As a Board Certified Lactation Consultant, I am committed to providing, protecting and supporting the breastfeeding relationship through professional and compassionate care. I strive to help mother’s meet their breastfeeding goals. My ultimate goal is to educate and empower a mother to be able to care for her breastfed baby with confidence and ease.
In addition, I seek to provide education for the expectant mother and her support person, to enable them to make informed decisions regarding the choice of feeding for their infant. Secondly to provide comprehensive in home or on site Lactation Consultations for any mother whose baby is up to 5 years of age and experiencing feeding difficulties
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“I knew I wanted to breastfeed my baby even before I got pregnant but from day one I had a hard time…”Anne F.
“…Thank you so much Linda, we could not have been successful without you.”Andrea B.
“…I would suggest anyone having a new baby to get in touch with Linda. She truly cares about the families she works with.”…”Kathleen D.
I don’t know where to start. You have been so instrumental in helping me achieve my goals with breastfeeding both of my children and I am forever grateful. Your dedicated approach as well as your kind and calming demeanor made you an angel to work with. When I knew I would see you at the hospital and you would be with me and our baby over the long overnight hours, relief instantly washed over me! I looked forward to your in home visits with great delight. You are a treasure and I’m so glad our paths crossed during this very important time in my life. Please stay in touch.Jerilynn L.
“There aren’t enough words to describe how amazing my journey has been with Linda as my consultant!!…”Kimberly S.
Pumping is the single best way to increase your milk supply. It is especially important that you pump often. It is better to pump often for shorter times periods than to pump longer and less frequently. Drinking enough liquids via water and electrolyte drinks is important to make enough milk on a daily basis. During the first 10 days after birth the hormone that makes the milk, prolactin, is high in your blood all day and night long. After this time period the system functions on supply and demand. Prolactin levels also rise when you sleep, hence you should have more milk in the early morning hours and into the first part of your day. It is also paramount to take in enough calories via food to help your milk supply. Power pumping is also an option once per day in place of one of your pumps. This is where you pump for 10 minutes and then rest for 5 minutes, repeat this process times 3 and it takes one hour. I found an amazing website that breaks down foods and herbs that will help to increase your milk supply. Most of all try not to stress as this is counter productive to making more milk. Stay in the love lane and not the stress or fight or flight mode in your brain.
https://www.thebreastfeedingmama.com/blog/galactagogues-for-increasing-milk-supply
Foremilk and hindmilk imbalance is a REAL THING. I has all to do with dilution and concentration of the milk in your breasts. When your breasts are at their fullest the baby gets foremilk first. When your breasts are nearing empty the baby is getting more of the hindmilk or (fatty milk) when they nurse.
Another way to explain is that when the baby starts out nursing they first get a little water, then skim milk, then whole milk, then half and half and then cream. The problem can be if the baby gets too much foremilk there is an abundance of lactose in foremilk and too much of it can cause GI distress in your baby. If there is too much foremilk the infant’s are fussy, they have explosive, light green mucus filled stools.
In a normal breastfeeding situation a baby normally feeds a little longer on the first breast getting to the hind milk and then onto the second breast for a shorter period of time.
Foremilk and hindmilk imbalance can be problematic in a mother that has a very large milk supply (as in making 4-6 ounces per breast) every 3 hours. In this situation the baby is nursing from both breasts and the infant can take in a few ounces from each breast and never reach the hind milk while only receiving the high lactose foremilk. One remedy is to block feed which is where you only nurse on one breast per feeding.
Block feeding works quite well in this situation but it usually will decrease the mother’s overall milk supply. This may not be a bad thing. An oversupply of breastmilk can be as problematic as too little breast milk. In block feeding the breasts gets used to emptying every 6 hours instead of every 3 hours.
I find block feeding happens best when it happens naturally. This would happen when your baby is not interested in taking the second breast. It may only occur at night when you have more milk after getting some rest and then the baby going to both breasts during day and evening hours.
Since you can’t see the ounces going into your baby it is best to purchase an infant weigh scale to monitor your baby’s progress. They are 40-50 dollars on Amazon. A normal weight gain for the first 3 months is 1/2-1 ounce per day. The second 3 months the weight gain is 1/2 ounce per day. The baby’s birth weight doubles at 6 months and triples at one year.
https://breastfeeding-problems.com/foremilk-hindmilk-imbalance/
