The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog

Somebody hide my credit cards.

Oh, these are cute.  I just found these felted nursing dolls on etsy.com, thanks to another blog.  My only hesitation is that they look exactly like something my cat would love to attack.  That and I've spent my budget for breastfeeding ephemera through 2012. 

Baby Milk Action sells nursing dolls for a great cause, and there are Waldorf nursing dolls, too.  But these nursing moms and mermaids are my favorite.  Etsy.com also has some very funny breast earrings by another artist.

Looking at all of these dolls makes me think how unheard of it would be to find a doll with any reference to breastfeeding in, say, a Walmart.  Most dolls come with bottles and pacifiers, right?  And don't even think about suggesting that babies are a result of (gasp) pregnancy.  Remember what happened to the pregnant Barbie, Midge?  In cultures where breastfeeding is the norm you find lots of nursing mother/baby dolls.

Earlier this month we were in the Atlanta airport on our way back from California, and I saw a family of five eating at the food court.  There was one daughter, maybe 6 or 7 years old, who had a doll.  The daughter went up to her mother and tried to put the doll in a nursing position.  The mother, looking annoyed and embarrassed, grabbed the doll and stuck a little bottle in its mouth.  I thought about this a lot afterwards.  Does this mean that we can't even pretend to nurse in public?

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Blog?  Subscribe here.  Want an RSS feed? Click here.

A big sale at Motherwear, and time to request your spring catalog.

Motherwear is making room for the spring line (which I hope to be able to preview soon) with a big sale.  Check out their web specials and clearance items here.  My pick of the sale items is here.

You can also order your spring catalog, pictured on the left, and get $5 off your first order.

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Blog?  Subscribe here.  Want an RSS feed? Click here.

An update on the Motherwear Pledge, and last call for the January contest.

There are just a few more days left to enter to win the January contest.  Take the Motherwear Pledge today to support breastfeeding and you'll be entered into a contest for a $100 gift certificate.

If you've taken the pledge, don't forget to register what you've done through the poll below.  So far we've done almost 300 over 300 350 over 400 things to support breastfeeding this year.  Click "view results" to see more about what we've done so far.  If you don't see the poll below, you may need to refresh this page.

Angela from Breastfeeding 1-2-3 shared her story of accomplishing one item from the pledge - saying something supportive to a mother nursing in public - on her blog.  Please feel free to add your own story in the comments section.

And speaking of nursing in public, MSNBC has a series on the topic today "Food or Lewd?" including a poll about how you react when you see a mother nursing in public, and a column on men and nursing in public.

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Blog?  Subscribe here.  Want an RSS feed?  Click here.

Recent breastfeeding news.

Here are a few items of breastfeeding news from the last week or so:

The Washington Post carried a story on the rise of milk banking and milk sharing.  Jen from The Lactivist is interviewed, as she is a milk donor and raises money for the Milk Bank of Ohio with her t-shirt sales.

Andi from Mama Knows Breast reported on those nursing stars at the Golden Globe Awards, including mention of an interview Will Ferrell did on the red carpet about...pumping.  Also mentioned are Brooke Burke and Maggie Gyllenhall.

Angela at Breastfeeding 1-2-3 posted about a breastfeeding photo contest sponsored by World Breastfeeding Week.

Jen at The Lactivist reports on new breastfeeding legislation in Indiana, and Angela at Breastfeeding 1-2-3 posts on new breastfeeding legislation in Arkansas.

Angela at Breastfeeding 1-2-3 also reports on a Dr. Phil episode featuring Sears family of pediatricians.  Breastfeeding featured prominently in several discussions.

Micky at Mocha Milk expressed concerns about the effect of the contraceptive Depo Provera on breastfeeding.

Moms Rising, an organization devoted to promoting policies that support mothers, urges you to sign an e-petition in support of a bill which would prevent hiring discrimination against mothers.  Did you know that in dozens of states it's perfectly legal for an employer to ask you "Do you have kids?" "How many do you have?" "Are you married?" and be denied employment based on your answers?  This may be a good opportunity to fulfill one item of the Motherwear Pledge!

Help for the weary.

In this case, the weary one has been me.  Dog tired, going on four years.  So tired that I often felt like my car was driving me instead of me driving it.

At first I chalked it up to having a new baby who didn't sleep through the night 'til the end of his first year.  But after his sleep improved I still didn't feel that much better.  Then it was my schedule that was to blame - working part time, at-home mom part time, doing consulting work, and flying back to California once a month for an intensive lactation consultant training program.  Then my schedule improved a lot, but the fatigue was still there.  Would getting more sleep help?  Not really.  And our diet is pretty good.

