Breastfeeding vs. formula-feeding pros/cons for Mom

It's interesting that some of the very pros of breastfeeding are the same as those for formula-feeding, but in different ways! Just goes to show you that either method may work beautifully for each individual mom. At the end of the day it's up to you and your baby to figure out which method to use.

I've compiled a list of some of the benefits and disadvantages for both sides of the debate, from the mother's point of view. I've actually enlisted the help of my mom friends who formula feed so I can get some accurate and useful information from them. Stay tuned because I'll keep adding as I think of more pros and cons!

BREASTFEEDING PROS:

• You can breastfeed almost anywhere, any time, etc. without worrying about leaving bottles and formula at home. 
• You get to sleep more (at least in the early days) because you don't have to go make bottles in the middle of the night, nor do you have to be so on top of burping during and after feedings.
• You lose your baby weight faster.
• You lower your risk for contracting certain diseases (ovarian and breast cancer, for example)
• Lactational amenorrhea can give you months and even years of no periods!
• If qualifying for WIC and nursing a baby, you may be eligible to receive food benefits for a full year (instead of 6 months if you formula-feed).
• No nasty odor on your baby or his clothes (from spit-up) or in his diaper! 
• Baby is protected from lots of illnesses and receives your immunity from even more illnesses so you don't have to tend to a sick child as often.
• Baby may take to solids easier since he is exposed to a variety of tastes from his mom's milk since birth.
• You can use your breastmilk for so many physical ailments (e.g. in ears for during infections, in the nostrils as a moisturizer, to heal bruises quicker, for conjunctivitis).

FORMULA-FEEDING PROS:

• You can give a bottle almost anywhere, any time, etc. You don't have to pull over during car rides.
• You can leave baby with a caregiver for extended periods of time. You're not tied down to the baby's schedule.
• You don't get any of the hormonal ups and downs associated with breastfeeding
• Anyone can feed the baby, like Dad! Especially handy in the middle of the night.
• Easy option for feeding a baby if a mother has a complicated delivery and is unable to nurse.
• You know exactly how much your baby drank in a feeding so no second-guessing there.
• Your figure doesn't change much so you can actually fit into clothing you used to (no automatic boob jobs for you).
• Bottle-feeding is more accepted in public situations so you don't have to leave the room to go nurse.

BREASTFEEDING CONS:

• Hormonal differences - your body might not behave the way it did pre-pregnancy. 
• Physical issues such as inverted nipples, nursing pain, latch issues, IGT (insufficient glandular tissue)
• Milk supply levels can be a concern at times
• You have to pump if you work out of the house and can't nurse your baby.
• Only you can feed your baby, nobody else! Unless, of course, you pump (ugh).
• Not all contraceptives are ok for a breastfeeding mom.
• Mother has to watch what she consumes: no alcohol, unsafe medications, foods causing an allergy in her baby etc.
• It may be impossible to switch to nursing if you haven't early on, or if a long while has elapsed since you last nursed.
• Nursing may make you feel like a "cow" (or like having one!)

FORMULA-FEEDING CONS:

• Formula has a nasty smell and is annoying to prepare the right way (following the guidelines).
• The nasty smell continues to spit-up, diapers, etc.
• Formula stains clothing.
• Formula is expensive! So is a full stock of baby bottles.
• You can't just decide to give your baby a bottle anywhere if you're not properly equipped.
• Washing out bottles isn't that fun.
• Baby may be allergic to some formulas

Nursing position tricks for unwilling babies

Ever had the experience of your baby repeatedly refusing one side when nursing? Your baby can be doing that for many reasons, among them:

1. random quirk (most common) - babies do all sorts of weird things for no explainable reason
2. during a blocked milk duct - milk isn't coming out fast enough from the affected side so your baby is just not interested in waiting around for snail mail. 
3. after a blocked milk duct - the old, backed up milk from behind the plug is now being released and it doesn't taste that great (it can taste salty because of the high fat content).
4. ear/teething pain - if you suspect this, have your pediatrician examine your baby to rule this out

I came up with a pretty neat hack for this situation. Of course, if the reason is due to some kind of ailment (reason 4), deal with that properly. If you've determined that it's probably due to reasons 1-3, you can proceed to try this simply, yet very effective idea: switch nursing positions.

I normally breastfeed in one position only: cross cradle. Sam lays across a pillow on my lap, and for illustrative purposes, is nursing from the left side. My right arm supports back and my right palm holds his head and neck to face my nipple. My left hand supports my boob from below to give it some lift.

Let's say he refuses to nurse on the right side. I won't reverse the nursing position so he can eat from the right side. Instead I'll keep my hands and everything in the same original places, but I will slide his body over to the right just a bit so his face is now in front of my right breast. If needed I can use my left hand to now lift up my right boob, but usually I don't bother if I want this to be done as smoothly as possible. This can be done so deftly, he will be none the wiser (and he is wise!). Right now he is in more of a football hold, actually.

So a simple switch of positions is often all you need to get your baby to latch onto his/her less-preferred side.

Plugged Milk Ducts 101

A plugged milk duct is pretty much what it sounds like: a blockage forms somewhere in the duct which prevents milk from flowing out towards the nipple. The milk then pools in that area causing lots of discomfort, pain, redness, swelling, hardness and anything else annoying. The only way to relieve it is to free the clogged area. Let's analyze this a bit.

