I struggled with low breast milk supply, but some breastfeeding moms struggle with milk oversupply and breast engorgement. Breast engorgement is the over-filling of the breasts with milk. Engorgement causes hard, painful, and tight breasts. This can result in difficulty breastfeeding. Difficulty with breastfeeding can then worsen engorgement if the breasts are not drained of milk. It is extremely
Throughout my medical training, I thought putting an infant to sleep was as simple as putting them down in a bassinet or a crib. When parents approached me complaining of how difficult it was to get their infant to sleep, I would think to myself, “put them down and that’s that!” After my daughter Madi
During my medical training, I thought breastfeeding was as simple as holding your baby up to your breast and baby would naturally just feed. I didn’t realize how stressful breastfeeding could be until I became a mother. I struggled with breastfeeding my daughter Madi and supplemented with formula for the first few weeks. I felt
The frequency of breastfeeding varies from mother to mother, and depends on multiple factors including milk supply, milk extraction abilities of the baby, as well as the mother’s response to infant’s hunger and satiety cues. A mother’s ability to feed on demand means that she is able to breastfeed her infant in response to the
Many patients ask me if drinking coffee is safe during pregnancy. The answer is YES! However, the amount of caffeine we recommend during pregnancy is different from non-pregnant women. Excess Caffeine In Pregnancy And The Effects On Fetal Development A study published by the British Medical Journal in 2017 suggested that while there are health benefits to drinking
During medical school, I learned that babies require vitamin D supplementation for healthy bone development. However, other than bone health I was unaware of what the other benefits of vitamin D were until I had Madi. Postpartum, I wanted to understand why vitamin D was so important and why pediatricians recommended it. The information I
I found breastfeeding very challenging. I struggled with low milk supply early on, fortunately, as the weeks passed my milk supply improved. However, there are some mothers that struggle with breastmilk oversupply. The production of breast milk is determined by the infant’s demand. A woman’s breast will often produce enough milk to feed an infant, but
Accidentally losing urine in the months and years after having a baby is either not talked about at all, or laughed off as normal. Approximately 1 in 3 women will experience urinary incontinence in their lifetime and two of the most significant risk factors for it are pregnancy and vaginal childbirth. Although common, leaking urine
During my pregnancy with George, there were a few things that I missed being able to do. I not only missed eating deli meats, but I also missed being able to sit in the hot tub. During my medical training I remembered learning that hot tubs should be avoided during pregnancy. But I didn’t know the
Breast ultrasound has many uses in the assessment of breast health. Some women wonder whether they can or should have breast ultrasound for screening instead of mammography, but mammography remains the primary screening test for breast cancer in the general population (1) as recommended by the Canadian Association of Radiologists (CAR). When do we recommend