By last year I had run out of reasons why I was so tired.  I started to suspect that I had a thyroid problem, which is very common after childbirth.  My hair had also been thinner and falling out more than usual - common after childbirth, but also a symptom of a thyroid problem.

I went to my doctor and did some blood tests.  The tests came back negative for thyroid problems but, my doctor said, "you're definitely anemic."

I felt a little mad - at both myself and my doctors - for not catching something so common and so easily treatable earlier.  I had been anemic during pregnancy, and the loss of blood at childbirth often results in anemia, so shouldn't someone have caught before now?  How many blood tests and physicals have I had since then?  I can see now that I should have been more assertive about the problem and not expect my doctors to pick up on these things, much as I wish they would.  Perhaps I should change doctors.

Anyway, I tried a number of iron supplements and they all upset my stomach.  Then I read, in a book called Anemia in Women, about Floradix, a liquid iron supplement.  I'd also seen it advertised in Mothering Magazine.  It didn't upset my stomach, and within a few weeks of starting it I noticed a significant change in my energy level.  I'm thrilled that the solution was so simple.

Anemia is common after childbirth, which means that many breastfeeding women are anemic.  Anemia can reduce your resistance to infection, and anemic women are more prone to recurrent mastitis (breast infections).  Depression, including postpartum depression, can also be a symptom of anemia and thyroid problems.  Thyroid problems can also contribute to low milk supply.

So, if you're experiencing serious fatigue, it may be a good idea to be screened for anemia and thyroid problems.  If I've learned anything from this, it's that it often falls to us to advocate for good diagnosis and treatment.

Your tips for nursing mothers.

We got a great response from last week's rapid-response nursing tips contest.  We can't include all of them in the spring catalog, but I thought it would be a shame not to share these great pieces of advice.

So, here's the first installment of your own advice for nursing mothers.  These are on the themes of getting help and the importance of trusting yourself.  There are many more to come!

My #1 breastfeeding tip:  trust your instincts.  Don't worry about what anyone else tells you about how you should be doing things, and just do what feels right to you.  That may be really hard, especially with your first baby, because parents, in-laws, doctors, nurses, friends, relatives, authors of parenting books and experts on TV will offer so much advice on what you should be doing or what the baby needs.  You know better than ANYONE what your baby needs.  So if you feel like putting your fussy baby to the breast even though she nursed just 20 minutes earlier, do it.  Don't worry about what the proper feeding schedule, frequency, duration, intervals, etc. should be.  Breastfeed with confidence and know that your natural instinct as to what your baby needs trumps everyone else's well-intentioned advice.  - Kelly

Don't be embarrassed if you have problems, be persistent.  Contact a lactation consultant before you give birth and as soon as possible afterwards.  I had trouble for the first 10 weeks, but I kept going back to the lactation consultant.  Women have a desire to please and it was really hard to tell the lactation consultant I was still having pain, because I didn't want her to feel as unsuccessful as I did, but I told her because I needed the help.  Breastfeeding is a coordinated activity and it just takes time to get in sync with your baby.  I didn't think we were going to make it, but by 10 weeks, I had dramatic improvement and by three months I was totally pain-free.  My son is now 4 and a half months and we are still breastfeeding.  I definitely wouldn't have made it without the reassurance, guidance, and support of my lactation consultant.  - Karen, pictured to the right nursing at a temple in Egypt.  See her blog for a description of nursing in public in Egypt.

Be sure to find a pediatrician who is 100% supportive of your decision to nurse.  When interviewing prospective doctors ask several questions about breastfeeding.  Did they (or their spouse) nurse?  How often do they recommend supplementing to first time nursing mothers?  Under what circumstances would they suggest supplementing or switching to formula?  Does the practice have access to any support for nursing mothers (other than your physician)?  Be sure to get answers that suit you and your needs (which vary depending on personality, experience, etc.).  My pediatrics group has a lactation consultant on staff which is a great benefit; we can see her at the same time we have a well baby visit, we can make an appointment with her separately, or she is available for phone consultation.  I have friends who were discouraged and stopped nursing earlier than they had hoped because the pediatrician was not supportive.  - Jana

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Blog?  Subscribe here.

Run to benefit the International Breastmilk Project.

I've written a couple of times about the International Breast Milk Project, which has been sending shipments of breastmilk to AIDS orphans in South Africa. 

I've been so disturbed by the connection between HIV/AIDS and breastfeeding, and so impressed that this organization has managed to get boxes of milk half way around the world.

The organization is holding a "Run for Africa" fundraiser on February 10th, and there's still time to sign up.  The event is a 2.6 mile treadmill "mini-marathon."  Gyms will provide free access to treadmills for the event.  You can also complete the event outside.

