Breastfeeding is a subject that affects and interests new mothers universally. In fact, it seems that everyone - maternal or not - has an opinion on the matter.
Dr. Jack Newman, who specializes in helping mothers succeed with breastfeeding, will be answering reader questions on breastfeeding, along with his associate Edith Kernerman.
Answers to select questions are available at the bottom of this page.
Dr. Jack Newman has worked as a physician in Central America, New Zealand and South Africa. He founded the first hospital-based breastfeeding clinic in Canada in 1984.
Dr. Jack Newman and Edith Kernerman
He was a staff pediatrician at the Hospital for Sick Children emergency department from 1983 to 1992. Once the breastfeeding clinic started functioning, he eventually worked full time helping mothers and babies succeed with breastfeeding. He now works out of one clinic based at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine.
Dr. Newman has several publications on breastfeeding, and in 2000 published, along with Teresa Pitman, a help guide for professionals and mothers on breastfeeding, called Dr. Jack Newman's Guide to Breastfeeding. In 2005, he and others brought out a DVD for breastfeeding called Dr. Jack Newman's Visual Guide to Breastfeeding.
Edith Kernerman is an IBCLC and a lactation educator in Toronto, Canada and she is co-founder, co-owner, and co-director of the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic & Institute. She is the author of the Gameplan for Protecting and Supporting Breastfeeding in the First 24 hours of life and Beyond: A Guide for Healthcare Professionals, and is the co-creator of the new lactation tool: L-eat: the Elite way to Latch: Empower, Attach, Transfer. She helped redesign and update the Immediate Post Partum Breastfeeding Decision Tree by Jack Newman.
In 2005, Ms. Kernerman founded the International Meeting of the Minds, and continues her work toward minimizing contradictory and conflicting information in the lactation world by encouraging discourse among experts in particular areas of lactation. She is researching the Importance of Skin to Skin Care: Breastfeeding and Empowerment in the First Hour of Life for her book, How to Breastfeed the Baby Who Does Not Latch. Ms. Kernerman is the mother of two breastfed daughters.
Editor's Note: The usual guidelines that apply to live discussions will also apply to this Q&A. globeandmail.com editors will read and allow or reject each question/comment. Comments/questions may be edited for length or clarity. We will not publish questions/comments that include personal attacks on participants in these discussions, that make false or unsubstantiated allegations, that purport to quote people or reports where the purported quote or fact cannot be easily verified, or questions/comments that include vulgar language or libellous statements. Preference will be given to readers who submit questions/comments using their full name and home town, rather than a pseudonym.
S R Frostad from Regina Beach, SK Canada writes: I nursed my first child for 15 months. My second child only nursed for nine months. I am now pregnant with my third child and would like to nurse past the first year again. I am interested in knowing what suggestions you have to prolong nursing when the infant doesn't seem too interested. Thank-you.
Jack Newman: Often mothers are told or think a baby is "self-weaning". However babies do not self wean at 9 months. Usually something has happened. Either the milk supply has decreased or the baby is getting a lot of bottles (or both). We have a patient information sheet at www.drjacknewman.com that discusses reasons milk supply might decrease after a mother has had a good or even abundant milk supply. The point is then, to avoid these situations that may result in the milk supply decreasing.
