I was surprised to learn today that a yahoo group has been started in support of Brooke Ryan.  As a result, there are 14 nurse-ins being planned across the country on September 8:  http://health. groups.yahoo. com/group/ bwb_lactivist/.  I'm glad that in 2007 women take up for themselves and oneanother.  My original post about the incident that Brooke encountered at a local Applebee's can be read after the flip.

Many of you have probably heard of the Ban the Bags Campaign... a push to keep hospitals from giving out free formula to all new mothers.  One hospital in New York City is receiving press coverage as a result of changing its policy to give new moms a bag with a pamphlet on breastfeeding and a cute baby tee that says: I Eat at Mom’s instead of the usual free formula.  

The idea behind the new policy, is educating new moms about the benefits of breastfeeding so that they can make an informed choice.   In a time where few of their mothers or relatives have breastfed, new mothers often lack the confidence to breastfeed their own babies.  The hospital is hoping to increase awareness and breastfeeding initiation rates in the process.  

Despite PerezHilton’s news story that Cuban President Fidel Castro is dead, the Florida press sez he is probably still alive.

When I read Perez’s piece, I went to Granma, the Cuban newspaper, to see if Fidel had recently posted one of his famous hours-long speeches. He hadn’t. In fact, there was only this story about how 2,000 journalists worldwide gathered in Havana for the unveiling of a book on interviews with him. Hmm.

But I also know this “Castro is dead!” hysteria all too well. Like Perez, I am Cuban. Growing up in Miami, I can't begin to count how many times I have heard:

--“Castro has cancer!”

--“Castro gave a speech for only 10 hours versus 14 hours. He must have cancer!”

--“Castro hasn’t been out in days. He must be dead from cancer!”

The cancer rumor was rampant. It didn't matter. Each rumor was enough to send my family and I to Univision for hours at a time. I will believe it when I see CNN cover his (open casket) funeral.

A scare story: More women in the U.S. are dying in childbirth, according to an MSN article, which included the picture of a healthy, pregnant mom with her two sons. (The mother died a month later in childbirth.)

But once you read the story, you will realize that the actual death rate has risen by one a year from 12 per 100,000 births to 13 per 100,000 births. The article blames the rise in C-sections for the death due to blood loss and other complications related to the surgery. But the article goes on to say that states such as California and Montana have changed the way deaths are reported. Also, African-American women appear at greater risk due to high blood pressure and poor prenatal care. Obese women are also at greater risk for maternal death.

As for the woman in the picture, she actually died a day after delivering her baby vaginally. She died of a heart attack following massive blood loss. The doctor, who was not found legally responsible for her death, says he never conducted an autopsy -- a decision he now regrets.

I don’t doubt that c-sections -- or any surgery for that matter -- carry greater risks. And while 12 to 13 is statistically relevant, it seems to be a small number when you take into consideration all the other risk factors and the different ways deaths are reported. The headline was so much more frightening than the actual story.

Another health story: Women who are overweight are more likely to quit breastfeeding than their normal-weight sisters, according to Reuters. The study was conducted in Denmark where breastfeeding is nearly universal and the women receive plenty of social support.

Among women who were morbidly obese (body mass index of 40 or greater), 14.4 percent had stopped exclusive breast-feeding by the time their child was a week old, compared with 3.5 percent of normal-weight women. Throughout the course of the study, the likelihood of stopping breast-feeding rose with BMI.

Finally, DH is back and I am up for air -- at least the next 20 minutes while my cherub sleeps.

Man, Eli is in a rough stage. I must have suffered from that amnesia everyone talks about as I am vaguely remembering experiencing this with Ari three years ago. Right now, Eli is not sleeping through the night. (Rats!) She typically gets up three times in the middle of the night to nurse: midnight, 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.. To say I am cracking from the sleep deprivation is an understatement.

But even worse: She won’t take either a bottle or solid food. Every time I leave her with Papi, she is screaming bloody murder waiting for me -- “the boob lady” -- to come home. She is a voracious nurser and is in the top 95th percentile in height and 90th percentile in weight. My poor breasts.

Last week I tried to give her a bowl of baby cereal and breast milk at exactly four months and one week of age. She was red with fury and cried. The injustices of the world! I put away the food and plan to try again just shy of her fifth month on Sept. 7. (Can you tell I am counting down the days?)

