A rainbow baby is a child born after a miscarriage, stillbirth, or death in the first weeks of infancy. Although rainbow babies represent joy after a devastating storm, many people expecting a rainbow baby still struggle with mixed emotions including anxiety, excitement, fear, worry, and hope. August 22 is National Rainbow Baby Day and offers families a chance to share their experiences, grieve, reflect, and celebrate the joy for their rainbow babies.

Pregnancy loss is defined differently around the world, but in general a baby who dies before 28 weeks of pregnancy is referred to as a miscarriage, and babies who die at or after 28 weeks are stillbirths. Miscarriage is the most common reason for losing a baby during pregnancy. Estimates vary, although estimates are as high as 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage. Every year, nearly 2 million babies are stillborn. However, miscarriages and stillbirths are not systematically recorded, even in developed countries, suggesting that the numbers could be higher.

Peach is my rainbow baby. After two miscarriages within 4 months of each other in 2018, I found out I was pregnant with Peach the day before my mom was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Peach is the rainbow that kept me going through the hardest storm of my life.

Miscarriage and infant loss is something that is not talked about enough even though it occurs often. It can be healing to acknowledge the loss and know you’re not alone as you grieve your loss. Feel free to share your rainbow baby stories here.

Tandem breastfeeding is when two or more children breast/chestfeed or receive expressed milk at the same time.

It is possible to continue to breastfeed throughout pregnancy; however, there are some important things to know. Some may experience nipple sensitivity or a feeding aversion to the point that they want to stop feeding the older. About 1/2 report their milk supply drops, sometimes significantly. This is from hormonal changes and there is little that can be done to prevent this. If the first baby is less than one year old, supplementation may be required until after the birth of the baby. Milk can transition back to colostrum as early as the end of the first trimester. Colostrum is salty and some toddlers not drink it. Colostrum also acts as a laxative to help newborns poop meconium. It may have the same laxative effect on your toddler, so be warned!

Once the new baby comes, some will feed both children together at the same time, rotating which side they start on each time. Others may take turns to feed one child at a time. If the babies are of different ages, they’ll usually feed the newborn first to optimize milk supply. Many tandem feeders say that breastfeeding their toddler helps with the transition of having a newborn.

This is the first generation that has had the luxury of having a freezer milk stash. No other generation had the ease and technology to be able to go back to work and still maintain the breastfeeding relationship while parent and child are separated for 8+ hours a day. In our grandparents generation, you either stayed home and breastfed your baby or formula fed by bottle. There really weren’t other options and breast pumps were not readily available. It was only in 2010 that the Affordable Care Act laws were passed to require insurance companies to cover the cost of breast pumps as part of preventative medicine. With those laws, new breast pumps flooded the market. Before that, there were only a few choices for pumps and people had to buy them out of pocket. Because we have been raised around technology, we still take for granted what our not so ancient ancestors went through. Historically, if weren’t successful at breastfeeding, either some one else breastfed your baby or your baby died.

You don’t have to have a freezer stash to successfully breastfed your baby. If you need a freezer stash because of your circumstances, what an amazing time to be a parent!!! New and better technology is available every day to continue to make the process easier and more efficient. The freezer stash can mean reaching your personal goals as a family. If you have an abundant supply, consider milk donation to help other families reach their goals. What a gift to be able to give back to others.

Do I need to do stretches on my baby’s tongue after a tongue tie release? There are many conflicting answers, and it seems like every dental job or ENT practice has a different answer, which gets really confusing for parents. The biggest concern is tongue reattachment after it’s been released, defeating the purpose of release. For some babies it means needing it released again.

From my speech pathology/IBCLC background, to give one answer to all families is a disservice to the unique nature of each tongue that is released and how each body heals (which is as distinct as the individual). We have to consider that this is wound care and we need to understand what that specific tongue did before and after the revision. When you have a tongue that is strong (good muscle tone) with good range of motion, but was only limited because of the frenulum, the stretches, exercises and wound care management are different than a tongue that is super weak and with disorganized movement. I have found in my practice that tongues that are super strong pre-release do much better post release and tend to need much less wound care management to keep the tongue from reattaching. They also need fewer oral motor exercises to get baby back to breast. The tongue was already functioning as it should, it was just anchored by the frenulum. When you have a weak tongue where range of motion was poor to begin with, they tend to need much more suck training/exercises, and without stretching, the tongue will reattach because of how the tongue rests on the floor of the mouth instead of up on the palate during healing. Body work is essential for these babes as the tension and weakness is usually though the whole system. When prescribing wound care management we need to consider what does the tongue do.
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Here’s a phenomenal video of Dr Chelsea Pinto teaching stretches after frenectomy CLICK HERE

For more information on wound care after tongue tie release, Dr Ghaheri has amazing information and videos. CLICK HERE

There are many ways to wean and you get to decide how you’d like to wean for your family. I recently had a client who wanted to gradually wean her 6 month old and needed a structured plan to help navigate the process. This is by no means meant to be for everyone, but I thought some one else may find it helpful if it sounds similar to your pumping or feeding experience and you’re looking for some guidance. You can always reach out for a consultation and we can work on a plan that’s individualized to work for you!

