Nurturing Life Giveaway – When Cute Hurts

Nurturing Life

These two words define and drive everything that Motherlove does, from their organic farm in Colorado, to their herbal care products, the educational classes taught by founder Kathryn Higgins, to the Nurturing Life Foundation, Motherlove’s non-profit which supports mothers and children all over the country.  So it’s no surprise that Motherlove has had such a beautiful, long-standing relationship with The Leaky Boob, extending their support of mothers and children to our Leakies and their breastfeeding journey with their babies.  The Motherlove website sums it up well:

Screen Shot 2014-07-22 at 11.06.13 AMWhat is Nurturing Life?
It is fostering an environment where development, growth, and health are encouraged, and doing so in each facet of our life, including each stage.  True beauty can emerge in your life and others’ as you nurture life in yourself, your friendships, romantic relationship, through pregnancy, birth, in your relationship with your children, and more, and yes, even your garden.

“At Motherlove, we use Nurturing Life as our mission statement because nurturing moms and babies together is essential for both to thrive.  During pregnancy, moms are reminded minute-by-minute of this relationship and we typically focus on our health and wellbeing because it’s tied to our child’s life.” (Nurturing Life – Self Care for Mothersby Motherlove Herbal Company)

This Motherlove series of giveaways started out by focusing on maintaining your wellbeing during pregnancy in week 1.  We then moved on to the challenges of postpartum and the importance of acknowledging  and talking about “unmentionable” things like hemorrhoids and postpartum depression as the best path to recovery and healing.

The focus for this week is the painful subject of, well, pain.  Because, let’s face it, a mom’s relationship with Little Miss Cute or Little Mister Bundle of Joy often includes times of discomfort and pain, such as mastitis, thrush, and diaper rash, not to mention teeth (pain for mom and baby) among many others.  Most people tend to share the happy moments they have with their children on social media, and it can seem like they never have any difficulties in life.  In general I think it’s a very helpful thing to focus on the positive things in your life, but if that’s all anyone ever does it can be very alienating to those of us who are going through a tough time.

There are too many pain-laden challenges that come with a new baby to name them all in one post, so here are a few of the big ones with a link so that you hopefully feel less alone, conversations get rolling, and you can see that there are many resources at your fingertips, though some ailments do require professional help.  Now that baby is born, you are nurturing life for two people, but you don’t have to go it alone.

Mastitis – read about Jessica’s journey with the red-eyed breastfeeding monster.

ThrushThis Motherlove-sponsored post is your guide to determining if you have it.

Diaper Rashthis post isn’t about diaper rash, but it is about The Piano Man’s explosive and humorous first encounter with baby poop.  And this Motherlove article is about diaper care.

Of course you can always search Motherlove’s blog or The Leaky Boob’s blog for helpful information on whatever is ailing you.

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Motherlove is giving away a Diaper Rash and Thrush salve to help ease the pain of 3 lucky Leakies.

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Good luck to everyone!  Please use the widget below to be entered.  The giveaway is open from August 7, 2014 through August 14, 2014.  A big thanks to Motherlove for their ongoing support of TLB and all breastfeeding women; please be sure to visit their Facebook page or follow them on twitter and thank them for their support of TLB and this giveaway opportunity.

This giveaway is restricted to U.S. residents only.

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Nurturing Life Motherlove Giveaway

Happy Earth Day!

 

For the last 20 years, Motherlove has created herbal care products to help women discover the bond between motherhood and mother earth.  With a specific focus on pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and babies, Motherlove strives to use ingredients that come straight from the earth.  Their support of organic farming, sustainable practices, and their use of all-recycled materials for their office and product packaging, are a testament to their dedication to caring for our earth, for the benefit of mothers everywhere.  And if that weren’t enough, they also manage a 120 acre farm, called the Legacy Organic Farm, in Colorado, where they are growing many of the herbs they use in their products.

Welcome to Our Legacy Farm

To help celebrate Earth Day 2014, Motherlove is sponsoring a giveaway here on TLB, but first, here are some pics of some of the cuteness that’s happening at their farm, where Motherlove staff is hanging out today:

baby pigs nursing

nursing piglet

To read more about their day on the farm, check out today’s entry on the Motherlove blog!

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Motherlove is giving away a Nurturing Life Giftbox, celebrating new motherhood, to 1 lucky winner.

Each Nurturing Life Giftbox has a Retail value $59.95 and includes:

– pregnant belly salve

– nipple cream

– birth & baby oil

– sitz bath spray

– diaper rash & thrush

– environmentally responsible Motherlove tote bag

Currently Leakies can find these and other great pregnancy and nursing products on the Motherlove website and in some local retail stores and boutiques.

