Blog Love

Based off of the Good Parenting Reads and Clicking for Breastfeeding posts, I think I might join in the Sunday Surf that other blogs that I read host, because I love spreading the word about great reads on blogs I love.

This weeks line up is below:

Nursing in Public, how does it make you feel? Birthing Beautiful Ideas talks about different situations in which she found herself nursing in public and how it made her feel. 

"When I ask how you feel about nursing in public, I don’t mean, “Do you think it’s awesome or gross?” For the most part, I would like feelings about the act of public breastfeeding to be completely neutral.

Kind of like if I’d ask, “Hey, what do you think about me eating a sandwich in public?” and you’d be like, “Um…I don’t know…good for you?  I don’t have feelings about it, it’s just eating in public” and I’d be like, “Yeah, I know, it’s just eating in public, WHICH COME TO THINK OF IT IS EXACTLY WHAT BABIES ARE DOING WHEN THEY ARE NURSING IN PUBLIC!!!”

Ahem. Instead, when I ask, “How does nursing in public make you feel?” I’m asking, “How do YOU feel when YOU nurse in public (if you do)?”

Do you feel confident?  Anxious?  Like a rockstar?  Like a target for criticism?" - read the rest of the post at Birthing Beautiful Ideas

The Wait For Mourning... although it is a post on loss, one of my daily blog reads recently lost her grandmother and wrote a beautiful poem in honor of her.

"My grandmother, the woman I cherish more than any other, the one who took my wounded toddler heart and gave it a reason to keep beating… she’s slipping away from this world" - read the rest at Birth Faith

Unexpected, Unassisted Birth - LOVE is a beautiful birth story posted on Mama Birth. I particularly like this birth story as it was her desire to do whatever it took to get the birth she wanted.

"My first pregnancy left me somewhat jaded and mistrusting of doctors and hospitals.  My baby was breech.  He had been breech since the 12 week ultrasound and had stayed that way since.  I tried inversions, hot and cold packs, music on my lower abdomen and even handstands to get baby to flip.  At 38 weeks he was still breech.  An external cephalic version was attempted but failed.   On multiple occasions, my OB used every scare tactic in the book to try to force me to schedule surgical delivery.  He talked down to me and essentially told me I would kill my baby if I tried to deliver my breechling vaginally." - read the rest at MamaBirth

 A Homebirth Story is written (being written) in 7 parts over at First the Egg, and I am hooked!

"At 3:14AM as we moved into Friday, 11 May, I sat in our tiny office and journaled, mostly to take a break from trying to sleep. These notes ended up being the beginning of my second birthing story. At the time, I figured it could be labor, or—more likely—I could still have days or weeks left. With Noah, I had a couple nights up with contractions long before things actually led anywhere, and it was still earlier than I really expected to give birth (though past 41 weeks according to the estimated due date in my chart).

That night, Eric and I had gone to bed together around 12:30 after watching the first chunk of High Fidelity (we’d been borrowing quite a few movies from the library in recent weeks) and reading (I finished Tipping the Velvet). I tried to go to sleep a bit before Eric, while he read with his book light as he often did during this pregnancy, but I was way uncomfortable with lower back pain, headache, our nightly bedtime party-time fetal movement, and uncomfortable/painful contractions." - read the rest at First the Egg

Navelgazing Midwife wrote a perfect post (perfectly timed) for a client of mine, so I had to share with you! She writes about the lovely aspect of mucous during labor. She has such wonderful nuggets of wisdom there.

"I asked folks to “Toss Me a Birth-Related Word” on my Navelgazing Midwife Facebook Page and “Mucous” was the first word. Here, I’ll use the word as a springboard from which to jump.

I’ve written about “gloppies” (my nickname for mucous in birth) before, but thought I’d write about how gloppies clearly demonstrate how far a woman is in labor. I’m sure there are exceptions, but they would be extremely rare. I’ve talked to nurses and other midwives about this so have more info than just mine." - read the rest at Navelgazing Midwife

Authentic Parenting wrote a refreshing and healing post on 11 steps for healing and restoring the peace after being harsh with your child. We all need this once in awhile.

Have you been less than stellar with peacefully navigating parent-child conflicts lately? Has your temper flared, have you yelled, lost  your cool,  hurt or spanked your child? Has frustration, irritability, tiredness gotten the best of you?

