Party like it's...well, 2000-something....

In the words of musical revolutionary, Prince (or whatever he goes by these days), "Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999!". Okay, well, tomorrow night, but New Year's Eve is fast approaching and a common concern from many African-American mothers (and all mothers really) is how to still enjoy a party or even an adult beverage or two while breastfeeding. Can you drink alcohol while breastfeeding or must you completely abstain as you are encouraged to do during pregnancy.

In some respects this is a cultural question. The long-standing recommendation by many health-care providers has been to either enjoy the occasional drink with dinner and not worry about it or to pump and dump after a holiday party. Current information from La Leche League International suggests that 1 drink at a holiday party should not pose a problem for the nursing mother. Of course, the age of the baby, weight of mother and amount of time from drink to the next nursing are all part of the equation. The bottom line, if you are still feeling the affect of the drink or feel drunk, your baby will be getting alcohol too. It is clear that your baby will get *some* alcohol if it is in your milk. How much and what the affects will be are up for debate. As with all things parenting related you have options, which include pumping before and feeding expressed milk until the "buzz" has worn off or enjoying a non-alcoholic drink with fruit, fizz or an umbrella in it. Of course, here's your chance to find out if all your old friends and co-workers are as interesting as they think they are without the rosy lens of alcohol to help them.

There is a test to see if alcohol is in your milk but you would need to buy it ahead of time. Personally, I think if you are buying testing strips to see if your milk is safe for your baby, you have bigger problems than the occasional drink at dinner or a party. It might just be the circles I run in or the buckle of the Bible Belt in which I live but if I brought a box of Milkscreen strips to a baby shower, I think the reaction would be polite but confused. Milkscreen has been around a while and seems to be doing well as a company, so they must be serving some one's needs. If the product helps someone continue to nurse, rather than wean or introduce even one bottle of formula that may disrupt the baby's GI tract, than I think it is a good thing to have available.

There is a popular myth that you can "pump and dump" alcohol out of your breasts so the alcohol will leave your milk sooner. However, pumping will keep your supply up while not nursing your baby, the milk will contain alcohol and should not be kept. As the alcohol leaves your system, it will leave the milk, simple as that. For more information on enjoying an adult beverage during New Year's festivities or any time, see Tanya's recent post at the Motherwear Blog.

Here's to a Mocha and Milky new year! May your days be full and fruitful! Happy 2007!

Protection against Otitis Media genes...breastfeeding

Everyone associates ear infections with babies and young children. As a matter of fact, I have a friend who's baby was just diagnosed with an ear infection last week. Healthy African-American children, Alaska Natives and Native Americans (all brown-skinned people) have a higher risk of Otitis Media (ear infections). Our children also often fall into the other risk categories such as being in group day care and having sickle cell anemia. Apparently two genes have been identified as the culprits in a genetic tendency toward getting ear infections (especially repeat infections).

There is a treatment that renders those genes unable to function, thereby taking the genetic factor out of the picture. It does not mean your child will not have ear infections. What it means is, with this treatment the child will be protected from the genes that he/she carries that would make the infections worse or more frequent (and for your child could mean none at all or one or two). The treatment is free and carries no negative side effects. The treatment requires you hold your child for 15-30 minutes every day, 8 to twelve times a day for at least the first 6 weeks of life and frequently (though not as frequent) after that for at least the first year. Okay, maybe I lost some takers, there. However, the good news is, any treatments are better than none. The treatment is, you guessed it, breastfeeding. It is free, can be given in any dose and it cancels out your genes for ear infections. Yet another way to give a baby protection against disease.

Protection Against Cancer Begins in Pregnancy and during Breastfeeding

Just about everyone knows that babies are given immune protection through their mother's antibodies during breastfeeding. However, there is new research on mice, our fellow mammals, that when the mother eats a nutritious diet of cancer-fighting fruits and veggies during pregnancy and breastfeeding, her baby also receives protection from cancer potentially lasting into middle age! Talk about long term benefit. Now, I know we are talking about rats, not babies at this stage of research, but there are many, many things we do not know about breastmilk and breastfeeding yet and we may never figure it all out. However, it is THE substance our bodies make for feeding babies. Makes sense that it can do so much to protect the human being for the long haul. Here's the bottom line, if your baby isn't breastfeeding, he gets his protection is cut short when he leaves your womb. And those of us who have had benefits cut at work or from a health care program know how much that stinks! Give your baby full benefits, breastfeed!

Also, there is a debate article in the IBJ about child feeding and human rights. Kent asserts that "children should be viewed as having the right to be breastfed, not in the sense that the mother is obligated to breastfeed the child, but in the sense that no one may interfere with the mothers right to breastfeed the child. Breastfeeding should be viewed as the right of the mother and child together." I couldn't agree more. The question is, what does that idea look like in real life?

