Friends of Breastfeeding

A message from Siobhan Hourigan, National Breastfeeding Co-ordinator for the HSE to the members of Friends of Breastfeeding.

2011-10-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

A message from SiobhanHourigan, National Breastfeeding Co-ordinator for the HSE to the members ofFriends of Breastfeeding.

Congratulations to Friends of Breastfeeding and all involvedon the success of your many events during National Breastfeeding Week 2011.

I have been absolutely overwhelmed by the number of eventsorganised throughout the country for National Breastfeeding Week. There is somuch good will out there and so much interest in promoting breastfeeding.

The theme of National Breastfeeding Week this year was'Breastfeeding Friendly', aiming to portray breastfeeding when out and about asa normal, natural part of daily life. That was certainly achieved by theFriends of Breastfeeding events.

To be honest, it felt a bit like 'National BreastfeedingFortnight' this year as there was so much activity in the run up to the week!It was great to get so much media coverage the week before NationalBreastfeeding Week and it gave an opportunity to promote the events that weretaking place. How wonderful to see Jolene, Maria and Maryline on televisionspeaking about their breastfeeding experiences and really promoting acceptanceof breastfeeding young children. We know the longer a woman breastfeeds thegreater the heath protection for her and her child, so this was a reallyimportant message to convey.

The Friends of Breastfeeding Challenges that took place atlocations across the country were a wonderful start to the week. My son and Ireally enjoyed the Breastfeeding Challenge in City West. It was a real fun,family day out. What an achievement that the Challenge events in Dublin andCork were recorded as the top 2 sites worldwide, with the highest number ofmothers & babies taking part. Over 350 mothers and babies took part in thechallenge at 6 locations nationwide and Ireland was second only to Canada asthe country with the largest number of participants. Too often we hear in Ireland that we arebottom of the league as our breastfeeding rates are so low compared to othercountries. It was very encouraging that Ireland could top the league ofBreastfeeding Challenges. It gives great hope for the future, that we can turnthe tide and that breastfeeding can become the norm for babies and youngchildren in Ireland.

To all of you that took part in the events I hope that youenjoyed them and took something from it. Please keep the conversations aboutbreastfeeding going. If you can inspire just one woman to think aboutbreastfeeding what a difference we can make.

To Friends of Breastfeeding congratulations on all you haveaccomplished - all from hard work, dedication and huge voluntary effort. Thankyou so much for the good work you do and the support and encouragement that yougive to Irish families.

Best Wishes for continued success in the future,

Siobhán

What We Did

2011-10-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

As of the end of Friday 7^th October, NationalBreastfeeding Week is over for another year and here at Friends ofBreastfeeding, we’re delighted with our contribution to proceedings. There wasso much going on, I wouldn’t be surprised if you missed something, so here’s asummary:

To kick off National Breastfeeding Week, we co-ordinated theIrish leg of the International Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge to have asmany babies latched on simultaneously aspossible, across eight venues. Individual tallies were:
- Citywest with 146 babies
- Mahon Point with 145 babies
- Tullamore with 45 babies
- Limerick with 17 babies
- Galway with 12 babies
- Ballina with 6 babies
- Cuidiu in Kilkenny with 17 babies
- Babywearing Ireland in Dublin International Hotel with 4 babies

This gives us a grand total of 392 babies participating forIreland and puts us in first and second place in Citywest and Mahon Point forbiggest venues. We also ranked second in the World, for most mothers participatingin the country, woohooo! Go us J

At the Challenge, we launched our breastfeeding video “Diaryof an Infant” which tells the story of a breastfed child and their family, frombirth to toddler and childhood. You can check it out here.

We also initiated our campaign to have the current law,which gives working mothers an entitlement to breastfeeding breaks up to six months, extended until their child is two years old, to bring the policy in linewith the current recommendations by the HSE and WHO to breastfeeding to age two andbeyond. Mothers signed postcards for the campaign which will be sent to JamesReilly, Minister for Health.

Many Maternity hospitals around the country had informationstands to mark National Breastfeeding Week. Friends of Breastfeeding providedbreastfeeding information packs and posters to the following hospitals: Our Lady of Lourdes, The Coombe, The Rotunda,Holles St, Tallaght Hospital, Waterford Regional Hospital, Portlaoise Hospital,Cork University Maternity Hospital, Limerick Regional Hospital and GalwayUniversity Hospital. Our information packs were also provided to many PublicHealth Nurses around the country.

Our blog hosted a new guest post each day, proving hugelypopular with contributions from writer and poet Nikki Magennis, writer Orla Shanaghy,dad of a breastfed baby Sean, writer Padraig O’Morain, author Victoria White and formerFriends of Breastfeeding council member, Jo Murphy.

We’d really like to thank lots of people who made all ofthis possible. There were lots of people involved, too many to name! We’dparticularly like to thank the co-ordinators for each venue: Jolene Keating inDublin, Annette Walsh and Maria Moulton in Cork, Sarah Sherlock in Tullamore, LauraGriffin in Limerick, Claire Kelly in Galway, Sinead Hanley in Ballina, SueJameson in Kilkenny and Tania Lawlor forBabywearing Ireland. We’d like to thank Dr. Jack Newman and David Coleman fortheir video messages of support and Siobhan Hourigan, Angie Benhaffaf, Mary Bird,Vicky Mooney and Caitriona Jones, Mayor of South County Dublin for speaking atthe Challenge venues and supporting the events.

A massive thank you goes to all of the people who took partin and supported all of these activities, the mums, dads, babies, toddlers, olderchildren and extended family. With everyone doing a little bit, we can achieveso much.

For Friends of Breastfeeding, it’s onwards and upwards! Wehave lots more we hope to achieve by the end of this year, and even biggerplans for next year, so watch this space J

new mother story link

2011-10-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

You might know Amber from Crappy Pictures about Parenting. She is hilarious and lovely.

She has a great guest post here at Tucson Mama about the experience of nursing in public for the first time, and the joys of meeting Other Mothers. It's a lovely little tribute to both, I think.

My advice is Do This. It's a saviour.

by Maria Moulton

2011-10-09T04:30:00.001-07:00

National Breastfeeding Week 2011

According to the calender, today marks the end of NationalBreatfeeding week. For the last 7days, there's been a mobilization acrossthe country to raise awareness of breastfeeding and the supports available forbreastfeeding mothers in Ireland.

From supermarkets in Galway to an IKEA in Ballymun, womenhave gathered together to nurse their children and meet other breastfeedingmums. From a University in Limerick to ahotel in Gort they have helped to share information and dispell the mythssurrounding breastfeeding.

On the 1^st of October, Irish mothers made historyas they sat down to simultaneously nurse 392 children at 8 sites around thecountry as part of the Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge. Two of these sites, Dublin and Cork, are currently leading the pack as the largestgatherings in the world. Not bad for acountry with the lowest rates of breastfeeding in Europe!

Today though, marks the end of it all. Down go the posters and the fun Facebookcompetitions, away go the raffles and the extra special coffee mornings. Today we pat ourselves on the back for a jobwell done and hang up our hats for another year.

But what about tomorrow?

What happens to the babies born next week? And the week after that?

This year in Ireland, approximately 75,000 babies will beborn to mothers around the country. About 55% of these women willchoose to breastfeed. By 12 weeks postpartum, the number of babies being exclusively breastfed will have dropped toaround 19% and by 6 months of age, only 11% of these babies will be receivingany form of breast milk at all. Of the75,000 babies born this year, only 2.4% of them can expect to be breastfed exclusively for the first six monthsof their lives as per the recommendations of just about every healthorganization on the planet.

81% of Mothers who give up breastfeeding by 12 weeks of agewill wish they had breastfed for longer.

We want to help these women feed their babies in the waythey want.

So here at Friends of Breastfeeding we've decided to ignorethe Calender. This year our celebrationsfor National Breastfeeding Week are only the beginning, the beginning of anentire year of celebratingbreastfeeding.

Every day.

Every week.

We will do our best to try and be there for every mother whowants to breastfeed her child. Toprovide information about the support services available around the country andto continue trying to foster a postive breastfeeding culture in Ireland.

Because for us, today does not mark the end. Today, for hundreds of mothers and babiesacross Ireland, it's just the beginning. And we want to be there to support them, every step of the way.

www.mammydiaries.ie
https://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=15535814031

Being a Friend

2011-10-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

We have a lovely series of posts on the blog for this week, I think. But no one has submitted anything for today, so as I'm sitting here anyway, I'll pop one up.

I was talking to someone yesterday, about longer term feeding. She was comforted to hear I'd fed my son for so long (til three and a half) as she was already starting to get Comments from various well meaning friends and in-laws about the fact that she's still breastfeeding her eight month old.

So - a lot of people who don't have kids, aren't particularly delighted at the idea of breastfeeding, actively choose formula feeding - well, they do talk a lot about choice and how they don't want to feel pressured, and they'd never criticise a mother for breastfeeding, so please respect their choice to use artificial milk and so on.

And yet, despite the fact that people who choose artificial milk feel that breastfeeders have the moral majority, breastfeeding mothers seem to come under a lot of pressure all the same. Are you still breastfeeding? If it's that difficult, would you not give her a bottle? Isn't it time to stop now? When are you going to stop?

It can feel like a lot to counter, sometimes.

We all do think we know best about everything, though, I know. God knows I'm guilty of well meaning judgmentalism all the time - you might even say it's my default state.

So how to get your friends and loved ones to stop pressuring you?

I recommended a few tips - the same, calm, assertive statements over and over again, 'Thanks, but we're doing fine as we are', and some pointed vagueness.
'When are you going to stop breastfeeding him?'
'Ah, soon enough.'
I got away with that one for a couple years :)

If you really want to be supportive, ask questions. Mothers will be delighted to inform you. Hey, you could even go look stuff up, like most mothers do, to reach the conclusions they come to.

Also, unless mothers are doing something harmful like feeding their babies coke in a bottle, or toxic stuff, and allergens etc, I think the rule is to accept that people can feed their children as they feel is right - discuss things you've read, discuss your opinions, ask questions... but resist the urge to tell a woman you know better than she does when it's time to stop feeding her child. That's not so breastfeeding friendly.

*Pic from here.

Following On...

2011-10-05T00:30:00.000-07:00

My baby turns nine tomorrow. She's like the stump of a tree with huge green shoots sticking out of the top of it – short and blunt but full of big thoughts.

She's fiercely independent, of course, like most girls, constantly demanding to be let do things by herself.

But she always asks me to get into bed with her for a chat at night. I always tell her she's the best little girl in Ireland and she always tells me I'm the best little Mammy in Ireland – though to tell the truth I am neither little nor particularly good.

But I did breastfeed her until she was four. I had four kids under three and a half. After the first difficult period when I used to feed her on the dining-room table to be out of reach of my two toddlers, the feeding was just so easy.

I never really thought about it. She could always be comforted. She could always be shushed. She didn't know what a doctor was and still doesn't.

She didn't get much attention but she did get the feeding. We had our little conspiracy.

I was told that, left to themselves, kids will wean at about four years and one month. That's when chimp Mammies calls it quits too, and firmly but gently end the feeding. Anyway, it was just exactly the right time for us to wean.

She remembers it all clearly. It's a furry little memory she strokes every now and then, and we have a conspiratorial giggle.

I think my three boys who got less feeding were pissed off, mind. I wouldn't like anyone to think it's all rosy in our garden. But now, as my baby's childhood streaks past and motherhood becomes a memory, I can only say thank you for the days.

by Victoria White.

Exploding Mums - breastfeeding in public

2011-10-04T00:53:00.000-07:00

Some women have got unobtrusive public breastfeeding down to a fine art.

On a sunny afternoon in a quiet Dublin public house in the 1990s one such woman was breastfeeding her baby.

Her discretion cut no ice with an irritated man whom I had been doing my best to ignore.

A veteran of World War Two, he had nothing good whatsoever to say about modern society which is why I had been trying to ignore him.

Observing this woman and her equally discreet baby his eyes narrowed and he declared that "I saw things in the war, begod, but I never saw the likes of that."

This confirmed my view that his role in the war had been extremely peripheral but it also confirmed that a woman breastfeeding is viewed by some as the equivalent of an unexploded bomb.

What is it that objectors think will happen? Do they fear that the woman will, indeed, explode, showering innocent bystanders with mother's milk?

When I addressed this subject in The Irish Times I got an e-mail from a man who had been hemmed in, as he saw it, on a bus journey by a woman who whipped out a baby and began to breastfeed it.

So intimidated was he by this shocking turn of events that he was afraid to ask the woman to move so he could leave his seat when the bus got to his destination. He stayed on beside her in a state of discombobulation until she got off at the next town. He did likewise and paid for a taxi to take him back to his original port of call.

It’s extraordinary that the simple act of breastfeeding in public can panic so many people - even today we hear of women being kicked off planes and out of cafés for daring to breastfeed.

It's almost funny (though not for the women involved) that after all our sexual, technological, social and other revolutions we can still be startled by by the sight of one of the most natural acts in the world.

What a very, very silly species we are.

Padraig O’Morain writes for The Irish Times, The Evening Herald and The Irish Medical News. His website is www.padraigomorain.com

Sean and Leni

2011-10-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

Sean wrote the Dad's post today, and I just got a picture of him and his daughter - which is so extremely sweet I think I'll put it in a post all of its own! What a lovely pair. Sparkles all round :)

A Father's Words

2011-10-02T23:56:00.000-07:00

Sean is 34 years old and has been married to Aoife for 4 years. He's father to Leni, a beautiful little girl of 10 months, who was exclusively breastfed for 6 months and continues to be breastfed alongside solids.
They live in Dublin and he works as a director in an engineering firm.

The best thing for me as a Dad of a breastfed baby is the sense of giving my child the best possible start in life.
They are so small and fragile in those early days and when my wife told me that our baby would have a reduced chance of infections,reduced chance of diabetes and obesity etc., etc. - I just thought that that was the most powerful and amazing thing one human could do for another.

