Ep. 130 - Breast Milk is Nature's Miracle: Part 3
Breastfeeding can come with a range of challenges, and this episode delves into some of the most common issues mothers face, such as sore nipples, engorgement, and mastitis. I emphasize the importance of addressing these concerns early to ensure a smoother breastfeeding experience for both mom and baby. Natural solutions, including the use of essential oils and proper breast care techniques, are discussed to promote healing and comfort. Understanding the significance of flow—both milk and lymphatic—is crucial for maintaining breast health and avoiding complications. By equipping yourself with knowledge and practical tips, you can navigate the breastfeeding journey more effectively and support your baby's nutritional needs.
00:00 Introduction to Breastfeeding Challenges
01:50 Common Issues in Breastfeeding
02:42 Understanding Mastitis
05:02 The Importance of Flow in Breast Health
07:47 Natural Remedies for Nipple Care
09:38 The Role of Carrier Oils
12:43 Tips for Nipple Healing
14:16 Preparing for Breastfeeding: Pre-Healing Tips
15:33 Understanding and Managing Engorgement
16:58 The Benefits of Hot Water Bottles Over Heating Pads
18:38 Effective Massage Techniques for Breast Health
21:01 Dealing with Clogged Ducts
25:22 The Importance of Proper Latching and Flow
26:09 Conclusion and Next Steps
Transcript
Welcome, everyone, to the reality of health.
Speaker A:This is part three of breastfeeding.
Speaker A:Mother's milk wasn't going to get into all the minutiae that you could get into.
Speaker A:I just wanted to kind of give you a good synopsis of how to do it.
Speaker A:Well, you know, let's do some good quality nutrition for the baby.
Speaker A:Maybe at the same time, let's help out mom a little bit, right?
Speaker A:This could be a huge topic.
Speaker A:I could talk about this for a very long time.
Speaker A:Part three, we're just going to kind of go into more of the situations that you might run into and then, yep, you guessed it.
Speaker A:We're talking part four.
Speaker A:Never even done a part three.
Speaker A:And now I'm doing a part four.
Speaker A:I think it's important.
Speaker A:Part four will be about solutions for your baby.
Speaker A:If you can't, well, deal with these situations, you're unable to fix them.
Speaker A:You're having real issues, real problems.
Speaker A:Otherwise, yeah, you know, it's going to be tough working through these kinds of things, but it's worth it.
Speaker A:There's lots of help out there, lots of natural healers that can help.
Speaker A:I think that the natural healers really know more about a lot of this stuff than the modern medicine does.
Speaker A:So I would stick with naturopaths and people who understand this kind of stuff.
Speaker A:Either way, it's very important topic, and I know moms go through these kinds of situations, so let's talk about some of them.
Speaker A:I guess the main one you're going to deal with most of all is sore nipples.
Speaker A:Yep, that's gonna happen.
Speaker A:There are so many reasons for this.
Speaker A:As you can see, I have quite a few tabs.
Speaker A:I'm gonna try and make this a timely episode because I really want to go detailed and deep and talk about every little thing because that's kind of who I am.
Speaker A:But I understand there's people that can help you with all the little stuff.
Speaker A:So let's just do a good overview, shall we?
Speaker A:So you can see sore nipples.
Speaker A:That's one of them.
Speaker A:Engorgement.
Speaker A:That's another.
Speaker A:Plugged milk ducts.
Speaker A:That's another low supply and an overabundance of supply.
Speaker A:The other one is mastitis.
Speaker A:And that's the one that I think is the most irritating, quite possibly because it's painful and it's painful in a different way.
Speaker A:You know, you can have just like general local pain.
Speaker A:You're like, yeah, it aches and it's kind of pain in the butt, and then you have something like mastitis.
Speaker A:And that's sort of a more localized, intense pain, and then you kind of get really upset because you're thinking, well, I've got mastitis, so therefore there's an infection.
Speaker A:It's not always an infection.
Speaker A:Could just be inflammation.
Speaker A:We're going to go into that.
Speaker A:First of all, a few stats here.
