Nursing has been quite the adventure and honestly when I first started I didn't think I would make it. When I had my first baby she was in the hospital for quite some time so I was pumping and I had a very hard getting my milk to come in. I had terrible PPD and after heavily supplementing with formula, I ended up giving up on nursing and pumping at about 3.5 -4 months in. This time around I was determined to nurse. Not only is it amazing nutrition and immune support for baby, but it also helps Mama with PPD.
Let me start (as I do every one of my blogs) with a quick
anecdote which I hppe will give at least one mama some hope after reading. ( I
am purposefully leaving out the hospital and nursing names because I do not
believe that it was their fault specifically, but more so a lack of education
all around)
When I gave birth, I had a C-section at 34 weeks, which
meant my LO was going to have a bit of a NICU stay. When your baby is in the
NICU, the doctors and nurses have very strict protocols they have to follow
when it comes to food (as with most things) that are kind of unattainable for
most mothers. I was expected to pump 40 ml per feeding (every
3 hours) from the beginning on top of nursing every 3 hours.
I was only aloud to nurse for 10 minutes at a time and then was told I had to
stop because I was going to exhaust and starve my child if I nursed her for any
longer, and had to bottle feed her pumped milk. The lactation consultant came
to take a look and said that baby was nursing just fine and that my milk had
come in great so that there should be no issues with nursing, however the NICU
nurses were all pretty determined that nursing was NOT what was best for my
baby. At one point I had a nurse who would not even wait for me 2 minutes to
make the trek down from the maternity ward to the NICU so I could at least try
to nurse. All in all the experience was awful. I felt like I wasn't going to be
able to nurse, that nursing was the wrong choice and I was full of anxiety and
sadness. When I got home I talked to the La Leche Group leader in my area who
gave me so much helpful insight, comfort and support.
Now while you are in the hospital under the doctors care
there isn't much you can do about the protocols in place, nor is there much you
can do if you are dealing with a particularly difficult nurse other than to
surround yourself with supportive family and friends, but if you find your
still having a hard time one thing you can do is to contact your local La Leche
League leader or a IBLC to see if they can come see you in the hospital for a
consult and to help support you.
After coming home from the hospital and speaking with the La
Leche leader I realized that I had pumped myself into an over supply and
actually had to work hard to bring my supply back down because my oversupply
was making it hard for my little one to nurse properly. My letdowns were
forceful which would choke her up a bit. Plus the fact that I had so much milk
meant that she was getting fore milk and then getting full before she could get
any hind milk. This is a problem because hind milk is the fattier milk which is
the more filling milk. Also too much fore milk can make baby gassy and bloated
as well as hungry again much sooner. This all meant that I was nursing every
20-30 minutes and she was super gassy and fussy most of the time.
So I am hoping that in reading this if you run into a
similar situation, do not get discouraged, and do your best not to be the
reason you over produce. If you have any questions about your supply or you are
nervous for any reason contact an IBLC or your La Leche league leader to help
you find one.
**Before I get
started letting you all know what I took, let me start with a quick disclosure
notice, because essential oils in general, and the products I am about to
mention are not FDA regulated. So, let me confirm that I am not a doctor, or a
chemist, or a prenatal specialist of any kind. No one is paying me to write
what I am writing, and none of these facts have been checked by the FDA. What I
will do is provide links to articles and additional material so that you can do
your own research. The information given in this post is not meant to take the
place of doctor treatment or recommendations and I always recommend that you
ask your doctor before trying anything new. Essential oils, just like many
other things can interfere with medications and treatments and should not be
used without your doctors’ consent.**
STEP 1: The first thing I did was make sure that what
I was using was legit. – Most therapeutic or essential oils out there are total
BS because essential oils do not fall into a category that is FDA regulated.
So, I did my research and was pleased to find that not only were the oils I was
using as pure as pure could get... but that was only step 1. I do want to
mention for those of you reading this that you will see me mention using some
of these essential oils internally and depending on what companies you use this
is probably not a possibility. If you are interested in using the same company
and products as are listed throughout this blog, I can help you with a free
consultation; I’ll leave my contact at the bottom of this post.
Another thing I did was to find myself a midwife who work in
a practice in a hospital who was familiar with doterra essential oils and was
comfortable assisting me from a medical standpoint.
Step 2: was to find out what I absolutely could not
take which surprisingly there’s not nearly as much that you will find is going
to be bad for you or baby while nursing.
Wintergreen
Sage
Cinnamon
Peppermint
Oregano
All three of these have the potential to decrease your milk
supply. While everyone's experiences will differ when using oils, these are
ones which have most often decreased supply in the majority of women. When
these are diluted like wintergreen in the DeepBlue blend it should not effect
your supply. Is taken as a small dose on a regular basis over a long period of
time like peppermint in tri-ease throughout allergy season, it should not
effect supply.
