Elevate Your Health Colorado Joyce Gottesfeld's blog

You know the one I’m talking about-the one with the tall, blonde, slender woman defiantly staring at the camera as her almost 3-year-old son is standing next to her, breastfeeding.

Ok, first of all, I am the biggest breastfeeding advocate there is. I breast fed all three of my children for 15 months each. None of them ever tasted so much as a drop of formula. I encourage all my patients to breast feed.

Actually, encourage may not be a strong enough word. And in fact, very few women don’t "make enough milk."

The other day when I went to work on Labor and Delivery at 8 am, my partner who was going home said she had 12 deliveries the night before (she did look really tired).  I said “What’s going on?  Why so busy?  Where are all these babies coming from?”

I was writing an article for one of our Kaiser publications, and decided I wanted to share this info with my blog readers too, since I think it's pretty important, so here goes, a little excerpt:

Osteoporosis is a condition where the bones become more weak with age and are prone to fractures.  This process occurs in both women and men. 

You know what else you can donate besides blood? Breast milk!

Breast milk is so good for babies. The benefits of breast milk include decreased infections in babies, less diabetes and obesity later in life, it is more convenient, less expensive, bonding, etc.

Recently I had a patient who suffered a terrible complication during her labor, a complication that is fatal in over 85% of cases.  It is, per several sources, “unpredictable and unpreventable.” 

There will likely be many blogs to come on this case, but my blog today is about one particular issue related to this.  

Pertussis, or whooping cough, is making a comeback.  

I have a friend who is pregnant.  38 1/2 weeks pregnant to be exact. 

I really want her to have her baby.  Now.

How was 2011 for you?

That’s what they used to say anyway. 

When I was a resident (back in the stone age, before cars and TV, as my kids would say), it was just the opposite - we let almost anyone who had had a previous Cesarean Section (C/S) try to go through labor.  

Last month, October, was National Breast Cancer Awareness month.  But now it's November, so does that mean we don’t have to be aware of breast cancer any more???

Of course not!  In fact, NOW is the perfect time for you to come in for your screening mammogram!