Week one: Monday to Thursday:

6:30am – Breastfeed (about 15 mins)
7:00am – Pump 15 minutes
10:00am – Pump 15 minutes
1:00pm – Pump 15 minutes
4:00pm – Pump 15 minutes
6:30pm – Breastfeed (5-10 mins)
8:30pm – Pump 15 minutes

Week one Friday to Sunday:

6:30am – Breastfeed (about 15 mins)
7:00am – Pump 12 minutes
10:00am – Pump 12 minutes
1:00pm – Pump 12 minutes
4:00pm – Pump 12 minutes
6:30pm – Breastfeed (5-10 mins)
8:30pm – Pump 12 minutes

Week two Monday to Thursday

6:30am – Breastfeed (about 15 mins)
8:00am – Pump 10 minutes
11:00am – Pump 10 minutes
3:00pm – Pump 10 minutes
6:30pm – Breastfeed (5-10 mins)
9:00pm – Pump 10 minutes

Week two Friday to Sunday 6:30am – Breastfeed (about 15 mins)
9:00am – Pump 10 minutes
12:30pm – Pump 10 minutes
3:30pm – Pump 10 minutes
6:30pm – Breastfeed (5-10 mins)
9:00pm – Pump 10 minutes

Week three Monday to Thursday
6:30am – Breastfeed (about 15 mins)
9:00am – Pump 5 minutes
12:30pm – Pump 5 minutes
3:30pm – Pump 5 minutes
6:30pm – Breastfeed (5-10 mins)
9:00pm – Pump 5 minutes

Week three Friday to Sunday
6:30am – Breastfeed (about 15 mins)
10:00am – Pump 5 minutes
2:00pm – Pump 5 minutes
6:30pm – Breastfeed (5-10 mins)
9:00pm – Pump 5 minutes

Week four Monday to Thursday 6:30am – Breastfeed (about 15 mins)
10:00am – Pump only to relieve discomfort
3:00pm – Pump only to relieve discomfort
6:30pm – Breastfeed (5-10 mins)
9:00pm – Pump only to relieve discomfort

Week four Friday to Sunday. 6:30am – Breastfeed (about 15 mins)
11:00am – Pump only to relieve discomfort
Afternoon – Pump only to relieve discomfort
6:30pm – Breastfeed (5-10 mins)
9:00pm – Pump only to relieve discomfort

Week five
6:30am breastfeed if desired
Pump once or twice only to relieve comfort
6:30pm breastfeed if desired

Pacifiers are a tool, like any other tool in the parenting bag of tricks. Using the right tool at the appropriate time can be very handy. Using the wrong tool can be problematic.

Good uses for a pacifier:
🚗 When in the car and you can’t feed baby
🛀🏽 If you need a few minutes to use the bathroom or shower
😴 Baby just fed and is trying to transition to sleep. Remove once baby is asleep
👶🏼 Suck training for a premature baby or used specifically during suck training exercises under the guidance of a feeding therapist
🤮 Help with reflux (swallowing helps prevent pain and keeps food in the stomach. Babies with moderate to severe reflux often get over fed because they want to suck so often to sooth the reflux. If a baby has had a full feeding but is still wanting to suck, it can help reduce reflux and keep baby from being overfeed)

When looking for a pacifier, we want one that optimizes the same oral skills that are needed for the breast. Your nipple should go in baby’s mouth round and come out round, not pinched or flat. Look for a pacifier that is also round. This promotes the same tongue cupping baby does at the breast. An orthodontic pacifier, the one with a big bulb on top and a flat spot on the bottom, can promote a high roof of the mouth and incorrect tongue resting posture as well as have long term impacts on how teeth come in with prolonged use.

When possible, limit pacifier use so baby’s mouth is closed with the tongue resting on the roof of baby’s mouth to promote correct mouth development. There is no developmental age when baby needs to take a pacifier and it’s OK if your baby never does. They are a handy tool, but not a necessary one.