Congratulations Theresa! Theresa Long is the winner of the Podee Hands-free Bottle. She was kind enough to tell three of her friends about our website and now is our big winner.

This week’s contest consists of the Dr. Brown’s BPA-free Bottle. Dr. Brown’s bottles are one of the favorite amongst many moms and with the new problems associated with BPA, you no longer have to worry about what is in your baby’s bottle or the harm that it will cause.

How to enter for your free Dr. Brown’s BPA-free Bottle: Email 3 of your friends telling them about our website and just place my email in the cc: area like the following:

cc: blogcontest@gotbreastpump.com

If I have received your email, I will let you know by replying to your email. The deadline to get your email out to your friends and myself will be Sunday at midnight, so make sure to get those emails out by then. I will then compile all the entry names and choose at random for the winner.

Good Luck!

Congratulations Theresa! Theresa Long is the winner of the Podee Hands-free Bottle. She was kind enough to tell three of her friends about our website and now is our big winner.

This week’s contest consists of the Dr. Brown’s BPA-free Bottle. Dr. Brown’s bottles are one of the favorite amongst many moms and with the new problems associated with BPA, you no longer have to worry about what is in your baby’s bottle or the harm that it will cause.

How to enter for your free Dr. Brown’s BPA-free Bottle: Email 3 of your friends telling them about our website and just place my email in the cc: area like the following:

cc: blogcontest@gotbreastpump.com

If I have received your email, I will let you know by replying to your email. The deadline to get your email out to your friends and myself will be Sunday at midnight, so make sure to get those emails out by then. I will then compile all the entry names and choose at random for the winner.

Good Luck!

Use these recipes to help breast pumping and breast feeding mothers increase calcium rich foods in their diet.

How can breast feeding and breast pumping mothers take in enough calcium to avoid robbing their own bodies of this important mineral?

Eating 5 servings of milk or dairy products each day will give you enough calcium. If you don’t eat meat or dairy products, you can get the calcium you need from broccoli, sesame seeds, tofu and kale. Talk to your doctor about taking extra calcium if you don’t think you’re getting enough from your diet.

Calcium packed foods

• 1 cup (8 ounces) low-fat plain yogurt = 415 milligrams (mg) of calcium
• 1 cup collards, cooked = 357 mg
• 1 cup sardines = 351 mg
• 1 cup almonds = 332 mg
• 1 cup skim milk = 302 mg
• 1 ounce Swiss cheese = 272 mg
• 1 cup tofu = 260 mg
• 1 ounce American cheese = 174 mg
• 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese = 155 mg
• 5 ounces tapioca pudding = 119 mg

Try this interesting and fun Tofu Pudding recipe:

Chocolate Tofu Pudding

Ingredients
12 oz Lowfat soft tofu
1/3 cup Splenda
1 tsp pure vanilla
2 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
1 pinch salt

Preparation
Combine all ingredients in a blender or use an immersion blender in a steep sided bowl. Blend until smooth. Refrigerate for a couple of hours.
This delightful, no cook pudding will become a family favorite.
Makes 4 servings ½ cup each. Calories 70, fat less than 1 gram.
This is a delicious, no guilt, low carb treat that will help breast feeding and breast pumping mothers maintain healthy calcium intake and help mothers avoid low breast milk supply.

Mothers instinctively take great care of their baby, but too often forget how important their health is to feeding their precious baby. Breastfeeding and nutrition go hand in hand at this time. If you lack enough food, your body will make breast milk production its first priority, and your body will suffer the consequences. It is just the same as it was during pregnancy, the fetus gets nutrition first. A baby who weighs only a few pounds, will receive nearly 1,000 calories per day in breast milk!

Breast feeding and breast pumping require an extra energy that equals about 500 calories per day. Good nutrition is just as important for you, as it is for your baby.

Increase your water consumption by one quart per day, so that you are drinking a total of 2.5 to 3 quarts.

