Resources

This document describes the breast pump rental and infant scale rental options in the Ottawa area. Download a copy and keep it handy. If you are looking for a pump, you may have breastfeeding challenges. Contact us to help you work towards your important early parenting goals.

If you are like me, you may be wondering how to help when people, particularly mothers and children are displaced, are in transit, and are refugees. It’s intuitive and true that infants and young children are so vulnerable in crisis. It is so heartbreaking.

This resource was motivated by the crisis in Ukraine, though it applies to humanitarian crises around the world.

It may surprise you, that in many instances, breastfeeding creates food security for infants right here at home. In a crisis, Infants who are NOT breastfeeding are particularly vulnerable and need special help.

A blocked duct is also called a clogged duct. It is a block or clog of milk inside a milk duct. Milk cannot flow around the blockage to the nipple opening. You may have an ongoing tender or painful lump or an ongoing firm area inside your breast. This condition is a blockage. It is NOT the same as a firm area in your breast that goes away with feeding.

You may already know you have a blocked duct. You feel the pain. you feel the lump. You may even be discouraged and are understandably keen to feel better. And you may not know but need confirmation. You are not alone.

A consistent message from our clients is to get help early. Often, we see clients who know they have a blocked duct, get rid of it, and then get another. The cause was never identified nor worked on. This resource can help and do not hesitate to book a consult. That way, the care will be exactly about you and your situation. 

Whether you’re a dad, partner, or another type of support person, this is for you. What can partners do during pregnancy? Get informed. Learn all about breastfeeding, learn about normal feeding and expectations in the early hours and days. Learn what you CAN do BESIDES feed the baby. Know you can be really supportive, helpful, have lots of great bonding time, without feeding. Help the birthing person find resources in your area so that you know where to go for help when you need it (for example find out how your hospital or midwife supports breastfeeding in the early days, interview IBCLCs, look for breastfeeding meet ups or clinics). Set up additional support for when the baby arrives, whether a postpartum doula or family/friends, who can come and help so that the birthing person can focus mostly on feeding the baby. Be confident in your role!

In this episode, Lynn interviews Sonya Boersma. Sonya is a Masters educated Registered Nurse and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. She’s been working with new families for over 25 years from many angles such as teaching prenatal, nursing in labour and delivery up north, working as a birth doula, and supporting parents postpartum. She has taught after-birth-care to nursing students and had taught many types of health professionals about best practices around infant feeding. She knows what a big difference breastfeeding makes not only to health but to a mothers’ sense of providing for her infant. The pandemic was a pivot point and created a sense of urgency to fully lift up mothers with breastfeeding in 2021.

Parents who are breastfeeding sometimes run into challenges and are also bottle feeding. Wait. How hard can it be to give a bottle to a baby? What does it mean to do infant-led, paced bottle feeding? An infant-led approach is a technique that benefits bottle-feeding infants. This resource is for parents and caregivers: Who wish to breastfeed and are also using bottles. Who is not exclusively using other alternatives such as a cup, spoon, feeding tube, or supplementary feeding system? Who are exclusively bottle-fed.

Parenting can be challenging and know it is okay not to be okay. Mental health resources are available. Download the PDF below.

Learn about creative solutions to providing breastfeeding support during the pandemic. The discussed innovative strategies may be applied to a wide variety of practices and organizations. These panel presenters, Erin Shaheen, Gillian Szollos, Cindy Kaye, Sue Theriault Valin, Jos Anderson, and Sonya Boersma, share information about virtual breastfeeding education and support created as solutions to the COVID-19 environment. Hosted by the Champlain Maternal Newborn Regional Program (CMNRP).

How baby feeds can be an emotional topic. We wish to acknowledge that and know that mothers do the best they can with the knowledge they have in the circumstances they are in. Our objective is to support mothers and their babies exactly where they are. There are facts that parents and professionals need to know to help make informed decisions. This page looks at infant feeding facts.

What is generally known? Given low rates of transmission of respiratory viruses through breast milk, the World Health Organization states that mothers with COVID-19 can breastfeed. Breastfeeding is biologically normal and encouraged. There are clear health advantages for a baby who is breastfed as well as for a mother who breastfeeds. Breastfeeding is protective.

In these times of uncertainty, our anxiety triggers the temptation to question practices that have proven their benefits or to modify them. Skin-to-skin is the safest transition for both mother and baby. We all know it quite well. Skin-to-skin, when immediate and uninterrupted, facilitates the development of the infant's microbiome from the mother's flora which is exactly what we want in times of pandemic. What we don't want is other bacteria or virus to colonize the infant's skin nor do we want a disinfected maternal skin, if that were even feasible.

Most women do not need a pump. Purchase or rent after the baby is born and then only when you know what you need it for. Pumps can be used for inappropriate reasons and may not be the most effective tool. For example, a few days after delivery some mothers may have engorgement. For engorgement, reverse pressure softening, or hand expression, usually work much better than a pump. For latch issues, for example, a lactation consult is a better use of your resources so that the underlying problem may be identified and addressed.

In this video, the information is presented by a midwife, Susan Lorenz and the founder of Lactation Care, a Lactation Consultant, Sonya Boersma. Questions from parents are answered by the experts and a number of current online resources are shared. The COVID-19 pandemic raises many questions for expectant and new parents. Concerns and changes in practice regarding pregnancy, birth, newborn care, breastfeeding and skin-to-skin are discussed.