The Hemp Connection:
breast feeding

As you know, we're big on breastfeeding at inCYST. We believe it helps reduce the susceptibility to PCOS, we believe incorrect nutrition information deters women from doing it, and we believe that doing it improves the health of mom as well as baby. We're also very concerned about how few physicians, dietitians, nurses, and other health professionals simply do not know that PCOS can make it difficult to breastfeed. We'd like to be a part of changing that.

I received a letter from the United States Breastfeeding Committee that explains some of the important work they are doing, along with a link to donate to their cause.

If your life has ever been personally touched by a lactation consultant, if our work at inCYST encouraged you to breastfeed, or if you simply believe in what these hard working yet often unrecognized health professionals do, consider honoring their labor this holiday with a donation using the provided link.

Dear Friend,

The United States Breastfeeding Committee is committed to ensuring that working women and their families receive the support they need to have optimal breastfeeding experiences. This Labor Day we are thrilled to celebrate our new national workplace support law by sharing a story of one mother's experience of making breastfeeding work:

"I always expected to be a stay-at-home mother, but after years of working at SAS my perspective began to change. SAS made it so easy to continue working by offering benefits such as on-site childcare, on-site health care, breastfeeding seminars, lactation rooms, lactation consultants and more. In the seminars, I learned about the health benefits to me and my child as well as the bonding opportunities that breastfeeding provides. I truly got the sense that this was something that my employer wanted my child and me to be able to experience. They encouraged me to breastfeed not only for my benefit, but for theirs as well. They understood the benefits for businesses--healthier babies mean less employee time away from work tending to sick children. Happier, healthier moms mean more productive workers.

When each of my children was born, we met with the lactation consultants several times in the on-site health care center. This helped ensure that breastfeeding was off to a good start and gave me confidence in my ability to breastfeed. Upon returning to work, I was able to nurse my two children for the first year of their lives. In the beginning, I walked to the child care center 2-3 times per day. I'd sit with other moms in the nursing room, which has a home-like atmosphere complete with couches, soft music and lighting--just the right environment conducive to nursing infants. (They even deliver lunch from the SAS cafeteria, if you so choose.) I was away from work for about 30 minutes each time. As the months passed, we transitioned to one feeding during my lunch hour. If I wasn't able to make it over for a feeding, I could pump in the privacy of my locked office or lactation room. The flexibility was priceless.

I cherish this time spent with my children. I felt connected to them rather than conflicted about being a working mom. If SAS didn't provide such a wonderful environment, I may have made a different decision about being a working mom. My hope is that every mom is able to enjoy the benefits of breastfeeding their children while still contributing to the working world."

- Leslie W. Anderson, SAS

With the inclusion of the workplace breastfeeding support provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the U.S. joins the rest of the industrialized world in providing breastfeeding mothers with break time and a private location to express breast milk during the workday. The new law marks a turning point in our efforts to ensure that"breastfeeding works" for all moms like it did for Leslie. In passing this provision, our federal government has clearly recognized that breastfeeding support in the workplace is a win-win for families and employers!

But the work doesn't stop when the law is passed…

The Department of Labor (DOL) is tasked with implementation of the new law, and the DOL Wage and Hour Division recently issued a preliminary online Fact Sheet. USBC has prepared guidance and recommendations for the Wage and Hour Division and continues to work with the DOL and other partners on implementation and promotion of the new law.

Please consider DONATING NOW to support USBC in this important work!

Many of USBC's critical programs, and especially our policy and advocacy activities, are funded solely by donations from the Friends of USBC. Your contribution can really have an impact at this critical time to strengthen our efforts to ensure"breastfeeding works" for working moms. Please consider becoming a Friend of USBC by making a donation today!

We look forward to our continued work together and thank you in advance for your support. Together we are making a difference for working families!

Sincerely,

Robin W. Stanton, MA, RD, LD
Chair

United States Breastfeeding Committee
2025 M Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036

Phone: 202/367-1132
Fax: 202/367-2132
E-mail: office@usbreastfeeding.org
Web: www.usbreastfeeding.org

The United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) is an independent nonprofit coalition of more than 40 nationally influential professional, educational, and governmental organizations. Representing over a million concerned professionals and the families they serve, USBC and its member organizations share a common mission to improve the Nation's health by working collaboratively to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding. For more information about USBC, visit www.usbreastfeeding.org.

When working with women who desire very much to conceive, it can be challenging to help them understand the big picture. They want a baby…they want it NOW…and if that's not something you can promise…well, there are a gazillion other people out there who will gladly take their money if they say what these women want to hear.

We're establishing a pretty good track record when it comes to fertility help, but what I want to be sure everyone understands, who comes to this blog, is that we're equally concerned about your long term health, and preventing infertility in the babies you might have.

