in the refrigerator like two to three days. So if the mom is going to be using that milk within two to three days, it's better not to freeze it because they do lose a little immunological properties. When they freeze breast milk, still a million times better than formula, but moms can use li pump what they need during the day for the next day, and just keeping the refrigerator.

Now, if they have a side-by-side refrigerator, the breast milk will say two to three weeks. If it's a deep freezer, it can be nine to 12 months. So if the mom has a huge supply, she could actually put in a deep freezer. When she's actually stopped breastfeeding, she could finish up and using what she has.

I've even had mothers who have given breast milk to their older siblings when they've had a cold or they're feeling ill or have some diarrhea because they know the benefits of it. Now, one thing I do try to caution women is they don't need to have a huge amount of supply stored up because what they pump one day, they really want to use the next day and not have it for.

Air breast milk is so amazing. It can sit on the counter for an hour and not have any bacteria grow in it. So that's kind of the on pumping and storing.

Melanie Cole (Host): then you mentioned for women that can't make breast milk or have trouble doing this, you mentioned milk depots that accept donations or milk sharing programs are these bad. Are these good speak about some of the, you know, regulations and what women should know? If there's someone that really do want to use breasts?

But for some reason they can't, or they have an excess and would like to do.

Lila Brooks Fritz: Well, that's great question. Now, some women have friends that have breast milk and they are. To get their supply up. So they'll add a little bit of breast milk instead of throwing it in formula, which is a lot better. Now, one of the things we worry about is that STI sexually transmitted infections, they can potentially affect breast milk.

So the biggest would be more like HIV, hepatitis B, and C. Those can go into breast milk. So, your milk banks that are giving the milk to preemie nurses. They've been pasteurized and they have been tested. And when women sign up for milk banks, they'll usually give a blood sample and they'll test their blood to make certain they're disease free.

And then those are safer options for women. You know, I don't, I'm not really opposed as somebody has got a great friend they're breastfeeding also, and they know their history, they know the person they could share because pretty much any pregnant woman. Tested like crazy for sexually transmitted infections.

So that means that milk is going to be clean. Now you do think about, does the milk have nicotine in it? Does the milk have excessive caffeine? Doesn't milk have meth. Most meth users are really not real interested in breastfeeding. So I think that's a very slim chance of that. But your professional milk banks, they're checking for all those things.

Melanie Cole (Host): So, this is not something that is, is off the table for women to look into these banks.

Lila Brooks Fritz: No. Absolutely. I think it's great idea. They can Google milk banks and find a local milk bank. We're in Carthage, Illinois, and there was a milk bank in McComb, Illinois, like 30 minutes.

Melanie Cole (Host): Wow, this is such great information. You're just such a wealth of knowledge now at the very big. And women aren't necessarily pumping at that point. What about getting the whole family involved in certainly the partner, you know, women don't always want to get up in the middle of the night and do all of this stuff.

And they're in lies when there was the surge of formula, you know, and then the partners were getting involved. How can a breastfeeding mom get the partner really?

Lila Brooks Fritz: Well, what I tell my couples are, men don't have breasts. They're not making milk. So it is a tough job for a woman to essentially breastfeed every two hours, other countries in the world. They think nothing of it. They're breastfeeding those babies every time, the baby whimpers, but in America, Every two hours seems like a big job.

Now what I tell the dads, if you want to get involved, you get the baby ready? You change the diaper, you get the baby already for the mom and then the mom breastfeeds. And then you take the baby, maybe burp it, maybe calm the baby down after she's done. And you feed the mom and that's feeding your baby through the mom's milk, but there really?

is trouble when you start throwing in formula.

Just to make the mom's life easier because it's gonna really put a depth detriment on the breastfeeding success, but the men can clean, they can cook, they can go to jobs, they can get the diapers And go to Walmart. And the woman's job is just her and the baby. She shouldn't be doing any other job.

Melanie Cole (Host): And what about things then, like pacifiers or, you know, does that interfere with breasts?

Lila Brooks Fritz: After the first month, pacifiers are perfectly fine and probably beneficial. And if I do have a baby that just has a really strong sock and the mom's getting frustrated. I will throw the pacifier in a little earlier than a month, but at the month, mark is fine. Some babies just like the sock. And if they are second on the mom, they're probably not getting anything after the first 10 minutes, but pacifiers are good.

And there's been something about babies who use pacifiers actually have less of a sudden infant death syndrome. We're not quite certain why that doesn't mean that a three o'clock in the morning, you got to stick the pacifier in the baby's mouth. It just means falling to sleep with a pacifier actually can be helpful.

Melanie Cole (Host): Boy. I remember those days a long time ago and crawling around on the floor cause the pacifier fell out of the

crib. So in the last few minutes, Laila, and again, I say what a great guest you are, what resources are available. If a woman is having trouble breastfeeding or getting started. Tell us a little bit about your services.

Lila Brooks Fritz: Well, at Memorial hospital, we have a course myself. But I'm getting older. So I'm two days. But actual in house rye has been a huge asset. She's younger. I she's breastfed her babies. She is a lactation consultant. So she is a fabulous resource. Also. We also have fabulous OB nurses and we try to encourage any of her interested OB nurses.

To go back for training to get their lactation consultant. One of our OB nurses, Jerry battery has her lactation consultant degree also, but she's kind of more in the trenches of OB, but we've just got gals who are really helpful that are working OB also Katie rubish is a physical therapist that we have on board.

She's very interested in lactation support also. So we're, we've got a pretty good resource here.

Melanie Cole (Host): So you can really, really help women. Do you have any final thoughts best at.

Lila Brooks Fritz: just give it a try. I tell people if you breastfeed one time in the baby's life, the baby's getting that claustrum, which is irreplaceable. Just give it a try. Come work with me. Even the moms who are experienced moms and thinks they're doing well. They have questions, you know, whether it's going back to work, it's pumping, they've got a mastitis, they've got a nipple infection.

So even inexperienced and experienced moms are going to get some benefit. And sometimes just seeing that wait, like I said, when we weigh those babies after they've nerves, and we can tell that mom, your baby got an ounce. That's huge, big self-esteem booster for women.

Melanie Cole (Host): What great advice you give Laila. Thank you so much for joining us and to schedule an appointment, to receive lactation counseling with Laila or one of the members of her team, please call 2 1 7 3 5 7 2 1 7. And that concludes this episode of say yes to good health with Memorial hospital. For more health tips, you can always visit our website@mhtlc.org, or, you can call that (217) 357-2173 to get connected with one of our providers.

We'd like to thank our audience and invite you to download and subscribe, rate, and review on apple podcast and Spotify and Google podcast. And please share this show with your friends. Family, because we're all learning from the experts at Memorial hospital together. I'm Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening