Introducing Baby to Solid Foods Too Early Increases Risk of Allergic Diseases

Newswise — Feeding solid foods to infants before 6 months of age can increase the risk of allergies, while exclusive breastfeeding for at least 6 months may prevent the onset of allergic symptoms later in life, according to a paper published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. The paper is the first consensus document published in a peer-reviewed journal to recommend allergy-avoiding strategies for introducing solid foods to the infant diet.



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Lawyer, Wife Livid Over Breastfeeding Incident (Local10.com)

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. -- A Deerfield Beach lawyer is on a letter-writing campaign after, he says, a restaurant employee asked his breastfeeding wife to "take it outside."

Geil Bilu said that he and his wife and children, ages 19 months and nine weeks, were at Westside Bagels in Coral Springs Saturday morning when his infant daughter began to fuss. Bilu said his wife began to discretely nurse the baby, when a man, who Bilu said he believes was a restaurant manager, came over and asked her to leave.

Bilu said when his wife told the man that she was nearly done feeding the baby and would leave as soon as she was done, the man stood by the table and stared until the family packed up and left.


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PLEASE don't let H1782 die - support breastfeeding!!!

The clock is running out on Massachusett's H1782 - please don't let this bill die yet again!!

The bill is currently languishing in the steering committee, waiting to be scheduled for an appearance on the floor and a vote.

We only have until July 31st, so your phone calls are desperately needed.

Find your state reps by visiting http://www.mass.gov - on the lower left hand side, you'll see a drop-down menu for Local Government. Choose your community, then click on the link for State Legislators.

Call their offices. Tell them you are a constituent, that H1782 deserves and needs their support, and that you want this bill passed NOW.

Please don't let this bill die - we got it this far, let's see this fight through!!!

Please feel free to share this message anywhere you deem appropriate. :)

Vital that new mums are fed the right info (Scotsman.com)

IT'S the most natural, instinctive and intimate thing in the world: a mother, still glowing from the aftermath of labour, gently nursing her newborn.

Flick through the pregnancy manuals and mum-to-be magazines, and breastfeeding takes on a rosy, happy glow; engorgement is a mild irritation to be solved using a cabbage leaf and encouraging your baby to take their first feed is as easy as ABC.

After all, we all know what bits are supposed to go where... how hard can it be?



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Circumcision, Breastfeeding, and Maternal Bonding

This index page contains links to documents about circumcision versus breastfeeding, the effect of circumcision on mother-infant bonding and interaction, and information about breastfeeding's beneficial effect on reducing the risk of urinary tract infection (UTI) in infancy.

click to view site...

Nursing moms rebuffed at gyms (Sacbee.com)

On a blistering summer day, Jane Cerussi was discreetly nursing her fussy infant by the pool at an Elk Grove gym, when a manager asked her to move or cover up because other members had complained.
"I never expected something like this to happen in this day and age in Northern California," Cerussi said.



A similar incident recently at another California Family Fitness gym in Rocklin is calling attention to an often overlooked law protecting a mother's right to breast-feed in public.
Despite the law and studies showing the health benefits of the practice, advocates say what happened in Elk Grove and Rocklin reflects a society still unaccustomed to the sight of nursing mothers in public places.

Last week, the California Women's Law Center sent a letter to the locally owned California Family Fitness chain after the Rocklin woman was told she couldn't breast-feed where she could be seen by other members.

The employee had said breast-feeding in a public area was "offensive" to other gym members, and when the woman complained to a manager she was told that her actions were "disrespectful," according to the letter.

But under a California law enacted in 1997, women are allowed to breast-feed anywhere in public where they're entitled to be present.



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Ban on milk substitute ads stands (INQ7.net)

THE absolute ban on the promotion and advertisement of breast milk substitutes will continue after the Supreme Court opted not to issue a restraining order on the implementation of the Milk Code.

Instead, the high court ordered Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Health undersecretaries Dr. Ethelyn Nieto, Dr. Margarita Galon, Alexander Padilla and Dr. Jade F. Del Mundo to comment within 10 days on the petition filed by an international health lobby group seeking the nullification of the revised implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Administrative Order 2006-0012 issued last May 16.

The assailed AO revised a 1986 law, Executive Order No. 51, or the Milk Code, which had been passed in the cooperation with the milk industry to regulate the use of breast milk substitutes.



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Breast-feeding: Nutrition straight from the source (Columbian.com)

Well before I had my baby, I read all about breast-feeding. As the government wraps up a public-health campaign to encourage breast-feeding, still more research mounts on how much the practice benefits babies and mothers.

The latest: A study published this month in the journal Pediatrics indicates that breast-fed children later have lower bed-wetting rates. Other studies show that breast-feeding decreases the incidence of colds, infections, asthma, leukemia, lymphoma, obesity and diabetes. Breast-feeding is good for mothers, too. It burns an extra 500 calories a day to help shed pregnancy pounds, and lowers rates of ovarian and breast cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis.

When I pulled my squalling just-born infant to me for the first time, I quickly realized that knowing all that didn't help me much when it came to the actual practice of breast-feeding.



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The Formula Follies - OpinionJournal (Wall Street Journal editorial page)

The Merchants of Death in Christopher Buckley's novel "Thank You for Smoking" are spokesmen for the most vilified industries in Washington: alcohol, tobacco and firearms. A lobbyist for baby formula may have to join them in a sequel. Proponents of breast-feeding, emboldened by studies that trumpet human milk's superiority to its supermarket substitutes, are abandoning platitudes like "Breast Is Best" in favor of aggressive campaigns designed to portray formula feeding as not merely inferior but dangerous.

A startling television ad in a government breast-feeding campaign likened feeding an infant formula to being thrown from a mechanical bull while heavily pregnant. Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin has proposed mandatory warning labels for formula cans. Breast-feeding advocates are pushing legislation to stop hospitals from giving free formula to new mothers. A new book calls formula feeding "deviant behavior" that should occur only as an "emergency nutrition intervention to prevent starvation and death." "There's not so much talk now about the benefits of breast-feeding," says Katy Lebbing of La Leche League International, "but the risks of not breast-feeding."



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Council kills breast-feeding initiative (Burlington Free Press.com)

The City Council went on the record about breast-feeding at its last meeting on July 10. By a vote of 7 to 6, it decided the city should not encourage mothers to nurse their babies.


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Help give women the right to breastfeed in public with the NCT (GMTV)

The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) is the largest and best-known charity in Europe for those becoming parents. It is the voice of parents on pregnancy, birth and the first few years of being a parent.

The charity provides a range of support services for parents at local level. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the NCT has successfully campaigned for improved care during pregnancy and childbirth and for parents of new babies and promotes the principle of informed choice for women and their partners.

The NCT is now campaigning for a woman's right to breastfeed in public and wants you to get involved.

Women in England, Wales and Northern Ireland can still be asked to stop breastfeeding when in public or to breastfeed out of sight, even in the toilets, which is not acceptable. However, in Scotland it is an offence to stop mothers from feeding their babies in public places.



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Type 1 Moms Just as Capable of Breastfeeding as Healthy Moms (Diabetes Health magazine)

At intervals of five days after giving birth and then four months after giving birth, Danish researchers interviewed 102 women with type 1 about breastfeeding. The type 1 women’s breastfeeding habits were then compared to a large random sample from the general population of Danish women.



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Bosom studies (Philadelphia Inquirer)

"BooBies," an art show on Fabric Row, has a particularly popular double-breasted focus.

"BooBies."

And Tim Bowen suspects that's just about all the information (and incentive) it will take to draw a crowd to his gallery, which opened in the spring on the stretch of Fourth Street south of South known as Fabric Row.

"The name makes the show possible," says Bowen, a painter and part-time indie-rock musician.

Breast is a bit too clinical, he says. And while a Web search easily turns up 200 or so other descriptors (not to mention pictures that, on second thought, should not be mentioned because they do not belong in an art gallery), most of those words are lurid, rude, insulting, disgusting ... you get the ... um, picture.

And none of those were Bowen's intentions. He got the idea for the show when he noticed that the most looked-at pictures in another recent exhibition at the gallery were the nudes.

"In fact, someone said to me that they liked the pictures of the boobies - and I realized what a great word that is."

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Breastfeeding 'kills baby's pain' (BBC NEWS)

Breastfeeding may be the ultimate natural painkiller for newborn babies.

A review of research found that breastfeeding newborns helps relieve the pain from a needle prick used to screen their blood for disease.

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Exercising the right to nurse (The Sun News)

Tamar Ben-Pazi isn't uncomfortable about breastfeeding her young son Silas in public.