The bond that is established between mother & baby is unique and a joy to behold. My bond with my daughter is extremely strong; it's my job to bathe her (lots of laughs) and get her ready for bed. We also attend swimming lessons together which are great fun and time just for me and her. I feel proud that my wife has grown her from scratch when I see how well she's developing. I think it is my job to be supportive of breastfeeding and to believe in it as much as my wife does. It's the normal way to feed a baby after all.

The little swallowing noises my daughter makes are beyond cute and I could listen to them all night (well, nearly all night!)

For me it is wonderful to watch nature at work and knowing my little girl is getting liquid gold makes me even more proud of my wonderful wife.

I don't want to write this article.

2011-10-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

I don’t want to be amember of Friends of Breastfeeding or my local Cuidiu and La Leche Leaguebreastfeeding groups.

I don’t want to besomeone who “breastfeeds”.

What I do want is tolive in a world where there is simply no need for breastfeeding groups or breastfeedingarticles or even the word breastfeeding itself, because feeding human milk tohuman babies is just normal, and no big deal.

I also want there to beno more intelligent, strong, beautiful mothers who feel guilty because theydidn’t breastfeed their baby, or didn’t breastfeed for very long.

In our world – both the richand the poor parts – in the early twenty-first century, some people haveinvested a lot of time, money and brain power into establishing the belief, ona global basis, that artificial feeding of human infants is the norm. When agroup of people put that amount of resources into achieving something, the chancesare good they will succeed, and these people succeeded incredibly well inestablishing that belief.

No one person needs tofeel bad that they subscribe or subscribed to that belief. Humans are socialanimals; we crave belonging and acceptance. History shows us that even thecleverest, strongest people are affected by societal pressures to do thingsthey would not otherwise do, to believe things they would not otherwisebelieve. So anyone who feels guilty about not breastfeeding needs to stop rightnow.

But do feel anger. Feelanger at the vested interests that carefully trade on and nurture your guilt sothey can sell you something. Feel shame that our society has been persuaded todevalue the most life-giving, precious resource of all: human milk. Feel ragethat all over the world right now, including right here in the so-calleddeveloped world, are children who are ill with conditions that occur far lessoften in children who are given human milk.

There is another worldin the future; I hope, not too far in the future. In that world, students ofbiology and anthropology will laugh themselves silly when they learn that forone brief stretch of time in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, humanbeings fed their babies an artificial product derived from the milk of another animal. This period was ablip, they will be told, an aberration in human history. People in the earlytwenty-first century sure were backward, the students will say.

I fervently hope theywill be able to say that.

Orla Shanaghy is anIrish writer. Her work has been published in The Sunday Miscellany Anthology 2008 – 2011, The Stinging Fly literary magazine and her work features regularlyon the Sunday Miscellany show on RTÉRadio One. She was shortlisted for the 2007 WilliamTrevor Short Story Prize. You canfind Orla on Twitter @OrlaShanaghy and her blog is at www.waittilitellyou.com.

National Breastfeeding Week with Nikki Magennis

2011-10-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

Whoops, dear Friends, I forgot to publish today's post today! Apologies!

Assuming my brain remains functional, National Breastfeeding Week will see a guest post a day on the Friends of Breastfeeding blog, to mark the week, and discuss the theme of 'Breastfeeding Friendly'.

So, happy National Breastfeeding Week everyone, mothers, babies, dads and grandparents and friends alike. This week is for all of us who feel connected to the idea of feeding mother's milk to our babies. It's also for all those who are interested, uncertain, perhaps even negative about the idea, as it's an opportunity to learn more about the challenges and rewards involved.

link to bfing in public article, and breastfeeding portraits by Kate Hansen

We start the week off with a post from writer Nikki Magennis.

Breastfeeding Friendly

The prompt of ‘breastfeeding friendly’ seemed to beg for comment on other people’s reactions to my breastfeeding. I’ve got lots to say about how hard I found feeding in the beginning and how I had to find my own determination to ignore the dozens of well meaning midwives, health visitors and advisors and work it out for myself. But I couldn’t think of much to say about whether I’d found the world breastfeeding friendly or otherwise. So I racked my brain.

I’ve been feeding my son for nearly two years now. Not constantly, har har, although there have been times when it felt like it.

I’m pleased to say that the worst reaction I’ve had was in a safari park when I kind of forgot I was feeding him and looked up from conversation to notice a woman standing, open-mouthed, staring at my (admittedly rather hard to miss) boob. She shook herself and went off to look at the hibernating bears. And that was that.

I’ve been lucky, maybe. Or maybe the judgement breastfeeding mothers fear just doesn’t really exist as much as we worry it might. Admittedly, I’ve known from the start that the law protects me staunchly and clearly. I’ve been lucky enough to have a breastfeeding support group locally. And both my mother and step mother were breastfeeding veterans (from a time when the norm was to feed a child until 2 or 3) so the whole process was grounded, for me, in normalcy. I have met others who didn't have quite that supportive background, and of course that makes a big difference.

Nevertheless, I’ve fed while hillwalking, in Tesco, in cafes, beer gardens, cars, parties. I’ve fed while asleep, while sick, while the baby was sick. (In that instance, the doctor told me that if not for the breastmilk the babe would have been hospitalised, on a drip.) and I’ve just not encountered any opposition. Not from staid conservatives, not from those who bottle fed their children, not from normally laddish men. All I’ve heard is support, and the occasional suggestion that I should maybe take it more easy and have another biscuit, neither of which I’m inclined to argue with.

Maybe if one is relaxed about it breastfeeding just looks like what it is – a massive, great, chilled out non-event. A mother feeding her babe, toddler or child. No big deal. I hope so. I like it this way.

Nikki Magennis is an author, artist and animator. She lives in Scotland with her partner and nearly-two year old, between the sea and the hills, and tries to stretch the day to fit in as many lives as possible. You can catch her erratic blogging at nikkimagennis.blogspot.com

National Breastfeeding Week

2011-09-22T13:31:00.001-07:00

National Breastfeeding Week 2011 will take place from the 1st to the 7th of October. The theme this year is ‘Breastfeeding Friendly’, providing opportunities to portray breastfeeding when out and about as a normal, natural part of daily life.
As part of this year’s National Breastfeeding Week the HSE will focus on supporting breastfeeding families and encouraging greater social acceptance of this important and natural practice. We are encouraging HSE facilities to display ‘Breastfeeding Friendly’ posters demonstrating that they support breastfeeding and provide a welcoming atmosphere for breastfeeding families.
When women are welcomed and made to feel comfortable and confident to breastfeed whenever and wherever the need arises this helps women to continue breastfeeding for longer.
National Breastfeeding Week provides an opportunity to promote breastfeeding through media and the many events organised nationwide.
It is also an opportunity to provide information on the many supports available to mothers and expectant mothers nationwide.

nursing ponchos... or not

2011-09-19T13:15:00.001-07:00

This is a very cute baby, and a very good point.

Magic Drug

2011-09-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

There is a smart drug that could save 13% of all babies who currently die – it's called breast milk

Johann Hari

Imagine if today, scientists discovered a drug that could save 13% of all the babies who currently die. Now imagine that drug also made your baby cleverer – and dramatically slashed his/her chances of developing heart disease, diabetes, leukaemia, asthma or obesity as an adult. Oh, and imagine it was free.

The 'drug' exists. It is called breast milk. Yet in the developed world, we often stigmatise women who give it to their babies as 'creepy'. In the developing world, we allow corporations to tug babies from their mother's nipple, and put them on to powders that bring more profit – and more death.

I come at this from a strange perspective. My mother breastfed me until I was nearly three; she only stopped the day I wrote her a note saying I expected to be breastfed that afternoon. Today, whenever I have a success, she clutches her breasts and exclaims: "It's thanks to these!" Whenever my bottle-fed brother and sister have a failing in life, she howls: "Think what you could have been if I'd given you the tit." (Whenever she gets a bit too self-congratulatory, I remind her she also smoked 40 cigarettes a day. "Ach," she says, "it's stressful having a little bastard suckin' at you all the time.")

It's the best thing you can do for your baby – without it I'd be even fatter and more disease-ridden. It's good for you too, significantly reducing a mother's risk of osteoporosis and cancer of the ovaries. Yet my mum was made to feel like a flasher. She was glared at in public places, and asked to leave restaurants, parks and even buses. Britain today has the worst record on breastfeeding in the developed world, after Belgium. Some 24% of babies never taste breast milk at all – and by six weeks, a majority have shifted entirely to formula.

Why? Let's rule out some of the more glib explanations. The number of women who physically can't breastfeed with the right support is negligibly small: the World Health Organisation (WHO) puts it at 1%. Nor is it because women prefer the 'liberation' of the bottle. A Department of Health study found that 90% of mothers who stopped feeding at six weeks said they wanted to carry on, while 40% of those who stopped at six months felt the same.

The most primal reason belongs to an old, old story: women are conditioned to find their own bodies disgusting, except when they can be used to entice men. A get-your-tits-out-for-the-lads culture doesn't want you to get your tits out for your baby: they're for titillation, not nurture.

But the biggest reason most women give for reluctantly pushing their baby onto the bottle is their need to return to work. How do we change that?

For clues, look at the country where breastfeeding rates are still 90% at six months: Norway. They give mothers a year off with 80% pay, and give state employees breastfeeding breaks when they do come back. Yes, this costs businesses some money up front – but it saves a fortune further down the line, because you have a cleverer workforce that pays more tax and puts less pressure on the health service. If all babies were breastfed at Norwegian rates for just three months, health services would save millions annually in the treatment of one disease alone – gastroenteritis among infants.

That leaves another dark explanation for the fall-off: the role of unchecked corporate power. There is no profit to be made from a mother's milk, so at the turn of the last century, corporations tried to find a way to divert babies away from nestling at their mother's breast and towards Nestlé-ing at the corporate teat. They invented 'baby formula' and marketed it as the classier, cleaner alternative.

Gradually, in the democratic world, the corporations were restrained from making the most blatantly bogus claims about breast milk – but they keep slipping the leash. They are banned from marketing baby formula to those younger than six months old. But instead they market 'follow-up formulas' for older kids with exactly the same logo, claiming that it is "closer than ever to breast milk".

This has produced a situation of startling public ignorance, where a third of mothers think baby formula is 'as good' or even 'better' than breast milk. The poorest women know least and shift to formula first, adding another milky layer of inequality to society. This dodgy marketing needs to be banned today.

This breast-con swells to a 52DD scandal in the developing world. I recently visited Bangladesh, where mothers are routinely told to abandon their healthy breast milk and spend great swathes of their income on formula. I think of all the dead and dying babies I saw, and wonder how many could have been saved by a substance that was there, free, all along. The WHO calculates that 1.3 million babies die every year because they are not breast-fed. That's a World Trade Centre-full a day.

Nestlé is still the most notorious offender, controlling a near-majority of the world market. In Botswana, Nestlé has distributed a pamphlet claiming if you give your baby its "acidified" formula, "diarrhoea and its side effects are counteracted". In reality, babies who use this rather than breast milk are more likely to contract diarrhoea – and die. Public health campaigns can hardly fight back: the corporation's annual marketing budget is bigger than the entire annual budget of the world's 28 poorest countries.

Nestlé says is consistently promotes breast-feeding as the first, best option, but in 1999 in Britain the Advertising Standards Authority studied the evidence and ruled Nestlé had to remove from its advertising the claim that it they sold its formula "ethically and responsibly". It is only tight, binding international regulation that will tame corporations from milking the poorest with misinformation. To join the campaign to make it happen, visit www.babymilkaction.org.

And yet, for all the evidence, it still seems like an implausible story. Can a powder mix of misogyny and unregulated corporate power really induce women against their will to harm their own children? It does, baby, every day. These are still shockingly powerful forces. Now suck on that – or fight back.

A video for breastfeeding

2011-06-27T15:36:00.001-07:00

We're making an internet video for breastfeeding.

It started as a discussion amongst a community of mothers with a desire to do something positive out of something that was at that time negative. Mothers in Ireland who breastfeed know that great support is vital. Support can mean a lot of things - the guidance of voluntary and professional experts, the care of family members and friends, the acceptance of the general public of a nursing mother and child as being nothing other than normal.

In Ireland, a country that has learned to forget about breastfeeding, people don't often see a baby being nursed. It can be because many mothers are so adept at it that you don't even notice. But it's also because the rates of people starting and continuing it are comparatively low. This means a lot of people are unfamiliar with it, and don't even realise the impact, however little, their attitude to the practice of breastfeeding has to a mother who wants to breastfeed her baby.

Online discussions about making a video for breastfeeding in Ireland continued on and off as the months went by. The underlying theme was always there, the same basic idea that brought about the very formation of Friends of Breastfeeding - appreciate, support, celebrate breastfeeding.

The idea is to compile snapshots of moments of life with babies and toddlers, including of course breastfeeding, and upload it to YouTube. Its creation depends on the pictures people decide they want to contribute, the funny and lovely moments, and anything else, that they just happened to capture as part of their family lives.

I think the end result will be a privileged window into the lives of families in Ireland, featuring breastfeeding. It is a celebration of them, and a chance to take the mystery out of breastfeeding for anyone who might be unfamiliar with it in!

Anyone who wants to be a part of this and who has photos or wants to get the camera out Jo is compiling them at enquiries@friendsofbreastfeeding.ie. Make sure any mums, dads, grandparents, other family or friends in pictures know their image is getting sent.

We've got fantastic music composed by www.louiseheaney.com

Artistic direction is by Estelle Morgan

Amazing images are coming together to make this a reality

Next step is to edit and make something wonderful everyone will be proud of!

It's all about the milk!

2011-05-28T03:40:00.000-07:00

Friends of Breastfeeding has officially adopted the term “human milk” instead of “breast milk” in all its communications. Orla Shanaghy looks at the reasons behind this move.

Cow's milk. Goat's milk. Sheep's milk. Breast milk.

