News

For a sleep deprived mother coffee becomes life...

The caffeine helps to get through the sleep deprived days. So the question often gets asked how much coffee is too much for the breastfeeding mum. 

Statistics show that nearly half (46%) of Australian’s drink coffee and that having children increased the weekly coffee consumption by 2.4 cups (7.2 v 9.6 cups per week).

Most breastfeeding mothers can consume a moderate amount of caffeine (eg a few cups of coffee or tea each day) without it affecting their babies. Caffeine does transfer to breast milk but in very low concentrations (0.06%-1.5% of 300mg of caffeine) Newborn babies however can be particularly sensitive to caffeine. This is because it can take a newborn baby a long time (ie half-life of 50–100 hours) to process caffeine. By 3–4 months, however, it takes a baby only about 3–7 hours. (According to ASN)

 Caffeine content in common drinks and food^1,2

Tips to combine breastfeeding and coffee:

• Pre term or ill infants may experience larger issues with metabolizing caffeine, you may want to limit caffeine intake during these times.
• Studies have shown that ingesting less than 300mg/day of caffeine should not cause issues for infants. Be wary of what products contain caffeine, so you can track how much you have consumed. 
• If caffeine affects your sleep, try not drinking any coffee after 2pm. Sleep is essential for health and wellbeing.
• If you find caffeine intake effects your little one, but still need one, try having a coffee as soon as you breastfeed. This gives you the largest amount of time to process the caffeine before feeding again as peak levels occur about 60-120 mins after consumption.
• If caffeine does have an effect on your child, try giving it a few weeks/months and trying again. The half life (time it takes for the body to get rid of half the dose) reduces significantly with age ( eg 97.5 hours for infants- 2.6 hours at 6 + months).

So the take away is you can still enjoy a cuppa but just be mindful of how much you are ingesting.

As a Mum, you have to juggle through a number of tasks every day. To you, every family member is like your child, whom you have to nourish and care for. So, you have loads of work to do every day and you frequently run out of time. But, do you ever wonder if there is something else contributing to your running out of time? How about procrastination? Maybe a yes or maybe a no, however, one thing is sure that you do wish to have a magic wand which could give you some extra time to finish your chores whenever you are falling short of time.

Now, here is good news for you as today we are going to give you the magic wand! Excited to know about the magic wand and how it works? So, let me disclose that you are yourself the magical wand, about whom we are talking about here. Don’t feel surprised! After all, you work wonders every day to keep your family happy despite falling short of time and that’s nothing short of magic! Thus, you have all the power and magic inside you only.

Now, let’s come straight to your problem of running short of time. So, Mum just do a little magic of honesty and introspectif you procrastinate? Your answer is most certainly yes because we all do! In fact, a little procrastination is okay.  But, when it starts preventing you from getting things done in time, it becomes problematic. In your attempt to do more in the less time left, you overexert yourself. Not only this, but your stress level also rises significantly, which is not at all good for you. Moreover, procrastination leads you to spend your whole day working for everyone else’s happiness but yours. You don’t find time for yourself.

Even when you are procrastinating on a task and relaxing on the couch,  you aren’t actually relaxing. In the back of your mind, you are still thinking about the dozens of pending tasks you have. So, it is crucial for you to steer yourself through procrastination. Now, let’s see how to do that:

Yes, you have to create your work schedule. This has nothing to do with defining a fixed time for every task but at least you can fix the beginning and end of your work schedule. Let’s say that you can make it a routine to start working at 10 (after everyone has left for their destinations, work, school, etc.)and finish all your household chores by 3 or 4 in the afternoon. You can decide these limits according to your comfort level and the amount of work you have to do. Further, it is not compulsory to follow the same work schedule every day. Some days you might have some additional tasks to do like laundry. So, you can create a new work schedule for the new day every morning. Believe me, creating a work schedule will be really beneficial for you.  If you’ll have a fixed work schedule, you’ll be less likely to procrastinate and you’ll get everything done in time.  

We all have our weaknesses and get carried away with them. For example, 5 minutes of Instagram often turns into an hour and we realize that only after we have lost plenty of our working time and you know what happens afterward! You work like a super speedy machine to get the things done before your children or family members return back home. Now, to get over this type of problem, you have to keep a constant check on yourself. If you feel the urge to use your favorite social media sites, go for it! But, not without setting a timer. You have to clearly set a limit on the time you’ll be devoting to your selected activity. Once the timer rings, just leave your smartphone right away and start working. This will help you get over procrastination to a large extent.

