Send your breastfeeding photos to me at info (at) mommytoo (dot) com.
Where I've Been
Saturday, August 9, 2008
I have really, honestly, truly neglected this blog, haven't I? It's a shame, really, because I liked reading it myself. Just so much happened this year, including a job (albeit an at-home job), and one of my other Web sites took off all of a sudden, plus I homeschool, and try to sleep at night.
But, there is good news! I am always telling as many people as I can about these breastfeeding photos that I stumbled upon and so I asked Mothering if they would like an article about them. Not only did they want an article they also asked me to blog about historic breastfeeding for them! How crazy is that? So, while I will blog here every other day (fingers crossed) I will be blogging for Mothering every day.
I'm back from the dead. Yay!
I don't have a link to my Mothering blog just yet. Will post link as soon as it's up.
Labels: news
posted by Jennifer James @ 2:51 PM,
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"Hot" Baby Formula Repackaged and Resold to Grocery Stores
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Every morning I scour the news to see what's breaking in the infant nutrition industry, whether it's a brand new breastfeeding study or a press release from an infant formula company about the "best" new formula to ever reach the market.
Invariably, each day when I look up "infant formula" in the news there are always local stories about people who steal baby formula like these articles from New Hampshire, Miami, and Washington State. Last night I started thinking: these can't be poor people stealing formula for their babies because WIC has poor infants covered in the formula department. So, what's going on?
Infant formula cartels.
Infant formula is a hot commodity on the black market because it is sold to wholesalers who repackage it to look like more expensive brands, change the lot numbers and expiration dates, and then resell it to unsuspecting grocery stores. So, when a parent buys infant formula off the store's shelf there is no guarantee it hasn't already spoiled, been repackaged, and resold to the grocery store.
Here's a recent story out of Milwaukee where the FBI seized 81,000 cans of infant formula because they believed all of it was stolen. They said, "investigators think heat guns and chemicals were used to strip the cans of store markings, which may have damaged the formula."
What if the FBI hadn't caught this batch of repackaged formula? Experts say most repackaged and resold formula has been damaged and/or has expired and poses serious health risks for babies.
Parents never hear that in the doctor's office, do they?
To counter all of this formula theft grocery stores now stock most of their infant formula behind the counter of under lock and key. But where I shop it's right there in the open for anyone to lift.
Labels: news, reasons to breastfeed
posted by Jennifer James @ 8:16 AM,
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My Mommy Boobs
Thursday, December 20, 2007
I have to say I really love my breasts! We've been through a lot since they arrived unexpectedly (at least for me) during puberty. We've gone through junior high school boys calling me "Big Jugs", unsuccessful, rushed department store bra fittings, and the absolute delight in finally finding the perfect bra. And of course, my boobs and I fed my babies, without question one of the greatest joys of my entire life. But these days many moms are quite unapologetic about replacing the breasts they were born with with taut, perkier, presumably sexier ones. I read today in a BBC article that increasingly mothers are opting for breast uplifts "to redress the effects of breast-feeding and pregnancy on women's shape."
I think it's a sad state of affairs when women find it necessary to erase all signs of motherhood, like stretch marks, belly bulge and saggy breasts are some sort of Godly curse. I know for me it would be like losing two great friends if I cosmetically altered my breasts in any way. I would feel like I purposely erased a crucial chapter in my life, a chapter that defines who I really am. I don't care if my breasts eventually sag below my knees when I'm forty; they're my breasts and I'm proud of them. They ARE me.
What do you think?
Labels: commentary, news
posted by Jennifer James @ 12:45 PM,
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How Times Have Changed: Modern-Day Milk Depots
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
I was reading an article yesterday about the growing need for local milk depots in Orange County, California where nursing mothers can drop off their extra breast milk for babies in need.In the early twentieth century mothers also frequented milk depots, or milk stations, where they could take their infants for well baby check-ups and receive "pure" cow's milk to feed their infants. My, how times have changed since then. Now some mothers are giving their breast milk away instead of receiving artificial milk in return. I know WIC offices are also seen as modern-day milk depots, but at least these days there are various forms of milk transfer.
Above nurses were weighing a baby at the Cincinnati pure milk station in 1908.
