The Virgin Gut?

As many of you who have read my blog in the past know, I am a big proponent of breastfeeding.  It is the one topic that I have written about the most on my blog.  New parents are constantly being given the message these days that "breast is best."  We hear about the usual benefits which include among other things:  "a protective effect against respiratory illnesses, ear infections, gastrointestinal diseases, and allergies including asthma, eczema and atopic dermatitis. The rate of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is reduced by over a third in breastfed babies, and there is a 15 percent to 30 percent reduction in adolescent and adult obesity in breastfed vs. non-breastfed infants."  Organizations such as the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life.  Despite these recommendations, many mothers still choose not to breastfeed and give formula to their baby instead.  Mothers may have legitimate reasons such as not having adequate breast tissue or not producing enough milk.  However, I think with our society's portrayal of breastfeeding, many mothers simply choose not to attempt it.  It is tiring and a lot of work.  

In the event of a mother not entirely convinced that "breast is best," there is yet another reason to attempt breastfeeding and that is the case for the "virgin gut."  This is something that I had not heard about with my first baby but am hearing more about with my second baby.  I first heard about it on some of the message boards that I frequent so I began doing some research.  I came across the following blog and an excellent paper written with lots of scientific citations.  Both of these are worth reading and go into great detail (better than I could do with my limited time for blogging) about the "case for the virgin gut."

I will do my best to "summarize" the theory.  A baby is born with a  "sterile" gastrointestinal tract.  "The gastrointestinal tract of a normal fetus is sterile. During the birth process and rapidly thereafter, microbes from the mother and surrounding environment colonize the gastrointestinal tract of the infant until a dense, complex microbiota develops."  The type of colonization is influenced by delivery (vaginal vs. cesarean) and perhaps most importantly by the method of feeding the baby (formula vs. breastfeeding). The gut flora of a formula vs. a breastfed infant is different.  It is believed that the flora that is established with breastfeeding can have protective effects for the baby throughout their lifetime.  Some believe that even one bottle of formula can upset this balance and may take weeks of exclusive breastfeeding to undo.

A part of this theory also addresses the "open gut."  Essentially, when a baby is born, their gastrointestinal system is "immature."  As a result, there are openings in the gut which allow large, potentially allergy causing proteins and disease causing pathogens to pass directly into a baby's blood stream.  It is theorized that mother nature "intended" for these openings for large maternal antibodies to pass into the baby's blood stream to protect the baby from disease.  The antibodies will also coat the lining of the gastrointestinal tract to confer passive immunity to a baby.  Feeding formula (which many contain cow's milk protein) or introducing solids before the age of six months is believed to increase the likelihood of the development of food allergies or illness.  It is believed that the "closing" of the gut occurs around six months which is why food should not be introduced until after a baby has reached six months of age.  This is especially important in babies with a family history of food allergies.  It is also believed that a baby is less likely to get sick after six months when a baby begins to produce their own antibodies and do not have to rely as much on passive immunity from the mother.

I had always been a believer in exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life.  My older son received one tiny bottle of formula when he was four days old since my milk was slow to come in because of a bad latch.  My second baby who just turned six months old yesterday has not had a single drop of formula.  He has only had breastmilk and nothing else (not even water) to drink.  Breastfeeding with either baby has not been easy but after reading about the "virgin gut," I am more than happy that I did.  I had a lot of pressure from well meaning family and friends to give my babies formula or start them on solids before six months of age.

I had a lot of allergies as a kid.  There are pictures of me getting solid foods at two months old (which was apparently common in the 1970's).  So far, with my older child, he does not appear to have any allergies.  This includes foods that I was allergic to.  I am hoping the same will be the case for my younger son.  Since he is past the six month mark, we will start introducing solid foods to him in a few days.  It will be the beginning of an exciting new chapter for us.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that this may help us get some much needed rest.

So what if you cannot breastfeed?  This something that I know really torment a lot of women.  If you cannot breastfeed, there are different ways to go about getting breastmilk for your child.  Unfortunately, in today's society, many people would opt for formula before exploring some of these alternatives.  However, if you're really determined, I think the following are good choices.  There is wet nursing.  This was something done long ago before the advent of formula and it seems to be enjoying a resurgence in recent years.  There are even websites which show you how to become a wet nurse if you so desire.  Another option is through peer to peer sharing through organizations like human milk 4 human babies.  You can literally look this organization up on facebook in your area to post an ad or look for ads posted by mothers in your area who are looking or willing to donate their breastmilk.  If you want breastmilk that has been tested for diseases (much like blood donations are), then a milk bank is another option.  You can look up a milk bank in your area.  Since this milk is tested and pasteurized, there is usually a fee associated with getting the milk.  In my area, a prescription from a physician is required and it costs $3/ounce (shipping not included).  Since a prescription is required, some insurance companies will pay for the use of banked milk.

It is nice to know that there are alternatives to formula should you choose to preserve the "virgin gut."

Reverse Cycling?

Has anyone heard of "reverse cycling" or have a baby doing this?  Apparently, this is what my little guy is doing.  He will literally eat only 2-3 ounces all day when I am at work and then nurse almost continually once I return home from work.  Kellymom has a great article about this.  Basically, "if mom is away from baby during the day, baby may take just enough milk (by bottle or cup) to 'take the edge off' his hunger, then wait for mom to return to get the bulk of his calories. Baby will typically nurse more often and/or longer than usual once mom returns. Some mothers encourage reverse cycling so they won’t need to pump as much milk. Reverse cycling is common for breastfed babies who are away from mom part of the day, especially those just starting out with the bottle."

They say that I should "Be patient. Try not to stress about it. Consider it a compliment – baby prefers you!" This is OK if one does not have to go to work and be functional the next day.  It is also OK if one has the luxury to nap when baby naps during the day.  Unfortunately, the reality is I have a job that I must be alert for and a toddler who does not necessarily nap when baby naps.  If anyone has experienced this, I would LOVE to hear your stories and how you were able to break this cycle.  Being up all night to nurse a baby is wearing me down.  Co-sleeping is something I had never thought I would do but it is seriously the only way I can get any sleep these days.  I literally spend all night just rolling him from one boob to the other.

If there is an upside to all of this, I pump much more milk than my baby will ever eat.  As a result, I have been exploring my options with breastmilk donation.  In my area (Northern California), there are two options that I am exploring, the San Jose Milk Bank and Human Milk for Human Babies.  Does anyone have experience with either of these donation methods?  One is more formal than the other.  I would love your input on this as well.

Happy 12/12/12!

I decided to save my one-hundredth post for 12/12/12.  It is such a cool date.  I wore the number 12 when I played soccer in high school so the number has always had a special meaning to me.  It is even more special considering we won't see another repetitive date until January 1, 2101.  I hope my kids will be able to see it but I know I won't so I am enjoying the day.

There has been quite a few cool things posted about today that I thought I'd share some links.  Mental Floss had been posting lists of 12 things every hour all day long.  Here are my favorite ones:
12 Terrible Pieces of Advice for Pregnant Women
12 Mind Blowing Number Systems from Other Languages
12 Fascinating Moments in Winter Clothing History
12 Star Trek Gadgets That Now Exist

Even CNN had something to say about 12/12/12.  Here is a great article about "Odd Facts about 12/12/12."

I always thought it would be cool to be born on a day like today.  There is a website that you can go to determine if your birthdate (or any day for that matter) has any sort of "pattern."  The website contains a "date pattern calculator."  It is just my luck that my birthdate has no pattern!  Oh well...

I hope you all enjoyed 12/12/12!

Breastfeeding Doll?