Speaker A:Let's get into that.
Speaker A:Happens with one to 3% of lactating women.
Speaker A:Find that interesting.
Speaker A:So what's happening before you're even started to breastfeed?
Speaker A:9.5%.
Speaker A:Up to 33% of breastfeeding women.
Speaker A:That's a pretty good portion, right?
Speaker A:We're talking generally ten to 33%.
Speaker A:Most common in second and third week postpartum.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:75% to 95% of cases occur before infant is twelve weeks old.
Speaker A:Right and left breasts affected equally.
Speaker A:All right, I am going to get into this at the end, as you can see over here, I'm going to get into at the end, because, again, I think this is the most irritating one to deal with.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:Everything that I'm going to talk about from the beginning here, from nipple health all the way to the end for mastitis.
Speaker A:Mastitis will respond to all of these.
Speaker A:So it's kind of like the one problem that is a culmination of all the other problems, or mastitis is helped or relieved in the same ways that all the other ones are.
Speaker A:It's kind of like this.
Speaker A:You know, this is a weird thing that happens.
Speaker A:That's a technical term, by the way, a weird thing that happens.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:I had a recent episode talking about flow and how your health is really determined about, or more about your flow in your body.
Speaker A:Everything from lymphatic and water and blood flow and digestive flow.
Speaker A:It's just, it literally is what keeps you healthy.
Speaker A:You have stuff goes in, it does its stuff, and it has to get out.
Speaker A:Well, guess what?
Speaker A:Your breasts do.
Speaker A:Same thing.
Speaker A:Here's an illustration of this tank.
Speaker A:So I know this is not a direct representation of one of your girls, if you know what I MEAN, but it's kind of there.
Speaker A:So it's a tank and it needs to be filled with something in order to keep filling it, it's got to come out.
Speaker A:So this illustration kind of shows you what flow is.
Speaker A:You got stuff going in, stuff going out.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Eric, you are super scientific.
Speaker A:This is I, you are.
Speaker A:You need a nobel prize for this.
Speaker A:Well, guess what I'm trying to say is you're a human body that's producing a fluid, a food fluid, and as you're producing it, it's got to get out and if it doesn't get out, what happens in this tank?
Speaker A:A few things.
Speaker A:The main one is it will start to deteriorate.
Speaker A:And that then brings in your terrain, you know, of it as infection or too much bacteria.
Speaker A:So you then have to break down this milk that you're not expressing or feeding the child, and you can have complications.
Speaker A:The other thing is, well, you want more milk, well, then you better express or breastfeed more.
Speaker A:I'm not a big fan of expressing.
Speaker A:We talked ABOut that in the last episode.
Speaker A:Point is, you got to, as you're creating or filling, you got to get it out.
Speaker A:And the better that this rotation is, the better all the conditions are.
Speaker A:This is essential to all of your issues.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Just want to make that clear.
Speaker A:This is a really good breakdown.
Speaker A:It's from labaroma.
Speaker A:I love this.
Speaker A:It's like a site that deals with essential oils.
Speaker A:And I read this article and it's spot on.
Speaker A:So the first one we deal with, obviously, like we showed here, is sore nipples.
Speaker A:All right, well, here's one way.
Speaker A:Cracked nipples.
Speaker A:You can make your own massage oil.
Speaker A:I'm going to get into another oil in a second, but notice I.
Speaker A:You can use geranium.
Speaker A:Just a drop.
Speaker A:One drop of lavender, one drop of neroli, one drop of roman chamomile into a carrier oil.
Speaker A:There's two carrier oils you can use.
Speaker A:I'm talking about one is jojoba.
Speaker A:J o j o B a.
Speaker A:Not a big fan of coconut, but if that's your fave, go for it.
Speaker A:I just don't think it's great.
Speaker A:And if you're using coconut oil, can have some mct in it, which is medium chain triglycerides.
Speaker A:And if you have it on your nipple and the baby's sensitive to it, it could give them a little bit of upset stomach.
Speaker A:So not, not a good way to go, but jojoba, no problem at all.
