Breastfeeding

Feeding your child once you’re back at work

December 6, 2010

breastfeeding at work

Not everyone has a job where this can happen...

This week’s question comes from Stacey, who’s planning on returning to work at around the 12 month mark. She’s not sure about excessive use of soy, but everything she’s read about vegan parenting seems to suggest that going back to work means heavy use of soy formula.

This seemed a little off to me, and it’s alarming a the very least – after all, we’ve already discovered that there’s no such thing as fully vegan baby formula, solid foods are going to be mixed in at that point, and with all the Council members who were feeding into the third year, I figured some of them had to be working. I passed the question on to the Council of Vegan Parents to see what their experiences had taught them. Here’s what they had to say:

Pump it

Kristie gave this (ahem) formula for formula-free success: “Before Stacey goes back, for maybe a month or so, she should pump after the baby’s nursed and around 11pm (something about milk production increasing around that time) so that when she returns to work, she will have a store of breastmilk in the freezer. The baby can have then have bottles or cups of thawed (in the fridge) and warmed (with a water bath) breastmilk during the day while she’s at work.”

If you’re still exclusively breastfeeding, pumping can seem like a huge effort, but remember, as solids start to get introduced, you’ll have a bit more supply available to put in the “bank.”

Monica advised to take “pump breaks” at work if possible to keep the supply going. This might not work for all job scenarios, but most companies will allow them, just like they do smoke breaks. Talk with your boss if you think there’d be an issue.

Get in league with the League

The La Leche League, that is. Their primary mission is to encourage and support breastfeeding, and there are chapters all over the place. I’ve never attended a meeting, but Angela’s had nothing but good things to say about them. We’ve got a few leaders in the Council that have happily shared advice in the past, but you’re much better off meeting in person so you can dig deep and get the answers you’re looking for.

Meetings are held regularly all over the place – click here to search for one in your area.

You’re still home some of the time

It’s important to remember that even if you’re away for a good chunk of the day, you’re probably still going to be around for feedings at night and in the morning. If you’re shooting for 3 servings of milk per day, that’s 2 of them right there.

Monica passed on an extra tip for night feeds: “many babies whose moms have gone back to work, often make up for missed nursing time with night time nursing sessions, so they find it easier to take their babies in bed with them to avoid waking up many times during the night and then having to go to work half asleep.”

People are doing it

One of my favourite things about Spawn Better and the Council is the first-hand advice that might not always apply to each individual situation, but definitely feels more comforting than some theory from a book that might not even be written by a parent.

Kristie gave some reassuring history: “With my older daughter, I went back to work after 8 weeks and nursed her (almost exclusively for 12 months because she wasn’t interested in other foods) for more than two years without any need for formula. With my younger daughter, I returned to work when she was four months old, and we’re still nursing (she’s now 20 months old.) We did have some issues initially getting her to take a bottle, but that only lasted two weeks. She stopped wanting breastmilk from a bottle or cup around 14 or 15 months. She nurses at night and in the mornings, and all weekend. No formula ever.”

What if you’re not breastfeeding?

If you’ve already stopped breastfeeding, odds are this is less of an issue overall for you – just continue doing what you’re doing. Elaine reminded us to prefer vegan dietary advice from mainstream sources (it’s going to be a bit more conservative, in general, and hopefully safer) such as the American Dietetic Association.

Stacey also managed to answer part of her own question during some follow-up research: as a fan of Vega, the vegan meal replacement shake mix, she asked Sequel Naturals if it was safe for young children. They replied “all of the Vega products, except for the Sport line are safe for your children. We recommend a much smaller serving size for children under one and we always encourage you to take a list of the ingredients to your health care professional for final review.”

More info

As Monica pointed out, working doesn’t have to mean weaning. In addition to the La Leche League, she recommended the book Nursing Mother, Working Mother: The Essential Guide for Breastfeeding and Staying Close to Your Baby After You Return to Work by Gale Pryor.

And of course if you’ve got any follow up questions, you can leave them in the comments or pass them on directly, and we’ll try to get some followup from the Council.

If you’ve figured out how to make the return to work a little easier than you first thought it’d be, please share your ideas in the comments!

Thanks to Kristie, Monica and Elaine for their help on this one!

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Vegan infant formula: nonexistent?

March 16, 2010

This week’s question was from the Council, to the Council:

“One of our Council members was wondering about baby formula: it appears that there aren’t any vegan versions out there, at least where she lives, since the vitamin D is derived from lanolin (wool) in all of the otherwise vegan varieties. Is anyone aware of a vegan brand that might have been missed, and if not, or in addition to it, what are some alternatives you’ve used or considered?”

OK, before we get to the Council’s advice, here’s the basics from our research on the internet: as of the time of this writing (March 2010,) there are no fully vegan infant formulas.

The only ones that comes up online at all are a brand called Farley’s and Heinz’s Nurture line’s Soya product, both of which were offered in the UK. Both appear to have been Vegan Society approved, but that’s because they’re the same product: Heinz bought Farley’s.