One of the patterns I'm seeing when evaluating clients, is that they were either formula fed, or breast fed for a short time before being switched to formula. Yes, what happened to you as a child can definitely affect your fertility. We can do a pretty good job of playing catch up, but if you only play catch up long enough to become pregnant, then go back to your former way of eating, you're setting up your babies to have similar problems in THEIR adulthood. Knowing what you've likely gone through yourselves…why would you wish that on anyone? Especially your own child?

So even though you may not really be thinking about the fertility prospects of the baby you may not even have yet, I'm encouraging you to think long-term and big picture. Here's an example of research that tells you why I'd do that.

Seventy-seven healthy babies born to term were compared to each other based on the following: (1) breast fed longer than 6 months, (2) breast fed between 3 and 5 months, and (3) exclusively formula fed.

Baby's DHA levels (that's the omega-3 found primarily in fish oil and marine algae) did not differ much at birth, but DHA significantly decreased between birth and the first year of age in babies who were not breast fed. The researchers concluded that breast feeding for at least months is what is required to prevent this decline.

Because every milligram of DHA a baby gets in breast milk comes from mama's personal supply, it is crucial that mama's diet be adequate in DHA throughout nursing. Fortunately, the very diet we've been encouraging you to consume to become pregnant and stay pregnant…is the diet that facilitates this process. It wasn't that you were healthy and just needed a little push to become pregnant. You were out of balance, and the way you chose to eat restored that balance. Once you get there, the goal is to maintain balance, not go back to being out of balance because you've achieved your important goal and want to get back to the easier way of doing things.

It's about your pregnancy, your baby's health, your brain and baby's brain. And it's not really that hard. Hopefully we're helping you to see that.

Sanjurjo Crespo P, Trebolazabala Quirante N, Aldámiz-Echevarría Azuara L, Castaño González L, Prieto Perera JA, Andrade Lodeiro F. [n-3 and n-6 fatty acids in plasma at birth and one year of age and relationship with feeding.] An Pediatr (Barc). 2008 Jun;68(6):570-5.

This post is part of the Women's Health Blogfest. Please click on the links below to read more from other contributors! And thanks to everyone who took the time to participate!

In the almost 10 years I have been studying PCOS, I've learned much about what drives a woman's motivation to seek out information. The top reasons women find this blog are:

1. to improve their fertility,
2. to more effectively manage their weight, and
3. to feel and look better

As I've read and met women with the syndrome, I've learned that PCOS is about a whole lot more.

1. A woman's breastfeeding practices seem to significantly influence her child's hormonal health. Many women I've worked with were formula fed at a time when baby formula did not contain essential nutrients.
2. Whether or not you as a woman with PCOS were born to term, and potentially whether or not you were part of a multiple birth, seem to be red flags for PCOS risk later in life.
3. Just because you're a teenager, too young to want to conceive, or a woman who has already had her children, doesn't mean PCOS isn't something to be concerned about. It can mess with your mood, and in turn your energy level and relationships. It can provoke eating disorders. It can elevate your cholesterol. And…through its link to diabetes, it may increase your risk for Alzheimer's disease.

A blog attempting to tackle a syndrome with such widespread effects is not easy to manage. I've been working since we've started to find experts in areas outside of nutrition to complement what I as a dietitian can discuss and promote. I'm really excited to be partnering with lactation consultants to address breastfeeding issues specific to PCOS, and to have Gretchen Kubacky, PsyD, on board, to help us understand what PCOS can do to thinking, mood, and energy. We have one dietitian, Karen Siegel, who is also an acupuncturist, and another acupuncturist will soon be contributing her insight as well.

For the very first time, we are collaborating with Green Mountain at Fox Run in Ludlow, Vermont, to offer PCOS Program weeks this coming September! It's been a dream of mine to see this kind of program and there is no better place where it could be launched. Green Mountain is also participating in this blogfest, if you'd like to learn even more, be sure to read their contribution.

We don't just care about your ovaries. We care about all of you, from birth through retirement, and we hope that as we grow and diversify, the expert opinions you will see expressed here on this blog will address the many important ways we can keep our hormones working positively for us.

Thanks for stopping by our contribution to the Women's Health blogfest. If you enjoyed us, you can follow us with the signups you see here on the blog, through our Facebook inCYST group, or through Twitter, via @incyst.

