World Breastfeeding Week: Ten Steps

Welcome to World Breastfeeding Week!

As my dedicated readers know by now, breastfeeding means a lot to me.  I believe in the emotional benefits of how it helps nurture an attached relationship, and I strongly believe in it's physical benefits.  For those of you who need reminding, here's a quick overview of some of the benefits.

The Health Benefits of Breastfeeding

That is just a conservative list, but it clearly shows that breastfeeding is a vital part of healthy growth and development.  As such, breastfeeding needs to be supported, encouraged, promoted, and celebrated, which is the goal of World Brestfeeding Week.

This year, the theme of World Breastfeeding Week is the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.

So without further ado...

Ten Steps to successful Breastfeeding

1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.

2. Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy.

3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.

4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within half an hour of birth.

5. Show mothers how to breastfeed, and how to maintain lactation even if they should be separated from their infants.

6. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk, unless medically indicated.

7. Practise rooming-in – that is, allow mothers and infants to remain together – 24 hours a day.

8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand.

9. Give no artificial teats or pacifiers (also called dummies or soothers) to breastfeeding infants.

10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic.

So pop back in and join me the rest of this week for discussion on the Ten Steps, how we've seen it implemented (or not), and a celebration of breast feeding.

Note- Blogger refuses to let me use "normal font" and is only allowing Small/est or Large/st, I hope I get this sorted out soon.

A Less Civil Response.

July 9, 2010
Bob McLain
Program Director, 106.3 FM
bmclain@entercom.com

Dear Director McLain,

Recently, my attention was drawn to  a segment that aired on the Russ & Lisa show on Tuesday, July 6, 2010. in which Lisa Rollins, whom you employ as a news anchor and a talk host thought it was an apt idea to question the rights of infants to eat in restaurants and for their mothers to feed them in a safe environment.  I've read some of the other responses you've gotten, ones like the one Dionna Ford wrote, responses which are calm, non-argumentative, and reasonable.  This isn't that response.  I'm too livid.


Can I first state the ridiculousity of saying breastfeeding in a restaurant is disgusting when one is in said restaurant, a Chic Fil-A, most likely eating the breast of another animal, to be offended that woman might be using hers to feed her baby?  Because it is ridiculous. 


Also, I noted from what Ms. Rollins had to say that she was in the Chic Fil-A, not eating in her car.  I presume that since she said it was "100 dadgum degrees," that she would have found it uncomfortable to eat her meal in the car.  Similarly, I would imagine that a baby and mother would rather not be sitting in said uncomfortable environment.  However, maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps Ms. Rollins would like to take all of her meal breaks in her car for a while so she can tell me how delightful, uncramped, and cool it is.  That sounds fair.


If in your judgement it is too hot for Ms. Rollins to be expected to eat in her car, preferably with the air off, there is an oil crisis going on right now, as a news anchor could probably tell you, maybe she'd like to eat in the bathroom.  Other than the part where bathrooms are areas set aside for dealing with human waste, I can't imagine she'd have a problem with it, considering that she thinks it's a good place for someone with a still developing immune system to eat.  She also doesn't seem to think that a nursing mom would mind spending her time out of the house in the restroom, so I can't imagine why she would mind spending her off-the-air time in the restroom.


That brings me to my next point. Off the air time.  Maybe she needs some.  She thinks that moms just staying home instead is a reasonable option, so I invite her to do it. As her employer, you could help make that a reality.  The way I look at it, the World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding up to at least two years of age and as long thereafter as it is mutually beneficial to both members of the nursing dyad, so that sounds like a good period of time that she should just stay home. Two years.   You know, stay home, discreetly.


She also implied that perhaps the mother of the nursing infant could have nursed in the car on the way there.  Other than the part where it's illegal to travel in a moving vehicle with an infant who is not properly restrained in their car seat, that's a brilliant idea.  Oh wait, it's a horrible idea because it is a suffocation risk to lean over the carseat to nurse an infant and it's dangerous and illegal to remove said child from said carseat while it is in motion. Further, if the mother was driving, it's a whole new level of irresponsibility, illegality, and danger.   I admit it, I'm disturbed that you have a news anchor and talk show host in your employ who recommends, even jokingly, illegal practices which endanger children.


