Preggie Pals
Understanding Pregnancy Food Cravings and Aversions

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]

[Theme Music]

Peggy Korody : Most pregnant women will experience at least one food craving or aversions during their pregnancy. So, what can the classic pickles and ice-cream craving and others tell us about our body's needs? What are some of the most common pregnancy food cravings and aversions? Should we listen to our body and indulge in these cravings? I'm Peggy Korody, registered dietitian, and this is Preggie Pals, episode 63.

[Theme Music/Intro]

Sunny Gault : Welcome to Preggie Pals, broadcasting from the Birth Education Center of San Diego. Preggie Pals is your weekly online, on the go support group for expecting parents and those hoping to become pregnant. I'm your host, Sunny Gault. Have you joined our Preggie Pals Club? Our members get access to all of our archived episodes, bonus content after each new show, plus special giveaways and discounts. You'll also get a one year free subscription to Pregnancy Magazine when you sign up. Visit our website, PreggiePals.com, for more information. And thanks to everyone who is listening to this episode through our awesome Preggie Pals apps, we have a couple of them, they're available in the Apple and Android marketplace. It is the best way, in my personal opinion, to listen on the go. I know that because I have two children at home already, we are always on the go doing different things, and it is nice to be able to listen to the episodes on the phone, because yes, even though I do the episodes, it's nice to listen to them again. And our apps are absolutely free, so go ahead and download them today. So let's meet our panelists here in the studio, we will start with Kristy. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Kristy Iris : I'm Kristy, I'm 41, and I'm actually one of the Preggie Pals bloggers right now, and I am due on labor day with a little girl, it's our first, and we're planning a birth center birth at the hospital. Hospital – birth center.

Sunny Gault : Alright, so, Stephanie, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Stephanie Saalfeld : Hi, I'm Stephanie, I'm 30, I have a little six month old, almost six month old, little girl at home, so I'm a stay at home mom and producer for Preggie Pals.

Sunny Gault : OK, and joining us on the phone is Caitrin, and she is calling us from Nevada. So Caitrin, tell us a little bit more about yourself.

Caitrin Clewell : Hi, I'm Caitrin, I'm 26, and I worked overnights at WalMart, so I've actually been out for quite a while. I'm due August 26th, with my first child, a boy, and I also have two step kids.

Sunny Gault : Alright, well welcome to the show! I can tell you guys a little bit about myself. I have two little boys as I mentioned earlier, one is three, one is one, I am pregnant again and last week we found out that I'm having identical twins, which is a very big surprize, and I will be a mother of four under four, which is another topic that I think we need to explore on our sister show Parent Savers, so I've got some tips on how to handle all of this. As far as the due date, we're due in December, but twins can come at any point after 36 weeks and still be perfectly healthy, so now we're kind of November – December. I'm not really sure when these little guys or girls are going to arrive, we don't know the gender yet, hoping to find out soon, but during my ultrasound, when they told me that I was having twins they tried to look and couldn't see anything yet, so we got to hold on I think for a couple more weeks. And I think that's it, we will be right back.

[Theme Music] [Featured Segment: Ask the Experts]

[00:04:12]

Sunny Gault : We have a question from one of our listeners, this comes from Deborah, and Deborah writes on our Facebook page actually. Deborah says, “Any all natural remedies or treatments for asthma? Unfortunately, my house was hit by a belt of bacteria pneumonia, and while the antibiotics are helping clear the infection, I'm having terrible asthma as a result. My doctor mentioned that because I am 21 weeks pregnant, I may continue to have asthma during the rest of my pregnancy” - that would be horrible! “The inhaler works for a little bit, but then I'm back to wheezing and coughing. Any recommendations?”

