The Baby Orchard Resource Centre

by Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC

Because more and more women are now breastfeeding their babies, more and more are also finding that they enjoy breastfeeding enough to want to continue longer than the usual few months they initially thought they would. UNICEF has long encouraged breastfeeding for two years and longer, and the American Academy of Pediatrics is now on record as encouraging mothers to nurse at least one year and as long after as both mother and baby desire. Even the Canadian Paediatric Society, in its latest feeding statement acknowledges that women may want to breastfeed for two years or longer and Health Canada has put out a statement similar to UNICEF’s. Breastfeeding to 3 and 4 years of age has been common in much of the world until recently in human history, and it is still common in many societies for toddlers to breastfeed. (more…)

by Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC

1. Many women do not produce enough milk. Not true ! The vast majority of women produce more than enough milk. Indeed, an overabundance of milk is common. Most babies that gain too slowly, or lose weight, do so not because the mother does not have enough milk, but because the baby does not get the milk that the mother has. The usual reason that the baby does not get the milk that is available is that he is poorly latched onto the breast. This is why it is so important that the mother be shown, on the first day, how to latch a baby on properly, by someone who knows what they are doing. (more…)

by Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC

Breastfeeding is the natural, physiologic way of feeding infants and young children, and human milk is the milk made specifically for human infants. Formulas made from cow’s milk or soybeans (most formulas, even “designer formulas”) are only superficially similar, and advertising which states otherwise is misleading. Breastfeeding should be easy and trouble free for most mothers. A good start helps to ensure breastfeeding is a happy experience for both mother and baby. (more…)

The phrase “Lactation Consultant” is unfamiliar to most people, which is unsurprising – the first exam was set worldwide in 1987. Several generations ago, there wouldn’t have been much need for lactation consultants. Since everyone breastfed, mothers would pass on their knowledge to their daughters and to their peers. However, because the last few generations of mothers have primarily chosen to bottle feed, the art of breastfeeding has been somewhat neglected, and not all mothers or grandmothers can be of help to their children and grandchildren. (more…)

by Barbara Boland, B.Soc.Sc(hons), IBCLC.

Breastfeeding difficulties can arise for all sorts of reasons, sometimes in relation to the mother and sometimes the baby. Usually it is a combination of both. Whatever the cause, it is vital to remember that breastfeeding problems usually have breastfeeding solutions. I think I personally experienced every possible breastfeeding difficulty in the book, and lived to tell the tale!
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by Barbara Boland, B.Soc.Sc(hons), IBCLC.

“Are you still breastfeeding that baby? Isn’t he too big for that now?”

Hands up – how many nursing mothers have been subject to such well meaning but unhelpful comments made as baby grows and thrives on nature’s best? (more…)