The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog

Some recent celebrity quotes about breastfeeding

A number of celebrities have been talking about breastfeeding recently - and not only about weight loss!  I thought I'd share a few recent quotes:

"They're not very big, my boobs, so they just became normal size.  I loved it!  I felt very Woman.  When you're had a slightly androgynous body your whole life, having breasts is a nice feeling."  - Nicole Kidman

"I love ABC, they really look out for breastfeeding mothers.  We have I think eight nursing and pumping mothers on our show this season so there are pump stations everywhere.”  - Rachel Griffiths (Brothers and Sisters)

“They do say breastfeeding is nature’s lipo.” - Ana Ortiz (Ugly Betty)

“With my daughter — obviously the doctor made sure that everything was okay — but I didn’t do all of the procedures they recommend right away. I did the least amount that was necessary that was still healthy, so that my daughter would be able to latch right away.” - Kelly Rutherford (Gossip Girl)

“I know it’s a cliché, but I was eating just ridiculous amounts of food but still losing weight.  I think I should just keep breastfeeding until she’s 18.” - Allyson Hannigan (How I Met Your Mother)

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Colbert Report shows new breastfeeding positions

I've been catching up on a few shows while waiting for H1N1 to run its course, and I found a clip on the Colbert Report which I thought you'd appreciate.  Sorry about the ad that precedes it. 

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Born Supremacy - David Javerbaum
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

What do they call it?

I was recently reading this article in the New York Times about the need for parents to talk to their young children, and I was nodding along until I came to a screeching halt at this paragraph:

Teach your child the correct words and names for people, things, places and body parts, including “breast,” “penis” and “vagina.” If your child uses a baby word (“din-din,” for example), you can repeat it but also use the correct one (“dinner”).

Is there something wrong with calling a breast by another name, especially if a toddler has a special relationship with it?  I mean, if you think about it, don't adults half the time?

If we held a toddler to this standard, they would all be tottering around saying, or at least trying to say, "Mother, I would like to breastfeed now." 

I think that the baby names that kids come up with for nursing are really cute, and often funny.  My son used to call breasts "mimi's."  And then nursing became "other mimi" (which came out "uddy mimi") because the treat was always the "other side."  Can you blame a kid for focusing on dessert?

So, please tell me what your children call nursing.  Can't wait to hear.

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Guest post: What to do if you're leaking and there's no baby in sight.

I'm very pleased to share some original illustrations from Adrienne Hedger, illustrator and co-author of If These Boobs Could Talk: A Little Humor to Pump up the Breastfeeding Mom.  She and her co-author Shannon Seip also wrote Momnesia, which was released this year.  They are blogging at Momnesia the Book.  Don't miss her post, "Sorry, facilities guy!"

Five things to do if you're leaking and there's no baby in sight

Do your boobs ever spring a leak at an inconvenient time? Don’t fret! The next time this happens, just use any of these five strategies to make the best of an awkward situation.

1.     You’re getting wet… so turn it into a dramatic and heartwarming moment by humming the tune to Titanic.

2.  Be productive.  Discreetly use your breast milk to water the nearest plant.

3.  Look for a fire to put out. Preferably a small fire.

4.  Make a beeline for the nearest bowl of cereal.  It's perfectly good milk, after all.

5.  Embrace the beauty of the moment.  Strike a pose (preferably on a sloping lawn) in the position of a beautiful fountain with "water" shooting from your nipples.

 

Some favorite posts from the last three years.

Some of you - you know who you are - have been reading this blog since the beginning, and some of you are new to it. 

For everyone, but especially to those of you who are new to the blog, I thought I'd list some of my favorite posts from the nearly 700 I've posted since September of 2006:

From 2006-2007:

• I knew it was too quiet in there
• Take the Motherwear Pledge!
• Ready to fly
• The top 10 breastfeeding stories of 2006
• Want to know how to make me teary-eyed?
• Everything old is new again: cross nursing and wet nursing in the news
• Sittin' on the couch, saving the planet
• Who breastfeeds?
• Very, very wrong
• Brrr....ouch!  It's the season for Raynaud's
• Nursing in public around the world + part 2
• Were you sold out for a sandwich?

