Green Options

Most new moms don’t need an introduction to Medela. When you’re registering for your baby shower Medela is the brand that pops out at you. The breast pumps, though intimidating, are widely recommended and touted as “best” by doulas and lactation consultants.

Up until now Medela has only supplied women with plastic bottles for breastmilk storage. This week they have expanded their line to include glass bottles. The glass bottles are 8 ounces each and are designed to work with most of the Medela pumps.

Why glass bottles though?

Thank you to everyone that particpated in our forum discussion on breastfeeding and entering our Mother’s Milk Giveaway.  Many wonderful stories and experiences were shared, and the discussion highlights how unique breastfeeding is between each mother and child.  Here are our Socktopus winners:

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

I interviewed a friend of mine who works in public health about breastfeeding being baby’s first natural immunization, in the hopes of sorting out perceptions and realities when it comes to germs, diseases, and vaccines from a ‘green’ perspective…

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.

Just when you thought that we didn’t need a World Breastfeeding Awareness week, yet another mother, this time a young mom in Berea, Kentucky, is asked to leave a restaurant for breastfeeding her child. Kentucky actually has a law that forbids public interference of a breastfeeding mother, but because she was not breastfeeding when the police arrived (who threatened to charge her with criminal trespassing if [...]

Editor’s note: This guest piece on breastfeeding is from Amy Gates. Amy writes about attachment parenting, activism, green living and photography at Crunchy Domestic Goddess, where this was posted originally.  Thank you Amy for sharing your story!

When I became pregnant with my son, my daughter Ava was about 20 months old and still nursing regularly. While I had friends who’s children had self-weaned when they became pregnant, I had my doubts that my “na-na”-loving kid would consider weaning for a second, even if my milk dried up.

At that age, Ava was still a comfort nurser, and still woke at night to nurse. After finding out I was pregnant I worked towards gently night weaning her by letting her know she could nurse as much as she wanted during the day, but at night the na-na had to sleep and she had to wait until the sun woke up in the morning to have mama milk.

By 22 months, miraculously (or so it felt) she was sleeping through the night. (Can you hear the angels singing? I thought I could. It was wonderful. She was still happily in our bed, but no longer waking for na-na, and I was able to get the sleep I needed while growing a baby.

I never doubted that I would nurse. I read all articles I could get my hands on and after learning about the huge health benefits for both mother and child, I was sold. But really, when I’m totally honest with myself … I also nursed because I’m lazy.

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.

While staying home with your child with a fully supportive significant other and surrounded by friends and family cheering you on is ideal. Often this is simply not the case. If you have difficulty breastfeeding, for one of the multitude of reasons that seem to pop up in the early days, this lack of support can lead to giving up. That doesn’t need to be the case.

In my little circle of friends, we experienced all sorts of different situations. Some Moms had the luxury of staying home with a fully supportive significant other. Some returned to work full time almost immediately and argued with a variety of caregivers about the benefits of breastfeeding and the importance of feeding their little one expressed milk. Some had the support of all with whom they came in contact. Some were hassled by store clerk, waiters, airline employees and …. The list goes on!

As someone who breastfed her two kids a combined total of 36 months, I, like many women, am fairly informed when it comes to the benefits of breast milk for babies. But when it comes to spouting off the same statistics when it comes to the benefits of breastfeeding for moms, I have a bit of a harder time. And sometimes, when it comes to encouraging [...]

I was 28 when my daughter was born. With a typical pregnancy you will gain 35 (or so) pounds. I gained a few more than 70. No, it’s not a typo, I was a chili cheese fry eating machine (I also jammed a few pounds of cotton candy down my throat each week).

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.

Editor’s Note:  This breastfeeding story is from guest writer Heather Garvet. Heather blogs at A Mama’s Blog, where she has written other posts on C-sections, VBACs, breastfeeding, pregnancy, and birth issues, as well as her two boys. Heather is also a monthly contributor on API Speaks. This post originally appeared on A Mama’s Blog.

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?

Mother’s milk is one of those ‘does size count’ topics that can make new dads wonder how their wives suddenly look like an ad for Hooters, and new moms quake in nervousness bookmarking resources from La Leche League for fear the baby won’t ‘latch on.’

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…