The Myrtle Beach resident has tended to her son's needs in restaurants, at the mall, on the beach, on a public street and in museums.

"I've always felt it was very much my right to be in public," said the mother of 11-month-old Silas and 4-year-old daughter, Talia.

Although Ben-Pazi is confident about nursing in public, other mothers, especially new moms, may not be. The recent opening of a nursing moms' room at Dillard's at Coastal Grand Myrtle Beach mall reflects a trend in which public establishments are creating special places where mothers can breastfeed their children comfortably and privately. Such rooms are becoming more popular since the passage of an S.C. law in January that protects breastfeeding moms who choose to nurse in public.



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You Can Breastfeed! (BabyTalk Magazine)

How to overcome the most common challenges
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Breastfeeding certainly proves the axiom "the best things in life are free." It's not always pain-free, guilt-free, or fancy-free, mind you. Ticking off a list of the most common breastfeeding difficulties can be alarming — just as hearing every detail of pregnancy, labor, and delivery can make you wonder why women agree to propagate the species in the first place.

But if you're aware of the possible breastfeeding pitfalls before you get lost in a postpartum fog, you can drastically lower the number of days filled with long crying jags (yours, not the baby's) and the number of times you swear like a sailor at your husband for not having breasts. Simply put, once you know what to expect, you've laid the groundwork for a successful breastfeeding experience — one that is rewarding, exhausting, magical, and, of course, free of charge.




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Why Women Don't Nurse Longer (BabyTalk)

A Babytalk exclusive report on why breastfeeding can be controversial
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You've heard it by now: A mom should breastfeed her baby for at least the first year of life, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Today, more new moms than ever try to nurse. In 2004, the most recent year for which government statistics are available, about 70 percent of U.S. mothers reported that they had tried breastfeeding, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That's up from 55 percent in 1993.

But then consider this: At 6 months, only 36 percent were still nursing. At 12 months, the number dips to 17 percent — fewer than one in five mothers. While moms know that breastfeeding gives babies the best start in life, legions of them find it difficult — if not downright impossible — to nurse longer than six months, let alone up to the one-year milestone.

Whether it's a baby who has trouble latching on, a work schedule that doesn't allow time for pumping, or a lack of support at home, the forces that conspire against women who want to breastfeed are far-reaching in their scope. Many moms who plan to nurse are caught off-guard by the challenges breastfeeding can present. In fact, according to a nationally representative Babytalk survey, 46 percent of moms said that breastfeeding required more time than they'd expected and 56 percent wished that they had been able to nurse longer than they did. Here's what's undermining women's efforts, and how you can get the support you need to keep going.



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It's hard for me not to cringe as I link to an article on BabyTalk Magazine - they're usually just so, well, awful (across the board, not just on breastfeeding)! But I do think they deserve kudos for trying, and so I link....

Breast-Feeding Controversy: The Fight to Nourish in Public (ABC News)

July 18, 2006 — Although studies show that breast-feeding is healthy for both mother and child, 57 percent of the public are uncomfortable with public breast-feeding, according to Babytalk magazine.

The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests mothers feed their babies breast milk exclusively in their first six months.

Breast-feeding in public is not outlawed in any state; however, 42 states have laws that specifically protect a woman's right to breast-feed in public.



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banthebags.org

Check out BanTheBags.org, home of the national campaign to stop hospital-based marketing of infant formula to new mothers!

banthebags.org

Perfect food difficult for public to swallow (Independent Record)

Breast-feeding. That one single word has the power to spark heated public debate.

In 2004, an Iowa City woman was kicked out of a restaurant because she was nursing her baby. The owner, and then the owner’s wife, told her she was upsetting other customers and asked her to feed her baby in the restroom. She refused, so she and her family were then asked to leave.

As a nursing mother, I’d like to ask a question: Why couldn’t those customers who were so offended in that restaurant have turned their heads to look in a different direction?



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Vote (ABC News)

Good Morning America is going to be doing a piece on Tuesday about breastfeeding. They are currently running a poll on their website: "How Do You Feel About Public Breastfeeding?"

click to view site and vote

New Law Protects Breastfeeding Mothers (WBKO)

Susan Brown is a lactation consultant with the Barren River Area District Health Department. She says: "We've been waiting for this law for a long time. It didn't just happen overnight. We've known about it in the breastfeeding world for a long time and have been supporting it. We're really excited."

The excitement is all about Senate Bill 106. It explicitly permits mothers to breastfeed their baby or express their breast milk in public and prevents anyone from interfering with a mother breastfeeding in public.

Brown says: "What it means is that all breastfeeding moms in Kentucky now have no fear of breastfeeding in public. Before the law was a little bit fuzzy and a mom might be asked to leave a mall or restaurant, anywhere she might be breastfeeding her baby."



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Should women be discreet when breast feeding? (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

Should women be discreet when breast feeding?

Diane Glass, a left-leaning columnist, writes the commentary this week and Shaunti Feldhahn, a right-leaning columnist, responds.

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Love Bites (Eye Weekly)

"Over the years, I've had the opportunity to do research into the culture of breastfeeding and motherhood. Opinions are never middling: mothers are sexualized, then chided for expressing this themselves; they're desexualized then forced to live this role for other people's comfort; they're told there's nothing more natural than breastfeeding, but humiliated for doing it in public -- people fetishize breast milk, breastfeeding, breasts, breasts, breasts. Everyone seems to have an opinion, each polarizing the other and, as many breastfeeding mothers will tell you, even perfect strangers are not afraid to share.

"Dobkin is the first person I've come across looking at the complexities of breastfeeding by openly and creatively recognizing the sensual, ordinary and even comical nature of this act. In doing so, she challenges all opinions -- a totally fucking cool stand in the mother-as-untouchable debate. "

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Nanny goat adopts and breastfeeds "disowned" lamb (Tabloid News)

Residents of Appiakwaa, a suburb of Saltpond in the Central Region have for the past three months savoured a rare spectacle of a sympathetic nanny goat that had adopted and breastfed a surviving lamb that its own mother had turned its back on.

Explaining the spectacle to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at her residence at Saltpond, Madam Esi Banowah, owner of the animals said both the sheep and the goat by some coincidence delivered on the same day, but the sheep refused to breast-feed its two lambs. As a result one died on the third day from starvation.


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Nursing a grudge over breast-feeding (The Plain Dealer)

The first question in the ask-the-doctor newspaper column was: "Does breast-feeding increase the bust size?"

I happened to be editing the column, some years ago on the copy desk of another paper, and thought it would be a nice touch to add a new top to the answer: "It depends on what you feed them. But seriously . . ."



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Is the Breast Better? (ABC News)

July 13, 2006 — Do you cringe when you see a woman breast-feeding in public? Or do you pass judgment when you see a woman buy milk formula for her newborn? Americans have mixed visceral reactions to breast-feeding, and a recent breast-feeding ad campaign has brought those reactions to a roiling boil.


The U.S. government spent $2 million on an ad campaign to promote breast-feeding. One of the ads shows a pregnant woman logrolling; another shows her riding a mechanical bull. Both ads ask: "You wouldn't take this kind of risk with your baby, so then why would you take the risk by not breast-feeding?"


America has one of the lowest breast-feeding rates of any industrialized country. That could be due, in part, to how uneasy Americans get when it comes to seeing a woman nursing in public.



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Hospital Baby-Formula Freebies Spur Controversy (Women's E News)

BOSTON (WOMENSENEWS)--For years, hospitals have sent new mothers home with a gift bag of goodies.

The bags, usually stamped with the logo of an infant formula manufacturer, often contain baby books, diapers and coupons for infant-care products. They also often contain free infant formula donated by manufacturers, a practice that is becoming increasingly controversial.

This spring, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ended a two-year breastfeeding campaign by the New York-based Ad Council warning that not breastfeeding could hurt a newborn's health.



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Nursing story big on Web (The Free Press)

Breastfeeding enthusiasts come to defense of Kyle mom

BUDA, Texas (STPNS) -- After The Free Press reported last week that Michelle Hickey was asked not to breastfeed her baby in public at the Kyle Municipal Swimming Pool, she discovered that her defenders were just a mouse click away.

“Once these stories catch on, mothers really advocate for their babies and especially their breastfeeding choices,” said Amy Miller, founder of the Kyle branch of La Leche League, which supports breastfeeding mothers. “The phone has definitely been ringing here at my house. I’m getting calls from women across Texas.”



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Breast-feeding linked to less bed-wetting (United Press International)

A U.S. study concludes children who are breast-fed as infants have a lower rate of bed-wetting after the age of 5.