The good news is I can handle the sleep deprivation SO much better than with Ari. Once I am up in the morning, I feel fine the rest of the day. But it’s getting up at 7 a.m. after waking up multiple times in the night that is the challenge…

More on breastfeeding: The California Attorney General’s office is collecting information on mothers who have experienced “breastfeeding discrimination.” If you are a mom in California and have been told by an employer or a business that you cannot nurse in their vicinity or in public, contact Sunny Sarkis at the AG office at (916) 324-4085 or Sunny dot Sarkis at doj dot ca dot gov.

Other thoughts in my mind: This Salon article about the challenges of recycling plastic bags. Personally, I either bring my own canvas bags or request paper since it is recyclable. Maybe you ladies in eco-work can help me with this, but why do we even have plastic shopping bags? They are so flimsy and either are not recyclable or too expensive to recycle. What gives?

We are off to northern California to visit MTer Shenanigans. Ari, the trapped city boy, is looking forward to seeing "insects in logs" and riding horses. What are you up to this weekend, ladies? Have a good weekend all!

Rendell Signs Bill to Allow Breastfeeding in Public

Our government might be partially shut down today, but at least nursing moms' rights have been protected!

For the first time in 7 years I am neither pregnant or nursing.  I don't think I've quite internalized it yet.  My baby, my youngest of 3 girls, turned 2 in Janaury and stopped nursing about 3 weeks ago.  

She was only nursing at night before she slept for a few months before I decided to gently encourage her to stop.  For almost 2 weeks, she would ask at night when I laid down next to her in bed "I want nummies."  "OK," I said, "just wait a second."  And that was usually all it took.  There were a couple of nights that she protested, but was soothed with a cuddle or a back rub or "Twinkle Star."  Then one day she told me:  "I don't want nummies, I don't want water, I don't want juice.  I want to cuddle."  And that's what we did.

Found this on Gawker today. We've exhausted the topic as of late, but I thought it was an interesting enough read. I say, go Maggie. It is pretty cool to see a down-to-earth celebrity feeling comfortable in public. It's also not as if she's doing the talk show circuit thumping her chest (pun intended) about it, she's just- being a mom. Very groovy.

What isn't groovy? Some of the comments, and the fact that it's considered a "momtroversy". Someday, it won't be an issue. Someday.

I knew about human milk banks and cross-nursing among friends and relatives.  I did not know that you could hire or become a professional wet nurse through an agency:

Wet-nursing (hiring a woman to breast-feed your baby), which most of the Western world abandoned in the 19th century, is making a minor comeback among young moms....

Milk banks, which sell bottled breast milk, already make some people squirm; the idea of physically breast-feeding a child not your own evokes even deeper taboos...Even the pro-nursing group La Leche League has concerns about milk sharing because, in addition to helpful immunities and antibodies, viruses can be passed through breast milk.

What other concerns could this trend bring up?

Wet nurses magnify the discomfort that many people already feel about the wealthy employing less advantaged women to do domestic duties. That's why the few women who hire wet nurses--mostly because they have adopted, have had breast implants or reductions or have high-powered careers--keep it a secret, for fear of being judged bad mothers.

Still, Robert Feinstock, who owns CertifiedHouseholdStaffing.com a Los Angeles--based agency that supplies wet nurses nationwide, says demand has steadily risen in the past four years, even though the standard fee of $1,000 a week is more than the average nanny gets.

Here is a story of one such hired wet nurse:

Brenda (whose last name is withheld to protect her clients' privacy), 42, has wet-nursed 10 babies in the past seven years partly to help send her own two kids to college. She has mulled over the social implications of her work--because she's black and eight of the families she has worked for are white. "A friend asked me, Don't you feel like you're the mammy?" she recalls. But she finds her job fulfilling, and sometimes amusing. "If you're someplace with the family and the baby starts to pull at your blouse or put his hand in your bra, that can be embarrassing," she says, laughing.

So MTers.  If breastfeeding your child wasn't an option for whatever reason, would you consider hiring a wet nurse?  On the flip side, would you ever consider becoming a wet nurse for pay?

Please excuse me for the disproportionate number of birthing stories. Besides waiting for the birth of my baby, I have been fantasizing about what the delivery room will hold for me, what my baby will look like, and yes, what our nursing experience will be like.

I already have Colostrum and a case of the “tingles.” I can’t wait to hold that newborn in my arms.