Increase your daily caloric intake to 2,500 calories: you can even eat more if you are planning to continue breast-feeding for more than three months (2,800 calories per day). One important caution, nursing mothers are tempted by sweets. Try to stick to healthy foods instead!

Eat more proteins. The basic rule is to eat I gram of protein each day for every pound you weigh. That’s not that difficult. An average chicken breast has about 50 grams of protein.

Research has suggested that many of the vitamins and minerals found in prenatal vitamins pass through breast milk. This is usually a desirable thing. For infants who are exclusively fed mother’s milk, breast milk is the only source of important vitamins and minerals. You should talk with your healthcare provider about prenatal vitamins and breastfeeding.

One mineral many women lack — before, during, and after they have children — is iron. Moms need 1,000 milligrams of calcium a day when nursing — about what you’d get in three 8-ounce glasses of milk.

The Journal of Pediatrics recommends continuing prenatal vitamins while breast feeding and breast pumping. Research has suggested that many of the vitamins and minerals found in prenatal vitamins pass through breast milk. This is usually a desirable thing. For infants who are exclusively fed mother’s milk, breast milk is the only source of important vitamins and minerals. You should talk with your healthcare provider about prenatal vitamins and breastfeeding.

Eating “close to the food chain” while nursing can improve the vitamin content of foods you consume and in turn, you baby consumes. “Close to the food chain” refers to eating foods that are less processed. The more food is processed, the fewer vitamins naturally present in the food.

We’re excited to begin our first contest this week. We are giving away one of our favorite products. Moms have thoroughly enjoyed the Podee hands-free bottle. With so much that we moms do today, it is becoming so difficult just to stop what you are doing and feed our sweet babies. Unfortunately, our babies tend to want their bottle when we are in the middle of fixing dinner, driving somewhere, or in the middle of the grocery store. This little product saves you and allows those babies to get what they want when they need it.

Most new mothers require a break from usual tasks and activities; time to recover and get to know their infant. And the experience of being listened to, recognized, celebrated and understood!

For the new mother, the first few weeks at home with your new baby can be challenging. It is something new that you have never done before. It is easy to become overwhelmed and exhausted.

Having support in these first few weeks while you are getting to know your baby are so important for your mental and physical health.

New Mother Syndrome is a complex mix of emotional, physical and behavioral changes. Hormonal changes are part of New Mother Syndrome.

Many demands are placed on a new mother. Most new mothers are filled with questions, ideas and perhaps some anxiety at becoming a parent for the first time, and the enormity of this life-changing task.

Most of the time, feelings associated with New Mother Syndrome are mild; you may have heard them referred to as “baby blues.” The situation is temporary and tends to leave as quickly as it comes. In unusual cases, it may last for several months and even more than a year.

Postpartum depression may appear to be the baby blues at first — but the signs and symptoms are more intense and longer lasting, eventually interfering with your ability to care for your baby and handle other daily tasks.

Postpartum depression affects 10-15% of women any time from a month to a year after childbirth.

It is very treatable by skilled professionals. Don’t hesitate to contact your health care professional if you suspect postpartum depression. The symptoms can become severe without proper attention.

Shocked is the only word I can use to express my feelings regarding how little information there is on the web about how a new mom feels as she returns home with her infant.

Several years ago, I started this site because I could find so little information about breast pumping. I knew other mothers had to need the same information,
yet none was available.

Planning to write the blog on New Mother Syndrome, I thought I would find tons of information. I was so wrong. Very little information is available to help new moms with their many concerns about how they feel and support for their countless worries for their new infant.

From my web search, interviewing some moms I know, and revisiting my own feelings, I came up with a list of feelings and concerns that most of my resources had in common. Certainly there are many more feelings and concerns that new moms have. We would love to hear from you. So email us, so we can share your thoughts with other moms.

Let’s list some of those feelings and concerns.

