County helps new moms nourish naturally

When it was Catherine Todorov’s turn to speak Tuesday, she said nursing her 1-week-old son, Elijah, has been going OK.

“I’ve had to supplement a few times,” she told Tricia Pace, a nutritionist and lactation consultant.

Pace nodded encouragingly, adding breast-feeding mothers on the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) nutritional program don’t receive coupons for baby formula in the first month in order to encourage nursing.

“Sometimes, it doesn’t sound supportive,” Pace said.

But nursing takes effort and when babies hit a growth spurt at two to three weeks old, tired moms start to doubt they will be able to keep up with the demand, Pace said.

Because babies digest breast milk so easily, they feed more often than babies on formula, she explained to the mothers.

“Breast milk is absolutely the food for babies, absolutely what nature intended,” Pace said.

Clark County Public Health wants to encourage all mothers to follow the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines, which advise that babies should be breast-fed exclusively for the first six months and continue nursing for at least a year.

To celebrate World Breastfeeding Week, the county has scheduled “The Big Latch,” at 10 a.m. Friday at Esther Short Park in downtown Vancouver.

The public show of lactation will aim to break the world record for a gathering of nursing mothers (last year 1,299 mothers came together in New Zealand).

More important, the gathering aims to help mothers feel more comfortable nursing in public and remind everyone else that mothers have the right to do it.

“If anyone hassles you, it’s them who is breaking the law, not you,” Pace told the mothers.

A 2001 state law exempted breast-feeding from indecent exposure statutes, and a 2009 law specifically states that mothers can nurse their children in public, including restaurants, and business owners cannot tell them to leave or cover the child.

Healthier babies

Studies show breast-fed babies are healthier and have fewer infections and illnesses. Nursing benefits women too, as studies have shown mothers who nursed have lower risks of breast and ovarian cancers and Type 2 diabetes, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Pace’s Tuesday class was one of three offered weekly at the Clark County Public Health building as part of the WIC program administered by Sea Mar.

Pace said a third class was recently added to meet greater demand for nursing support classes. While new mothers can seek advice from lactation consultants in the hospital after giving birth, the county program offers the classes and peer counselors to provide support as mothers are establishing nursing routines.

Pace reminded mothers that they need to try to rest when their babies rest. She suggested they eat high-protein foods such as hard-boiled eggs, peanut butter sandwiches and cheese, as nursing burns an estimated 500 calories a day.

And she reminded them that nursing isn’t a reliable form of birth control, but they need a method that doesn’t have too much estrogen as that could lessen their milk supply.

“Be sure your doctor knows you’re breast-feeding,” she said.

Malia Silverthorne, a peer counselor, said nursing mothers are often concerned that their babies aren’t eating enough. She suggested setting out 12 diapers in the morning; if the diapers are gone in a day, then the baby is getting enough food.

“Since we don’t have ounce marks on our breasts, it’s a good visual cue,” Silverthorne said.

Mayensy Mendoza, 24, returned to work as a nutrition assistant for WIC last week after her maternity leave.

Mendoza had nursed her son, now 5, for eight months but after her April 27 C-section she had difficulty getting her newborn daughter to latch. She called Silverthorne, who helped her after-hours when lactation consultants at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Portland weren’t available.

Had she not had Silverthorne’s encouragement to get her through the night, Mendoza said she would have given up and just given her daughter formula, even though that’s not what she wants for her baby.

“I can’t describe how much that helps,” she said.

Stephanie Rice: 360-735-4508 or stephanie.rice@columbian.com.