So now, let's talk oils for breastmilk:
Whether you pump, or nurse there are some oils that you are
100% going to need and some that your going to want on hand in case of
emergency. So I wanted to share with you guys some of what I have found to
really work well.
Upping Supply/Helping Milk Come In:
Clary Calm: so a lot of websites mentioned having clary
sage, lavender, and geranium to help increase milk supply. So rather than using
these all separately or blending them myself, I use Clary Calm. I have been
rolling this on behind my ears after each pump. (The best place to apply is
actually on the low abdomen over where your reproductive internal organs would
be, or even directly to the boob if your pumping. -clary clam is not edible so
dont apply to your breast if you are nursing) Clary Calm is known as doterras
"Monthly Blend for Women" Its called this because it helps balance
out hormones that get thrown out of whack during our cycles, menopause and even
post child birth making this blend the perfect must have for any mom who's just
had a baby and even more so if you plan to use your Boob juice in any way!
Fennel: Fennel is known for having the highest concentration
of galactagogue which increases your milk supply. I used this oil in a blend
called Milk Mama which is 2 drops fennel, 2 drops basil, in a 10 ml roller
topped off with FCO applied around the breast(avoiding nipple) after every
feeding or pumping session. This roller should only be used for 1 week because
fennel has been linked to UTI infections if taken for an extended period of
time.
Lavender: one of the most important things about nursing is
to be relaxed. If you are stressed not only is your baby going to feel that and
in turn become stressed and fussy making it extremely hard for them to latch,
but your let down will not come as easily which will frustrate you and baby
more and just make the entire situation more difficult than it has to be. Point
here is to make sure you are relaxed when you are going to nurse. If you are
having a particularly rough time try putting the baby down for a moment, and
take a few deep breaths inhaling some lavender from your diffuser or from a
drop in your hands, then pick up baby and soothe her before trying to nurse.
the 2 of you being calm and relaxed will help you both through the nursing
session.
doterra also has an entire line of oils designed to help you
through certain emotions. Forgive, Peace and Console are 3 that I used quite
often when I could figure out what specifically was stressing me out. Sometimes
I was mad at myself for not being a "good enough mom" in which case I
would use forgive and remind myself that I need to be less hard on myself and
more forgiving, because I am a great mom and we all make mistakes. Sometimes
the chaos of the world and my family and friends and the baby would just get to
me in which case I needed a little Peace to help me settle. Sometimes I was a
little sad about her chaotic birth, or my surgery, and Console would help me
cry it out so I could get back to taking care of my baby.
Milk Mama Roller Bottle: 2 drops fennel 2 drops basil top
off a 10 ml roller bottle with FCO. I use this roller on my chest after every
time I pump. The blend smells actually pretty good - I was nervous about the
fennel - and has been working wonders. Seriously if I forget to use it. I can
immediately tell during my next pump.
Delaware Placenta Pills: Wendy did an amazing job talking me
through the process, and helping me pick what was going to work best for what I
needed. She also provided me with piece of mind in being fully certified and
accredited. I got my pills in less than 48 hrs after my surgery and I was so
happy with everything.
Motivation: this oil doesn’t actually help you produce any
additional milk but let's not forget that mama needs a little help sometimes
too. Nursing was exhausting for me as I assume it is for many women so I wanted
to share
There are also oils that I personally did not use but that I
have heard great things about when it comes to helping you milk come in such as:
basil, cardamom, dill, geranium, and jasmine.
Cracked Nipples:
My favorite thing to do is just to put some breast milk on
the nipple and let it air dry from there.
Frankincense, Lavender, Geranium, Roman chamomile, Myrrh,
sandalwood, and Neroli are all great oils for your skin and so can bring relief
to a cracked nipple. For best results dilute with coco nut oil and apply to
your nipple after nursing. Then wipe it off before baby nurses again or you
pump again to avoid getting the oils in your breast milk.
I did experiment with a fun little concoction:
1 cup (4oz) breastmilk
1 cup coconut oil
5 drops vitamin E
oil
1 drop lavender
eo
1 drop roman
chamomile eo
1 drop copaiba eo
Clogged ducts/ mastitis:
Lavender, tea tree, patchouli, orange
Keep in mind that mastitis can happen if you have a lot of
milk so if you are trying to produce extra to keep a storage supply, try
cutting back on how much extra your doing since this could likely be the cause
of your over supply and so, the cause of your clogged duct.
Weaning:
Peppermint
Sage
Cabbage leaves
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