Weight loss after birth is one of the main problems and stressors women experience. Most want to lose baby weight quickly, but find it a struggle adding a diet into their daily regime with a newborn. There is also the added worry that you are affecting your milk supply or the quality of the breast milk you are feeding your baby.

So can you safely diet while breastfeeding? Yes, you can. If you follow a healthy diet plan and get some exercise in, you can safely lose baby weight while continuing to breastfeed without any problems.

However, if you try to lose weight too quickly or go on a crash diet, this will have a negative affect on your breast milk and thus baby. This doesn’t mean you cannot lose your baby weight quickly – you can, but you have to be sensible and safe about it. Not to mention if you follow a crash diet you are unlikely to keep the weight off. If you follow a sensible diet plan you will maintain a good weight and keep the excess off for good.

Remember also that breastfeeding will help you burn an extra 500 calories a day – so it is a great help to your weight loss wants. Some mothers however struggle to lose weight even though they are breastfeeding so it is even more important to follow a simple diet and exercise plan.

This is what I did. I found that by finding a diet program to follow, I didn’t have to think about whether I was getting enough calories or being healthy because the plan was doing it for me. Also I found a really simple one to follow and this is key for new moms, because you don’t want to add an extra hassle to your already hectic life. A baby will inevitably take up a lot of time and energy so you want to get a diet plan that is simple and easy to implement into your daily life.

So you can diet while breastfeeding, you just need to make sure you follow a simple healthy plan and exercise. Start off slowly with exercise and do what you can do – don’t push it; you need to give your body time to recover after your new arrival and to embrace motherhood.
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For some mothers, bottle feeding their babies is something they have always wanted to do as it gives them flexibility and helps them maintain a good level of independence. Artificial infant feeding has been culturally marked as more advanced and is socially more accepted than natural infant feeding.

Fortunately, breast feeding is on the rise as more and more new mothers acknowledge the endless benefits for themselves and, more importantly, for their offspring. Yet, in order for the use of breast milk to become normal again rather than the “alternative”, we still have to overcome cultural taboos.

The History of Bottle Feeding

Archaeological findings have shown that breast feeding substitutes were used thousands of years ago. Historically, substitute milk was given to infants whose mothers died or were too sick to feed their babies, usually with limited possibility of wet nursing at hand. Cow’s milk or goat’s milk were commonly used to replace mother’s milk. In addition, babies were sometimes given supplementary solid food, such as a paste made of bread or flour mixed with milk or water. Needless to say that infant mortality rate was extremely high – from 50 to 99% . History and cross-cultural studies have revealed that the increase in bottle feeding resulted in an increase in infant deaths, especially where standards of hygiene were not met. It is a fact, that artificial infant feeding can hold more risks for baby.

During the industrial revolution artificial feeding became popular in Britain as women had to leave their children behind to work in the factories. The first scientific breast milk substitute was invented in 1867 by a German chemist. It was a combination of cow’s milk, flour, potassium bicarbonate and malt. However, the popularity of bottle feeding increased when condensed milk was developed in the late 19th century. The social consensus about how best to feed baby in a modern world which was filled with new scientific achievements, changed towards artificial infant feeding. Bottle feeding was sold as nutritious, safe and easy to prepare with no need for refrigeration. More importantly, pasteurization of milk and sterilization of feeding equipment made artificial infant feeding a safer alternative; thus, making bottle feeding more popular. In addition, medical representatives and scientists celebrated this new supposedly convenient way of feeding baby. As a result, breast feeding became comparatively unpopular as figures show that only 20 to 30% of babies were actually breastfed during WWII in the USA. However, the 1980s proved difficult for companies such as Nestlé when their involvement with medical establishments in order to sell formula feeding in the third world was revealed.

Bottle feeding is still the number one choice for many new mothers. This can have different personal or even medical reasons, although modern living standards are mainly to blame for the change in maternal attitude over the past century.

Why is Breast Feeding a Challenge?

Organisations such as the La Lèche League or the Breastfeeding Network help to promote breastfeeding with all its benefits which, as a result, is becoming increasingly popular.
Fortunately, more and more women decide to at least try to feed their newborn themselves. National statistics show that there is a steady increase in initial infant breastfeeding (66% in 1995 to 69% in 2000). However, statistics also reveal that many new mothers give up breastfeeding after only a few weeks: after only one week, 55% of women breastfeed, after six weeks 43% and after 4 months 28% still feed their babies. In our modern culture, natural feeding is a challenge because bottle feeding still tends to be regarded as “easier”. Generations of parents who bottle fed their babies pass on what they have been sold decades ago. In addition, new breastfeeding problems arise that find appropriate discussion grounds in our civilisation, such as the “insufficient milk” syndrome. Yet, only about 5% of mothers show real physical difficulty to breastfeed, thus confirming that the idea of not making enough milk is a modern invention. Women may actually feel that they do not have enough milk to feed their baby but the reasons are not physical. It is more likely that the early difficulties mother and baby experience together result from stressful birthing environment, such as the hospital, where unknown staff and routine as well as doubtable reputation feed initial anxiety and thus, can add to the overall picture of the insufficient milk syndrome. Breast feeding can be highly influenced by psychosomatic elements, such as stress, anxiety, worries, depression and much more. Feeding is a natural self-regulating and extremely efficient process which is susceptible to how mothers feel, as much as anything. If a new mother does not receive the support she needs, the let-down reflex (milk flows from the ducts towards the nipple) is more difficult to be stimulated.