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Baby You Were Born To Breastfeed (Scoop Independent News))

Babies are born to breastfeed and without doubt exclusive breastfeeding from birth to six months of age represents an ideal window of opportunity for reducing the risk of obesity and diabetes.

Presenting an oral submission to the Health Committee today, the Infant Feeding Association of New Zealand (IFANZ) will outline some of the biological mechanisms that set artificially fed infants apart from those who breastfeed.

“Comparing breastfeeding to artificial feeding is like comparing a nutritious home-cooked meal to a third-rate takeaway”, says Marcia Annandale, Trustee and Coordinator of IFANZ.



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Milk of human kindness (Naples Daily News)

Breast-milk bank in Southwest Florida helping mothers and babies all over the country


Got milk? Ashley Rodriguez does, and she’s giving it away.

The 30-year-old who gave birth four months ago to daughter Chloe donates extra breast milk to the Family Birth Center of Fort Myers.

Rodriguez is one of hundreds of women nationwide who donate milk to mothers who cannot produce their own, specifically in the case of mothers who’ve given birth to premature babies that specific nutritional needs.


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Public Breastfeeding (The Courier-Journal)

Kentucky mothers who breastfeed their babies will no longer have to fear being asked to leave restaurants, malls and other public places. Approved as SB 106, the new law makes it clear that breastfeeding in public is not a crime.



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Breast-Feeding in Public Completely Legal Beginning Today (WTVQ 36)

Do you think it's indecent exposure for a nursing mother to breast feed her child in public?

As of July 12, it's legal in Kentucky.



click to read more...(video also available)

La Leche celebrates 50th (Berkshire Eagle Online)

DALTON — Breastfeeding. Say it. Breastfeeding. One more time: breastfeeding.
Though it's a lifestyle that some people may blush or boo at, it's something that the members and groups of La Leche League International have been practicing and promoting now for 50 years.

The mothers of the La Leche (pronounced lay-chay) League of Berkshire County gathered last evening with their friends and families in Pine Grove Park to share potluck sandwiches and snacks in celebration of their shared experience of being mothers who chose to breastfeed their children.

They also shared their personal stories about how they came to La Leche and how it has been helping women all over the county and the world.



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Mother's milk a precious commodity for premature babies (My San Antonio)

A study in the Journal of Pediatrics found that feeding tiny premature babies mother's milk may actually help their mental development later in life.

Breastfeeding mother Jennifer Nava knows that everyday her premature twins thrive is another miracle. Mateo and Eliud Nava were born in May, theree months early.

While they gain strength at University Hospital in San Antonio, Nava pumps breast milk every three hours, freezes it and brings it to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

"Of course, it (pumping breast milk) takes a lot of time, and then recovering also, it's a little painful at first, but it's all worth it," Nava said. "You can't get that anywhere else. It's not like formula."



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Right to breast-feed, nudity law on agenda (Wichita Eagle)

Breast-feeding mothers will be exempt from local anti-nudity laws if the Wichita City Council accepts a proposed change to the law at its meeting Tuesday.

The proposal would bring Wichita's obscenity laws in line with a new state law that protects a woman's right to breast-feed "in any place she has the right to be."

According to the current city law, display of the female breast -- specifically the center of the breast -- is considered nudity, and, consequently, off-limits in public. Violations are punishable by a $2,500 fine and a year in jail.

The proposed change would add "a mother breast-feeding her child" as an exemption.



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UNICEF's Regional Training Course on Protecting Breastfeeding to be held in Baku (Today.Az)

Second Sub-Regional Training Course on implementing the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes to be held on July 10-14 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

If every baby were exclusively breastfed from birth for 6 months, an estimated 1.5 million lives would be saved each year. Not just saved but enhanced, because breastmilk is the perfect food for a baby's first six months of life - no manufactured product can equal it.

In 1981, the World Health Assembly, which consists of the health ministers of almost all countries, responded vigorously to inappropriate promotional efforts of the infant-food industry by adopting the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk substitutes, drafted by WHO, UNICEF, NGOs and representatives of the infant food industry.


The Code establishes minimum standards to regulate marketing practices by setting out the responsibilities of companies, health workers, governments and others and provides standards for the labelling of breastmilk substitutes.



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'Breast ironing' to stunt girls' growthwidespread (CNN.com)

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (Reuters) -- Worried that her daughters' budding breasts would expose them to the risk of sexual harassment and even rape, their mother Philomene Moungang started 'ironing' the girls' bosoms with a heated stone.

"I did it to my two girls when they were eight years old. I would take the grinding stone, heat it in the fire and press it hard on the breasts," Moungang said.

"They cried and said it was painful. But I explained that it was for their own good."

"Breast ironing" -- the use of hard or heated objects or other substances to try to stunt breast growth in girls -- is a traditional practice in West Africa, experts say.



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Help get H-1782 passed

We only have until the end of July to get this bill passed - your action is critically important!

Here's how you can help -

Call your elected officials in Massachusetts. Not sure who they are? Go to the Mass.gov website and look up your city or town. Your state legislators are listed in the community profile.

When you call, just let the person who answers the phone know that you want your reps to support H-1782, the breastfeeding in public act. The nice person who answers will ask for your name and address in order to authenticate the call.

You can also write letters or send faxes; calls are most strongly recommended, but a letter makes for a nice follow up to that phone call and allows you to expound upon the issue.

The Office of Child Advocacy at Children's Hospital has set up an action alert with an email you can send to your representatives. It takes only a few minutes!

You can also help by spreading the word. The more people we can get to call and write, the better! Our legislators need to know that there is a strong level of support for this bill, and that we want to see it passed!!

Breast-feeding protest draws crowd, attention (The Journal Times Online)

RACINE - Approximately 20 women and their children came out to support Rebecca Cook Saturday afternoon at a nurse-in in front of the Victoria's Secret store at Regency Mall.

Cook said she was back at the store to protest "because they harassed me and that other mom in Boston."

Cook said she and a friend were shopping at the store last week, when she asked for the use of a dressing room where she could nurse her daughter. She was told there weren't any available, and Cook offered to sit in the corner, in the back of the dressing room hallway. Staff members told her that was not acceptable.


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Breast-Feeding May Protect Against Bed-Wetting (Forbes.com)

WEDNESDAY, July 5 (HealthDay News) -- Babies who are breast-fed for longer than three months are less likely to become bed-wetters, a new study suggests.

"Although this data is preliminary data, my advice [to mothers] would be to breast-feed their babies longer than three months for the developmental advantages this provides, and one of those may be protection against bed-wetting," said study author Dr. Joseph G. Barone, a pediatrics expert at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J.



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Alabama Allow Breastfeeding in Public (WTVY)

The Alabama legislature passed a law in April saying a mother may breastfeed her child in any public place, and the law went into effect this Saturday.

News 4 spoke with Wiregrass residents who say they support the new law.

Gail Jackson has three children and she breastfed all of them. She was too shy to do it in public, but she isn't offended if someone is discrete about it.

"There was a lady breastfeeding at a table the other day; it was fine. The baby was happy, the family was happy, it was fine,” said Jackson.



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Breastfeeding and the Law (Bostonist)

I recently received a petition by e-mail to support passage of a proposed state law that would protect mothers who breast feed in public from being charged with indecent exposure. Is this really a pressing issue? I thought we had protective laws.

- A mom in Somerville

No Mass. law expressly protects breast feeding, putting the Commonwealth in the minority of states (only 14 others have no law that explicitly allows breastfeeding in public places) (you can see a state-by-state summary of breastfeeding laws here).


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Biting the Hand That Feeds You (Palm Beach Post)

OK, well maybe not the hand

Victoria’s Secret became the target of breast-feeding activists this week after a women in Racine, Wis., and Quincy, Mass., went into the popular women’s lingerie store and were told they couldn’t breastfeed their children on the sales floor.

It’s hard to imagine that Victoria’s Secret, of all places, could be anti-breast — or at least squeamish about the partial exposure of a woman’s breast amid the racks of revealing peekaboo attire on sale.

But it happened. The result: Victoria’s Secret was the target of a nationwide “nurse-in” protest this past weekend called for by a group of angry breastfeeding women.



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Got breast milk? New state law celebrated (AL.com)

A handful of mothers who nursed their babies Saturday at Colonial Brookwood Village said they were celebrating a new state law that protects a woman's right to breast-feed in public.

"I'm not a confrontational person, but I wanted to bring attention to the new law," said Kelly Kelley, who drove 50 miles from her home in Chilton County to participate.

