I read about some research that was published in the American Sociological Review this week that showed that women who breastfeed ultimately earn less than women who formula feed. Basically they have shown that the longer you breastfeed, the more severe and prolonged the losses in your earnings. I've never seen any discussion of the downsides of managing breastfeeding before and it's an interesting issue that certainly isn't mentioned in the early days when you may be considering whether you will ever offer your baby a bottle.
The research is no surprise to me as I have been grappling with how I am going to manage to get back to work in three weeks time while I am still expressing for my six-month-old bub. I actually work for an excellent employer in terms of family friendliness (a State Government department). There is a lactation room and I am sure my bosses would be totally understanding if I wanted to take breaks to express milk while I'm in the office. The fact is that I just don't want to do this. There seem to be so many logistical issues around bringing the pumping gear in, storing and transporting the milk, arranging my work around half hour breaks, wearing clothes that I can get in and out of easily etc etc.
What this shows though is that even in the best of circumstances where I have a supportive employer, I'm working part-time and I'm a skilled milk expresser, breastfeeding and work still aren't a great match. Worse still, there isn't necessarily anyone to blame or an easy answer to the problem - except perhaps to suck it up and deal with the inconveniences, stop breastfeeding, or not go back to work and deal with that loss of earnings (not really an option unless we want to somehow rid ourselves of the mortgage).
While the easiest option is to stop breastfeeding, it's funny how hard and emotional that decision is proving. While I would objectively like to stop and get my body and time back, for some reason I can't stand the thought that I've got milk and it's not going to the baby. So thank you researchers for adding to this complex discussion and best of luck to all of those with these tricky decisions ahead!
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Those proud moments (and a recipe for Pad See Yiew)
I'm not sure if I've come out and said it before, but our 3 year old is a pretty dud eater - he's fussy, unwilling to try new things and most dinners are a bit of a battle ("I don't need dinner, I'll just have a snack, I'm not hungry"). That said, through a series of well-practised tactics we can generally get him to eat almost anything, it just takes quite a lot of patience and occasional bribery, i.e. if you eat all your brocolli we can watch the rest of Lego Star Wars.
Knowing that this is the situation, I felt quietly smug when Leo's kinder teacher asked him what his favourite dinner is the other day and he said "Tofu, I love tofu". What a hipster kid! I think this comment stemmed from the following recipe which I adapted from Bill Grainger.
Eleanor's Pad See Yiew
Ingredients
200 grams dried rice stick noodles
1 head brocolli, chopped into small florets
200 grams marinated tofu, chopped into cubes
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
60 mls light soy sauce
2 tablespoons caster sugar
Recipe
Cook the rice noodles according to packet instructions boild for around 8 and throw the brocolli in for the last two minutes of cooking time. Drain noodles and brocolli.
Heat oil in a wok over high heat, add garlic and stirfry for about 1 minute until fragrant and softened. Add soy sauce and sugar and cook until bubbling and starting to reduce. Add tofu, brocolli and noodles and stirfry for a further 2 minutes until all are coated in the sauce. Make a hole in the middle and tip in the eggs. Stirfry until egg is cooked. Serves 2-3
Knowing that this is the situation, I felt quietly smug when Leo's kinder teacher asked him what his favourite dinner is the other day and he said "Tofu, I love tofu". What a hipster kid! I think this comment stemmed from the following recipe which I adapted from Bill Grainger.
Eleanor's Pad See Yiew
Ingredients
200 grams dried rice stick noodles
1 head brocolli, chopped into small florets
200 grams marinated tofu, chopped into cubes
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
60 mls light soy sauce
2 tablespoons caster sugar
Recipe
Cook the rice noodles according to packet instructions boild for around 8 and throw the brocolli in for the last two minutes of cooking time. Drain noodles and brocolli.
Heat oil in a wok over high heat, add garlic and stirfry for about 1 minute until fragrant and softened. Add soy sauce and sugar and cook until bubbling and starting to reduce. Add tofu, brocolli and noodles and stirfry for a further 2 minutes until all are coated in the sauce. Make a hole in the middle and tip in the eggs. Stirfry until egg is cooked. Serves 2-3
Monday, April 16, 2012
Why is feeding babies made so hard?
Generally I think that introducing food to babies shouldn't be so tricky but it seems confusing even the second time around. The Age ran an article on their front page this weekend titled "Who knows best in the battle of the breast?". It covers some new research around links between the age of starting solids and allergies.
The first thing that struck me was that this was front page news - really? Is this all you've got (accepting that it was a slow news Sunday). Surely this only interests a teeny tiny portion of the population.
The second thing that struck me is that they'd somehow managed to make the article about breastfeeding - what sensationalist journalism! The research in the article suggests that there may be benefits in introducing a wider range of foods between 4 to 6 months, rather than waiting until after 6 months or longer, to prevent allergies. This really has NOTHING to do with breastfeeding - it's about introducing babies to food. However, they'd managed to get an (almost entirely irrelevant) quote from a lactation lady saying that the introduction of solids might reduce the level of breastfeeding - based on no evidence. The quote was used to suggest that if you feed solids slightly earlier you will deprive babies of breastmilk whereas I think most mothers would totally understand that you still offer plenty of milk when starting solids (give us some credit - the breast is best message is very loud).
The advice around when to start babies on solids seems to change each year from 4-6 months to after 6 months and then back again and really there is no concrete evidence on which to base your decision - which is later acknowledged in the article. While of course I think the media has a role to play in promoting new research in this space, I think there is no reason to add a controversial angle to it and further confuse what should be a relatively straightforward decision.
Most of the sane advice that I have read suggests to start kids on some basic foods (fruit, vegies, baby cereals) when they show interest and have reasonable head control and to seek medical advice if you have a family history of food allergies. Breastmilk or formula should still be a central source of nutrition for the next few months after introducing solids. It should be that simple! Let's not add an element of guilt (am I depriving my baby of precious breastmilk) to this normal developmental stage.
If you want some reliable advice on introducing solids, I think the Victorian Govt's Better Health Channel is a good enough place to start - http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Baby_care_weaning?open
The first thing that struck me was that this was front page news - really? Is this all you've got (accepting that it was a slow news Sunday). Surely this only interests a teeny tiny portion of the population.
The second thing that struck me is that they'd somehow managed to make the article about breastfeeding - what sensationalist journalism! The research in the article suggests that there may be benefits in introducing a wider range of foods between 4 to 6 months, rather than waiting until after 6 months or longer, to prevent allergies. This really has NOTHING to do with breastfeeding - it's about introducing babies to food. However, they'd managed to get an (almost entirely irrelevant) quote from a lactation lady saying that the introduction of solids might reduce the level of breastfeeding - based on no evidence. The quote was used to suggest that if you feed solids slightly earlier you will deprive babies of breastmilk whereas I think most mothers would totally understand that you still offer plenty of milk when starting solids (give us some credit - the breast is best message is very loud).
The advice around when to start babies on solids seems to change each year from 4-6 months to after 6 months and then back again and really there is no concrete evidence on which to base your decision - which is later acknowledged in the article. While of course I think the media has a role to play in promoting new research in this space, I think there is no reason to add a controversial angle to it and further confuse what should be a relatively straightforward decision.
Most of the sane advice that I have read suggests to start kids on some basic foods (fruit, vegies, baby cereals) when they show interest and have reasonable head control and to seek medical advice if you have a family history of food allergies. Breastmilk or formula should still be a central source of nutrition for the next few months after introducing solids. It should be that simple! Let's not add an element of guilt (am I depriving my baby of precious breastmilk) to this normal developmental stage.
If you want some reliable advice on introducing solids, I think the Victorian Govt's Better Health Channel is a good enough place to start - http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Baby_care_weaning?open
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Speed lunch - a race against time
I was talking to my sister on Skype the other day while she whipped up and ate a quick bowl of pasta before heading back to work (what a multi-tasker!) I mentioned that many of my lunches are made and eaten at this speed when trying to do a hundred things while at least one small boy is sleeping - clean the house, express the milk, sterilise the bottles, watch the Fashion Police etc etc. I realised there are probably a lot of people who try to do these 10-minute healthy meals for a variety of reasons (not just making time to watch Joan Rivers bitch about celebrities' lack of taste) and are probably as sick as I am of toasted sandwiches and tuna salads.
One of my recent discoveries has been how fast you can knock up a Japanese miso udon soup using only cupboard ingredients and this is one of my favourite ever lunches. As with some other recent recipes, I'm not sure that this one is a winner with kids as it's pretty messy eating but potentially worth a try as udon noodles seem to be pretty popular in our household in other recipes. This recipe is for one but can easily be increased to serve more noting that this makes a seriously large bowlful of noodle soup.
Eleanor's Miso Udon Soup
Ingredients*
1 small packet vacuum packed udon noodles (approx 200 grams)
1 tablespoon white miso paste
500 mls water
1/2 teaspoon of dashi granules (optional)
1 tablespoon dried wakame or arame seaweed
Recipe
Put seaweed in some warm water for a few minutes until hydrated then drain. Put 500mls water, miso paste and dashi granules in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Stir until the miso paste has dissolved. Add udon noodles and boil for around three minutes. Add seaweed and serve.
If you want to make a heartier and lunch add some silken tofu and vegetables at the end. I often throw in a few snow peas and some spring onions but any greens would work.
Serves one
* All of these ingredients are available at our local supermarket but you may need to try an Asian grocer. The miso paste and dashi granules can seem a bit expensive but they last forever and mean that you can make this soup whenever you like.
One of my recent discoveries has been how fast you can knock up a Japanese miso udon soup using only cupboard ingredients and this is one of my favourite ever lunches. As with some other recent recipes, I'm not sure that this one is a winner with kids as it's pretty messy eating but potentially worth a try as udon noodles seem to be pretty popular in our household in other recipes. This recipe is for one but can easily be increased to serve more noting that this makes a seriously large bowlful of noodle soup.
Eleanor's Miso Udon Soup
Ingredients*
1 small packet vacuum packed udon noodles (approx 200 grams)
1 tablespoon white miso paste
500 mls water
1/2 teaspoon of dashi granules (optional)
1 tablespoon dried wakame or arame seaweed
Recipe
Put seaweed in some warm water for a few minutes until hydrated then drain. Put 500mls water, miso paste and dashi granules in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Stir until the miso paste has dissolved. Add udon noodles and boil for around three minutes. Add seaweed and serve.
If you want to make a heartier and lunch add some silken tofu and vegetables at the end. I often throw in a few snow peas and some spring onions but any greens would work.
Serves one
* All of these ingredients are available at our local supermarket but you may need to try an Asian grocer. The miso paste and dashi granules can seem a bit expensive but they last forever and mean that you can make this soup whenever you like.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Is that a zucchini in your muffin?
...or are you just happy to eat me? Please ignore the very wrong connotations in this heading but I just discovered an excellent zucchini and choc chip muffin recipe. I made a few tweaks just due to what I've got in the house but they taste fabulous and include vegetables - what more could you ask?
Eleanor's zucchini and choc chip muffins (based on a recipe by Poh)
Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup of dark muscavado (or brown) sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup sour cream
85gms melted butter
1 egg lightly beaten
1 medium zucchini grated (to make around 1.5 cups)
Zest of one orange
1 cup semisweet or dark choc chips
Recipe
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and choc chips in a large mixing bowl. Mix all other ingredients in a separate bowl before adding to the dry ingredients and mixing until just combined.
Spoon mixture into a greased 12-hole muffin tray or paper cupcake holders (patty pans). Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until cooked through. Cool on a wire tray and serve.
Eleanor's zucchini and choc chip muffins (based on a recipe by Poh)
Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup of dark muscavado (or brown) sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup sour cream
85gms melted butter
1 egg lightly beaten
1 medium zucchini grated (to make around 1.5 cups)
Zest of one orange
1 cup semisweet or dark choc chips
Recipe
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and choc chips in a large mixing bowl. Mix all other ingredients in a separate bowl before adding to the dry ingredients and mixing until just combined.
Spoon mixture into a greased 12-hole muffin tray or paper cupcake holders (patty pans). Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until cooked through. Cool on a wire tray and serve.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Booze and boobs - can I have a glass of wine now?
Drinking when pregnant and breastfeeding is one of the most confusing issues to get straight and partly this is because there aren't controlled experiments in this space (i.e. you can't ask a randomised group of women to chug beers while pregnant/nursing and see what happens). I should say up front that I have no strong views on this one - I really feel like this is every woman's choice about what they are going to do - especially considering that the science behind it is not clear cut. My interest really just stems from me trying to work out what I should do while I am continuing to express all the milk for baby number two.
After some recent reading, I realised that the periods of pregnancy and nursing are pretty different in terms of what gets passed on to the baby and finally got some answers on what you should consider when working out whether or not to have a drink when breastfeeding. So, thought I should share what I found.
It may seem obvious to some but I only just learnt that alcohol doesn't stay in breastmilk so if you wait long enough the booze won't even reach the baby. This is clearly different than pregnancy where whatever is in your blood stream is getting channeled straight through. Basically breast milk holds about the same amount of alcohol as your blood stream so if you think you could blow a 0.0 on a breathaliser, you probably don't have any alcohol in your milk either. This means, you're best to do your drinking well before feeding, i.e. directly after a feed/express is probably going to be the best time. The general rule seems to be that women clear 1 standard drink in about 2 hours.
There is some suggestion that you shouldn't drink at all until your baby is either one month or three months (I was admittedly a little surprised when one of the ladies in the hospital was encouraging me to have some wine two days after giving birth). This seems to be based on when the babies' liver has developed enough to process alcohol but surely this is less relevant if you generally aim to clear your milk of alcohol before feeding.
I've also read that alcohol both encourages and inhibits milk production so I think you can probably deduce that neither of these is based on strong science.
Basically everyone seems to agree that it is possible to have a drink or two while breastfeeding as long as you plan it right - I'm off to get a glass of red to celebrate!
If you want to read some more yourself - here are the articles I looked at:
https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bf-info/safe-when-breastfeeding/alcohol-and-breastfeeding
http://www.kidspot.com.au/familyhealth/family-health-healthy-living-how-much-can-i-drink-when-breastfeeding+2780+190+article.htm
http://newbornbaby.com.au/newborn/baby-feeding/breastfeeding/breastfeeding-and-alcohol/
http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/practical-parenting/article/-/7412792/breastfeeding-alcohol-the-facts/
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/alcohol/publishing.nsf/Content/guide-breastbr
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/alcohol
After some recent reading, I realised that the periods of pregnancy and nursing are pretty different in terms of what gets passed on to the baby and finally got some answers on what you should consider when working out whether or not to have a drink when breastfeeding. So, thought I should share what I found.
It may seem obvious to some but I only just learnt that alcohol doesn't stay in breastmilk so if you wait long enough the booze won't even reach the baby. This is clearly different than pregnancy where whatever is in your blood stream is getting channeled straight through. Basically breast milk holds about the same amount of alcohol as your blood stream so if you think you could blow a 0.0 on a breathaliser, you probably don't have any alcohol in your milk either. This means, you're best to do your drinking well before feeding, i.e. directly after a feed/express is probably going to be the best time. The general rule seems to be that women clear 1 standard drink in about 2 hours.
There is some suggestion that you shouldn't drink at all until your baby is either one month or three months (I was admittedly a little surprised when one of the ladies in the hospital was encouraging me to have some wine two days after giving birth). This seems to be based on when the babies' liver has developed enough to process alcohol but surely this is less relevant if you generally aim to clear your milk of alcohol before feeding.