Speaker A:Anyway, a small amount of essential oils on the nipple, even if the baby, it's fresh, you put it on 15 minutes ago, and that baby nurses, it's fine.
Speaker A:It will not hurt them.
Speaker A:You just don't want to go too high with this.
Speaker A:But essential oils are not only healing, but they stimulate healing.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The essential.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:I'm sorry.
Speaker A:The carrier oil is also healing.
Speaker A:So if you use a really good carrier oil, you are nourishing, you are moisturizing, and you're setting yourself up for good regeneration of tissue in that area.
Speaker A:Fantastic.
Speaker A:This is a wonderful thing to use.
Speaker A:I'm going to refer to this a couple times Lanolin is my other oil.
Speaker A:This is one of my favorites.
Speaker A:Sheep oil is extremely close to human fats.
Speaker A:We absorb it well, it's non toxic.
Speaker A:Of course.
Speaker A:You want to, you know, buy the best quality you can get.
Speaker A:And I will say that if you're going to buy it, you're generally going to want it in glass or a metal container.
Speaker A:You don't want it in plastic because oils break down plastics and then the plastics end up into whatever oil or fat that is in there.
Speaker A:Try and stick with a more solid container.
Speaker A:Regardless.
Speaker A:Lanolin has always been known for nipple issues.
Speaker A:Always.
Speaker A:I know, Eric, it's been disproven.
Speaker A:There are studies showing.
Speaker A:Okay, first of all, those studies are ridiculous.
Speaker A:They are the most inconclusive, worst run clinical trials ever.
Speaker A:You can't say a clinical trial is legit when most of the world, throughout all of history use this.
Speaker A:And I mean, a lot of tribes and populations and cultures and other fats that come from animals because they were nursing all the time.
Speaker A:There was no such thing as, you know, formula.
Speaker A:So, yeah, that baby was hungry and maybe you had two babies at once.
Speaker A:You were, you know, you were using those girls all the time.
Speaker A:Okay, point is, Lanolin is one of my favorite oils for your body.
Speaker A:The fats are so conducive to human skin, it's ridiculous.
Speaker A:It's affordable.
Speaker A:It goes a long way.
Speaker A:You only need a little bit.
Speaker A:The kid will have no problems with it.
Speaker A:Any of the good natural brands, they're going to clean that stuff up.
Speaker A:It's not going to smell weird.
Speaker A:And all that other stuff.
Speaker A:Fantastic.
Speaker A:Carrier oil.
Speaker A:All right, so the two carrier oils are lanolin and jojoba and coconut.
Speaker A:If you want to use that.
Speaker A:If you want to use something like olive oil or something, you're just not getting quite the healing benefits that you can get from an animal oil, even something like emu oil and or beef tallow.
Speaker A:You could even do a combination of all of those.
Speaker A:They're all a little bit different in consistency and viscosity.
Speaker A:Anyway.
Speaker A:Should put natural stuff on you because you're a natural human being.
Speaker A:And it should be from something that's not plant based cleavage.
Speaker A:No, that's not what we're talking about.
Speaker A:One of the ways that you can work with any kind of nipple issue is to free the girls.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's true.
Speaker A:Every time you cover up something, it stays moist.
Speaker A:And if it stays moist, it's not always conducive to healing.
Speaker A:So what's better for healing is to fluctuate back and forth.
Speaker A:So you're in your home, hopefully it's warm enough or wherever you're at and you're by yourself or you're with, you know, your partner, and it's just, you know, young, young, young, young kids, whatever.
Speaker A:You're not walking around totally naked all the time, but you should free them.
Speaker A:The more air they get, the better the nipples will heal.
Speaker A:So if you were to add a little bit of lanolin and essential oils and then leave them out for as long as you can, and if you have to cover up something very light, but leave them open, Eric, you understand they're super sensitive.
Speaker A:I gotta, I gotta put like a pad over them or something like that, because they're just too.
Speaker A:I understand.
Speaker A:Usually the problem is the nipple will be most sensitive as you're getting used to the breastfeeding.