The law took effect Saturday, and Kelley handed out badges to the other mothers that said, "Got Breastmilk? Alabama does!" Her 8½-month-old daughter wore a shirt that said, "Breastmilk, the real comfort proteins."



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Woman Fights For Breast-Feeding Rights (cbs13.com)

(AP) RACINE, Wis. A woman offended when Victoria's Secret staff gave her only the option of an employee restroom in which to nurse her baby organized a nursing protest in front of the store.

About 20 women and children came out in support of Rebecca Cook in front of the Victoria's Secret store at the Regency Mall in Racine on Saturday.

Cook said she was shopping at the store with a friend last week when she asked to use a dressing room where she could nurse her daughter. When she was told no room was available, she offered to sit in the rear of the dressing room hallway but was told that was unacceptable, she said.

"They opened up their employee restroom, which is disgusting," she said. "I said, `No, I don't eat in the bathroom and my daughter doesn't eat in the bathroom."'


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Breastfeeding Moms Blast Victoria's Secret in Nationwide Protests (Daily News Central)

Saturday was a day of protest against Victoria's Secret as mothers gathered to nurse their babies in front of the sexy lingerie stores at malls across the US.

The women were expressing solidarity with two mothers who were told by Victoria's Secret staff to use bathrooms to breastfeed their infants in separate incidents in Wisconsin and Massachusetts.



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Breast-Feeding Moms Protest Victoria's Secret (ABC News)

RACINE, Wis. -- A woman who said she was offended when Victoria's Secret staff asked her to nurse her baby in an employee restroom organized a nursing protest in front of the store as part of a national nurse-in.


About 20 women and children came out in support of Rebecca Cook in front of the Victoria's Secret store at the Regency Mall in Racine on Saturday.


Cook said she was shopping at the store with a friend last week when she asked to use a dressing room to nurse her daughter. When she was told no room was available, she offered to sit in the rear of the dressing room hallway but was told that was unacceptable, she said.


"They opened up their employee restroom, which is disgusting," she said. "I said, 'No, I don't eat in the bathroom and my daughter doesn't eat in the bathroom."'



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Breast Feeding Mothers Protest Outside Victoria's Secret Stores (Medical News Today)

Rebecca Cook and baby went into a Victoria's Secret store. The mother needed to feed her child so she asked whether she could use a dressing room to breast feed her baby girl. An employee told her there was no available room there. Rebecca Cook said she would not mind sitting at the back of the dressing room hallway. The employee said this was not acceptable and told her to nurse her baby in the staff toilets.

Cook said that she does not eat in toilets and that her daughter doesn't either.

Limited Brands, Inc. is the parent company of Victoria's Secret. A spokesman said the company apologises for the incident. He said the company does have a policy of allowing mothers to nurse in its stores.

The word soon got around of a nursing mother with a similar problem at another Victoria's Secret store in Massachusetts.

Nursing mothers began to protest. 15 mothers breast-fed their babies outside a store in Westlake, Cleveland, Ohio. Breast-feeding in public places has been legal in Ohio since last year.

The mothers' message is a simple one - breast-feeding is not dirty, it is not something that has to be done in a toilet.



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Victoria's Secret welcomes breast-feeding protesters (The Plain Dealer)

Westlake- Lactation and lacy lingerie were the subjects of a national nurse-in Saturday as breast-feeding mothers across the country let their kids chug-a-lug in front of Victoria's Secret stores.

Fifteen mothers armed with hungry babies gathered on the sidewalk outside the Crocker Park Victoria's Secret store in Westlake where scantily clad mannequins seemed delighted by the peaceful, half-hour demonstration.

"It's kind of ironic that Victoria's Secret, which plasters breasts everywhere, is offended at seeing breasts used for their intended purpose," said Anna Mauser-Martinez, who organized the local nurse-in and volunteered that she happened to be wearing a pair of Victoria's Secret underwear.

Victoria's Secret - owned by Columbus-based Limited Brands Inc. - became the target of breast-feeders when two nursing mothers in Massachusetts and Wisconsin said they were hassled last month by store employees. A call to Victoria Secret's corporate headquarters for comment was not returned Saturday. Last June, Ohio legislators legalized breast-feeding in public places.



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Angry moms hold nurse-in at Victoria's Secret (BostonHerald.com)

More than a dozen mothers held a nurse-in yesterday outside Victoria’s Secret, accusing the company that has made a bundle off breasts of discriminating against nursing mothers.

“How ironic,” Jessie Chandler said as she sat on the sidewalk outside the Faneuil Hall lingerie shop, nursing her 9-month-old daughter, Charlotte. “They’ve made millions by perpetuating the stereotype of breasts as solely sexual objects. But when a woman wants to use them for what nature really intended them for - nursing - they kick her out.”

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Breast-feeding moms protest at Westfield mall (Post-Tribune )

HOBART — Sarah Fields nursed her 1-year-old son as Westfield Southlake shoppers streamed past.

A few glanced at her and seven other women who gathered Saturday afternoon outside the Victoria’s Secret store.

But if any passers-by noticed that some women were breast-feeding their children, they didn’t seem shocked.

That was one of the points the women participating in Saturday’s “nurse-in” wanted to make.

“You’re certainly going to see a lot less flesh from nursing mothers,” Cindy Lybolt, one of the organizers, said earlier, “than from some of the outfits some people are wearing.”

The women outside Victoria’s Secret had heard, through

e-mail message boards, that nursing mothers had been harassed recently at two Victoria’s Secret stores in Massachusetts and Wisconsin.

It seemed ironic that a company known for selling revealing lingerie would object to using a breast for nursing.



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Breast-Feeding Moms Protest (TMJ4)

RACINE- Breast-feeding moms held a nursing protest at Regency Mall in Racine today.
At least 20 women gathered in front of the lingerie store, Victoria's Secret. Two Wisconsin women organized a "nurse-in." The women say they were humiliated after store employes told them they could not breast feed in the store. A representative for Victoria's Secret has apologized for the incident, and says breast-feeding is allowed in their stores.


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Nursing mom's protest at mall no secret (The Providence Journal)

A Warwick woman calls attention to the rights of breast-feeding women, in the window of Victoria's Secret in Providence.

PROVIDENCE -- Motherhood was on display in the window of Victoria's Secret at the Providence Place mall yesterday.

Next to mannequins in bikini underwear, a woman who could pass for a model parked her stroller, discreetly lifted her black tank top and nursed her four-month-old son.

The one-woman demonstration at the Providence Place mall's Victoria's Secret was part of a national "nurse-in" designed to raise awareness about the rights of breast-feeding mothers.

The image in the store window caught the eye of a man selling body lotion at a kiosk across the way. Yoav Stein, a 32-year-old Israeli living in Providence, pondered its meaning.

"It look like for me a connection between Victoria's Secret sexy image and motherhood," Stein said in a thick accent. "Mothers can be sexy, too!"




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Breast-feeding 'nurse-in' held at Victoria's Secret (KTVZ.com)

SEATTLE - A battle over public breast feeding moved to an unlikely place. Victoria’s Secret, known for its revealing bras, was the location of a breast feeding sit-in Saturday.

The protest, which took place in front the store at Seattle’s University Village, was just shy of a dozen mothers demonstrating what they call a natural right to breast feed. They sat there and breast-fed their babies as they pushed for public nursing.

“There are giant posters up there of half naked women up there, and I think that one right there is showing more boob than anyone here,” said Isadora Eads, mother and protester.



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Moms take babies to 'nurse-in' at Clackamas Victoria's Secret (OregonLive)

Katie Gregerson's baby, Brighton, wore a big smile Saturday afternoon. 'He's just been fed,' said Gregerson, 26. She was smiling, too, since she had nursed her son outside a Victoria's Secret store in Clackamas Town Center.

For Gregerson and about a dozen other parents who showed up for a 'nurse-in' at the store, the day was about reinforcing a mother's right to breastfeed her baby in public.

The 'nurse-in' was part of a national grassroots effort scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Victoria's Secret shops around the country. The protest came in the wake of a recent pair of incidents in which mothers in Massachusetts and Wisconsin were told they couldn't breastfeed their babies in Victoria's Secret stores.

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Do the boogie dance of joy

I just spoke with an aide in Senator Creedon's office; the Judiciary Committee has reported out favorably on H-1782, an act permitting breastfeeding in public, ! The bill is still alive and kicking!

Hathor the Cow Goddess and the Evolution Revolution � Blog Archive � Victoria�s Secret Continued!

another Hathor is up...

