Fads, birth and safety

A 'prominent' Perth obstetrician and president of the Australian Medical Association (WA) Dr Michael Gannon, was reported as saying that "an “obsession” with skin-to-skin contact between mothers and babies after birth is a fad that is putting newborns at risk of death and serious injury".  His comment appeared in the article 'Skin-to-skin' fad blamed for deaths of babies published in The West Australian online newspaper 5 March 2016.

The coroner is investigating the death of a newborn at the Fiona Stanley Hospital. The article suggested that the baby is thought to have died 'after the mother fell asleep while holding or breastfeeding the baby'.

The AMA president rightly raised concerns about drug affected, exhausted women:

"New mothers are often exhausted by a long day in labour and there are the side effects of opioid drugs, epidurals or c-section"

 Photo from Midwifery Today site

However, he also criticises what he calls a

" new obsession amongst mothers and midwives with immediate skin-to-skin contact after birth ... which "stemmed from taking whatever possible measures that might lead to small increases in the number of women who breastfeed"

Far from a fad, skin-to-skin contact for women and their newborns at birth and beyond is a well-researched instinctive behaviour. This instinctive behaviour has been shown to not only improve breastfeeding success, but also, combined with breastfeeding attempts, reduce the rate of primary PPH, along with enhancing the sense of safety and attachment for the newborn and her mother. There are implications for the newborn's microbiome and there is some evidence that skin-to-skin experience reduces mothers' stress levels.

The doctor is reported to have said, in response to the claims for skin-to-skin, that:

 “I think that gets over-interpreted. Babies, instead of being in a safe environment like a warming crib, are being left on their mother’s chest”

Now the attitude that a newborn is better off in a warming crib than with its mother is the nub of medicalisation of the childbearing process and the disconnect between the use of technology and our humanity.

The medicalisation of childbirth is a done deal. Whilst physiological birth is appealing from both an evolutionary and capacity building perspective, the reality is the majority of women in the western world, are already heavily socialised into accepting and wanting medicalisation. Whilst choosing and embracing medicalisation and interventions, women are drawn to the idea of having their newborns with them skin-to-skin from birth and in the main, to breastfeed them. There is even a push (excuse the pun) for 'natural' and 'self-assisted' surgical births. Midwives are drawn to 'keeping things normal' and whilst supporting women in their choices; they are also drawn to facilitating skin-to-skin for the woman and her newborn at birth.

There is no doubt that 'drug affected, exhausted women' are vulnerable, as are their newborns, to the creation of potentially asphyxiating situations. A review of Apparent Life-Threatening Events in Presumably Healthy Newborns During Early Skin-to-Skin Contact  highlighted the issues for six babies left prone, unsupervised by a midwife or other health professional, on their mothers' abdomens. 

The reality is that midwives are increasingly having to care for postnatal women who are 'drug affected and exhausted'. The current staffing levels are woefully inadequate to care properly for these 'drug affected and exhausted women' together with their newborns.  Some people suggest recruiting partners or other family members to observe the newborn who is skin-to-skin with its mother, but that's a cop-out. 

Daily Mail

Often partners and others don't know what to look for and the bottom line is, the woman and infant's well-being is the responsibility of the institution that provides the 'care'. 

Whilst a decrease in medicalisation of birth would be ideal, that ideal will need a revolution in society's attitudes. In the meantime, what the good doctor and the AMA should be arguing and agitating for is not a separation of a mother and her infant, but for women and their infants to be treated with the profound respect they deserve and adequate midwifery staffing levels so that women and their infants can benefit from best practice and have the support and expertise of the midwife's presence to ensure that experience is a safe one.

Dr Gannon and the AMA need to understand that it is not skin-to-skin experience at birth that is putting newborn babies at risk.

What's putting newborns and childbearing women at risk is the rampant, unfettered medicalisation of childbearing that pervades modern maternity services coupled with ridiculously inadequate staffing levels - that situation is lethal.

The mother whose baby died at the Fiona Stanley hospital deserves our heartfelt love and support, kindness and respect - not blame for her baby having skin-to-skin and breastfeeding at birth - she was doing the very best she could for her baby.