As per Ms. Rollins suggesting that nursing in public, which, by the way, is a specifically protected right in the state of South Carolina, as well as in the vast majority of the United States, and is supported in most of the rest of the world, should have legislation enacted to criminalize it just grieves me deeply.  I can't imagine that the majority of your listeners are so against infants being nourished in the most healthy way possible, but I would postulate that if she were saying that drinking beer in public, which, unlike breastfeeding which encourages healthy development, kills brain cells, damages livers, increases the incidence of people making ignorant comments, and leads to deaths, injuries, and property damage via inebriated drivers and needless altercations, should be made illegal, there'd be a bigger uproar.


So if I was being nice, and tactful, and unaggressive, I'd ask that she not only recant but take a class on Women's issues and another on breastfeeding, but I'm not being nice.  I'm being bombastic and disgusted and suggesting that she eat in the car, and in the bathroom, and stay home for the next two years.   And then and only then will I give her or your station any credibility.


I'm usually nicer than this, but this sort of anti-baby, anti-family, anti-woman, anti-health attitude has got to stop.


Have a nice weekend,
Slee

I've Nursed In Public...

Welcome to the July 2010 Carnival of Nursing in Public

This post was written for inclusion in the http://www.nursingfreedom.org/p/carnival-of-nursing-in-public.html">Carnival of Nursing in Public hosted by Dionna and Paige at http://nursingfreedom.org">NursingFreedom.org. All week, July 5-9, we will be featuring articles and posts about nursing in public ("NIP"). See the bottom of this post for more information.

I've nursed in public in a lot of places.

At a wedding, at a funeral.

A party or ten, the coffee house.

Restaurants, airports, movie theaters.

Libraries, doctors' offices.

Grocery stores, clothing stores, in the middle of the mall.

The post office, the beauty salon.

Forest preserves, neighborhood parks.

In churches, at museums, in the graveyard, in the pool.

At the DMV, in line at the voting booth.

City Halls, Town Halls, Villiage Halls, Municipal Centers.

At my daughter's elementary school, at the middle school and high school.

At award ceremonies and concerts.

Arcades and mini-putt courses.

At art fairs, at craft fairs, in fair weather and cloudy.

Circuses and indoor golf ranges.

Carnivals, festivals, and farmers markets.

Fabric stores.

Elevators.

Lobbies galore and at the Gym.

At parades and while parading down the sidewalk between shops.

At the planetarium and at the beach.

In my insurance agent's office, at my husband's work.

La Leche League Meetings, Cemetery Association meetings, and Girl Scout meetings.

At the fireworks, at cookouts.

At prudish Christmas parties.

Gas stations and truck stops.

I've nursed a lot of places.

What has always struck me as odd is that the majority of the reaction I have seen while nursing in public has been averted gaze or a smile from a mother who is nursing her baby, or has nursed in the past.  At the planetarium a woman even came up to me and said she was really proud of me for nursing in public and to keep up the good job, reassuring me that I was giving my baby the best nutrition I could.  That felt a little silly to me because I'm the one who usually tries to encourage others, but still, made me feel hopeful for other nursing moms.

Yet.  Isn't there always a yet?

I have received incredulous looks from one person, as if to say "do you have to do that *here*" or "can't you cover that up?"  One person has asked if I was going to stop nursing inpublic soon as my baby was, at the time, a whole great big 10 months old, and another, when he was very small, looked at me with astonishment while I nursed my wee one in a side room at the library, gasped, and asked "you're doing THAT, HERE?"

Yes, dear SPOUSE, I do have to do this here, and without a cover.

No, dear MOTHER, I am not planning on ceasing and desisting all nursing in public just because my baby is bigger than a loaf of bread.

Yes, dear DAUGHTER, I am going to do this, and I am going to do it here.