George Grantham Bain Collection, LC-USZ62-43678
Labels: breastfeeding history, issues, news
posted by Jennifer James @ 9:52 AM,
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Tyra Breastfeeds
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
I never watch the Tyra Banks Show, but I read on the Net that she had a recent show where she talked about motherhood issues that new moms face. A few of her guests had difficulty breastfeeding and so she had a breastfeeding expert on the show to instruct mothers how to nurse properly.
Although Tyra isn't a mom, I'm glad she discussed breastfeeding in a positive light and even brought in an expert to show the proper way to do it. I think this one show probably made tons of young mothers think differently about breastfeeding their babies. Kudos to Tyra!
Labels: news, news.commentary
posted by Jennifer James @ 12:26 PM,
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Upcoming Breastfeeding Symposium
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
On September 24-25, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Public Health will be hosting the Third Annual Symposium on Breastfeeding and Feminism. The focus of the symposium will be reproductive health, rights and justice.There are several well-known scholars, writers, and activists who will be in attendance. A few that jump out at me and whose books I've read are:
Bernice Hausman, PhD, Professor, Virginia Tech, Author of Mother’s Milk: Breastfeeding Controversies in American Culture
Jacqueline H Wolf, PhD, Assoc. Prof., Ohio University, author of Don’t Kill your Baby: Public Health; The Decline of Breastfeeding in the 19th and 20th Century
Plus, there are very interesting discussions slated for Saturday, September 25 surrounding the issue of breastfeeding inequalities including:
Click here for more information and to register.Diversity, Health, and Breastfeeding
Barbara Pullen-Smith, MPH, Director, North Carolina Office of Minority Health & Health DisparitiesParenting and the Workplace: The Construction of Parenting Protections in United States Law
Maxine Eichner, JD, PhD, Professor, UNC School of LawIs breastfeeding really invisible, or did the health care system choose not to notice it?
Chris Mulford, RN, IBCLC, Coordinator, WIC BFInitiative, Southern New Jersey Perinatal Coop., Women's &Children's Services at Kennedy Health
posted by Jennifer James @ 8:30 AM,
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Shunning public breastfeeding is a recent phenomenon
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Score a small victory for Pennsylvania breastfeeding mothers. Legislators passed the Freedom to Breast-feed Act Tuesday that will now allow nursing mothers to breastfeed wherever they are. While the legislation sounds promising, the Freedom to Breast-feed Act still does not prevent mothers from being openly harassed in public places such as day cares, malls, stores and restaurants, all frequent destinations of mothers who need to nurse frequently while also living normal lives as moms.
Each time a state passes a partially useful law intended to protect breastfeeding mothers' right to feed their infants in public, we have to keep in mind that nursing in full view of every one was not always shunned, not even here in the United States. It is only because of formula culture and the gradual, yet prolific sexualization of women do mothers now have to battle for basic breastfeeding rights.
The following picture dates from May 1910. This mother is hulling berries at the Johnson's Hulling Station in Delaware. Here, we see her at work with her children in the early part of the twentieth century openly breastfeeding her baby. To say our society has changed quite a bit since then is a major understatement.
It is now our job to ensure mothers' nursing rights are restored. After all, breastfeeding is only natural and remains the optimal nutrition for babies.Labels: breastfeeding history, breastfeeding in public, news
posted by Jennifer James @ 12:00 AM,
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So much for freedom of speech
Friday, June 15, 2007
In yesterday's My Turn column on Newsweek.com, Laura Cook-Crotty wrote about her inability to breastfeed as well as her staunch perspective about feeling no mother guilt because she opted to bottle-feed her daughter. The title of Crotty's essay is "Formula is Fine: Don't give me grief about bottle-feeding my daughter. Breast-feeding isn't for everyone." I left a comment only to find out this morning it wasn't posted online. I guess I was censored.
I simply stated that while bottle-feeding was her right as a mother, I thought the title of her essay was incredibly misleading as well as irresponsible. Surely, she could have thought of something more catchy than 'Formula is Fine" because Lord knows, it's not. Plus, just to throw a wrench in the conversation I asked what would she have done if formula didn't exist? Would her baby have starved to death? (I know, I'm horrible!)
I understand wholeheartedly that formula will give an infant all the nutrition it needs, in fact, infants do thrive on formula according to the FDA. However, the increased potential for childhood illness is well documented, yes?