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URGENT - Calls needed Friday A.M. in Massachusetts

The Judiciary Committee is expect to take action [B]this afternoon [/B]on H-1782, the Breastfeeding In Public Act.

Today would be an ideal day to contact House Chairman Eugene O'Flaherty and Senate Chairman Robert Creedon of the Judiciary Committee and urge a favorable report for the bill.

House Chair Eugene O'Flaherty: 617-722-2396
Senate Chair: 617-722-1200


Get those dialing fingers going - call the chairmen and your own state reps, and save H-1782!!!

Breastfeeding mothers to stage protest at Asheville Mall (CITIZEN-TIMES.com)

ASHEVILLE – Breastfeeding mothers are meeting at Victoria’s Secret in Asheville Mall this Saturday at 1 p.m., staging a protest fueled by the two women recently booted from the lingerie shop for nursing their young.

In Racine, WI, two moms have organized a nation-wide “Nurse In” at the popular stores across the country. In two separate incidents and stores, the mothers were trying to nurse their offspring and told to leave.

“I’m doing this because of the two women who were shopping there and told they couldn’t use the dressing rooms or nurse in the store but had to use the bathrooms,” said Tali Branco, 21, of North Asheville, mother of a six-month-old.



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Mothering Magazine Activism Alert

Pretty Bras and Breastfeeding Belong Together!

On June 21 in Wisconsin and on June 22 in Boston, mothers in Victoria’s Secret stores were directed to bathrooms to nurse their babies. Earlier this year, the lingerie chain was involved in a similar anti-breastfeeding incident in yet another Victoria’s Secret store. At that time, national attention was raised and ultimately, Anthony Hebron, spokesman for the chain's parent, Limited Brands issued the statement that Victoria's Secret has a "long-standing policy to allow nursing in our stores. We are still for and about women." Apparently, as the more recent incidents demonstrate, that policy has not been enacted or enforced in all stores. Rally this Saturday, with lactavists nationwide! Gather at 1:00 p.m. in your time zone, at your nearest Victoria’s Secret store, for a nurse-in. Help this company, whose fortunes are largely breast-related, understand that in being "for and about women" their stores must accommodate breastfeeding. The nurse-in activism is also intended to draw attention to the fact that we need for a federal law protecting a nursing mother's right to feed her baby anywhere that she and her baby would otherwise be allowed to be.

Join MDC lactivists in discussion of the incident and their planned lactivism.

Whip 'em Out : Breast-feeding Moms Find Victoria's Secret Unsupportive (The Cleveland Free Times)

Not only are breasts a perfect marriage of form and function, but it delights us all that they are the very definition of natural, and even government-approved. Federally mandated, tax-funded health professionals assure us in official documents that breast-feeding is the healthiest way to nourish a child. Which makes it odd that nursing moms in Wisconsin and Massachusetts were recently told by Victoria's Secret staffers that the sight of their breasts might offend other customers, and that they had to use a shopping mall restroom outside the store.

It's especially puzzling that Victoria's Secret — owned by Limited Brands of Ohio — should take offense, since the company advertises its products by showing off as many breasts and as much of them as they can get away with.



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Victoria's Secret Target Of A Nationwide Nurse- In

RACINE, Wis. (Wireless Flash) – Victoria’s Secret lingerie stores will be the targets of a nationwide “Nurse-In” being organized by two nursing moms who don’t like how store employees treated women who had to breast feed their kids while shopping there.

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Public breastfeeders respond to Victoria's Secret policies (OnMilwaukee.com Scoops)

This Saturday, two moms are organizing a nationwide nurse-in at the popular lingerie store, Victoria’s Secret. Prompted by run-ins with Victoria’s Secret employees, Rebecca Cook, of Burlington, and Jessie Chandler, of Quincy, Mass., have decided to do something about state and federal laws that do not protect nursing mothers.

“A Tale of Two Nursing Moms” seeks a federal law that protects a nursing mother's right to feed her baby anywhere that she and her baby would otherwise be allowed to be. They are urging moms to go to their local Victoria’s Secret on July 1 at 1 p.m. to nurse their babies and be a part of this movement.



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Hathor the Cow Goddess and the Evolution Revolution � Blog Archive � Victoria�s Secret!

Go, Hathor!!!

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the letter I'm sending out far and wide....

Dear Friends,

I'm writing to you because you have previously expressed support for breastfeeding, and I wanted to make you aware of current legislation stalled in Massachusetts.

HB-1782 (http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/house/ht01/ht01782.htm) would protect mothers who breastfeed their children in public. Under current state law, mothers can be charged with indecent exposure or lewd and lascivious behavior.

Why is this important? Well, you may have seen the front page of the Boston Herald this weekend: http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=145238. Jessie Chandler is a friend of mine, and she was reduced to tears by her treatment last week. Please help us make sure this doesn't happen to any other mothers.

How? It's easy, and will take just five minutes of your time. Pick up the phone, and call your state legislators.* Tell the nice person who answers the phone that you want your officials to support HB-1782, the breastfeeding in public act. Easy!

You can also sign the online petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/HB1782/petition.html . We're hoping to deliver it to the State House by the end of the week.

And you can also forward this email on to five friends. HB-1782 comes up before the Judicial Committee on June 30th, so time is of the essence!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and for your support. It will appreciated for generations to come. :)


Ali Crehan Feeney, CLC
Quincy, MA
http://lactiferous.blogspot.com



* If you're not sure who your state legislators are, you can visit http://www.mass.gov/ . On the lower left hand side of the page, you'll see a link for local government; select your community, and then click on the link that says "State Legislators."

Mother Asked To Leave Restaurant Because She Was Breast Feeding (KSLA News)

"Are you flirting," asks Ashley Walsh, glaring into the eyes of her daughter, Emma. "Daddy's going to get to you."

Three month old Emma Walsh is everything to her parents, Travis and Ashley. She brightened their lives not long after they committed theirs to each other. When Ashley gave birth to Emma she vowed to breast feed her. She's part of the "La Leche League," a global group that educates women who want to breast feed.

Recently, they went to the place they love to eat as a family, Applebee's, the place that promotes itself as a "Good Neighbor."

"The waitress came over and took our order. She started getting fussy so I was like, 'Ok I'll just feed her.' I mean, like I said I've done it many time before, in Wal-Mart, other restaurants, the mall. No ones ever noticed it before, but here comes the manager and she says I'm going to need you to either step in the bathroom and do that, or leave. So, we just played for our meal and left," says Ashley.



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Louisiana Law Permitting Mothers To Breast Feed In Public (KSLA News)

A. Legislative findings and declarations.


(1) The Legislature of Louisiana hereby finds that the surgeon general of the United States recommends that babies from birth to one year of age be breastfed, unless medically contraindicated, in order for the babies to attain an optimal healthy start in life, but that despite that recommendation, statistics reveal a declining percentage of mothers who are now choosing to breastfeed their babies, and nearly half of all new mothers are choosing formula over breastfeeding before they even leave the hospital.


(2) The legislature further finds that breast milk provides better nutrition and more immunity to disease, is easier for babies to digest, and may raise a baby's intelligence quotient, but that the social constraints of modern society work against the choice of breastfeeding and lead new mothers with demanding time schedules to opt for formula feeding for reasons such as embarrassment and the fear of social ostracism or criminal prosecution.


(3) The legislature does hereby declare that the promotion of family values and infant health demands that our society put an end to the vicious cycle of embarrassment and ignorance that constricts women and men alike on the subject of breastfeeding, and that in a genuine effort to promote family values, our society should encourage public acceptance of this most basic act of nurture between mother and baby and should take appropriate steps to ensure that no mother is made to feel incriminated or socially ostracized for breastfeeding her baby.


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Campaign targets bottle feeding (Tennessean.com)

To Irma Paz-Bernstein of east Nashville, breastfeeding is the simplest, most natural thing in the world. It's diaper-changing that's hard.

Her 4-week-old son, Max, started nursing shortly after he was delivered by Caesarean section on May 30.

"It was like he knew exactly what to do," she said. "I believe in breastfeeding. It's the best thing for the child and the mother and society and the environment."

But in the U.S., Paz-Bernstein's experience may not be considered typical. The Office of Women's Health found that American women considered breastfeeding an "ideal" but not the standard. They also didn't see any disadvantages to not breastfeeding. In 2003, 33 percent of American women breastfed their children for six months — well below the 50 percent target of the Healthy People 2010 initiative. At 12 months, 19 percent of American mothers are still nursing, despite many health experts recommendations.