Besides the modern argument of “lack of sufficient milk”, many more interruptions help reduce the chance of breastfeeding, such as aesthetically motivated breast operations or if a separation of mother and baby after birth is unnecessarily prolonged. In addition, our natural desire for information societies has caused multiple parenting theories to shoot out of the grounds. Instead of helping reduce new parent’s fears they tend to increase and even confuse them. One of the often cited parent strategies is “feeding on schedule”. However, feeding in intervals causes unnecessary stress because the composition of the milk changes in a way that causes baby to feel hungry all the time. As a result, the mother will think that she does not produce enough milk whereas the truth is that she has waited too long.

Modern ways of living can make it extremely difficult for new mothers to embrace breast feeding. Their cultural background, lack of support within their own family or friends and misleading parenting information facilitate the return to bottle feeding. Moreover, cultural expectations of women who often have to return to work early in order to earn a living or pursue a career do not improve early parenting conditions.

While breast feeding is part of our natural survival strategy, bottle feeding is part of our modern culture. It gives new mothers the chance to cope easier with expectations and to help handle natural infant needs in an over-regulated world. We are aware of the fact that human milk is best for baby. Thus, it is the mother’s individual choice of how to feed her infant and to build a strong bond.
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If you feel that you cannot give up smoking while breastfeeding, it still benefits your baby if you choose to breastfeed. Breastfeeding provides many immunities that help help your little one to fight illness and can even help counteract some of the effects of cigarette smoking.

There are also some ways that you can minimize the risks to your baby.

1. Smoke fewer than 20 Cigarettes a day Most studies show that as long as you smoke fewer than 20 cigarettes daily, you can keep the risks minimal. However, if you start smoking more than that and the risks start going up.

2. Never smoke while you are breastfeeding – You should never smoke while you are actually nursing your baby. This results in him or her breathing in the smoke, which is very harmful, and also elevates the nicotine levels in your blood, which can be transferred through your milk.

3. Avoid nursing right after smoking – It takes at least 1.5 hours to get half of that nicotine out of your blood stream. In addition, smoking before you nurse can cause problems with your letdown as well.

4. Never ever smoke around your baby (or anyone else’s baby!) If you are going to smoke, make sure that you never do it around kids. Go in another room, or better yet, go outdoors so little ones are not exposed to the dangers of secondhand smoke.

But if you want to try to quit, are smoking cessation aids that replace nicotine safe while breastfeeding? The answer is that they are actually safer than smoking. When used as directed, these products pose no more problems for the breastfeeding infant than maternal smoking does and without the dangers of second-hand smoke.
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In Part 1 of this Sleep Self Help article series, we got an overview of some of the factors that cause disruption in our sleep and prevent us from relaxing and resting enough each day.

Let us now look at some key questions that you can learn to regularly ask yourself to increase your self awareness quotient. This will help you take control of your stress to manage it more effectively.

Find Out What Triggers You

Take a few minutes every day to see what triggers your ‘anxious moments’:

Pay attention to what your body feels like in those moments Pay extremely close attention to what your mind says and how it rationalises these anxious moments What do you do when you feel stressed? How do you act, feel, speak? What do you turn to to help you feel better? Do your coping tools help you understand at a deeper level what is bothering you and reveal possible ways for you to transform the situation or does it just provide a band-aid-type, temporary relief? Or both? The more willing you are to deeply explore the inharmony in your outer, everyday life that triggers your feelings of stress, and your inability to relax and to sleep, the more successful you successful you will be in evaluating your internal stresses at the mental, emotional and deeper self levels.

Ask yourself the following questions:

Are you willing to step out of your ‘daily box’ within which you reside to really look at what’s bothering you? Are you willing to shift away from the accustomed, ‘comfort zone’ way of ‘dealing with’ the superficial stresses to dig deeper into their true cause? As you begin the important journey of restructuring your life and reclaiming your daily balance, stress, sleep problems and worry will recede. You will always worry to some extent about life issues that face you but you will learn with practice how to look more deeply at these issues so that you can solve them one by one.