As of this morning, all of the comments are dripping with understanding and agreement. How much fun is that? My blog wouldn't be worth a hill of beans if everyone parroted everything I said and wrote. Newsweek should know this more than anyone.
Labels: commentary, news
posted by Jennifer James @ 8:00 AM,
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I'm Back!!
Friday, June 1, 2007
Lordy, I'm finally back after my week-long Blogger-imposed hiatus. I am immensely grateful that they didn't leave me hanging over the weekend because my blog absence was making me a bit antsy. I really enjoy the dialogue with everyone, even those whose opinions differ from mine.You'll find that although I wasn't able to post this week, I was able to save my posts as drafts, so I've published everything that's been sitting in my dashboard waiting for this day to finally arrive. I hope you enjoy reading some of my thoughts from this week about breastfeeding.
Labels: commentary, news
posted by Jennifer James @ 2:03 PM,
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Breastfeeding in Darfur
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
After a pretty eventful Memorial Day, just slightly dampened by an hour of driving around in circles looking for a park, I rolled out of bed just in time to catch Bush's live press conference where he officially slapped sanctions on 31 Sudanese companies and three individuals who use the American banking system for their financial interests. Now, I am no foreign policy guru or even an economic virtuoso, but I can say this with a measured degree of certainty: These sanctions will offer no immediate improvement to the lives of those suffering in Darfur.This delayed course of action makes me think there are some underlying motivations for these sanctions four years after the conflict began and two full years after the Bush administration declared the systematic killing in Darfur genocide. I know the United States has been threatening some form of action since January of this year, but as I see it, it's too little too late -- 200,000 - 450,000 people (depending on whose numbers you rely on) are already dead and 2 million are internally displaced. Hello!
My main concern is for the women and children -- the mothers who are pregnant or breastfeeding and the little ones who are relying on their mothers for breast milk and care. Economic sanctions squeeze the helpless first. Let's not forget what happened in Iraq. From several books I read, Iraqis claimed that sanctions were far worse than any war. To Bush's credit, the United States has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to humanitarian aid in Darfur, more than any other country, but according to the International Medical Corps humanitarian relief doesn't meet the mental health and health needs of Sudanese women and children. In fact, their 2005 report on the effectiveness of humanitarian aid found 50% of lactating mothers in their survey reported difficulties or an inability to breastfeed.
To counter these worrying statistics, women such as these Sudanese midwives were trained by USAID to implement principles of maternal and child health, including proper nutrition and breastfeeding. Culturally relevant health information is instrumental in helping moms breastfeed properly and continue breastfeeding their infants for at least a full six months after birth as it's widely documented that children in ravaged areas such as Darfur have a greater chance of survival if breastfed.
My ultimate hope is that the Sudanese government will see fit to stop the killings, but as long as America and China are vying for the upper hand in the region there will be prolonged devastation and senseless death and destruction throughout the Darfur region.
Labels: commentary, international breastfeeding, news
posted by Jennifer James @ 1:52 PM,
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Boobs and Briefcases
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
This July will mark approximately eleven years since I've been in the workforce. The last place I worked was in a major department store's insurance division. It was meaningless, yet droll work with a definite hierarchy of haves and have-nots. Thankfully, at the time, I was attending a great university so people treated me with more respect than probably I really deserved, so I was relatively happy people watching, learning the ropes and getting valuable experience under my belt.Like most bustling offices, I saw the higher executives be treated with kid gloves and the lowliest of employees -- like the workers in the on-site cafeteria -- be treated with virtual disdain as they served everyone who wore suits, clustered together to wait for the buses, or sat outside in the sunshine to take a smoke. The short time I spent there confirmed for me that I absolutely did not want to work in corporate America. I didn't like the game-playing, the kissing up, the constant looking down on other people. I knew all I wanted to be was an at-home mom and that's what I became two years later.
Since becoming a mother I've been at home with my daughters, contentedly being a constant parent to them and I've loved every single minute of it. Some moms complain about losing themselves when they become moms. I actually found myself upon becoming a mother and I continue to find myself in new ways every day.
Oftentimes, however, I think about how different my life would have been had I been working while breastfeeding. Thinking back on the last job I had, there was absolutely nowhere to pump in peace save the bathroom or supply closet. But who wants to relieve their breasts alongside someone using the bathroom, or do so in the midst of shelves upon shelves of legal pads, post-it notes, and pen boxes? There were a few mothers who had offices, but pumping in their domain would have been an obvious breach of the boss--staff relationship, so it never happened.
