Chile becomes 45th country to join Human Milk 4 Human Babies milk sharing network

Fellow Childbirth International Emma Kwasnica founded the mother-to-mother breast milk sharing network Human Milk 4 Human Babies Global Network (formerly Eats on Feets GLOBAL--I believe the name change occurred because of a trademarking issue, but I actually prefer the new name). The network is rapidly expanding, and yesterday, Chile became the 45th country to create a HM4HB facebook page! To see a list of all current chapters, click here, and if you are interested in helping to support this cause by becoming a co-admin for a page in your area, visit The HM4HB Global Network page on Facebook.

Review of Nonichai Nursing Mothers (Part 2)

Read about the ingredients found in Nonichai Nursing Mothers in Part 1.

I began taking my two-week sample of Nonichai Nursing Mothers in early December. On day 2 of taking it, I noticed the distinctive maple syrup odor in my sweat from the fenugreek. I drank herbal tea made from whole fenugreek seeds I bought at the health food store several months earlier, so I was familiar with this effect of fenugreek.

whole fenugreek seeds

Towards the end of the first week on the supplement , I began menstruating. Many women report experiencing dips in milk supply during menstruation. I have never really noticed, but I do think the supplement may have helped a little with this.

I missed a few days taking the pills here and there since we were traveling, but overall I did notice an increase in my milk supply. Not enough that I started experiencing engorgement or felt a need to pump excess, but enough that my son seemed to get all the milk he wanted faster. He actually started spitting up small amounts after nursing--probably a sign that there was more milk there than he needed, and something he hadn't done since he was quite a bit smaller (he was much more of a spit-up baby than big sister was, though).

All said, I would recommend the Nonichai Nursing Mothers supplement to any breastfeeding mom dealing with low milk supply or slow let-down.

my handsome son, age 9 1/2 months
photo by the owners of JCPhotography

The Federal Trade Commission16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising requires that I disclose that I received one or more of the products mentioned above as a free sample, which was offered to me by an email inquiry. Reguardless, I only recommend products I have used myself and that I believe could benefit my readers.

Review of Nonichai Nursing Mothers (part 1)

I was recently given the opportunity to try a free sample of the Nursing Mothers herbal supplement from Nonichai Health. (The page for the supplement has some excellent pro-breastfeeding information on it). This is the first offer I've received to review a product. I have looked up all the ingredients in the supplement. They are

• Noni leaves
• Cardamom
• Marshmallow root
• Fennel
• Fenugreek

Marshmallow, fennel, and fenugreek are all traditional herbal galactophages. Cardamom is a spice used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat digestive issues. I was very interested in the use of noni leaves. I am familiar with the use of the juice of the noni (Morinda citrifolia) fruit as a dietary supplement. My mother-in-law grew up using noni juice as a tonic in her native country of Tahiti.

the Noni (morinda citrifolia) plant

My husband's family is friends with the owners of the Tahitian Noni company, who have managed to create a blend of the juice with other fruits that is not completely impossible to swallow to people who have never tasted the fruit before (though the noni juice is still a very pungent flavor in it--it is kind of an acquired taste--I can tolerate it, while my husband actually likes it).

Tahitian Noni brand juice and lotion

I did not know before getting the offer to review this product that the noni leaf has also been traditionally been used as a medicine in Tahiti. The site I linked to above on Noni Leaves claims that tea made from these leaves is rich in antioxidants and flavinoids and aids in digestion and maintaining blood sugar levels.

Since my son is a bit small (issues with his doctor over this is another story for another day) and occasionally he has to work hard to get as much milk as he wants in the evenings, I decided I would give the free sample of Nonichai Nursing Mothers a try.

In my next post, I will talk about my experience taking this supplement.

The Federal Trade Commission16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising requires that I disclose that I received one or more of the products mentioned above as a free sample, which was offered to me by an email inquiry. Reguardless, I only recommend products I have used myself and that I believe could benefit my readers.

How you can win a Baby Bond--the nursing cover that covers you and not your baby

I wrote before about how I usually don't cover my babies' heads while nursing them in public. I usually wear a nursing tank under my shirt and nurse from the bottom of the shirt, and then everything is covered, as you can see in this photo. However, this doesn't work with button up shirts, dresses, and some wrap-style tops. The Baby Bond is a sash-style cover perfect for remaining covered while nursing from the top of your shirt, and you don't have to cover up the baby's head!

Sheridan at EnjoyBirth is giving away a sample Baby Bond Flex that she reviewed. Click here to learn how you can win!

