breastfeeding

"I have to get my baby to take a bottle but he won’t," says mom Sarah C. in a panic. She's worried about her upcoming six-hour work shift next week. "I've tried expressing my milk, tried formula and different bottles, but he just hates it," she says of her 15-week-old son. Shakira too, would like to give herself an occasional break from breastfeeding, but her daughter won’t take a bottle, whether it’s filled with breast milk or formula. "I breastfeed my daughter every day, all day, but I would like and really need for her to take a bottle." If you, too, like Sarah and Shakira, feel like a prisoner because your baby refuses a bottle, the following six tips from other moms may help your situation.

Click to see the tricks moms have tried that worked!

You knew that breastfeeding was beneficial, but did you know that if all women breastfed their babies immediately after birth, the lives of some 830,000 infants a year could be saved? Save the Children released its Superfood for Babies study yesterday, identifying both the benefits of breastfeeding, and the four most significant barriers that prevent women across the globe from being able to nurse their newborns. Here's what you need to know:

Las Vegas is usually associated with clubs, dancing and a lot of skin. Which is why Jessica Martin-Weber, the blogger behind The Leaky Boob, was surprised when a manager at Flamingo’s Tropical Breeze Cafe, which is on the Strip, asked her to cover herself up while breastfeeding. Apparently she was making several other guests uncomfortable.

Taken aback, Martin-Weber told the manager that the law was on her side and that she would not cover up. Noting that the Flamingo hotel hosts a burlesque show, which is advertised with videos in its elevators, and the almost naked woman gyrating on a platform just outside the cafe's doors, she explained to readers that she wasn't about to violate her and her baby's rights just to placate strangers — all of whom had probably just seen a lot of naked flesh that was much more provocative than hers on their way to the cafe.

Read Jessica's whole story (The Leaky Boob) >>

How would you respond if this happened to you?

Image Source: The Leaky Boob

Here's a post from our partners at BabyCenter! Every week, we bring you the best parenting and lifestyle stories from the experts at BabyCenter, including this post about fixing breastfeeding problems.

"We just give women a pat on the head and tell them their kids will be fine," if they don't breastfeed, says Dr. Alison Stuebe, an OB who treats breast-feeding problems in North Carolina. "Can you imagine if we did that to men with erectile dysfunction?"

This question is one of many valid questions posed in this Time article, which takes a close look at how doctors treat, and fail to treat, women with breastfeeding problems.

Related: Is sushi safe while pregnant?

Why is it that we're so willing to see problems such as erectile dysfunction as medically based and medically treatable, but, when it comes to breastfeeding, the failure of a woman to adequately feed her baby is rarely seen as a valid medical issue?

If a man can't get an erection, doctors don't tell him he's not trying hard enough. They give him a physical and often a prescription. Yet, too often, when a woman can't breastfeed, her problems are viewed as a problem that can be solved by moral support, technique coaching or a human milk substitute in powder form.

The reason for this, Dr. Stuebe surmises, lies in the fact that relatively few doctors are trained in human lactation. Stuebe attributes this to culture. Today's medical school teachers, the so-called experts, were trained in a time when breastfeeding was not popular.

And where physicians fall short, lactation consultants try to pick up the slack. But lactation consultants often do so from the perspective that any woman with the right intentions can breastfeed. Possible medical reasons behind breastfeeding problems are rarely considered.

Keep reading to see what doctors are doing.

For a new mom who wants only to get her baby the nutrition he needs, there's nothing more frustrating than struggling with breastfeeding. Whether it's due to a milk shortage or surplus, pain, or a frustrated newborn, the early days of motherhood can present a truly unique set of challenges. While your doctor or lactation consultant can offer the most expert opinion, here are five surprising home remedies that may have you saying "Seriously?" but just may work!

1. Cabbage Leaves: Hit the produce aisle for this solution to engorged, swollen breasts.
2. Cookie Monster: Short on supply? Milkmakers are specially formulated to increase milk production. And they taste great!
3. Olive Oil: Whether your varietal of preference is Italian, Spanish, or made here in the good old US of A, a couple of drops of olive oil should soothe dry, cracked nipples (and be safe for baby).
4. Ice, Ice, Baby!: If your little one is starting to teethe, he likely wants to gnaw on anything that he can get his mouth on — including your breasts (ouch!) To relieve the pain in baby's gums, massage them gently with a frozen, wet washcloth prior to nursing.
5. Beer Me: While it's probably not the healthiest option, beer is known to work as a natural galactagogue, or substance that increases a low milk supply. Other, more nutritious proven galactagogues include asparagus, apricots, green beans, leafy greens, peas, pecans, and oatmeal. But if you want an excuse to kick back with a beer, we won't judge!