If the little one is found to have succumbed because of airway obstruction, then our society has failed her and her family.  Our society does not value childbearing women enough to provide adequate staffing levels and midwifery expertise to be their guardians through their most vulnerable time. 

Explaining Tongue Tie

Tongue tie, officially known as Ankyloglossia, is one of those developmental 'glitches' that can cause big and life long problems for the person with it and disrupt their ability to breastfeed. The inability to properly latch onto a mother's breast that comes with the condition of Ankyloglossia can make makes breastfeeding, which should be a source of joy and satisfaction, into a nightmare of pain and suffering for the woman. 

All babies should be checked for tongue tie at birth. Midwives and doctors should ensure the baby's tongue can move freely and fully extend in a thrusting movement. If there is any twisting or 'pull back' into a heartshape of the tongue tip, the baby is most likely tongue tied. This brochure shows you how to check and identify if a baby is tongue tied.

Treatment of 'tongue tie' has gone through different 'fashions'. The last few decades have seen a lack of recognition of this problem and when identified, a real reluctance to treat it. This widespread ignorance has caused many oral and developmental problems for the children and breastfeeding 'failure' for women who rightfully, couldn't bear the pain and trauma to their nipples caused by their babies inability to attach themselves to the breast. Treatment has been the source of a much controversy. Some experts advise taking a 'wait and see' approach and delaying any surgical intervention until the child is older. This 'wait and see' approach is associated with speech and normal mouth development disruptions and lactation failure.

Thankfully, due to the work and care of a few dedicated lactation consultants and paediatric doctors, the condition and ensuing problems are increasingly recognised. In the last few years, appropriate correction of the defect is being instituted with excellent results.

This brochure has been produced by a paediatric dentist and demonstrates the various forms of Ankyglossia (tongue tie) - the photos are excellent. The problems this condition can produce long term are given and treatment options are explained.

If any woman has problems with sore and damaged nipples, ensure your midwife or doctor checks your baby's mouth for tongue tie. The brochure also shows you how to check yourself. Sometimes the tongue tie can be 'occult' that is, not obvious when looking, you have to feel under the tongue against the base of it to identify the tethering.

If the link for the brochure doesn't work, look on Dr Kotlow's website for it

Another resource is the excellent milk matters site and this post on tongue tie as the hidden cause of feeding problems.

Safe Bed Sharing

This montage is beautifully done by Kathleen Kendall Tackett, also known as Uppity Science Chick
Kathleen has written books on breastfeeding, Postnatal depression, and inviting serenity into your home.

The photos in the montage are delightful, soft, heartwarming. Wouldn't you love to have been one of these babies?  Good to see the Dads in the photos as well as the Mothers.   The messsage is clear and powerful. Well done Kathleen.  Please give Kathleen feedback, she would like to know what you think about this mini video.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Breastfeeding helps build healthy bones

Nutrition is a key ingredient in health and wellness for every individual. Even before conception, the mother's nutritional state influences her baby's genetic and physical makeup, plus long term health and wellbeing.

Osteoporosis is a crippling and painful disease that afflicts some people as they age.

A wide variety of high impact exercise during the teenage years plus good nutrition including calcium and Vitamin D is known to set in place stable bone mass and provide a healthy bone structure for life. Weight bearing and resistance exercise, including netball, basketball, tennis, swimming and sprinting in the teenage years, means reduced risk of osteoporosis in the later years. Peak bone mass for girls is laid down by 16 years of age for girls and 20 years of age for young men.

Telegraph.co.uk

A new study by Stahl and colleagues have found that calcium intake in the neonatal period may be critical for life long bone health.

Stahl et al took two groups of newborn piglets and fed one group calcium enriched diet and the other group were fed calcium deficient diet during their first 18 days of life. The piglets were subjected to frequent blood sampling and daily weighing. At the end of the study, samples were collected from the bone marrows, livers, kidneys and small intestines of the animals. The strength and bone density of their hind legs was also tested.

