The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog

Milk samples needed from mothers who have/have had breast cancer

From time to time I've posted about research at the University of Massachusetts which seeks answers about breast cancer risk using breastmilk.

I'm writing today to see if any of you can help find a small group of women whose milk might hold particular value in unraveling the mysteries of breast cancer: women who have had, or currently have, breast cancer.

We're looking for women who can provide breastmilk samples - either fresh or frozen - and who have had breast cancer (not other cancers).

If this is you, please contact Beth at (413) 545-0813 or email her.  If not, please help by spreading the word however you like - Facebook, Twitter, etc. Thank you!

For more information on this research, check out Dr. Kathleen Arcaro's website and friend our Facebook page!

Have any of you tried to relactate? I'd like to hear your stories.

I'd like to do some writing about relactation in the near future, and I'm looking for mothers who can share their stories about it.

Relactation is the process of resuming breastfeeding or breastmilk feeding after stopping. 

I'd love to hear from some moms who have attempted it - with any outcome.  If you or someone you know has a story to share please email me!

My milk cells

I provided a sample of my milk to the UMass Breastmilk Lab last week so they could test out some methods of preserving cells in the milk they receive. 

They take shipments from around the country by overnight mail, and the time between pumping and analysis takes a toll on the number of cells they can examine.

Here's a picture of the cells in my milk - all cells, not just the ductal epithelial cells they study.  This was after the milk was combined with a preservative and set out on the counter for about five days.  Looks like the Milky Way, right?

Any Asian/Pacific Americans breastfeeding supporters interested in organizing?

Are you interested in issues relating to Asian/Pacific American mothers and breastfeeding?

I've been wanting to do a little bit of organizing of Asian/Pacific American breastfeeding supporters for a while. 

Why?  Because I think that there is a need for better understanding of Asian/Pacific American mothers' perspectives and support needs when it comes to breastfeeding.  We* have a high breastfeeding initiation rate compared to other ethnic groups, but I do hear uninformed comments from breastfeeding support people about Asian mothers and breastfeeding.  African American moms and support people are starting to organize and advocate, I think there's a need for Asian/Pacific Americans to do the same.

I was thinking of a very simple project to start:  A website which has 1) links to breastfeeding materials in Asian/Pacific lanuages, 2) compiles the available research on Asian/Pacific American mothers and breastfeeding, and 3) provides contact information to some people who can speak knowledgeably about Asian/Pacific American moms and breastfeeding.  It would demonstrate how diverse our communities are, and provide a little historical context.  I'd also like it to form a connection between Asian/Pacific Americans involved in breastfeeding support.

So, if you're an Asian/Pacific American mother, breastfeeding support person (i.e. lactation consultant, La Leche League leader, WIC peer counselor, health care provider), or just interested, please email me!   I'm looking forward to getting started on this project.

*I'm Japanese American, though you can't tell from my name!

International Breastfeeding Symbol: Toddler version

This has been my life recently.  Can you relate?

A few recent comments about nursing from my daughter

My daughter will be two this week.  I love this age when they can tell you how they perceive and think about nursing. 

Here are a few of her recent comments about it.  Her word for breasts and nursing is "mi-mi." 

"Nursing help me so much."

Said loudly in front of several people:  "Monkeys don't nurse mama's mi-mis!  Just me!"

"Nursing [is] purple, Mama."

What does nursing taste like?  "Pancakes. [pause] Daddy make pancakes right now!"

For a long time she spit out her food.  Now she talks with pride about sending food "down to tummy."  And occasionally "down to feet."  Recently my husband asked her where my food goes, and she said "Down to mi-mis!  My husband said, "And then it turns into..."  And she said, "Me!"

Here are some of my favorite comments from my son.  Please share some of your toddlers' comments below!

Follow Motherwear on Facebook and Twitter.  Subscribe to the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog with email updates and RSS feeds.  Subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes.

Composting diapers? This is about as green as I can get our diapering.

Taking a brief break from writing about breastfeeding to write about...poop.

I started cloth diapering with my son in 2003.  We were living in California and used a diaper service.  Once he began sleeping long stretches at night we used disposables because the cloth just didn't cut it (we tried doubling up, but he could barely fit into pajamas that way!).  When we moved to Massachusetts he was a toddler and we began washing our own. 

