By Elita of Blacktating.com; for the Best for Babes Foundation ©2010

It’s officially summer and for a lot of folks, especially the rich and famous, that means family vacations. I’ve always loved these great tips for breastfeeding on a plane but in today’s times, you should also be aware of the TSA’s policies on traveling with breast milk. Unfortunately, you never know what will happen once you arrive at the airport as actress Jenna Eflman found out this week when TSA decided to “vapor test” her bottle of breast milk. Don’t you feel safer now?

There was a great discussion on my blog recently about the variations in care for breastfed newborn babies with jaundice. Some people had pediatricians who insisted on supplementing with formula, others were told to stop nursing, while some were told to nurse more frequently. Thankfully, the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine has issued some updated, common sense guidelines for managing jaundice in a breastfed baby, which include initiating breastfeeding within the first hour of life and encouraging exclusive breastfeeding.   Jaundice is incredibly common, which is why we have an extensive page on it. 

Booby Trap Alert! As we told you this week, a new study done at the University of Florida on tongue tie revealed what many lactation consultants already knew: clipping a tongue tie could help many more babies to breastfeed successfully. Not only does there appear to be the sentiment amongst doctors that frenotomies are unnecessary, but unfortunately not all doctors are even allowed to do the procedure. See our post for tips on what you can do if you’re faced with this Booby Trap.

We know that most moms who stop breastfeeding say they did so because they weren’t “making enough milk.” Whether it was true or imagined, the concern is normal and valid. Although the percentage of moms who don’t make enough milk is small, if we think of it in terms of numbers, it is something that will affect many moms. Besides herbs and a drug called Reglan that can have some scary side effects, there aren’t really any legal options for women who need to increase their milk supply in the US. Dr. Thomas Hale and IBCLC Dr. Kathleen Kendall-Tackett would like to hear from moms who have used drugs to increase their milk supply, to help determine their efficacy and safety. If you’ve used Reglan or Domperidone, please take about 15 minutes to complete their survey.

Things were very busy on our Facebook page this week. First, because of you and your votes, we made it into the Top 200 charities eligible to win $20,000 from the Chase Community Giving campaign! We are also creating our own Babe Blogger Roll, so if you have a blog, please sign up and you’ll always have the inside scoop on what Best for Babes is up to.

This week, we asked you, the fans, what feeding norms you grew up with and you were overheard saying…..

Erica Bradley-McCabe I grew up with NO ONE breastfeeding. My first experience was my Swedish SIL breastfeeding my nephew when I was 18 and I decided to breastfeed but was very shy about it with my first.

Damian Dayton I only ever saw breastfeeding. When I got pregnant it was a no brainer that I, too would breastfeed.

Jorie Martin Roubitchek My first experience with formula was when I was babysitting at age 14. Before that, I had seen my mom and aunts breast-feed babies. I remember being really confused about what formula was FOR - but I was too embarrassed to ask the mom why they used that instead because I didn’t want her to be offended.