Well, you are not alone. In a survey completed a few years ago, out of about 1,000 families, 88% of parents admitted to yelling, shouting, spanking or otherwise being harsh with their children. Yet, we know that these practices can be harmful to children's development, to our relationship and well, it's just not a good feeling is it? - read the rest at Authentic Parenting

Andd there you have it! My week's recommended reads! Enjoy!

Thoughtful Thursday

"A woman doesn't really need to be rescued. It's not the place for a knight in shining armor. It's the place for her to face her darkest moment and lay claim to her victory." - Cara Muhlhahn, Certified Nurse Midwife

Motivational Monday

Thoughtful Thursday

“Women…are storytellers. They are nurturers…filled with creative forces when they are fertile, pregnant or birthing. Millions of years of biology are on their side to ‘bring forth.’ Nothing can stop the power behind that force, not even the woman herself…She is the living essence of the future. She is a holy woman and there is intelligence at work in her. It is sacred energy.” –Sister MorningStar

Good Parenting Reads

A postpartum with an awesome couple reminded me of something: a parent's best gift they can give themselves is grace to ask for or seek out help if they feel they need it! With that, I figured I would share some great reads for new parents are all over the blogsphere this month!

Breastfeeding:

"While things have come a long way since the days when mothers were routinely given injections to “dry up” their milk, there are still a number of breastfeeding issues which are often overlooked during our hospital stay.

How do I know?  Because when I see moms in the community and notice these issues, they report that no one did in the hospital.  Or if they did, it was often either ignored or mismanaged"- Booby Traps Series: Five frequently missed or mismanaged breastfeeding issues in the hospital

Nurturing Self/Baby:

"Giving your babies breast milk is one of the greatest gifts you can give them, regardless of your nutritional status. But over my 8+ years as a momma studying pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding, I’ve learned of several ways we can take that wonderful gift of breast milk and make it even more beneficial to our babies. We’ve probably all heard that consuming lots of omega-3 fats (through fish and plant sources) will benefit our babies’ brains and our own emotional health, but there are other ways to improve the quality of the milk we produce for our babies. Here are just a few of them…"- Building Better Breastmilk

Babywearing:

"Carrying your child in a sling has many well documented benefits yet it often seems that society is still playing catch up. Parents using slings report negative reactions from friends, family and even complete strangers. Being told that a choice you are making for your child is wrong can be hard, especially if it is a choice that feels so right for you.

When deciding how to deal with negativity to your choice to carry your child in a sling – or any parenting choice- it can be useful to consider why they feel the need to express the negativity in the first place. The vast majority of comments fall into these two categories:" - “Why don’t you ever put that poor baby down?” and How to Deal with Babywearing Negativity

Appreciation:

When I was a younger mom, I used to count the hours. I counted the meager number of hours I slept each night, the number of hours I spent rocking a screaming baby, and the number of hours I spent nursing. I counted the number of hours I spent making meals and cleaning up the kitchen, the number of hours spent folding laundry and vacuuming. I counted the number of hours my boss was late in picking up her son, and how many hours I spent in traffic trying to get home. I counted the number of hours I spent editing my husband’s papers and the hours he spent away at class each day. I counted the hours until he came home.

With all the hours counted, I knew just how tired I could be, or irritated, or unproductive. I knew how much to require of other people and how much to coddle myself. I knew what I could or could not do." - Counting the Hours

Bathing:

"There are so very many options after baby is born. One of the seemingly less considerable options is to bathe or not to bathe baby in the moments following birth.

Routinely, hospitals encourage families to have the hospital nursery staff bathe their baby within 2-4 hours after birth to 'decontaminate baby' from the messiness of birth." - Baby's First Bath

Circumcision:

"My education about the male body was the same as most kids growing up in the Midwest in the 1980/90s. I don't recall even hearing the word "circumcision" until I was at least 16. It was only about 5 minutes of the human sexuality class at my Catholic high school. It consisted of our teacher basically saying, "The foreskin is a flap of skin on the end of the penis that is removed soon after birth, for hygienic reasons. I once knew a man who needed to be circumcised in old age, and the recovery was horrible. So it's better to do it early..."

