Video: 101 Reasons to Breastfeed

Hey readers, I'm kinda tied up with a few things right now, and plan to blog about it once I have some time, but for now wanted to share this video:

101 Reasons to Breastfeed!

Really loved the artwork in this montage and the song choice was great!

Need a laugh? Stay-At-Home Moms vs Working Moms

Sometimes we all need a good laugh, and this article discusses the pros and cons of being a stay at home mom and a working mom. I don't know why there seems to be this great amount of pressure between moms, for those that either breastfeed or formula or for those that stay at home or return to work. I think we all need to just be supportive of each other because we're all doing what's best for our family. I love how this article points out that no matter what decisions we make as a parent we always have some level of doubt or insecurities as to whether or not we are doing the right thing. As a mother, I know how important it is for me to feel like I'm doing what's "best" for my babies, but best does not = perfect, and I'm starting to understand that even when I have to acknowledge that maybe I didn't do the right thing, or missed something another mother might have caught. I can't be perfect. I am doing my best and that's all that matters.

My favorite quote from the essay - For the stay at home moms:

"You irrationally shout, “STAY-AT-HOME MOMS ARE WORKING MOMS” every time you read an article like this and then you shake your head and wonder how you got like this. You feel so lonely that you actually start to miss that bitch at work. Your partner wants to rest after a long day of work and they don’t understand that you need to rest too and they say something like, “Why? What did you do all day? This house is a wreck” and then you have to go to jail for stabbing them in the shoulder. You find that prison is a pleasant break from being a stay-at-home mom. You secretly worry that you’re making the wrong decision."

I remember waiting in my OB's office to "try" and get an IUD (it didn't work out) but 6 weeks after having Jonathan, I remember laying on the exam bed, hands behind my head, eyes closed, thoroughly enjoying this "break" and pretending I was laying on the beach or on a cruise. The nurse came in to apologize for the wait, and I told her "Are you kidding me, take your time, I'm so happy to be baby free right now!" Don't get me wrong, I really do love my kids, and I'm sure in 10, 20 and 50 years from now I'll say these were the best days of my life, but there are definitely moments where I could stab a certain someone for telling me that I didn't have to "work all day" and a little quiet time in a private prison cell would be gladly welcomed ;)

How the foods you eat might hurt your baby...

I've mentioned in previous posts that my colicky baby Ben was intolerant / sensitive to casein (the protein in cow milk) and I eliminated all dairy from my diet while I was nursing him. Recently, my entire household went on a casein (dairy) free, gluten (wheat) free, soy free diet and I've been spending entirely too much time reading and researching these foods on the internet.

I just want to share a few quotes, and offer a few sites to give our pregnant and nursing moms a little heads up about about how the proteins in these foods pass through the breast milk and could possibly be responsible for your child's colic, fussiness, gassiness, vomitting, gerd, reflux, green or bloody stools, or many other health issues.

"In August 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued an official statement about allergenic proteins in a mother’s diet appearing in her breastmilk and creating problems for her baby.  They stopped far short of talking about excellent research showing that cow’s milk in the diet of a pregnant or breastfeeding woman creates even more problems than we ever thought for her nursing baby.

Please don’t misunderstand the incredible superiority of human milk for human babies.  Infants who receive formula have more intestinal problems by far than infants who drink breastmilk.  Uninformed medical practitioners have actually told mothers that their babies were “allergic to their breastmilk.”  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Babies can be allergic to protein fragments from mom’s diet which end up in the milk, but if they are sensitive to those proteins, they would be much more affected by an artificial baby milk made entirely of non-human protein.  Even so called “hypoallergenic” formulas are rarely any better.   They are made of proteins broken down into smaller fragments to provoke less of a reaction.  They are still allergenic and don’t solve the problem for many babies."

Common reactions to dairy in babies:

• Green, runny stool
• Blood tinged stool
• Skin rashes
• Chronic nasal stuffiness
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Excessive abdominal discomfort
• Cramping
• Coughing
• Mimic of GER (gastroesophageal reflux) symptoms
• Heartburn
• Spitting up
• Gassiness
• Constipation"

This information was taken from Dr. Jay Gordin, MD FAAP website.

On his site there is a ton of extremely useful information about breastfeeding (topics include, but are not limited to: the pitfalls of supplementing, mastitis and clogged ducts,  nursing strikes, thrush, bottle feeding, nursing and working secrets etc) and other medical / health related topics as well.

The La Leche League offers lots of resources I wish I had looked into back when I was pregnant too.

This beanmom site offers guidelines on dairy free foods as well as many helpful links as well.

The Next Breastfeeding Generation

I received this message in an email which relates to the post about the breastfeeding doll and how we should go about teaching the next generation about breastfeeding. I loved the story and the picture that was submitted with it!

"From time to time, Jaklyn (my oldest, now 3) mimics my actions and unfortunately phrases too but that's a whole other story!  She has a little pink pig neck roll pillow that I bought for her when we were going to be traveling and after we brought Edison (my youngest, now 9 months) home from the hospital, Jak noticed me nursing with a boppy pillow (side note:  I was too cheap to buy a new pillow and there was no breast friend [mybrestfriend nursing pillow] to be found 3 years ago!!  But if I have another, I will invest in one because I know the importance of a good pillow!!  But for now, we still use our old floppy boppy!).  She began to use (and refer to) her neck pillow as a boppy and began to nurse her babies, using it as well.  She recently recieved another neck pillow (this time a cow) for her birthday and when opening it up, she said "Oh, another boppy!".  So I was lucky to capture this the other day and wanted to share it with you!! 
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Love your blog and have referred many new moms and second time moms to it!  Keep up the great work!!"

I cannot express how happy and hopeful I am to see this precious little girl pretending to nurse her baby doll! THANK YOU Jaklyn's mom for not only breastfeeding, and for sharing your story and this darling picture with our readers, but I also have to thank you for raising children to understand that breastfeeding is natural and it's a good thing! Our kids don't need a special toy bra that stimulates a doll to make sucking sounds for little girls to understand how to feed a baby. Just like mommy, they can use a little neck pillow (or pretend boppy pillow) and pretend to nurse their baby dolls. As for you moms with little boys that pretend to nurse their stuffed animals by sticking them under their shirt (you know who you are and I know you're embarassed by it) you can explain that only mommies can make baby milk, but don't be overly sensitive about it, think about how supportive they will be to their future wife and other breastfeeding mothers. I'm convinced that as long as we expose our children to the way babies are naturally fed the next generation will not only be more comfortable with breastfeeding in general, but much more successful as well!