Calcium deficient piglets were compromised in their bone density and strength. Many of the mesenchymal stem cells that eventually become bone forming cells were found to have been programmed to become fat cells. Reduced numbers of bone forming osteoblasts in early life means a reduced ability to repair and grow bones throughout life. The researchers conclude that lack of calcium in the neonatal period leads to programmed mesenchymal stem cells, predisposing the individual to having bones that are less mineralised and contain more fat. In this way, Stahl suggests, osteoporosis can be seen as a paediatric disease with later onset, rather than a disease of old age.

Irrespective of what I think about this study on piglets, who are very intelligent and sensitively aware animals, I was intrigued that Stahl and his colleagues didn't also add a control group of breastfed piglets to the study. Breastmilk, also known as 'white blood' because of its alive, blood like nature and inability to be manufactured, is known to contain bio-available calcium amongst the nutrient mix. I would have thought to include breastfeeding and breastmilk to have been a foundational, sensible thing for a scientific endeavor aiming to find a reason and a cure for disease.

However, I found the following written in the article:

Stahl and his colleagues have a long-standing interest in understanding how much calcium babies need in order to optimize bone density and strength when they get older. Not only is this a worthy academic question, but it has special relevance to the infant food industry which currently fortifies most baby formulas with calcium at levels substantially above those found in breastmilk - considered the "gold standard" for infant nutrition. This differential level of fortification has been based largely on older studies suggesting that breastmilk's calcium is substantially more usable than that in baby formulas. However, more recent research has challenged this dogma, and Dr. Stahl and his group are committed to helping determine what is best in this regard.

I italicized and bolded the words in the quoted text above.

You will notice several things about this quoted piece.

1. The infant food industry would seem to be behind this study from what is written above. No wonder that a breastfeeding control group was not included!
2. the words 'gold standard' are in inverted commas leading the reader to subliminally appraise the term negatively
3. The word 'dogma' is used to degrade the idea that breastmilk is the gold standard for infant nutrition.
4. Dr Stahl and his group are committed to helping determine what is best in this regard! Yet Dr Stahl does not include breastmilk in his study!!!

I know this study was about pigs, but I smell a rat!

Who pays Dr Stahl and who funded this research???

No matter what Stahl's objective or who funded the research, the study is actually useful for promoting breastfeeding as it shows how important good calcium intake is in early life and breastmilk provides that along with all the baby needs for optimal nutrition. Now we know breastfeeding protects the individual from osteoporosis and builds bones that can last a lifetime with the right input of exercise and good nutrition in adolescence.  Thank you Dr Stahl and colleagues.



Study suggests a much earlier onset for bone problems

Programming the future

My friend came back from England yesterday.  I picked up her daughter in the early hours and we drove to the airport together to meet her mum. Her daughter is in year 12. Studying is her major activity. The sunrise was stunning. Intensely pink and orange light filled the sky over Sydney as we made our way towards the airport. We chatted about her studies and what she hoped to do in the future. I was impressed with her clarity and vision.

Next week, as part of her family and children studies, all her group are being given a 'baby' to take home. The students all have to pretend it is a real baby and do all the things that mothers do when they have a new baby.  As many new mothers have never even held  a baby until they give birth to their own, this initiative is an effective way to help address that deficit in embodied knowledge.

I asked about feeding the baby. "oh, I have to give it a bottle and make up the formula" was the answer.

The conversation that followed explored the damaging message that this very creative and innovative exercise was unwittingly sending about how babies are fed.

The well intentioned, but ill advised, baby care education promotes bottle feeding as 'normal'. Young girls get that message early, for example, when given a baby doll complete with bottle as a gift for their birthday or Christmas. Have you noticed how those dolls all have bottles?

I went to the NSW Department of Education's website and looked up the curriculum for the "Exploring Early Childhood" program. 

The syllabus is very comprehensive.

Infant feeding, including a thorough section on breastfeeding is there, but no mention about how these subjects are taught. The practical application of knowledge to behaviour by providing a baby model for each student to take care of and feed is excellent. However, teachers need to ensure that students are able to 'breastfeed' the 'baby' as a matter of course.

Then young adults will get the right message: that breastfeeding is 'normal'.

As we pulled into the airport car park, my friend's daughter said she was grateful for the conversation, because she 'hadn't thought of it like that'. 

Neither would she.

Why would she? 