I remember my B.S. meter going off at the time, but I didn't revisit the issue until years later. What I found out horrified and angered me. The foreskin wasn't just a “flap of skin”, it was a healthy and functional part of the male body, with a purpose. I looked into the history of circumcision in this country, and saw that it wasn't health concerns that had driven its rise at all, and that in fact, there were no health benefits to doing it. Once I learned that no health organization in the world recommends routine infant circumcision, that was it. No way would I even consider doing such things to a child of mine." - Why I Speak Up

Enjoy!!

Motivational Monday

Clicking for Breastfeeding

We talk a lot about pregnancy and birth. But, in addition to those very important topics, I love breastfeeding posts. I will literally scour my fellow bloggers sites to find tidbits of wisdom that I absolutely have to share with my readers... so here are my most recently discovered gems.

Nurshable writes a beautiful piece about 'human pacifier's and her feelings on that term. She gives such insight and passion that I was instantly taken back to a time when I, too, found myself breastfeeding my little one 'pretty much straight through the night'. This is a wonderful post on how to change our perceptions on those times when it is sometimes difficult to remember that it is good and positive to breastfeeding on request.

I am not a “human pacifier”. I am what you have a biological and evolutionary need for. I will not devalue your needs by implying that you lack the wisdom and understanding of what those needs are. I will not devalue your needs by becoming frustrated by your refusal to accept something that does not meet those needs. I want you to listen to your body from the beginning, to understand the difference between a healthy need of yours and a pacifying object. To have an understanding that dates back to the beginnings of your time on this planet.. That comfort comes from having your needs met, not from distracting yourself with something pink, pretty and plastic. - Read the rest here.

Bellies and Babies posted a history/art lesson on breastfeeding throughout time and cultures. I know, I know, I snuck myself into this post. But I loved researching and finding all of these beautiful works of art!

From the mythical figure of Philosophia-Sapientia, the personification of wisdom, who suckled philosophers at her breast and by this way they absorbed wisdom and moral virtue... To the Bible drawing parallels between absolute love and devotion, care and comfort as being a woman nursing her child... To the Egyptian goddess Isis, the symbol of motherhood and protection, nursing her son Horus. Breast has always been known to be best! Throughout history, women have been given special time to establish nursing and child caring after birth (such as the lying in time), given special sanction and law to be able to nurse their child on demand in any setting (such as allowance to not make exodus' to birth cities for census), and have been encouraged to nurse. - Read the rest here.

Breastfeeding With Comfort and Joy (which, by the way, I LOVE the book) has a wonderful post on a woman's yearning for her baby after birth. Although it is one of those 'duh' concepts, I love how she presents the information, a plea to hospitals to be more mother and baby friendly, along with great breastfeeding advise.

So I began my search for images of moms and babies skin to skin and/or breastfeeding in the operating room. Recently, with the help of Preparing For Birth, Mother’s Utopia, and Amy Romano of Science and Sensibility, I was alerted to a blog post with a photograph and a mother’s story of meeting her baby in his "birthday suit" in the operating room, and the video below that shows a baby skin to skin with his mom and feeding at birth in the operating room. I posted these and asked for moms’ comments. I am hoping that the images and comments help moms get that yearned-for closeness at birth when possible and that health care personnel become comfortable with the adjustment in procedures necessary to make this happen. - Read the rest here.

BABEs wrote a great post on how to take care of a breastfeeding mama. As mama worries about feeding baby, others should be worrying about nurturing that relationship and loving mama back into health and community.

Share your successful breastfeeding stories and experiences and leave the negative experience or breastfeeding “horror stories” for another person……a new mom is already emotionally full as she processes her birth experience and contemplates motherhood…she is full of desire to be successful at breastfeeding and bonding with her new baby.  Offering stories of challenges may not fill her with the inspiration she needs, especially if she is struggling…..certainly let her know she is not alone even if there are struggles but adding to the list of “what if” and “could that happen to me” worries is probably going to have a negative effect. - Read the rest here.

Banned From Baby Showers recently had a guest post on her blog about her loathing of breastfeeding tents. It was a neat read, I love it when I can read a post and, at the beginning be like 'huh?' and by the end be like 'huh!'. KWIM?