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Good luck to everyone!  Please use the widget below to be entered, and check out motherlove.com for more products related to fertility, pregnancy, and nursing .  The giveaway is open from April 22, 2014 through April 29, 2014.  A big thanks to Motherlove for their ongoing support of TLB and all breastfeeding women, please be sure to visit their Facebook page  or follow them on twitter (@motherloveherb on Twitter) and thank them for their support of TLB and this giveaway opportunity.

This giveaway is open to US entries only.

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Dear Kathleen- on nipple damage healing and pumping

We receive hundreds of emails and messages daily from Leakies looking for help and information in their breastfeeding journey.  As so many seek support from us, we are so honored to have the support of Kathleen Huggins, IBCLC and author of The Nursing Mothers’ Companion.  Kathleen is jumping on board with The Leaky Boob to have a regular article answering Leaky questions every month.  The questions will be selected from the huge pool we get in every day to try and help cover the wide range of topics about which Leakies are asking.  These questions are from real moms and represent hundreds of requests for more information in the past few weeks.  Please understand that this is simply the professional opinion of one International Board Certified Lactation Consultant in an informal setting and is not intended to replace the care of a health care provider.  Kathleen is offering support and information, not diagnosing or prescribing treatment.  For your health and safety, please seek the care of a qualified physician and/or IBCLC.  Kathleen does have limited availability for phone or online consultations, see her website for more information.

Dear Kathleen,

My nipples are a wreck following a shallow latch and then thrush with my 8 week old.  After working with an IBCLC that helped fix my daughter’s latch and take care of the thrush, things are improving.  However, my nipples are still cracked and bleeding and I think they just need a break to heal.  The IBCLC I work with suggested I just pump for a little bit until I’m healed and I’m ok with that.  I feel like I’m a bit lacking in the pumping department though and only got 4 ounces the first time I tried with a hospital grade double electric pump and my daughter downed that pretty quickly.  How often should I be pumping to keep up my supply?  How long should I expect healing to take?  How do I pick a bottle that won’t encourage my daughter to prefer the bottle over me?

Thank you so much for your help!

Sore Nipples 

 

Hello Sore Nipples!  I am so sorry to hear that you are still struggling at this point in time! Sounds like you have been through a rough go.  Yes, you and your L.C. are on the right track.  A break from any more trauma is certainly in order.  I am happy to hear that you have a clinical grade pump.  I do hope you have the right size flanges for more comfortable pumpings and for removing the most amount of milk possible.  If your nipples are swelling very much in the tunnel, I would suggest getting the next size flange for more comfortable and effective pumping. Another product, “Pumping Pals”, slipped into any flange, makes pumping even more comfortable and for some moms even more efficient.  You might want to visit their website to see what I mean.  The company is very helpful in getting you the right size flanges to use in your kit and they are fairly inexpensive. With that being said, still many pumps still leave quite a bit of milk on the breast.  For that reason, I suggest “Hands-on Pumping”, that is using your hands to help remove the most milk possible at each pumping.  Please watch Dr. Jane Morton on Stanford University’s website on breastfeeding issue and see her mini-lecture and video of hands-on pumping.

I would like to talk to you more about the condition of your nipples.  If your nipples are still cracked, I would like you to consider treating them with an oral antibiotic.  Mothers with injured nipples longer than 5 days are at a much greater risk of developing mastitis; 75% of moms with open nipples go on the develop a breast infection because of the bacteria in the open areas.  And this seems much more common during the cold weather months.  There was a great study done by two Canadian physicians some time ago that showed the consequences of wounded nipples that were untreated leading to mastitis.  Also, nipples are more difficult to heal when they are infected with bacteria.  For both of those reasons, I suggest speaking with your midwife or doctor about getting treatment for at least 10-14 days.  I don’t think most doctors are aware of this connection, but with your nipples being in this shape so late in the game, I am convinced they are colonized with bacteria.  Yes, I am sure that this makes you worry about yeast, but yeast is much easier to treat than a case of mastitis, which can also lessen your overall milk production.

Mastitis risk with damaged nipples

I do think that getting 4 ounces is about what a baby at this age requires at each feeding.  You will want to aim for about 8 pumpings each 24 hours.  If you are not getting at least 3-4 ounces when you pump, you may want to also consider using some herbs.  You can use fenugreek capsules that are available at most any health food store, 3 caps three times a day. This is probably different that the dose given on the bottle.  I actually find that mothers do quite well using Mother Love’s More Milk Plus, a combination of milk stimulating herbs.  You can visit their website and see if there is a local distributor or order them on-line directly from Mother Love. Nursing teas are a very weak form of any herb, so I don’t recommend them as the primary way to stimulate higher milk production.