People don't know something until they know there is something to know!  When all society's clues and subliminal messages point to bottle feeding as 'normal', for a counter truth to have traction, you need other experiences or input, perhaps from a breastfeeding aunt, friend, neighbour or mother to enable you to think differently to the crowd, to be able to challenge the 'status quo'.

 La Leche Materna

After the event is a terrible time to learn the truth about what you can do to give your baby the optimal start in life. 

Right to breastfeed - Local News - News - General - Bunbury Mail

Western Australia doesn't have a law that protects women's right to breastfeed and babies right to be fed breastmilk!  That's about  to be changed by a young woman who knows what is right.

Jess and her son Oscar

A LOCAL mother is taking on the State Government after she was humiliated for breastfeeding in public recently.
Jess Beven was out to lunch with friends and family when she discreetly began breastfeeding her nine-month-old son Oscar.
Using a blanket to cover herself she was dismayed when a man approached her and told her to move elsewhere "to do that".
"He made me feel humiliated," Mrs Beven said.
"I couldn’t believe he said that."

Read the rest of the story here:    Right to Breastfeed

Medical News: Developmental Delay Linked to 'Flat Head' Syndrome - in Pediatrics, General Pediatrics from MedPage Today

from MedPage

"Babies with misshapen heads from lying on their backs too long may be at heightened risk for developmental delays, researchers said, although they stressed that infants should still sleep in the supine position"

The worry about SIDS (Sudden Infant Death) is understandable. Parents have been terrified about the possiblity of SIDs and it is heartbreaking when SIDS occurs. The Back to Sleep campaign has reduced the number of SIDs cases, but parents have become terrified to put their children in any other position than on their backs.

SIDS has been linked to low levels of a hormone called Serotonin and the enzyme that makes it in the baby's brainstem.  Brainstem circuits control breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate during sleep, Hannah C. Kinney, MD, of Children's Hospital Boston, and colleagues reported in the Feb. 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. A baby with an abnormality in control of these systems might not be able to respond to a life-threatening challenge like asphyxia by rousing from sleep or turning its head the researchers explained.

 These researchers suggest that the back to sleep campaign has saved those babies who would not have been able to move their heads or bodies in response to changing physiology. 

Now researchers are saying that flat heads from back lying are associated with neurodevelopmental delay. A fascinating and troubling finding. The authors are at pains to say that these babies may have developed plagiocephaly because they already had a problem and caution that parents should still ensure babies lie on their backs to sleep.

I wonder if we are not having a problem that is self perpetuating here.  Neurophysiologists like James Prescott (a hero of mine) tell us that the brainstem gets 'set' at birth by the environment the baby meets. If the baby gets skin to skin with his/her mother, the brain stem gets set for love, happiness and contentment - states associated with serotonin.  If babies are whizzed off to the resuscitaire, their brain stems are set for fear and distress. That state is associated with a lack of serotonin.

These days, with the back to sleep campaign, many children are not having any tummy time, they are not being carried and they are certainly not sleeping with their mother, all of which adds up to mean they are not having the stimulation from movement and touch that they get from being held, carried and laid in different positions. I suspect the brainstem issue could relate to how they are treated at birth and the neurodevelopmental delay that is associated with plagiocephaly could be due to lack of stimulation.

Babies need to be carried, they need to sleep with their mothers to get the stimulation necessary for optimal brain growth . One of my many heroes, Dr James McKenna at Notra Dame University has done many mother-infant sleep studies.

Go to  Dr McKenna's home page to find the latest research and information about the sleep studies.

Dr McKenna's sensible and baby/mother friendly suggestions for babies sleeping safely can be found at this link:    Babies Sleeping Safe



CO-SLEEPING RESEARCH

The psychophysiological effects of sleep-sharing are studied in sleep laboratories that mimic, as much as possible, the home bedroom. Over the past few years, over a million dollars of research money has been devoted to sleep-sharing research. These studies have all been done on mothers and infants ranging from two to five months in age. Here are findings based on mother-infant pairs studied in the sleep-sharing arrangement versus the solitary-sleeping arrangement (Elias 1986, McKenna 1993, Fleming 1994; Mosko 1994):

1. Mothers and babies who sleep together are more 'in sync' than those who do not: when either the mother or the baby moved, stirred, coughed or changed stages of sleep, the other would change in synchrony, without waking.