News update...and it's not good

Apparently Freedom and Delta Airlines might not be able to land a plane safely with a breastfeeding mother on board but they are able to master the art of double speak. They have asked that the complaint by Emily Gillette, the mother who's family was recently kicked of a plane for her refusing a blanket to cover her nursing toddler in order to ease the flight attendant's discomfort.

Freedom Airlines argues: "in a Monday letter to the Human Rights Commission that the federal Airlines Deregulation Act trumps Vermont's human rights law, because state law cannot interfere with air carrier service." Whatever that means. So the airlines can do whatever they want because of the federal deregulation act? So if they want to add crack to the snack list on Freedom airlines, they can? It just doesn't make sense. I have a feeling Mrs. Gillette is willing to take this case as far as it can go and this is just the beginning. According to the article, the Vermont Human Rights commission said these cases can go on for 3 months to a year. Keep checking back for the latest information. Mocha Milk scours the web for breastfeeding news so you don't have to!

Nestle rears its ugly head again. The FDA's letter to Nestle has been answered. That is if you consider denying and blaming an answer. First of all, they said there own "independent tests" show no problems. They have "rejected" the FDA's test results. Let me get this straight, they can just reject the test results. Like, if I don't see you, you're not there? Companies only have to listen to the FDA if they agree with them? That makes me feel safe about the food and drugs on American store shelves. yikes! And they say there will be no recall. So either the FDA testers are idiots or got the one faulty can in the place. All the while, countless babies are getting formula that doesn't meet the FDA standards (which is still for a dead, substandard food replacement substance, but that's beside the point). And apparently, all those Nestle boycotts have not made a difference. The arrogance of Nestle is beyond belief but not surprising. Read the article here.

Nursing Covers...friend or foe?

A few days ago I received a nice email from Evie Ballesteros of Mommy's Little Monkey, a nursing cover online boutique, encouraging me in my blog endevor and vowing to become a reader. Thanks Evie! So, after visiting her site, I started thinking about covering up while breastfeeding. There is also a discussion going on at the Motheringdotcommune forms about it. I am not sure how I feel about it. I do not have a specific nursing cover. I do, however have nursing clothes (just a few, and most were bought with baby #1) and tend to wear them on days when I know I will be out and about alot or in situations that could have people that could be "offended" by seeing the slightest flash of nipple such as (ashamedly) church. On days that I have "covered", I have used a sling (ring sling usually tail or in the sling) or receiving blanket. Most of the time I just kind-of hunch over my baby, make sure he's turned in, ready to go, unhook my bra, bunch my shirt around me and just do my best to get a good latch the first time. Sometimes I might just cover right at my baby's mouth with a burp cloth or put a blanket over my belly (because that is what shows more than anything) and by nature of where the baby is, the baby.

So, I am thinking out-loud here. Feel free to join me in the comments section. When I wear nursing clothes that are obvious nursing clothes I feel weird. I feel like I am anouncing to the world, "At some point I will be breastfeeding. I don't want you to see anything, so I am wearing special clothes so that you won't see, so make sure you aren't looking when I start, since I made the effort to wear special clothes". On the other hand, my nursing clothes that are more subtle, that look like clothes I would wear anyway or my extra large shirts that I wear and nurse in, don't make me feel like I am making a statement or like such a nursing leper.

I have never used a cover specifically for nursing, but my impression of covering with a blanket or special cover is this: you are announcing to the world, "I am nursing a baby right now." For what other reason do women wear blankets on their shoulders? No one just wears blankets on their shoulders. Bottle feeding mothers do not cover their babies during their feedings. No one serves solids under a blanket or changes a diaper under there. So we know it is the act of breastfeeding going on under the blanket. So what does that say? Breastfeeding is so private and intimate it can only be done when mother and baby are alone or in their own home? Breastfeeding should be covered because it is not appropriate around other people? If breastfeeding is so natural, normal and encouraged by medicine, science and common sense, why does it happen under cover? No one practices other healthy nutrition habits like eating fruits and veggies, under a covering. I also wonder what message it sends to my children, who will one day be parents. Does it tell them, even if I don't cover at home, just in public that this is something that other people shouldn't see? With all the competing pressure out there, I want my children, especially my daughter to know that breastfeeding is THE WAY we feed our babies.

On Bebe au Lait for instance, they say "neither your style or modesty is compromised". Is your modesty compromised without being draped from the waist up? Cover up Clips are clips for making any blanket into a nursing cover. They promise "breastfeeding privacy" while the Busy Baby Nursing Wrap promises "nursing confidence". The issues of blankets being pulled of by babies, feeding in bathrooms or modesty are listed as reasons to buy a nursing cover. I am just not sure what all this means. All of these products were born out of mothers own needs or desires to make nursing in pulic easier. My worry is that maybe we are going in the wrong direction. Maybe moms shouldn't feel like they need to cover up. I have to admit, I have had a few embarassing moments nursing in public (NIP). Oddly enough, because people did NOT think I was breastfeeding, they come up to me and my baby and start talking or touch the baby's head or look closely at the baby. When they realize what the baby is doing, THEY, the adult get's embarrassed. That is not my responsibility. It can however lead to an interesting discussion or sheepish comments. For that reason, and not my own embarrassment, I do sometimes cover, as if to flash a sign, "I am nursing, right now. If that makes you uncomfortable or you are afraid of seeing nipples, please for your own safety, stay away.". It usually works. My biggest problem is that when I do try to cover, it is often too hot for me or baby or both and I can't see well enough to get everthing right so it takes longer and more exposure than it would have otherwise.

