International Breastfeeding Centre
1255 Sheppard Ave East M2K 1E2 Toronto, ON, Canada

Those who decide to breastfeed are faced with a disturbing lack of good advice and "hands on" help. Their initial determination to breastfeed is too often lost in conflicting solutions being offered and not working. Something they at first imagined should be simple and natural turns out to be a distressing and frustrating experience which frequently ends in their rejecting breastfeeding entirely. This book is filled with new approaches to preventing problems and treating pr...oblems if they have already occurred. These approaches work because they have been tested for over 45 years of combined experience and with over 30,000 mothers and their babies. They are aimed at making breastfeeding work. This book covers questions which have stumped lactation consultants and doctors alike and which result in mothers frequently saying We tried everything, but I just couldn’t breastfeed. This usually means there was no one who could offer a real solution to a baby who was fussy, crying, rejecting the breast, not thriving and failing to gain weight or to sore nipples or the mother needing treatment. Frequently, the inability to provide real help is hidden in statements like It is important that the mother and baby are happy, don’t worry about breastfeeding. Even after years of helping mothers, some helpers still cannot tell by watching a baby breastfeed whether the baby is getting breastmilk. By reading this book, you will know how to know. Here are some of the questions you will find answered in this book: Why are there so many women having problems with breastfeeding? How does one start breastfeeding? Do mothers have milk in the first few days after birth or does milk come in later? What can be done to make breastfeeding work? Can premature babies be breastfed (at the breast)? Why is my baby rejecting the breast? Are modern formulas really similar to breastmilk? Is bottle feeding breastmilk really the same as breastfeeding? What is the real deal about tongue ties? Can mothers take medications and breastfeed? Can I restart breastfeeding if I stopped completely? When do I start my breastfed baby on food and how? Can I get pregnant when breastfeeding? When will my breastfed baby sleep through the night? Dr Jack Newman shares his expertise and experience of working at his Breastfeeding Clinic called The International Breastfeeding Centre in Toronto as well as Africa and Northern Canada, of listening to mothers and their stories and answering over a hundred emails from mothers every day. https://www.amazon.com/Breastfeeding.../dp/1717802842/ See more

Separating mothers and babies after birth instead of keeping them skin to skin during the first hour and longer after birth is still a prevalent practice in much of the world. It is common that mothers are told all sorts of false and even bizarre reasons for not being allowed to be skin to skin with the baby, whereas the breast crawl is the first step in making sure the baby latches on well. The standard of care for all mothers and babies, healthy or sick, full term or premat...ure, stable or unstable, born vaginally or via c-section, born in warm weather or cold weather, should be uninterrupted, continuous skin to skin contact. It is then that the 9 stages of baby behaviour will become manifest, as described in a study by A-M Widström and others. Here are Widström's 9 Stages during skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth. 1. The birth cry is a distinct and specific cry as the baby's lungs expand for the first time. 2. Relaxation is a time immediately after the birth cry ends, when the baby becomes still and has no visible movements. 3. Awakening begins as the baby opens the eyes for the first time, blinks, has perceptible mouth movements and limited hand and shoulder movements. 4. Activity involves larger body movements, including whole arm motions, specific finger movements, shoulder movements, head lifting, and stable open eyes. 5. Rest could happen at any point during the first hour, interspersed between stages or as a transition between stages. 6. Crawling involves the baby moving purposely towards the nipple and breast. It could be accomplished through sliding, leaping, bobbing, or pushing. 7. Familiarization is a stage at the mother's nipple where the baby licks, tastes, touches and moves around the nipple and areola area. 8. Suckling involves the baby self attaching to the nipple and initiating breastfeeding. 9. Sleeping is an involuntary activity of the baby around 1.5 to 2 h after birth. www.ibconline.ca See more

Did your doctor support and help you with breastfeeding? What is your experience when you sought breastfeeding help from health professionals? Health professionals often play a huge role in whether breastfeeding starts out effortlessly for women or whether they experience difficulties. Whether they offer evidence based advice or they just repeat what they heard about breastfeeding somewhere. Whether they help women get real medical solutions to their breastfeeding problems or... whether they just say "it's fine to give formula" without even making an effort to help. Whether they see a woman's need for medication or treatment as a way of reassuring her that she can continue breastfeeding or whether they take it as an opportunity to tell her to stop simply because breastfeeding is not seen as worthy of consideration. In case you are wondering: In medical school at the University of Toronto, during our one and only 1 hour lecture on infant feeding, the pediatrician stood in front of the class and said "Breast is best because it always comes at the right temperature and comes in such cute containers" (this was considered funny in 1969). Then he went on to say "Now I will tell you about infant formula" for the rest of the hour. How's that for education about breastfeeding? Medical students graduating in 2020, when asked, stated "About the same as we got about breastfeeding". See more

The longer women breastfeed the more they hear comments suggesting that breastfeeding is depleting their nutrients and contributes to their fatigue. The opposit...e is true. Continuing breastfeeding is good for female health. Here is one recent example from a study done by Dr. Ramos-Roman (published in Diabetes in August 2020) which discusses ways in which breastfeeding plays a role in protecting women from Type 2 diabetes even many years after they have stopped breastfeeding. Breastfeeding changes the insulin sensitivity of organs that supply or demand sugars and fat in the breastfeeding women's bodies. This protects women against insulin resistance not only at the time when they are breastfeeding but long after they have stopped. This study suggests that it is prolactin - the hormone that is involved in breastmilk production - that causes breastfeeding women to have lower levels of fatty acids in their blood and lower amounts of fat in their livers. See more

The photo shows a premature baby born at 26 weeks gestation, now 2 weeks old. He is latched on and breastfeeding very well. Posting to let Portuguese/Brazilian speakers that we now have several of our blogs translated into Portuguese/Brazilian. Here is the link for these blogs: https://ibconline.ca/category/portuguese-blog/ Blogs that have been translated so far and posted on our website: 1. The right to breastfeed 2. Formula is not breastmilk 3. Low blood sugar ... 4. Early onset jaundice 5. When the baby does not latch on 6. Breastfeeding and maternal medications 7. What is a good latch? 8. What is a good latch quiz 9. Breast compressions 10. Not enough milk 1 11. Not enough milk 2 12. Painful breastfeeding 1 (nipple pain) 13. Painful breastfeeding 2 (breast pain) 14. Who transfers milk (baby or mother) 15. Breastfeeding in unusual circumstances 16. Inducing lactation 17. A little girl breastfeeding We are hoping that all the English blogs will be translated before the new year Thank you so very much for the translations: pediatrician Dra Maria Luisa Silva Quintino (Brazil) See more