Eldoret is the bread basket of Kenya’s athletics elite and famous runners, including Kipchoge Keino who made history by winning the east African country’s first gold medal in the 1500 meters run at the Mexico City Games.

But the town is also home to Hanna Jeruto, a 24 year old HIV+ mother who exclusively breastfeeds her 4 month old son, Kipruto. Kipruto, however, is HIV negative and when she was delivering at the provincial hospital doctors had advised her not to breastfeed him.

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I must have cursed myself because after writing my original post, Solving the Milk Crisis During Breastfeeding, I went through a milk crisis of my own. Whereas before I had strong milk ejection to the point my newborn was choking on my milk; it was slowly dwindling down during our trek from the Hills of PA to the Sunshine State. I was sorely lacking in milk while cruising on the Interstate with a screaming baby and frustrated driver-baby daddy. While desperately pumping with my Medela Breast pump and flashing the truck drivers, my Korean Seaweed soup (an excellent source for milk production) wasn’t there to save the day. I wish I found this and taken it with me during the stressful time of moving.

Lactate Support by Gaia Herbs came to me under the advice of Whole Food Sales associate. Although initially I was going to get a big helping of Fenugreek, I was advised that this might work much better. I am glad I spent the extra $15 because it literally saved our breastfeeding problem of not having enough milk.  Not only does it have Fenugreek, a natural milk producer, but it also contains: Fennel Seed, Red Raspberry, Blessed Thistle, and Marshmallow Root.

Other reasons to love Gaia Herbs (According to their Website)

• Gaia Herbs- The Leader in Certified Organic Herbal Products
• 100% Vegetarian
• Contains no Animal byproducts—No Gelatin
• Tested Free of Heavy Metal Toxicity and other Contaminants
• Packaged in Glass to Protect You and The Environment

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Andrea K:  “I nursed my son for 18 months. My daughter is nearly 23 months and shows no signs of stopping!”

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Here’s a little humor to end our week of breastfeeding stories. If you’ve every pumped, you can relate!  We’ll be announcing our Mother’s Milk winners on Monday.

AJ: We’ve all heard doctors explain how breast milk protects newborns via antibodies, proteins and immune cells, but rather than deep dive into the science of secretory IgA molecules, I’m going to ask a simple ‘Earth mom’ question…Is breastfeeding enough of a ‘human vaccine?’

R: ‘Breast is best’ to boost immunity from infections, reduce respiratory illnesses…But breastfeeding ONLY offers limited protection from serious diseases like measles, pneumonia, and whooping cough.

Breastfeeding works synergistically with immunizations, boosting the levels of protection against disease to actually increase the protection your baby gets. ALL ingredients in vaccines serve a purpose, whether it’s triggering a child’s immune response, or keeping them germ free. Even though we’ve eradicated some diseases in this country before, our mobile society makes it easy to have them come right back over on a plane…‘Herd protection’ only goes so far.

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In this picture, our daughter is actually latched on and nursing, turned completely away from mama (who is not so amused).

As she got older, her antics would progress from lying on her side, just nursing peacefully, through:

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One day you’re curled up on the couch, baby nestled sweetly in your arms, nursing his as he drifts softly off to sleep. The next day your baby is hanging over your shoulder, trying to nurse upside down and eat a cookie at the same time. Welcome to breastfeeding your toddler.

Once your baby becomes a walking, giggling, climbing toddler breastfeeding will never be the same. Commonly referred to as the “Breastfeeding Olympics” by moms who have been there, there is rarely a calm moment anymore. All those hours spent in the soft light of nursing a cuddly baby are now replaced by flashes and darts, cartwheels and somersaults, and the silly joy that toddlers emit everywhere. With that bundle of energy bursting through out the house some parents see their baby turning into a child and feel that it is time to put breastfeeding behind them. However, nursing a toddler still has many benefits.

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The McDonald’s has since apologized to the mother, but sadly, this situation is too often repeated, not only in restaurants, malls, and other public places, but on the internet as well — most recently with a mom’s breastfeeding pictures being banned from Facebook.

As evidenced by numerous comments on a YouTube Breastfeeding montage created by the League of Maternal Justice (in protest of the Facebook Photo bannings), people still compare public breastfeeding to public urination and masturbation, and insist that it’s inappropriate for women to expose themselves in order to feed their children.