That's right. All of the pointed negative looks, questions, and comments I've received while nursing in public have come from those closest to me.

I think it's sad when I hear similar stories from friends, that the people who raise the greatest barriers and work as the greatest obstacles to their breastfeeding in public are the people who should be the most supportive.  

Therefore, dear reader, I'd like to tell you how I've responded.

I've looked them in the eye, told them that where we live a mother has the legally protected right to nurse her baby anywhere she otherwise has a right to be, and can do so without the aid of a cover, regardless of exposure incidental to nursing.  I have then pointed out that the World Health Organisation recommends breastfeeding to at least the age of 2, and beyond as long as it is mutually agreeable to both members of the nursing dyad.  Then I had to explain "dyad."  But I don't stop there.

I also explain that the United States has a very low breastfeeding rate, partially because of comments, questions, and looks like the ones they're giving, and that it has a real cost inthe health of the mothers and babies who don't nurse, and an economic cost in terms of dollars spent on healthcare which likely would not have been necessary had immune systems and gastric/intestinal development been fully supported.  I explain that we would be living in a healthier nation and that the money spent on formula would be better spent elsewhere for the betterment of the child and their family, rather than on a chemical brew which only poorly mimics the nutrition a baby gets from his mother's milk.

By this point they're sighing and rolling their eyes, squirming in their chair and wishing I'd just go back to nursing and stop lecturing them.

But you know what?  It worked with two out of three people.  The hold out? My husband. He's still terrified someone's going to see a little too much of what he thinks is his territory and get the wrong idea.   But having overheard my mom and daughter explaining this to others, later, I think that perhaps education is the best way to build acceptance of nursing inpublic. Exposure and education.  

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  The more nursing moms get out and nurse in public, the more they explain why it's important for a baby to be fed when and where that baby is hungry, the more they educate others as to their rights and as to "expert" recommendations (people like expert recommendations, personally, I'm more a fan of happy babies) the sooner we will see the re-normalization of breastfeeding, even in public.

Where will you be nursing today?

Welcome to the Carnival of Nursing in Public

Please join us all week, July 5-9, as we celebrate and support breastfeeding mothers. And visit NursingFreedom.org any time to connect with other breastfeeding supporters, learn more about your legal right to nurse in public, and read (and contribute!) articles about breastfeeding and N.I.P.

Do you support breastfeeding in public? Grab this badge for your blog or website to show your support and encourage others to educate themselves about the benefits of breastfeeding and the rights of breastfeeding mothers and children.

<center><a href="http://www.nursingfreedom.org/p/carnival-of-nursing-in-public.html" title="Carnival of Nursing in Public"><img src="http://www.babydustdiaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/inip1.png"  alt="Art by Erika Hastings at http://mudspice.wordpress.com/" border="0"></a></center>

This post is just one of many being featured as part of the Carnival of Nursing in Public. Please visit our other writers each day of the Carnival. Click on the links below to see each day’s posts - new articles will be posted on the following days:
July 5 - Making Breastfeeding the Norm: Creating a Culture of Breastfeeding in a Hyper-Sexualized World
July 6 – Supporting Breastfeeding Mothers: the New, the Experienced, and the Mothers of More Than One Nursing Child
July 7 – Creating a Supportive Network: Your Stories and Celebrations of N.I.P.
July 8 – Breastfeeding: International and Religious Perspectives
July 9 – Your Legal Right to Nurse in Public, and How to Respond to Anyone Who Questions It

Facts versus Feelings

I have been reading articles lately, such as I Formula Fed, So What? Breastfeeding Sucks, and The Case Against Breastfeeding, since Annie over at PhD in Parenting drew attention to them with her thought provoking response to the most recent, (I Formula Fed, So What?) Society is Creepy (Not Breastfeeding).