They say that in order to prevent plugged ducts, the breasts must frequently be emptied. That ensures the passageways are free and clear for milk to pass through. Sounds fine. But plugged ducts can also be caused by the very nature of the milk. If milk is fatty it will clog faster. Makes sense, doesn't it? So someone like me is prone to clogged ducts because my milk is pretty fatty sometimes. It's not that I don't empty my breasts enough by feeding often.

They sound scary. Especially because online everyone warns you that if you do not treat the plugged duct aggressively (and immediately) then you will most likely get mastitis. I can assure you that I have never gotten mastitis from a plugged duct and I've had at least 50 plugged ducts. They often resolve with some basic care and most are gone within 24 hours or less. I'll walk you through a typical scenario.

It's 3:30 PM, just after my second pumping session at work, and I feel a bit of soreness on the inner edge of my left breast (90% of the time the plug was in that spot since they tend to come and go in the same area). By the time I come home from work I can feel real pain each time I press the area. I also see faint redness. Not like poison ivy red, but more like my boob is blushing.

Now. If I do nothing, Sam will not really enjoy eating from that side since the flow is obstructed and slower. More and more milk will pool up in the affected area. My breast will really hurt by nighttime. Tomorrow it will also be hurty.

However, here's what I do. At 3:31 I head to the bathroom at work and start to really give it to my boob. Using the heel of my hand, I press down from the top of my chest, down the affected side of the boob, and squeeze hard. It's supposed to hurt. Sometimes I'll be lucky and I'll see a white pinprick show up on my nipple right away, but other times it can take even a day to rear itself. That's the plug showing herself. I massage and squeeze (as if I'm hand expressing) and I can literally see a white piece of hardened milk pop out. Sometimes there is more than one milky clump. Often there's a few stringy strands of milk that follow. I keep massaging until nothing comes out anymore. With practice I have learned exactly where on my boob I need to press in order for milk from that specific duct to shoot out.

Some disclaimers:

• Sometimes I have to repeat the process again, so I do that after each nursing session. The area WILL feel sore after the plug is released but that clears away within a day or so. Additionally, milk will flow slowishly from that side, so your baby might not love nursing there. Always start with that side, and then hand express when you're finished nursing.
• The milk from the plugged area might also taste ickyish and salty (it has happened to me plenty of times - the milk also turned a weird shade of yellow). That's why it's common for the baby to stop nursing after a few moments because he's stopping once the milk starts tasting weird - which is when the older milk is coming down the chute.
• It often hurst to breastfeed from the affected side. This is because the area is firm and the baby cannot get a perfect latch - the shallow latch causes sore nipples.
• Sometimes you cannot release the plug via massaging. In such a case I take a hot shower and use a sterilized needle to prod the plug from below, in an outward motion (poking it inward just pushes the plug in further). You shouldn't be bleeding from this. To sterilize a needle, stick it through a flame until the tip turns red, and then rinse under cool water.
• They say to use heat either by showering or a heating pad, but I found none to be as effective as brute force of my hand massaging. The last 30 or so clogs that I had were treated solely with this method, and no heating element. 

If you catch it early, treat it early, and you'll save yourself a lot of discomfort. And having a clogged duct is a pretty good sign - for me, at least - that there's plenty of milk for the baby. In a way, I welcome these since it means I've got lots of milk!

Tongue-ties

Myth: It's normal for breastfeeding to hurt for the first few weeks.
Fact: It's not.

I thought I was normal when my boobs were sore, uber-painful, bleeding, cracked and chafed at three months postpartum. Everyone said they'll stop being painful at around 3 months. It's true that they got better then, but this is NOT the norm. There must have been an underlying problem.

When Sam was 3 months old, I called Chonyi Glassman, a lactation consultant and IBCLC. After a full assessment of his mouth and sucking capabilities, she determined that he had a posterior tongue-tie which isn't so visible to the eye when you look at him face to face. Also, she said he doesn't suck well, probably because of the tongue-tie. She recommended asking my pediatrician about it. I asked him and he said that since his tongue can't reach past his lips, I should take him to a pediatric ENT. Then she measured how many ounces Sam consumed in a feed. It was 1.5 ounces - but he wasn't so hungry at the time. Still, that amount in 10 minutes is hardly efficient. These are the pacifiers she recommended to help his sucking become stronger.

So what is a tongue-tie? Grab a mirror and stick your tongue out at it (say "ahhhhh"). Notice that string-like band connecting your tongue to the floor of your mouth? In some babies it's either too short or too thick, and this restricts the movement of the tongue. If it's further back, it's a posterior tie. This doesn't let a baby suck properly. It can even cause speech and feeding problems later on. It's also genetic. In fact, people with an MTHFR gene mutation are prone to midline defects, and tongue-tie is one of them. I know this runs in my family and a niece/nephew or two has had a tongue tie.

Other signs Sam presented that can be tied to tongue-tie (at the time I did not realize they were all connected to his condition):

• Narrow and painful latch
• Vasospasms (spasmodic nerve-like pain in the nipple)
• After a feed, nipple looked like the top of a lipstick
• He would latch and unlatch repeatedly during a feed
• He couldn't stick his tongue out past his bottom lip
• Top lip curls under and cannot stay curved outward during a feed
• Breasts never really felt empty after a feed

My pain mysteriously disappeared one day when Sam was three months old (not too long after my appointment with the LC), an experience you can read about here. If you don't have patience to read about that, suffice it to say that BFing became enjoyable - finally! - and I didn't have any major motivation to go to the ENT and check it out. But then I found out about the ramification of leaving it unresolved (see above) so one day I booked an appointment for the ENT, whose next availability was in two months from then! Read on to see how his tongue-tie was resolved....