• Exhausted
• Fatigue (It takes a lot of energy to care for a new infant and your body is still in recovery)
• Irritable
• Oversensitive
• Impatient
• Lack of confidence
• Anxious
• Restless
• Nursing concerns (breastfeeding concerns or breast pumping possibilities)

Some moms shared personal challenges that I’ll list below.

 Your breasts (whether or not you breast feed/ breast pump) are still full and uncomfortable.
 The baby does not know the difference between day or night, so your sleep patterns are upset.
 Getting ready to go anywhere is like planning a major trip. It takes three times longer to get ready with your new baby.
 You miss the social perks of being pregnant. (Just don’t tell anyone)

Almost all postpartum reactions are temporary and typically last just a few weeks. These reactions are normal and up to 80% of mothers experience these feelings after birth.

Try to find a local support group for new mothers. Your delivery hospital should have some information on these, or check the internet. I found many cities with new mother support groups. If your feelings are overwhelming, you may be suffering from Postpartum Depression, not New Mother Syndrome. If this is the case, seek medical assistance.

I did seek help for Postpartum Depression, just as Brook Shields. With the help of my doctor, a counselor and medication, I began feeling better within a few days. The actual Postpartum Depression took several weeks to subside. I actually felt better, just getting in touch with my doctor. Her support and direction gave me the help I needed to get through each day.

Tomorrow, lets talk more about the feelings and concerns of the new mom. Please email us at GotBreastPump.com with your thoughts.

There are many choices out there when it comes to increasing breast milk supply. And because of my neurotic personality I have used a few of them. One of my favorites is fenugreek and fenugreek tea.

This worked for me the very day that I began using it. Once I began taking Fenugreek, I was able to pump about 1\3 more each session than previously. You take about 3 pills with a glass of water 3 times a day. And remember to drink plenty of water all throughout the day. A fenugreek side effect is that when you sweat, you will smell like maple syrup. I did find that I would urinate, there was an odor of maple syrup, so I felt like I was probably taking enough.

Once your breast milk supply increases, you can stop taking the Fenugreek and your supply should stay the same. I found this to be true. So, you should not have to keep purchasing bottle after bottle. If you find that your breast milk supply has not gone up after about 3 days, then you may want to look for another alternative in breast milk supply boosters.

At some point many mothers may become concerned about the amount of breast milk that they are producing. Many of these moms decide to use herbal teas to increase their breast milk. Many of these teas include such herbs as fenugreek, fennel seed, blessed thistle and many other herbs. Though some moms may look to harsher medications such as Domperidone, most mothers prefer to use more natural products that have been years for hundreds of years.

But are these particular herbal teas safe, especially at a time when are babies are receiving their main nourishment from our breast milk?

Fenugreek is an herb or spice that has been used for centuries and is still frequently used in many recipes in countries such as India, Egypt, and Turkey. The many benefits that fenugreek contains is almost countless. Besides helping to increase breast milk, it is also used to aid in digestion, decrease diabetes and is now being studied as an herb to protect against some cancers. The one side effect caused by Fenugreek is that sweat and urine may smell like maple syrup.

Fennel is again an herb that has been used for centuries by many different cultures. Many people still use it today in many of their recipes. Most moms may possibly have a spice jar of it in their pantry. Fennel is used along with other herbs to help with colic for babies.

Blessed Milk Thistle is mostly used for medical purposes. It is most widely used to help with liver diseases. Is it currently being used in a drink, Rockstar Energy Drink, as an herb to increase energy.

Nettle Leaves, or stinging nettle, is a plant with stinging needles when touched, yet can be relieved by typical antihistamine creams. Though once the stinging needles are cooked, chopped, or crushed, the stinging agent is disabled. This plant is mostly prominently used to help patients with arthritis.

So, when you become alarmed about the amount of your breast milk, the first thing you should do is drink lots of water – NO, I mean LOTS of water. Next, relax and enjoy a nice cup of that herbal tea. These herbs have been used in various ways since ancient times. Some of these herbs can be so beneficial for your health, so enjoy.