2. Both mother and baby generally spent more time in the same stage of sleep and for longer periods when they slept together.

3. Mothers sleep better even though their babies sleep deeply for shorter periods when they sleep together: thought to be a protective mechanism. Mothers tend to stir and babies follow if baby sleep is deep for any length of time.

4. Sleep-sharing infants arouse more and breastfeed more than babies who sleep separately; mothers to not report waking more frequently than those who slept separately.

5. Sleep-sharing infants tended to sleep more often on their backs or sides and less often on their tummies, a factor that could itself lower the SIDS risk.

6. Mothers and babies who sleep together, touch and interact a lot, even when sleeping: each affects the night time behaviour of the other.

Insightful mothers have always felt better sleeping with their babies. Babies suffer separation distress when they are apart from their mothers.

In my view, plagiocephally (flat back of head) is an iatrogenic problem. The neurodevelopmental delay associated with plagiocephaly results from the lack of stimulation caused by the 'lie your baby on its back dictum' is, also, in my view, iatrogenic.

Our culture is really weird. Anything that is good and wholesome, like birth at home with those you love, sleeping with your baby and attachment parenting is branded medically suspect. I guess the beneficiaries of the regular doctor visits, helmet makers and surgeons who correct misshapen heads have to make a living.

peaceful parenting: Breastfeeding Baby Jesus

This video shows religious art - images of Mary breastfeeding baby Jesus. What the images reveal is the societal attitude towards breastfeeding at the time the art work was created.

Note the hand positions of Mary and the age of the various representations of baby Jesus. 

A wonderful compilation from Danelle Frisbie at Peaceful Parenting. Danelle has a wonderful blog. http://www.drmomma.org/




peaceful parenting: Breastfeeding Baby Jesus

Tesco Ultra Softcarry Pack Mini 44 product information - Tesco.com

The effects of advertising on human behaviour is well known. Marketing psychologists are paid huge money for coming up with ideas, images, ways of presenting information that influences people subliminally so that they 'naturally' change their behaviour and buy the product.

Look what women and families are being 'sold' in the UK

What's the message here?

Tesco newborn nappies with a beautiful woman and newborn baby. That in itself is fully understandable. However, the packet shows the woman is bottle feeding her newborn. 

Hmmm.  

This photo is clearly a deal made with formula makers (do we smell money kickbacks here) and is the sort of socially corrupt marketing activities that are undermining breastfeeding as normal. This photo is an example of the way that marketing activities by big formula companies are working to make bottle feeding the 'norm' in a subliminal and unfortunately, powerful way.

This behaviour of undermining optimal nutrition for babies for corporate advantage is disgraceful. Many women struggle to breastfeed their babies already with the countless adverse social factors that mitigate against women feeling comfortable in their own bodies.

The future health of babies and society are influenced by this underhanded ' for profit' marketing

While the Code for marketing breastmilk substitutes has some clout, for other advertising there is no such protection. What a pity the genius minds of marketing psychologists aren't gainfully employed in producing campaigns for encourage people to work with their natural, physiological intelligence.  

Oh, wait, there's no money in that! 

UK Marketing Director of Tesco Carolyn Bradley can be contacted on: carolyn.bradley@uk.tesco.com 

Tesco Ultra Softcarry Pack Mini 44 product information - Tesco.com

Norweigan Scientist says breastmilk is no better for babies than formula - mirror.co.uk

Interesting report on research from Norway, where breastfeeding support is high and most women breastfeed? What's going on?

Scientist says breastmilk is no better for babies than formula - mirror.co.uk

Statue in front of hospital on Margarita Island Venezuela

UNICEF has refuted the study

http://www.babyfriendly.org.uk/items/item_detail.asp?item=620

Ben Goldacre from Bad Science fame posts the press release that lead to the BIG STORY which has been subsequently plastered all over the media

http://bengoldacre.posterous.com/

These articles and responses to them are well worth reading to get the full story behind the 'story'.

Essentially, what the researchers are saying is that women who have high testosterone levels in pregnancy, have trouble breastfeeding.