Thinking back more closely, there was one mother in my department who had recently returned to work after maternity leave -- Dory. I didn't know much about Dory except that her husband was a pilot for US Air, because that's all she ever talked about. She routinely passed around the obligatory baby pictures of her son, but I never knew how he was fed. In truth, I didn't give it a thought one way or the other because I was still living in the lap of youth and only cared about what I was going to buy with my next paycheck. Yet, how he was fed still remains a mystery to me, almost like the pyramids. You know they exist, but no one knows how they were built. In the same way, I know Dory's baby boy was fed, but I don't know how. I wonder if she was a breastfeeder (in disguise) at work, or a formula-feeder. I wonder if she was a breastfeeder while on maternity leave, but gave it up, like most moms, after returning to work, choosing to not even take on the hassle of pumping at work.
Are you a mom who breastfed while working, or are you currently a breastfeeding, working mom? How did/does your employer accommodate breastfeeding moms? Do they accommodate lactating moms at all?
What this says to me: It's unfortunate and a blight on civilized society that mothers who work have to strategize how they will manage working and breastfeeding. It's also shameful that poor and young mothers cannot pump at work given the nature of the service and retail jobs where they are typically employed. That's why it's so important that we support the "Breastfeeding Promotion Act" which:
• amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect breastfeeding women from being fired or discriminated against in the workplace
• provides tax incentives for businesses that establish private, lactation areas in the workplace
• provides for a performance standard for breast pumps
• allows breastfeeding equipment to be tax deductible for families
To contact your congressman visit The Lactivist for more information.
Labels: commentary, news
posted by Jennifer James @ 8:19 AM,
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Symbolic Breastfeeding?
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
So, Reuters picked up the story I mentioned early today about the Muslim cleric and his fatwa on breastfeeding, and I'm glad they did because they added more detail to the whole situation.[Stream of consciousness moment] I was interviewed by Reuters twice, but didn't get in either article. I'm still rather disappointed about that. I can get on CNN, but can't get in Reuters -- not once, but TWO times [End of stream of consciousness moment]
Reuters called what the cleric proposed in Lecturer suspended after breastfeeding opinion "symbolic breastfeeding". Can't quite say I've ever heard of "symbolic breastfeeding" before.
According to Reuters, the cleric said,
Why five? Why not twenty-five? Where did he get five from? This is so hilarious to me! Apparently, it's also hilarious to Reuters. They have it listed under "oddly enough news"."that after five breastfeedings the man and woman could be alone together without violating Islamic law and the woman could remove her headscarf to reveal her hair."
What this says to me: There are some nasty, deranged people on earth who believe five "symbolic breastfeedings" will allow Muslim men and women to be alone together .
Labels: commentary, news
posted by Jennifer James @ 1:46 PM,
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If Only I Still Lived in Charlotte
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
I stopped to read an article a little while ago because frankly the headline, People call me a lactoholic, caught my eye and enticed me to read further (the writer should be commended for her journalistic touch on that one).
The article tells the story of a Charlotte, North Carolina woman, Jan Ellen Brown, who runs her own breastfeeding company as a lactation consultant. Charlotte is my hometown and when I found out about this organization through the article, I immediately wanted to live there again because I would so be a part of their mission.
B
ELLAS Breastfeeding (Breastfeeding Encouragement Learning Liaison and Support) is a non-profit organization created to help minority, low-income and teenage mothers breastfeed. For all of their generous work, a donor recently gave them a house where they can operate their organization. I really would love to be involved! If only I still lived in Charlotte. Their mission is definitely right up my alley. I would feel honored to be a part of their work.I can always donate money, right? I think I shall.
