Breast Feeding Thoughts + Prolacta Bioscience | Dearest Lou

Breast Feeding Thoughts + Prolacta Bioscience

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Prolacta Bioscience. All opinions are mine alone. This post shares my experience with breastfeeding along with information for mamas who may deliver a preemie. It is not intended to shame mothers who cannot, or have chosen not to breastfeed.
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I’m very passionate about breastfeeding. I think it’s so cool that a woman's body can create liquid gold for their little one. With both of my boys, my goal has been to breastfeed through the one year mark and then wean whenever they are ready.

Now that Adrien has passed the one year mark I’m noticing more people saying that I can “finally stop breastfeeding him.” This comment started about the time I began incorporating solids into his diet and has become more frequent in the last couple months.

I love the bond Adrien and I share when nursing and I personally don’t understand why it’s such a common practice here in the US to wean babies off of breast milk before THEY are ready. There are so many benefits to human milk in the earliest days of life and even beyond year one. I gently started weaning Zaden when he showed signs of being ready around 18 months and am planning on doing the same for Adrien when HE shows signs of being ready. Breastfeeding helps me to slow down and live in the present and enjoy my baby while I still can.

Breast milk isn’t just beneficial for full-term babies. For the tiniest premature babies born too soon, breast milk is even more important. Which brings me to why I’m teaming with Prolacta Bioscience on this sponsored post today.

Prolacta reached out to me to help spread awareness to expectant parents on the importance of breast milk-based nutrition in the NICU and beyond. This article explains more about why human milk matters.

While breast milk alone is sufficient for a full-term baby, preemies need their breast milk “fortified” with additional protein, calories and minerals to help them grow. To provide this added nutrition, NICUs use  something called human milk fortifier (HMF). But don’t let the name fool you!

Did you know that nearly all HMFs are made with cow milk?! Often, because cow milk contains foreign proteins, some babies and especially preemies, struggle to adjust to and digest cow milk in their diets.
This can cause serious complications, like NEC (necrotizing enterocolitis), a leading cause of death for preemies (see study here and here).

But there is an alternative. Prolacta Bioscience makes fortifiers using 100% human milk from moms who donate their excess breast milk. How amazing is that?

This video shares one family’s story and a special message detailing the difference 100% human milk-based fortifiers make for preemies in the NICU. This video brought me to tears. If you find yourself or someone you love with a preemie in the NICU, ask your doctor about Prolacta.

9 comments

  1. I Breast feed my baby for the first 6 months. However I struggled the first month because my Babe had a tongue and lip tie. It was a incredibly trying time while we sorted this out and at time very discouraging. After having his ties lasered we visited a lactation consultant to help us get on the right track breast feeding. I share this because I know that it can be a struggle for some moms, and there can be an incredible amount of guilt surrounding this. So no matter your choice, or circumstance, Fed is best.

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  2. your baby is beautiful , love your lipstick and I didn't breast feed my daughter. I wanted too, but I wasn't producing enough milk :( Hopefully my next child (whenever that may be) will be able to get that benefit :)

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  3. Thank you for sharing this wonderful post, though its not really open in Asia about being outspoken about breast feeding I wanted to say that this is very important for babies to get needed nutrients from their mothers, a lot of benefit indeed.

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  4. You guys look great. I love these images of you guys. I do not have any children and my niece and nephew didn't take well to breast feeding, however, I think it is so important. And I like how you said to wait until they show signs. I think that is perfect

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  5. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful and open post on something that is often taboo, even in the UK!

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  6. Lovely post and informative. So glad to see such posts like this, especially this is about moms doing breast-feed. I am a believer that breast-feeding isn’t really bad for babies.

    -Gerome of G&D Blog
    www.gdblog.net

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  7. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on breastfeeding. I really wish I would have breastfeed my son for a lot longer than I did. It really is liquid gold for them.

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  8. I breastfed all four of my kids, most through the first several months. My daughter has three daughters and has also breastfed all hers (and still is with her 9-month-old). It's obviously the best and most natural way to feed our babies!

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  9. I don't understand why people make a big deal about women feeding their babies in public. Women have been breastfeeding for thousands of years and weren't able to cover up, they even had wet nurses. Breastfeeding is the most natural things that women can do.

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