There is a very thoughtful informed response by Australia's Karleen Gribble PhD School of Nursing and Midwifery, UWS, reproduced below.
Karleen's post was in response to a query about the study on en-net, " a free and open resource to help field practitioners have access to prompt technical advice for operational challenges for which answers are not readily accessible" The Emergency Nutrition Network is a UK registered international charity, set up by humanitarian agencies to improve effectiveness of emergency food and nutrition interventions through rapid identification and dissemination of lessons learnt in the course of operational practice, and through research and evaluation.

The en-net forum is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development/Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) and the support of the Irish People through Irish Aid.

http://www.en-net.org.uk/

Karleen wrote on the above list:

"There's a few things that you need to understand about this study (which I have read) and the context in which it was carried out. This research is from Norway, the country with the best breastfeeding rates in the Western world- 99% initiation of breastfeeding and 80% of women still breastfeeding at 6 months. Societial support for breastfeeding women in Norway is very good. The very small number of women who cease breastfeeding in the early weeks of their infant's life would include those whose have a genuine physiological problem with making sufficient milk for their babies. It was found that these women were more likely to have higher levels of androgens during pregnancy. This is not a huge surprise, it's been something that others have been suggesting for some time (see the book for mothers "Making more Milk" by West and Maracso). The researchers seem to think that androgen levels can account for pretty much every factor associated with early weaning....they are endocrinologists....it's a case of if your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. It's a bit simplistic but there's no doubt that they have found a useful priece of the puzzle.
As to the idea that formula is as good as breastmilk. Well, the references cited in the study as providing evidence for this idea are 4 from the PROBIT study (the huge RCT of the implementation of BFHI in Belarus). The 4 studies cited looked at the impact of BFHI implementation (and lower of higher artificial feeding rates) on child behaviour, growth, dental caries, allergies/asthma- that's it. You'll get few people getting all het up saying you must breastfeed otherwise you're child will have behaviour problems or holes in their teeth. And to be perfectly frank any results from the PROBIT study on allergy and asthma is going to be questionable because the issue with allergic disease is exposure to allergens- and the only way to do this properly is a longitudinal study which records the time of the infant's first exposure to anything other than breastmilk- the only study I am aware of that has done this is one by Wendy Oddy in W Australia (and indeed, the critical factor was the timing of the first exposure to cows milk protein). There was nothing in the study that addressed the most common morbidities and mortalities due to artifical feeding, that is: diarrhoeal disease and respiratory infection.
Shall I be cynical and say that the researchers wanted to get media interest in their study?? (This was just a single small paragraph in the paper) Perhaps. Or maybe they just don't see the adverse effects of formula feeding since they are in Norway, where as I mentioned, just about every woman breastfeeds for a substantial period of time and where they have one of the best public health systems in the world.
And just a note about language when we talk about infant feeding. Breastfeeding is the normal way of feeding babies. It is extremely important and in fact it is vital, essential, indispensible to the wellbeing of infants and young children. It has NO BENEFITS. It is NOT best. Rather, artificial feeding is risky and dangerous. It actively and passively harms the immune system and the health of infants. Breastfeeding does not decrease disease, artificial feeding increases it. Breastfeeding is not best, infant formula is deficient.
This may seem pedantic but we actually have a growing body of evidence that if we talk about breastfeeding as best and the benefits of breastfeeding that we fail to effectively communicate the importance of breastfeeding and the risks of formula feeding- we actually assist in the promotion of formula feeding.
I can provide more evidence on this if there is interest".

YouTube - Ignorance Meets Knowledge (extended breastfeeding)

A delightful video normalising extended breastfeeding. Nutrition and health are hot topics at the moment. This video is a great message for our times.




YouTube - Ignorance Meets Knowledge (extended breastfeeding)

Breastfeeding is Normal

The women who made this video said:

"The purpose of our video is to encourage mothers to feed their child, no matter where they are! And to give encouragement to new and expecting mothers that breast is best, and nursing IS normal".

YouTube - NIN CHARLOTTE

Newborn care key to baby’s survival—DoH - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

"MANILA, Philippines—The current practice of handling newborns, like clamping and cutting the umbilical cord and washing the baby right after birth, have been known to actually contribute to the high incidence of neonatal deaths and illnesses in the country.
“This is a paradigm shift,” was how Director Honorata Catibog, head of the Department of Health (DoH) task force on the rapid reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality, described the new program introduced by the DoH and the World Health Organization.