Speaker A:So it's only in the beginning, usually up to maybe two weeks or so.
Speaker A:But remember, that time is the, the time for colostrum.
Speaker A:You don't want to give up during that time.
Speaker A:So I say set yourself up before start using these products like alanoline or things like this previous to giving birth and then having to breastfeed.
Speaker A:So set yourself up for a quality nipple.
Speaker A:Then when you go through that first two weeks, you're in a better state.
Speaker A:It's kind of like pretty healing your situation.
Speaker A:It's kind of a word even pre healing.
Speaker A:You get my point.
Speaker A:You want to create quality tissue there so that it can handle the pressure of a baby, and that baby needs to latch properly.
Speaker A:That will also lower all the nipple situations.
Speaker A:Okay, but my point is that it can't always be covered.
Speaker A:It needs to be open.
Speaker A:That's so important.
Speaker A:It's kind of like when you cut yourself.
Speaker A:If you run the band aid all the time, you actually slow the healing.
Speaker A:If you run the band aid on and off, on and off, on and off, it actually speeds it up.
Speaker A:Same thing with you.
Speaker A:Okay, next we run into engorgement.
Speaker A:Basically what they say is, you know, excessive production of milk, obstruction in the outflow of milk, poor removal of milk by the baby that's not latching properly or breast engorgement occur in the mammary gland due to expansion and pressure exerted by synthesis and storage of breast milk.
Speaker A:A bigger thought process on this is, of course, you can say, well, I'm full of milk, but you might be full of milk because of a lymphatic situation.
Speaker A:So the breasts are full of lymphatic tissue as well.
Speaker A:So if that gets slowed down again, we're going back to flow we talked about, you gotta have the flow.
Speaker A:If you don't have the flow, then you can get engorgement.
Speaker A:So that will increase the size of the lymph nodes in the breast tissue and block off the.
Speaker A:The milk flow, and then the baby's not able to nurse properly, and then you get an abundance and the neck pressure, and then you feel bad.
Speaker A:So sometimes it's not what you always think.
Speaker A:You're like, oh, I'm producing too much milk.
Speaker A:No, you just can't get it out.
Speaker A:Well, how do you get it out?
Speaker A:First thing is a water bottle.
Speaker A:You ever seen one of those?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:They used to be really, really popular, and they're one of the best tools to have in your first aid kit.
Speaker A:I'm telling you right now, this is a absolutely fantastic device in your home.
Speaker A:Quit using.
Speaker A:You should never, ever use a heating pad that's electrical.
Speaker A:You are literally sending EMF right into your body.
Speaker A:That is not good.
Speaker A:I would stick with something like a hot water bottle this gentle.
Speaker A:You can make it as hot or cold as you want.
Speaker A:It's a little more of a pain in the butt because you might have to, like, you know, add more hot water to it.
Speaker A:Well, sure, but you can get some that aren't even made out of rubber, like this one made out of different materials.
Speaker A:You can also add layers of linen or wool between the skin to, you know, lower or increase the heat that's.
Speaker A:That's transferred into the body.
Speaker A:Gentle.
Speaker A:Wonderful.
Speaker A:Not overstimulating.
Speaker A:You do not want to put a heating pad on your breast tissue to increase lymphatic flow, blood flow, and everything else.
Speaker A:You don't want that.
Speaker A:That is really, really bad.
Speaker A:I had a breast episode a couple ago, and I talked about too much electrical frequencies going through there.
Speaker A:Anyway, love these things.
Speaker A:This is awesome.
Speaker A:And you should incorporate this to help with the flow.
Speaker A:It also works on other things as well.
Speaker A:We'll get into massage.
Speaker A:Fantastic way to go.
Speaker A:Learn how to do it properly.
Speaker A:There's lymphatic massage techniques that you can learn online.
Speaker A:Just, you know, jump in and type that in.
Speaker A:Also, you don't have to be the one to always do it.
Speaker A:Your partner can do it too.
Speaker A:You know, I want to say there are many techniques here, and I will.
