Mom's the word

RIO RANCHO — You’ve had your baby and the hard part is over. Right?

Actually, for many moms, the battle continues with breastfeeding, which the West Side Breast Feeding Support Group reassured requires reinforcements a lot of the time.

The group will celebrate its first year back in the community on March 25, according to Denise Kielpinski, a volunteer and practiced nurse. 

Before the anniversary, Kielpinski, volunteer Michelle Gonzales and other volunteers held their weekly support group at Presbyterian Rust Medical Center, where moms of varying experience shared their struggles.

“The thing most associated with women successful with breastfeeding is not their milk production but having a supportive community,” Gonzales said.

The group covered a variety, topics but one that came up quite a bit was the common lip tie, which is a congenital condition where a thick or tight band of tissue (frenulum) restricts a baby’s upper lip movement. The condition can prevent babies from properly latching, causes pain for the mom and impacts weight gain for infants. 

One new mom said she thought breastfeeding was going normally but discovered there were more problems.

Volunteers restart free breastfeeding classes

“I thought the way we were breastfeeding was just how breastfeeding went,” she said.

She said that she recently took her baby to a pediatric dentist and found the baby had the highest level of lip tie. 

In a case like hers, Kielpinski explained, the lip tie is resolved with a frenectomy or a laser that releases the tissue. The mom said once that had been done, everything got easier.

Another mom, who brought her second child with her, said she had more of a problem with supplying milk to her baby. Toward the end of the group meeting, she weighed her baby and cried because she had gained more weight.

“It’s getting better, which is making us happy,” she said.

She added that she goes to the group meetings to “get out of the bubble,” not just for breastfeeding support.

The moms talked about reasons milk supply might be low and how to increase it. One mom, who shared she is a nurse as well, said she noticed her supply went down when she was stressed but also adjusted her diet to produce more. 

The volunteers also talked about a German method, where moms drink a small amount of wine or beer, which can also work with nonalcoholic options, to increase supply.

Gonzales said breastfeeding is a “demand and supply” issue because babies are always in demand but supply is sometimes impacted.

Because the group is not officially sponsored by any hospital or health business, according to Kielpinski, they have had a hard time getting the word out about the group. She said it is open to any mom who is breastfeeding.

The group meets at Rust from 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays and also has a Facebook page moms can join.