Babies typically down a bottle in no time flat and may still act hungry!  This can lead parents to believe that the baby may need more milk.  Four ounces with a slow flow nipple, might help some but keep in mind that many nipples that are labeled as slow flow, really aren’t!  Hopefully, the baby takes 5-10 minutes to drink 4 ounces of milk. There is an old saying, “It takes 20 minutes for the brain to know when the stomach is full!”  So true!  If you are very worried that the baby will come to fall in love with the bottle flow, you might reconsider and have one nursing every 24 hours, but I leave that to your discretion. I think for most babies, if there is a healthy supply of milk, they should return to the breast without too much of a problem.

I wish you every success and very soon!  You are quite a determined mom!

Best wishes,

Kathleen

Kathleen-HigginsKathleen Huggins RN IBCLC, has a Master’s Degree in Perinatal Nursing from U.C. San  Francisco, founded the Breastfeeding Warmline, opened one of the first breastfeeding clinics in  the United States, and has been helping breastfeeding mothers professionally for 33 years.  Kathleen  authored The Nursing Mother’s Companion in 1986 followed by The Nursing Mother’s Guide to Weaning.  Kathleen has also co-authored Nursing Mother, Working Mother with Gale Pryor, Twenty Five Things Every Breastfeeding Mother Should Know and The Nursing Mothers’ Breastfeeding Diary with best-friend, Jan Ellen Brown.  The Nursing Mothers’ Companion has also been translated into Spanish.  Mother of two now grown children, Kathleen retired from hospital work in 2004 and after beating breast cancer opened and currently runs Simply MaMa, her own maternity and breastfeeding boutique.  She continues to support breastfeeding mothers through her store’s “breastaurant,” online at The Leaky Boob, and in private consultations.  

Motherlove Giveaway- Nurturing Life

Some companies go above and beyond giving to their customers and supporting families.  Motherlove Herbal Company was started by herbalist Kathryn Higgins out of a desire to help moms and families.  Her vision has expanded to include a non-profit private foundation The Nurturing Life Foundation.  Read this interview with the Motherlove founder to learn more about how she is nurturing life, families, and the earth through her company.  Continuing the trend of giving nurturing support, Motherlove Herbal Company is also giving away a Nurturing Life Gift Box to 3 winners.  I’m so grateful for the support of Motherlove for TLB and the friendship and encouragement of Kathryn.    

TLB: How did the Nurturing Life Foundation come about?

Kathryn: The Nurturing Life Foundation is a non-profit, private foundation funded by Motherlove Herbal Company. When I founded Motherlove over 20 years ago, I knew that I wanted the company to give back. As part of our 15-year anniversary celebration, we were able to found the Nurturing Life Foundation as a way to do that.

TLB: I’m a huge fan of the Nurturing Life Foundation, can you give me a brief overview?

Kathryn: The name of the Nurturing Life Foundation comes from Motherlove’s tagline, Nurturing Life. That sums up what Motherlove is all about. We believe in the healing strength of Mother Earth and the wisdom of our bodies, as well as our responsibility to nurture Mother Earth. Our products are based on herbs and formulated for the pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding period in a woman’s life – precisely when she is nurturing life. Breastfeeding is truly the nurturing of life.

It’s the nurturing of the mother, her nurturing of the baby and our need to nurture Mother Earth that guide Motherlove in our day-to-day operations.

TLB: What does the Nurturing Life Foundation do?

Kathryn: The mission of The Nurturing Life Foundation is to promote breastfeeding and support mothers in need, as well as to create opportunities for children. We do that by donating 10% of every Motherlove product purchase to the Nurturing Life Foundation, who then uses that money to support organizations that work with breastfeeding moms and/or children in need.

One organization doing amazing work is BELLAS, which stands for Breastfeeding, Encouragement, Learning, Liaison, and Support. This program is a resource for low income, minority and teen moms who often lack the resources to obtain lactation assistance.

We also work with the Breastfeeding Resource Center, a community resource center that provides moms with expert clinical and educational breastfeeding resources. They work with local hospitals, educate moms at local events about the importance of breastfeeding and help moms with every stage of breastfeeding with free support classes and IBCLC support where payment is income-based.

Other organizations we are privileged to work with include Realities for Children and Mountain Park Environmental Center, both of which work with local kids.

TLB: What is one of your favorite stories connected to the Nurturing Life Foundation?

