When I posted my recent blog about breastfeeding basics, you Kind Lifers responded with some great personal advice and lots of questions. I feel like this is a topic that could be discussed endlessly! So, I compiled some of your questions, and went straight to the experts - PCRM's Dr. Susan Levin, and a wonderful midwife and mother of two, Kelly. Hopefully, the info below will help you on your breastfeeding adventure as a mama or mommy-to-be!

Is vegan breast milk deficient in iron and zinc? Can a vegan mom increase her iron levels by eating more vitamin C with iron or are supplements recommended?

Susan: The guidelines for breastfeeding mothers are similar to those for pregnant women. Milk production requires even more calories than pregnancy, so you will need to boost your food intake a little bit. During the first six months of breastfeeding, you need 500 calories more than you did before you became pregnant. This drops to 400 additional calories during the second six months of breastfeeding. Protein needs are the same as during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy (an additional 25 grams per day over pre-pregnancy needs).

Alicia: PCRM has a fantastic article about iron and zinc for pregnant women on their website. The same advice applies to breastfeeding women, so check it out here. Also, there is a non-constipating iron supplement called Floradix that you can take if you really don't eat enough iron. But iron is in so many foods - pretty much every bean, seaweed, quinoa, greens, sesame seeds, tofu, pumpkin seeds, raisins, prunes, beets, molasses, and for you nutritional yeast lovers, it's in there too. So if you're concerned about getting enough iron, make the seaweed dishes from my book. You can also make the gomasio and use it on your whole grains or greens.

What medications should be avoided when breastfeeding?

Alicia: Ideally, you won't need to be on medication!

Kelly: One of my favorite resources for breastfeeding moms is Kellymom.com. It has so much wonderful information on pretty much every issue related to breastfeeding. They have a page dedicated to finding out safety information for specific medications.

What if your baby doesn't want your breast milk?

Kelly: A baby not taking to its mother's breast milk is very rare. If a baby is rejecting the breast, it is usually due to nipple confusion from having taken a bottle. It is much less work to get milk from a bottle than from the breast. It is important to delay introducing a bottle until breastfeeding is well established, around 4-6 weeks. Early on, a baby may reject the breast if the baby is experiencing discomfort in a certain position. This can happen from the baby's journey through the birth canal. A session or two with a cranial sacral therapist will often help with this issue.

What if your baby has trouble sucking?

Kelly: A baby may have trouble sucking if it is premature, tired, or if the baby has a physical problem. Babies who are premature often have trouble latching on to the breast. If this is the case you can pump your milk and feed the baby with a syringe until the baby is strong enough to latch onto the breast. If a baby is term and is having difficulty sucking, the baby may be feeling discomfort in its neck or jaw and may just need an adjustment from a cranial sacral therapist.

In very rare cases (less than 2%) the baby may have a tight frenulum causing the baby to be "tongue-tied." You can tell if your baby is tongue tied by looking at him, and sticking out your tongue. The baby will imitate you. If he cannot fully extend his tongue, or if the tip of the tongue looks heart shaped he may be tongue tied. If this is the case, have the baby checked by your doctor. It is often possible for the doctor to snip the frenulum which allows the tongue to extend and breastfeeding can continue.

Is goat's milk closer to human milk than cow's milk?

Susan: I'm not sure why they [people] say this. "They" are wrong. Goat's milk is strikingly similar to cow's milk. Both a cow's and a goat's milk are higher in protein (which makes sense considering how much faster they need to grow than human babies), higher in saturated fat, and lower in carbohydrate than human breast milk. Goat's milk and cow's milk are very similar across the nutrient board (macronutrients and micronutrients). Goat's milk is actually a little higher in saturated fat than cow's milk - human milk is the lowest.

If your baby has a food allergy or sensitivity do the allergens from your diet get passed on through breast milk?

Kelly: Allergens do pass through the breast milk. Dairy is the number one cause of colic in babies. Most often babies do fine with their mother's diets. If a baby is having a problem with something in their mother's diet, the baby may become uncomfortable, fussy and gassy. If the baby is hungry, comes to the breast, and then cries not wanting to latch or bats her head back and forth, and seems to be having extra discomfort, she may be having a reaction to something in the mother's diet. There is a wide range of foods that babies can be fussy with, but dairy, chocolate, and cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, Brussels sprouts etc) seem to be the most usual culprits.

What are the most common allergens? Dairy/soy?

Susan: Breastfed babies have a much better shot at not developing allergies because drinking mother's breastmilk, where common allergens are met first by Mom's immune system, protects the baby (La Leche League International (LLLI) has information about this). Otherwise, allergies developed in adolescence are often times the same allergies suffered by the child's parents, in other words, inherited.

Is breastfeeding painful?

Alicia: It can be, but just at first. What I've been told is it's important to have the bonding latch right away. Everyone I know who had pain in the beginning says how amazing it was after the first two weeks - that the insane feelings of ecstasy while baby nurses are the best ever, and that it's so worth the baracuda jaws for two weeks. Also, I have seen and heard so much about how the baby, when first put on the chest immediately after birth, will crawl up to your nipple after a while and open its mouth like a little bird looking for the nipple. How cute and precious is that?

Kelly: Breastfeeding is a learned process. As much as we want it to be completely intuitive, it just isn't. We are no longer raising babies in villages filled with other women who are breastfeeding. We don't see it often. We don't grow up seeing our mothers, sisters, aunts, cousins and friends openly breastfeeding. It is sad, but it is our reality. I recommend that every woman who is about to have a baby have a very good lactation consultant available to them after the birth of the baby. Some hospitals offer lactation consultants, but they only serve a few hours a day, and are not available all the time, or after the mother goes home. Have someone you can call at anytime who can come to you and help you. There are so many teeny tiny things that can cause major problems and pain if not corrected right away. You would never know what these are unless you have someone very experienced to help you.

For most, breastfeeding is uncomfortable for the first couple of weeks. Mostly because you have never had someone stimulating your nipples constantly for hours and days at a time before! That being said, if there is excruciating pain, cracking, or bleeding, that is not normal, and you should absolutely seek out help from a good lactation consultant.

Can a vegan diet promote allergies in a baby?

Alicia: No way! Susan and Christina addressed this in my second pregnancy blog.

Where exactly is isolated soy found so we can avoid it?

Alicia: I go into detail about this in my recent blog about soy. Check it out if you haven't had a chance to read it yet!

Would you like to share your breastfeeding advice with the community? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and I may feature them on the homepage of The Kind Life!