The Boob Group
Babywearing and Breastfeeding

Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

(00:00:00)
Paige Plihal: Wraps, carriers, slings: Oh my! How does a new family decide which ones to use and which ones are best for breastfeeding? I am Paige Plihal, experienced babywearer and owner of Beachy Bundles, a baby-wearing consultation and custom carrier design business, in San Diego, California. This is The Boob Group.

[Theme Music/Intro]

Robin Kaplan: Welcome to The Boob Group, broadcasting from the Birth Education Center of San Diego. I am your host Robin Kaplan. I am also a certified Lactation Consultant and owner of the San Diego Breastfeeding Center. At The Boob Group, we are your online support group for all things related to breastfeeding. Have you checked out our fabulous articles on our blog yet? We have several moms who have offered to blog about their breastfeeding experiences for The Boob Group and I am completely blown away by their stories. If you are interested in sharing your breastfeeding stories, feel free to contact me through the link on The Boob Group website. And that’s at https://www.newmommymedia.com. Today, I’m joined by three lovely panelists. Would you like to introduce yourselves ladies?

Jessica Hilt: I am Jessica Hilt. I am 36. I am a Technical Outreach Co-coordinator and a fiction writer. I have one daughter, Eleanor, who is just one year old.

Christina Williams: I am Christina Williams, I’m 33 years old. I am a Medical Educator and I have one daughter, Paige, who is 6 months.

Susan Carrasco: And I’m Susan Carrasco, I am 36 years old. I am a Pediatric Occupational Therapist and I have one daughter, Amelia. She’s 3 months old.

Robin Kaplan: Welcome to the show ladies.

[Theme Music]
[Featured Segments: Ask the Experts - How can I quickly restore milk supply?]

Robin Kaplan: Before we start our interview, here is a question from one of our listeners.

Samantha: Hi. This is Samantha calling from Rhode Island and I have a question for The Boob Group. Hi Robin. My question involves my 2 month old newborn. I did a really good job when my son was first born, of pumping, in addition to feeding him directly, just to store up extra milk, so I could freeze it and always have it on hand, just in case I wasn’t around if my son needed to eat. Well, we’ve just had some friends come into town and I didn’t realize this at the time, but apparently, all of my extra surplus breast milk was used, while they were in town. And I went to look in the freezer and I had one bag left. And, I am kind of freaking out about this, because right now, I’m really just producing enough for my son. I haven’t pumped at least, in probably a month or so. So my question to you is, is there a quick and easy way to increase your milk supply in this type of situation. If I want to just basically replenish the extra milk that I had in my freezer. I’ve heard about several pills you can get, things that are ‘all natural’ to increase your milk supply. I also know that frequent pumping does increase your milk supply, I just don’t know how quickly all this takes effect and like I said, I’d really like to stock up my supply as quickly as possible. So if you have any ideas, I would love to hear them. Thanks so much, bye, bye.

Robin Kaplan: Hi Samantha, this is Robin Kaplan from The Boob Group and thank you so much for your question. I definitely get this question a lot from different moms that I work with and you know, to be honest, it’s a little bit hard to have a quick and easy fix for increasing supply. Now, granted, you are already working with what seems like a really good supply if you were able to put some milk in the freezer and actually have quite a stash, so, you know, you are really good and you have a really good launching point essentially, so…, but, how quickly you would be able to create that…, that storage in your freezer, really all depends on how much effort you want to put into it. And so, you know, definitely, you can try herbs. The most common herbs that women will use to increase breast milk and their supply would be Fenugreek, Blessed Bristle, Shot of Ari Root and Molingay. The thing with herbs is that you always want to check and just make sure that they are not going to react with any medications that you are taking or it’s unsafe based on a medical condition that you have. So for example Fenugreek is not recommended for moms who are diabetic. And so, because it messes with the insulin and so…, because I don’t know your medical history, I can’t you know, let you…, you know, I can’t obviously advice you on taking that one in particular, but it would be something that you could look into yourself.