Kathryn: There are so many. Close to my heart are the stories about children who are overcoming life circumstances that should never happen to any child. Learning about these kids and being able to help is a remarkable experience.

Through our work with Realities for Children and their Triumph Awards, The Nurturing Life Foundation has been able to award full college scholarships to youth who would otherwise receive no support to get an education. These are young people who have overcome childhood abuse, but also triumphed over their situation academically, socially and personally.

A sister program to the Triumph Awards, the Keeping Dreams Alive program works with local agencies to identify children between the ages of 6-15 who are living in situations that might kill their dreams for a different future for themselves. The Nurturing Life Foundation participates in giving these children something tangible for their dream today.

One of the programs we support that is especially important to me is the Birds and Bees, Flowers and Trees, a camping experience for girls ages 12-15, created by the Mountain Park Environmental Center. Using a blend of sex education and nature education, this program empowers girls to be comfortable and knowledgeable about their bodies and the world around them in order to make healthy choices, care for the environment, and have thoughtful relationships.

TLB: How can others support the Nurturing Life Foundation?

Kathryn: Every time someone buys a Motherlove product, they are supporting the Nurturing Life Foundation. And by reading the descriptions of the non-profits that we support on the Nurturing Life Foundation’s website and the links to the profiles and letters we receive, you might very well be inspired to support these organizations with your own donations.

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Motherlove is giving away a Nurturing Life Giftbox, celebrating new motherhood, to 3 lucky winners:

Each Nurturing Life Giftbox is has a Retail value $59.95 and includes:

pregnant belly salve

nipple cream

birth & baby oil

sitz bath spray

diaper rash & thrush

– environmentally responsible Motherlove tote bag

Currently Leakies can find these and other great pregnancy and nursing products on the Motherlove website and in some local retail stores and boutiques.

______________________________

Good luck to everyone!  Please use the widget below to be entered, and check out motherlove.com for more products related to fertility, pregnancy, and nursing .  The giveaway is open from September 25, 2012 through October 1, 2012.  A big thanks to Kathryn and Motherlove for their ongoing support of TLB and all breastfeeding women, please be sure to visit their Facebook page  or follow them on twitter (@motherloveherb on Twitter) and thank them for their support of TLB and this giveaway opportunity.

This giveaway is open to US entries only.

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Do we have thrush?

by Tanya Lieberman, IBCLC, sponsored by Motherlove Herbal Company.

Having thrush is be painful and frustrating.  And trying to figure out if you have thrush can be confusing.  Here’s our guide* to aid in determining whether you and your baby have thrush. 

Please note that we are not discussing treatment options in this post. For information on treatment please see Dr. Jack Newman’s Candida Protocol.

 

What is thrush?

Candida albicans is a fungus lives in our bodies.  Some conditions such as antibiotic use and illness can cause it to grow out of balance, and this overgrowth can cause painful infections, generally in moist areas such as the mouth, nipple area, vagina, and diaper area.

 

How is thrush diagnosed?

Diagnosing thrush is difficult, because skin tests are considered unreliable, and the results aren’t available for several days – a lifetime when you have pain!  Most doctors diagnose thrush based on symptoms and not diagnostic tests.  So you may hear that thrush is diagnosed through treatment – if it responds, it must have been thrush!

 

What makes me more likely to have thrush?

You and your baby may be at higher risk for thrush if you or your baby have recently used antibiotics (often used for a cesarean birth), have been ill, or perhaps have been in a very warm and moist environment.  Thrush takes time to develop, and may not be obvious until a few weeks after this trigger, so pain in the first week or so after your baby is born is unlikely to be thrush, and is much more likely to be caused by a shallow latch or one of the other causes mentioned below.

 

What symptoms are strongly associated with thrush?

Mother symptoms:

One study of mothers between 2 and 9 weeks postpartum found that mothers who have two or more of the following five symptoms are likely to have thrush.  Having three or more makes it even more likely.

  • shiny or flaky skin of the nipple/areola
  • burning pain on the nipple/areola
  • sore (but not burning) nipples
  • stabbing pain in the breast
  • nonstabbing pain in the breast

 

And a mother is highly likely to have thrush if those symptoms include:

  • shiny skin of the nipple/areola with stabbing pain, or
  • flaky skin of the nipple/areola in combination with breast pain

 

The study also found that mothers were likely to have symptoms on both breasts, though sometimes not right away.

 

Baby symptoms include:

  • White patches on the baby’s cheeks, gums, palate, tonsils, and/or tongue.  If you try to wipe off these patches they will appear “stuck” there, and may bleed.
  • A yeast diaper rash, which may be red or red with raised dots

 

Can you have yeast inside your breasts? 