Labels: news
posted by Jennifer James @ 7:00 PM,
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I Need Some Clarity: Vitamin D, Breastfeeding and Black Children
Monday, May 14, 2007
A couple of weeks ago, I posted information about vitamin D deficiency and rickets in black children. In the source I linked to doctors and researchers attributed the increase in rickets to more black mothers who are breastfeeding due to sweeping WIC initiatives to raise breastfeeding rates among the nation's black and poor mothers. They contend that black breastfed babies don't get enough vitamin D because there is none present in breast milk. Today, I found an article in Science News, Childhood Vitamin D—A Dark Side? , that says black children who live in urban areas have higher concentrations of lead when their levels of vitamin D go up. From the article:
So, now which is it: should black breastfed children be given a vitamin D supplement to prevent rickets? Or, should they not, because according to this latest study, when concentrations of vitamin D rise, so do black children's lead levels.In the April Environmental Health Perspectives, Bogden and his team report that among urban African-American youngsters, blood concentrations of lead can rise to potentially toxic concentrations in summer, when their vitamin D concentrations also rise, presumably due to regular sun exposure.
When the researchers tested Hispanic children who came from the same economic backgrounds and neighborhood as the tested black children, their lead levels were very low.
However, blood tests from the black children told a different story. In winter, lead averaged about 12 µg/dl of blood in children 3 and under, and roughly 5 µg/dl in the older kids. Come summer, values in both groups spiked dramatically: to about 22 µg/dl in the younger group and 9 µg/dl in the older children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers blood-lead values of 10 µg/dl and higher as excessive.I know the answer is relatively simple: black moms should take their children outside more to get ample sunshine and live in a lead-free environment. My concern, however, is that for a lot of black mothers who live in urban areas, they may not know what may be causing a lack of development or even lack of academic progress in their children. According to the latest study,
Honestly, I don't know what to make of these two studies. It's almost like the old saying goes...you can't win for losing.Bruce P. Lanphear of Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati and his colleagues have shown that in kindergarteners, IQ can fall as blood-lead values climb above 5 µg/dl (SN: 5/5/01, p. 277: Available to subscribers at http://www.sciencenews.org/20010505/fob4.asp).
Labels: children, health, issues, news
posted by Jennifer James @ 1:12 PM,
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A Life Sentence for Simply NOT Breastfeeding
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Did you hear about this story: Vegan parents guilty in infant murder? Two Atlanta parents were charged for murder and face life in prison after starving their six-week-old baby to death. Being vegans, all they fed their baby was apple juice and soy milk. When the baby died, it was only 3 1/2 pounds.
Jade Sanders and Lamont Thomas said they did what they thought was best for their baby boy. They were vegans. They said soy milk and apple juice seemed like a reasonable alternative.What about BREASTFEEDING??!! All she had to do was breastfeed her baby, he would still be alive and she and her partner would not be going to prison for life. This is such a disaster.
Because these parents are black, I'm even more charged to get the word out to the black community about breastfeeding.
BREASTFEED!
Labels: commentary, news
posted by Jennifer James @ 7:17 AM,
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Book Bits
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Who else has been reading a lot lately? I was fortunate enough to come across an excellent book that I A few years ago I got into this addictive habit of buying Barnes and Noble
sale books online. For me, there's nothing better than finding a fantastic book for a fraction of its cover price and since B&N offers free shipping if your order totals more than $25, this habit has become more habitual than I think I'd care to admit.
One of the books I purchased in my last buying frenzy was Mayada, Daughter of Iraq: One Woman's Survival Under Saddam Hussein. If you've been looking for one good thing that's come out of the Iraq war, without a doubt, it's that Saddam Hussein no longer holds reign over the Iraqi people. After reading this book, I know that for sure.
Mayada, who was a former Iraqi aristocrat was imprisoned in one of the brutal, filthy, spirit-crushing jails in Iraq. It was absolute hell, to say the very least. So bad, in fact, that for the first days after reading this book I had nightmares about being trapped and trying to escape from somewhere dark -- somewhere I didn't want to be.
One of the ladies whose story Mayada tells was imprisoned along with her infant child. After a few days, her baby cried incessantly due to hunger, but the mother hadn't breastfed him so she couldn't feed him at all. After days of non-stop crying the prison guards took the baby away to the mother's horror and she didn't know what happened to him. It was a safe bet that they had killed the baby. Although dire, deadly circumstances were at hand and hindsight was futile, I know this mother wished she had breastfeed her child after its birth and hadn't opted to use formula.
We are blessed to live in a free country, with abundant choices and opportunities. Books like this remind me how fortunate I am to be a mother living in 2007 in the United States. Despite some of my criticisms about this country, I am thrilled to have been a mother who could breastfeed, wear my babies in a sling, cuddle them and just love them without the fear of being wrongly accused and imprisoned for no reason. I am a grateful mother.