At times, you may forget all about overcoming procrastination. You may get drifted and start following your casual routine. So, it is always best to set ‘no procrastination’ reminders or alarms on your smartphone. You can set them to ring at regular intervals of time during your work schedule. For example, after every half an hour. This will help you not to get caught in the tight grip of procrastination.

Working continuously is definitely monotonous. This is one big reason why we procrastinate. So, if you break your work schedule into smaller segments, you’ll find it easy to overcome procrastination. Now, to break your work schedule into smaller segments, it is best to make use of the Pomodoro Technique. Given below are the simple steps by following which you can practice the Pomodoro Technique:

When you are conscious that you are procrastinating, but still find it hard to get over it, then this is the best strategy to follow. You have to simply allure yourself with an exciting reward for completing the pending task. For example, you can give yourself a 30-minute relaxing nap as a reward, after completing your work schedule or you can cook your favorite snacks in the evening. These rewards will give you the power to overcome procrastination and focus your energy on work.

So magical Mum, now you know how to steer yourself through procrastination and not run out of time despite having to shoulder multiple responsibilities at home. Now, wishing you all the best and hoping that you’ll be able to set procrastination aside in your life.

 Written by 

Jessica Robinson
The Speaking Polymath

A new study finds even moderate exercise during pregnancy increases a compound in breast milk that reduces a baby's lifelong risks of serious health issues such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease.

A new study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine finds even moderate exercise during pregnancy increases a compound in breast milk that reduces a baby's lifelong risks of serious health issues such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease.

They already know that exercising during pregnancy is beneficial to the unborn baby but they wanted to also understand the WHY. When they did their original study they found that the health benefits from fit mums transferred to the pups, proving that they were, in fact, passed through breast milk and not simply inherited genetic traits.

Researchers followed about 150 pregnant and postpartum women using activity trackers and found that those who had more steps per day had an increased amount of a compound known as 3SL in their breast milk, which they believe is responsible for these health benefits.

They are now trying to see if they can extract this 3SL so that maybe they can add it to baby formula to help Mums who were maybe on bed rest or can’t breastfeed.

Dorothy M. Davis states: “Exercise is also great for your overall health during and after pregnancy, so anything you can do to get moving is going to benefit both you and your baby."

So there you have it even more reason to get out and get moving with your bump on board!

Information from the study was published in ScienceDaily.com

Many pregnant Mums are facing the news that their antenatal classes have been cancelled at their delivery hospital. If you are a first time Mum or a Mum with a large gap in between these classes offer a great base. They give pregnant Mums an information bank on what to expect in delivery, options for birth, bathing, sleeping, changing nappies and a whole heap of practical tips and tricks when navigating the birth, delivery and early few days.

Many hospitals and birthing rooms have had to cancel these for the near future due to CON-VID19. Not having this access can increase the anxiety, fear etc for the expecting Mum.

We have done a bit of a run around and here are some paid/unpaid courses that we have found:

The World Health Organisations are continuing to learn about the deadly CON-VID19 virus. Like many we are trying to stay abreast of the changing developments to help us to make informed decisions about our health and the families health. Due to this being so new we have a lot to learn and the effect on some/implications is unknown.

One of those areas of the flow on effect is with breastfeeding mothers. What we do know from previous studies is that breastmilk is like liquid gold and helps with the babies immunity- like almost putting a protective bubble around them.

The Centre for Disease Control and Protection outlined the following:

Transmission of COVID-19 through breast milk

Much is unknown about how CONVID-19 is spread. Person-to-person spread is thought to occur mainly via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes, similar to how influenza (flu) and other respiratory pathogens spread. In limited studies on women with COVID-19 and another coronavirus infection, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV), the virus has not been detected in breast milk; however we do not know whether mothers with COVID-19 can transmit the virus via breast milk.

CDC breastfeeding guidance for other infectious illnesses

Breast milk provides protection against many illnesses. There are rare exceptions when breastfeeding or  feeding expressed breast milk is not recommended. CDC has no specific guidance for breastfeeding during infection with similar viruses like SARS-CoV or Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV).

Outside of the immediate postpartum setting, CDC recommends that a mother with flu continue breastfeeding or feeding expressed breast milk to her infant while taking precautions to avoid spreading the virus to her infant.

Guidance on breastfeeding for mothers with confirmed COVID-19 or under investigation for COVID-19

Breast milk is the best source of nutrition for most infants. However, much is unknown about COVID-19. Whether and how to start or continue breastfeeding should be determined by the mother in coordination with her family and healthcare providers.  A mother with confirmed COVID-19 or who is a symptomatic PUI should take all possible precautions to avoid spreading the virus to her infant, including washing her hands before touching the infant and wearing a face mask, if possible, while feeding at the breast.  If expressing breast milk with a manual or electric breast pump, the mother should wash her hands before touching any pump or bottle parts and follow recommendation for proper pump cleaning after each use. If possible, consider having someone who is well feed the expressed breast milk to the infant.