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Inconvenient truths prevail on helmets, drugs, schools (The Detroit News Online)

...The latest medical research is now so strong supporting the importance of breast feeding, some doctors are actually pushing for warnings/disclaimers on formula packages pointing out the physical (and psychological) benefits of nursing. They want to dissuade women from rejecting what medical research shows is best for mother and child.

Various groups are up in arms over this possibility, saying they will make women who choose not to breast feed feel guilty. Certainly, women who cannotdo it feel bad enough. Besides the real medical/physical challenges some women might face, others just don't want to be bothered. That's their choice. However, that does not change our next inconvenient truth: Babies (and moms) are better off when nursing takes place.




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Support for HB-1782

Please take a moment to sign the petition to support HB-1782, legislation to permit breastfeeding in public in Massachusetts - and then pass the link on to five friends!

Coverup charged at Victoria’s stores: Moms reveal bust-up over breast-feeding (BostonHerald.com)

The battle over public breast-feeding has moved to a new front line: Victoria’s Secret stores, where lacy bras are in, but nursing mothers are out, angry moms charge.

A Quincy mother says she was humiliated when an employee of the lingerie franchise’s Faneuil Hall store flatly refused to allow her to breast-feed her daughter, directing her to a public restroom outside.

“I was upset. I was embarrassed. My heart was breaking for my daughter,” said Jessie Chandler, who ended up going home to feed her 9-month-old daughter, Charlotte. “I felt powerless to do anything.”

Anthony Hebron, a spokesman for Victoria’s Secret, apologized yesterday, saying the Boston employee was a new hire. Hebron said it’s store policy to allow women to breast-feed in the store.

But Chandler, 24, and other moms say that policy isn’t trickling down to the employees who work with the public - and they cite instances of similar problems at the chain’s stores in two other states. They are planning a “nurse in” protest July 1.

“I’m sure that they have models in their stores and catalogs that have a lot more breast showing than any woman who’s breast-feeding,” said Anne Merewood, director of the breast-feeding center at Boston Medical Center.

“If they’re going to make their money off of selling things for women’s breasts, they ought to recognize all aspects of the breast,” Merewood said.


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Breastfeeding one for the record books (www.stuff.co..z)

Television personality and mother-of-two Petra Bagust is promoting the benefits of breastfeeding.


"It's the most natural thing to do and is nutritionally the best possible start a child has," she says.

The Western Springs resident is backing a Guinness World Record breastfeeding attempt at Auckland Zoo.

"Breast milk is free but doesn't get as much marketing like most of the different baby formula products out there," she says.

"I've breastfed both my children and wanted to promote its benefits."

The August record attempt is being organised by Louise James.

It follows an unsuccessful bid last year when 664 mothers simultaneously breastfed their children.



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Cross-Country Nurse-In of Victoria Secret - MotheringDotCommune Forums

A nationwide nurse-in is being planned!

Victoria's Secret has a well-documented history of hostility towards nursing mothers - and the mamas aren't going to take it anymore!

Masaachusetts Action Alert

Massachusetts Mamas, start gearing up... spread the word on this far and wide...

A friend of mine was refused permission to nurse in Victoria's Secret at Boston's Faneiul Hall. Jessie is mother to a lovely baby girl, Charlotte. She asked the clerk at VS if she could use a changing room for a moment to calm and nurse her little girl, and was told that company policy prohibited breastfeeding because it is unsanitary. Jessie was directed towards a bathroom instead. Jessie says, "During this entire exchange my DD had tears streaming down her face, eyebrows bright read and nuzzling my chest. I tried once more to nurse her outside, but she just wouldn't take to it. It's so hot there and can be very crowded."

If it weren't so despicable, it would be funny - Victoria's Secret is all about breasts, as long as they aren't being used for their intended purposes! Given that this exact same scenario played out last year in South Carolina and resulted in a breastfeeding-in-public law being passed, well, you'd think they'd have learned their lesson, but apparently mamas in Massachusetts are going to have to repeat it for them.

Jessie has been in touch with several local breastfeeding support organizations, will be contacting the media and her elected officials, and a nurse-in is sure to follow as well. I will keep you posted on the details via this blog as well. Feel free to leave a comment, email or IM me. I am posting this story with Jessie's permission.

Moms' decision to breast-feed faces obstacles (MiamiHerald.com)

The benefits of breast-feeding are well documented in magazines, newspapers and scientific journals. However, the barriers to successful breast-feeding are less well known. And, according to a recent commentary published in the Journal of Pediatrics, these barriers can be especially challenging for working women.

In the workplace, nursing mothers may experience a lack of privacy to nurse or express milk, difficulty finding quality child care at or near the workplace, and reluctance on the part of employers to allow adequate time to express milk.

In fact, according to published reports, returning to work is commonly identified as a primary cause of early termination of breast-feeding or feeding with expressed milk.

But even among stay-at-home moms, the road to successful nursing can be rocky.



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Memories, and a bit about me, or another Rare Ramble

It's funny, isn't it, how we end up on some of the paths we travel down? I recently was talking with a friend about the current media breastfeeding brouhaha, and about mothers and the options they have available and the choices they must make, and I suddenly recalled one of those key exchanges that helped push me along my own journey.

Backing up a bit, to put this all in context...

I am the mother of a three-and-a-half year old daughter who is - along with the love of my life, my amazing husband - the greatest gift I have ever been given. I am also a certified lactation counselor, and work for a governmental agency providing support to mothers; I also am a volunteer counselor with my local nursing mothers' council. (And here's my standard disclaimer - any opinions I express here in my blog or in other personal spaces or forums are mine and mine alone.) It is my intent to obtain both my RN and my IBCLC in the future.

I became a breastfeeding counselor because of my own personal experiences. I had always had an interest in women's health issues, knew I somehow wanted to be involved in the field, and was exploring possible career options with that in mind. But I had not yet - for a lack of a better phrase - found my calling.

I knew I wanted to breastfeed my daughter, but when she was born, we had a lot of trouble. And I mean a lot of trouble. I rarely speak of this at length, even with close friends... but it's important to not minimize our experiences, so I'm going to speak of it here and now.

The Peanut would not latch on, although I had a great supply and was determined to make it work. I will always remember the sheer panic of knowing that we would soon be sent home and that I could not feed my child. She had latched very poorly a few times, then opted out of the whole process. I swear to you, every single nurse in that hospital handled my breasts during our stay. My husband cup-fed her my pumped milk while I wept.

We received so much conflicting advice, from both the nurses and the IBCLCs. It was terrifying and overwhelming and stressful. But my husband and I were determined to make breastfeeding work; god love that man, he worked just as hard at the process and was a rock, never faltering or questioning the decision that we made together - our daughter would be breastfed.

The day before we were sent home, an IBCLC looked at my desperate face, and then came back with a nipple shield in her hand. We talked about the pros and cons, the conditions of its use and the importance of follow-up lactation care - and then we gave it a try. And my daughter nursed.

What followed were eight-plus long weeks of a love-hate relationship with the nipple shield, a strange little silicon device that came between my daughter and I and yet brought us together. There were countless visits to breastfeeding support group, hours and hours of research, lots of learning and lots of crying. I have extremely mixed feelings about nipple shields because they are so often improperly used - but I will always be grateful for its existence, and for the IBCLC who first handed us one, because it saved our nursing relationship and allowed us to breastfeed.

After weeks of patient (and not-so patient) attempts, we finally weaned the Peanut off of the shield, and at ten weeks of age, she was nursing like a champ, unassisted and intervention-free. The first time we made it a whole day without once needing the shield, I bawled. The whole process was gut-wrenching and life-changing. There were plenty of times I was ready to give up, but between my husband and the lactation support people (IBCLCs and LLLLs and other angels) I hung in there and stuck it out. I'm stubborn that way. And three-and-a-half years later, I am now the mother of a beautiful, sensitive, brilliant little nursling who on a daily basis makes it abundantly clear how much she values our breastfeeding relationship, and validates our decision to stick it out through all the grief and pain.

I still get teary when I think about that time. There were many other unfair burdens and demands placed upon us during that winter as well, and we were under a great deal of pressure and stress. But our daughter came first and foremost, in spite of it all, and we made it through to the other side.

You see, it's because of all this trouble that I had that I have gone on to become a certified lactation counselor. Because it was so hard for me, and if I can help just one mama to have a better experience, it means everything to me. The number one reason women stop breastfeeding is because they do not have adequate support. So I aim to provide a little of that missing support. Upon encouragement from my favorite IBCLC, I started taking formal classes... and so it began, and so it goes on.

Anyway, back to that exchange I mentioned...

