Breast Milk

LaQuasha Singletary was having a normal pregnancy until the day her blood pressure shot up and her vision blurred. The Pikesville woman was rushed to Sinai Hospital, where she delivered a 2-pound, 8-ounce baby boy named Caleb Lyles 10 weeks sooner than expected. Caleb's early delivery left him vulnerable to necrotizing intestinal disorder, a potentially deadly disease common in premature babies whose digestive systems aren't fully developed. Studies show feeding with breast milk exclusively reduces babies chances of getting the disease.

Today was the first day I did not lug my "frenemy" to work with me. It's liberating. But it's also bittersweet. My frenemy, you see, is my breast pump. Danielle turned 1 earlier this month (more on that in a future post), and has mostly transitioned to cow's milk. I was committed to the idea of breastfeeding, but I honestly didn't know how long I could sustain it after returning to a full-time job after maternity leave. And I honestly didn't anticipate the enormity of the emotional component of nursing.

Shares in Martek Biosciences Inc. jumped more than 10 percent yesterday on news that a study published in a leading medical journal suggests that babies who are breast-fed perform better in school, score higher on standardized math and reading tests, and are more likely to graduate from high school.One of the Columbia-based company's key products, docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA oil, contains a key fatty acid found in breast milk. Martek's product is derived from micro-algae.The study, said Alex Zisson, a biotechnology analyst with Hambrecht & Quist, "is one more arrow in the quiver for those who believe DHA should be included in infant formulas."

Maryland health officials want the state's hospitals to play a larger role in encouraging mothers to breast-feed in the crucial hours after they give birth, as growing evidence points to the health benefits of feeding babies human milk. The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is looking to increase the number of women in the state who breast-feed with new recommendations they hope every hospital in the state will eventually adopt. No hospitals in the state currently practice all of the recommendations, which include not offering pacifiers and allowing mother and child to stay together 24 hours a day. The health department will also encourage hospitals to stop giving out free formula from manufacturers, a controversial practice that some say tempts moms to give up on breast-feeding when they are at home by themselves and get frustrated.

Dr. Frank Aram Oski, the noted former head of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who campaigned for breast milk rather than cow's milk for infants, died of prostate cancer Saturday at his home in Baltimore. He was 64.Dr. Oski became director of Hopkins' department of pediatrics and pediatrician in chief at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in 1985 after building an international reputation as an expert on children's blood disorders and nutritional deficiencies.In October, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

State health officials have revised recommendations for hospitals after receiving nearly 130 comments on an initital draft on the issue. In an effort to improve breastfeeding rates The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is working to make hospitals stronger players in promoting the practice. Studies have found breast milk is the best food for infants. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends babies receive nothing but breast milk for the first six months of life and that breast milk is supplemented with food until the baby is at least one-year-old.

Q: From birth, my baby has had nothing but breast milk. Now she's 3 months old, and I'd like to go out with my husband occasionally. I have saved plenty of breast milk, but she won't take it from the bottle. What can I do?A: Of course, your daughter won't starve to death if she takes nothing at all for the length of a feature film, but you naturally want to make both your baby and the sitter more comfortable when you go out. We are not too surprised she rejects a bottle. Many breast-fed babies want nothing to do with a rubber nipple if they haven't gotten used to one early in life.

A Southwest Baltimore second-time mom wanted to bring a pump last fall to the Jessup prison where she works to pump breast milk during her lunch break, but her employers said no.So Alenthia Epps, 36, a corrections officer at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women, stayed home a month past her maternity leave earning nothing. She had to -- her daughter hadn't gotten used to feeding from a bottle filled with breast milk. After an aide to Gov. Parris N. Glendening intervened, Epps returned to work with the pump in November.

"A confidence game" is the way Dr. David Paige describes breast-feeding. After years of research into why some women breast-feed and others don't, Dr. Paige has found that in many instances it's because they lack confidence and support. A pediatrician and researcher at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Dr. Paige specializes in the health of women and children and has strong opinions on how families, agencies and the health-care system could encourage women to breast-feed.

Warning: Public health officials have determined that not breast-feeding may be hazardous to your baby's health. There is no such label affixed to cans of infant formula or tucked into advertisements, but that is the unambiguous message of a government public health campaign encouraging new mothers to breast-feed for six months to protect their babies from colds, flu, ear infections, diarrhea and obesity. In April, the World Health Organization, setting new international benchmarks for children's growth, for the first time referred to breastfeeding as the biological norm.