What have you been reading lately?
Oh, almost forgot...here's a new breastfeeding book slated for release this month.
The Breastfeeding Diaries: Real Moms Share Their Funniest Misdaventures
Labels: book, commentary, news
posted by Jennifer James @ 4:06 PM,
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When Wet Nursing Was an American Institution: My Homage to Black Mammies
Thursday, April 26, 2007
As I'm sure you've heard and read and watched, the newest breastfeeding controversy is over paid breastfeeding or wet nursing. At this point I'm basically like: whatever. If a mother with means wants to hire another woman to breastfeed and bond with her child because she either doesn't have the time or desire to breastfeed, or her breasts are damaged irreparably because they're packed with silicone, so be it. It's my opinion that in most cases wet nursing is pointless and unnecessary and potentially dangerous, but to each his/her own. While wet nursing today is in actuality a rather frivolous issue, indeed, one that won't dramatically change the landscape of modern child-rearing, less than a hundred years ago, wet nursing as an institution strangled the life and light out of tens of thousand (surely hundreds of thousands) of black women.
In light of my previous post about black women and wet nursing I decided to pay homage to all the southern black mammies who suckled countless infants who weren't their own either out of force or necessity, thereby neglecting their own children because that's simply the way things were then.
Here are a few voices of black mammies I found on the web site of my favorite university, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and incidentally where I proudly attended college. I found all of these stories and images on their acclaimed web site: Documenting the American South.
Pictured above is Mammy Harriet from the book, Memorials of a Southern Planter (Electronic Edition, 1887)*. In it, the author writes this about mammies:
The mistress had wet-nurses for her babies, chosen from among her negro servants. The devotion of the nurses to these foster-children was greater than their love for their own. One of them, with a baby at home very sick, left it to stay with the white child. This one she insisted on walking the night through, because he was roaring with the colic, though the mistress entirely disapproved, and urged her to go home to her own child, whose illness was more serious, if less noisy than the white nursling with its colic.
Another black woman, simply recorded as "a nurse" says in More Slavery at the South: Electronic Edition. A Negro Nurse*...
Ah, we poor colored women wage-earners in the South are fighting a terrible battle, and because of our weakness, our ignorance, our poverty, and our temptations we deserve the sympathies of mankind. Perhaps a million of us are introduced daily to the privacy of a million chambers thruout the South, and hold in our arms a million white children, thousands of whom, as infants, are suckled at our breasts--during my lifetime I myself have served as "wet nurse" to more than a dozen white children. On the one hand, we are assailed by white men, and, on the other hand, we are assailed by black men, who should be our natural protectors; and, whether in the cook kitchen, at the washtub, over the sewing machine, behind the baby carriage, or at the ironing board, we are but little more than pack horses, beasts of burden, slaves!
* © This work is the property of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Labels: commentary, news
posted by Jennifer James @ 9:57 PM,
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Who Said Wet Nursing is Hip AND Funny?
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Presumably you all know the history of black women and wet nursing. If you're black and reading this, surely you do. If you're not black and reading this, it's not a nice story. Forced wet nursing during slavery and then wet nursing for survival post-Civil War caused untold pain in the black community that still resides with us today. In my opinion, wet nursing is the primary contributor to the low breastfeeding rate among black women in America. When breastfeeding rates are as low as is currently evidenced among black women, babies and families alike suffer. Because breastfeeding produces so many health benefits to children and mothers, when breastfeeding is noticeably absent in such high numbers, black babies aren't as healthy as they could be. Today, this may not have been the case had black mothers been able to nurse their own children throughout American history instead of being forced to work the fields or be house slaves.
TIME magazine ran a piece on April 19 called Outsourcing Breast Milk. In it, Jeninne Lee-St.John, the writer, spoke to a black woman who gleefully (it seems) is a wet nurse.
