Fresh Breastfeeding Ad Campaign Challenges U.S. to Help Moms Beat the "Booby Traps"
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) May 20, 2009, Little Silver, NJ - On May 25th, the Best for Babes Foundation www.bestforbabes.org will launch a clever and provocative new ad campaign designed to change the public perception of breastfeeding and expose the "booby traps"-the myriad cultural and institutional barriers that keep moms from succeeding. The ad debuts with an exclusive in the June/July issue of Fit Pregnancy. The campaign has been endorsed by Dr. Joan Meek, Chair of the United States Breastfeeding Committee and celebrities Gabrielle Reece and Marilu Henner.
In the eleven months of nursing Ezra, I have only used my little hand-powered Medela Harmony. Yesterday, after being in the middle of our third or fourth nursing strike, I resorted to borrowing a hospital-grade rental pump - the Ameda Elite. I bought the tubing set but am only borrowing the Elite for a few days. OH. MY. GAWD. I can't go back.
1. I was damaging my nipples by pumping with the Harmony. I don't know if it's just that the "SoftFit Breastshield" was too small a horn for my nipples, or that I was applying too much pressure/suction, but ouch. The Ameda pumps come with a slightly larger phlange horn (25mm), and is more comfortable. Here is some info on a proper phlange fit. I like that Ameda has really helpful information, easy to read and also very accurate.
No, nothing is wrong. Hang in for the ride... the first 6-8 weeks with a newborn are intense. Their needs are so incredibly high, especially since they are often growing a pound every 1-2 weeks!!
It is normal for 3 week olds to nurse constantly. That's what they are supposed to do. Is baby in your room in a cosleeper or a bassinet or in your bed? I recommend getting baby right there next to you (any of those!) so it's less effort to nurse in the middle of the night. Keep baby close by you all the time so you can get as much rest as possible. Soon it will be much easier to nurse and the feedings won't take nearly as long.
This post is a response to a question posed on one of my online discussion forums. The mother is pregnant with her first baby and trying to decide which makes the most sense - breastfeeding and it's "commitment", or bottlefeeding and the "convenience". She felt that she would be tied to baby all the time and unable to leave him or her for any period of time, and how can dad bond with baby if he can't give a bottle? She also didn't feel comfortable nursing in public, so how do you have a life? It was very interesting because after writing the post, the mom wrote that she didn't know any of these benefits of breastfeeding (and thanked me for the novel! Wahoo!) And everyone else who posted in response really gave a huge shout out for breastfeeding, the ease and benefits, how they got used to nursing in public, and how it was so easy to comfort their baby.
What do you do if you are summoned for jury duty? If you've already gotten postponed for 12 months, or 2 years? What if you're STILL nursing or a stay at home mom? Or nursing a new baby who is only 2 or 3 months old? Some mothers have no car, and are the primary caregivers, and/or even homeschooling their older children.
Every state is different, and some are more or less supportive of family needs. It's not just protecting the moms - it's protecting anyone who is a dependent. It's protecting the elderly, the young, the nursing. They may have no alternative care, or perhaps rather unreliable or unsafe care, if their care provider were summoned for a day, or a week. The woman (or man's!) partner will most likely not be permitted to stay home for the time in jury duty, and if they were able to get out of work, could be without pay. Forty or fifty dollars a day will not pay for housing, food, childcare, etc.
extended breastfeeding a video response on youtube.
Newsflash - babies were made to breastfeed, breasts were made for nursing!
My response to this mom was this:
Aw man, that's rough, but your DD is a newborn still!!!! Breastfeeding is recommended for at LEAST one year by the AAP, and TWO by the World Health Organization.
Tell them that your doctor said that formula is the WORST thing to give a sick baby - don't they give pedialyte for puking/diarrheal babies? Well... it might make headlines, but pedialyte was made as much like breastmilk as it could be, because breastmilk is BEST.
Just keep your head on straight, tell them it's not up for discussion, stop taking their calls, walk out of the room if they start in on trying formula, nurse your baby in front of them, GET YOUR PARTNER'S 150% support - if you need him to deflect some of the pressure, GET IT. He can take the heat for a while and hand out kellymom.com pamphlets on breastfeeding benefits. Print off pages from kellymom, the AAP, whatever. Tell them when they're ready to shut up about formula, they can see the baby again. Until then, sorry!
Analytical scrutiny reveals how complex fluid nourishes infants and protects them from disease
"WHEN IT COMES to feeding infants, the mantra is "breast is best." A diet of breast milk for babies is correlated with benefits including less diarrhea as well as lower incidence of diabetes or asthma when compared to formula-fed babies. But precisely how breast milk confers those advantages is unclear. Scientists know the basic ingredients of breast milk but don't fully understand how exactly they work to provide optimum nutrition for infants and protect against disease.
2008 BF Challenge
Or, as it is known in the Philippines; The Breastfeeding Olympics
What: A fun event to challenge geographic areas to see who can get
the most babies breastfeeding at one time. The winners are determined
by a percentage of birthrate.
When: October 11, 2008
Time: 11:00 am your time
Why: To celebrate breastfeeding, to educate the general public, to
develop peer support, and to just have fun!
Location/Site: Anywhere you can get 2 or more moms together. Some
sites are in someone's home. Other sites are in hospitals. Sites can
be in a park, at a clinic, at City Hall, on the Capitol grounds, in a