Another one is definitely some extra pumping like you had mentioned and I often recommend moms to just pick one time during the day. Often, I usually recommend in the mornings to be honest, because I find that most moms are most full in the morning and so, after your baby has fed from that first morning feed around, you know, 7, 8 or 9 o’clock in the morning and your baby’s nice and calm, just pump right afterward. And if you do that every day, what it’s doing is essentially hitting that re-start button on your breast and so it’s draining them completely and will help them to start increasing over time as well as you’ll start getting a little surplus again back in your freezer. You can always add in more pumping. I just, you know, I don’t like to recommend too much pumping for moms because I know that it often adds a lot of stress. And so, unless there is a real medical reason that you need to increase your pumping, really once a day or even twice a day, maybe right before you go to bed as well, would be really helpful.

A few other ways to increase milk supply would be seeing an acupuncturist, especially one who is well versed in women’s health. I have a lot of moms who will see their supply increase right after seeing an acupuncturist, so that might really help kick-start your supply as well. Another one would be just increasing your water as well as making sure eating warm nourishing foods and even adding something into your water, like a green superfood. So something that’s like powdered spirulina and things highly…, with a lot of chlorofil. Essentially, that can really help increase your supply.

And then, I just found this company online that actually sells Lactation Cookies. You know I’ve never tried them myself, but shoot…, I mean oatmeal and chocolate-chip or raisin and it also…., they most…, they did tend to have fenugreek, so again, if that’s something that your body does not process well, you don’t want to take these, but if you seem to be a good candidate for fenugreek, why not try the lactation cookies? You can buy them online. They send them to you. You can buy as many as you want and they have them where you can actually order like a month’s worth of them and then just keep them in your freezer and defrost them whenever you want. So, I say, “Why not?” I mean, you are breastfeeding, you need those extra calories anyway, and why not get them through whole grains and oats and chocolate which is a nice, enjoyable thing to eat anyway. So, definitely check those out online too. So, I hope that helps Samantha and again, thank you so much for your question and calling The Boob Group hotline.

[Theme Music]

Robin Kaplan: Today on The Boob Group, we are discussing babywearing and breastfeeding. Two of my favorite topics. Our expert

Paige Plihal is an experienced babywearerer and owner of Beachy Bundles, a babywearing consultation and custom carrier design business in San Diego, California. Thanks for joining us Paige and welcome to the show.

Paige Plihal: Thanks so much for having me.

Robin Kaplan: So Paige, tell us. How old are your kiddos and how did you get into babywearing?

Paige Plihal: I have a four-year-old daughter Nani, and a two-year-old son, Colin. I actually knew I wanted to babywear from the time I was pregnant. I first received a pouch sling at my baby shower for my daughter and really loved it the first few months. And I got further into babywearing as we grew and the inability to adjust the pouch sling became a problem in comfort level.

Robin Kaplan: Alright, so tell us. There are so many different types of carriers, wraps and slings and how…., how do we choose which ones are best for us and our babies?

Paige Plihal: There really are so many wonderful options now. The first thing that I always want to mention when talking about choosing a baby carrier, is choosing one that allows you to carry your baby safely. Upright, chin off of their chest, kissable and visible are the things that we always want to mention when talking about safe babywearing. And you want to be able to keep them in those great positions when nursing them in the carrier as well. There are many that are very popular, very well known. The Mobi is a stretchy wrap that can be used from newborn to generally about 15 to 20 pounds. There is also Woven Wrap which is similar in style to the Mobi, but is a little bit more support due to the weave of the fabric and its diagonal stretch versus knit stretch. Mei Teis are another wonderful type of carrier. Some common brands are Cozy, Baby Hot, San Diego Company. These are a square fabric modeled after a traditional Asian carrier, with four straps coming off and they can be tied on. They are very versatile, able to be adjusted for all different wearers and wonderful from birth on also.