Tara Zandvliet : Hi Deborah! This is Dr. Tara Zandvliet. The key to asthma management in pregnancy is to make sure your baby has enough oxygen. That means you have to breath well. If you're not breathing well, use your inhaler. Sometimes you need to use an inhaled steroid even, which isn't great for the baby, but it's better than no air. To reduce the use of inhalers though, because I understand that's a good goal, there are some home remedies that work very well. The first thing, of course, is look for the sources of any allergies, like food, food intolerances, dust, animals, plants. Consider getting rid of carpets and getting really good filters on your vacuum, air conditioning vents or a hepa filter for your house. The next step is breathing exercises. They can help increase your lung capacity and sometimes even delays the need for an inhaler. You breath in for a count of ten, constantly inhaling, even though your lungs are full, and then blow out. Alternately, you can inhale in pulses counting to ten, some people find that easier to keep their lungs open while they're breathing in. You do this as many times a day as you can remember. And then there is tea. Caffeinated tea, believe it or not, like green or black teas, they have a chemical that is similar to the old asthma medicines. It is safe in moderation in pregnancy, and it can open the lungs pretty well. One mug, eight to ten ounces or so, up to three times a day, of course, not too late in the day, right? That's usually safe doze in pregnancy. You can breath in fresh time, herb time and some hot steam, time relaxes the muscles in the lungs and opens them up. So does magnesium. Magnesium is wonderful in pregnancy, but don't go over 250 milligrams a day. Omega fish oils and vitamin C have been proven helpful in asthma, and they can help. Eating ginger in your food is antiinflammatory, and that will help as well. One caution though is to avoid the herbal asthma teas, and the homeopathic asthma medicines, because some of the plants that they use can be harmful in pregnancy.

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[00:07:02]

Sunny Gault : Food cravings and aversions are common during pregnancy, especially during your first trimester. Peggy Korody is a registered dietitian and she's also a mom who has personally experienced food cravings and aversions during her own pregnancies. So Peggy, welcome to Preggie Pals!

Peggy Korody : Thank you!

Sunny Gault : Stephanie was talking earlier that we're going to nickname the show Peggy Pals! At least this episode it's going to be Peggy Pals in honor of our guest expert here. OK, Peggy, how common are pregnancy food cravings? As well as aversions, we're going to kind of lump them together here.

Peggy Korody : Very common, when you're pregnant you have the raging hormone, as everyone calls it, we have excess hormones and what those do is increase our sense of smell, and our sense of taste. And at the beginning of your pregnancy, in the first trimester, that's probably where you're going to get your aversions, because you're nauseous and may be vomiting, and so you're going to have an aversion to a food or smell, that might bring that on. So you are going to probably avoid foods in your first trimester, and hopefully, after you get through that first trimester, you do feel better and then you are probably going to start to really give in to the cravings.

Sunny Gault : OK, but it is possible to have cravings even in your first trimester?

Peggy Korody : Sure. Some people don't even get the morning sickness, but others do. For me, I had morning sickness my whole pregnancy. It was horrible, I ate because I had to eat, not because I wanted to, the whole pregnancy, so everybody's different, no two people are the same.

Sunny Gault : Of course. I have to ask the panelists here in the studio, as well as Caitrin on the phone, have you guys experienced this? When did you experience it in your pregnancy, and during the second half of the show we'll talk more specifically about what your aversions were, your cravings were, but for now, did you guys experience it at all? What do you think, Kristy?

Kristy Iris : I had a lot more aversions, I was never really nauseous, I wasn't throwing up most of my first trimester, but I just never felt great, so I was just averse to most food, and there was in particular – and to this day I am still averse to – one specific Mexican restaurant here in San Diego that begins with an R, I don't know if you want me to say names...

Sunny Gault : No.

Kristy Iris : And it feels kind of personal at this point, like I am happy to eat anywhere but this one place.

Sunny Gault : Really?

Kristy Iris : Yeah, I'm not averse anything else, really.

Sunny Gault : And it started during your pregnancy?