Speaker A:I'm going to say this.
Speaker A:There's no right way.
Speaker A:It's called movement.
Speaker A:And do ducks move a certain way?
Speaker A:Sure they do.
Speaker A:And there's certain techniques you can do that might generally help, but also just absolutely getting any kind of movement.
Speaker A:So one of my favorites would be lay down on your back.
Speaker A:That relieves the pressure from hanging.
Speaker A:If you have that situation now you're in a different gravity state.
Speaker A:And a horizontal gravity state is different than a vertical gravity state.
Speaker A:Now you can just move it around back and forth, left, right, up, down.
Speaker A:It's, it wouldn't be as painful if you had a situation.
Speaker A:You're using gravity.
Speaker A:It's laying itself out.
Speaker A:So remember, the breast is like the, the stuff is going like this.
Speaker A:So when you, when you lay down there, it flattens out.
Speaker A:And now you have a different type of movement.
Speaker A:So the lymphatic moves differently, the blood flow moves differently, the milk's going to flow differently.
Speaker A:Same.
Speaker A:When you're latched with the baby laying down on your side compared to them laying in front of you.
Speaker A:Different positions create different things, not just with the kid, but also with your breast tissue.
Speaker A:My point is that sometimes sitting up is a good thing to utilize that, that gravity.
Speaker A:Other times it's laying down.
Speaker A:Other times or laying down on your side even, and moving it around.
Speaker A:It's whatever is comfortable and that you feel you're getting the most benefit.
Speaker A:Don't always assume that just because you have a technique, you learn that that's the only way to do it.
Speaker A:The best technique is always what works for you.
Speaker A:Moving on.
Speaker A:The other one you get is clogged ducks.
Speaker A:No, not quack quack.
Speaker A:The other kind.
Speaker A:This graphic.
Speaker A:I know it's small.
Speaker A:I can't make it any bigger.
Speaker A:Is very, very good.
Speaker A:And I'm looking at the fact that we're at 23 minutes already.
Speaker A:I may have a fifth episode here.
Speaker A:I don't know what else to say.
Speaker A:I don't know if I can get through all this again.
Speaker A:There's so much I want to tell you because there are so many really neat things to learn.
Speaker A:And I'm being general.
Speaker A:I'm not even getting detailed.
Speaker A:Moving on.
Speaker A:So in order to lower a clogged duck, or I should say not lower, but to keep it from happening, you got to remove the milk.
Speaker A:That means you need to breastfeed often.
Speaker A:Again, flow.
Speaker A:Super, super important massage.
Speaker A:Just went over that.
Speaker A:Anytime you can move that breast tissue around, the better.
Speaker A:Hang loose.
Speaker A:Oh, like I've been talking about, like, let those puppies free.
Speaker A:Don't wear a bra if you don't have to.
Speaker A:Don't wear clothes if you don't have to.
Speaker A:Like, there an organ outside your body right now that's literally the receptacle for food for your baby.
Speaker A:Anything you do to take care of them is the best way to go massaging the cl.
Speaker A:I like this one for the most part, massaging the clogged area with an electric toothbrush or massager can shake loose the clog.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker A:Isn't that.
Speaker A:Yeah, you could do that.
Speaker A:Now, I think that the electric toothbrush is a little bit too stimulating.
Speaker A:It's going to buzz too fast.
Speaker A:Whereas a massager, you can usually change that vibration.
Speaker A:I will tell you, if you know me at all, if you've listened to any episode at all, I'm all about frequencies, energy and vibration.
Speaker A:Told you guys a thousand times.
Speaker A:And that is a great way to get energy into the breast tissue, because friction.
Speaker A:Excuse me, vibration works.
Speaker A:Frequencies work.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Find a massager that you like that is not too stimulating, that the.
Speaker A:That the device that's on the skin doesn't irritate you.
Speaker A:And I work on pressures area.
Speaker A:And by the way, it doesn't have to be.
Speaker A:I can't really show you so much.
Speaker A:It doesn't always have to be the breast itself.