Then you have soft-structured carriers which are similar to the Mei Tei then it’s a square carrier with four straps, but this buckles on instead of tying. They are also very versatile, there are different sizes. Many brands are popular, Ergos, the most commonly known Tula, is the wonderful company owned by a San Diego mom, one of my new favorites. Also, some other new versions of those are the Beko, Baby Hot makes it, Oh Snap, just lots of different options in that regard. And then lastly, you have a Ring Sling, which is just a piece of fabric with two rings on it … in … one.

Robin Kaplan: Very cool. And so, would you say the different carriers are better for different age of baby or there are ones that can be used from birth till whenever?

Paige Plihal: With different techniques, all of these carriers that I mentioned before are able to be used from birth to until you can’t carry them anymore. There is definitely carrier types that are more ideal for specific ages for example, a soft structure carrier like Ergo or Tula that I mentioned can be used with a newborn, using either one of their specially designed infant inserts or a technique that involves rolling up a receiving blanket. My favorite carrier for brand new babies was a woven wrap or ring sling, because some babies do like to be carried legs out from birth and it’s a little bit harder to adjust in a standard size Mei Tei or some of these soft-structure carriers.

Robin Kaplan: And, I mean, the cool thing that I found, I remember my kids……, I wore them from the time that they were born as well and we’d stopped wearing them after they, you know, got too heavy to carry essentially. And then, we were at a concert about, I guess around about a year and a half ago, and my son was 5 and my other son was 4 and we were going to be at this concert all day and we wanted to be at the concert all day because Pearl Jam was finishing off at the end and my kids love Pearl Jam which…., which I…, God I love those kids! But essentially, but he didn’t go on until 8 o’clock at night. And so, I …, we knew they were going to be exhausted and my sister-in-law is a huge babywearerer and has probably 50 different types of carriers and wraps and everything like that and so she brought them along with us and so we put our boys on the back and I guess similar to like a Mei Tei and we had them on our back for about an hour and a half. And these are 40-pound boys who were awake and they had their heads lean to the side so they could watch Eddie better rock out and I was just like, “I can’t believe I can still use this! Like that is just fantastic!” And so, that just made me even more passionate about, you know, recommending babywearing to moms because I mean, just the length that you can use them was just so wonderful.

Paige Plihal: They really are wonderful. I wore my six-year-old sister a few years ago at the zoo, in a woven wrap, when she got too tired when we were in town, visiting and couldn’t walk anymore.

Robin Kaplan: Yeah, and it’s so great because you don’t have to run to the front of the zoo and actually get one of the strollers and things like that if you are down at the polar bears. If anyone knows the San Diego Zoo, it is enormous, and the last thing you want to do is have to figure out how to carry your six-year-old back up from the polar bears. So…., well ladies, what wraps and carriers and babywearing products have you used with your babies? How about you Jessica?

Jessica Hilt: Well, I first got into babywearing, because my Lactation Consultant actually recommended it. My daughter was tongue-tied and needed to have it clipped and we actually had to finger feed her. She wasn’t latching properly, so I really couldn’t breastfeed for long periods of time. And I was feeling so emotionally detached from her and really just had a very hard time feeling bonded to her, that she recommended that I start doing babywearing. And I had a Mobi given to me from a friend of mine, and so I put her in the Mobi and it was just astonishing, how much more connected I felt with her just from wearing her. However, after two weeks in the Mobi, I really was having a hard time getting her hoisted the right way, and I’m really bad at Origami and that’s just like Baby Origami, so, she was too little for an Ergo without the infant insert, so we did use the Bjorn for a little while, but we quickly transitioned to the Ergo and now, we use an Ergo all the time and she’s one and she doesn’t….., she hardly is in the stroller because she loves it so much. We go everywhere.

Robin Kaplan: How about you Christina?