They are bad for breastfeeding moms. They imply you should nurse your baby in them.  In fact, I have been approached at an event while nursing and told there was a breastfeeding tent. I was sitting within eyesight of it. I didn't need to be told.  I have no desire to interrupt my conversation or relocate it somewhere I don't want to be.  Even if I see it as optional, the person who told me about the tent did not.  She thought I needed to be in the tent.This makes the tent more offensive, in my opinion, than the controversial Hooter Hider, or nursing cover.  At least with a nursing cover, I have to pack it in my bag and make the choice to put it on my body.  A Breastfeeding Tent is kinda like having a stack of Hooter Hiders in the corner for "those" breastfeeders.  And empowering someone to walk up and hand me one. - Read the rest here.

Dou-la-la has a phenomenal post (another one of those 'huh's) where she gives another side of the story when it comes to getting off the Medela teat. You have to read it to understand it... and I am not sure how much I can really rally with her, but I must say I totally get her position now and can't disagree.

By way of introductory comments, I first need to hail the revival of Just West of Crunchy, which was rendered out of commission by a terrible crash. Welcome back! Secondly, I'm going to point you in the direction of a Very Important Post: The Problems With Medela. What's that you say? Problems? With Medela? But - they make breastfeeding products! They promote breastfeeding, right? And I love my slick Pump In Style. How can you have problems with them? - Read the rest here.

Dr. Jen talks about good bacteria, the role of breastmilk in immune system development, and that "one" bottle in an amazing post. I can't really even do it justice in a little blurb before quoting her, so I am just going to go onto the quote bit.

In a perfect world, a term, healthy newborn comes into the world vaginally. Again, I want to talk about normal. I know the process doesn't go normally all the time. (And I've talked about this here.) The delivery of that baby close to the anus is critical for immune system development. The healthy, term newborn's gut is sterile (without bacteria) and the bacteria that get into that pristine gut are truly important. During a vaginal delivery, the largely harmless bacteria around the mother's anus are the bacteria getting into the newborn gut. They increase in number, compete for food and space and help coordinate efforts to create a healthy gut for that baby. With the exception of our skin, the gut is the largest immune system organ in our body. Because breastfeeding is normal, what happens to healthy, term newborns who are breastfed is normal. The newborn has a delay in their immune response to bacteria. A delay? To a bacteria? Yup. Normal. After delivery, that newborn gut has many challenges from invaders that may not be friendly. Doesn't seem too smart not to fight back. We all have mechanisms in our body to fight infection. In the gut it's called Gut Associated Lymphoid Tissue (GALT) and it's ready to roll at 19 weeks of gestation. All of the things that make up the GALT are waiting for a specific series of events to occur after delivery, when, if it proceeds normally, will result in a functioning immune system. - Read the rest here.

Timeline of a breastfed baby, written by the Alpha Parent, is a must read for all women intending to breastfeed, their support people, doulas, childbirth educators.. heck, everyone! It is such an easy read, with such positive information, that I have been sharing this post at every opportunity.

However there is a persistent and understandable demand from first-time mothers for information on what is considered ‘the norm’. This is particularly so with breastfeeding, as understanding breastmilk intake is more complex than looking at the oz mark on a bottle. This is a topic rife with large-scale confusion, especially as breastfeeding mothers are in the minority and can often find themselves, and their health workers, comparing their baby with formula-fed babies. Breastfed babies are not the same as formula fed babies. One is fed the milk of its own species; the other is fed the milk of an entirely different species, so it is unsurprising that stark differences can be observed. - Read the rest here.

And finally, for a little more wittiness and humor, check out Modg's 10 Things about Boob Feeding post. She had me snorting my coffee the other morning (yes, sorry Mary, my lovely and guru-like chiro, I was drinking that evil sludge when I was reading it; but you'll forgive me if you click on the link.. promise). It's riotous!

Guess what? It’s world breastfeeding week. That’s where everyone in the world has to find a lactating breast and take a drink. Hooray! In honor of this week of boobs, I wanted to 1) draw you a picture of boobs (and if your boobs are actually that round and symmetrical, I shoot rockets at you. SSSS.) and 2) talk about my experience with breastfeeding and the 10 hidden benefits of breastfeeding that you don’t read about in Lucky Magazine. I know, I didn’t see any in there either. Weird. - Read the rest here.

So there you have it.. my most recent finds on the blog universe. It's a lot of clicking, but I really encourage every breastfeeding mama, mama considering breastfeeding (or preparing to breastfeed), and breastfeeding advocate take a look at these. They are worth the click.