So in a time like this it is probably more advantageous then ever to keep breastfeeding babies to give them some immunity to this pandemic.

Many woman struggle in the first few weeks/months of breastfeeding until they establish their supply and/or get the hang of it. A number of lactating woman also feel that they are not producing enough in order to meet the demands of a newborn baby. This can often be the thought due to having a screaming baby, one that keeps searching for a suck, poor weight gain etc, not thriving etc etc. 

Here are a few tips to maybe get things flowing:

1. Allow lots of sucking:Breastmilk is produced on demand, and the sucking stimulates your body thinking there is more demand for milk.
2. Pump between feeds: This will also trigger the supply-and-demand cycle in your body to produce more milk.
3. Lots of skin to skin contact: This will release a hormone called prolactin. Prolactin stimulates oxytocin (the feel good hormone). Both prolactin and oxytocin can help stimulate breast milk production.
4. Drink more water: to avoid dehydration. Institute of Medicine recommends arounds 3.1 L compared to 2.2 L in non breastfeeding mothers.(This changes according to activity levels/environmental needs etc)
5. Manage stress when possible: Outsource tasks if they are becoming too overwhelming. Listen to relaxing music during nursing sessions. 
6. Empty breasts during feeding: The more milk that is removed the more you will make.
7. Consider fenugreek tea: Fenugreek is one of a few herbs that has data to support its use as a galactagogue (substance to help increase milk supply).
8. Make sure you are getting the additional 500 calories (a day) to help aid the increase in nutritional demands.

For further assistance see your local Lactation consultant or call the Australian Breastfeeding Association.

As we head into the New Year of school, work and general Mum life balance we need to take count of our mindset. When we have a negative mindset we will notice that everything is a struggle and everything is just so much harder.

It is easy to set goals or New Years resolutions but it is so much harder to enact change. If we go into the year with half hearted thoughts and we are not truely feeling the vibe then the rest will become history and we will find ourselves back in the same situation. With goals or resolutions you also have to attach a belief and positivity. If you go into a situation with a negative attitude do you think the outcome will be positive or negative?

No mother can be positive all the time- we all have a daily moments as we are sleep deprived, running off the kids leftovers and spend the day serving other people's needs but it is important to turn the thinking around...

Let me put this to you:

Sharon wants to become more active and as a result wants to up her walks to 4 mornings a week. Sharon says "oh i will start in two weeks time as I am so tired"..."I dont think I can get up 4 times a week"

Already Sharon, without even knowing about it, has put road blocks in the way- and has pushed her goals/resolutions off the plate..Do you think Sharon will achieve her goals/resolutions??

If you really want to change your outlook on life and achieve the 2020 goals or resolutions, try using these top 10 techniques (which we chose) to change how you deal with problems and see the world:

1. Realize that your thoughts do not own you. Stop your negative thoughts in their tracks by realizing that you’re in charge of what you think, not the other way around.
2. Take time to figure out what you really want. When you feel yourself feeling negative about things that you haven’t accomplished, take time to think if you really want those things. Finding out what is really important to you can help eliminate bad feelings over things that you don’t truly want.
3. Accept the good things. Sometimes we get so caught up in the bad stuff coming our way that we forget to appreciate the good things. Take a minute to sit down and think of all the positive things that happened in your day, no matter how small.
4. Get excited about all the possibilities that lay ahead. Even in the midst of the biggest disasters there are a multitude of possibilities that await you to make changes or take on the world tomorrow.
5. Believe the world is a good place. If you look at the world and only seem doom and gloom laid out in front of you you’re not doing yourself any favours. Believe the world is a good place and you’re likely to find many more ways good things can come your way.
6. Stop making excuses. There are always a million excuses for any person not to do something even if that something can make them feel happier. Stop putting up obstacles to your happiness and ditch those lame excuses when you hear yourself making them.
7. Don’t play the victim. Bad things happen to everyone from time to time. Pitying yourself and wanting others to feel sorry for you isn’t going to make things better. Pick yourself up and start working towards a happier future.
8. Don’t place your future in someone else’s hands. Your future is yours alone to shape. Remember this and take control of where your're going in life.
9. Create realistic goals. Of course you’re going to feel frustrated if you make your goals so unattainable that you can’t reach them no matter how hard you work. Create smaller or more realistic goals so you can feel accomplished instead of defeated each day.
10. Decide why you want what you want. If you’re feeling upset because you feel like you aren’t achieving the things you want in life, take a moment to sit back and figure out the reasons you actually want those things. You may find you’re not as attached to them as you think.