Christina Williams: I started babywearing right when she was born. She was very colicky and she really needed a lot of constant contact. And I was fine with that. It was great to have her on me all of the time. So, I wore her in a Mobi also, when she was just a newborn and then I graduated to a soft-structured carrier, with the receiving blanket trick that Paige talked about.

Robin Kaplan: Susan, I know that…, that you’ve had a little bit of a challenge with Amelia trying to figure out, you know, which type to of carrier she would approve of, than most than be most comfortable in….

Susan Carrasco: Sure! That was a stinker!

Robin Kaplan: I know, so, what is your experience with that?

Susan Carrasco: I always blame it…., you know, mommy always blames it on herself, but I didn’t start my babywearing until later on in the game. I had had, as you know Robin, many breastfeeding issues and just was really sensitive in that chest area. And it was all I could do to continue my breastfeeding because I couldn’t handle the touch. So, unfortunately, I started later in the game and my little girl just isn’t the most snuggly. She wants to be facing outward and seeing what’s going on. So, I have…, and this was a question you know, I have for Paige, like I have a lot of the facing inward structured carriers, soft carriers, she just fusses and fusses…., so I’ve been trying them, literally every day, a few minutes at a time, to hope, that she’ll one day say “I love it!”, you know….

[Laughter]

Susan Carrasco: But not so much! So, I tried for the very first time, in fact, on Wednesday, the outward-facing carrier just in my home and she was in Hog Heaven! So, you know, I don’t know if that’s just the way we are going to have to go or if there is any other advice, is the question, for facing inward, because I love them. They are more…, it was comfier for me, to have her in the facing inward carriers, but she didn’t like it.

Paige Plihal: Right, because she’s against your center of gravity and it’s a little bit easier for you to move around. She’s how old again?

Susan Carrasco: About four months. Almost 4 months.

Paige Plihal: That’s really typical at that age. They are really becoming more of aware of the world around them and there is so much that they want to see and be involved in. One of the things that I recommend in…., at that age, is to try a high-back carrier for the first time. It could be really daunting and a little bit scary, but do it with a spotter, find maybe a video on YouTube, I’ve got a couple up there. There’s also lots of other wonderful educators who’ve created some tutorials. And put…, you know, put the computer on, in front of you, get down on the floor over the couch and have your husband or a spotter behind you and maybe even use a mirror to make sure that you are doing it correctly. And that can be a great…., a great alternative to facing out. There’s also some carriers that are made to support baby’s hips a little bit better than some, so that when they are facing out, they are still a little bit more seated and their legs are still in a nice spread squat position. You could look for some of those. The Beko Gemini is one that comes to mind. Well, also, there is alternative carriers you can do in a ring sling, where they are almost facing out, but their legs are still inside, but they are up against you, and they still have somewhere to turn, get away from over-stimulation, when they have seen what they want to see and they are able to connect with you in that way.

Robin Kaplan: Yeah, Paige I remember you would come to our support group to talk about all the different products that were out there and you had a baby with you and I think he was about 6 months old and you would put him in that…., how do you describe that? The high-back carrier? Is that essentially just because he’s higher up on your back or that they are lower on your back?

Paige Plihal: Right, definitely. So they can look out over your shoulders, but then they have a safe place to escape and tuck in when they are….

Robin Kaplan: Yeah. And I just remember he was up, he was alert, he was checking everything out and then he needed to go to sleep and he just rested his head on your shoulder and you pulled something over the top of his head essentially to hold it in there?

Paige Plihal: Yeah. I was using a woven rack and I just pulled what’s called a Pass over his head.

Robin Kaplan: Okay and he just…., he slept for like another half an hour there and he was just super cozy, so…, yeah.

Susan Carrasco: I’m just wondering with the high-back carriers, is that something that only can be done with like a woven? Like I have an Ergo, and I know when I put her…., I don’t usually put her on my back, but we have, in the Ergo and it’s kind of like she’s just looking into the back.