Spot the odd one out?

If you need to mull it over, consider this in the meantime: human beings are the only species on the planet in which the milk that mothers make for their babies is named after the container it comes in, rather than the contents.

Could this terminological issue be related, even in some small way, to the current poor rates of breastfeeding in large parts of the Western world?

Living in Ireland, many of us are aware that mentioning the word “breast” in public (or even in private) can be the cause of blushes and awkwardness. This is because in our culture, the human female breast has become associated exclusively with sexuality, to the detriment of its other, original function as a source of nourishment for babies and children.

Recent discussions at Friends of Breastfeeding led us to consider why we humans focus so much on the breast rather than the milk it produces. After all, the milk is the main event! As one member so succinctly put it, “We don't say “cow's teat milk”, do we?”

A small number of mothers who experience difficulty with putting their baby to the breast express their milk and feed it to their baby in a bottle or from a spoon. These babies are still getting their mothers' milk, just from a different container. Nobody would suggest that these babies are not getting breast milk, but with breast-focused terminology, there is no one word to describe how these babies are fed. This is a shame, as their mothers are going to more lengths than most to ensure their babies get their milk.

The term “human milk” circumvents all these issues. It takes the focus off the breast, off the container, and puts it on the milk itself, that wonderful substance that is individually tailored not only to our specific species, but to each individual baby.

Friends of Breastfeeding hopes that adopting this term will go some way towards reminding us all that we need as a culture to de-obsess about the container that it comes in, and re-focus on human milk, for human babies.

Orla Shanaghy is a mother, writer and member of Friends of Breastfeeding. Her blog is at curmumgeon.wordpress.com.

Milk Banks need to grow in popularity

2010-11-29T03:35:00.000-08:00

Donor milk as better alernative to formula - call for more milk banks to be established.

We do know someone whose premature baby was saved by donor milk - her first son was also premature and had the same condition - necrotic infection, sadly common in premies - he didn't get donor milk and didn't survive. She's working hard to increase awareness of milk banks and put them where they hsould be - in the maternity hospitals and special care units of neonatal wards.

I think a lot of women are still criticised for sticking to their guns and refusing to 'top up' their breastfeeding with formula. This article vindicates their choice, I think.

I suspect there is still a certain stigma in this country, and maybe others, about donor breastmilk. I still don't understand that - we're happy to feed our babies milk from random cows, but not another mother? Why are we still so alarmed by the idea of the human mammal providing sustenance for its own infants?

I have read of people whose babies were given donor milk feeling incredibly grateful and loving towards women who donated theirs. There's nothing weird about it.

Jolene

2010-11-07T15:35:00.000-08:00

Hi, I’m Jolene and I am a mother of two. My first child was breastfed for only a short time. My second is still happily breastfeeding at 14 months. The saying "if you knew then what you know now" applies to me in every sense of the word. Below are some of my thoughts, which I'm sure many mums can relate to.

Before I had children I was ignorant and naive. Pregnancy was supposed to be beautiful and a time to bloom. Instead I gained weight at a horrific pace, my stomach was like a train yard and it was sooooo uncomfortable. Labour and delivery have to be experienced to be understood! Totally not what I expected with all the intervention. I didn't get to hold my baby because he was rushed off for this test and that and I was left wondering what the hell was going on. You hear all the stories but nothing can actually prepare you.

When he finally came back to me, I thought, right, now I can relax and breastfeed my baby because this is the natural thing to do. Nobody tells you just how stressful it can be for something that is supposed to be so natural. After 10 days of agony each time my child fed and I had had no sleep because no one ever told me that you can lie down and feed or that organizations such as Cuidiu or La Leche League exist that you can contact for support or advice, I finally admitted defeat and succumbed to pressure to give a bottle of formula.

When the baby finally finished that bottle and settled into a blissful slumber I was left feeling guilty and inadequate. Feelings of guilt and inadequacy soon turned to anger and doubting my ability as a mother in general and depression soon set in. Every day was a battle even when switched completely to formula and the guilt continued. Every time I gave him a bottle I'd think "why? Why could I not breastfeed?" I eventually came around to the fact that bottle feeding was "normal, everyone does it" and when I saw someone breastfeeding, I couldn't help but stare and feel envious and at the same time think how odd it was to see someone actually breastfeeding.

Expecting baby number two is different, I was too busy to think about myself or the impending birth which quite frankly I was doing my damnedest not to think about because the thoughts of it scared the hell out of me. But what happened in reality was completely different. My body knew what to do, my waters broke and I thought "here we go again..."

After a slow start things went too fast in the end for any intervention and a I had a wonderful midwife who actually believed in skin-to-skin before the cord is even cut. Childbirth became a totally new, exhilarating experience. My baby girl's first feed was almost lost in the blur and flurry of the amazing birth but now, in hindsight, it was a natural extention of the birth which has gone on and on as our breastfeeding journey has not yet ended.

The last 14 months have been a life changing experience, breastfeeding my daughter and meeting all the amazing people along the way.

Recently I was shown photos of a friend's newborn, the baby was born full term and although small, was in good health. In and amongst the photos was this gorgeous baby having skin-to-skin contact after birth and I could see the tiny little hand moving towards her mother's breast. In the next photo the baby is being fed a bottle of formula.

I was actually quite surprised at my feelings on seeing this photo. I'm almost sure these were feelings of grief, grief that this gorgeous little baby was missing out on so much, not only nutritionally but the comfort and security that accompanies nursing. Another thing that struck me was how odd it was looking at a picture of a baby being bottle fed and not breastfed. It just wasn't normal.

It got me thinking then...I was naive and ignorant and despite thinking I was open minded to both bottle feeding and breastfeeding, I am clearly more in favour of breastfeeding after having experienced it for the past 14 months. This is something that would never have happened had I not actually successfully breastfed or been involved with Friends of Breastfeeding. My eyes are wide open to so many facts now than what they ever were before. Before I had my daughter, I had, like so many others, done minimal research and thought "sure, how hard can it be! but just in case....I'll have the ready made cartons and bottles ready in the house". By doing this I was setting myself up for failure without even realising it.

If I'm totally honest, I surprised myself. Through the continious support of other breastfeeding mums, over email, online forums and text messages in the middle of the night, my fears and anxieties were eased when I realised I was not the first to encounter the little bumps in the road and breastfeeding was an art and a skill to be learnt both by mother and baby and in reality, it takes a very short time to learn, but the bond is unbreakable and the feelings of fulfilment and accomplishment watching your baby grow day by day and thinking "I did that! I really did that!" are incredible.

As the saying goes, "Knowledge is power". Knowlege is what was passed on to me through Friends of Breastfeeding. Not only the factual information but the support and advice from other breastfeeding mothers was a key factor in my success.

I do not deserve a medal for successfully breastfeeding, but I do deserve a medal for warding off the negative and misleading information that's out there, putting to bed so many myths I'd heard as well as the pressure from outsiders to "top up" because it would help the baby sleep better and for longer, which again, is a myth. Babies are fascinating little creatures. You cannot train them fresh from the womb. They need comfort, security and mummy close by at all times to grow into independant little individuals with so much energy, you have to wonder if they're fueled with rocket fuel....no hang on...I know, she's fuelled with mum's milk which is even better than rocket fuel!

Chris at the Waterford Breastfeeding Art Exhibition

2010-11-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

One of the nice things about the Art Exhibitions was how the photos and the Friends of Breastfeeding idea drew people in. People were friendly and positive and eager to talk.

While manning the Friends of Breastfeeding Art Exhibition stand for National Breastfeeding Week in Waterford Regional Hospital, I was approached by a grey haired man. He marched over, put both hands flat on the table and announced

"My daughter lives in the UK, she has twins who are 18 months old and she’s still breastfeeding them." I could hear the pride shining through in his voice. "They should build a monument to her," he said. Lots of people stopped to share their experience of breastfeeding and they seemed pleased to have an opportunity to tell their story.

Sitting at the stand gives plenty of opportunity to watch the world go by. It’s a busy ole place with doctors, nurses, other hospital staff and a variety of visitors buzzing around. Without meaning to, I found myself guessing why people are there. Some walked quite briskly, maybe with an envelope in their hand, rather calm-looking, a routine appointment maybe? There were those in wheelchairs, and those with casts or slings, making it easy to guess why they were there. Some had rather worried expressions, conjuring the image of a poorly relative, maybe having surgery. You can spot the new dads on the way to pick up their new babies a mile off. They have an empty car seat in hand and generally at least one bag and they tend to speed through. This made me smile as I remember how exciting we found it to bring our baby home. There were also bumps, pregnant ladies who generally veer off to the left towards the Outpatients antenatal clinic.

I guess before the exhibition began, I would have assumed that the main visitors to the stand would be pregnant women looking for information on breastfeeding. While there were plenty of them, I was surprised at the range of other visitors we had. I was a little surprised when two young enough girls who were both clearly NOT pregnant almost bounced over, very enthusiastically asking if it was ok for them to take information packs. “We’re trainee GPs, we just LOVE this kind of information!” one said.

One pregnant woman arrived over, looking for an information pack and stopped to chat. She told me she has a very supportive family, most of whom have breastfed themselves. She suspects that her sisters are planning to pretty much arrange a rota to provide her with 24-7 breastfeeding support, although they have not told her that. She came across as very relaxed about the breastfeeding element of having her first baby and it really seems that good family support is one of the big reasons she is so relaxed.

One woman told me that she has been trying for a baby for years now, they are going for IVF shortly. She would love to breastfeed when her dream comes true.

Another lady was rather worried about the idea of breastfeeding in public At first I tried to reassure her that should she slip and expose a boob, seeing breasts being used as nature intended is not that big a deal. Then I explained to her how easy it is to breastfeed discreetly, especially as coming into the winter, wearing layers is cosy and convenient for breastfeeding. This seemed to put her mind more at ease.

I heard many other stories that day and I was a little sad to take the exhibition down a few days later, but it was good to feel that we had made a difference by it being there. Even if we achieved nothing else, we gave these people a chance to tell their breastfeeding-related story.

Interview with Nicola O Byrne

2010-10-18T03:29:00.000-07:00

Meet Nicola O Byrne, Lactation Consultant.
I posted before about my friend’s good experience with an LC and why it’s a good idea to call one – here are some questions for Nicola to explain more about the service she offers.

So, firstly tell us exactly what a lactation consultant's job description is?

A Lactation Consultant’s job description could be very varied but basically we are the "gold standard” , the experts in lactation. Some of us work in hospitals or the community. I’ve been in private practice here in Dublin since 2005. Some IBCLCs are midwives, nurses, dieticians, others gained their experience with La Leche League or Cuidiu . We provide antenatal and postnatal education for mothers and also training for health professionals and the general public on breastfeeding.

Can you talk about what you might actually do for a mother who you see? How might you help with a painful latch or a milk flow problem?

What I do apart from teaching the class is home visits for mums and babies who are having problems with breastfeeding. The visits generally last up to 2 hours, I take a full history, weigh the baby (sometimes!) and observe a breastfeed, helping the mum to change positioning etc. during this time. Then we make a plan which is written down. Sometimes I arrange to check in by phone that evening to see how things are going - most of the time we follow up by phone within 24-48 hours. All of this is included in the fee which is partly reimbursible by health insurers.

What's the training process, share your experience with us a little.

There are different "pathways" to becoming an IBCLC (it ain't easy). You need a minimum of 2,500 contact hours with breastfeeding mothers and babies, then 45 educational hours in the past 3 years, then you are eligible to sit the exam. So if you are starting from scratch, it takes a good 5-10 years of planning and training. Then once you obtain the credential, you must re-certify every 5 years. So there’s no sitting on your laurels.

I regularly get emails from mothers who would like to become an IBCLC - the best way to do this, unless you are medically trained is by becoming a voluntary breastfeeding counsellor with Cuidiu or La Leche League. I was lucky - I had my Paediatric / neonatal nursing background and was also a voluntary counsellor with Cuidiu. I saw both sides of breastfeeding for a long time - birth to day 3/4 in the hospital, then week one onwards though my voluntary work. I learned far more though Cuidiu than I did in the hospital! I would say now that my job is to get mums and babies breastfeeding, over the hurdles, then they need the support groups to keep going like Cuidiu , LLL and of course Friends of Breastfeeding.

What, in your experience, is the most common problem mothers face, and how should they pre-empt it?

Knowledge is power with breastfeeding.

Yes! I wholeheartedly recommend doing a breastfeeding course during pregnancy - it's a nice way to get to know your lactation consultant to, makes it easier to contact her afterwards if there's a problem.

The most common problems I see come from being totally overwhelmed with the birthing experience and that impacting on breastfeeding. I also see a lot of sore nipples from poor positioning and trying to control what the baby does, when they know what to do most of the time! I have a background in counselling too and I think it’s one of the things that I do well - I always let the mother tell her story - most women never get to tell their birth story without interruption. Sometimes that’s all it takes for the mother to have the confidence to breastfeed along with a little bit of tweaking positions.

One really common breastfeeding issue that comes up, and seems to put a lot of people off, is babies feeding ALL the time, feeds that start at six and go on ‘til one, etc. It's hard to respond to that, especially with other kids to look after. I'm always a bit stumped by that one. How would you respond to a mother who feels too exhausted to keep that up any more?

I think it’s important to establish if there is there a problem: is the baby transferring milk, is the baby gaining weight at an acceptable rate? Or is it cluster feeding where the baby is tanking up before having a longer sleep cycle. This is where having a one to one with an expert is invaluable because it’s specifically tailored to the mum and baby. A lot of the time, I'm telling mothers – Yes, that’s normal , nothing out of the ordinary there! Lots of mothers find that time of the day tough – here are some tips to help ... try breast compression, try eating a larger meal at lunch time. If you can prepare the evening meal ahead it helps, so it’s not so busy at 6pm when the witching hour arrives! Have some special treat for toddlers that only comes out when you are feeding the baby. (oh, that’s great toddler advice!)