I just came across an article about a breastfeeding doll.  As many of you who have taken the time to read my blog, I am very pro-breastfeeding.  I have breastfed my older son until he was 22 months old and am currently breastfeeding my 3-month old.  I have no problem breastfeeding in front of my older child because I believe that breastfeeding is a completely natural thing.  If he has any questions about it, I am happy to tell him that I am feeding the baby and that is how the baby eats.

However, I have to admit that I have mixed feelings about a doll that breastfeeds.  I don't have a daughter so this is probably not going to be something that I will be asked to buy.  If I did have a daughter, I would have no problem letting her "play" with her doll by pretending to breastfeed it by holding it up to her chest.  I find it a little uncomfortable that in this particular instance, a little girl can strap on a halter top with sensors that allows the baby to "breastfeed" complete with suckling sounds.  "The dolls, eight in all with a variety of skin tones and facial features, look like many others, until children don the little top with petal appliques at the nipples. That's where the sensors are located, setting off the suckling noise when the doll's mouth makes contact. It also burps and cries, but those sounds don't require contact at the breast."

I don't know, I think a big part of me finds this a little creepy.  I think this is taking pretending to breastfeed a little too far.  I don't think she needs to have fake "breasts" to pretend to breastfeed.  What do you think?  Would you let your daughter play with a toy that will allow her to "breastfeed?"

Yes on Proposition 37!

I hate getting political with my blog but this is one issue that you can vote on tomorrow that I believe transcends political parties and ideologies.  For voters in California, Proposition 37 is a ballot initiative that will require food to be labeled if it contains genetically modified organisms (GMO's).  "Fifty countries around the world—representing more than 40% of the world’s population---already require GMO labeling, including all of Europe, Japan, India and China."  Why aren't Americans allowed to know if their food contains GMO's?

The opposition to Proposition 37 is mainly funded by Monsanto, a Fortune 500 company that sell agricultural and vegetable seeds which have traits "developed through biotechnology."  They also manufacture "crop protection chemicals." This is rather contradictory since Monsanto has been known to support the labeling of GMO's in Britain.  Yet in the US, in opposition to Prop 37, they have been running ads indicating that this proposition will increase food costs.  Studies have been done in Europe (which requires labeling) and of the potential economic impact in the US.  These studies have shown that food prices did not increase as a result of this labeling.

This proposition will also not ban the selling of these foods.  It will just require them to be labeled as being genetically modified.  If GMO's are truly safe, why are they fighting the labeling requirement?  What are they trying to hide?  Why are they denying Californians (and by extension Americans) the right to choose what they eat ?  If this law is passed in California, it will be like a nationwide labeling requirement since manufacturers will not have separate labeling for their products sold in the state of California versus what is sold elsewhere.  If you do not live in California, contact your friends and family that do.  Passage of this law will also let you know if what you're eating contains GMOs.

I have written several blog posts about Genetically Modified Organisms (potential benefits and hazards), Monsanto and about Proposition 37.  I encourage you to read them by following this link.  The older posts are located on the bottom.  Just start from the bottom and work your way up.  As a mother who just wants to know what is in her food and make an informed decision, I urge you to vote YES ON 37!

Happy Halloween!

2 Month Update - Breastfeeding Woes

These last few weeks have been quite the circus around our home.  Adjusting to life with a toddler and a newborn along with my husband's hectic work schedule has been quite the challenge.  As the baby is getting bigger and my toddler is getting adjusted to life as a big brother, we are hoping to finally turn a corner and have more time to indulge in the little things like write a new blog entry.  Up until this point, my husband and I have had to juggle constantly holding the newborn.  Being able to type with two hands on a computer and not on my phone has been a luxury.