Kristy Iris : Yes. It was one of my favorite places to go before the pregnancy, and as soon as I was pregnant, and that was always... When we were trying to figure out where we wanted to eat, we kind of give each other like, “OK, what's your top three?”, and then we figure it out. And it was usually a good top three for me, most of the times, but as soon as I was pregnant I was like, “Anywhere but there”, and still no desire to go.

Sunny Gault : Really? That's really interesting. What about you, Stephanie?

Stephanie Saalfeld : OK, in the first trimester, I think I got by eating oranges, and oranges alone. And I craved the smell of oranges, so I don't know if there is something nutritionally based about that, but I think I've read somewhere that the smell of citrus is supposed to help with nausea, something like that. And fruit in general, but I had an aversion to fish my entire pregnancy, I could not eat. I couldn't smell fish, I couldn't eat fish, it just was... And I love fish, I could live on fish normally. And meat in general, I didn't want to cook chicken, I didn't want to look at the raw chicken, to cut it, to smell it. But now I'm OK, everything went away.

Sunny Gault : Once you're in the second trimester you don't know what it was like anymore.

Stephanie Saalfeld : It's funny that you mention that, and this specific restaurant, but I thought my kid was going to come out as a burrito. I could not get enough. That's all I wanted, Mexican food. Yeah, she wanted Mexican food, that's what she wanted. But nothing unusual though.

Sunny Gault : OK, so Caitrin, what about you, do you have any food cravings, without going into the specifics of all of them, or any aversions now in your pregnancy?

Caitrin Clewell : I definitely did in my first trimester, I actually had a pretty easy first trimester, I didn't have many morning sicknesses or anything like that, so I did crave a lot of healthy foods. They got away in my second trimester but then I noticed in my third that they were getting back, but in a different way. In my first trimester it was more just groups of foods, and now in my third, I'll just think of something or I'll see something, and I'll want it right now.

Stephanie Saalfeld : I've noticed that, I'll see a commercial for cheese cake, and I'm like, “Cheese cake sounds like such a good idea!” I'm a marketing victim all over. TV commercials are terrible, 'cause you are like, “Man, I want a pop tart!” I haven't had a pop tart since I was eight years old, and I want a pop tart. And it sounds like a really good idea at the time, I never eat pop tarts anymore, but I'm like, “Oooh, pop tarts!” And you're probably going to go out and get a pop tart anyway.

Sunny Gault : OK, Peggy, one of the things I wanted to touch on with something that Caitrin talked about, and that was something coming and going. Is that common, obviously, we can get these cravings and aversions throughout our pregnancy, but have you seen that before? Or even experienced it personally, when something comes and goes like that?

Peggy Korody : Sure, during your pregnancy your body is going through so much changes, and you're emotionally going through changes, so emotionally, it may be a comfort food, it may be something that's going to bring you some comfort, 'cause maybe emotionally right now you're kind of like going off the wall. Pregnancy is a very special time, but it's not a normal time. And if they are healthy cravings, not that I would say pop tarts, that wouldn't be on the top of the list, but if your weight is in check, and you're eating most the time healthy, then go ahead and have that. It's all in balance.

Sunny Gault : Caitrin, you were talking about how you craved healthy foods, and man! I don't know what's wrong with my body, but it is not the healthy stuff! I wish it was.

Peggy Korody : Less then 10% of people crave healthy food during pregnancy, unfortunately.

Sunny Gault : I craved pizza, there is healthy stuff on pizza, right? You need cheese in your life...

Stephanie Saalfeld : I craved avocado.

Kristy Iris : Avocado was another one of my aversions, my entire pregnancy, which is so weird, so weird for me.

Sunny Gault : 'Cause you normally like avocado.

Kristy Iris : Love them.

Peggy Korody : Mine was brocoli. And to this day, I still can't eat cooked brocoli. But I can eat raw brocoli, which I do. It was the smell for me, I still can't get over that smell, even though my kids are 21 and 22. So we eat a lot of raw brocoli in my house.