Remember anything is possible you just have to REALLY WANT IT and go with THE RIGHT ATTITUDE.

Spicy food is one of those general words that gets thrown around when a Mum is breastfeeding and her baby is unsettled. Many then ask should I avoid the spice while breastfeeding? Here is what we found...

It’s fine to eat spicy food while you're breastfeeding. Traces of what you eat enter your milk, but it shouldn't unsettle your baby if you eat spicy food. In fact, it may benefit your baby. ... If your breastfed baby seems upset or irritable, you could try eating a milder diet to see if makes a difference.

Generally, the dominant flavors of your diet – whether soy sauce or chili peppers – were in your amniotic fluid during pregnancy.

Fetuses swallow a fair amount of amniotic fluid before birth, so when they taste those flavors again in their mother's breast milk, they're already accustomed to them.

Parents.com verdict:

Verdict: Safe

“Nursing moms don't need to be scared of spicy foods, says Paula Meier, Ph.D, director for clinical research and lactation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, and president of the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation.

By the time the baby is breastfeeding, Dr. Meier says, she is accustomed to the flavors Mom eats. "If a mother has eaten a whole array of different foods during pregnancy, that changes the taste and smell of amniotic fluid that the baby is exposed to and is smelling in utero," she says. "And, basically, the breastfeeding is the next step going from the amniotic fluid into the breast milk."

In fact, some items that mothers choose to avoid while breastfeeding, such as spices and spicy foods, are actually enticing to babies. In the early '90s, researchers Julie Mennella and Gary Beauchamp performed a study in which mothers breastfeeding their babies were given a garlic pill while others were given a placebo. The babies nursed longer, sucked harder, and drank more garlic-scented milk than those who had no garlic exposure.

Moms will restrict their diet if they suspect a correlation between something they ate and the child's behavior — gassy, cranky, etc. But while that cause-and-effect might seem enough for a mom, Dr. Meier says she would want to see more direct evidence before making any diagnosis.

"To truly say that a baby had something that was milk-related, I would want to see issues with the stools not being normal. It's very, very rare that a baby would have something that would truly be a contraindication to the mother's breastfeeding.”

Did you know:

PANDA - Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia supports women, men and families across Australia affected by anxiety and depression during pregnancy and in the first year of parenthood. PANDA operates Australia’s only National Helpline for individuals and their families to recover from perinatal anxiety and depression, a serious illness that affects up to one in five expecting or new mums and one in ten expecting or new dads.

PANDA operates Australia’s only National Helpline that supports families affected by perinatal anxiety and depression and postnatal psychosis. Our daily contact with women, men and families affected by these illnesses gives us extraordinary insight into the complex rollercoaster journey experienced by many expecting and new many parents. We have developed a unique understanding of perinatal mental illness across the country and are committed to sharing this expertise to improve emotional and mental health outcomes for expecting and new parents and their children.

They offer a number of different supports including:

National Helpline

Providing the only National Helpline dedicated to perinatal mental health, PANDA is driven by the lived experience of people affected by perinatal anxiety and depression. PANDA responds to the needs of families across Australia who are expecting a baby or in the first year after the baby’s birth, from major cities to rural and remote areas. The Helpline offers support, information, counselling and referral to expecting and new mothers and fathers and their families and friends. Our team also provides health professionals.

Community Champions Program

PANDA’s Community Champions program is a national network of volunteers who champion PANDA’s mission to support families in a positive transition to early parenthood. Along with raising community awareness about perinatal anxiety and depression, our Community Champions also promote PANDA’s specialist perinatal services and support PANDA’s community fundraising activities.

PANDA National Helpline

(Mon to Fri, 9am - 7.30pm AEST/AEDT)

Call 1300 726 306

Mindfulness. Being present in the immediate. Slowing thoughts, breath and body to feel into all that is right now. This blissful, calm state is one that we’d all love in our classrooms a little more often, right? Incorporating mindfulness activities into your daily routine. Itis one way to incite this kind of calm.

Really read story time – unlike a sitting meditation, mindfulness can be done whilst you are doing anything, it’s just about being totally focussed on the task at hand. Reading the bedtime story is a great one. So many of us are reading the story on autopilot with our minds in our inbox, or planning dinner. Next time you read The Gruffalo, try totally focussing on the words, the images, the story. You might even get into it.