With a long list of arguments that most breastfeeding mothers and breastfeeding supporters could list, there are still many people in society who are aware and may appreciate the benefits of breastfeeding, when it comes to doing it in public, it’s still amazing how many people in this country specifically are uncomfortable.

It’s apparent that World Breastfeeding Week, along with organizations such as the La Leche League and Breastfeeding is Normal, are essential in the fight to bring the much needed awareness of breastfeeding, most specifically breastfeeding in public, to folks who may not understand that we can’t always just go somewhere and hide when we need to feed our children.

Of course, I can’t help but point out the irony of a woman being asked to leave McDonald’s, a restaurant that is attempting to promote family friendly eating with their new “healthy” menu. Apparently apples and caramel (mmm, healthy!) and juice boxes are cool.

But breastmilk? Not on their list.

As one father told me just weeks after my own daughter was born, “You have to realize, Levi, you really aren’t that important in the first year. It’s all about mom.” Of course, it makes sense that the bond between mother and baby should be stronger initially than that between the father and baby. As a father, you have not had your child growing inside you and using your body as his or her source of nourishment and as his or her protective home. But I still wonder, is it really fair to say that the first year is all about mom? And what does this mean for stay-at-home dads?

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Other reasons I recommend the Belly Fish Nursing Pillow

• The Prints are quite kitschy and modern. I got the Cherry, Morning Glory Print and totally love it. These are not your usual drabby or babyish looking breast pillows. 
• The pillow folds over in half for compact storing. You can put it into your diaper bag, under the stroller, anywhere really
• The privacy panels are a must in places like an airport. I know we have the right to breastfeed in public, but I prefer to nurse in private. My own personal thing. But the flaps can also be folded down so the Belly Fish can also act as a nursing pillow only.
• I love the bag it came in. Very closely resembles the Ecobag’s Classic String bag. Perfect to use on your grocery grocery excursions. I love putting my veggies in the string bag.
• Belly Fish has won the iParenting Media award for excellent product in feeding.

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Yep, that’s right. For all the horror stories you hear about lost sleep and teething babies, it seemed a lot easier to me to just pop a boob out when he was hungry. No bottles to clean, nothing to warm, no formula to shake or measure, just one swift movement and - voila! Happy baby.

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After our home birth, we took my son to see the pediatrician. He told us he had a loud heart murmur, and that he needed to nurse for a total of 15 minutes over the next 12 hours, or he would have to be hospitalized. Fortunately, my son complied, but only after much insistance and persistance on my part, as well as many unusual nursing positions.  Once my milk came in three days later, he took more readily to the breast, but it was only after his heart was repaired surgically, that I realized how much his birth defect impacted his nursing.

After my son’s open heart surgery, the drainage began to take on a cloudy appearance.  The doctors through he might have had Chylothorax, which meant he would not be able to breastfeed for six weeks, as his body could not handle the fat content of breastmilk.  I was heartbroken, but I knew that I wanted to nurse until he was at least two years old, so I committed myself to pumping until he could nurse again. 

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I was talking with my mother, and she mentioned a few of her friend’s daughters, and daughter in laws who quit nursing quickly after giving birth. Here are some of the challenges they gave as reasons for quitting, and why they don’t have to be reasons to stop nursing altogether. I’m pretty insulated from this up here in Vermont, where nursing is highly encouraged. My mom often helps me understand what is going on in the rest of the world.

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One of Ava’s books about nursing (Breastmilk Makes My Tummy Yummy) contains a picture of a mom nursing a toddler and a baby and states: “Two can breastfeed without fuss, there is room for both of us.” On Wednesday night, we - me, Julian and Ava - experienced that for the first time.