Before those of you outside the UK start calculating what are sure to be insane shipping fees, we’ve got some more bad news: unfortunately, it appears that as of February 2010, the line has been discontinued.

So what’s a vegan parent to do if breastfeeding isn’t an option?

Do your best

Julie had this to say on the matter: “I’m not aware of any vegan formulas, and I’m pretty sure the conclusion in Raising Vegetarian Children is that there aren’t any (or at least there weren’t at the time that the book was published.)

“We’ve been fortunate to never need formula, since both of our kids seem to be champion nursers, but if we found ourselves in a situation where we needed it, I think this would fall pretty easily in the ‘do the best we can’ category, meaning I’d be more than willing to overlook the non-vegan vitamin D if that’s what it took to be able to feed my kid. They can’t grow up to be world-influencingly awesome vegans themselves if they don’t get the nutrition they need as babies, so one way or another their survival and thriving is my top priority.”

Examine other breastfeeding options

I’m no expert on the subject, but as Linda writes, there are people who are. Consult with a local La Leche League group or the IBCLC to see if there are ways to overcome whatever’s preventing you from breastfeeding.

I’m already well outside my areas of knowledge (thank you Council!) and this takes things even further, but Linda also mentioned the possibility of human milk banks, which wouldn’t necessarily be from a vegan woman, but may be worth considering.

Plan for the future generations

As Elaine put it, “we should probably all be contacting baby formula makers and asking for a vegan version. If we do, it won’t be long before a truly vegan baby formula will be readily available in mainstream US stores. Sometimes, I think, being a good vegan parent isn’t just about what we do for and with our children, it’s about acting like a parent for future generations of children so that other parents won’t have to make the kinds of compromises we have to make now.”

With that in mind, here are the contact addresses for some of the major formula makers. If I missed any (and that’s very likely,) please contact us and I’ll update the post.

If you’re looking for your activism action of the week, getting in touch with these companies and politely asking them to market a vegan-friendly formula (INCLUDING vitamin D2 instead of D3) wouldn’t be a bad way to spend your time. Here are links to the various contact forms:

Thanks to Elaine, Steph, Julie, Pippi, and Linda for their help on this one!

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Weaning from breastfeeding – when and how?

January 14, 2010

When does broccoli win over breast? Photo by Fimb

When does broccoli win over breast? Photo by Fimb

In part two on this week’s series on breastfeeding (see part one here,) we asked our Council of Vegan Parents a simple question: for how long did you nurse your children?

The answers were pretty evenly split – and surprising.

About half of our respondents were in the six months to a year phase. The other half? Three to three and a half years.

I’ll admit it, I hadn’t done any real research before asking the question, and I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but wow! And I wasn’t the only one: as Dalyn says, “When the nurse came to the house for a visit the week after he was born… she told me that they recommend breastfeeding for a year. I nearly fell out of my seat – it seemed like a very long time to have a little body attached to my breast.” It looks like she got over the initial shock though: “in some ways, it is a long time, but the convenience and the health factors do, of course, make it worth every moment.”

One thing I’m learning from compiling these surveys is that every case is different, and sure enough, there seem to be a lot of different reasons to wean at various points.

In some cases, another baby was on the way, and in others, the child decided on his or her own. Some women weaned out of concern for their own health (typically other factors were involved) and others out of discomfort, decreasing milk supply or simply the inability to “keep up with demand.”

As for the transition, a few Council members shared their stories as well.

Most of the 3+ year group night weaned at around the two and a half year range. As Doh pointed out, later-stage nursing seemed to be more about the emotional connection and comfort than the need for sustenance, so preparing for the change was more mental than physical.

For Julie, by the end of the cycle, she had to work on teaching her son to soothe in different ways. “He was big enough at nearly 3 that we could spend the couple of months leading up to it talking about how things would change when he was 3 and a ‘big kid,’ and he was excited enough about his birthday that it was a date he remembered and looked forward to, so it was an easy event to attach the change to.”

Their transition went relatively smoothly: “He was noticeably needier/clingier for a while, but he had a lot of changes going on in his life (weaning, me traveling abroad, moving to a new class with new teachers and new kids at school), so it’s hard to say how much of it was directly related to the breastfeeding. For a couple of weeks, he would ask to nurse, but I just had to ask him to stand up and show me how ‘big’ he was now that he was 3 for him to accept no as an answer. For a while, he asked about getting to nurse again after the [second] baby comes, but now (almost 5 months after weaning) those questions seem to have gone away as well.”

As for solid foods, in most cases these were introduced between the fifth and twelfth month. Steph started out with rice cereal and introduced things gradually from there, keeping an eye out for problems (oats caused some issues, for instance.) She recommends avoiding gluten grains in the first year. Meredith supplemented nursing with soy formula, and at about the one year mark her son started consuming regular soy milk – a habit he continues two years later at the rate of several cartons a week!

If you’re looking for more information, Steph pointed out a few resources that helped her with nursing and nutrition, including Healthy Eating for Life for Children and Dreena Burton’s Vive le Vegan!: Simple, Delectable Recipes for the Everyday Vegan Family.