.

You have five kids, how was your breastfeeding experience with them? Did that inspire you to become a consultant? What else motivated you to do it?

This question has made me think a lot about my breastfeeding experiences. My first baby 13 years ago ... I tell the story of his birth in my class sometimes because I know it helps mums realise if it doesn't all go perfectly in the beginning that all is not lost .... he was a ventouse birth after a long induced labour - he wouldn't feed in the labour war , his temperature was high (probably from an epidural ) and he was grunting . After 5 hours of no latching and lots of pressure from the staff, he had formula for his first feed. His blood sugar was normal throughout all of this and the grunting settled after 30 minutes. I now know that if someone had told me to put him skin to skin (unheard of in those days, express colostrum and put it on his lips and try laid back breastfeeding (biological nurturing) that things might have been different. I also didn't know that it’s very common for babies born by forceps and ventouse ( vacuum) to be poor feeders in the first 48 hours. Anyhow he had that one bottle and went to the breast 2 hours later and never looked back. I fed him for a year which was pretty amazing - I must have been the luckiest mother on earth - I went back to work after 4 months, my childminder was an IBCLC! She would always have the kettle on and a comfy chair ready for him to have a feed when I arrived to collect him.

2nd, 3rd babies were pretty normal , my 4th was supposed to be all perfect – in my head! Breastfeeding didn't go well this time - I was very sore, had a huge supply bordering on oversupply and then at 12 weeks I was diagnosed with postnatal depression. He had a posterior tongue tie and that's why I had so much pain. I honestly didn't know who to turn to and it was very hard. But: I got better, and use my experience now in my work.

When I look back I can’t believe I didn't see how anxious I was, that I didn't realise hysterical crying every day is a sign that something was wrong. I thought I just wasn't "managing" with 4 children. I longed for someone to take over so I could just sit and stare into space. It was very hard on everyone, my husband and my kids too. Once we realised what was wrong, even that made things easier. I continued feeding him until he self weaned at 18 months (probably because I was 4 months pregnant). My own sisters were fantastic, also my public health nurse and GP were really good too.

So, on to baby number 5 - this time I decided I owed to myself to be a mother and not an IBCLC! So when Eliza was born and had a posterior tongue tie, we organised to have it divided in Southampton when she was 3 weeks old. It took her a little while to sort out her sucking afterwards but with some craniosacral therapy for her and TLC for me, we got there. I took every bit of help offered, in fact I had a skype video consult with Catherine Watson Genna (tongue tie expert), Nils Bergman was staying with her and offered his help too! Breastfeeding help doesn't get any better than that ! She's 6 months old now and breastfeeding is great. She's the nosiest little thing and won’t feed if I'm speaking, so feeding out and about doesn't happen too often these days! In fact, the tongue tie has regrown a little but it doesn't cause us a problem now because she's bigger.

Most of my babies have had some form of tongue tie so the early weeks of breastfeeding were a challenge but nothing gives me more pleasure and pride than knowing I'm growing my babies as nature intended. I'm fairly sure that my own experience had a lot to do with my career choice, I was always looking for the reason why I knew how to get a good latch but still had sore nipples in the early days ...

Friends of Breastfeeding wants to foster a supportive and positive breastfeeding community. How can family, friends, community etc. help make breastfeeding easier and more accepted for the women doing it, so that more women may come to find it appealing.

Treat the new mom like royalty, pamper her, praise her, relatives feed the mum and let her feed the baby! We don't tell our mothers what a good job they are doing - only what's wrong! Partners, husbands, grannies etc.: find out about breastfeeding and how it’s different to formula feeding. There are many ways to help without feeding a baby ... and remember it’s not just the first few weeks that a mother might need a boost, some mums crash at 6 weeks, everyone is different.

Finally, you've got a blog: www.breastfeedingdublin.blogspot.com. Tell us about that.

The blog is a bit of fun - sometimes breastfeeding websites are just so serious. You've got to be able to see the funny side of things too. I've met the most amazing people doing this job, I love it (being honest, it’s a way of life, really). I guess I just want people to see the fun side of me that you don't get through my website.

Nicola is available for classes and consults

Web: www.breastfeedingsupport.ie

Ph: +353862312679

Next class: Saturday November 6th 2010 10 am - 1:30pm

or November 17th southside.

Watch Your Language, by Diane Wiessinger

2010-09-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

I read this today in the Home Birth Newsletter, but see it's widely reprinted. Of interest to us!

Watch Your Language

By Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC

The lactation consultant says, "You have the best chance to provide your baby with the best possible start in life, through the special bond of breastfeeding. The wonderful advantages to you and your baby will last a lifetime." And then the mother bottlefeeds. Why?

In part because that sales pitch could just as easily have come from a commercial baby milk pamphlet. When our phrasing and that of the baby milk industry are interchangeable, one of us is going about it wrong...and it probably isn't the multinationals. Here is some of the language that I think subverts our good intentions every time we use it.

Best possible, ideal, optimal, perfect. Are you the best possible parent? Is your home life ideal? Do you provide optimal meals? Of course not. Those are admirable goals, not minimum standards. Let's rephrase. Is your parenting inadequate? Is your home life subnormal? Do you provide deficient meals? Now it hurts. You may not expect to be far above normal, but you certainly don't want to be below normal.

When we (and the artificial milk manufacturers) say that breastfeeding is the best possible way to feed babies because it provides their ideal food, perfectly balanced for optimal infant nutrition, the logical response is, "So what?" Our own experience tells us that optimal is not necessary. Normal is fine, and implied in this language is the absolute normalcy--and thus safety and adequacy--of artificial feeding. The truth is, breastfeeding is nothing more than normal. Artificial feeding, which is neither the same nor superior, is therefore deficient, incomplete, and inferior. Those are difficult words, but they have an appropriate place in our vocabulary.

Advantages. When we talk about the advantages of breastfeeding--the "lower rates" of cancer, the "reduced risk" of allergies, the "enhanced" bonding, the "stronger" immune system--we reinforce bottlefeeding yet again as the accepted, acceptable norm.

Health comparisons use a biological, not cultural, norm, whether the deviation is harmful or helpful. Smokers have higher rates of illness; increasing prenatal folic acid may reduce fetal defects. Because breastfeeding is the biological norm, breastfed babies are not "healthier;" artificially-fed babies are ill more often and more seriously. Breastfed babies do not "smell better;" artificial feeding results in an abnormal and unpleasant odor that reflects problems in an infant's gut. We cannot expect to create a breastfeeding culture if we do not insist on a breastfeeding model of health in both our language and our literature.

We must not let inverted phrasing by the media and by our peers go unchallenged. When we fail to describe the hazards of artificial feeding, we deprive mothers of crucial decision-making information. The mother having difficulty with breastfeeding may not seek help just to achieve a "special bonus;" but she may clamor for help if she knows how much she and her baby stand to lose. She is less likely to use artificial milk just "to get him used to a bottle" if she knows that the contents of that bottle cause harm.

Nowhere is the comfortable illusion of bottlefed normalcy more carefully preserved than in discussions of cognitive development. When I ask groups of health professionals if they are familiar with the study on parental smoking and IQ (1), someone always tells me that the children of smoking mothers had "lower IQs." When I ask about the study of premature infants fed either human milk or artificial milk (2), someone always knows that the breastmilk-fed babies were "smarter." I have never seen either study presented any other way by the media--or even by the authors themselves. Even health professionals are shocked when I rephrase the results using breastfeeding as the norm: the artificially-fed children, like children of smokers, had lower IQs.

Inverting reality becomes even more misleading when we use percentages, because the numbers change depending on what we choose as our standard. If B is 3/4 of A, then a is 4/3 of B. Choose A as the standard, and B is 25% less. Choose B as the standard, and A is 33 1/3% more. Thus, if an item costing 100 units is put on sale for "25% less,"the price becomes 75. When the sale is over, and the item is marked back up, it must be marked up 33 1/3% to get the price up to 100. Those same figures appear in a recent study (3), which found a "25% decrease" in breast cancer rates among women who were breastfed as infants. Restated using breastfed health as the norm, there was a 33-1/3% increase in breast cancer rates among women who were artificially fed. Imagine the different impact those two statements would have on the public.

Special. "Breastfeeding is a special relationship." "Set up a special nursing corner." In or family, special meals take extra time. Special occasions mean extra work. Special is nice, but it is complicated, it is not an ongoing part of life, and it is not something we want to do very often. For most women, nursing must fit easily into a busy life--and, of course, it does. "Special" is weaning advice, not breastfeeding advice.

Breastfeeding is best; artificial milk is second best. Not according to the World Health Organization. Its hierarchy is: 1) breastfeeding; 2) the mother's own milk expressed and given to her child some other way; 3) the milk of another human mother; and 4) artificial milk feeds (4). We need to keep this clear in our own minds and make it clear to others. "The next best thing to mother herself" comes from a breast, not from a can. The free sample perched so enticingly on the shelf at the doctor's office is only the fourth best solution to breastfeeding problems.

There is a need for standard formula in some situations. Only because we do not have human milk banks. The person who needs additional blood does not turn to a fourth-rate substitute; there are blood banks that provide human blood for human beings. He does not need to have a special illness to qualify. All he needs is a personal shortage of blood. Yet only those infants who cannot tolerate fourth best are privileged enough to receive third best. I wonder what will happen when a relatively inexpensive commercial blood is designed that carries a substantially higher health risk than donor blood. Who will be considered unimportant enough to receive it? When we find ourselves using artificial milk with a client, let's remind her and her health care providers that banked human milk ought to be available. Milk banks are more likely to become part of our culture if they first become part of our language.

We do not want to make bottlefeeding mothers feel guilty. Guilt is a concept that many women embrace automatically, even when they know that circumstances are truly beyond their control. (My mother has been known to apologize for the weather.)

Women's (nearly) automatic assumption of guilt is evident in their responses to this scenario: Suppose you have taken a class in aerodynamics. You have also seen pilots fly planes. Now, imagine that you are the passenger in a two-seat plane. The pilot has a heart attack, and it is up to you to fly the plane. You crash. Do you feel guilty?

The males I asked responded, "No. Knowing about aerodynamics doesn't mean you can fly an airplane." "No, because I would have done my best." "No. I might feel really bad about the plane and pilot, but I wouldn't feel guilty." "No. Planes are complicated to fly, even if you've seen someone do it." What did the females say? "I wouldn't feel guilty about the plane, but I might about the pilot because there was a slight chance that I could have managed to land that plane." "Yes, because I'm very hard on myself about my mistakes. Feeling bad and feeling guilty are all mixed up for me." "Yes, I mean, of course. I know I shouldn't, but I probably would." "Did I kill someone else? If I didn't kill anyone else, then I don't feel guilty." Note the phrases "my mistakes," "I know I shouldn't," and "Did I kill anyone?" for an event over which these women would have had no control!

The mother who opts not to breastfeed, or who does not do so as long as she planned, is doing the best she can with the resources at hand. She may have had the standard "breast is best" spiel (the course in aerodynamics) and she may have seen a few mothers nursing at the mall (like watching the pilot on the plane's overhead screen). That is clearly not enough information or training. But she may still feel guilty. She's female.

Most of us have seen well-informed mothers struggle unsuccessfully to establish breastfeeding, and turn to bottlefeeding with a sense of acceptance because they know they did their best. And we have seen less well-informed mothers later rage against a system that did not give them the resources they later discovered they needed. Help a mother who says she feels guilty to analyze her feelings, and you may uncover a very different emotion. Someone long ago handed these mothers the word "guilt." It is the wrong word.

Try this on: You have been crippled in a serious accident. Your physicians and physical therapists explain that learning to walk again would involve months of extremely painful and difficult work with no guarantee of success. They help you adjust to life in a wheelchair, and support you through the difficulties that result. Twenty years later, when your legs have withered beyond all hope, you meet someone whose accident matched your own. "It was difficult," she says. "It was three months of sheer hell. But I've been walking every since." Would you feel guilty?

Women to whom I posed this scenario told me they would feel angry, betrayed, cheated. They would wish they could do it over with better information. They would feel regret for opportunities lost. Some of the women said they would feel guilty for not having sought out more opinions, for not having persevered in the absence of information and support. But gender-engendered guilt aside, we do not feel guilty about having been deprived of a pleasure. The mother who does not breastfeed impairs her own health, increases the difficulty and expense of infant and child rearing, and dismisses one of life's most delightful relationships. She has lost something basic to her own well-being. What image of the satisfactions of breastfeeding do we convey when we use the word "guilt"?

Let's rephrase, using the words women themselves gave me: "We don't want to make bottlefeeding mothers feel angry. We don't want to make them feel betrayed. We don't want to make them feel cheated." Peel back the layered implications of "we don't want to make them feel guilty," and you will find a system trying to cover its own tracks. It is not trying to protect her. It is trying to protect itself. Let's level with mothers, support them when breastfeeding doesn't work, and help them move beyond this inaccurate and ineffective word.

Pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages. Breastfeeding is a straight-forward health issue, not one of two equivalent choices. "One disadvantage of not smoking is that you are more likely to find secondhand smoke annoying. One advantage of smoking is that it can contribute to weight loss." The real issue is differential morbidity and mortality. The rest--whether we are talking about tobacco or commercial baby milks--is just smoke.

One maternity center uses a "balanced" approach on an "infant feeding preference card" (5) that lists odorless stools and a return of the uterus to its normal size on the five lines of breastfeeding advantages. (Does this mean the bottlefeeding mother's uterus never returns to normal?) Leaking breasts and an inability to see how much the baby is getting are included on the four lines of disadvantages. A formula-feeding advantage is that some mothers find it "less inhibiting and embarrassing." The maternity facility reported good acceptance by the pediatric medical staff and no marked change in the rates of breastfeeding or bottlefeeding. That is not surprising. The information is not substantially different from the "balanced" lists that the artificial milk salesmen have peddled for years. It is probably an even better sales pitch because it now carries very clear hospital endorsement. "Fully informed," the mother now feels confident making a life-long health decision based on relative diaper smells and the amount of skin that shows during feedings.