I'm a touch conflicted on this one.
On the one hand, I FORMULA FED MY DAUGHTER.
I did. It hurt. I was engorged. I was bleeding. I was tired.  I didn't have a strong support network.  I soldiered through two weeks of a breastfeeding nightmare and then she became another bottle-baby.
Some misguided lactivists *did* say things specifically designed to shame me after the fact, as opposed to offering early help when it might have been useful.  No, instead they made a point of sneering and making hurtful comments every time I went to feed my child, on demand, just like the nursing mother across the room.  Somehow my child's needs being met was some sort of crime because I wasn't doing it the way they thought was best.
You know what? It would have been better, but it wasn't something I was up to.  Does that make me selfish? I don't think so. I don't think so because I was able to hold her and smile at her and sing to her and enjoy her after my milk dried up and every shift of the wind was no longer excruciating.  It was good for our relationship when I no longer cringed when I saw her looking hungry because I knew that it would be all I could do not to scream in pain as we struggled to get a good latch with my engorged breasts.  In that circumstance I made the best choice I could with the resources I had at hand.  I have some anger about the issue and feel that the personal sentiments expressed in those articles are legitimate and that each woman has the right to tell their story and be honest about how they feel, even if they feel formula was "good enough."

On the other hand...
Was formula good enough or just as good? No. It absolutely wasn't, and it absolutely isn't.
No matter how we feel about it, we mustn't confuse facts with feelings.
Formula is NOT as good as breast milk.  And since when do we want "good enough" for our children?

Fast forward ten years to when I was pregnant with my son.  If I remember correctly, I broke the news to my spouse by saying "I'm pregnant, and I'm not breastfeeding."   There might have been a pause. Nonetheless, the reaction in my gut was immediate. The pain associated with it had been worse than the labor and more lingering, and I had no interest in a repeat, and the lactivists of an earlier decade had emotionally scarred me pretty deeply.  I was even becoming something of a formulactivist.
But then I started reading, and the more I read, the more I researched, the more I realized all of the science proves conclusively what I already knew but didn't want to admit.  Breast milk is the perfect food for infant nutrition and formula is simply chemists' failed attempt/s to imitate it.  There is NO comparison.  Formula needs to exist as an intervention but it needs to be just that, an intervention for cases in which breastfeeding, expressed milk, and donor milk are not options.
No, mothers shouldn't be made to feel guilty for having chosen to formula feed, however, I do strongly feel that up until the decision has been made, the baby born and the milk dried up, if we don't attempt to educate mothers as to the benefits of breastfeeding and dispel myths which make breastfeeding look like too hard of a choice, then we are doing a disservice to those women and their offspring. Women need honesty, they need support, and they need to see it.
Women need to know that breastfeeding doesn't mean you can never taste a drop of alcohol until the baby's weaned. They need to know that alcohol works its way out of milk at the same rate it works its way out of one's blood and that so long as they don't nurse the baby when they're drunk, there is no need to wean to occasionally indulge.  (Of course, impaired parenting presents a whole host of it's own problems, so I'll follow the lead of other women whose judgement I trust and suggest getting a sitter if you're planning on getting drunk.)
Women need to know that they can leave the house with a nursling, because breastfeeding is a protected right in most states.  They need to know that it is legal to nurse their babies.  (How can we live in a world where there would even be a question about that?)  Women need to be empowered in knowing that it is okay to nurse a baby wherever that baby is hungry (other than a moving car, there are child seat laws, you know.)  This means a woman can nurse her baby at the library, the doctor's office, the post office, the DMV, the grocery store, the playground, the museum, the mill, the forest preserve, and the bakery.  It's perfectly fine and good to nurse in public.