Brenda (whose last name is withheld to protect her clients' privacy), 42, has wet-nursed 10 babies in the past seven years partly to help send her own two kids to college. She has mulled over the social implications of her work--because she's black and eight of the families she has worked for are white. "A friend asked me, Don't you feel like you're the mammy?" she recalls. But she finds her job fulfilling, and sometimes amusing. "If you're someplace with the family and the baby starts to pull at your blouse or put his hand in your bra, that can be embarrassing," she says, laughing.How can any black woman in good conscience become a modern-day mammy? I know the money is good, but somewhere the line has to be drawn. There are simply too many historical implications around the wet nursing travesty that has led to devastating breastfeeding rates among black women today. In truth, I didn't know black women were still being wet nurses and I certainly don't want to see it happen in large numbers
.
Labels: news
posted by Jennifer James @ 5:55 PM,
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BantheBags.org
Monday, April 16, 2007
In today's The Argus Observer, an Oregonian newspaper, the controversy over hospitals giving away free formula samples was, again, under scrutiny. Essentially, the question is once more being asked: Why do hospitals give away free samples and coupons for infant formula when breastfeeding is clearly the best feeding option for any baby? Shouldn't hospitals and their employe
es be morally responsible for giving the best information to their patients? I say a resounding YES to that! One organization, BantheBags.org has been working tirelessly to get the goody bags and the culture surrounding the goody bags out of hospitals. Let's join them to spread the word about their mission! If you have a blog or web site, be sure to add BantheBags.org to your list of resources. I think they're doing an invaluable service to ensuring more babies have healthy lives. On the Web: www.banthebags.org
Labels: BantheBags.org, news
posted by Jennifer James @ 2:39 PM,
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Helping More Moms Breastfeed
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Getting more low-income moms to breastfeed is all about education and changing cultural norms. To say it's definitely not going to be easy is an understatement to be sure. Considerably upping breastfeeding rates among the nation's poor and among African-American mothers will take decades to achieve, and that's why I'm happy counties are working to make measurable changes now.Merced county in California is one of a growing list of counties that is working tirelessly toward increasing breastfeeding rates among its mothers. Local doctors with private practices and local WIC offices are joining forces to help educate mothers who don't have a history with breastfeeding to begin the process of naturally feeding their babies.
Based on this new line of thinking among WIC offices, I'm optimistic that breastfeeding rates will inch toward higher numbers as outreach and educational initiatives become the norm and as companies and hospitals push to relieve mothers of being inundated with formula samples and coupons.
Although it will be an upward battle to convince and assist poor mothers to breastfeed, I think these WIC offices are doing a great service for these moms, their babies and their families in general. It's my sincere hope that more moms take the plunge and feed naturally, but that's easy for me to say. I was a stay-at-home mother with considerable breastfeeding knowledge and a strong determination to nurse my babies. Some of these moms who WIC offices help have to go back to work immediately and more than likely have nowhere to pump, bosses who don't understand or don't care about their situation and are pressured by family and friends who truly believe the bottle is best. So, while there are educational initiatives in place, there are also societal changes that have to take place as well.
Labels: news
posted by Jennifer James @ 6:44 AM,
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Breastfeeding: Easy Way to Curb Childhood Obesity?
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
We've all heard about the various benefits that breastfeeding has on babies and mothers. In fact, some research maintains that breastfeeding helps to curb childhood obesity, especially when children become toddlers. That's great news, right? I should say so. However, new research released today says that some children -- Hispanic kids, in particular-- are still more susceptible to high obesity rates regardless of whether they were breastfed or not.
Breastfeeding does not seem to shield high-risk Latino children against putting on too much weight and developing risk factors for type 2 diabetes, a new study shows.With these new findings, childhood obesity patterns in certain communities obviously are more affected by a family's eating habits and food choices rather than whether or not a child was breastfed or not.
Whether breastfeeding protects against obesity later in life is a "controversial topic," Dr. Jaimie N. Davis from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and colleagues point out in the medical journal Diabetes Care.
They studied 240 overweight Latino children aged 8 to 13 years with a family history of type 2 diabetes.
I think the general consensus is that if a mother makes the choice to breastfeed she would also make the right nutritional decisions for her children well into their childhood. This, however, isn't always the case, as we now know.
posted by Jennifer James @ 8:47 PM,
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Call for Submissions: Giving Breast Milk
Sunday, April 8, 2007
The first time I felt like a true writer I was published in an anthology called If Women Ruled the World: How to Create the World We Want to Live In. I was so thrilled to be published in a book. I mean a real, living, breathing BOOK! It was life-changing. That's why I wanted to share this call for papers from Demeter Press.I may submit a paper, but academic writing just isn't my thing. I'd hate to pass this opportunity up, though. If you, however, are well-versed in MLA style and have a thing or two to say about breastfeeding, consider submitting a paper for this Giving Breast Milk.