Shooting and/or burning pain deep inside the breast is sometimes diagnosed as intraductal thrush – thrush in or around the milk ducts inside the breast.  This diagnosis is controversial, as recent research has found that mothers with suspected yeast infections may actually have bacterial infections or Raynaud’s vasospasm, and that yeast hasn’t been cultured in the milk of mothers with suspected interductal thrush.

 

If it isn’t thrush, what could it be?

Other causes of pain which may make you suspect thrush:

  • Shallow latch
  • Raynaud’s Phenomenon
  • Bacterial infection
  • Mastitis
  • Skin problems such as eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis

 

My baby’s tongue is white.  Does that mean he has thrush?

Babies’ tongues normally have a white coating.  This in itself is not an indication of thrush.  If your baby has white patches on the inside of his cheeks or gums (if you try to wipe them off they may look red or bleed), this is an indication of thrush.

 

My doctor said that my baby doesn’t have white patches in her mouth, so we couldn’t have thrush.  Is that right?

Some babies who have thrush do not have white patches in their mouths.  Some may have a yeast diaper rash and no symptoms in their mouths.

 

I was treated with Nystatin and it didn’t work.  Does that mean I don’t have thrush? 

Nystatin is ineffective at treating thrush in an estimated 68% of cases.  So if the symptoms didn’t go away using it, you may still have thrush.  Consult this guide to thrush treatment for other treatment options.  See this study for more information on the use of Nystatin in treating thrush.

 

My doctor said that since I have symptoms but my baby doesn’t, she doesn’t need to be treated.  Is that right?

If thrush has been diagnosed in either of you, you both should be treated to prevent recurrence.

 

I keep getting thrush over and over.  Could it be something else?

If you have repeated cases of thrush, or if treatment doesn’t resolve your symptoms, you may want to explore whether your symptoms are caused by some other problem instead or, or in addition to, thrush.

 

I think I have thrush.  What should I do now?

Contact your health care provider and explain your symptoms. You may also wish to consult this guide to thrush treatment.

 

*This information is provided for educational purposes only, and should not be construed as medical advice.  For care suited to your own situation, please consult your health care provider.

 

References: 

 

Mohrbacher, Nancy.  Breastfeeding Answers Made Simple: A Guide for Helping Mothers.  (Amarillo: Hale Publishing, 2010), pp. 652-53

 

Jimi Francis-Morrill, M. Jane Heinig, Demosthenes Pappagianis and Kathryn G. Dewey.  “Diagnostic Value of Signs and Symptoms of Mammary Candidosis among Lactating Women,” J Hum Lact August 2004 vol. 20 no. 3 288-295

 Tanya Lieberman is a lactation consultant (IBCLC) who has helped nursing moms  in hospital and pediatric settings.  She writes and produces podcasts for several  breastfeeding websites, including  Motherwear,  Motherlove Herbal Company, and  the Best for Babes Foundation.  Tanya recently authored Spanish for Breastfeeding Support, a guide to help lactation consultants support Spanish-  speaking moms.  Prior to becoming a lactation consultant she was senior  education policy staff to the California legislature and Governor, and served as a  UN civilian peacekeeper.  Tanya is passionate about supporting nursing moms, and especially to eliminating the barriers so many moms face in meeting their breastfeeding goals. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, her 8 year old son and her 1 year old daughter.

Motherlove Herbal Company Diaper Rash and Thrush Giveaway

As part of our live chat on our Facebook wall today sponsored by Motherlove Herbal Comany and featuring guest expert Amber McCann, IBCLC from Nourish Breastfeeding Support, I’m delighted to bring you a giveaway of Motherlove Herbal Company’s Diaper Rash and Thrush for 3 lucky, randomly selected winners.  I LOVE this stuff, it’s my favorite diaper rash option aside from breastmilk and the only one I use if I suspect yeast.

From their site:

An all-natural herbal salve for persistent, inflamed diaper rash. May also be used on mother’s nursing nipples. Does not need to be washed off nipple prior to nursing. Diaper safeand compatible with all diapers including cloth. Motherlove’s diaper rash & thrush has a zero rating (zero toxins) on EWG’s skin deep database and is made with 96% certified organic ingredients.

To be entered, simply leave a comment on this post.  Please head over to Motherlove’s Facebook page and thank them for this opportunity and for sponsoring today’s chat.  This giveaway will be open until 5pm EST.  Good luck and have fun!

This giveaway is now closed and the 3 randomly selected winners notified.