Women need to know that their boobs won't sag because they nursed their babies.  They need to know that the changes which lead to sagging breasts are a function of pregnancy and not of breastfeeding, and that some women are more disposed to sagging than others.  Breastfeeding will not make your boobs sag.
Women need honesty. They need to know that yes it can be painful to learn to breastfeed.  Not every baby is born with a good latch in mind.  However, the problems of the early weeks can be corrected with a good support system and perseverance.
Women need to be aware that some women find the whole ordeal of breastfeeding unpleasant. Not just the pain but the weird mixed messages that can be sent to your brain when a part of your body which may be one heavily associated with sexuality starts being used for another purpose.  Some women never experience any conflict between the sexualized breast and the functional breast, but some do, and women need to know that if they do have that uncomfortable sensation and have to grit their teeth at the mixed messages going on in their brain, that it doesn't mean there's something wrong with them, but rather that their brain is wired to receive one type of message from that area.  This doesn't mean one can't breastfeed, it simply means that there might be additional complications.*
Women need honesty.
Women need to see it.
I really think there is nothing more beneficial to supporting the healthy development of more and more nursing dyads than getting out with your baby and nursing that baby on demand, in public, without running to the bathroom, dressing room, car, or hiding under a blanket, unless your nursing cover makes you more comfortable.  The more people witness the seemingly rare occurrence of a mother nursing her baby, the more and more women will begin to accept the biological norm as the social norm.

So I'm begging you, when you read an article claiming formula is just as good as breast milk, make sure you do a fact check as well as a gut check, then take a moment to be the good kind of lactivist who offers information and support, and not the kind who inspires the types of articles to which the rest of the lactivist community must respond.



*I am including this because I have read more than one woman say that no one talks about this, that the lactivist community likes to sweep it under the rug because the people who find breastfeeding creepy might use it as an argument that breastfeeding is creepy.  But breastfeeding is feeding a baby. That's not creepy.  What's creepy is shaming a woman for feeding her baby while having to deal with the difficulty of not only a biological response different than the one she'd like, but also the narrow minded views of people who ultimately care more about their sense of having controlled others than the health and wellbeing of women and children.

Vaccinating against health.

According to an article by Judith Potts for Telegraph, there's some very promising strides being made toward a vaccine which could prevent breast cancer.


This is a topic near and dear to my heart.  In 2007, my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer. In 2009 she passed away.  Despite a mastectomy, hormonal therapy, and radiation, the tumors kept recurring and spreading.  Breast cancer terrifies me.  
YET, I'm not thrilled about this possible vaccine.Why?


According to the article,  an immunologist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, Dr Vincent Tuohy, as well as other researchers such as Dr Leatham, at University College London, have found a specific protein, alpha-lactalbumin, which is present in the majority of breast cancer tumors.  So their brilliant thought?  Innoculate against the protien.  They figure that if they can trick the body into having an immunological response against the protien, then the chance of the cancer developing is reduced. 
That's all fine and dandy, except the part where alpha-lactalbumin is also a component of breast milk.  You know, that stuff that humans, as mammals, produce in order to nourish their offspring?  You know, that stuff which developed as part of the immune system in order to help the infant transition from a sterile environment into one full of thousands of bacteria and viruses.  You know, the stuff that helps the developing intestines transition to foods and reduces the likelihood of allergies?  You know, the stuff that has been associated with higher IQs, stronger immune system, and lowered risk of Type II diabetes in both the mother and child, lowered risk of obesity, lowered risk of asthma, and lower incidence of crib death SIDS.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, breast feeding is also linked to lower risk of breast cancer in the mom. 


So the notion is, give females this vaccine so they maybe won't develop breast cancer, you know, the thing they're less likely to get if they have a healthy immune system (possibly in part to having been breast fed) are not obese (partially linked to having been breast fed) and if they breastfeed their own offspring.


The only foreseeable tradeoff?  Their offspring are less healthy and women are still being put at risk.  Not to mention the whole experimental nature of this type of treatment.
This part here possibly makes me the most nervous.  Potts writes " this [theorized] vaccine will be used on young women – particularly those who have a family history of breast cancer – and those over the age of 40, when the cancer is more likely to develop but when they are less likely to be breastfeeding."


That's right.  The idea is to give it to those with a history of breast cancer, you know, the ones who could possibly benefit most from the many health benefits of breast feeding.   

The Health Benefits of Breastfeeding

I hate to say it, but this is one case in which I feel like it's one big step for science, and two big steps backwards for women and children's health.


Disclosure: I'm not a doctor, a nurse, or any other sort of medical professional.  I am expressing my opinions based on research I have done as a mother, a lactivist, and a woman who has lost a family member to this horrific disease. 

