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Figuring Out a Breastfeeding Frequency and Routine

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

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Why is Vitamin D Important?

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

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Cough and Cold Medicines to Avoid in Babies and Young Children

Having an infant with a cold can be distressing for parents.   Cough, congestion, and sore throats can affect their sleep, their eating habits, and they may be more irritable.   Parents often bring their babies and young children into my office asking what they can do to alleviate their baby or child’s cold symptoms.  Unfortunately, there is not

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How to Manage Breastmilk Oversupply?

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

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Does Eating Dates Induce Spontaneous Labor?

I was asked a very interesting question by a patient a few years ago “Dr. Liu, I’m almost 40 weeks pregnant and I want to go into labour, if I eat lots of dates will that help kick-start labour?” I had no idea what the answer to her question was, so we looked up the

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Preparing For The Arrival of Your Baby: Newborn Essentials

I remember when I was pregnant with Madi. I was so excited when I found out I was pregnant and couldn’t wait to start baby shopping! However, upon stepping into a baby store I easily became overwhelmed with all of the options for every single item. Add in the opinions of every friend and family member,

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How to Store Breast Milk for a Healthy Term Infant?

If you are a nursing mother, at some point you may consider pumping your breast milk and storing it for future use.  This will allow you to leave your baby in the care of others with a supply of breast milk for bottle-feeding.   Whether you are manually expressing, or using a battery or electric pump, the

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