Well, I am conflicted. I am not sure where I stand. Maybe it just comes down to whatever makes the mother happy and secure. Heck, if it means more moms will nurse and nurse longer and wherever they go, then it's good. If it means that the standard or acceptable way to nurse in public is to cover, I will have a problem with that. No one should ever feel like nursing their baby is something to be hidden, no matter how much breast is showing. And no mother, anywhere should ever, you hear me, ever feel like she has to go to a bathroom stall to feed her baby. The thought makes me sick and angry. This is a Western culture issue, not a morality issue. As a culture we are uncomfortable with the thought of lips on a breast, even if it is a baby getting food from his mother and that is the heart of the problem. If breastfeeding ever becomes the cultural norm in Western culture, I don't think nursing covers will be around at all, at least not in the plethora of options there are today.

I must say, that there are many cute styles and fabrics available now. They are stylish, even funky and may make a mom feel more chic. I don't begrudge them or mom's using them, I just question the thinking behind them and wonder what it says about our society. But, I have to admit, like slings, there are many cute and sassy nursing covers on the market that have become the "it" item for the modern mom's diaper bag. Maybe this is a trendiness issue, too.

I have to admit, I would try a Busy Baby Nursing Wrap or Under Wraps Nursing Poncho just because I like wraps/shawls/ponchos and have tried nursing in them but both my wraps have tassels which end up in the baby's mouth while nursing, yuck. It would be interesting to see if there was a difference in the function and fit of a shawl designed just for nursing moms.

Here are some of the other nursing cover sites I visited in my research: Covered in Love, the QT Wrap, Sasha B. Designs and the Milk Mumu.

So, feel free to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on the subject. Do you own a special nursing cover? Have you used one? Would you? What do you think when you see a mom using one? What does covering up mean? Should we all do it or is it just a matter of personal choice and doesn't mean a whole lot?

As the Coffee Talk ladies said, "Discuss!"

Thinking about the video project

In an effort to research (as I obsessively do with everything) I wanted to see if there was any research having to do with breastfeeding videos and initiation or duration for African-American mothers. The only one specifically addressing videos is here.
The results were: "WIC-based peer counselor support and motivational videos can positively affect the duration of breast-feeding among African-American women." The rate of decline in breastfeeding was slower in the WIC clinics that used peer counselors and showed breastfeeding videos. I am not sure what that tells us, but hopefully that means a well made video can help encourage a mother to breastfeed. We already know that lack of "breastfeeding role models" is part of the reason our breastfeeding rates are so low, but can a video make up for that missing role model?

I would so like to read the entire study and even see the video they used. What if it was horrible? Out of date? Not culturally sensitive to not only race but where they live and their community? It has bothered me for a while now that when discussing breastfeeding among Black people the only group considered seems to be WIC participants, low income or adolescent mothers. I understand that it is easier to reach these women that are already in a position of availability to public health researchers but I am tired of the "let's go to the ghetto and help these moms breastfeed their babies" mentality. Not that those groups aren't important, they are, but breastfeeding rates among middle class and probably even upper middle class Black women stink too. I will have to save that for later, but I intend to see if there is any research out there about middle class African-American breastfeeding statistics. I am hoping to do my own research in this area during my masters work, assuming I am able to start that in the spring.

I will update here with how the script writing goes, as I have yet to start. If anyone has any ideas on what to include and how to include it, feel free to share. I need all the help I can get.

Has Breastmilk ever been recalled?

Apparently the FDA sent Nestle a warning letter stating that deficiencies were found in Carnation Good Start Formula after an inspection of their Wisconsin plant in May. They had 15 working days from the reciept of the letter to make changes to the formula to bring it up to nutritional standards. Will they? When will the FDA check? It took them 6 months for the FDA just to send the letter. What about all the babies that are recieving this deficient formula for their sole source of nutrition? There has been no recall, no notice on the news, just thousands, perhaps millions of babies drinking formula that doesn't meet nutritional standards. Now not only are they missing out on the antibodies, other living cells and changing tastes and allergy protection of breastmilk, they are missing out on key nutrients. Very sad. And no one cares enough to let parents know.

This is a great illustration of how breast is not best. Breast is the standard. Formula, even when it meets nutritional standards but especially in cases where it does not, it is substandard. Breastmilk is always right.

In the words of Amy Spangler, "While Breastfeeding may not seem the right choice for every parent, it is the best choice for every baby."