[Laughter]

Paige Plihal: Right. No, it actually can be done with a soft structured carrier. What you would do is clip the carrier together a little bit higher right underneath your chest, maybe, and tighten it and then you will also definitely want to tighten the straps up a little bit more. So, that’s a little bit trickier to do depending on the baby’s size, but it can be done.

Robin Kaplan: Okay, fantastic. Well when we come back, we will be discussing tips for mastering breastfeeding while babywearing as well as resources for finding your favorite baby carer or baby carrier. I’ll say that again! When we come back, we’ll discuss Tips for Mastering Breastfeeding while Babywearing as well as Resources for Finding Your Favi…., what is wrong with me?!

[Laughter]

Paige Plihal: Your Favi Baby!

Robin Kaplan: My favi baby! Okay, well, when we come back, we’ll discuss tips for Mastering Breastfeeding while Babywearing as well as Resources for finding your Favorite Baby Carrier. We’ll be right back.

[Theme Music]

Robin Kaplan: So welcome back to the show. We have Paige Plihal talking about babywearing and now we are going to enter into breastfeeding while babywearing. So, I’ve had several mom friends who’ve truly mastered how to breastfeed while they are wearing their babies. Unfortunately, I was not so successful, it was fine, I mean I carried my babies everywhere, but we usually had to make a pit stop and I would sit down on a bench or something if we were out and breastfeed. So, first kind of throw it out to our panelists. Ladies have you attempted this at all? And was it difficult to learn and how did you…., how did you make it happen if you did?

Susan Carrasco: I breastfed in the Ergo and it was difficult to learn and it’s a lot of boob to be throwing around. I am a very well endowed woman and sometimes you are just like, “Wow, I’m really going to try to do this while the kid is in the carrier?” But it worked. I actually found that my mommy friends that had smaller breasts actually did it a lot easier than I did, but I do remember being in…. There’s a restaurant very close to the….., the breastfeeding support group that Robin runs that we would go to that had an outdoor park and we would all stand around and our babies would be breastfeeding in the Ergos and we would be chatting and you know, eating and having a good time and I remember the owner of the restaurant coming by and having a whole conversation with me and all I kept thinking “If he looks down he will see that I’m breastfeeding my child!” And he didn’t, so that’s good!

Robin Kaplan: And he may have, but you know, they are a very breastfeeding-friendly establishment as well so, I mean who doesn’t love a restaurant and a bar that has a playground in it?

[Laughter]

Robin Kaplan: Right? They are brilliant! But, no, that’s so cool! How about you Christina?

Christina Williams: I’ve tried. I haven’t tried very hard. My daughter is super-distracted and so, when I’ve tried, she’s like “What? What? What?” and I haven’t really gotten her to focus enough to be able to do it in the carrier.

Robin Kaplan: Yeah. And Susan, I wonder if…., I wonder if Amelia would be interested in doing it? Maybe that would keep her facing forward if you had a naked breast in there for her!

[Laughter]

Susan Carrasco: Maybe I should try it! [Laughs] I honestly haven’t tried because of some of our breastfeeding issues. She latches on and off umpteen times during a session, so I never thought it would be ideal, but I think I might go home and try!

[Laughter]

Robin Kaplan: Try and practice at home, that’s for sure!

Susan Carrasco: Yeah, yeah.

Robin Kaplan: Paige, do you have advice for, you know, how moms can learn how to breastfeed while babywearing.