My daughter was probably about twelve weeks old or so, and our nursing issues were quite recent and the emotional wounds were still quite fresh. I had some friends and some friends-of-friends come over for a girl's night, and our conversation touched on many subjects. I was the only mother in the group, and I alluded briefly to the struggle we had with breastfeeding, and what a relief it was that we were on track now.

One of the attendees was heavily pregnant with her first child. She was one of those 'friend-of-a-friends' and I did not really know her at all. And she remarked, "Well, I don't see how anyone can have any trouble with breastfeeding - those babies seem to want to latch onto everything and anything! All they want to do is suck, so I don't see what the big deal is."

I recall very well the sting of those thoughtless words. I know they were said without malice and came from ignorance, but they hurt. From my perspective, this woman was sitting on my sofa eating the food I had cooked for her and was criticizing me for not being good at something that should be instinctual and easy, and it felt like being kicked in the stomach. She was just being stupid and dumb, but she really hurt me.

So yeah, I've looked at clouds from both sides. I know about the struggle and the hurt and the sting of being made to feel inadequate. And I know about how fiercely proud I am to have nursed my child, and I want every baby in the world to be breastfed. But I also have friends who couldn't make it work, and I will not tolerate people slapping them for things they could not control, whether it's because it flat out wasn't possible or because they weren't given the support they needed to succeed. And it's also why it makes me so angry when women are made to feel guilty over an issue like this.

You just can't look at it from one side. To paraphrase the schmaltzy song, it's the clouds' illusions you should recall.

Hathor the Cow Goddess and the Evolution Revolution - Expectation Computations 2

The latest Hathor is up!

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Blog site bans pro-baby breastfeeding support group's images (Index on Censorship)

The popular weblog hosting site LiveJournal barred images of breastfeeding mothers posted by a campaign group working to promote natural breastfeeding for babies - after its Abuse Team deemed the pictures "inappropriate".


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Breast milk eases addicted newborns' withdrawal (PediatricHealthOnline)

Jun 12 (Reuters Health) - Babies of drug-dependent mothers are born with the same addiction, and have to go through withdrawal. The severity of symptoms is reduced, Australian researchers have found, when such infants are breast fed or given milk expressed by their mothers.

"Promoting the idea of breast-feeding in drug-using women before birth may improve outcome, both medically and socially," Dr. Julee Oei from University of New South Wales, Kensington, told Reuters Health.

The team explains in the journal Pediatrics that addictive drugs are passed into breast milk, "but the quantity of transferred drug is so low that breast-feeding is considered unlikely to prevent neonatal abstinence syndrome," as infant withdrawal is called. There's some evidence, however, that breast-feeding reduces the severity of withdrawal symptoms.



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A rare ramble

And here is a blog I've just added to my feeds, because it is well worth reading and keeping up with.

On a side note... I rarely speak my own mind here, and tend to keep my babbling on my personal blog, and journal. I feel that I am still so much a student, and very often in the blogosphere people are assumed to be 'experts' in their field, right or wrong, and this is not a role I have been comfortable taking on in this particular media, where so much can be misinterpreted or taken out of contaxt. I have very much taken the 'research-based evidence' admonition to heart; I hope to become an IBCLC one day, and strive to follow that code of ethics now in anticipation of that time. So I tend to stick to the facts here rather than bore everyone with my opinions.

I find that I must say something, however brief, about the recent flurry of articles on the national breastfeeding campaign.

I think that many of the women who are saying, "But I wanted to breastfeed! And I couldn't!" have every right to be angry and upset when they are told how important breastfeeding really is. I cry foul, however, when that guilt card starts popping up.

BE angry. Be upset. Your government tells you all about the benefits of breastfeeding your child, but makes it incredibly difficult for you to do so, because we have horrific maternity leave policies and our healthcare system is a joke, and you are denied the access to the tools you need in order to succeed.

BE angry. Be outraged. The ad campaign is honest and tells you that you put your child at risk by formula feeding, but if you dare to put your child to the breast in public you will be chastised and harrassed and there is no federal legislation that will protect you.

BE angry. Be furious. There is an overwhelming body of evidence which demonstrates that formula-fed babies are sicklier and at higher risks for serious diseases through their lives, but your doctor doesn't have the training to help you and and so he tells you to go ahead and give up and that your child will turn out just fine.

BE angry. Be incensed. You can submit expenses for reimbursement to your flex plans for contact lens solution, cough syrup and band aids, but you can't submit the cost of a breastpump because your government doesn't consider it a necessary expense.

Go ahead, be angry. You really ought to be. But don't feel guilty - because you're not the one responsible for this failure. Don't take on that burden for them - you're not the one whose feet should be in the fire. You are guilty of nothing. You are doing the best you can with what you've been handed. Don't let them hand you this load of bull, too.

Breast is best, and tasty, too! (Dunstable News - Bedford Today)

Special cake marks awareness week

This specially made cake, complete with bra, provided food for thought about breastfeeding. It was served up at a playgroup in Dunstable, to help promote Breastfeeding Awareness Week.

The cake was on show at the weekly playgroup run by the Dunstable and District branch of the National Childbirth Trust.

They marked the awareness week with a stand at the playgroup, which is called Bumps, Babies and Bundles of Fun, with advice, information and leaflets on hand.



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Infant Formula, Parkinson's Tie Probed (WebMD)

June 15, 2006 -- Early research in mice shows that being fed iron-fortified formula in infancy may increase the risk of developing Parkinson's diseaseParkinson's disease late in life.

In the study, newborn mice exposed to dietary iron levels similar to those found in infant formula showed evidence of Parkinson's-like neurological degeneration as they aged, the researchers say.



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Lack of breast-feeding caused Nepal royal family's downfall? (India News)

Kathmandu - A Nepali writer has come up with a different cause for the downfall of Nepal’s King Gyanendra and the Shah dynasty that ruled the kingdom for over 200 years - the lack of breast-feeding by the Shah queens.

Peter J. Karthak, author and columnist, attributes the disintegration of Nepal’s royals and their growing unpopularity to the royal babies’ never knowing ‘the comfy zones of their mothers’ bucket-seat laps and pillow-like soft bosoms’.

Karthak, who was educated in North Point school in Darjeeling, India, where the current king and his two brothers also studied around the same time, wrote in his column in the Kathmandu Post daily Sunday that the lack of breast-feeding, symbolising the meagre role mothers played in royal childrens’ lives, caused the ‘male brats’ to grow up as ‘drunkies (sic), junkies, spoilers, wastrels and mean murderers’.



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It's time to promote breastfeeding (MetroWestDailyNews.com)

Mitt Romney has succeeded in making sure that baby formula companies can continue to give new parents free samples as they check out of the hospital. We shouldn't be surprised; babies aren't known for big campaign contributions.

Romney claims that political considerations aren't an issue. According to him, it's about depriving "women of the right to decide whether they want to breastfeed their babies or give them formula."

Makes sense -- after all, if hospitals didn't give out free formula, a new parent would have to go shopping, look at the high price of formula, and make a conscious decision to spend around $1,000 in the next year on artificial food that has zero immune system benefits and is nutritionally inferior to mothers' milk.

If mothers understood that breastfeeding gives babies stronger immune systems; lowers their risk of developing diabetes, cancer, and numerous other diseases; and provides a free and easy way to keep them content, mothers might actually decide to breastfeed, hurting formula companies' profits.

But maybe Mitt really does care about personal freedom. So, here are some more ideas for hospital freebies. Let's have hospitals give free cigarettes to lung cancer patients after chemotherapy. We should also hand out free wine after AA meetings.



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Suckle This (Gothamist)

If milk does a body good, mother's milk seems to do worlds of it. Yesterday, the NY Times explored the science of breast-feeding, from its ability to strengthen the mother-baby bond to strengthening the baby's immune system. The benefits of suckling at the teat have been kicked around for years. Other gains to be made include reducing a baby's risk of developing obesity, asthma, diabetes, and even cancers later in life, including leukemia and lymphoma. Kids who are breast fed also tend to score higher on IQ tests, avoid some autoimmune disease and can dodge certain infections thanks to antibodies passed along in the milk that mommy has herself been building up all her life.

And there's good news for moms too: breast-feeding can keep one from ovulating which (in addition to obvious immediate benefits) is associated with a decreased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. This is thought to result from decreased estrogen levels during lactation.

The trouble is, despite this growing pile of evidence in favor of the practice, PC thugs are a little worried because a campaign to encourage breast-feeding may make women who are unable to do so feel inadequate and guilty. We wonder if they would also hold back on advising people to eat healthier or hit the gym out of fear of making people feel bad that they can't afford either. Breast feeding rates apparently increase with education, income, and age. Black women do it less frequently than most while Hispanics breast-feed often.