Sunny Gault : And actually one of our Facebook friends, Charleen, said, “I love dark leafy greens, but in my first trimester I could not eat them. All I wanted was bread and cheese, or pizza and lasagna. Fortunately, by 20 weeks, that aversion went away”.

Stephanie Saalfeld : She like her dark leafy greens again.

Sunny Gault : So why do we crave these foods? Are there specific reasons why we start to like something and then change our mind?

Peggy Korody : There are theories, there is no science. You may be craving something salty because your body is telling you that you need more solium. You may be craving that burger 'cause your body is telling you that you need more protein. That's the theories, that if you're craving a certain something, than maybe your body is needing that, what's in that nutritionally.

Sunny Gault : But there is nothing medical proof?

Peggy Korody : No.

Sunny Gault : We talked about hormones kind of racing through the body, and then you were talking about a nutritional deficiency, these are some of the things that I found online, that people were trying to blame or credit their cravings to hormonal changes, nutritional deficiency, emotional need, and I think for women that can play into it a lot. We are a ball of emotions right now, in so many different levels. Have you guys experienced that, if you go through a particular emotional state, that you find yourself craving? Do you remember that at all?

Stephanie Saalfeld : Yeah, comfort foods, definitely. Chilly – it was winter time, so chilly and bread, bread and pizza, that kind of thing.

Kristy Iris : Women just tend to be more emotional eaters, even without being pregnant, we are just a more emotional being, and for some people, when you're emotional, food is a comfort.

Stephanie Saalfeld : And you have the hormones in. I was never a big chocolate eater until I was pregnant, and then all of the sudden... “This is what chocolate is all about!”

Kristy Iris : I actually felt really lucky in a way, I did a blog post on PreggiePals.com about being gluten free and having a gluten free pregnancy, so I had to learn how to deal with the cravings for all those wonderful comforting glutenous foods, before I was pregnant. So by the time I was pregnant, I had already kind of learned how to manage cravings. And so that was really helpful actually.

Sunny Gault : Really? Did it work? Because I know that sometimes I know I shouldn't eat that, but I just feel like my body is just calling for that, and I'm just going to eat it.

Kristy Iris : I would say I had preferences and aversions, but not cravings, I never had that. One of our friends said, “Oh, just wait, my wife's going to KFC in the middle of the night every night, and the I have to go and get watermelon”, and he says, “Just wait until that midnight cravings!”, but I don't think that's going to happen for me.

Stephanie Saalfeld : I never had those late night, I think that's a little dramatic. For me, I think that indulging in some cravings would just be indulging, and the chaos and drama of wanting to indulge in emotional stuff.

Sunny Gault : That's what I was going to say, I think that's when that comes into play, 'cause sometimes I wonder if I really need that or am I just going through something that I think is going to make me feel better?

Stephanie Saalfeld : And for me, or am I marketing, thinking that pop tarts are good?

Sunny Gault : Or -and this is something else that I found online, people think they have these cravings but they really want to get rid of some sort of nausea or pregnancy symptom they're trying to get around. And I find myself doing that too, because I am still about 15 weeks, and I'm still kind of feeling that nausea and really hope it goes away. And it did with my single pregnancies, but now that I'm pregnant with twins, I really don't know what's going to happen. So I could have...

Peggy Korody : Ginger could be your friend.

Sunny Gault : Right, exactly. But chips and salsa right now are really big with me, and it doesn't need to be something that's super spicy salsa, we're not talking about running to KFC in the middle of the night or whatever, and I told my husband yesterday – he was going out somewhere and I said, “I am really craving for Chillies, they have that bottomless chips and salsa”, I don't know if you've ever had that, this is like a huge commercial ad basically, for Chillies right now, but it's fabulous and their chips are little light and flaky and whatever, really really good and hot, and I was craving that and he was like, “You really want me to go to Chillies to get you these chips and salsa? There's chips and salsa in the cabinet”. It's kind of shameful to admit, but sometimes...