Paige Plihal: It definitely takes practice as you mentioned, just like breastfeeding. You have to kind of create the initial teaching your baby how to do it. You have to work really hard at it and sometimes you have some challenges, like baby might be a little bit distracted and popping off but I find that the carriers are actually really helpful and that they enclose baby a little bit more so that they are focused and all they can see is milk and you know, they are nursing. So, some of the things that I like to recommend when someone’s just beginning to try nursing in a carrier is to watch for baby’s cues that they are just about to be hungry, you know, see some of the lip-smacking. And that might be a good time to go ahead and put the carrier on, put them in and offer the breast before they get screaming hungry and see what they’ll do. I also suggest sitting down in a couch or in your rocking chair, where-ever you typically nurse them at home, or a comfortable place for them and maybe even just putting the carrier in with you, or wrapping them around a little bit, so that they can get used to the texture, the feel of it. And then, when you are finally ready to go ahead and try nursing them for a full session, do it when you are maybe going to go on a walk, so that you aren’t necessarily needing to be hands free completely and you can go ahead and support, help them hold that latch perfectly while they get used to it for a few sessions.

Robin Kaplan: Oh, those are great tips. And we have a lot of moms who will come to the support group and actually practice there as well. And at first, I was like: “Gosh, why are they sitting there with their baby in a baby carrier? We are sitting on bean bag chairs, like you should be relaxed”, and I realized, “Ah, this is a perfect place to try it out!”, because if you flash a boob or if your baby doesn’t like it, then, you know, at least, you are in a safe space, where the other women will be like, “Why don’t you try this?” or also just like, “Alright, just take him out and feed him then”.

Jessica Hilt: Well, I would say is what always amazed me, is I never thought that I would want to breastfeed in the baby carrier. Like, whoa, I’m not so busy that I have to breastfeed on the go! But, if you go to the airport, it’s brilliant! You know you have to catch a plane, there’s not a nice place to sit down. Sometimes you are in a situation where you’re not…, you don’t want to let the kid near where-ever you are sitting, it’s gross or it’s sticky or whatever and having them in the carrier it’s just so much easier.

Robin Kaplan: Paige, would you say that there is a particular style of baby carrier that is more conducive to breastfeeding in, or do you find that pretty much all of them can kind of work for that?

Paige Plihal: Well, any of these carriers that I mentioned that are ergonomically correct designed with the baby, keeping in that nice spread, squat position and close to mom’s center of gravity, or the wearer’s center of gravity, are really wonderful for nursing in. I always found it easiest to nurse in a woven wrapper ring-sling, because those for me, created a little bit of a barrier between baby and the outside world they were enveloped in. It was just like a really nice cozy space for them. It can definitely done in an Ergo soft-structured carrier or a Mei Tei. Any of these are really wonderful and fairly easy to nurse into with some practice. But I do want to mention, as I was…, as I talked about safe babywearing, you want to make sure that you are nursing safely in a carrier as well. So, if you do turn baby into a cradle position to nurse them, make sure that as soon as they are done, you pop them back up-right and they are still in a good spread, squat position still. Chin off their chest and able to kiss and visible. And then, it’s always a good idea to wait and try this until baby is just a little bit more used to nursing. You don’t necessarily want to throw a three or four day old……

[Laughter]

Robin Kaplan: Exactly. Paige what are your favorite resources for learning about babywearing and all these different types of babywearing products?

Paige Plihal: Hands-down, the most complete resource online is https://thebabywearer.com . It’s an incredible community of women that has been nurtured for over 10 years. There is an amazing history of forums, chats, tutorials, articles written by a lot of really wonderful babywearerers, moms and dads. It’s just…., it’s really amazing. Additionally, local babywearing groups – San Diego Babywearers is a wonderful resource. It’s huge and very active, great for moms down here in Southern California. Natural baby stores are a great resource, Babywearing blogs and then there is also some wonderful Facebook babywearing groups that are ….
Robin Kaplan: Yeah, San Diego has a fantastic babywearing group on Facebook, where I’ve noticed that many of the comments are not even about babywearing now. They are just, you know, breastfeeding, different types of parenting, baby products and stuff like that, which are just…, it’s a wonderful community that’s been created….

Paige Plihal: Right! There’s over 600 members!

Robin Kaplan: Wow! And I wonder how many people are actually from San Diego? Because, you know, because it’s on Facebook, you can get that resource even not living here you may not be able to see these women face-to-face, but you can still access all of their wonderful advice.