Proponents of the Essential Newborn Care (ENC) are changing the protocol currently observed by childbirth

practitioners.

The ENC protocol prioritizes drying the newborn and initiating skin contact with the mother before clamping and cutting the umbilical cord. It prescribes a proper sequence of interventions that even a single health worker could perform and calls for initiating breastfeeding within the first hour of life".


Newborn care key to baby’s survival—DoH - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

QUESTION 2. Should an infant who is breastfeeding poorly and has a tongue tie undergo a tongue tie division? -- Algar 94 (11): 911 -- Archives of Disease in Childhood

The whole issue (of whether tongue tie -ankyloglossia is related to breastfeeding difficulties) is complicated when considering that many studies have attempted to measure the degree of tongue tie, a notoriously difficult endeavour, and that once graded, the degree of impairment appears not to correlate with breastfeeding problems. With all this considered, one cannot ignore the plethora of documented experience that supports this procedure, so much so that NICE have produced an interventional procedure guideline that acknowledges that the little evidence there is does seem to suggest that this procedure can improve breastfeeding while having no major safety concerns. As a result it suggests that the evidence is enough to support the use of the procedure provided that normal arrangements are in place for consent, audit and clinical governance.11

If mothers overwhelmingly tell us that it works, then why should we argue?

What a sensible conclusion!!!

QUESTION 2. Should an infant who is breastfeeding poorly and has a tongue tie undergo a tongue tie division? -- Algar 94 (11): 911 -- Archives of Disease in Childhood

Wining and dining doctors a $60 million a year industry / Current news / The University of Newcastle, Australia

Transparency is important. Where funding comes from and goes to, what makes the cost of pharmaceuticals so high are financial and health related issues that the government and the general population need to know more about.

The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative has sought to keep maternity services free from the wining and dining, 'gift' freebee culture of formula makers that creates dependency and a sense of 'owing one' to the generous one. If anyone wonders if it is necessary to keep midwifery free of funding by vested interests of formula makers and the like, wonder no more.

Wining and dining doctors a $60 million a year industry / Current news / The University of Newcastle, Australia

Outcomes for Caseload Midwifery at St Mary's UK

 This poster was presented at the June 2009 Normal Birth conference in the UK. The poster reports on a prospective cohort study on all live births at St Mary's Hospital in the Imperial College Healthcare Trust NHS. The study evaluated the caseload model in that health service.

Women who had caseload, or one to one relationship based midwifery care were found to have fewer interventions in labour and birth. These women were found to have a higher rate of births at home, higher rate of normal births, a reduced rate of both analgesia and epidural anaesthesia, higher breastfeeding rates and more normal births.  The rates of caesarean section and babies admitted to the nursery were the same for both groups of women.

caseload09.jpg (image)

APHA: Breastfeeding Associated with Decreased Childhood Behavioral Problems

APHA: Breastfeeding Associated with Decreased Childhood Behavioral Problems

San Diego, October 29, 2008 – Children who are breastfed are less likely to suffer from behavioral or mental health issues than those who are not breastfed, according to new research.

The study, which was presented at the American Public Health Association’s 136^th Annual Meeting & Exposition in San Diego, looked at whether breastfeeding is associated with decreased behavioral problems and psychiatric illness during childhood.

Using 2003 National Survey of Children's Health data from 102,353 interviews of parents and guardians on the health of their children, researchers found that parents of breastfed children were less likely to report concern for the child's behavior, and breastfed children were less likely to have been diagnosed by a health professional with behavioral or conduct problems and were less likely to have received mental health care. Additionally, parents of breastfed children were less likely to report concern about the child's ability to learn.

“These findings support current evidence that breastfeeding enhances childhood intellectual ability while providing new evidence that breastfeeding may contribute to childhood emotional development and protect against psychiatric illness and behavioral problems,” said Katherine Hobbs Knutson, MD, lead researcher on the study.

