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?

Read more of this story »

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

Read more of this story »

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.

Read more of this story »

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.

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.

Read more of this story »

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.

Read more of this story »

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!

Read more of this story »

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.

Read more of this story »

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?

Read more of this story »

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…

Read more of this story »

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.

Read more of this story »