Breastfeeding Intensive – Mother of 7, Inc.

Available at http://www.breastfeedingvideo.com/products.html for $57

Visuals: Lots of high quality video (some from Injoy and other companies, some original footage) of moms nursing in hospital right after birth, at home, in the park with other moms, etc. Diverse families, including some international images. Images of Stephanie Scholz Neurohr, the producer and mother of seven, at the beach in Hawaii. Computer graphics.

Lots of images of prenatal classes with a variety of teachers and materials.

Nice mixture of showing things with model/doll, computer graphics, and real breasts and babies: newborn babies, older babies, nursing toddlers

Interviewed: lots of IBCLC’s, doulas, educators, pediatricians, midwives, OB/Gyns. Famous faces include: William Sears, Jay Gordon, Thomas Hale, Penny Simkin, and more

Content details:

Intro (2:19)

Opens with images of bf, and “breastfeeding has been the ultimate bonding with my daughter”

William Sears: memories of love and availability will last a lifetime.

Intro to contents

Breastmilk can not be duplicated by formula (shows scientists in labs with beakers of breastmilk)

Why Breastfeed?  (4:11)

Sears: breastmilk is good for mom, baby, and society. Benefits for baby: fat builds their brain – so smarter; see better, fewer ear infections, better teeth; fewer chest infections; better immune systems

Paul Fleiss, MD: mother’s milk is extraordinary: colostrum high in immunoglobins, interferon, etc. Why babies have less bronchitis, less pneumonia, less infections – a baby breastfed just two months has 50% fewer ear infections

Sears – digested quickly, not as much spit-up

Other benefits: less infectious disease, SIDS, certain cancers, diabetes, asthma, allergies, obesity

Benefits for mom: helps uterus contract, get back to pre-pregnant weight. Jay Gordon, MD: mothers who don’t BF get much more breast cancer, thyroid cancer. Weight loss facilitated.

Before delivery (10:02)

Breastfeeding educators (class is on lawn in Hawaii) – if you don’t say what you want, you won’t get it, so let nurses at hospital know you want to BF and  you want support with that

Doula in Texas: talks about doing a hospital tour, and asking: how long will I be with my baby right after birth before we’re separated. If they say anything less 45 minutes, say no. Ask them to wait an hour to bathe baby, do eye drops, etc.

Do a pre-birth interview with pediatrician or family care provider to make sure they’re pro-breastfeeding, and that they have good info about how to support you in BF: how many of their clients are still exclusively bf at 6 months? How many bf at 12 months?

Babies do not need anything other than breastmilk in first 6 months

Shows moms nursing older babies / toddlers as they talk about bf for first 2 years

First few hours and weeks are most critical for getting bf established

Jay Gordon – a healthy newborn should go into mom’s arms as soon as possible after birth. Colostrum – baby gets a few teaspoons in first day. Don’t need a lot of quantity (shows picture of colostrum in a spoon and in vials

Shows a card to put with baby in hospital that says breastfed baby, no formula please”

Penny Simkin: essence of being a doula is to see a woman through one of the most challenging moments of her life: having a positive birth has a big influence on her throughout her life.

Shows childbirth classes, and talks about educating yourself before birth about your options, encourages them take prenatal bf class: be sure to include dads, grandmas, etc. Find friends who have met or exceeded your goal.

Shows LLL group; encourages them to find network of mothers who bf

Before delivery, understand risks of not breastfeeding: there are known dangers of stopping breastfeeding – babies can get sick

Thomas Hale: vast majority of medications are quite safe while breastfeeding. Only a dozen or so are a problem

How to breastfeed (12:24) plus Breastfeeding Education (6:54)

Four basic positions we teach (shows each, but does not describe in detail)

Cradle, clutch, lying down, transition

Cradle is most comfortable

Clutch / football: gives mom more control, good if c-s

Lying down

Good to vary positions

Ears, shoulders and hips in good alignment; ears above shoulder, shoulders above hips

Shows supporting breast (model): fingers four inches away from areola. U Breast Hold shown on real breast.

Positioning facilitates latch-on.

Align nipple to nose. Tickle lips, baby opens wide; baby takes in about an inch of breast

Shows computer graphic of nipple, areola, Montgomery glands, and latch

Women have various sizes of areolas (shows examples)

Shows lactation consultant demo’ing with model and doll interspersed with real baby and breast

When baby opens wide: Bring the baby to you, not you to the baby.

Animation: if baby just sucks on the tip of the nipple, sore nipples.

Shows a mom latching baby on: latches on nipple, shows her how to take baby off of nipple, then proper latch on

With head tilted slightly back

Reviews positioning and latch briefly

Quiet alert state. Harder to bf when crying

Shows latch around finger: flanged lips, then shows on breast: when baby comes off nipple, it should look round and normal, not flattened or dis-colored

Let-down: some women have tingling followed by sleepiness: shows breast in time lapse photography with milk dripping out – 11% do not feel letdown: watch for followings signs: quick bursts of suckling turns to slow rhythmic suck, content baby after feed, noticeable difference in fullness of breast

IBCLC: when babies have short choppy sucks, non-nutritive sucks that encourage letdown: shows baby doing quick bursts, then slow nutritive feed

Time at breast is not a good indicator of how much milk baby is getting

Engorgement: On day 3 – 5, may be heavy, warm, swelling breasts. A lot of moms use warmth or massage, or express a little milk; best thing is to feed baby frequently, and do massage; can use ice

Burping baby: shows hand on belly, and patting of back (pressure on gut more important)

How often should I nurse? Magic answer is frequency, frequency, frequency: feed baby on cue.

Breastfeed as often as possible, as long as possible. Pump after feedings to maximize milk supply

Don’t diet, wear your baby, take baby into quiet room with low distractions to feed.

Educator shows side-lying with discussion of how to be sure baby will be safe if you fall asleep while nursing

Signs of enough milk: frequent stools (3-4 mustardy stools a day – shows one) show baby has enough volume and getting enough fat. Weight gain. When in doubt, check it out: take baby in for a weighing; have lactation consultant check latch

Shows containers of freshly pumped milk, and milk that was pumped earlier to show layers of foremilk and hindmilk

Mother of 7 to Mother (5:18) – moms talking about what they like about bf

- African American mom nursing older baby

- Asian mom with chubby baby and older child

- Mom and dad with older girls and nursing baby

- Caucasian mom of toddler talking about how child is independent, not clingy

- Parents of triplets: I pump, they’re still on breastmilk, and I’m so excited about that (shows her pumping and milk in the pump

- Caucasian mom talking about pumping at work while reading email

- Parents of twins: talking about health benefits and intellect

- Woman from France with toddler who is still nursing

- Mom who has 5 boys, including twins

- Parents of triplets: best thing is bonding

- Woman from Japan talking about how much she loves bf

- Mom in Costa Rica – most wonderful thing; my love flowing to her from my milk

- William Sears – breastfeeding considered the standard

- Paul Fleiss – we’ll have a more peaceful world if more babies are bf

- Mom of 7: I believe in the wonders of breastmilk.

Ends with song, and lots of images of babies worldwide and lots of breastfeeding babies… “breastfeeding is the natural gift of health and life only mom can give her baby.”