And, of course, the mainstream media is never lacking for lactation stories because as we know breasts sell papers. Most recently, the Boston Globe ran a "trend" story about how more women are engaged in extended nursing of children up to five years of age. But these moms are not your stereotypical “earth-mother types in Birkenstocks who homeschool their children,” but college-educated professionals who find themselves nursing their toddlers and even their kindergarteners before and after work.

(Ruth) Tincoff, for instance, works full time as a visiting assistant professor at Wellesley College. She also had not expected to be nursing Gwen until she was nearly 5.

"Gwen wasn't a big fan of eating," she says. At first, she stayed with it to give Gwen the nutrition she needed. Then it became part of their relationship and a way to comfort her daughter. "It helped Gwen to manage her emotions. If she was cranky or had a tantrum, nursing helped restore her," Tincoff says.

The article pointed out that it was hard to determine how big a trend years-long nursing is. Even La Leche League doesn’t keep track beyond 18 months. But something I found heartening is that the number of breastfeeding mothers, in general, is increasing.

Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from Abbott Labs' Ross Mothers Survey show a steady increase in the number of women who initiate breast-feeding, from 57 percent in 1994 to 72 percent in 2005. Less well-known is the gradual increase in the age at which breast-feeding stops. In 1997, 26 percent of mothers were still nursing their babies at six months; in 2005, 39 percent were. In 1997, 14.5 percent of mothers were still breast-feeding at 12 months; by 2005, the number had climbed to 20 percent.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends nursing for at least a year to give an infant protection against infections and allergies. The World Health Organization recommends two years.

Okay... I've finished watching the episode and here are my thoughts.  Though this family does practice a few things that would be considered attachment parenting, breastfeeding, babywearing, and co-sleeping, they definitely did not practice AP discipline.  It seemed as though Mrs. Walker spanked because she didn't have anything in her parenting toolbox to help her children learn the consequences to their actions.  In fact, spanking seemed to be the action that the mother took for any offense.  The result: her children weren't learning a thing and kept repeating the bad behavior.  Supernanny (Jo) didn't seem to do much to help with this problem, except to tell the parents that they shouldn't put up with it.  At the end of the show, an NBA star Dwyane Wade talks to Antony Jr. about how respect starts at home to be successful on and off the court.  While this is great for this child to meet an NBA star that hopefully made an impact on him, we can't all do this for our kids... so I'm not sure what Jo message is for the home audience here.

Though some families have no problem co-sleeping with a 14 month old and 6 year old, it obviously was not working for this family.  They were unhappy, and the kids weren't getting their sleep.  Dr. Sears says "wherever the family gets the most sleep is the best arrangement".  It was like they started co-sleeping and weren't sure how to transition in to the next step, whether that was getting the 6 year old to sleep in her own bed or some other arrangement.  I think Jo was a help with this new arrangement.  

Okay... now on to the baby.  In the show, Alissa is 14 months old (not 17 months as described in the Sun Times Article).  There are many families who would view this as still pretty young to be weaned... especially in other countries.  Incidentally, the World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for at least two years.  Though Mrs. Walker seems ready to wean, she also seems conflicted about it.  I think the thing that bothers me the most about this advice, is that the weaning is abrupt.  There's no slow transition dropping feedings one by one.  It's right to the bottle at the very next nap and that's it.  Mrs. Walker seems happy about the fact that her baby is weaned, so maybe this is a positive for this family.  However, I think Jo does a real injustice to mothers who choose to breastfeed beyond a year.  It's quite obvious that she views it as unnecessary at this stage in a child's life.  It's as if the milk a mother produces after a year suddenly has no nutritional or immunological benefits anymore.  Don't get me wrong... I have no problem with mothers who wish to wean their children because the breastfeeding relationship is no longer working for them or their child.  It just seems to me that a tough love approach isn't a one size fits all prescription for every family.  

Later in the show, she also gets Alissa to sleep on her own in a crib utilizing a cry it out method.  This made me squirm a bit because it's just not my parenting style.  During the show, it works after 5 minutes.  They only show this once, so we don't know if subsequent attempts are as "successful".  

It'll be interesting to see how others in the AP world react to this show.  Like I stated before... if the mother wants to wean and the end result is a happier family, then they made the right choice.  However I think those who practice AP parenting will have a problem with Supernanny's attitude about extended breastfeeding and how the situation is handled.  Let the nurse-ins begin!