Speaker A:You have lymphatic up here, and you have lymphatic underneath your armpit.
Speaker A:So you can work all of this down in your armpit and the breast tissue.
Speaker A:Okay, this is all part of the same network.
Speaker A:So you can start up here with the massager.
Speaker A:You can work down in the armpit a little bit over the breast tissue, that kind of thing.
Speaker A:And of course, do both sides.
Speaker A:Okay, warm up.
Speaker A:There would be your.
Speaker A:There would be your.
Speaker A:Your.
Speaker A:Get it out.
Speaker A:Eric, your water bottle.
Speaker A:Okay, so warm up.
Speaker A:Use the water bottle, because when you're warming it up, you melt fats.
Speaker A:And there's a lot of fats in breast milk, so they can get a little clogged up.
Speaker A:If you're not moving that flow.
Speaker A:Look up photos of clogged ducks, if you don't mind looking at stuff like that.
Speaker A:And you're gonna see some crazy things that come out of women.
Speaker A:All right?
Speaker A:So you don't want to get those things clogged up.
Speaker A:Keep it moving, keep it warmed up, keep feeding, and keep that flow.
Speaker A:That flow is ridiculously important.
Speaker A:I don't agree with the keeping cool side of things at all whatsoever.
Speaker A:Hands on.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's, again, more of the, like, expressing, but like, you know, movement.
Speaker A:Creating movement.
Speaker A:Frequent and efficient milk removal with a good latch.
Speaker A:Yes, pumping.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:Not a big fan of that, as you know.
Speaker A:But the good latch.
Speaker A:The latch is probably the number one thing that you can work on with the child, I would say number one is latching properly.
Speaker A:The right angle or how you feed, you know, are you laying down on your side?
Speaker A:Are you holding the baby?
Speaker A:Where's the baby at?
Speaker A:Taking care of your health every single day, all the time.
Speaker A:Maintaining your health is really, really good.
Speaker A:And then flow.
Speaker A:By using these techniques, you should never have any problems.
Speaker A:And then they say, watch out, a severely clogged duck may turn into mastitis.
Speaker A:We're going to get into that.
Speaker A:Well, we're at 27 minutes.
Speaker A:I think I'm going to stop there and finish up in the next one.
Speaker A:I'm sorry.
Speaker A:These are, there's a lot we're talking about here, and it's very, very, very important to take care of your child, to breastfeed the best way possible.
Speaker A:And I don't just want to blast through these and you don't understand anything.
Speaker A:I want you to get the gist of it.
Speaker A:I know a lot of this is stuff you maybe heard before.
Speaker A:Some of it is my opinion, and others of it is just basic physics, nutrition, you know, health stuff that I've known of forever or, you know, people have talked about forever.
Speaker A:It's a collective knowledge base of how to make your life better.
Speaker A:And since, like I said in the very beginning of episode one, the baby can't tell you, is he HUNGRY?
Speaker A:Is he Hurting?
Speaker A:DOes he have a headache?
Speaker A:Does his, you know, gastrointestinal system, like, not feel good?
Speaker A:Does his tummy not feel good?
Speaker A:Any number of things he can't tell you.
Speaker A:He just cries.
Speaker A:So anything we can do.
Speaker A:And what basically do you give a baby?
Speaker A:You hold them, you hug them, you kiss them, you talk to them, but they're really just an eating machine for a long time until they can start talking.
Speaker A:And so mothEr's MilK, is that important?
Speaker A:Thank you for listening.
Speaker A:Today we'll get into more episode four.
Speaker A:I can't believe I'm saying episode four, but if you're enjoying this content, I'm going to get into some more stuff maybe you'll like.
Speaker A:And then, and we're going to.
Speaker A:We are definitely going to get into.
Speaker A:If you can't breastfeed, what to do?
Speaker A:I'm going there.
Speaker A:I'm going to get you there.
Speaker A:Don't worry.
Speaker A:All right, that's enough for today.
Speaker A:Thank you for listening.
Speaker A:Take care of yourselves.