Jody had to work an unusually long day yesterday and wasn’t planning on getting home until after 8 p.m. Since I knew Ava was really tired I decided to try to put her to sleep while Julian slept in the swing. Seems easy enough, right? Well, wouldn’t you know it, just as I got Ava undressed, Julian woke up crying. So much for easy. I brought him in the bedroom with us, hurriedly put Ava in her PJs, washed her face and hands (we skipped brushing teeth) and we all laid down on Ava’s twin bed (it was cozy) so that I could nurse Julian and hopefully, get Ava to sleep. She thought it was quite fun that we were all laying on her bed together. When I asked her if she wanted “na-na” (to nurse) with Julian, the giggles started. It took a bit of acrobatics on Ava’s part to nurse since I had Julian in the side-lying position, but she/we managed it. She giggled a lot as she nursed and thought the whole thing was quite funny, and I started laughing a few times too appreciating the comedic value of the scene. After the giggles subsided, she stroked Julian’s cheek and then held his hand as they both nursed, and it was a very sweet moment. Then the giggles started back up again.

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And I’m not just talking about weight loss — mainly because I never lost much weight while breastfeeding.

Tonight I’ll be chatting with Rachel Gross, RN and owner of Comfort Matters, Inc., a breastfeeding product company, about the benefits of breastfeeding for moms, as well as how to make breastfeeding more comfortable and convenient (thanks to the gaggles of cool new breastfeeding products and breastfeeding gear out there on the market today).

You can join us live from 9-9:30pm EST by visiting the Motherhood Uncensored Podcast, or download it via iTunes after it’s aired. Feel free to offer your points in the comments, or share them via live chat or by calling in during the show (646-915-8634) tonight.

Photo of author via Kristiemomof4

Giving birth was easy, suckling was natural and we sent the lactation consultant out of the room. Jane and I knew what to do. Parenting an infant was the easiest thing in the world to me. I was a little surprised that I still looked pregnant after giving birth (no one tells you that) but there was one remarkably stunning moment in my adult life that I’ve shared with no one until today.

The first day of milk boobs.

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World Breastfeeding Week starts on August 1st, and runs through August 7th. The theme of this year is “Mother Support- Going for the Gold.”
Supporting a mother who is breastfeeding is so important. There are so many other demands that a new mother faces when nursing, having support can be invaluable to the mother and new baby to establish breastfeeding.

But did you know that nursing a baby past six months and has many health benefits for the baby and the mother? Sadly it seems that once a baby is nursed passed six months and beyond, support often turns to opposition?

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There’s guilt-laden inadequacy of spousal pillow talk mumblings like, “Fergawdsakes, quit touching them, they feel like they’re gonna pop!” and surges of insecurity that surface in the wee hours of baby fussiness that can mess with our brains, convincing us the tyke must be starving. But the baby bonding, nourishment, and even eco-benefits of breastfeeding? Worth every precious ounce of initial angst and challenge…

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I read tons of natural pregnancy books, but I had neglected to really read about breastfeeding. I was more worried about labor then breastfeeding, as I thought nursing would just occur naturally, and it did (although this was not the case with my second child).  I did read the Nursing Mother’s Companion, which I highly recommend.  The most important thing I learned in this book was to NEVER wear an underwire bra while lactating. The wire can cut off your milk ducts and lead to nasty mastitis.  It happened to a friend of mine, and I still wonder why doctors don’t tell their patients the dangers of the wrong bra.

My daughter quickly gained weight, and her cheeks grew to the size of melons. I began to fear I was overfeeding her and that she might become obese. My midwives tried to squelch my fears and called her “healthy”, but since I couldn’t measure how much milk she was getting, my anxiety got the better of me.  I kept breastfeeding, despite these fears, despite cracked nipples and an occasional blocked milk duct, through the uncontrolled let down of milk pouring out.

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I attended my first La Leche League meeting when Zinnia was a week old. I silently gaped at all the seasoned moms calmly discussing parenting techniques as they nursed babies of all ages. Some of the children were really tucking into their evening meal, but others were just “checking in;” breastfeeding was an intimate, nurturing bond that comforted them and made mother and child feel connected.

At Zinnia’s one week check-up, she showed a slight weight gain, which is almost unheard of, since most babies actually lose weight during their first week. I was one proud mama!

Like most new moms, the first two months hurt. A lot. I cringed at the thought of the next feeding. I was a slave to Lansinoh, the lanolin nipple cream that was supposed to smooth the way and ease the pain of cracked, tender, or otherwise harassed nipples that were relentlessly utilized every four hours or so.

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