A huge thanks to Julie, Meredith, Kari, Doh, Steph, Trin, and Dalyn for contributing on this one. What about you – how were your nursing experiences? Let us know in the comments, or if you’d like to contribute to a followup article, consider joining the Council of Vegan Parents!

(Photo by Fimb)

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Breastfeeding: is your child what YOU eat?

January 12, 2010

Photo by sdminor81

Photo by sdminor81

This week we’re taking a look at breastfeeding – if you are what you eat, is it the same for your child?

Part one of our series was inspired by our friend Laura, whose baby seems to have developed some kind of soy sensitivity, and it seems to be coming from breast milk after Laura eats soy-based foods. Laura isn’t vegan herself, but she’s trying to incorporate non-meat protein into her diet, which is something we want to promote.

Does breast milk contain elements of the mother’s diet? Is there anything Laura can do to mitigate this? What other weird and wonderful side effects can happen? We put the question to our Council of Vegan Parents.

As it happens, the Council didn’t have many problems with this area, but they’ve heard from others who weren’t so lucky.

While Julie didn’t have any issues with food sensitivities herself, she’s been involved with various mentoring groups over the years. From what she’s learned, soy allergies and sensitivities are very likely to co-occur with dairy allergies and sensitivities, so this could equally happen to vegans and non-vegans alike. It still sucks though, so to work around the issue Julie recommends replacing soy milk with almond, hazelnut, or hemp milk.

Elaine is our resident foster parenting expert, so she hasn’t breastfed herself, but from her research she believes that very few people are truly allergic to soy, and she recommends further testing. As she points out, many baby formulas contain soy (even milk-based ones,) and soy-based formulas are marketed for “sensitive babies.” Of course, something’s clearly going on from the reactions Laura’s seeing, so Elaine recommends soy-free vegan protein shakes such as Vega, which was designed to avoid many common allergens.

Meredith didn’t have any issues with sensitivities either but she’s got an interesting theory: “the food I ate while breastfeeding does seem to have had an impact on his eating habits; I don’t know any other 3 year olds with such an affinity for salad, garlic, eggplant, hummus, and all types of fresh fruit (most veggies too).”

On a similar note, Steph found that periods of avoiding caffeine seemed to make her son sleep better. She suggests avoiding processed foods, which she knows isn’t easy during the first few months, and for convenience, she recommends granola bars as a quick way to keep energy high and hunger low when time and sleep are at a premium. The “Enjoy Life” Cocoa Loca snacks are one of several that avoid common allergens, and Steph sent a link to a list of allergy free snacks that might help:

Lastly, some words of praise and encouragement from Doh: “Breastfeeding is challenging at times, and having a little one to care for is challenging at times, so throwing a food sensitivity into the mix has got to be rough. She’s lucky that so many soy-free options are coming onto the store shelves, but I’d encourage her to look to “whole foods” such as grains and legumes and veggies. I commend her for dropping the allergen from her diet – many people don’t realize how important that is. She has the power to either prevent or establish a life-long allergy for her child, and a lot of moms don’t realize how much damage they can do by continuing to expose their baby to the suspected allergen. Others just stop breastfeeding so they can continue to eat the foods they’re accustomed to. So, kudos to her.”

From the feedback we’ve received so far, the food chain definitely adds a few links when it comes to breastfeeding, so care should be taken to maintain a balance between your favourite foods and what works best for your child.

In Laura’s particular case, how can she get enough protein in her diet without using soy products? While protein is abundant in many plant-based foods, dropping soy’s a tough one, since it’s the basis of a lot of vegan meals. As mentioned above, Vega is a great source of protein that doesn’t contain a lot of common allergens like soy, but it can be a it hard to get down if you’re not into the taste (between the hemp and the stevia, it can take some getting used to.) There are other protein powders out there that are pea, hemp, or rice based; check your local health or nutrition supplement store for details.

Powders aren’t very exciting, so for some actual meals there are two books I’d recommend, both by Vega creator Brendan Brazier: Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life and Thrive Fitness: The Vegan-Based Training Program for Maximum Strength, Health, and Fitness both contain a number of recipes used by high-performance atheletes that are free of many common allergens.

If you want to go your own way, and can handle wheat, vital wheat gluten is a great source. It’s available in many health, bulk, and even grocery stores, and is pretty easy to work with – a favourite around here is the chickpea cutlet recipe in Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook.

Other sources are quinoa, amaranth (we cook both like rice) or even simple greens, just like elephants and gorillas eat! With greens you will need to up your quantities, so in addition to big salads consider putting a few handfuls in your smoothies. I know, it sounds weird (and looks weirder!) but the taste is pretty surprising.

On Thursday, we’ll be revealing the results of our survey: how long did you breastfeed for? The answers might surprise you!

(As always, the ideas and opinions expressed here are those of the contributors and should not be construed as official medical advice. Please consult your physician for health matters, but say hi for us.)

(Photo by sdminor81)

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