Nursing in Public at the Space Needle

This is me breastfeeding my son on a bench on the outer observation deck at the top of the Space Needle during our Seattle trip last weekend. I love everything about this picture--the lighting, my facial expression, his little hand holding the neckline of my shirt...

Ironically, the sign in all the doors going to is deck say noy to bring food or drink out there. :)

What's the most interesting place you've nursed a baby?

Latter-day Saint perspectives on Nursing in Public

As an LDS woman, I believe very much in dressing modestly. I also believe that breastfeeding is the way God designed for babies to be fed, and that the only way to make breastfeeding normal in our society is for people to see it. I believe that the negative view of American society of public nursing is a big factor in why women in America don't breastfeed longer. I have experienced firsthand the crushing isolation that results from trying to breastfeed in private as much as possible, as well as the frustration from trying to nurse a baby under a cover who didn't want her head covered up. So now I nurse in public. Without a cover. I do however, usually wear nursing tank tops (I buy them at Target) under my shirts, which allows for minimal exposure of my body while nursing publically. This is what I am comfortable with and what works for me, which may be different for different people.

I have put together this collection of blog posts from LDS women, sharing their own opinions of the issue of modesty and breastfeeding:

• the bee in your bonnet: Modesty and Breastfeeding
• Improves with Age: Breastfeeding and the LDS Church
• Stand and Deliver: Breastfeeding in Church

How to Teach a Baby Not to Bite While Nursing

I was talking to a friend recently and mentioned that I think my son is teething. She mentioned that she would like to wean her 10 month old soon because she bites. I told her that I had nursed my daughter for an entire year after she got her first tooth, and she rarely bit me. Part of that is just her, and part of it is that if she ever did bite, I would take her off the breast long enough that I felt she understood that she can't do that. I did sometimes yell because I couldn't help it, but that seemed to work for my daughter to discourage biting (but I hear that doesn't work for some babies) My friend realized that her baby probably thinks that her reaction to biting is funny or a game. This experience made we want to help other moms know that it is possible to breastfeed babies with teeth and teach them not to bite. I will see how things go with my son, since he seems to be a bit more inclined to chomp down than my daughter, but hopefully teeth won't get in the way of our nursing relationship. Here are some more tips from kellymom about nursing babies with teeth: Kellymom.com :: When Baby Bites

August 1-7 is World Breastfeeding Week

It's World Breastfeeding week! To learn more about this year's theme, visit http://worldbreastfeedingweek.org.

I don't normally post a lot about breastfeeding, since the main focus of this blog is birth, but I am planning a post or two more, in addition to last week's post from the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival, about breastfeeding, to honor the occasion.

By the way, I changed my blog design again. I went back to a basic blogger template, with a slightly different layout (wider, different header). I hope this one is a little softer on the eye. I also designed the new "Birth Unplugged" badge in my sidebar. I needed a graphic so that when people post links to my post on facebook, they can select it as the thumbprint. It may need different colors, but it is what it is for now.

"No Nutritional Benefit?" A Breastfeeding Myth Debunked

Welcome to The Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival!

This post was written as part of The Breastfeeding Cafe's Carnival. For more info on the Breastfeeding Cafe, go to www.breastfeedingcafe.wordpress.com. For more info on the Carnival or if you want to participate, contact Claire at clindstrom2 {at} gmail {dot} com. Today's post is about child-led weaning. Please read the other blogs in today's carnival listed below and check back for more posts July 18th through the 31st! 

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 Lately I've been hearing women at my playgroup or in the church mother's lounge passing around the idea that that breastfeeding has "no nutritional benefit" after the first year. Women say this with the implication that the only reason to breastfeed your baby is because it feeds them. I have been responding that even though children at age one and beyond are able to eat table food and therefore do not "need" breastmilk, their immune systems benefit from breastfeeding and they get comfort from the nursing relationship.

But then I decided to do some research. And I found multiple sources of evidence that breastfeeding after the first year does, in fact, have nutritional benefits. And why wouldn't it? Breastmilk is nature's tailor-made food. It is not as if the milk that keeps babies healthy for their first year suddenly becomes diet coke after a year. The fat energy content of breastmilk actually increases with prolonged lactation. It probably changes in composition to meet the needs of the nursing child as she grows and begins to eat complimentary foods.

And even though one year olds can eat a balanced variety of table food, it doesn't mean that they will. Toddlers are notoriously picky eaters. That is why companies design drinks for them to "fill in the gaps" in their diet from the things they refuse to eat. Obviously, continued breastfeeding works the same way. One study of children in Kenya found that the more deficient the food diet of the child, the more nutrition the child got from breastfeeding. Nursing does not provide complete nutrition for toddlers, but it does complement the diet they eat.