From 2007-2008:

• A good week
• Nursing mothers' rooms: convenience or quarantine?
• Is your pump talking to you?
• The top 10 breastfeeding stories of 2007
• A few things not on my holiday list
• They're lies!
• My favorite moments from breastfeeding classes
• Podcast: Heather Cushman-Dowdee, creator of Hathor the Cow Goddess
• Breastfeeding stand-up
• Lactation cookies
• Taking a bottle (mostly for the video)
• The things they say
• "Aren't you just doing that for yourself?"
• Preparing to breastfeed, when your sister is carrying your baby
• My favorite breastfeeding ad
• Can you be a feminist and breastfeed?

From 2008-2009:

• Podcast:  So, you want to work in breastfeeding support
• The contest entries that made me laugh
• Podcast:  Low milk supply - could it be your hormones?
• The top ten breastfeeding stories of 2008
• Podcast: What's the problem with those formula company diaper bags?
• Worried about environmental contaminants in breastmilk? Get the facts.
• Podcast: African American moms and breastfeeding
• "The Case Against Breastfeeding"
  
• Podcast: How do other mammals do it?
• Dr. Jenny on your relationship with your doctor: "We are the hired help"
• Podcast:  Early sexual abuse and breastfeeding
• CBS News shows why preemies need breastmilk
• Pollutants are everywhere - including formula
• I'm feeling proud today

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Crasher Squirrel

Have you heard about the Crasher Squirrel picture?  I love it. 

My husband sent me this breastfeeding version, and you can make your own here.

Feel free to send me any you make with breastfeeding images!

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog?  Subscribe here.  Want an RSS feed? Subscribe here.  Want to subscribe to our breastfeeding podcasts on iTunes?  Click here.

Overheard.

Here's what I overheard from another room a few nights ago, when my husband was reading my son the book Babar and His Children (1938):

Husband:  "Every week Dr. Capoulosse puts the babies in his big scale and weighs them.  One day he says to Celeste: 'Your Majesty, the babies aren't gaining fast enough any more.  You must supplement their feedings with...'"

Son:  What?  What?

Husband:  Well, this is strange.  They're saying that the mama elephant needs to feed the babies six bottles of milk from a cow with a tablespoon of honey.  Where should they be getting their food?

Son:  From their mama.

Husband:  Right.  I don't understand this.

Son:  Me neither.

I tried not to laugh from the other room.  The interesting thing here is that the mother wasn't already feeding cow's milk, which implies that she had actually been nursing them.  So, in a way, I suppose that this wasn't as bad as it could have been, at least for 1938.  Why they weren't gaining well is another issue, I suppose.  Maybe they were using outdated elephant growth charts?

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog?  Subscribe here.  Want an RSS feed? Subscribe here.  Want to subscribe to our breastfeeding podcasts on iTunes?  Click here.

Breastfeeding celebrities profiled in TV Guide

TV Guide recently published "Top 8 Celeb Breastfeeding Stories."  Yes, TV Guide.  It includes Naomi Watts talking about her "lactose lobotomy," Mary Louise Parker at an awards show, and of course Salma Hayek.

I thought I'd list some of my past posts on celebrities and breastfeeding:

• Podcast interview on celebrities and breastfeeding with Danielle Friedland, founder of the Celebrity Baby Blog
• Can you identify the authors of these quotes?
• On Nightline, Salma Hayek cross nurses a baby in Sierra Leone
• Kelly's celebrity round-up for 2007
• Kelly's celebrity round-up for 2008
• Celebrities and breastfeeding - does it matter?
• Ever think that breastfeeding needs a makeover? Enter Best for Babes

Thanks to Andi at Mama Knows Breast for the heads up about this article!

Want to get email updates from the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog?  Subscribe here.  Want an RSS feed? Subscribe here.  Want to subscribe to our breastfeeding podcasts on iTunes?  Click here.

A new breastfeeding doll.

A few years ago I wrote a post complaining about how baby dolls often come with bottles, but you rarely see a doll with any reference to breastfeeding. 

And then there was a recent post about a public outcry in the U.K. in response to a poster depicting a little girl nursing her doll.

Well, a Spanish company has answered the call, with a new breastfeeding doll.  As far as I can tell, the child puts on a little halter which has flowers where breasts would be.  When the doll is brought to the flowers it makes slurping noises.  The ad to the right says, "The first nursing doll.  Breastfeeds!  A doll without a bottle."* 

So far the response on blogs has ranged from 'that's weird' to 'eww, gross.'  I think it's kinda cute.  You?

*Hey, I could read that all on my own, because of what I learned writing this book!

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You never know what you'll see in an ER.

Quite an innovative use of a Supplemental Nursing System, don't you think?  Latch looks a little too high, though.