If you're looking for some way to make a contribution to an organization supporting breastfeeding as part of the Motherwear Pledge, consider donating or running for this project!

Send in your nursing tips for a $25 gift certificate - but do it now!

Update: You did it! I received tips from 24 people in a day. Thanks to everyone who participated!.

As many of you know, Motherwear loves to include nursing tips from real breastfeeding moms in their catalogs. 

Well, I bet my friends at Motherwear that I could round up 10 great nursing tips for the spring catalog in about 24 hours.  If I can do it my friend Alison says she'll bake me a whole tray of rice krispie treats.  This started as a wager for a single bar from the cafe downstairs, but somehow turned into a whole homemade batch.

So, here's how this works.    If you send us a tip of your own, and if Motherwear uses it in a catalog, they'll send you a $25 gift certificate. 

Here's what you do:

1)  Browse the section of nursing tips on Motherwear's website, and then write your own. 

2)  Email your tip to me (Tanya) using the "email me" link on the sidebar to the blog.  Include your home address and telephone number so that we may contact you with any questions.

3)  Send your tip to me no later than noon EST on Friday, January 19th (that's tomorrow). 

4)  If you've won you'll be notified by email and gift certificate will be mailed to the address submitted.

Got it?  Send any questions to me, and good luck!

Want to get Motherwear blog posts by email?  Subscribe here.

Is your day care charging you more for feeding your baby breastmilk?

For an update on this story, see this post for the story of Robin Neorr, a Columbus, Ohio mother who was charged more by her day care for serving her daughter breastmilk.

In an online discussion group I recently heard of a few cases of day care providers charging families more for serving babies pumped breastmilk than for feeding them formula.  This was the first I'd heard of this practice, and I'm trying to figure out how widespread it is.

Has this happened to you or anyone you know?  Please let me know by either leaving a comment below or sending me an email (see About page for email link).

I was floored when I heard about this issue.  Here are just a few of the reasons why charging more for serving breastmilk is absurd:

It's safe and requires no special storage.  The Centers on Disease Control (CDC) states that breastmilk is not considered a hazardous bodily fluid (something requiring "universal precautions" in health care-speak).  As such, it requires no separate storage, protection, or handling by a child care provider. 

It's easy.  Breastmilk is no more complicated to serve than formula, and does not require mixing and measuring as formula does.

It saves them money.  Babies receiving pumped milk are less likely to be sick, which means less disease spread among children in the center, and less absences for both babies and staff.  This reduces a center's cost of operation.

Babies are happier and less messy at day care.  Breastmilk is more easily digested than formula, so breastfed babies are less fussy, spit up less frequently, and have less diarrhea - all things you want to avoid if you are a day care provider.

If you're preparing to return to work and your baby will be in day care, here's a nice handout from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, for child care providers on meeting the needs of breastfed babies.  My only complaint is that the storage time listed for milk kept in the refrigerator is way too conservative (it says 48 hours; Medela says 5-7 days). 

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Blog?  Subscribe here.

Who breastfeeds?

When I teach breastfeeding classes I always mention that in recent years the rate of breastfeeding initiation - giving breastfeeding a try - has been hovering around 70% in the U.S. 

But that number hides some significant differences in breastfeeding rates in this country. 

So, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. day, I thought I'd write about the relationship of breastfeeding to race, income, education, maternal age, and region.

Since Dr. King died in 1968 there has been tremendous progress the rate of breastfeeding in the U.S.  In 1970, the rate of breastfeeding initiation was only 25%. 

Despite this progress, some significant differences among subgroups of women remain.  According to the CDC, in 2005, the rates of mothers "ever breastfeeding," varied by:

Race.  Rates of breastfeeding were 81% for Asian Americans, 79% for Hispanics/Latinas, 75% for Whites, 67% for Native Americans, and 59% for African Americans.

Mothers' age.  50% of women under 20 breastfed, 68% of women between 20 and 29 breastfed, and 77% of women 30 and over breastfed.

Education.  63% of women with less than a high school diploma breastfed, while 84% of college graduates breastfed.

Income.  Women living below the federal poverty line breastfed at the rate of 63%, and women living at 350% of the poverty level breastfed at the rate of 82%.

WIC participation.  65% of women receiving WIC subsidies breastfed, while women who were ineligible (due to higher income) breastfed at the rate of 77%.

Geography.  The CDC map to the right, "Percentage of Children Ever Breastfed by State, 2005," shows which regions had the highest and lowest rates of breastfeeding.

Some good news:  Between 1992 and 2002 the rate of breastfeeding among African American women, WIC participants, and mothers younger than 20 years showed some of the fastest gains.  The increase for African American women was the highest, increasing almost 26% over ten years.

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Blog?  Subscribe here.