Volunteers restart free breastfeeding classes

RIO RANCHO — One of the oldest practices in human history is now being taught at Presbyterian Rust Medical Center by a group of volunteers: breastfeeding.

The large community room at the hospital will play host to new and practiced moms alike from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesdays to discuss and learn about the mental and physical blocks that come with the art of breastfeeding.

“We just really have a passion to help women succeed in breastfeeding, and there are so many challenges in it,” volunteer Denise Kielpinski said.

However, despite being volunteers, she and fellow volunteer Michelle Gonzales have a few decades of nursing and breastfeeding experience under their belts. Kielpinski has been a licensed doula for more than 20 years while Gonzales has been working in the field of babies for nearly 40 years. They are also joined by retired doula, Penny Tidwel.

The breastfeeding group started 12 years ago but was put on hold during the COVID pandemic. During that time, everything was virtual, including doctor appointments. Kielpinski said breastfeeding consulting is not something that can be done virtually and requires in-person consultation. Gonzales said she was able to see one woman at a time during the isolation year, but it was limited. After a few years of uncertainty, the volunteers decided to start the support group back up this year.

“It is important to get the word out so that women can succeed so we can change the biome in the gut of babies,” she said.

There are a number of health benefits to breastfeeding a baby, according to Kielpinski.

“When a baby is born, there’s holes in the stomach, and if it can be inoculated with breast milk, it will help distill all those holes up,” she said.

She said mothers have to learn their side of it with positioning, their own health and capabilities. Moms can have pre-existing conditions and breast health issues that can impact how well babies latch on. Even with completely healthy mothers and babies, it can be a gradual process before they get the hang of breastfeeding.

“You would think we’d come right out and just start suckling and know how to do this. Well, we don’t,” she said.

Just like the mom is learning how to breastfeed, the baby is learning, and that isn’t always easy, said Kielpinski.

“Babies can have lip ties and tongue ties can be a problem. Sometimes — it’s extremely rare for this to be true — but sometimes moms can’t make enough milk or maybe they don’t know how to get their milk supply up,” she said.

Both Kielpinski and Gonzales said that some milk from the breast is better than using formula or a bottle and getting no milk at all from the breast.

“One bottle can sabotage breastfeeding,” Kielpinski said.

She likened it to going to an all-you-can-eat buffet, where a person can eat too much for their own good. Bottle feeding can have the same effect, she said. Formula lacks the nutrients that a baby needs to fight infection and disease. Both Kielpinski and Gonzales said breastfed babies grow up to have better immune systems, protecting them from everything from ear infections to more serious respiratory problems.

“We know that if we can protect the baby’s gut and seal a lot of the little things that need to be sealed in the stomach from the second of birth, and we protect those babies as they become older and they become adults, they’re not going to have the same tendency toward a lot of the illnesses that bottle-fed and formula-fed babies get where they’re not eating the proteins and breast milk that are specific to the human body,” Gonzales said.

“The human brain responds better to breast milk and fats in breast milk than they do to the fats in formula, and the formula companies try to mimic the the fats in breast milk, but there’s so many things that breast milk that are specific to the human brain,” she said.

She added that there are parts to breastfeeding that just can’t be replicated in a lab. The bottle can also impact the shape of the baby’s mouth, which can lead to problems down the road.

“The palette of a baby that breastfeeds takes on the arch of the breast, which is like a long, wide sort of arch. Bottle fed babies have very high arches, and so there seems to be more issues with the formation of the sinuses and having increased rates of ear infections, sinus infections. That alone is very much affected by nursing. It’s literally the formation of the upper respiratory tract,” Kielpinski said.

There are a number of benefits to women as well, according to both volunteers.

“It protects us against breast cancer. Women’s breasts are supposed to feed babies, and one of the things that they have found is that for women when they breastfeed, once they get past about six months, it starts to afford you protection, and women that have breastfed babies have more protection against, lower rate of breast cancer” Gonzales said.

Breastfeeding can also help with weight loss and diabetes, she said. “It helps to decrease diabetes amongst women and obesity amongst women because they’re giving their calories to their babies.”

Gonzales also mentioned the mental health benefits of breastfeeding.

“There was actually less depression amongst women that breastfed. It really promoted a very strong bond between mother and baby,” she added.

She also said women generally get better sleep when they breastfeed because it doesn’t involve going to the kitchen in the middle of the night, saying it’s easier for women to get back to sleep when they breastfeed at night, sometimes 30-45 minutes more than when they bottle fed. While the idea behind using the bottle is convenience, both volunteers say this is a misconception

There are other misconceptions and taboos about breastfeeding that women encounter. Both Gonzales and Kielpinski addressed the elephant in the room when it comes to breastfeeding: being ostracized or criticized for doing it in public. Kielpinski, however, wants to remind people that New Mexico allows women to breastfeed wherever they have to. The law states it “makes it legal for a mother to breastfeed her child in any location, public or private, where the mother is otherwise authorized to be present.”

There is also a law that requires employers to provide flexible break time and a clean, private space — not a bathroom — in order to foster the ability of a nursing mother who is an employee to use a breast pump in the workplace.

Fathers can make a difference with the process, too. Gonzales said she encourages the dads to come to clinic sessions to learn more about what they can do. “I wanted the dads to be there, and we just found creative ways to include them in all of our discussions, because dads are just the number-one thing associated with women being successful with breastfeeding.”

However, the support group is for moms and babies only.

The breastfeeding group is a safe place for women to learn more and figure out what works for them, the volunteers said. Gonzales and Kielpinski will not force women to breastfeed, but they do ask them to consider the benefits. They encourage women to ask questions and talk about individual needs.

For more information, women can show up to the class any Tuesday. There is no sign-up required.