I haven’t traveled with my pumped milk in months, but I won’t ever forget how confusing and frustrating those trips were. I tried to plan ahead but I found that the biggest stressor was my milk. How would I transport it? What would the security guards do? Would I be forced to dump all of it? Any of it? And what about pumping? How would I manage that during the day? What about on the plane?

It was mid-May 2008, and I was flying from Pittsburgh to the west coast for a conference. The trip necessitated at least one overnight. (If…

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The list of breastfeeding’s benefits just got longer. Findings from a study released February 20, 2009, suggest that breastfeeding may reduce risk for multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses following pregnancy.

Funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Wadsworth Foundation, researchers followed 61 pregnant women (32 with MS and 29 without) throughout pregnancy and for one year after birth. Each woman was interviewed at length about her breastfeeding and menstrual history. One-half (52 percent) of the women with MS either did not breastfeed or stopped breastfeeding within two months of giving birth. Of that group, 87 percent had a relapse, compared to 36…

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Milkscreen, a device designed to detect alcohol in breastmilk, was the subject of a previous post by Barbara Behrmann on BabyGooRoo. Developed by two moms to help other moms decide whether or not it’s “safe” to breastfeed after drinking, Milkscreen was recently released in the United Kingdom (UK) where it has become the target of “safety” concerns—Is the test accurate? Does it encourage binge drinking?

A spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, questioned the validity of the research on which Milkscreen is based, noting that the current evidence is not robust enough to exclude any risk from low-to-moderate levels…

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Perhaps you’ve seen the ABC Nightline video that features actress Salma Hayek breastfeeding a starving baby who is not her own in Sierra Leone?

If you’re a big sap like me, you might have teared up a bit, watching a tiny, hungry human find visible relief in the impromptu meal.

Hayek was there to promote the tetanus vaccine in a place where 21 percent of infant deaths are related to that disease.  She told ABC News that her great-grandmother had once breastfed a stranger’s baby and saved the child’s life.

That’s right—while there might be a certain novelty to watching a beautiful celebrity casually breastfeed…

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What do you get if you combine a sample of infant formula (containing the fatty acid DHA), a sample of a DHA supplement (intended for mom), and an excerpt from a breastfeeding book?

According to Mead Johnson, maker of infant formula, you get a Breastfeeding Support Kit. And to secure a FREE KIT (read on for more discussion of FREE), you simply need to download a certificate from the manufacturer’s website, fill it out, and give it to a “participating doctor.”

Not surprising, the distribution of infant formula samples disguised as breastfeeding support kits has provoked the ire of breastfeeding advocates who rightly…

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University of Massachusetts researcher, Dr. Kathleen Arcaro is conducting a study to assess molecular changes in cells found in the human milk of women experiencing breast problems. The information will be used to guide prevention and treatment and may also be predictive of breast cancer risk.

Participants must be breastfeeding women who have had a breast biopsy in the last 12 months or are expecting to have a breast biopsy due to the presence of a breast lump or an abnormal finding on ultrasound, mammogram or MRI.

Women who meet the requirements for participation, will be asked to complete a consent form and…

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You’ve taken the home pregnancy test (or maybe a handful of them in a state of mounting disbelief). You’ve made the phone calls to your very closest confidants. You realize, right on cue, that everything makes you want to throw up, and eating crackers at 3 a.m. is a really great idea. You make your first doctor’s appointment, dutifully show up, receive an overwhelming amount of information, and are told to take a prenatal vitamin.

Maybe you get an extra bit of spiel on folic acid—the synthetic form of folate, a B vitamin that occurs naturally in fruits, vegetables and legumes.…

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Just a couple of weeks after the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) doubled the recommended amount of daily vitamin D supplementation for all infants, children and adolescents, results from a new study suggest that the recommendation may not matter. According to Dr. Ulfat Shaikh and colleagues, the youth who receive vitamin and mineral supplements may not need them, and those who do need them are least likely to receive them.

About the study
Dr. Shaikh and his colleagues looked at data from 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). This U.S. survey includes a questionnaire, a household interview, and a medical examination. The study population…

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Temperatures here have been bitterly cold in recent days, keeping us indoors. We have a bad case of cabin fever, which puts me in the perfect mindset for writing about a delightfully outdoorsy subject: dirt.

I’ve written about dirt before. Then, my words were inspired by a delightful burst of spring weather. I touched on the hygiene hypothesis only briefly. Now, having read Jane Brody’s recent piece, I return to the subject.

Life’s gross surprise
I’ve heard it said that “everyone eats a peck of dirt before they die.” This no-nonsense perspective about the grungy side of life has always seemed sensible and…

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If you are healthcare provider whose responsibilities include the care of breastfeeding mothers and babies, life just got easier thanks to the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC).

A comprehensive database of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, NGC is an initiative of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). AHRQ is the federal agency responsible for improving the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care. The NGC guidelines serve as prescriptions to guide healthcare providers in delivering evidence-based care.

Key components and user-friendly features include:

• PDA Downloads
• Guideline Comparisons
• Guideline Syntheses
• Electronic forum
• Annotated Bibliographies
• Expert Commentaries
• What’s New
• NGC Update Service
• Detailed Search
• NGC Browse
• PDA/Palm List
• AHRQ Evidence Reports/Technical Assessment
• Glossary

The NCG database…

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The State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has been the topic of previous posts here and here on baby gooroo.  SCHIP is a federal government program that gives matching funds to states so that they can provide health insurance to families with children. The program is designed to cover uninsured children in families with incomes that are modest but too high to qualify for Medicaid.

February 3, 2009, President Obama signed a bill to reauthorize SCHIP and expand coverage to four million additional children. SCHIP was set to expire on March 1. Under the expansion bill children in families with incomes of up to…

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If you are a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area and the parent of a currently breastfeeding baby, your baby may be eligible to become a Pottery Barn Kid!

California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) BabySteps in cooperation with Pottery Barn Kids is sponsoring a photo contest in celebration of World Breastfeeding Week 2009.

Applicants must be:

• a resident in the San Francisco Bay Area
• 18 years of age or older
• the parent or legal guardian of a child who (a) is breastfeeding at the time of entering the contest and (b) is the subject of the photo submission.

Entries must be in digital format and must be…

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