Paige Plihal: Right, yeah we definitely have members who are friends of San Diego moms who have been at it because it’s such a great resource.

Robin Kaplan: Wonderful. And do you have any recommendation for ways that parents can try out these baby carriers before they spend a ton of money?

Paige Plihal: Well, I definitely recommend trying to find a local group. Generally, they have a library that you can try on and San Diego are really lucky to have an amazing extensive lending library that….

Robin Kaplan: How many carriers are in there?

Paige Plihal: I think they are doing an inventory right now, but between the Central and North County libraries, I would guess there are probably at least 70.

Robin Kaplan: Wow!

Paige Plihal: It’s huge.

Robin Kaplan: So that anyone can borrow?

Paige Plihal: You pay a membership fee and then you leave a deposit with the carers. But yes, anyone is welcome to join and welcome to borrow. So, other great resources to try them on, are to go to into a local brick and mortar store, go into a Natural Baby store that sells the products. They are usually happy to let you try out a tester. There are a few different shops that have rental programs online….

Robin Kaplan: Oh, no kidding?!

Paige Plihal: Which is really neat. Yeah. Again, you pay a deposit, they send you the carrier, you get to try it out for a week, two weeks, send it back and then, they’ll generally give you a gift certificate or a discount to the store when you return the carrier in great condition.

Robin Kaplan: Okay. Fantastic. Ladies, do you have any recommendations where you found your carriers, how you figured out which one you wanted to use or just anything you love about babywearing you want to share?

Jessica Hilt: I think the best resource for me, was other people. You know, we have lots who‘d either do baby carrying or did it one time and you know, if their kids are grown, they might still have a baby carrier around and they’ll let you borrow one. That’s how I got my Mobi. It was gifted to me. And then, my friend was really into her Ergo and that made me buy an Ergo. Yeah. That’s where I got mine.

Susan Carrasco: The Breastfeeding Support Group. A lot of us had different carriers and we just passed them around and lent them to each other for a period of time and that worked really great.

Christina Williams: And I actually did go to one of the San Diego Babyfeeding groups, excuse me, babywearing groups and I plan to go in the future as well because of the library. They are doing an inventory now, so I was unable to check anything out, but it’s a great resource because there are women there that are just …., they know all about babywearing and so them my situation and they saw my daughter and they were like, “Okay, you need to try this and this,” and so I plan to continue to try and go to and find one that works for us.

Robin Kaplan: Fantastic. Any last thoughts Paige?

Paige Plihal: I do want to mention that these carriers are really wonderful because, generally they are ergonomically correct carriers, hold their resale value really well. Like you mentioned, friends like to hand them around. There are some wonderful for sale or trade forwards on the babywearer. https://www.packsbaby.com is a local Southern California business that offers a used carrier. Carrier Sale or classifieds - https://www.wovenwraps.com is another Southern California website that offers the carrier classifieds and then, within San Diego, of course our communities is always buying, selling and trading.

Robin Kaplan: Yeah. Absolutely. Oh, and will you tell us a little bit about: you create them as well. You design them. So, will you tell us a little bit about that side of your business?

Paige Plihal: Right. Sure, yeah. One of the …., one of the carrier types that I mentioned – the Mei Tei, it’s been very popular to create those out of a woven wrap, because you are combining two really wonderful different carriers and getting one of…., some of the amazing properties of a woven wrap, which has a diagonal stretch, they are very cushy, it’s just a wonderful fabric made specifically for carrying a baby and you are combining it with the ease and the quick use of a Mei Tei. And so, I specialize in woven wrap conversion Mei Teis.

Robin Kaplan: Nice. And how can someone buy one from you?

Paige Plihal: Oh, I have a Facebook page – Beachy Bundles.com. I’m actually also working on launching a website in the next couple of weeks.