Why do the commercial baby milk companies offer pro and con lists that acknowledge some of their product's shortcomings? Because any "balanced" approach that is presented in a heavily biased culture automatically supports the bias. If A and B are nearly equivalent, and if more than 90% of mothers ultimately choose B, as mothers in the United States do (according to an unpublished 1992 Mothers' Survey by Ross Laboratories that indicated fewer than 10% of U.S. mothers nursing at a year), it makes sense to follow the majority. If there were an important difference, surely the health profession would make a point of staying out of the decision-making process. It is the parents' choice to make. True. But deliberately stepping out of the process implies that the "balanced" list was accurate. In a recent issue of Parenting magazine, a pediatrician comments, "When I first visit a new mother in the hospital, I ask, 'Are you breastfeeding or bottlefeeding?' If she says she is going to bottlefeed, I nod and move on to my next questions. Supporting new parents means supporting them in whatever choices they make; you don't march in postpartum and tell someone she's making a terrible mistake, depriving herself and her child." (6)

Yet if a woman announced to her doctor, midway through a routine physical examination, that she took up smoking a few days earlier, the physician would make sure she understood the hazards, reasoning that now was the easiest time for her to change her mind. It is hypocritical and irresponsible to take a clear position on smoking and "let parents decide" about breastfeeding without first making sure of their information base. Life choices are always the individual's to make. That does not mean his or her information sources should be mute, nor that the parents who opt for bottlefeeding should be denied information that might prompt a different decision with a subsequent child.

Breastfeeding. Most other mammals never even see their own milk, and I doubt that any other mammalian mother deliberately "feeds" her young by basing her nursing intervals on what she infers the baby's hunger level to be. Nursing quiets her young and no doubt feels good. We are the only mammal that consciously uses nursing to transfer calories...and we're the only mammal that has chronic trouble making that transfer.

Women may say they "breastfed" for three months, but they usually say they "nursed" for three years. Easy, long-term breastfeeding involves forgetting about the "breast" and the "feeding" (and the duration, and the interval, and the transmission of the right nutrients in the right amounts, and the difference between nutritive and non-nutritive suckling needs, all of which form the focus of artificial milk pamphlets) and focusing instead on the relationship. Let's all tell mothers that we hope they won't "breastfeed"--that the real joys and satisfactions of the experience begin when they stop "breastfeeding" and start mothering at the breast.

All of us within the profession want breastfeeding to be our biological reference point. We want it to be the cultural norm; we want human milk to be made available to all human babies, regardless of other circumstances. A vital first step toward achieving those goals is within immediate reach of every one of us. All we have to do is...watch our language.

If you found this article of interest, you may desire to ensure you regularly receive your own copy of the Journal of Human Lactation(JHL). Taking out membership in the International Lactation Consultant Association(ILCA)includes the benefit of four issues of the JHL a year. See www.ilca.org for how to join.

Reprinted from the Journal of Human Lactation, Vol. 12, No. 1, 1996

References: 1. Olds D. L., Henderson, C. R. Tatelbaum, R.: Intellectual impairment in children of women who smoke cigarettes during pregnancy. Pediatrics 1994; 93:221-27.2. Lucas, A., Morley, R., Cole, T.J., Lister, G., Leeson-Payne, C.: Breast milk and subsequent intelligence quotient in children born preterm. Lancet 1992; 339 (8788): 261-64. 3. Fruedenheim, J.L., Graham, S., Laughlin, R., Vena, J.E., Bandera, E., et al: Exposure to breastmilk in infancy and the risk of breast cancer. Epidemiology 1994, 5:324-30. 4. UNICEF, WHO, UNESCO: Facts for Life: A Communication Challenge. New York: UNICEF 1989; p. 20. 5. Bowles, B.B., Leache, J., Starr, S., Foster, M.: Infant feeding preferences card. J Hum Lact 1993; 9: 256-58. 6. Klass, P.: Decent exposure. Parenting (May) 1994; 98-104. to kayhh's Breastfeeding page

breastfeeding and high heels

2010-09-03T05:32:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine just posted this.

Have a look.

That photo just makes me think of trying to get ready to go out around small children. Torn between trying to keep sticky fingers off your clothes and hair, and gettting them to feed so you don't spend the night self conscious about the one engorged boob that's trying to escape your top :)

I do like that she's so dressed up in this, you'd expect her to be saying 'don't touch me!!' but instead she's taking time to feed.

However, is anyone else aware of how babies and smallies pick up on the fact that you're out of your comfies and hoodie, you're dressed up and smelling of perfume instead of - well, instead of what you usually smell of) and you want to go out, so they plan to fuss fuss fuss all night? Maybe that's what's going on in the photo, and accounts for the pissed off expression on Jerri's face. Heh.

Babies

2010-08-07T04:30:00.000-07:00

Babies... we love 'em.

I have to admit, I would quite like one of puppies too...

daddy blogging for breastfeeding week

2010-08-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

Here is a piece by Daddy Dialectic, reponding to some of the criticisms levelled against breastfeeding in the last year.

I should have addressed them myself, but every time I thought about it, I felt an overwhelming sense of tiredness. Motherhood v Feminism. Tough one.

Anyway. Have alook at this. It's great to see some daddyblogging about breastfeeding. I'm intending to go get in touch with dad.ie because that's the sort of hook up Friends of Breastfeeding likes to make - maybe we've done it already? Friends? Dads? We'll see. Ok, I just did midpost.

Alright, I'll be back soon, my friend who sends me great links to NY Times articles sent another I have to go look at too.

Happy Belated Breastfeeding Week everyone.

milky milky

2010-07-19T07:40:00.000-07:00

I heard, in the past, that westerners smell of milk to Asians who don't have much dairy in their diets. I discovered this is true from the giggling of the Chinese girls I asked.

Indian people often smell like curry spice to me, so it makes sense that our over comsumption of milk would be evident to those not accustomed to it.

But normally I don't notice it about myself, obviously, and I'm not a big milk dairy either.

Except... in the last week or so, my son hasn't been having as much breastmilk - he's had a few mornings off. And in this warm weather, the last few days, I've been noticing that I smell like ... milk. Or at least, my breastular area does. I seem to be sweating out the excess. Grossed out? Well, me too, a little bit. I had one day of smelling a little like chai tea, but there has been a certain aura of staleness...

Which leads me to posting this. One of the breastfeeding myths we've countered a lot is the one of the mothers in law asking does the milk not go stale if you don't feed the baby in time.

And we scoffed.

But suddenly here I am smelling milky... still, the boy child made no complaint, and the issue seems to have resolved itself for now. But I'm wondering if anyone else experienced similar?

Also, it's my son's third birthday next week - and I am getting keen to drop these last evening and morning feeds we're still doing, though he shows no particular decrease in interest. Any tips, stories, encouragement, anyone?

If you don't like it...

2010-06-14T15:29:00.000-07:00

My friend is doing great breastfeeding her new baby. She's had a section and moved across the country and taken it in her stride when her bank moved her mortgage appointment to the middle of feedtime the other day.

She said she was getting the hang of the discreet feeding effort (muslin looped round the bra strap a top tip!) but the more confident she gets, the less she can be bothered.

She subscribes to the 'if you don't like it, look away' response, but in this case, she found herself feeding her daughter in tiny cubicle of the young bank employee, visible to the rest of the building as she more or less had to push her breasts across his desk - sympathetic to the poor guy as for once there really was literally nowhere else to look. Except perhaps, right at her husband's raised eyebrow :)

What I like about this, is that it's a funny story, yes, but you know how I feel... normalisation will only come from saturation - just like integration of children with special needs makes their classmates comfortable and accepting around them, we'll never get used to breast feeding if we don't see it. In the bank. Hee.

You Know Who...shhhh!

2010-05-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

Something we discussed when setting up Friends of Breastfeeding was what our approach to formula should be.

On one hand, we live in a society full of suspicion and misinformation about breastmilk and breastfeeding so we want to promote it, open dialogue about it and celebrate it.

But we don't want to alienate the majority of the country who were raised on formula and are raising their children on formula. So we want to be respectful, inclusive, aware of others' preferences etc. People love to say 'breastfeeding Nazi' but it's more messianic than militant, I think.

So anyway, we all decided to be very very careful.

However, this article points out that people have got scared to discuss the dangers of not breastfeeding. We talk about the advantages of it as if it's the gold standard, the icing on the cake, but far from a necessity. It's like... showing your three month old flashcards of the periodic table while playing Mozart in the background.

And what that means is, that in this climate of articles about how breastfeeding's not that good anyway, and it's an anti feminist tyranny etc etc, the proven health concerns of not breastfeeding are ignored. The article suggests that the word formula has become a Voldemort, He Who Must Not Be Named, and everyone is so afraid of offending bottle feeding parents that they are painting an incomplete picture of feeding choices through PC caution.

Here is a HSE link to some of the things breastfeeding protects your child against. Which on paper means, some of the things that formula feeding will leave your baby open to. At the end of the day, 'breastfeeding decreases the risk' means 'formula increases the risk'. Even if I feel like I have to watch out for snipers now I've said it out loud.

-coughs and colds

- stomach upsets (vomiting and diarrhoea)

- ear infections

- kidney infections

- cot death

- childhood diabetes

- childhood leukaemia

- asthma and eczema

- obesity

- high blood pressure in later life.

Here's some more info.

breastfeeding art

2010-04-23T02:54:00.000-07:00

A friend sent me this lovely picture:

and she said:

Right in the heart of the City of London is this sweet statue of a woman breastfeeding a baby with her other arm around a toddler. Bankers and traders rush past without looking, but she quietly sits there in her corner just out of people's way. Not doing anything spectacular, just feeding her baby.

Isn't that lovely? I love that the toddler is involved too. Wouldn't it be nice to have one in Ireland?

Breast Perception

2010-04-17T07:29:00.000-07:00

Breasts are great. Yes, they're sexy. The thing is... I think we like them so much because we're hardwired to. because, before the advent of formula, we needed them to live, pretty much.

So the next time someone asserts that her boobs are for her husband, you can at least say in your head, 'well that's because his mammy's were first!'

A good point, with excellent illustration, made again here.

I remember this!

2010-04-17T02:20:00.000-07:00

Jackie lactating on Roseanne!

I know there's been breastfeeding on other shows... perhaps none as graphic and realistic as this one. I"ve seen lactating at work on Grays Anatomy (brought on by a crying colleague, sweetly: Please stop crying, you're making me lactate!). And Sesame Street, which you'll find in the Archives.

I remember Rollercoaster discussion about Fair City's handling of the issue (it's hard, I think I'll give up?).

What else have you seen?

Cuidiú in the West

2010-03-23T17:46:00.000-07:00

Cuidiu is holding public meetings in Galway and Ballinasloe this weekend for anyone interested in setting up new Cuidiu groups in the west, which will open the way for future training possibilities for Breastfeeding Counsellors and Antenatal teachers.

Meetings are being held on Friday 26th March in The Galway Bay Hotel from 7pm - 9pm and Saturday 27th March in the Carlton Shearwater hotel in Ballinasloe from 11am - 1pm.

If you might be interested, then pop along to find out more.

Nursing in public, tongue in cheek

2010-03-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

Thanks to mammydiaries for this!

A Quick Lesson in Public Feeding...

There are some things in life that you can always count on; We all live, we all die and every three months or so, TV3 will put out yet another oh so educational documentary about "Extreme" Breastfeeding after which the phone lines to Joe Duffy, Gerry Ryan and the like will sizzle with the moral outrage of god fearing, respectable Irishmen and women who are SHOCKED! Yes, SHOCKED and HORRIFIED that there are women out there who insist on baring their breasts and nursing their children in public.

Yes folks, that's right, in PUBLIC! Shameless, brazen hussies! Who do they think they are? Flaunting their bits for all to see! Waving their milk filled bosoms about in a blatant show of prurience! Something must be done, which is why I, a concerned citizen of the highest moral fiber, have compiled a list of suggestions which will allow these desperate attention seekers to feed their young while out and about without offending innocent passersby...

I thereby present to you,

Practical Suggestions for The Inoffensive Feeding of a Breastular Nature

1. Resist the urge to spray passing strangers with your milk. I know, I know... This will be very hard, as what breastfeeding mother can possibly resist the urge to send playful jets of milk spurting from her bounteous bosoms at random strangers? But resist you must! Sit on your hands if need be to stop them tampering with a wayward nipple and accidentally soaking your nearest neighbor.

2. Invest in some Nursing "Gear." There are many attractive blankets and slings made for the express purpose of keeping such subversive acts under wraps and out of public notice, thus protecting innocent eyes from your wicked ways. Many "Outdoor Activity" shops now offer easy to assemble one man (woman) tents which are lightweight and portable, offering you the ultimate in comfort and coverage on the go. And don't worry! Despite the name, you CAN fit a baby in there as well!

3. Seek out Private nursing rooms. These are available in most reputable shopping centres and can generally be found in either the basement near the boiler room or wherever else is as far as f@*k from anywhere even remotely occupied or even within mobile network coverage. Some savvy retaillers, in an effort to save space, are now placing chairs in the disabled toilets in order to serve the same purpose. Such initiative is to be applauded!

4. As tempting as it may be to thrust your naked breasts into the faces of all and sundry, please resist this urge, however strong it may be. In a similar vein, offering strangers a "quick sup" is also to be greatly discouraged. While it is understood by the general public that breastfeeding women have little to no control over their actions and are wont to snatch and suckle any child they happen across in the streets, this practice is simply not acceptable and must be avoided at all costs.

5. For those of you feeding an older infant or child, staying at home has never been easier! With many major retailers now offering online shopping and home delivery services, you can now have most of your basic needs filled without ever having to leave the comfort (and privacy!) of your own home.