For more information on women's health:

Angela White at Blisstree’s Breastfeeding 1-2-3 – Helpful Skills of Breastfeeding Counselors
Angie Tillman, RD, LDN, CDE – You Are Beautiful Today
Anthony J. Sepe – Women's Health and Migraines
Ashley Colpaart – Women's health through women
Charisse McElwaine – Spending too much time on the"throne?
Danielle Omar – Yoga, Mindful Eating and Food Confidence
Diane Preves M.S.,R.D – Balance for Health
Joan Sather A Woman's Healthy Choices Affect More Than Herself
Laura Wittke – Fibro Study Recruits Participants
Liz Marr, MS, RD – Reflecting on Family Food Ways and Women's Work
Marjorie Geiser, MBA, RD, NSCA-CPT – Healthy Women, Healthy Business: How Your Health Impacts a Powerful Business
Marsha Hudnall – Breakfast Protein Helps Light Eaters Feel Full
Michelle Loy, MPH, MS, RD – A Nutritionista’s Super Foods for Super Skin
Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog – How breastfeeding helps you, too
Rebecca Scritchfield, MA, RD, LD – Four Keys to Wellness, Just for Women
Renata Mangrum, MPH, RD – The busy busy woman
Robin Plotkin, RD, LD – Feeding the Appetites of the Culinary, Epicurious and Nutrition Worlds-One Bite at a Time
Sharon Salomon, MS, RD – Calories, longevity and do I care
Terri L Mozingo, RD, CDN & D. Milton Stokes, MPH, RD, CDN of One Source Nutrition, LLC – Crossing the Line: From Health to Hurt
Wendy Jo Peterson, RD – Watch Your Garden Grow

As you have seen me allude to in previous posts, and which you will begin to hear a lot more about as we better network with lactation specialists, inCYST believes strongly in the importance of breastfeeding. Breast milk is where babies get their omega-3's, and a disproportionate percentage of the women we work with, it seems, were either not nursed, nursed for a shorter than ideal timespan, and bottle fed during a time when omega-3's were not to be found in formula.

It gets more complicated with PCOS, because women with PCOS, as much as they may want to nurse their babies, can't do so, because their hormone imbalance makes it impossible.

It is a crucial part of our mission to reinforce that PCOS is not just about infertility, but about many disrupted aspects of reproduction. We want to keep the disease from becoming generational.

So we'd like to encourage you to support recently introduced breastfeeding legislation.

The Breastfeeding Promotion Act (H.R. 2819, S. 1244) includes five provisions:

1. Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect breastfeeding women from being fired or discriminated against in the workplace.
2. Provides tax incentives for businesses that establish private lactation areas in the workplace, or provide breastfeeding equipment or consultation services to their employees.
3. Provides for a performance standard to ensure breast pumps are safe and effective.
4. Allows breastfeeding equipment and consultation services to be tax deductible for families (amends Internal Revenue Code definition of"medical care").
5. Protects the privacy of breastfeeding mothers by ensuring they have break time and a private place to pump (applies to employers with 50 or more employees, see text of legislation for details).

All you have to do, to be sure your legislators hear your voice, is follow the instructions at this link.

We had a really interesting inquiry from a lactation consultant, who had been trying to find information to give her new mothers of multiple births, regarding how much they need to eat to maintain their own nutrition AND produce enough milk for multiple babies.

We have a great resource for that, inCYSTer Chris Wittmer, in Dayton, Ohio. Chris works for a medical practice that manages high-risk pregnancies. Chris' great answer is posted below. I wanted to share it with our readers, so that others looking for this information don't have to work so hard to find it. Enough of you are undergoing procedures that increase the chances of multiple birth, I wanted to be sure that from beginning to end, mother and babies are well fed!

I linked to the book in case anyone wanted to find it without an inordinate amount of hunting.

Thanks so much, Chris, and I hope this helps!

There are very few"official" recommendations for nutrition for mom while breastfeeding multiples, but Barbara Luke, who is the"guru" of nutrition for pregnancy with multiples has extrapolated some numbers/recommendations for a singleton mom to multiples. They are included in her book:"When You are Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads", 2nd edition, chapter 10.

The overall caloric recommendations are
--1000-1200 calories additional for twins (500-600 calories per baby),
--1500-1800 additional calories for triplets and
--2000 to 2400 additional calories for quads.

For twins her recommendation is 3200 calories/day and 160 g protein/day, keeping the distribution of calories approximately 40% carbohydrate, 20% protein, and 40% fat. Elizabeth Noble recommends about 3000 calories/day for twins (400 extra per baby The calcium needs are the greatest-increasing by 50%, so that would be in the range of 3000 mg/day.

Other important nutrients include Omega 3 fatty acids, Zinc, and Iodine. It is extremely important for mom to eat adequately or her milk supply will be diminished. Eat nutrient dense foods frequently to help get in the needed calories and nutrients and continue to drink adequate fluids-preferably milk, juice or water. I don't know if any of this will be helpful, but as has been said before, it is a subject that has not been addressed adequately in the literature. There is a need since the incidence of multiples is rising.