Peggy Korody : You know, salsa is healthy.

Sunny Gault : It's not the salsa stuff I'm talking about. Peggy, I wanted to talk about pica cravings. This is craziness to me! Apparently, everyone in the world knew about this besides me. I'm just now finding out about this, but if you google it, it's totally crazy. Peggy, tell us a little bit more about it.

Peggy Korody : It's a craving for non-food items, which can be dangerous. Number one, your body doesn't know how to digest it, and a lot of women tend to crave clay, they'll even take the clay pots and grind them up and eat them.

Sunny Gault : What does a lot of people mean?

Peggy Korody : Less than 10% of women get this.

Sunny Gault : That's a lot!

Peggy Korody : In the South, black women think that if they eat this clay, their baby will come out with a beautiful color, and so it gets to be psychological too. And what's dangerous about that is that there is a lot of led in there, so the mother and the baby are ingesting a lot of led, and also it can rupture the placenta. So it's a really dangerous situation and they do try to study it, and they keep saying that maybe you need more iron in your diet. They do try that, and it can even happen with young children, it's not just pregnant woman.

Stephanie Saalfeld : There's a reality show about it.

Sunny Gault : No there is not!

Stephanie Saalfeld : Yes, there is.

Sunny Gault : Is there? Really?

Stephanie Saalfeld : Yeah.

Sunny Gault : What's it called?

Stephanie Saalfeld : I don't know, I just remembered, something about “My Weird Food Addiction” or something.

Peggy Korody : I think I saw something, 'cause someone ate broke glass, she would actually eat a whole glass every day.

Stephanie Saalfeld : What I saw was she was eating her couch.

Peggy Korody : I think I saw a commercial for that one.

Sunny Gault : Are you kidding me? This is so weird.

Peggy Korody : And if this happens, you really need to consult a doctor, 'cause it's really a dangerous situation, some of it is just your body can't digest it, and is going to cause all kinds of internal damage, and if you're pregnant it can rupture your placenta, and then some of it just has dangerous stuff in it.

Sunny Gault : I just want to know what causes someone to want that? It's one thing if you think that your baby is going to turn a certain color so you're going to eat this or whatever, or in Stephanie's case, your baby's going to turn into a burrito. I kind of see the cause and effect there, but what's eating a couch going to do? It can't be like, “I really want that because that tastes good”, it can't be a taste thing.

Peggy Korody : I would think it's more in the emotional roller coaster.

Sunny Gault : Oh my goodness. And is there help for people like that?

Peggy Korody : You really need to go see a doctor, psychological help.

Sunny Gault : OK, so it's a psychological thing.

Peggy Korody : Yeah.

Sunny Gault : We're going to take a quick break, when we come back we'll explore the top pregnancy food cravings, we'll talk about more versions as well, and some possible substitutes for those cravings, if they're not that healthy for you. But no couches! We'll be right back.

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[00:23:17]

Sunny Gault : Welcome back, today we're talking about pregnancy food cravings, as well as aversions, and Peggy Korody is our expert, she is a registered dietitian, right here in San Diego. Alright, in this half of the show, we are going to go down a list of common pregnancy food cravings, as well as talk about some aversions, and this is from some lists I found online, it's completely accurate, because it's Internet based. No, but it's basically that everyone has their own opinions and these are some of the common things that people say. Some of them we've talked about previously on this show, but I thought it would be fun to go through and to mention them again. Alright, so ice. Ice, chips, stuff like that, stuff that you just get from your fridge. I really enjoy ice, in my last pregnancy I had gestational diabetes, and I had to do the non-stress test and they gave me crushed ice all the time to make sure the baby was moving and so they could the monitoring they need, and I loved it, they had the best crushed ice. I know that sounds silly, right? Quality crushed ice.

