Kimberley MacKenzie, IBCLC lactation consultant

05/18/2022

Parents may be worrying now about having access to formula. Here is an article that has some good points. To remember, unless your baby has a particular condition, their nutritional needs will be met by any brand of formula. And don’t make your own formula.

How parents should, and should not, manage the shortage

08/15/2021

Breastfeeding is worth it!

I’ve just read something yet again about breastfeeding promoted as being easy … and I have to say I disagree and here’s why:

One of the traps public health promotion can fall into is being so keen to promote breastfeeding that any challenges get glossed over, through fear that it’ll put us off. Instead breastfeeding gets painted as some kind of idyllic, simple, miracle cure for all ills.

Of course, many hugely value breastfeeding, but any approach that takes this stance is doing both women and breastfeeding a huge injustice.

Breastfeeding is not easy. It requires time & investment and can be a steep learning curve.

However, that’s in no way to say the alternative is any easier. Many women find once they get through the early weeks of breastfeeding they actually find it much easier than bottle feeding.

But that still doesn’t make it easy. And that’s OK.

What in life worth doing is easy? We put ourselves through challenges all the time. We work hard for exams. We train for races. We do it because we think it’s worth it, not because it’s easy. And we expect others to support us. Imagine our outrage if we were training for a race and everyone suggested it wasn’t worth it as it wasn’t easy.

Calling breastfeeding easy is an injustice to the time & often effort it takes. You may want to breastfeed, enjoy it, believe it is worth it – but that doesn’t make it easy.

Easy belittles the many hours we spend breastfeeding, the challenges we overcome, the sacrifices we make because we think it’s worth it.

When we gloss over the realities of breastfeeding, we feel unprepared for what it’s really like. If we tell people to expect easy, and they hit a hurdle, they may think they’re doing something wrong.

Normal (but not easy to handle) baby behaviour (such as feeding lots, not wanting to be put down) gets perceived as something wrong, & that formula will solve it (it won’t).

Women then end up depressed, blaming themselves, thinking they didn’t try hard enough because after all, isn’t breastfeeding easy?

Rather than calling breastfeeding easy, we need to think about how we as a society can make breastfeeding easier.

08/01/2021

In Canada we mark World Breastfeeding Week in October. I want to share this post at this time, though.

World Breastfeeding Week was designed to protect and support breastfeeding. To highlight why we need to invest in our new mothers, babies and the future.

Yet for many mums, this week sends a chill straight through their core. It makes them want to shout and throw things because breastfeeding certainly isn’t something to celebrate for them.

For far too many women, any mention of breastfeeding reminds them of pain, anxiety and a lack of support. It reminds them of their determination to do what had been promised to them as simple, enjoyable and the right way to feed their baby. Determination which slowly turned to desperation when it didn’t work for them.

It reminds mothers of the heartbreak they felt as they stopped breastfeeding before they were anywhere near ready – it wasn’t just about the promised health benefits but the feeling that their body wasn’t doing what it was meant to do, and the fact they just really wanted to do it.

But all this pain is actually the reason we continue. This week is not about telling everyone they should breastfeed... but more about insisting that those with power step up and actually do something about investing in making a better future for the next generation of women.

At the moment, rather than protecting breastfeeding, the government doesn’t invest properly in the services, support and expertise that would actually enable mothers to breastfeed – despite reports finding it could actually save the NHS money.

Instead, cuts to services take away essential volunteer groups and funding of breastfeeding specialists. What should be an easily fixable issue can turn turned into months of physical pain - and often a lifetime of continued emotional pain.

The simple truth is that we set women up to fail. Most breastfeeding problems are created by a society that is not breastfeeding friendly: the actions of others are responsible for poor breastfeeding rates and the trauma of mothers.

This week is about recognising that hurt and calling for change. I really wish we didn't have to have it. I certainly wish that not so many women and families were hurt by it.

07/28/2021

I am pleased to be running for a position on the board of directors of our International Lactation Consultant Association. I hope to have a seat on the board and be able to bring as much passion to the advocacy part of being an IBCLC as I do to my clinical practice. Breastfeeding anytime, anywhere, for anyone.

05/17/2021

How do you feel about baby napping on you?

What if we saw children sleeping on us as a positive? What if we viewed the babies who refuse to go down to nap as a sign that we need to slow down?

What if we changed our perceptions on contact naps, and instead viewed them as an opportunity to relax?

Baby has just fallen asleep on me. I spend a few minutes browsing Facebook and then, my mind wonders towards the dishes piling up in the sink. The pile of laundry stacked up in the bathroom. The dust that has settled on the tv. I start to feel guilty. I start thinking about work that could be done. Or food that needs to be cooked. I try to put baby down, but no way. Baby is having NONE of it.

But what if, just say, WHAT IF this is how it is SUPPOSED to be? Alright yes, we know that evolutionary babies are designed to want to be close to their mothers, but what if that is also meant to work out for the mother to rest too. It’s meant to be for OUR benefit.
To sit back for just a moment, and forget about everything else going on in life.
To take in the beauty of our children, and REST.

Rest our minds.
And rest our bodies.

Childbirth has put our bodies under some serious stress. And there are always a million things that need to be done before the day is over. Perhaps our babies and children needing us to be still with them is natures way of telling us to slow down for just a moment.

Rest mama.
Take the opportunity ❤️

05/07/2021

Les monitrices ont souvent le même conseil universel lorsqu'une nouvelle mère semble surpassée par ce qu'elle vit face son allaitement en période post-partum :

🛀 Allez-prendre un bon bain chaud, collée contre votre nouveau-né et prenez le temps de vous connecter à son petit corps, son petit être et allaitez ensemble , naturellement et doucement.

Vous y arriverez.

04/25/2021

We can have ambivalent feelings about breastfeeding, even when it's something we really want to do.

Yup...it's all normal. ❤️

04/21/2021

Love this video of latching! So simple and clear!