Session 5061.0 - Breastfeeding enhances childhood emotional and psychiatric development

Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 – 8:30 AM

Researchers: Katherine Hobbs Knutson, MD and Alexy Arauz Boudreau, MD, MPH

World Breastfeeding Week: WBW around the World

World Breastfeeding Week: WBW around the World

Breastfeeding

This post is for questions about breastfeeding. I'll answer to the best of my ability, if I don't know, I'll find out. love, Carolyn

Mind Movie for Pregnant Women

A mind movie is a visualisation tool that enables a person to provide multisensory input and provide positive suggestions to the subconscious mind about a particular and desired outcome. Quantum physics informs us that we are forever in a field of possibilities. Neuroscience has discovered that the human brain is a quantum processor, making our tomorrows out of our todays.

If we want to create something wonderful in our life, we have to imagine it, in full technicolour, with surround sound and 'be' completely at one with whatever we wish to create.

The experts tell us that imagining/visualising our ideals first thing in the morning and last thing at night is what powerfully impacts our subconscious minds, providing a template for our inner intelligence to express itself through.

Many women do not have experience with birth, other than what they see on that master of suggestion, the television. Unfortunately, what is presented on television is invariably sensationalist, negative, alarming and often, inaccurate or only partially accurate and ultimately distressing. That is particularly true of the birthing process. The birth of our precious babies has been corrupted by false advertising through mainstream media and the ensuing horror stories. That corruption of birth has lead to unbelievable levels of fear and trauma in our society for both mothers and babies. Unmitigated fear is toxic to body and mental function and the reason that is so is explained by our physiology.

Mediated by the nervous system and our 'perceptions', our physiology has two primary modes of 'being'. One, the parasympathetic mode is 'on' when we are calm, relaxed and happy, in love and optimistic. In this mode, the whole body is well perfused with oxygen rich blood, the immune system functions well as do all the other growth and repair functions of the body. In this state, the brain functions optimally, thinking is clear, we are creative and our emotions consist of the positive hormones, such as oxytocin, endorphins and relaxins.

The other mode is switched on when we perceive a threat in our environment, this is the fight, flight or freeze response, the sympathetic branch of our nervous system. When this system is activated, blood is diverted from those parts of us that are not considered essential for immediate survival when attack appears imminent and our life threatened. The parts of us that are deprived of the normal blood flow at these times include our gut and digestion, our reproductive systems and its components, including, for pregnant women, the uterus and baby, plus other maintenance and repair systems. The blood is sent to our arms and legs for fighting and fleeing. The hormones associated with this biobehavioural state are adrenalins, noradrenalins and cortisol. Cortisol is great for helping a person lift a car off someone trapped underneath, we've all heard those kind of heroic stories of unbelievable strength in dire circumstances. However, in day to day life, activation of the sympathetic aspect of our nervous system disrupts cellular and immune system function and shuts down our rational thinking, leading to road rage, neuronal death and illness. It also leads to a self defeating, self reinforcing cycle of negative experiences.

Pregnant women are well advised to avoid horror stories, television dramas and any negative representation of birth, parenting and babies. Pregnant women benefit by being immersed in positive stories, images and surrounding themselves with loving, supportive and encouraging people. Pregnant women also benefit by having someone, preferably a midwife, with whom they can talk though their fears and apprehensions, so that they approach the birth of their precious babies in a loving, confident and calm manner. In this way, women's physiology works optimally and prenates grow well.

A mind movie is designed to provide and develop a positive view and orientation to pregnancy, labour, birth and breastfeeding for pregnant women, their partners and their families.

A woman can make her own mind movie. She can make it in her imagination, or by making a real life video. Either way, collect in your mind or physically, lovely photos of birth, babies and other images that remind you of your body and mind in harmony, working well. Add your favourite music to the mix and every morning and night, soak your mind in the ideas of birth to come, remembering to think about the birth occurring at the perfect time in the perfect way with the perfect people in the perfect place when the baby is fully grown, ready for birth. Imagine the whole process, including the birth of the placenta, your feelings on seeing your baby for the first time, being skin to skin with and breastfeeding your baby. Imagine yourself joyful after the event.

You will be amazed at how effective this process is for helping create a wonderful birth experience for you and your baby.