The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog

Swine flu ate my carnival post.

I'm unfortunately going to have to skip my contribution to this month's Carnival of Breastfeeding because I appear to have the H1N1 virus. 

It started out pretty mildly, but then whoo boy.  We were planning on getting everyone in my family vaccinated, but the vaccine still hasn't arrived in our community (though the virus sure has).  This Daily Show clip pretty much sums up how I feel about the issue.

So the flu ate my homework for this month, and I'm not going to share a post for this carnival.  I will be posting links to the many other bloggers who are contributing this month, later today.

Now, go wash your hands.

Here are the posts from other bloggers:

• What I Wish I'd Known Back Then About Breastfeeding - Massachusetts Friends of Midwives
• My List for Next Time - Momma's Angel
• I Wish I Would Have Known! - The Starr Family Blog
• You Don't Have to Grin and Bear It - Breastfeeding Moms Unite
• What I Wish I Would Have Known About Breastfeeding - Birth Activist
• 4 Things I'd Known About Breastfeeding - Three Girl Pile-Up
• I wish I had known then…that it wasn’t up to me alone - Happy Bambino
• What I Wish I'd Known Then - A Poem - My World Edenwild
• When breastfeeding begins badly, and what I should have done about it - The Milk Mama
• AP Principle #2: What I wish I'd known when I started breastfeeding - Hobo Mama
• Trust Yourself and Your Body - Breastfeeding 1-2-3
• Nursing Wisdom - Cave Mother
• When Breastfeeding Feels Wrong - Fighting Off Frumpy
• 15 Breastfeeding Facts I Wish I'd Known as a First Time Breastfeeding Mum - Breastfeeding Mums
• Wish I'd Heard More Good Things - Fancy Pancakes
• Breastfeeding is Life Changing - Blacktating
• Breastfeeding: What I wish I’d known then - Mum Unplugged

No more ads - formula and otherwise - on email subscriptions.

Recently, a reader named Susan emailed to inform me that formula ads were appearing at the bottom of her email updates from this blog.  Needless to say, we weren't happy about that.

We were told by the email subscription service, Feedblitz, that we couldn't control the ads that appear, so we upgraded our account.  Now, no ads should appear on those emails.

Thanks to all our subscribers for keeping up with the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog!

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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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What do you want more of?

Back when we started this blog we polled you about what you'd like to see.  I think it's time that we do it again!

Let me know below what you'd like to see more of on the blog.  You can check more than one answer.  If you can't see this poll, you can use this link.

What would you like to see more of on the Motherwear Blog?

Practical information about nursing

Personal stories

Advocacy/activism

News and research updates

Podcasts

Contests and promotions

Nursing clothes and products

Other

Please Specify:

sheepskin boots

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The Motherwear Blog turns three! Celebrate with a sticker.

Now we are three!  Seems like yesterday that I wrote the first post on this blog.  It has been such a pleasure to host this blog for the last three years.

I'll be posting my favorites from the last three years later in the week.

A big thanks goes to Motherwear, for sponsoring the blog and for providing such great support to nursing moms for over 25 years!

To celebrate, I'll be giving away 20 'breastfeeding welcome here' stickers, created by our local breastfeeding coalition.  Be among the first 20 people to leave a comment telling me that you're a subscriber (through email updates, an RSS feed, or through the iTunes store), and then send me an email with your mailing address.  When you email, please also tell me the name you commented under (i.e. "I comment as tanya@motherwearblog").  U.S. addresses only, please.

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.

Motherwear is on Twitter!

You can now follow Motherwear on Twitter!

Subscribe to Motherwear's feed and you'll get updates about sales, special offers, and updates about the blog and podcasts.

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.

This post brought to you by the letters E and W.

Last night my husband came downstairs to find - I'm not making this up - three large raccoons in our living room. 

They had squeezed through two cat doors to scrounge around for food in our house.

For some reason they walked all over my computer, and had removed the E and W keys.  Fortunately my husband was able to pop them back on.

Bcaus not having thos ltters ould hav bn a problm.

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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?

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Podcast: Learn Spanish for Breastfeeding Support

I'm very pleased to share with you a Spanish lesson today, aimed at helping those of you who work or volunteer in breastfeeding support speak a little "breastfeeding Spanish."

This podcast is the audio portion of the first chapter in my book, Spanish for Breastfeeding Support.  

Bear in mind that there is much more to this chapter in the text in the book, including grammar lessons, practice exercises, and diagrams.  You won't have these things, but I think that you'll be able to learn some basic vocabulary and phrases that will be useful.

You can use click on the player below to listen to the audio on this site, or use this link to open the audio in Quick Time.  You can also download it at Motherwear's iTunes store.

Spanish for Breastfeeding Support Podcast

You can find more audio and exercises on the Spanish for Breastfeeding Support website.  If you're an IBCLC, you can get CERPs for completing the exercises in the book.

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 few things I've been wondering about.

I've been mulling over a few things recently:

• Why did we never see Claire nursing Aaron on Lost?  Or did I miss it?
• Do nipple shields really need to stick out that far?  And why don't they make a size larger than "standard?"
• Will someone ever invent a pacifier with the exact look and feel of a human finger?
• Should I increase the font size of the blog from this to this?  Do I need glasses?

Feel free to answer any and all.

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.