I've also read that alcohol both encourages and inhibits milk production so I think you can probably deduce that neither of these is based on strong science.
Basically everyone seems to agree that it is possible to have a drink or two while breastfeeding as long as you plan it right - I'm off to get a glass of red to celebrate!
If you want to read some more yourself - here are the articles I looked at:
https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bf-info/safe-when-breastfeeding/alcohol-and-breastfeeding
http://www.kidspot.com.au/familyhealth/family-health-healthy-living-how-much-can-i-drink-when-breastfeeding+2780+190+article.htm
http://newbornbaby.com.au/newborn/baby-feeding/breastfeeding/breastfeeding-and-alcohol/
http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/practical-parenting/article/-/7412792/breastfeeding-alcohol-the-facts/
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/alcohol/publishing.nsf/Content/guide-breastbr
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/alcohol
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
What child wouldn't eat saag paneer?
...and the answer is probably every child! As I've mentioned before, I was hell bent on having kids who ate what we ate all the time but I now realise that is probably an insane pipe dream.
I still try to make the same dinner for the whole family most nights but the fact of the matter is, there are very few kids who love a seriously spicy Indian curry (although I'd love to be proven wrong). I was at a cooking class on the weekend with Di Holuigue who cooks her four-year-old grandson big bowls of prawns, mussels and pippies so there is some hope.
So on the nights when I want to have a grown up dinner, Leo has leftovers or a classic kids' tea like baked beans on toast and I throw an extra chilli in our dinner to celebrate! Here is the recipe for a not very authentic, but very quick, saag paneer (spinach and cheese curry).
Eleanor's Saag Paneer
Ingredients
2 tablespoons korma curry paste
1 onion chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 handfuls baby spinach
1 cup frozen baby peas
200gms paneer or haloumi cheese, cubed
2 tablespoons of natural yoghurt
Steamed basmati rice to serve
Fry onions in some vegetable oil until soft. Add the curry paste and cook until fragrant then pour in the tomatoes and bring to the boil. Add the spinach, stir through and cover with a lid until wilted.
Quickly blitz the mixture with a stick blender until the sauce is relatively smooth. Bring back to the boil and add the baby peas. Cook for around 5 minutes until peas are tender. If using paneer, add and cook until heated. If using haloumi, fry pieces of cheese until lightly brown and then stir into the mix.
Turn off the heat, stir through the yoghurt and serve on rice. Enjoy!
I still try to make the same dinner for the whole family most nights but the fact of the matter is, there are very few kids who love a seriously spicy Indian curry (although I'd love to be proven wrong). I was at a cooking class on the weekend with Di Holuigue who cooks her four-year-old grandson big bowls of prawns, mussels and pippies so there is some hope.
So on the nights when I want to have a grown up dinner, Leo has leftovers or a classic kids' tea like baked beans on toast and I throw an extra chilli in our dinner to celebrate! Here is the recipe for a not very authentic, but very quick, saag paneer (spinach and cheese curry).
Eleanor's Saag Paneer
Ingredients
2 tablespoons korma curry paste
1 onion chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 handfuls baby spinach
1 cup frozen baby peas
200gms paneer or haloumi cheese, cubed
2 tablespoons of natural yoghurt
Steamed basmati rice to serve
Fry onions in some vegetable oil until soft. Add the curry paste and cook until fragrant then pour in the tomatoes and bring to the boil. Add the spinach, stir through and cover with a lid until wilted.
Quickly blitz the mixture with a stick blender until the sauce is relatively smooth. Bring back to the boil and add the baby peas. Cook for around 5 minutes until peas are tender. If using paneer, add and cook until heated. If using haloumi, fry pieces of cheese until lightly brown and then stir into the mix.
Turn off the heat, stir through the yoghurt and serve on rice. Enjoy!
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