School's In?

Schools back in session...but if you are a breastfeeding mom, you have to risk clogged ducts and mastitis to go back to school. What do you think of this mom and student at Harvard University who wants to take extra breaks to pump for her baby?

A football team in Scotland (which we on this side of the pond, know means soccer for them) is joining a breastfeeding in public campaign. Hmmm...how do I get the Tennessee Titans to do a breastfeeding promotion? I can see it now... Tennessee "tit" ans! Go boobs! Okay, I better stop.

And a bit of personal news - the Birth Workshop was a huge success! Thank you to all who helped and thank you to Barbara Harper of Waterbirth International. We will soon have pictures on the Birth Workshop website and information on our next event - a Hypnobabies Instructor Training in Nashville. Also if you are interested in becoming a Certified Lactation Educator and are close to or live in Columbia, South Carolina, Nashville, TN or Knoxville, TN see my website for more information.

Reflections from the CAPPA conference

I am attending the CAPPA conference this weekend in my very own city of Nashvegas (funny how it's in my city but still an hour away). Anyway, yesterday, Jack Newman started off the weekend with a bang or more like a whirlwind of "controversies in breastfeeding".

Quote of the day:
What do colostrum and formula have in common?


They are both liquids.


And then he went on to say that even that point is debatable. (Colostrum is often a very thick liquid.)

And I sat next to two very lovely ladies from Australia that commented that our obsession with pumping - which pump to buy, when to pump, pumping instead of breastfeeding, etc - is primarily an American obsession. In Australia, mothers and babies are together (only in the nursery if in intensive care), mothers have 24-hour access to their NICU babies, mothers have long maternity leave, mothers have true breastfeeding support and culturally, BREASTFEEDING is the norm.

Not that they don't have their own problems, have WHO code violators and aggressive marketing by companies looking to make money but they are doing some things right that we in "the states" could learn from. Now I want to go to Australia - maybe I will try to go to the Hot Milk conference one year. That would make a fun vacation!

I'll post more about the conference later!

My new favorite Quote

I went to a dinner in celebration of World Breastfeeding Week on Tuesday hosted by the Tennessee Lactation Coalition and the Cumberland Pediatric Foundation. The speakers were Margreete Johnston, MD, IBCLC and Julie Ware, MD, AAP Chief Breastfeeding Coordinator. Both did a fabulous job and spoke on important topics. Dr. Ware ended her talk with my new favorite quote - but only the first half of it. I found it in it's entirety and it is below. Enjoy.

Imagine that the world had invented a new "dream product" to feed and immunize everyone born on Earth. Imagine also that it was available everywhere, required no storage or delivery - and helped mothers to plan their families and reduce the risk of cancer.

Then imagine that the world refused to use it.

At the end of a century of unprecedented discovery and invention, even as scientists discover the origins of life itself, this scenario is not, alas, a fiction. The "dream product" is breastmilk, available to us all at birth, and yet we are not using it.
UNICEF

Food! Fashion! Panties?

Here's another goodie!

Can you spot me and P-Tizzle in the Fashion Show?

For the record, the point was to show the baby in the LLLI Licensed clothes not me or the sling but he was sick and I was NOT taking his cranky behind out of the sling.

If you weren't there you missed the historic LLLI fashion show. Not that big of a deal to me...but I would love to hear your thoughts. Should LLLI be licensing it's name to panties and bras and onesies? Was the model in a bra walking the stage during our tea in bad taste? Is this the wrong image of LLLI on the internet? Is it a forward-thinking modern image?

Post your thoughts and let me know. Especially those who are "outside" of LLLI - how does this affect your view of leaders, of LLLI, of what we do?

La Leche League - 50th Anniversary

Happy World Breastfeeding Week! My first gift to you is a video on the history of this organization that I am proud to be a part of. La Leche League is often seen as a "white woman's group" probably because it was started by 7 suburban White housewives. However, I really believe they want to support all mothers interested in breastfeeding. La Leche League is not perfect and has a lot of work and growing to do but they, we are working on it. I believe in La Leche League and am personally doing what I can to make it an organization for ALL women.

Notice the Mocha mama with the righteous Afro about half-way through the video. So apparently we have been going to LLL meetings since at least the 70s.

Off we go!!!

Tomorrow P-Tizzle and I will be off to the La Leche League International Conference in Chicago, IL!


I am so excited about all the fabulous speakers, the unique and interesting exhibits and hanging out with so many other "lactation nerds", gentle parents and authors of all the books I like BUT a little worried as to how I will keep a 13 month old entertained during sessions for 5 days! Pray for me, mothers, pray.

So, if you see a frazzled, tired-looking mother with dreadlocks and a wild-eyed, curly-haired little tornado say "hello"! And maybe offer me some chocolate or an adult beverage.....

I'd like to know if any Mocha Milk readers will be at the conference? Please leave a comment and let me know if I should look out for you. We can sit together at a luncheon!

It's not too late to register. To find out more information about the conference visit La Leche League's newly redesigned website.

International Nestle Free Week

Boycott groups in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America have declared 2-8 July to be International Nestlé-Free Week.

Baby Milk Action is a non-profit organization which aims to save lives and to end the avoidable suffering caused by inappropriate infant feeding. Baby Milk Action works within a global network to strengthen independent, transparent and effective controls on the marketing of the baby feeding industry.

The global network is called IBFAN (the International Baby Food Action Network) a network of over 200 citizens groups in more than 100 countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.5 million infants die around the world every year because they are not breastfed. Where water is unsafe a bottle-fed child is up to 25 times more likely to die as a result of diarrhea than a breastfed child.

That is why a marketing code was introduced in 1981 to regulate the marketing of breastmilk substitutes. Companies continue to violate its provisions - see examples here. Find out how Baby Milk Action works to stop them and how you can help.

Baby Milk Action is not anti-baby milk. Our work protects all mothers and infants from irresponsible marketing.