Stephanie Saalfeld : No, because the hospital where I gave birth, they had the best crushed ice! I'm not kidding you, or maybe it was just my state at that point. And I've actually heard this from other people that delivered there, that they had the best crushed ice.

Sunny Gault : Maybe it's a hospital thing, they have to produce this crushed ice on a mass level, restaurants have this too.

Stephanie Saalfeld : It was so delicious.

Sunny Gault : Yeah, it was so good. I think it has something to do with the texture and stuff, and how it melts, whatever comes out of my fridge isn't that quality stuff, it's like rough edges.

Peggy Korody : I would say that's not a bad craving, 'cause you're so thirsty during pregnancy, even breastfeeding. Chilling on ice would be fun.

Sunny Gault : Yeah, it's water.

Kristy Iris : And you are proving why this is on the list now, your passion for ice. I didn't quite get it, but now I do.

Peggy Korody : Ice is gluten free.

Sunny Gault : OK, chocolate is next on the list, and Stephanie, you talked about this a little bit, anybody else really liked chocolate?

Stephanie Saalfeld : I love chocolate, and in my first trimester into the second trimester, total aversion. Did not want it at all, and the baby's dad doesn't like chocolate, I'm like, “Oh, what if she doesn't like chocolate? What if I'm never going to be able to share chocolate with her?” Let's just say that that moment was brought to you by my hormones.

Kristy Iris : I had to have my little candy bar every day or two.

Sunny Gault : Yeah, I actually found a prenatal vitamin online that is a chewable chocolate, I'm going to buy these. And I want to see if they'll sponsor this show, because I am so excited about it. I'm a big fan of chocolate. Caitrin, what do you think about chocolate?

Caitrin Clewell : Oh, I love chocolate, I noticed that I just want sugar every day at this point, so it would have to be chocolate, cheese cake or ice-cream, anything super healthy and sugary.

Sunny Gault : Yes, I hear you. OK, so spicy foods. And this could really be anything.

Caitrin Clewell : Hot wings, I had hot wings at least four or five times last week.

Sunny Gault : That sounds really good.

Stephanie Saalfeld : Spicy foods seem to settle my stomach, it's probably psychological, but I did crave spicy, and even today, if I'm not feeling really great, I just want something really spicy. Chicken or tortilla soup.

Sunny Gault : I have this thing going on with me now, I made my husband go get this huge jar from a warehouse store of sliced jalapeños. And yesterday, we were cooking dinner, we were in the kitchen or whatever, and he's like, “Why do you have the jalapeños out?” And I'm like, “'Cause I'm eating them”, and he was like, “What are you eating them on?” And I just poured some and I was just snacking jalapeños. And he looked at me like I was crazy. But what's the difference between a jalapeños and a pickle? You could grab a pickle or some jalapeños, what's the big deal?

Peggy Korody : That one is actually not only spicy, but salty.

Stephanie Saalfeld : The spicier, the better, and I was never a big fan of spicy, but I put chilly on everything. One of my cravings was pizza, and I put chilly on it, all over. There's this one commercial for a specific hot sauce and I put that blank on everything.

Sunny Gault : The big one on the list is pickles. You hear a lot about the combination of pickles and ice-cream, actually, both pickles and ice-cream are on this list. Anyone actually want them together? I didn't quite understood that. And when they say pickles and ice-cream, do they mean together?

Peggy Korody : I think some people do put them in a bowl together. There are like four categories that tend to... it's the sweet, the salty, the spicy and some like the sower. So pickles could be the sower.

Sunny Gault : Oh yeah, for sure. Do you guys like pickles in general?

Stephanie Saalfeld : In general, I love pickles, I can't say that my desire for them has changed. It's been kind of consistent.

Kristy Iris : The same for me. My husband thought he was being funny and he got a giant jar of pickles for me, and he's like, “Here you go, I know you're going to want these!”, and I was like, “You're sweet, but I'm fine”. He ended up eating more than I did.