When my daugher started solids (we did both finger foods and homemade purees) at 6 months, I followed the recommendations at kellymom. I offered solids about an hour after nursing, so she was never very hungry when she ate and never ate a lot. When she started eating table food around 12 months, she was still nursing a lot and not eating large amounts of food. I was glad that even if she didn't eat much food, I knew she was at least getting nutrition from breastmilk. I knew she was just not ready to wean. No one really seemed to be bothered by the fact that she was still nursing, but we didn't get out much at the time, so not a lot of people even knew. A few months later, after she and I both got sick and my milk supply suffered, she was nursing only to fall asleep. That decrease in nursing increased my fertility, and since we were "not preventing" pregnancy anymore at that point, I got pregnant with my son the following cycle.

At that point, either continuing or stopping wouldn't have affected either of our lives verey much. I knew that nursing throughout pregnancy and tandem nursing are options, but I chose to wean her a few weeks after I found out I was pregnant. We weaned slowly, over the course of about 3 weeks so that my milk would decrease slowly and avoid the risk of mastitis. She learned to fall asleep with snuggles instead of nursing, and it was so gradual, that I didn't even realize when it was the "last time" for her to nurse. I can't imagine mother-guided weaning going more smoothly.

I am grateful that I chose to not to automatically wean at an arbitrary age, like one year. I feel that the choice to wean when we did was the best choice for us, and everyone has to make the best choice for them. People aren't making informed choices if they are basing them on inaccurate information, like the myth that breastfeeding after a year has "no nutiritonal benefit. 

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 Here are more posts by the Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival participants! Check back because more will be added throughout the day.

• Sylko @ Chaotic Mama—Breastfeeding Carnival: Child-led Weaning


• Shary Lopez @ Mama Fish—On How We Concluded Our Breastfeeding Relationship...


• BoobiesNBabies @ Num In Mind—She Will Let me Know


• Claire @ The Adventures of Lactating Girl—Facing It As It Comes


• Lexi @ Life As A Mommy—She's Done When SHE'S Done


• Timbra @ Bosoms & Babes—Where she leads


• Charity @ Imperfect Happiness—Child-led Weaning Breastfeeding Cafe Carnival Post


• Natasha @ naturalurbanmama—Mutual Weaning - My New Terminology


• Renee @ Just the 5 of us!—Weaning


• Brittany @ Birth Unplugged—No Nutritional Benefit Breastfeeding


• Kimberly @ Monkey Tales Mama Thoughts—End of Nursing


• And of course the guest poster on the Breastfeeding Cafe’s Blog today is Marilee Poulson—The Normal Course of Breastfeeding

Normative Language in Birth

As part of the communication training in my doula course, I recently read the article Watch Your Language by Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC. Here is an excerpt:

When we (and the artificial milk manufacturers) say that breastfeeding is the best possible way to feed babies because it provides their ideal food, perfectly balanced for optimal infant nutrition, the logical response is, "So what?" Our own experience tells us that optimal is not necessary. Normal is fine, and implied in this language is the absolute normalcy--and thus safety and adequacy--of artificial feeding. The truth is, breastfeeding is nothing more than normal. Artificial feeding, which is neither the same nor superior, is therefore deficient, incomplete, and inferior. Those are difficult words, but they have an appropriate place in our vocabulary.

Advantages. When we talk about the advantages of breastfeeding--the "lower rates" of cancer, the "reduced risk" of allergies, the "enhanced" bonding, the "stronger" immune system--we reinforce bottlefeeding yet again as the accepted, acceptable norm.

If we want breastfeeding to be the cultural norm. We have to use language that supports this. I believe the same can be said of childbirth. I often here people say that natural childbirth "has benefits." This is not true. Childbirth without unnecessary intervention is nothing more than a biological norm. If natural childbirth is normal, then medicated birth has risks, drawbacks, and ill-effects. People say babies whose mothers receive no medication are "more alert" and "breastfeed better" right after birth. If we want to normalize natural childbirth, we must say that babies born to medicated mothers are "sleepier" and "don't breastfeed well." Even calling a birth "unmedicated" reinforces the norm to some extent.

Choosing natural childbirth is not about choosing something "better," it is about birthing the way that should be normal for human women. It is about avoiding the risks that come with birthing other ways. This is why I'm glad that Lamaze International chose to use the words "safe" and "healthy" to refer to birth the natural way, in the Six Lamaze Healthy Birth Practices. As their research indicates, many women do not see "normal birth" as meaning birth without medical intervention.