I would have to say that this baby has been an interesting experience when compared to my older child.  They say every baby is different and this is certainly the case for us.  With my older child, I had difficulty breastfeeding in the beginning due to a bad latch.  As a result, my milk took a while to "come in."  Since he was losing too much weight, we had to supplement him with some formula for a few days.  This baby, however, has been completely different.  Since I only stopped nursing my older child back in March (he was 22 months old and I was 20 weeks pregnant), I don't think I ever stopped producing milk.  As a result, my milk was pretty much ready for this baby from the very beginning.  At first it seemed great since I didn't suffer from the issues that typically surround the early days of nursing like sore nipples, engorgement, etc.  I had a brand new tube of Lansinoh and gel cooling pads ready to go and I didn't have to use any of it.  Since I already breastfed my older child, I didn't have any of the latch issues either.  I thought everything was going great until...

Reflux reared its ugly head.  My poor baby seemed to be getting too much milk!  After each nursing session, he would choke and appear to be drowning from my milk!  It was awful!  We couldn't lay him flat on his back as recommended because as soon as we did that, he would start to get horrible reflux.  It didn't matter if we kept him upright for an hour after nursing, he still would begin to spit up and appear to choke on his spit up.  The only way any one in our house was to get any sleep was to literally hold him upright for what appeared to be 24 hours a day.  To say that we are tired is a gross understatement.

Part of my problem after researching some of my favorite websites for information about breastfeeding was that I had a fast letdown (my milk would come out too fast) and I was over producing creating a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance.  With the fast let down, the milk literally came out of my body like a geyser.  Its the craziest thing which never happened with my older child.  I was so impressed by it, I actually took a video of it!  Since it came out so fast and hard, my baby would have to release his latch or risk choking on the milk!  I tried nursing at an incline so gravity would try to slow the flow and the baby would have to "work" at getting the milk out.  That, unfortunately, didn't work since even being flat on my back would cause the milk to shoot straight up.  Also, since I had too much milk, the baby would get full before emptying the breast.  As a result, he would get too much of the watery foremilk and not enough of the fatty hindmilk.  The poor guy had to deal with green, runny poop as a result of not getting enough of the fatty milk.  I had read that pumping before nursing would help but that left me with a catch-22 since pumping stimulates milk production which is what I didn't want to do.

I thought the best solution for everyone was to pump and then feed the baby a bottle at least once a day before bedtime so he could at least rest at night without having reflux issues.  It was a great idea until we realized the baby would not take a bottle!  It seems like if it wasn't one thing it was another.  On top of all of that, if he was going through a growth spurt, he would start cluster feeding which further stimulated my production.

Now that the baby is nine weeks old, it appears that things are beginning to get a whole lot better.  We can now put him flat on his back for at least a few hours at a time (we don't have to constantly hold him) and he is taking a bottle again at least once a night before bed.  I think the bedtime bottle has been key to helping him sleep for at least four hours at a time.   I also think that his reflux is getting better simply because he's a little older and his gastrointestinal tract is more mature and able to better handle eating.

Things are better for the most part but we are, unfortunately, still experiencing little "hiccups" along the way.  Tonight was a little strange since the baby refused the bottle from my husband.  Instead, I gave him the bottle which seemed to break the "mold" when it comes to bottle feeding a breastfed baby.  I have to admit that it was weird feeding him a bottle.  I think with my oldest, I only did that a handful of times like when we were in a car so feeding my babies from a bottle is in general a weird thing for me.

I am hoping this continues so everyone gets more sleep and I may even consider donating my breastmilk.  I had always wanted to do that but never seemed to produce enough.  Now that I seem to be producing too much, it is something that I'd like to explore.  Do you know of any good organizations that I could donate milk to?

I'd also like to share links to my favorite breastfeeding websites that provided me with invaluable information these last few weeks.  I hope that you may find these websites useful if you are experiencing difficulty with breastfeeding.  I would also like any feedback of other websites that are useful to the breastfeeding mother.

http://kellymom.com/
My favorite website.  I always look things up here first before exploring other websites.

http://www.workandpump.com/
Great resource for pumping questions.

http://www.breastfeedingonline.com/newman.shtml
A Canadian doctor's website.  He's very pro-breastfeeding and I appreciate his insight.

https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/
An Australian website with great information.