State health officials have revised recommendations for hospitals after receiving nearly 130 comments on an initital draft on the issue. In an effort to improve breastfeeding rates The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is working to make hospitals stronger players in promoting the practice. Studies have found breast milk is the best food for infants. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends babies receive nothing but breast milk for the first six months of life and that breast milk is supplemented with food until the baby is at least one-year-old.

LaQuasha Singletary was having a normal pregnancy until the day her blood pressure shot up and her vision blurred. The Pikesville woman was rushed to Sinai Hospital, where she delivered a 2-pound, 8-ounce baby boy named Caleb Lyles 10 weeks sooner than expected. Caleb's early delivery left him vulnerable to necrotizing intestinal disorder, a potentially deadly disease common in premature babies whose digestive systems aren't fully developed. Studies show feeding with breast milk exclusively reduces babies chances of getting the disease.

I applaud the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's move to improve supports for breastfeeding women and their babies, both in the hospital and following discharge ("Maryland seeks to improve support for mothers to breast-feed," Feb. 11). This effort goes along with U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin's 2011 call to action, in which she states "the time has come to set forth the important roles and responsibilities of clinicians, employers, communities, researchers and government leaders and to urge us all to take on a commitment to enable mothers to meet their personal goals for breastfeeding.

Once again the official promotion of breast feeding as the only choice is being touted by my friend Fran Phillips at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene ("Maryland seeks to improve support for mothers to breast-feed," Feb. 11). No one disputes some of the advantages of breast feeding, but many claims for benefits in health care cost savings are way off. No one has looked at the cost of the number of extra visits to my office to reassure distraught parents with children who are doing poorly with the nursing process.

Breast-feeding didn't come easy at first for Sharalyn Webre, who struggled through five months with her first child. But with more experience, patience and family support, feedings were less complicated with her next two children, including a baby girl born last week at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. Now, for the first time, Maryland health officials are pushing all hospitals in the state to create policies to smooth the process for even more new mothers like Webre. They say breast milk is better for a baby's health and too many mothers are switching to formula feedings.

I am so tired of reading complaints about the power issues after the hurricane ("Officials attack BGE over power outages," Sept. 1). Yes, there were truly some disasters and people did lose their lives and property was damaged. For the majority of us it was just an inconvenience, some loss of food, grumbling children, and disturbed pets. In a lot of other countries there would not be a problem with getting the power back on, there would be no power to put on or stores to go to in the meantime for food or coffee or Internet or radio updates about the storm etc. For the lady who complained that her frozen breast milk was threatened, look at the pictures of Somali malnourished children and babies who won't probably live another day and there is nothing their mothers can do about it. We really need to stop and give thanks for what we do have.

If you haven't yet experienced the joys of airline travel this summer, there is still time to book your flight and get in on all the fun. This was already shaping up as a stressful travel season, what with higher ticket prices, long lines at check-in counters and security checkpoints, packed flights, etc. Then came news of the terrorist plot in Great Britain to blow up airliners with liquid explosives, which, as you can imagine, jacked up passenger stress...

Two generations ago, it was taken for granted that new mothers would breast-feed. They had the support of their family and friends and probably didn't have to worry about a job outside the home.Today it's a different story, according to Judy Vogelhut, nurse coordinator of the Johns Hopkins Breastfeeding Center. She says women rely on the health care community and their employers as much as their relatives to manage breast-feeding. For example, Hopkins and other facilities offer breast-feeding rooms where moms who are employees or students can express their milk and get support for a routine geared to nursing and working.

With a lengthy post-hurricane power outage threatening her child-rearing plans, Michele Gunderson turned to a local hardware store for dry ice to protect her reserve of frozen breast milk. "I've got three kids, I'm a stay-at-home mom. I can't warm bottles," said Gunderson, who had her 1-year-old strapped to her front Wednesday afternoon and was being trailed by two little girls, ages 5 and 7. "This is a nightmare. " Gunderson's nearly five-gallon "freezer stash of frozen breast milk" was threatened by a looming fifth day without power.

It took a day or so of false starts, but newborn Jayden eventually got the hang of it. To the surprise of many new mothers, breast-feeding doesn't come easily to most newborns. "I had a C-section early Saturday and no sleep all day, so it was a challenge," said Jayden's mother, Carrie Tyler of Nottingham, about her first attempts to breast-feed in her room at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. "But I was pretty determined. " Her efforts put her among the 73 percent of Maryland mothers and 75 percent of new moms nationwide who initiate breast-feeding, according to a new report card from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that measures how many women follow doctor recommendations.