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Breast-Fed Babies May Have a Leg Up in the Battle Against Childhood Obesity (New York Times)

Exercise. Cut down on television. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Oh, and make sure your children are breast-fed.

That is the latest prescription for preventing childhood obesity, as written by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on studies that have found that children who were breast-fed extensively as babies were less likely to put on weight later in life.



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Breast-Feed or Else (New York Times)

Warning: Public health officials have determined that not breast-feeding may be hazardous to your baby's health.

There is no black-box label like that affixed to cans of infant formula or tucked into the corner of magazine advertisements, at least not yet. But that is the unambiguous message of a controversial government public health campaign encouraging new mothers to breast-feed for six months to protect their babies from colds, flu, ear infections, diarrhea and even obesity. In April, the World Health Organization, setting new international bench marks for children's growth, for the first time referred to breast-feeding as the biological norm.

"Just like it's risky to smoke during pregnancy, it's risky not to breast-feed after," said Suzanne Haynes, senior scientific adviser to the Office on Women's Health in the Department of Health and Human Services. "The whole notion of talking about risk is new in this field, but it's the only field of public health, except perhaps physical activity, where there is never talk about the risk."



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Study shows introducing solid foods at the right age can stave off allergies (JournalStar.com)

Feed solid foods to your infant and she’ll sleep through the night.

That’s the advice given to exhausted new mothers.

Feed them solid foods between 4 months and 6 months — never before 4 months. That’s the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition talking.

Give nothing but breast milk for the first 6 months, says advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Breastfeeding. It points to studies that find infants who get solids too early have a greater chance of developing food allergies.

Childhood allergies sometimes grow into adult allergies. Sometimes there’s a grouping of allergies, eczema and asthma. Some allergies, like to nuts, are dangerous.

Now comes a study in the June issue of Pediatrics suggesting maybe it’s best to feed infants solids after four months rather than six.



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Killed bills would have protected moms, kids (The Arizona Republic)

As the state Legislature winds down, bills start flying through the process.

As that happens, you should compare some bills that were sent to the governor with two bills killed by two dads from Gilbert in the Legislature that would have protected mothers and children.

Sometimes the public process functions well. Amy Milliron went from ordinary mom to successful activist overnight. advertisement

Last summer she was breast-feeding her infant son at a public pool in Chandler when she was asked by a lifeguard to do her feeding in the bathroom in the future.



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KDHE Educates Public About a Mother's Right to Breastfeed (Kansas City infoZine News)

The Kansas Legislature passed a law this session that allows a woman to breastfeed her baby anywhere she has the right to be.


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Target apology (suburbanchicagonews.com)

Minneapolis-based Target on Thursday issued an apology, saying it was wrong for employees at the Naperville store to tell a customer she could no longer nurse her baby in a fitting room.



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Stores Apology Over Breastfeed Refusal (from Blackburn Citizen)

CLOTHING giant Next has apologised to an East Lancashire mum after staff refused to allow her to breastfeed her baby in their shop.

Stephanie Prior, 33, was shopping for holiday clothes at Blackburn's Townsmoor retail park when five-month-old tot Luci began to cry from hunger.

Mrs Prior said she approached staff in the store at about 11.30am and asked permission to take the baby into a changing room to breastfeed her in private.

But she claims that staff refused, forcing her to abandon the clothes she had planned to buy and seek help at the Boots store next door, which let her use an office.



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When is a baby too fat? New guidelines lower the bar (statesman.com)

Parents are notoriously obsessive over how their babies stack up on the growth charts pediatricians use. Now, new guidelines from the World Health Organization are prompting a debate over how big a healthy baby should be.

WHO, the United Nations' health agency, is urging every country to adopt its growth charts, which aim to show how children ideally grow in their first five years of life. The guidelines also include for the first time measurements for body mass index, or BMI, for babies younger than 2 — a weight and height calculation used to determine whether people are overweight or underweight. (Currently, BMI doesn't appear on U.S. growth charts before age 2.)

But the charts — and particularly the new BMI standards — are raising concerns that worries about obesity will be pushed into infancy, a time when adequate nutrition is crucial for brain development and other important growth. Pediatricians and health officials in the U.S. say they aren't sure whether the WHO guidelines should be adopted in this country.

One reason is that the WHO growth curves are based on babies who were breast-fed for at least a year, while the American charts are based on children who were primarily formula-fed after the first few weeks. Formula-fed children tend to be bigger than breast-fed children in late infancy. Another difference: The WHO charts are based on children from affluent, educated families in six countries. The U.S. charts are based on a broader sample of U.S. children.



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Nursing a healthy practice (Wisconsin State Journal)

For Fran Weintraub, breast-feeding her babies makes sense from every point of view.

As a physician, she knows the statistics that show breast-fed babies are healthier.

As a volunteer who helps other mothers, she knows that practical tips can help.

And as a mother, she wants the best for her 10-month-old daughter, Rena.

"Why would you not breast-feed when you know that you want to do the best for your baby? And it's so wonderful to do this with your baby, and so convenient," she said. She also nursed Rena's brothers, who are 3 and nearly 6 years old.



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Popular Blogging Site Restricts Use of Breastfeeding Photos (SF Indymedia)

Popular Blogging Site Restricts Use of Breastfeeding Photos:
LiveJournal cites images as 'inappropriate' and sends mothers to the virtual restroom.

Wednesday, May 31st, 2006 - Women on the popular blog site LiveJournal are calling foul at the company’s decision to brand images of breastfeeding as ‘inappropriate.’ Many users of the site have joined together to urge LiveJournal’s parent company SixApart to address their concerns and reevaluate the policy.

Small "userpics" of no more than 100 by 100 pixels represent LiveJournal members throughout the site. Users can define one of these icons as "default icon" which plugs it into the user's public profile. These default icons were originally not permitted to be ‘sexually explicit or graphically violent.’ Recently, icons which depicted breastfeeding were cited as being ‘inappropriate’ by the LiveJournal abuse team, a group of volunteers who monitor complaints on the site. After clarification was requested, LiveJournal changed their FAQ to reflect a no nudity rule and is claiming that icons with visible areola or nipple are not permitted. Whether or not areola is visible in a photograph is dependent on a number of factors, including skin tone of the mother and physical changes during pregnancy.

Claimed Live Journal Abuse Staffer 'Erin' in a post on the site, "That's really a matter for the FCC to decide. LiveJournal's policies on this mirror what would be allowed on primetime TV or in a PG-13 movie." However, this is not true. The FCC does not consider the act of breastfeeding on television to fall under the definitions of indecency or obscenity.


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Dr. Mom talks breast feeding to several area professionals (Fort Morgan Times)

An educational opportunity for health care professionals to learn more about the overall importance of breast feeding for women took place Tuesday at the County Steak-Out.

Marianne Neifert, M.D., also known by many as Dr. Mom, held a public discussion to explain how to implement prenatal hospital routines that promote breast feeding to more than 20 area doctors, physicians and health care professionals.

Neifert, who is an expert in lactation management and co-founder of the Lactation Program at Rese Medical Center in Denver, said that while she is proud of breast feeding's success rate in Colorado, it has been the rural areas where fewer women are practicing the procedure.



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Target Employee Challenges Nursing Mom (NBC5.com)

CHICAGO -- A Montgomery, Ill., woman who was breast feeding her baby in a fitting room at a suburban Target store was told to go into a bathroom stall instead, stirring up controversey over an activity that is protected by state law.

NBC5's Alex Perez said Wednesday that when 3-month-old Kendall gets hungary, she does what most babies do. She cries.

So when the baby began crying last week while she and her mom Jenny Dover were at a Naperville Target store on Route 59, Dover went into the fitting room, closed the door and began breast feeding her baby.

Dover said that a few minutes later the attendant knocked on the door.

"(She) asked if I was OK, and I said I was fine: 'I'm breast feeding the baby,'" she said.

She continued breast feeding Kendall until she was done. When she left the fitting room, the employee approached her again.

"She said, 'There's the bathroom or you should feed her before you come,'" Dover recalled.

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Store hassles nursing mom (The Beacon News)

A Montgomery mother plans to do her shopping elsewhere, after being told by employees of the Target Naperville store that she should not breast-feed her baby in a fitting room.

Two employees of the Target on Route 59 told Jenny Dover that she should not breast-feed in the fitting room, even though, under Illinois law, she could have nursed in the middle of an aisle if she wanted to.



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