Call for Papers: Giving Breast Milk
Publication Date: Fall 2009
Deadline for Abstracts: July 16, 2007
Demeter Press is seeking papers for an edited collection of essays on breastfeeding and human lactation, to be edited by Rhonda Shaw and Alison Bartlett. The aim of the collection is to bring together a new wave of cultural studies and feminist writing on breastfeeding and human lactation with research from the health sciences and breastfeeding advocacy. The intention of this Call for Papers is to cast the invitation to contribute widely, and to include a range of theoretical and empirically-oriented papers around the theme of giving breast milk. Submissions are welcomed from academics, health professionals, and feminist scholars.
Possible topics include, but are by no means restricted to:
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Cross-nursing and shared breastfeeding
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Adoptive nursing
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Milk-bank donation
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Adult nursing
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Women’s decision to breastfeed
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Infant feeding discourses
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Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiatives
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Breast milk and environmental toxins
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Infant feeding as work
To contribute to this collection, please submit an abstract of no more than 350 words along with your 50 word bio to the Coordinating Editor, Rhonda Shaw: rhonda.shaw@vuw.ac.nz.
For more information, visit Demeter Press.
Labels: news
posted by Jennifer James @ 4:17 PM,
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Hospital Goody Bags vs Breastfeeding Advice
Saturday, April 7, 2007
When I had my daughters, each time I was given HUGE goody bags filled with everything from parent brochures and magazines to extra diapers and baby formula samples. In fact, I was given several samples of formula. If I remember correctly, they were all Nestle samples -- or maybe they were Carnation? I'm not quite sure. In any event, each time I simply threw the samples away because I knew with certainty I would be breastfeeding. For me, I was never offended by the samples, nor did I ever think they had no place in the hospital. In all honesty, though, I suppose I never really thought one way or the other about them.Despite how I feel about hospitals giving away formula samples, the difference between pushing free baby formula upon new mothers and encouraging them to breastfeed is sparking a huge debate among hospital maternity wards across the country, and around the world, for that matter
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Some hospitals believe it is their duty as health professionals to encourage breastfeeding among all new mothers. Other hospitals, however, believe that while they should encourage breastfeeding, they also believe it is the ultimate decision of each mother to decide how she will feed her baby. With this policy, these hospitals encourage not only breastfeeding, but also encourage giving away free formula samples for moms who want to bottle-feed. In essence, they believe providing unbiased options will allow moms to make their own informed opinion.
There's no question -- the latter hospitals perpetually prevail. In fact, there are only 55 Baby-Friendly hospitals across the country as designated by the WHO and UNICEF. Want to know the hospitals that encourage breastfeeding and shun free formula samples? Click here to find the entire list of hospitals and birthing centers.
Labels: baby-friendly hospitals and birth centers, news
posted by Jennifer James @ 6:24 AM,
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Breastfeeding Behind the Wheel
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Did you know you could drive and breastfeed in Michigan? I know. Sounds weird, right? Well, while you can breastfeed and drive in Michigan, you certainly can't in Ohio, like this mother found out.
In 2003, a mom was sentenced to three months house arrest for nursing while driving. A trucker reported her to the state patrol and she was subsequently charged with driving without a valid license, failing to use a child restraint and failure to comply with police.
This week her sentence was turned over on appeal based on technicalities.
I definitely don't think driving and nursing is a very safe option for moms to use, even if your child REALLY needs to eat. Next time, this mom should just pull over at the next exit.
Labels: news
posted by Jennifer James @ 10:45 AM,
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Weaning Party
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Have you ever heard of a weaning party before? Me neither, until today when I read this article in the Boston Globe. Although I had to think about it for a moment, I think it's a rather cute idea. Who says a celebration commemorating any major milestone is a bad thing, even if it is something as far-fetched as celebrating weaning.
The main issue of the article, though, was extended breastfeeding. In this case, the weaning party was for a little girl who was finally coming off the breast at five. While I may be a staunch traditionalist when it comes to public breastfeeding, I have no problem with breastfeeding children until they're four or five. After five, they're getting a little old and probably should be independent of the bre