Sunny Gault : Alright, ladies that was fun! It was a fun discussion on that, anything we missed, Peggy, that we need to let our listeners know when it comes to cravings or aversions?

Peggy Korody : Well, if you have a craving or aversions, as long as you are eating for the most part, the big picture, the whole day, then go for the craving if you have room for it. And make sure you get your nutrition too.

Sunny Gault : As we're talking about this, I'm starting to heartburn.

Kristy Iris : I know, my doctor would always tell me to stop eating that spicy. And I was like, “No!”

Stephanie Saalfeld : Water gave me heartburn.

Sunny Gault : Alright ladies, well thank you for joining us today. This conversation continues for members of our Preggie Pals Club, after the show we're going to talk about all these food cravings that we've been having, what are some good substitutes for those, especially if you don't feel like you can eat those during your pregnancy, you're not supposed to eat them, perhaps you have gestational diabetes, or you're trying to go on the gluten free diet, as Kristy was talking about earlier. So what are some substitutes that you could put in your diet for some of those crazy cravings? If you want more information about our Preggie Pals Club, visit our website, PreggiePals.com.

[Theme Music] [Featured Segments: Preparing to Breastfeed]

[00:30:46]

Robin Kaplan : Hi Preggie Pals listeners! I'm Robin Kaplan, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, owner of the San Diego Breastfeeding Center, and the host and producer of Preggie Pals' sister show, The Boob Group. I'm here to offer some advice on what you can do during pregnancy to prepare for a positive breastfeeding experience. Such as, take a prenatal breastfeeding class. As many of us prepare for our first child, take childbirth classes and spend hours on the Internet researching the best car seats and strollers we can find. Yet one thing that often falls by the way side is taking a breastfeeding class. We figure that breastfeeding is something that should just come naturally, so we will just learn on the job. For some new moms, that works out just fine, the baby is born, he latches beautifully, the mom's milk supply comes in, and everybody is happy. However, for most of us, not taking a breastfeeding class can actually be a real detriment to this breastfeeding process. Unfortunately, many of us new moms are given incorrect information about how milk supply is established, how often a newborn should breastfeed, and what signs to look for if something is not going quite right. We also hear tons of horror stories about sore nipples and milk supply, so how can we expect to succeed, if we don't know what normal breastfeeding looks like? A fantastic breastfeeding class should cover all of this. Like what to expect in those first few weeks of breastfeeding, positioning and latch, which signs indicate that your baby is getting enough, and also common breastfeeding concerns. And since breastfeeding is not something you can practice before your baby arrives, your breastfeeding class should also go over local resources you might need for breastfeeding support after your baby is born. I also highly recommend bringing your partner with you to this breastfeeding class. First of all, it is important for your partner to be aware of what you will be working on to establish a positive breastfeeding experience. Secondly, your partner will be able to assist you more easily if he or she actually knows what to look for. And thirdly, your partner will hopefully be your cheerleader during this process, to getting breastfeeding off to a good start. So the goal is for him or her to come away with some tangible ways to help you during this process. So my advice is to google which breastfeeding classes are being offered in your area, and plan to attend one during your seventh or eight month of pregnancy. I promise you, it will be worth your time. For more great information about what you can do during pregnancy to prepare for a positive breastfeeding experience, check out my blog, at SanDiegoBreastfeedingCenter.com/blog, and be sure to listen to Preggie Pals and The Boob Group for fantastic conversations about breastfeeding and breastfeeding support.

Sunny Gault : That wraps up our show for today, we appreciate you listening to Preggie Pals. Don't forget to check out our sister show Parent Savers, for parents with newborns, infants and toddlers, and our show The Boob Group, for moms who breastfeed their babies. This is Preggie Pals, your pregnancy, your way.

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[Disclaimer]

This has been a New Mommy Media production. Information and 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 information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, Medical or advisor care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

[00:34:23]

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