Robin Kaplan: Alright. Fantastic. Well, you have to keep us posted so we can share your information when it’s up.

Paige Plihal: Absolutely!

Robin Kaplan: Alright. Wonderful. Well, thank you so much ladies for your insight into the world of breastfeeding, babywearing and the tons of fabulous ways you can discreetly breastfeed your babies while wearing them. Thank you for joining us.

[Theme Music]
[Featured Segments: Overcoming Societal Booby Traps - Why should a newborn bath wait?]

Robin Kaplan: Before we wrap up our show today, here’s Lara Audelo from Best for Babes talking about overcoming booby traps.

Lara Audelo: Hi Boob Group listeners. I am Lara Audelo, a certified lactation educator, the retail manager for Best of Babes and owner of Mama Bear Designs. I’m here to answer some of your most common questions about how you can achieve your personal breastfeeding goals without being undermined by cultural and institutional bobby traps. Such as: Why should the newborn bath wait?

Babies can make a pretty messy entrance into the world, but some gentle toweling off, ideally on the mom’s chest, can go a long way to removing the goop. What the evidence strongly suggests, however, is that dealing with it by whisking the baby away to its first bath is dangerous in several ways. It negatively affects baby’s body temperature and can be harmful to breastfeeding too. Why? Because a baby’s instinct is to crawl to the breast and he or she is driven by the sense of smell. On the impact of birthing practices on breastfeeding, Linda Smith explains: The senses of smell and touch are especially powerful triggers of infant and maternal behavior. The newborn sense of smell is especially acute in the first hours, triggering breast seeking behaviors and movements. Washing or bathing the mother or baby, removes olfactory cues to support breastfeeding and attachment and best should be avoided. We can see this behavior in the breast crawl. The instinctual movements of the newborn towards the breasts in the first hours after birth and the research have shown a marked difference in breast crawl behaviors between babies who were bathed and babies who weren’t. The sense of smell and particularly the smell of amniotic fluid on the baby and a similar smell to mother’s breast appears to be one factor unlocking the sequence of this instinctive behavior. It is also worn out by the fact that when a baby’s hands are washed, she or he is less likely to do the instinctual hand-to-mouth movements typically seen in the first hour after birth.

For these reasons, the California Department of Public Health, to name one of many health authorities, recommends in its Model Hospital Tool Kit, babies are usually most ready to breastfeed during the first hour after birth. And for the normal newborn, this should occur prior to such interventions, such as the newborn bath, glucose sticks, foot-printing and eye treatments. During the first day of life, skin-to-skin time and breastfeeding should take priority over every other routine event such as infant bathing, pictures and visitors. A lot of mom’s feel that they have this option. Unfortunately, some moms are still pressured to have their babies bathed early on. If your concerned if your baby might be bathed in the first hour or that it might interrupt your skin-to-skin experience on your first day, you can specify your wishes in your birth plan and discuss this with your providers. A special thank you to Tanya Liebermann, IBCLC, for writing the Booby Trap Series for Best for Babes. Visit https://www.bestforbabes.org for more great information about how to meet your personal breastfeeding goals. In my website https://www.mamapeardesigns.com for breastfeeding supportive wearables. And be sure to listen to the Boob Group for fantastic conversations about breastfeeding and breastfeeding support.

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Robin Kaplan: Thank you to all of our listeners. I hope you will visit our website: https://www.theboobgroup.com and our Facebook page to offer your advice about breastfeeding and babywearing. If you have any questions about today’s show or the topics we discussed, call our Boob Group hotline at 619-866-4775 and we’ll answer your question on an upcoming episode. If you're a breastfeeding topic you’d like to suggest, we would love to hear it. So simply visit our website at https://www.newmommymedia.com and send us an email through the contact link. Thanks for listening to the Boob Group because mothers know breast.

[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media Production. The information material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. Though such information materials are believed to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional medical advice or care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problems or disease or prescribing any medication. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified healthcare provider.

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