Don’t forget the endless benefits of mindfulness for Mums. Mindfulness training can help reduce symptoms of postpartum depression. According to Gannon, meditation can also help new mothers navigate feelings of uncertainty, cope with the stress of parenting, and even increase lactogenesis (a fancy word for “produce milk”) in mothers who are breastfeeding.

So why not stop and READ a book to your kids tonight!

How would you feel if I told you, that you could do a 15 minute workout anywhere at any time at any stage of your fitness journey that could burn a large amount of calories and did not require equipment?

Well the training method called HIIT offers you exactly all of that.

Hiit Style training is a great introduction if your looking to come back into fitness or it’s a great challenge if you’re a seasoned exerciser.

Here are the benefits of Hiit Style Training –

I have put them in order of what I know are the biggest concerns mum's have when thinking about Hiit Style training -

1 – I’m not fit enough to do Hiit 

 Perfect for all fitness levels.

If you’re a mum and you're just thinking about where to start with the whole exercising thing as you want to start feeling good again, Hiit training can help. You start with a 15 minute workout and you will notice in a short amount of time you can increase the length of these.

HIIT workouts offer experienced or fit gym goers a new challenge, and beginners a quicker way to see results. You are constantly pushing yourself out of your comfort zone with the shortened rest phases.

2-  I don’t want to train at a gym

You can do it anywhere

HIIT is such a simple concept of work phase and rest phase, you can take it anywhere with you – to the kids park, the gym floor, the beach, your lounge room or a hotel room on holiday. And you can choose the exercises that you have enough space to complete! 

3 -  I have no time to think about exercising even though I know I should

 Time efficient

 HIIT is great if you have a limited amount of time to work out. You don’t need to spend hours in the gym to reap the benefits of regular exercise and Hiit helps play a huge part in this.

4. 4. I don’t own any equipment

 No equipment required

HIIT workouts are so great as no equipment is required. All you need is a little bit of space. HIIT workouts can focus just your own body weight, so any workout that gets your heart rate up quickly such as plyometric, high knees, and jumping jacks can be implemented into a HIIT workout. particular muscle group – and of course if you have any injures regressions of all movements are available and still great to use.

5.. Will this help me  lose this baby weight  

Burns calories and helps with fat loss

The harder you exercise the harder your body has to work to fire up those muscles. Hiit is challenging for the body as you are pushing yourself through each working phase.

6 . I am more interested in making sure I can run with my kids

Great for cardio conditioning

During the high intensity periods (working phase) of exercise, HIIT takes you into an anaerobic training zone (where your body's demand for oxygen exceeds the oxygen supply available).

With consistent training in this zone, you will be able to out run your kids and be able to show them up in no time.

 Article written by Cass Wilson, Mum of two who runs and co-owns HIIT That Group Fitness  in Perth. 

She is on a mission to help women to take better care of their bodies, and give them the confidence to get stronger both physically and mentally as their embark on their journey as a new mum. She has a special interest in pre and postnatal woman and is passionate about educating them on how to lift weights and exercise correctly,

Having trouble breastfeeding?

The answer to your difficulties could lie inside your babies mouth…

Tongue-tie (ankyloglossia) is a condition in which the thin piece of skin under the baby's tongue (the lingual frenulum) is abnormally short and may restrict the movement of the tongue. Tongue-tie occurs in about 4-11 per cent of babies and is a condition that can run in families. It is more commonly found in boys.

Some babies with tongue-tie are able to attach to the breast and suck well. However, many have breastfeeding problems, such as nipple damage, poor milk transfer and low weight gains in the baby, and possibly blocked ducts or mastitis due to ineffective milk removal.

The Australian Breastfeeding Association states that a baby needs to be able to have good tongue function to be able to remove milk from the breast well. If the tongue is anchored to the floor of the mouth due to a tongue -tie, the baby cannot do this as well. The baby may not be able to take in a full mouthful of breast tissue. This can result in ‘nipple-feeding’ because the nipple is not drawn far enough back in the baby’s mouth and constantly rubs against the baby’s hard palate as he feeds. As a result, the mother is likely to suffer nipple trauma.

If you see any of the following signs it could be a signal to go and have a consultation with a lactation consultant, GP or paediatrician:

• nipple pain and damage
• the nipple looks flattened after breastfeeding
• you can see a compression/stripe mark on the nipple at the end of a breastfeed
• the baby fails to gain weight

Seeking advice or getting another opinion will help to alleviate issues. Our director had tongue tie with her second and it was four months into the feeding journey when it was picked up. This was after the babies weight plummeted to the 5th percentile and constant pain, screaming etc accompanied every feed.