But I'm Shy

I get about a hundred emails a day choc full of things I can get involved in. That I want to get involved in. That mean something to me and all I have to do to participate is show up. But I'm shy.

Okay, I really get like four a week, but still, they add up, and the toll they take on my brain while I'm thinking "rally to save the library? Love to!" but the rest of me says "then again, what if the people there all know each other?"

Snapdragon was 3 months old before I sucked it up and went to my first LLL meeting. Three months. Do you know how beneficial it could have been had we gone in the first month? And how wonderful would it have been to sooner meet some other "sorta crunchy" moms who don't look at me like I'm crazy for breastfeeding, babywearing, co-sleeping, cloth daipering, or even leaving my sweet Snapdragon intact? How much a relief would it have been to be able to discuss the day to day trials, tribulations, and triumphs of livin' la vida AP, and preferably sans BPA without causing a debate?

It would be huge.

So this got me thinking. Why don't I go to the events that I know will be filled with like minded people, with whom I'd probably get along quite well? Why not go just a little out of my normal routine to spend time with real flesh and blood human beings, people with whom I can make eye contact and probably agree with on major issues? Oh yeah... because I'm shy.

Why don't I just show up and make a difference? Because I'm shy.

So here's the thing. We need to stop being shy.

Sure it means a week of working up the nerve to go to something, but I nearly always find that the effort was worth it, so I need to get there. I need to find the mode of thinking and living where it becomes "save the library rally? I'm there."

Because that, dear reader, is where change comes from.

So, are you all shy like me, or do you get out there? And if you're shy and out there, please, oh please, teach me your ways, because I need some help!

The Power of Advertising

If you picked up a baby or parenting magazine right now, there are two things I can nearly guarantee you. One, it will say somewhere that Breast is Best. Two, the ads will do their damnedest to leave you with the message that formula is what normal people do and is choc full of healthy vitamins and nutrients that your baby won't get anywhere else.

WHO Code violation anyone?

But no one cares. No one cares that formula manufacturers advertise and promote their knock-off baby milk substitute to American moms. This is a first world nation, right? It's not like the WHO Code should extend to civilization. Duh. Breast is only really best for women with dark skin in backwards lands without all the science and government oversight that makes formula far superior here. Right?

Wrong.

There are people who do care that new mothers are receiving formula samples and coupons in the mail.

There are people who do care that we are constantly being bombarded with pacifier, bottle, and formula imagery.

I am one of those people.

Are you?

I have this idea. What if we STOP buying magazines with formula ads? What if we tell the various corporations publishing the magazines we love that we won't buy them until they stop selling advertising space to WHO code violators, or at least disallow WHO code violating ads? Think we could create some change?

World Breastfeeding Week: Even Though it Makes You Squick

My mother gets all squicked out about breastfeeding.
As I've pointed out in the past, she is not exactly a fount of moral support.
She's the type who will be holding a baby and get spit up on, sit there happily, and then be in a mad search for a clean shirt, not because its puke, but because she realized that it started out as breastmilk.
She's a firm believer in the bottle, and I suspect these views are mostly a product of her generation.
So if I run into any tata trouble, I'm much more likely to call my aunt, who is my age and nursed all of her children, and therefore is more knowledgeable and more supportive. She isn't going to say with strained voice and only loosely hidden disdain, "oh my gawd, does he ever stop that, that suckling?"
My mom? Well, yeah, there's a reason for the quotes.
But that said, I really have to give her credit.
Yes, the whole breastfeeding thing goes against her every fiber and squicks her out to no end, but she is trying so hard to be supportive.
She's done some research on it. She even supplied me with nursing pads when I was still pregnant. She's learned all about nursing bras, more when I was pregnant with Mongoosine than Snapdragon, but nonetheless, she has.
She will even quote the "lactivist propaganda," even if it is with a sigh and prefaced with the phrase, "well, now they're saying."
It makes me a little proud though, that she is trying so hard to be supportive, to be informed, to be openminded.
My mom does kinda rock, even if she fed me formula.