Harmonia Birth

03/16/2023

You CAN eat during labor. Talk to your provider about this before labor.

01/22/2023

09/11/2022

🗣Listen up lactation professionals!! Our times of suggesting heat first, digging into the breast with something that vibrates, and pump to empty are now over! Many of the new recommendations are practically opposite of what we have been taught over the years.

🛑The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine has change the mastitis protocol ( #36)🛑

The new protocol tells us:
✅ Feed the infant on demand and/or pump on your normal schedule- don't aim to "empty" the breasts or increase demand.
❌ No extra pumping, no aiming to "drain" the breast or the infected area. You can't suck mastitis out and increasing supply makes inflammation worse.
✅ Ice packs or cold compresses to help reduce inflammation
❌ Hot compresses can increase inflammation and make the swelling worse
✅ Gentle, sweeping lymphatic massage towards the armpit to help drain extra fluid (not milk) in the breast and... you get it... reduce inflammation
❌ Aggressive kneading and squeezing of the breast can make the swelling and inflammation worse
✅ Anti-inflammatory foods and OTC medications
⚠️ Mastitis is NOT always a bacterial infection, so antibiotics aren't always needed- sometimes they can have an anti-inflammatory side effect so it looks like they're making the mastitis better when they're not.

Read much more and check out the new ABM protocol here:

https://www.bfmed.org/assets/ABM%20Protocol%20%2336.pdf