Yes folks, it IS possible to feed your child in a "Discreet and Inoffensive" manner. Of course, it all depends on what you find offensive...

http://mammydiaries.blogspot.com/

Thanks mammydiaries! Political AND informative :) Please come back and chat in the comments in case anyone is afraid of bearing their breasts/bared breasts in public!

Friends of Breastfeeding Pin Initiative still running - get your lovely pin here so nervous mums can see yours and feel the kinship. Or should I say, pinship? More booby-bonding, anyway :)

Milky Linkies

2010-03-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

Well, I really love the idea that one day we will be the genesis of a society of women who breastfeed without a second thought, and problem solve with their friends and mothers (and doctors and midwives!), who even help feed each other's babies when milk is needed...

But until then, there's this sort of thing.

“Once you go home from the hospital, you’re on your own with this little alien creature, and you have to figure out how to keep it alive,” Ms. Brill, 39, recalled of her daughter’s birth 16 months ago. “So you put it on your nipple and wait for it to eat, and hope all is right. But you really have no idea. Are they doing it right? Are they not doing it right? Are they eating enough? Are they starving?

“It really, really hurts to have someone sucking on your nipple like 10 times a day, partly because there is a right way and a wrong way,” Ms. Brill said. “So you call Freda, and she comes in and saves your life.”

I wonder could this ever happen here?

And my gut tells me this here was an overreaction. Still though. I know, I know. Controversial.

Thanks to my friend for the links she brought home from bringing her baby home to NY for three weeks! Glad you're back, C.

Little Boy Boob

2010-03-01T12:11:00.000-08:00

My (still bfing) son's demanding cry is now 'Boobia!!', it sounds like a small, peaceful country, really. Would you move there and become a Boobian? I asked him where he got the name ftom and he touched my breast and grinned and said, 'from here!'

Today he had no milk all day (thank god, he's been seriously off form and feeding like a three month old recently and I'm getting sore. After a big feed tonight, he lay back and sighed like he'd just had a Christmas dinner, and said, 'Ahhhh, thanks, that was awesome!' ... two and a half going on fourteen...

Nice story of the Booby Dance of Joy here :)

silly but sweet

2010-02-27T14:40:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: not everyone is a slingfan, and Friends of Breastfeeding is not suggesting they have to be!

Nippy Weather

2010-02-12T06:36:00.000-08:00

Will this winter ever end, ladies?

It's the kind of weather you find yourself reluctant to expose a boob to! I'm looking forward to spring, I'm thinking it'll get warmer some time in April, does that sound about right? The blue skies are nice though, even if they're misleading.

I was just thinking about back when thrush gave me vasospasming nipples, you know when your nipple can go hard and white and owy after a feed? Apparently the 'trauma' caused by thrush (it was traumatic, I can tell you!) can cause it, but for people prone to Reynaud's it can be a problem all on it's own.

Here's a link with some solutions, though my osteopath says often it can be helped with soem releasing osteopathy, untrap nerves around your ribs etc (helps with ordinary Reynaud's too!). I know Adrienne had this issue and found it hugely improved with osteopathy. Tried and tested!

I've also heard that in these dark and dreary recessionary days, Pamela Synge no longer has a waiting list...

PS the photo is an innovative idea called a boobluge, for doing your vodka shots out of at parties! I'd like to say oh how different my life is now that I have children, but I won't pretend it was ever that exciting :)

Also, that website, motherwear, is a great blog, current;y they have a recipe for a milk increasing banana bread up!

Breastmilk and crisis situations

2010-01-28T10:37:00.000-08:00

Last year I read an article in Mothering Magazine (an incredibly worthy publication, recommend it!) about breastfeeding in survival situations. It told the tragic story of the newborns that had died in New Orleans because their mothers had been sent out of the hospitals with formula instead of being recommended to breastfeed. Sadly water ran out, formula bottles and water need sterilising. Breastmilk is probiotic. The advice that stood out to me was that if you're in a survival situation, and someone gives you formula, you drink it and feed the baby yourself.

I was disapppointed at the rather ignorant (in the pure sense of the word) and bitchy (in one case) comments about the initiative to send breast milk to Haiti for some of the orphaned babies. I left a comment, I hope the effort (and the babies) get their milk.

excuse me a minute

2010-01-14T12:21:00.000-08:00

Ok, so dads can't breastfeed (at least, not without a lot of kerfuffle few, if any Irish dads would be keen to undertake).

But look, dads. Have you any idea of the effect a picture like this will have on any woman you care to show it to? It's like spontaneous ovulation in a cup. Ok, that sounds gross, but you know what I mean.

How funny is it that the baby's already perfected the cool face? Me and my dad, we is cool. We got each other and we don't need you.

Apologies for this, but hot kangaroo dads is breastfeeding related to a degree, right?

perspectives

2009-12-26T13:04:00.000-08:00

Helena Bonham Carter is 41? I did not know that. Who'd've thought it?

I was interested by her perspectives in this little article, about uses for her boobs, after 'carrying them around' for all these years - fairly different to the old 'these are for my husband' attitude we know and treat with caution, eh?

But then her fears about extended breastfeeding... I used to have those... and now I too have a succubus - not sure which extreme is right :)

My son's newest one is 'BOOBS!!' and then the big rejection of, 'those are too giant!'

Not a complaint I've had before, I must admit...

Tandem Feeding

2009-12-19T03:31:00.000-08:00

Roisín Ingle in the Irish Times magazine today, with a nice piece about mothering twins, and breastfeeding. It's very honest, and real, I think it's a really authentic perspective.

Learning to be a parent is hard, isn't it? I bow to the people who do it multiple times all at once :)

Doesn't she look gorgeous? And beautiful girls, too!

Go on...

2009-12-12T12:31:00.000-08:00

You know you want to!

Sorry all for my absence. More regular posting to resume soon!

What Do We Want?

2009-11-26T13:04:00.000-08:00

After working til some ungodly hour and winding down doing some reading, I've just turned off the light and got comfy, and I'm waiting to see if the coffee I've taken medicinally so that I can keep working is worn off enough that I'll be able to sleep. Beside me in the bed my two and a half year old son wriggles and mutters and looks like he might wake up. Sigh.

The next thing I know, out of the darkness comes a loud assertive statement:

'I want BIG BOOBS!'

It takes me about three minutes to stop shaking with silent laughter, but happily he goes back to sleep without kicking up a fuss.

I'm looking forward to weaning him. I can't wait til we can get him his own bed and move him into his sister's room.

But if I'd done all that sooner I would have missed that moment of pure breastfeeding comedy gold!

notes

*I'm so glad I have a breastfeeding blog I can post this on.

**I really wanted to post a picture of this boob cake to go with the post, but I thought that might be crossing the offensive line... I don't know.... I hope it makes you laugh.

Anyone in Drogheda?

2009-11-18T14:02:00.000-08:00

A message from the Cuidiu mother to mother group in Drogheda:

The Cudiu "mother to mother" group runs on every 2nd and 4th thursday of the month in Church of Ireland Parish hall times as above.

Our mother to mother group has been running for the last 15 months and been very successful. There were two women that were facilitating it - one a retired midwife and the other a mother who had fed her four children

Unfortuneately Carol, one of the facilitators has returned to work and the other lady is keen to have someone to give her a hand so the responsibility is not entirely on her

Realistically, all that is needed is a person with experience to come along to give a hand - open up and set out toys and equipment, to welcome anyone that attends, offer support and discuss breastfeeding issues, make a cuppa, tidy and lock up and most importantly send a few happier mams and babes home! The group is free so no money involved!

This group is at risk of being disbanded if we can't find people so if you have any ideas what we could do please contact me.

So if anyone is near the Drogheda area and would like to give a hand we would really appreciate it. If you want more information or to offer your services can you contact Petrina on 087 9077973

Breastfeeding course

2009-11-18T13:39:00.000-08:00

This message came with a flyer, but I don't think blogger will let me post it, sorry. Just email for it if you're interested!

From: "Best Services"

Date: 18 November 2009 08:53:51 GMT

To:

Subject: FW: new breastfeeding course

A new course in Athlone Institute of Technology aims to increase awareness of the importance of breastfeeding and to provide skills in communication and in providing quality care. This accredited level 8 Certificate is aimed at GP practice nurses, health promotion officers, dietitians, general nurses, volunteer support workers and others who provide information to women/families and support breastfeeding as a normal healthy practice. Course is delivery through a mixture of face-to-face and self-directed study.

Details in the attached flyer. Closing date for registration is December 10th. Course starts mid-January.

Best wishes

Genevieve Becker, PhD, IBCLC

Infant and Young Child Feeding Consultant

2 Kylemore Park

Taylor's Hill

Galway, Ireland

Tel: +353 91 527511

Fax: + 353 91 528677

BEST Services - Breastfeeding Education Support and Training Services

Friends of Breastfeeding on Highland Radio

2009-11-17T08:34:00.000-08:00

I'll be on the radio tomorrow, at 12 Irish time. Highland Radio in Donegal! Talking about Friends of Breastfeeding.

The producer asked me if I could think of anywhere where it wasn't appropriate to breastfeed. Any ideas?

I suppose I should say the toilet, where many bfing mothers are sent to in this country.

*** Sorry to anyone who listened, they ran too late with bullying. Tomorrow at 11! Hopefully. My nerves can't stand it!

Irish Times Health Magazine Breastfeeding Friendly article

2009-11-17T02:58:00.000-08:00

Have a look at the breastfeeding article in Today's Irish Times

and this one too!

It features this most gorgeous photo of Chris and Tom and their daughter. I love it! The purple against the green (I think the purple was such a good idea!) the happy faces. How protective and involved Tom looks... Isn't it perfect? And not a fash of boob in sight :)

I hope this inspires people to realise that feeding their baby while out and about doesn't have to be a big production.

It's a big article and a lot of points are raised in it, definitely worth a read .

True Funny

2009-11-11T16:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, I may have a small vampire obsession. All the best people do you know.

In fact, I recently had a little flash of inspiration about the preoccupation we have with the idea. In college I learned that the gothic novel's interest in vampires connected them to the forbidden erotic. The sudden gush of hot fluid, the sucking, it was all very sexual.

Well, I dunno. It made sense at the time. But the idea of getting life by sucking warm liquid nourishment from another human being, a life-giving, restorative fluid, the only thing that gives them sustenance. And both victim and vampire experience a pleasure filled daze , the vampire is sated, woozy, after feeding, the victim swoons...

oxytocin! I'm tellin' ya, it's all about breastfeeding.

Anyway! This is brilliant, have a look. Thanks Chris!

True Breast

A perfect description of the process of choice

2009-11-10T16:14:00.000-08:00

We talk a lot about mothers' choices and how they must all be respected, but also the influences behind those choices and how to address them.

'I know breast is best,' one friend who had extremely ambiguous feelings about breastfeeding and ultimately chose not to for long, 'but formula is good enough, right?'

And we answer that with this talk:

Some think it's better, others gasp in shock. Lines and emotions drawn all over the place.

It's so hard to discuss.

But here's a post from Custom Made Milk that says it perfectly, this is EXACTLY how to look at it.

Sticker Initiative Spreading its Wings

2009-11-08T00:47:00.000-08:00

Here is a photo of one of our Friends of Breastfeeding stickers on the door of Cafe Bar Deli in George's Street.

Aine has been working hard on this project and her labours are bearing fruit! We're really proud of this! Thanks to all the participating cafes and restaurants!

If you have a local cafe or restaurant that you think would like to display a welcoming sticker, please let us know and we'll send them one.

Not Much More To Say Than This:

2009-10-21T05:14:00.000-07:00

Breastfeeding is about food and comfort. There's no need make women and babies do it under ponchos or in toilets. There is nothing untoward or sexual about it. I know we live in a chilly cimate, presided over by decades of sexual repression, so we're not used to it, but a possible flash of boob is not going to harm any of us. It's probably less than you'd see in town of a weekend night, or in any magazine you care to pick up. It's time to get over it!

Tandem feeding

2009-10-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

Has it happened to you?

Lovely post here.

Hospital tips article

2009-10-11T09:43:00.000-07:00

Here is my confession. The Breastfeeding 1-2-3 blog at blisstree.com is better than this one.

Well, it's incredibly similar to this one, except she does it first. I have ideas, then I go along and find she's already done them. That Alyson Hannigan post for example. I found the clip and went looking for a photo, and it turned out that one came from her post about the clip, that she'd already written.

Ah well. It's the thought that counts, right?

Here's a nice list of positive steps you can take to get breastfeeding off to a good start in hospital though.

I think we would recommend all these, and if you pop back to the main site, we'll furnish you with the phone numbers!

Breastfeeding Keeps Willow Petite!

2009-10-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok. I am really only posting this because of my deep seated Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan status, but somehow the thought of Alison Hannigan being a mommy just delights me.

This is a little lighthearted interview about how breastfeeding has kept her skinny. It doesn't work for all of us (sigh) but we can aspire!

And Buffy had a baby last month too... but sadly no bfing celeb gossip is available on the Slayer. We want more bfing celeb gossip, do we not? I loved Angelina Jolie's photos. Is it too late to post them? They were so pretty.

If anyone knows a breastfeeding celebrity, can you hook us up with a photo? Or whip out your long range lense, perhaps...

Friends of Breastfeeding in the paper

2009-09-23T04:28:00.000-07:00

Siobhan O Neill White has an article in the Independent.

She introduces Friends of Breastfeeding with her own experience of trying to breastfeed, and what she perceived as her own failure.

It is that sentiment , that I've read and heard countless times, that led me to be involved in the group.

It is such a cruel sentence, I think, for women to feel they have failed their babies. It's blatantly untrue: I believe they have fought for them. It is they who have been failed by a system that is inexpert, underfunded, undereducated etc. etc.

Women in Ireland and their babies deserve professionals who will dedicate themselves to helping every woman enjoy breastfeeding success, however they define it.

How can you help yourself and others?

Gather information before you have your baby.