In Part 3 of this Sleep Self Help article series, you will look at how to ‘keep it real’ so that you can more effectively manage your stress and learn to relax and love yourself into harmony more each day. This is extremely important for you to get great sleep when you go to bed at night!
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Fenugreek seed is a medicinal and therapeutic herb whose use dates back to ancient Greece and Rome. The uses of the fenugreek seed were actually quite diverse, but primarily this natural seed was used for an array of “female problems”, including the stimulation of milk production in mothers who were having difficulty producing enough breast milk to feed their infants.

Fenugreek is still used for this purpose to this day, and you might be surprised to find out how it actually works.

The fenugreek seed is usually taken as a standardized ground mixture that is then encapsulated, and can usually be purchased at a very reasonable price at your local health food store, GNC or other health supplement outlet.

It is actually considered a part of the legume family, like the soybean, and is fairly easy to grow in various areas of the world, hence it’s reasonable price. The dosage per individual may vary, but generally a fairly high dosage is required to spur the milk production adequately.

Fenugreek is purported to work as a milk production enhancing supplement in new moms because it actually stimulates the sweat glands to produce sweat, and your mammary glands are basically just one big modified sweat gland.

It is said that your sweat should start to take on a sweet scent similar to that of maple syrup when the fenugreek is starting to work.

Generally women report a noticeable increase in their milk production within 36-72 hours of taking the fenugreek supplement, and they also notice an engorgement in their breasts.

It only works correctly though if both of the breasts are competely emptied out regularly when nursing your infant or pumping.

Many physicians and obstetricians will recommend fenugreek as a natural milk production stimulant, and most of them say the majority of their patients notice a marked improvement in their volume of milk production. However, it does not work on everyone who tries it.

My best friend actually tried fenugreek supplements in large doses, and she said that it did not help her, and she also mentioned that she never noticed the maple syrup smell in her sweat or urine, so perhaps the herb just did not work with her particular bodily chemistry.

As with any other herb or natural supplement, fenugreek may not work the same on every woman, and it may not work at all on some women. It’s unfortunately an exercise in trial and error many times to figure out the right dosage as well as to figure out if it will even work for you.

Fenugreek actually has other therapeutic and medicinal uses as well. There are specific compounds in the fenugreek seed that are actually very beneficial when applied topically to the skin (but these need to be expelled and manipulated professionally).

It also is thought to be beneficial to those with high blood sugar, as it has hypoglycemic properties and can be useful in lowering blood sugar.

Another possible use for fenugreek may be to help lower one’s cholesterol, and also to help thin the mucous since it has been used in the past to help people with asthma to breathe easier with continued therapy.

While there are other therapeutic and medicinal purposes for the fenugreek seed, it’s number one and most well known use is to help women who are breast feeding, and there’s a reason for that – it actually works.

Copyright 2006 Danna Schneider
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The natural way in which a mother feeds her new born baby, instead of on artificial formulas like cow’s milk is called lactation or breastfeeding. There are many advantages that breastfeeding has over artificial formulas. E.g., the mother’s milk is easier to digest, it prevents constipation, protects the baby from many infectious diseases. The benefits also include:

1) Promotion of healthy oral development.
2) Bonding and skin to skin contact between mother and child. Etc.

For the mother, the benefits include:

1) It reduces the chance of hemorrhaging from placental site.
2) An opportunity to rest
3) Encourages the contraction of the uterus, thereby returning the womb to the pre-pregnant size.

However, there are also problems that are associated to breastfeeding as well. Below, we will try to shed more light on the most common breastfeeding problems and also try to proffer some solutions to them.

1) BREAST ENLARGEMENT: After delivery, prolactin will be released from the anterior pituitary, and this is what promotes the secretion of milk. Usually, this occurs between the third and fifth day after delivery. At first, the breast will to be very full, heavy, hard and eventually becomes tender. The reason for this is because of venous and lymphatic oedema and engorgement. Because of high intra-mammary tension, milk producing cells will cease production and the milk ejection will be inhibited. This problem can either be severe or mild. It leads to cracked nipples and if sucking is allowed, and the baby cannot grasp the areola because the sucking here will be painful. Massaging and the expression of colostrums prevent breast engorgements. But if this eventually occurs, the treatment will be easier. Tension can be reduced on the breast by manually expressing little milk before breastfeeding, and emptied by same method after breastfeeding.

Using not too hot water to wash the breast before breastfeeding, also, using firm brassier to support the breast after breast feeding equally helps to reduce tension from the breast. If the engorgement is severe, the above methods are not allowed because they are painful. Rather, the woman should use some analgesic. Some doctors may equally prescribe large doses of stilbesterol, but this is not effective in already established engorgements. Rather, this therapy ( stilbesterol ) is best used for prevention, and best if given one hour before delivery and 24 hours later. It is not advisable on a mother who delivers through cassarian section in order to avoid thromboembolism. In order to suppress prolactin production, high doses of pyridoxine can be given daily.
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