When our daughter arrived in 2010 we got out the cloth diapers again.  Since my son was born there had been a lot of changes in diaper covers (notably, they got a lot more cute and adjustable), and I purchased some more.  I washed them at home in our front-loading washer.  (I did consider trying Elimination Communication, but ultimately decided it wasn't for us.)

But last winter I decided that I'd had enough of this, and we signed up for a diaper service.  There again, there have been some big improvements.  Our current service uses hemp diapers made in the U.S., washes them using environmentally-friendly methods, and uses the same service we use to pick up our garbage - a bicycle delivery service.  Yes, even through the snowy New England winter, our diapers are picked up by hearty folks on bikes.

So the only thing that didn't feel quite right was using disposable diapers at night.  We used the greener-ones, but it bothered me to know that, since disposables take hundreds of years to decompose, the first diaper we ever used - and in fact the first modern disposable diaper ever used period - is still sitting somewhere, not yet decomposed.

Then this spring, my diaper service started offering something I'd never heard of: a diaper composting service.

Our service sells us a plastic-free disposable diaper, and picks them up with our cloth diapers each week.  Then they send the disposables to a professional composting service, where they're turned into safe, rich compost for gardening in three months!  If you're wondering how this works, check out this post I coordinated on the Dandelion blog. 

So, this is about as green as I can get our diapering.  But I'm really interested to see what options are coming down the line!

Follow Motherwear on Facebook and Twitter.  Subscribe to the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog with email updates and RSS feeds.  Subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes.

New podcast on VBAC

April is Cesarean Awareness Month, and I have a new podcast up on the Motherlove Blog on VBAC.  It's an interview with Desirre Andrews, president of the International Cesarean Awareness Network.

We talked about the history of VBAC, barriers and access to VBAC, and how to prepare for one.  We also discussed ICAN’s research about hospital VBAC bans, and the 2010 National Institutes of Health statement on VBAC.

You can read about my own VBAC here.

You can listen to the podcast at the Motherlove Blog or by downloading it at Motherlove’s iTunes store.

Follow Motherwear on Facebook and Twitter.  Subscribe to the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog with email updates and RSS feeds.  Subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes.

It might be too late for us to start nursing in a sling

My daughter is now 20 months, and while I had every intention of learning how to nurse her while she was in a sling or other carrier (even posted about it), somehow the time got away from us. 

I don't think that it held us back in any way, since I really prefer to sit or lie and read while nursing, but I did feel that I'd be missing out on something if I didn't at least give it a try (you know, the last baby thing). 

I've almost exclusively been carrying her in a mei tai, and that didn't seem like it would work (at least not easily), so I put her in a Peanut Shell sling which I use around the house sometimes. 

Her reaction?  She cracked up.  She was laughing so much that she could barely nurse.  Then she popped off and said, "Funny nurse sling!" and laughed and laughed.

Then later that day she said, "Call Ba Ba (grandma), funny nurse sling!"  So we called my parents to tell them all about how funny it was that she nursed in a sling.  Is it possible to be embarrassed by a 20 month old? 

I think it's safe to say that it might be too late for us to make this a regular thing.

Follow Motherwear on Facebook and Twitter.  Subscribe to the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog with email updates and RSS feeds.  Subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes.

Have you benefitted from the federal workplace pumping law? We need your stories!

I was recently chosen by the the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee to help publicize the federal "pumping law" which was enacted as part of health care reform legislation two years ago. 

This project is funded by the Office of Women's Health (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).  I was chosen along with Kimberly Seals Allers, whose Black Breastfeeding 360 project I wrote about recently.

So I'll be posting on other blogs this year to help spread the word about what the law requires employers to do to accommodate pumping moms. 

As part of this project the USBC is collecting moms' stories about how the new pumping law has helped them. We'll be highlighting stories of moms who have benefitted from the law.  

So please follow this link and share how the law has helped you pump at work!

Follow Motherwear on Facebook and Twitter.  Subscribe to the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog with email updates and RSS feeds.  Subscribe to our podcasts on iTunes.