Set up a support system before you encounter a problem (that is, before the birth) - experienced friends, cuidiu counsellor, La Leche volunteer, lactation consultant. This way, making a phonecall is no effort.

Prioritise your own and the babies needs for the labour and early days: not your visitors or family's.

Skin to skin contact as soon as possible (my sister in law's midwives made sure the baby had skin to skin contact with his DAD when she was being cared for after her section! Genius!)

Ask for help the minute you feel pain or uncertainty in the hospital. Persevering means finding solutions, not suffering through pain.

Trust your instinct. If the midwives' advice seems conflicting, or isn't working for you, ask for the lactation consultant sooner rather than later. This is your right, don't be scared to insist on it.

Share, readers. What helped you get feeding off to a good start?

Siobhan runs Mumstown, a one stop info site for parents.

Not So Shocking Findings

2009-09-22T15:46:00.000-07:00

Coming from a home birth background, the findings in this article about how pain relief drugs impact on breastfeeding rates, I kind of want to say, duh.

But something tells me not to start the natural birth rant here.

Tempting as it is.

Suffice it to say that it makes sense to me that disrupting the natural flow of chemicals the body produces in labour must have a knock on effect on how well breastfeeding flows.

And, in breastfeeding class, I learned that the amount of fluid you take in if you have an epidural causes your breasts to be more engorged, and in turn this tends to delay the milk coming in. This can shake people's confidence, babies can feed a lot, the lure of the top up bottle comes into play, and all that can follow from that.

However, I do know plenty of people who had epidurals and breastfeed happily, who had sections and still their babies latched on like pros. So it's not a given.

I do think, though, that what is vital is that doctors and midwives become aware of the possible impact of the use of these drugs on breastfeeding. They must be prepared for the possible difficulties mothers might encounter, and know how to counter and compensate for them. And women should be appraised of any possible effects the drugs may have on breastfeeding so they know what they're dealing with.

No offense here

2009-09-16T16:35:00.000-07:00

I was talking to a Canadian woman I know through online writing. I don't know her properly, but from her writing and chat, she gives the impression that anything goes.

I told her I was making cupcakes, and she asked if they were for anything special. I told her about the breastfeeding group, and our photos shoot. We were on Gchat and she didn't respond for a while. I was suddenly worried that breastfeeding might be a sore spot for her, and I'd maybe inadvertently offended her by mentioning the group (you know it's a minefield out there).

But her response was both reassuring and fabulous:I'm in a breastfeeding group! We're called Tits Out in Brampton!

We at Friends of Breastfeeding did consider a similar approach, but we figured Ireland might not quite be ready for Tits Out in Balbriggan.

Lactating Men, Halleluiah

2009-09-13T03:28:00.000-07:00

Have a read of this, ladies.

You might have read the article in the Irish Times this week, by Isabe Conroy, about the Swedish Economics student who is pumping every three hours in an effort to stimulate man-lactation. Those Swedes, eh?

“I am going to have to pull out the pump sometimes during lectures but it really doesn’t bother me if it makes people uncomfortable. If they have issues with it, that’s their problem,” he declared.

Snigger.

The article touches on the way people, women in particular, might respond to the idea of men doing the breastfeeding. Unsurprisingly, many people are disturbed by the thought. A salient point made though, is that this would be significant for stay at home fathers, as plenty of women are unable to breastfeeding because of jobs, illness, or lactation failure.

The article ends by offering the suggestion of Swedish Professor Werner, who recommends men use their nipples not as milk providers, but in the same comforting breastfeeding role as women do. You know, in the moment, when the soother isn't readily available.

Oh, I don't know. I'd love to hear your responses. I do remember feeling great delight when my wolverine of a baby daughter got hungry fast and latched on to her Dad's nipple through his t shirt (I was equally pleased the time he got hemmorhoids, but that's another story). Men do seem to be growing more endowed in the moob department these days. But my husband's chest is very hairy. And he sprays his deodorant across it, blech. I don't really like to think of my sweet, soft faced little darlings snuggling up against all that. Look at the alarm on that child's face. Sure, he could be just looking for his mother and saying 'This beardy Jeremy irons-alike is not my father, what's going on?!' But I could also see it saying 'Why has Dad waxed? Something's not right here, Ma, come and get me!'

The possessive mother in me wants to be proud of having something I alone could give my children. Their dad's milk could never be as good as mine! Despite feelings of resentment I may also have harboured while sitting under a constantly feeding newborn while Daddy swanned off out the door for the next ten hours. To drink alcohol...

So what do you think? Would you share, or hand over the task?

Friends of Breastfeeding Needs You

2009-08-31T15:27:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!
Friends of Breastfeeding is now getting ready to fire on all
cylinders!
We have a number of initiatives in the pipelines. We are organising a
photoshoot for 12th September, a whole range of events for National
Breastfeeding Week and we will also be attending the Big into Baby
Show at the end of October.

Now all we need for this to be a huge success is YOU! We are looking
for a number of people to help out with various tasks on our three
subcommittees, PR, Projects and Fundraising.

We will gladly welcome new members to the group and even if you only
have half an hour a week, we can use your help. If you are interested
in joining, or just finding out more about what you can do email us at
friendsofbreastfeeding@yahoo.ie or go to www.friendsofbreastfeeding.ie.
Thanks

For extended breastfeeders

2009-08-31T15:23:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I was always a little uncertain about extended breastfeeding. I thought that once you had to negotiate about whether or not your child got a drink of booby milk in the cereal aisle, things would have gone too far.

But I'm still feeding my 25 month old, and having those conversations - not so much in the cereal aisle, thank god, but the issue crops up. My son is getting quite possessive of my boobs these days.

Boob-boob! Boob-boob, Momma!

This one! ........

Udder one! (Yes, I see the irony there).

I'm not a hundred percent sure I like it, I'll be honest, but his humour, persistence and my wimpiness means he's still getting his boob boob, as I find it hard to come up with a good enough reason to say no.

On the subject of discussion with your toddler, I heard a story I loved the other night, of a tired little boy looking for some R&R, and politely asking, in mixed company, in a voice filled with pathos,

'Mummy, will you read me a story with your boobs out?'

I had many responses to this, my first was that I could completely see where he was coming from. My second was that I could quite see the attraction in the possibility of my husband asking me to read him a story with my boobs out - and somehow I thought that was an idea worth sharing :)

Bedtime stories - not just for kiddies, you know.

Ten Good Reasons to Breastfeed Your Toddler

Extreme breastfeeding!

2009-08-25T03:58:00.000-07:00

Ever done it upsidedown?

[gigya width="480" height="381" src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x1037o_why-moms-cant-do-yoga_family" quality="high" wmode="tranparent" ]

Uploaded by Hubzesailor. -

Why hire a lactation consultant?

2009-08-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

A little story.

My brave and beautiful friend has just had a baby. Her labour was fine, but with a long pushing stage and three exhausting hemorrhages afterwards, so she was tired. She sent me a text as her daughter was having her 'first beautiful breastfeed'.

She got home on Tuesday, and rang me the next day. The baby was putting on weight and doing fine. But she said the feeding was a little painful. I asked if it got better after a while, and she said, well, a bit. Hmm. We talked, it didn't really sound like thrush.

I said that it was really worth being diligent about taking her on and off til the latch felt good, making sure it was ok each time, not feeding through the pain.

She said she didn't know how to check the latch, wasn't sure how to get a good one. Apparently the midwives AND the hospital lactation consultant had both said that the latch was good.

I worried: if it's painful and stays painful throughout the feed, that sounds like a recipe for cracked nipples.

'Oh, well, I already have something on one of them.'

If my booby senses (let's not bring spiders into this) had been tingling before, now they were on full alert. Nipple cracks or cuts don't get better if there's a persisting bad latch. And the fact that one was starting was scary.

So I went to www.breastfeedingsupport.ie and found a private consultant in her area and sent her the number. And I suggested she ring Pamela Synge the osteopath (Merrion Square, Tel: 6616143) and book an appointment, as often babies can't latch on right if they're sore and out of alignment from the birth. I've heard several stories of babies latching on perfectly directly after their first session.

Shortly thereafter (there are no flies on my girl) I got a text to say the lactation consultant was coming in an hour and a half and she'd got an osteopath appointment for the following week (with Pam, it's always worth mentioning if it's a breastfeeding issue, she wants to help out).

That evening, my friend sent me a text saying things were vastly improved. The next day they were better again, and the cut had gone completely. Also, since birth, the baby had been feeding very regularly, at least each hour, and it was exhausting. The LC thought that the mislatch had resulted in the baby not getting enough hindmilk down, and suggested some ways to help that.

She's coming again tomorrow to show her some different holds and check on things.

I'm posting this story, in this detail, because I know what it's like to have a problem, and not be sure what to do about it, and to dither and wait, and get into trouble.

Especially when the 'experts' have assured you all is fine.

But what I think we could all take from this story is the point that if you address the problem of pain early on, it is far easier solved.

If you wait til you have cracked, bleeding nipples and are in agony, then you will have a far harder time healing, the challenge will be greater as you will be worn down by the pain and stress and difficulty during what is already and emotional and exhausting time. ACT FAST and listen to your instincts - don't accept the midwives' assurances if you feel something's not right. If my friend hadn't made that call, I firmly believe her problem would have escalated fast, and she would have had a far harder time dealing with it. It's happened to so many, who have understandably but reluctantly stopped breastfeeding, because they didn't have the right support and solutions to hand.

I've always been a firm believer in throwing everything you've got at pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding. My friends insurance paid for half the LC'S visit, make sure you check that. If you can't afford a private LC, get on to Cuidiú - preferably before the birth, so you feel comfortable ringing. I did a course before my last birth, so I already knew my local LC, which I think is great. It's easier to call someone you know already.

And for me, one of the best reasons to do it is so that you have a support system. Doesn't that picture at the top of the page look right? New mothers need mothering, so much. I love the idea of being surrounded by compassionate, expert women, who hold me (figuratively or physically!) so I can hold my baby.

Do not deny yourselves that support. Grab it with both hands. It's a worthwhile investment, I believe.

ALCI Conference news

2009-08-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

I got this info today, from Eithne Foley of the ALCI:

I am delighted to inform you of this year's Annual Conference of the Association of Lactation Consultants in Ireland (ALCI). This year's Conference will take place in Glenroyal Hotel and Conference Centre, Maynooth, Co. Kildare on October 2nd and 3rd.

The theme is "Is Féidir Linn – Overcoming Breastfeeding Challenges”
and guest speakers include Fiona Dykes and Dr. Niamh McCabe. We are delighted to offer special ‘Recession Busting' prices, of Є99 for members and Є109 for non-members.

Topics covered on the day will range from professional interests to tongue tie, from global issues to personal experiences. The day promises to provide a varied programme that will capture the interest of both professional and non professional practitioners in breast feeding support.

Further information and booking details can be found at www.alcireland.ie or you can email alci@ireland.com.

For details about the value of a lactation consultant, see post above.

Gluttonous Baby!

2009-08-07T00:44:00.000-07:00

A friend just sent me this link, to an article on a breastfeeding doll, from, well, from Fox news.

Rather than having the ubiquitous bottle , this doll is designed to be 'breastfed'. And of course, being Fox, the first parental response that they give is, 'that's not cool'.

Obviously, in Ireland, little girls feeding their dolls bottles is as natural a sight as rain in the summertime.

But I've been reading a lot of comments in magazines like Mothering, that suggest it's perhaps not as much of a no brainer as we think. Those breastfeeding enthusiasts would rather have their children feed their dolls the same way the children themselves were fed, and the magazine frequently publishes very cute pictures of toddlers (both little mommies and daddies!)with their baby doll, or elephant, in a mini sling, breastfeeding.

In a culture where bottle feeding is the norm, as I've said above, it makes sense for children to emulate the way they were fed one way or other - but for the parents who are throwing away the dolly-bottles, they're rejecting the subliminal conditioning.

The real issue, fo me here, is the idea that it is 'not cool' for a child to mock-breastfeed their doll. That it's somehow improper. Why would we see it that way? Is there something sexual about a three year old holding a doll to their tiny, barely there nipple, and pretending to feed it? What are people afraid of in this scenario? To me, this paranoia comes down to yet more sexualisation of the breast, and in this case, small children.

It's cool to give them make up, bikini tops on their flat little chests, high heels, Disney-fy them, feed them Britney and Bratz dolls and Hannah Montana from an early age, turn them into teeny pinups. As long as they don't pretend they're feeding a doll with their own milk, from their non-existent breasts? To me, this is an extreme inversion of values. And a somewhat twisted view of what human sexuality is and isn't.

I think the biggest issue here is that they've called the doll 'Gluttonous Baby' - that seems a bit unfair to the babies!

breastfeeding sign

2009-08-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

Adrienne snapped this pic in Liffey Valley today.

Often on breastfeeding posting boards, women ask where is breastfeeding friendly - shopping with a newborn can be a bit daunting.

Look for the friendly breastfeeding lady sign on the door. We think she's kind of sexy!

[caption id="attachment_82" align="aligncenter" width="221" caption="Breastfeed here!"][/caption]

babies babies

2009-08-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

Do you ever see pictures of newborns or small babies and just fall in love the same way you do with your own children? Would you look at the ancient, wonderful eyes in that little face?

I also love the way the baby's roundy head mirrors the roundness of the breast they're drinking from.

There are three pages of gorgeous breastfeeding photos to goo over here, at www.blisstree.com, if you're feeling gooey. What better way to celebrate Breastfeeding Week?

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

2009-08-01T13:59:00.000-07:00

Every year, World Breastfeeding Week has a theme. This year it is "In Emergencies, Breastfeeding Is A Lifeline." My first thought on seeing this year’s theme was that it wasn't really relevant to the civilised society we live in, where we have constant access to sterilisation facilities and enough money to buy artificial milk if we want. But then I thought about Hurricane Katrina.

Breastfeeding was the difference between life and death for a lot of babies caught in that storm, yet that morning their situation was very similar to mine and most people in this country. They didn't anticipate their world being turned upside down any more than I do now, but it happened. Also, an emergency doesn't have to be on as grand a scale, a simple power cut can stop a mother being able to make up bottles safely. We had a power cut when my daughter was only three weeks old and I was very glad that I didn't have to worry about it causing any issues with her feeding, as the power was gone for a number of hours. Even things like your car breaking down or any other type of delay can mean that you are not able to get a bottle for your child when he/she needs it. For a breastfeeding mother, once you are there, your child is provided for, simple as that. Below is the press release for World Breastfeeding Week.

Emergencies can happen anywhere in the world. Infants and young children are especially vulnerable to malnutrition, illness, and death in these situations. Whatever the emergency – from earthquake to conflict, from floods to the flu pandemic – the story is the same: breastfeeding is a lifeline and a shield that protects infants in emergencies. From 1-7 August 2009, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), and breastfeeding advocates in more than 150 countries worldwide will be celebrating World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) for the 18 International Baby Food Action Network-Geneva Infant Feeding Association (IBFAN-GIFA) who represent an international collaboration of United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations (IFE Core Group) concerned with protection and support of safe and appropriate infant and young child feeding in emergencies.

Together we call for the active protection and support of breastfeeding during emergencies and the prevention and refusal of donations of breastmilk substitutes. When an emergency strikes, simple measures can make all the difference in the world. Emergency preparedness is the key to quick appropriate actions. Mothers need to be secure and have priority access to food for the family, water, shelter and safe places to breastfeed. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF recommendations – early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding until six months of age and continued breastfeeding for two years or beyond - are even more critical in emergencies. Breastfeeding is the one safe and secure source of food and fluid for infants - instantly available, providing active protection against illness and keeping an infant warm and close to his/her mother. It also reduces the risk of post-partum haemorrhage in the mother, the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide. In the challenging and risky environment of an emergency, how infants are fed is key to their survival.

Protecting breastfeeding and infant and young child feeding from inappropriate marketing influences is an essential component of emergency interventions. Violations of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent relevant WHA Resolutions are frequent guidance should not be sought nor accepted in emergencies.

Everyone can play a positive and important role in emergency preparedness and response. Find out what you can do by consulting the WBW 2009 ACTION FOLDER produced by WABA and the IFE Core Group that includes an extensive Guide for Action. Available online at the WABA website and in print in 4 languages from WABA.
‘Breastfeeding is a vital emergency response.
When a disaster strikes, everyone should be ready!’

Sesame Street, positivity

2009-07-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

I would love to see something like this on an Irish children's show. Does it seem impossible, or plausible to you? I don't remember ever seeing a breastfeeding baby on kids' tv.

Children are interested to see babies feeding. My daughter's friend's eyes bugged out on stalks when she saw me using abreast pump. I told her what I was doing and asked her if she was freaked out, and she said 'Yeah!'

Would she have been as freaked out if she saw it all the time, say, if her mother used one for her little sister?

Conversely, my husband had a conversation with our daughter recently, where she asked where she had been born, in this house? Here? In Ireland? And where her brother had been born - here? In the same place?

Then she asked where her Dad had been born, and when he told her he'd been born in hospital, she was incredulous. In a hospital??

Normal is just what you're used to, I suppose. *

*disclaimer: it is not the aim of this post to suggest that everyone should have homebirths and breastfeed - just observations on the way we learn our world.

Nursing Necklaces, anyone?

2009-07-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

[caption id="attachment_60" align="aligncenter" width="215" caption="Nursing Neclace"][/caption]

My cousin sent me a breastfeeding necklace when I had my last baby - it's a lovely gift idea. It not only marks a birth, but is practical too.

It's heartwarming at first, when your baby begins to reach up and stroke, touch and fiddle with you as they feed, but after a while, especially as they get bigger and more forceful, it can become, to put it mildly, a pain. Those gentle touches can become hair pulling, eye poking, nostril violating, (horror of horrors) nipple twiddling torture!

A nice solution is to provide them with a less sensitive focus for their fiddling, and that's when a nursing neclace comes in. Basically, it's a reinforced and child friendly piece of jewellery that will safely withstand your little one's tender minstrations.

Bellow are some links, in case anyone's interested. This would be a very good present for a Daddy to buy his lovely, strong and wonderful wife and mother of his child, methinks!

http://www.nursingnecklace.com/

http://www.mommynecklaces.com/

http://www.blisstree.com/breastfeeding123/design-and-instructions-for-nursing-necklace/ - DIY instructions

Lovely photos

2009-07-01T04:16:00.000-07:00

Mothers and babies

Found by Tanya.

Knowing what boobs are for

2009-06-27T16:19:00.000-07:00

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="caption suggestions, anyone?"][/caption]

Chris' breastfeeding story

2009-06-27T16:05:00.000-07:00

The committee are going to introduce themselves and their breastfeeding experiences to you. Here's our first instalment, from Chris, our membership secretary and primary motivator.

Before giving birth to my daughter, I knew very little about breastfeeding except that I had heard it was best for baby so I thought I would probably do it. During my pregnancy lots of people, friends, family, work colleagues asked me if I planned to breast or bottle feed. I said "I'm going to breastfeed". Lots of times I was corrected, I should say that I was going to TRY to breastfeed. "Don't put yourself under any pressure, it doesn't work out for everyone".
Not knowing any better I assumed that they knew more about it than I
did and if asked I began to reply that I was going to TRY to
breastfeed.

At ten days overdue, I gave birth to my very beautiful daughter Eliza. She was put to the breast while the umbilical cord was still attached. I'll be honest, I hadn't really got a clue what I was doing. I felt that breastfeeding was natural so this was going to be easy, right? Her first feed in the delivery room was a bit of a fumbly one. I think she was latched on properly but she popped off a few times and we had to do the whole reconnecting thing again. The midwife told me that it was fine and I could try again when we got down to the ward. I was only on the ward for a day. Over that time I had various different midwives and nurses helping me to latch her on.

One midwife would tell me to feed her in one position, then another
would come in and tell me that I should be doing it another way. It is
easy with hindsight to see that there are lots of different positions
so it's not that any of them were wrong, but as a new mother it meant
that I didn't get a proper chance to master any of them, leaving me
feeling all the more clueless and vulnerable.

As we came into my daughter's first evening, they started to ask me how long she was feeding for. She was staying latched on for about 10 minutes at a time. One midwife told me that unless she fed continuously for at least 20 minutes it didn't count as a proper feed (which is not true) and that I should 'top her up'. She had been given two 'top ups' and only on the 3rd time it was offered one of the midwives asked if I had been expressing. I felt like I was being told off for not expressing despite the fact that no one had told me I should and I didn't know to ask! At that point (about 2am I think), I was brought down to the pumping room. The midwife explained how it worked and told me that they would cup feed anything I expressed to my baby. I fiddled with the equipment, which I wasn't very sure about but the midwife had left, there was no one there to ask.

After the 20 minutes I had been advised to pump for, I closely examined the container. Not a drop.
Well it was clear, wasn't it? She needed top ups because she obviously
wasn't getting anything from me! Just a couple of words from any of
the medical staff could have put my mind at ease. If someone had only
told me that what comes out with a pump is no indication of what a
baby gets, and that colostrum is there in such small quantities that
it is perfectly normal for there to be nothing coming out.

The following morning it was time to go home. She still hadn't fed at
the breast for longer than 20 minutes. I was told that they weren't
happy with that and for her to go home they had to make sure that she was feeding well. The midwife gave me a bottle and sat to watch me feed it to her. I was told to get my husband to buy formula, bottles
and a steriliser on the way to pick us up, which he did.
Once we got home I felt so much more relaxed about breastfeeding. The first couple of nights we gave formula at night which seems like
madness now. Instead of just feeding her at the breast, my poor
husband was running downstairs to make up a bottle. After those two
nights my confidence had grown because I had had time to find my feet, time to realise that I could do this and she was doing well, so we
stopped giving her any more formula and started to settle into life
with our gorgeous little girl.

Until she was five days old I was under the care of the Domino midwife system, then the Public Health Nurse came to see me. She weighed her and expressed concerns about her weight. She said that she would have to come back in a few days to check her weight again and if the situation hadn't improved then we would have to consider giving her formula. My growing confidence took a serious hit from this! We had quite a lazy couple of days and when she weighed her again she was very pleased with her weight gain. That's
great, a nice happy ending, all's ok you say?

Well, no.

Having told me that my little one was doing great, she then went on to tell me to make sure to give her formula regularly. I was confused by this and askedher about the recommendation to exclusively breastfeed. Wasn't that what the medical professionals recommended? She told me that it was
important to give formula so that if I ever got caught away from my
daughter unexpectedly, I knew she would be ok and not starve.

I didn't know much about it at the time so the conversation was left there, but if I was not advised to exclusively breastfeed in my circumstances, then who is supposed to do it? I ignored this faulty recommendation. My daughter has not had any formula since she was 2/3 days old and she has not starved due to me getting stuck down a mineshaft which I can only guess is what the PHN was concerned about!

I don't feel that breastfeeding has limited me in anyway, instead it has liberated me. My husband and I went away for a whole weekend when she was 5 and a half months, leaving a freezer of expressed breastmilk with her and my mother. At various times she has been minded by her dad, my mother-in-law, my brother and friends. If she is only going for a couple of hours, maybe while I get my hair done or something then she didn't really need milk. She would be fine with water. Otherwise a bottle of expressed milk was just as easy for them to give her asanything else really.

Breastfeeding is so incredibly portable, there are no worries about having enough bottles with you when you go out, somewhere to heat them or anything else, it's just there, ready
whenever your little one needs it at the right temperature instantly.

My reasons for being involved with Friends of Breastfeeding

I feel that everything was fairly ideal in my situation. I was fit and healthy, I had no birth complications, my daughter was a healthy weight at 9lb 2oz. I feel that everything was completely normal, yet I was advised by Nurses, Midwives and my PHN to give formula which I did. If I wasn't given full support to breastfeed exclusively as someone who had made it clear that this was my plan with no indications that there should be a problem with this, then who is given that full support? Unfortunately the answer to that question
seems to be no one.

I feel I should have been encouraged more with breastfeeding rather than putting a bottle in my hand. I want to help others who want to breastfeed to get the information they need before they give birth, so they can have the breastfeeding experience that THEY want.

Artificial milk has its place but it should not be offered so freely to mothers and use of it encouraged so commonly. Those who want to breastfeed deserve to be supported and encouraged in every way and I am going to do everything I can to help with that.

AGM pics

2009-06-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

: The Committee, members, and their babies

first AGM Minutes

2009-06-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

Friends of breastfeeding, first AGM
June 6th 2009, Bray Community Centre
Attendees:
Adrienne Corless, Chris Finn, Tom Finn, Jo Murphy, Mary Lalor, Denae Heffernan, Andrea Casey, Deirdre Phelan, Hazel Quigley, Sinead Counihan, Leela O'Shea, Kate Byrne.

Apologies:
Lisa McCaffrey
Tanya Cassidy

Point 1: Introductions
Group members introduced themselves and their own experiences of breast feeding.

Point 2: Report
Adrienne detailed our beginnings on Rollercoaster, the Breastway photo shoot and its promotional uses.
We made an appearance on The Afternoon Show, before the group came together, as breastfeeding mothers, and hopefully made a normalizing impact on viewers. An initial meeting in Dundrum took place, where ideas such as the Ribbon project were discussed.
FoB is in the process of collecting funds, some of us walked the mini marathon.
We have formalized our committee to an extent, and are still recruiting.
Our constitution is a work in progress.
We have talked to Marion Fallon, HSE breastfeeding coordinator, and she is positive and supportive of the group.
We have registered for a charity tax number, which will give us formal recognition and allow us to apply for grants.

Point 3: Philosophy
Mary read the FoB philosophy and we agreed that so far it does represent our feelings, and is a rousing statement! We discussed not imposing a concept of ‘breastfeeding success’ on anyone. The work has yet to be completely finalized.

Point 4: Aims
Denae read the aims out.
• To protect and support the practice of breastfeeding in Ireland
• To highlight/raise awareness about breastfeeding support options
• To raise awareness about how families and communities in Ireland can be supportive of the breastfeeding woman
• and her baby and foster appreciation amongst for breastfeeding in the community
• To promote the Breastway website as an affiliated online resource for information and support for the breastfeeding
• mother and for health professionals
• To recruit members for fundraising activities, publicity campaigns, initiatives and events.
• To raise our profile - and thus the profile of breastfeeding
To raise public awareness about breastfeeding in order to dispel myths
• To work with other breastfeeding-related organisations for maximum effect
• To work to improve policies in place relating to breastfeeding in Ireland and ensure they are being enforced

Point 5: plans for achieving aims
• Recruiting: Charging twenty euro per member, as a commitment to supporting the group.

• We decided that the Info packs would be the first thing we’d work towards and what might go into them.We discussed contacting Maureen Fallon and EUmom about this.

• Denae gave her ideas for the Ribbon campaign – gold for international bfing colour, 50c to make, sell for E2, design choice to be agreed upon later.
We all like this idea and discussed the importance of solidarity and countering isolation .
• We also want to be represented at the Big Into Baby show in Oct, ideally with the Breastway.
• I proposed the blog as a good interim go-to site for mothers and those interested in joining. It has the benefits of being free, and easily accessed.
• Hazel is a web designer and offered her services! She also has extensive experience in working with charities – this is good!

Point 6: Steering Committee
The management committee will establish itself as a Steering Committee for now, meaning that we do not have to finalise the Constitution. We are still figuring out our needs, must finish the Aims and Philosophy. This also takes away the need for an official election and establishing roles, for now.
Steering Committee members introduced themselves and their experiences.

Point 7: Involvement
Deirdre Phelan, Hazel Quigley, Sinead Counihan and Leela O'Shea all became involved.

Next meeting to take place online, June 16th, 9.30pm
Minutes taken by Jo Murphy.