Not so long ago, breastfeeding a child beyond 6 months was referred to as “extended nursing” — and in some circles that thinking continues. What words do you use to describe your own nursing relationship? For those of us who continue to nurse, are we “extended” nursing? Or something else?!
Mothers and children are all exploring the normal course of breastfeeding, even as we take our different paths. A question that comes up again and again is the language we use when we talk about nursing our children beyond the first year. On November 12th, our “Extended Nursing” meeting will focus on the influence of language on the practice of breastfeeding – from birth through the ripening of the relationship and its thoughtful close.
We expect to change our own thinking and begin the new year with a fresh start — a fresh title for our Enrichment Meeting the second Thursday of the month. What are your thoughts? If you are nursing a child “of a certain age,” how do you think of this time? Some of the popular terms include sustained nursing, full-term nursing, and simply nursing. What do you suggest we call our meeting? How do you describe your breastfeeding experience to your closest friends — and to one another? Bring your thoughts to our November meeting … and feel free to start the conversation here!
– Susan
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Visit the Australian Breastfeeding Association to find the poster featured here and to discover more ways to support nursing families.
Categories: Extended Breastfeeding · normal course of breastfeeding
This week the 4th Annual Breastfeeding Cafe opens downtown at the Main Library in celebration of World Breastfeeding Week. With a nod to the 2009 WBW theme, “Breastfeeding: A Vital Emergency Response,” this year’s Cafe theme is “Breastfeeding Saves the Day!” The Cafe will be open daily August 1-31 with mothers’ circles, classes, and a friendly environment to take a nursing break. Check out the events calendar on the blog site and come on down.
A diverse and spirited group of nursing moms and breastfeeding advocates volunteer at the Cafe. This is a fun way to meet new people and demonstrate to the community that Yes, breastfeeding is important and life sustaining, but more than that, breastfeeding is a normal everyday expectation. If you would like to sign up for a shift, just email Melissa at melissa.knighton@gmail.com for all the details. You know you’re going to be hanging out with your baby and nursing — why not head downtown and spend a couple hours nursing in the most welcoming spot in Salt Lake?! Come on down and let breastfeeding save YOUR day!
La Leche League of Salt Lake City partners with the Utah Breastfeeding Coalition to produce the annual Breastfeeding Cafe. To learn ways individuals, organizations, and businesses can advocate for breastfeeding in our community, visit the Utah Breastfeeding Coalition website.
Categories: Advocacy · Breastfeeding Cafe · Events
What’s going on?
On June 11, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney (NY) and Senator Jeff Merkley (OR) introduced the Breastfeeding Promotion Act in both houses of Congress. This is the first time the bill has been introduced in the Senate.
The Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2009 (H.R. 2819, S. 1244) includes five provisions:
- 1) Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect breastfeeding women from being fired or discriminated against in the workplace.
- 2) Provides tax incentives for businesses that establish private lactation areas in the workplace, or provide breastfeeding equipment or consultation services to their employees.
- 3) Provides for a performance standard to ensure breast pumps are safe and effective.
- 4) Allows breastfeeding equipment and consultation services to be tax deductible for families (amends Internal Revenue Code definition of “medical care”).
- 5) Protects the privacy of breastfeeding mothers by ensuring they have break time and a private place to pump (applies to employers with 50 or more employees, see text of legislation for details).
Read the full text of H.R. 2819
What can I do? I don’t have much time!
It’s easy and it’s fast – everything you need is right here:
I want to add my voice in support of nursing mothers.
Feel free to add your thoughts, stories, and encouragement below. Thanks for pitching in!
– Susan
Categories: Advocacy · Breastfeeding Promotion Act · Legislation
We are passing along an urgent request for mothers’ stories. [If you are reading this after the current deadline, please continue to send stories as the work to create and establish a milk bank in Utah is ongoing.] Your stories will help make milk banking and safe shared milk a reality for Utah families. Think of all the mothers, the babies, and the milk flowing in our community!
Looking back on your own experiences and that of your friends, relatives, co-workers, neighbors — do you know of babies who could have benefited from donated milk due to low milk supply, adoption, or other challenges? Have you had personal experience with a milk bank at any time? Would you consider donating milk if a local milk bank offered pumps and lactation support?
You may add your story to the comments below, email LLL of SLC at breastfeedingslc@gmail.com and contact Nicole directly as noted.
Thank you for taking the time to consider these issues and to pass a link or message on to others.
– Susan
eta: Thank you so much to everyone who has shared a family experience! We continue to need stories, particularly if you are reading this Monday or Tuesday, as Nicole’s presentation will be Wednesday.
I am the Mothers’ Milk Bank Task Force Coordinator for the Utah Breastfeeding Coalition. An initial meeting to propose the establishment of a milk bank at the University of Utah will take place next week. (The University of Utah received the Baby-Friendly Hospital certification last February.) I have proposed the presenter to include mothers’ “testimonies” as one way to illustrate the need of a milk bank here.
Whether you could have benefited from a milk bank in the Salt Lake valley because your baby needed banked milk or you had excess milk and wanted to donate it, would you be willing to briefly describe your (past, present, or future) situation and e-mail it to me? If you had to use the services and products of a milk bank outside Utah, please mention it as well. If you have relatives or friends who could have benefited from a milk bank in the Salt Lake valley, please forward this message to them. The more names and stories I will be able to show, the stronger the message of the need for a milk bank from the grassroot standpoint.
Please act on this at your earliest convenience. I promised the presenter that I would produce a report by Monday.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Lactationally yours,
Nicole
Nicole Bernshaw, MSc, IBCLC
Mothers’ Milk Bank Task Force Coordinator
Utah Breastfeeding Coalition
5878 S. Country Hills Drive
Salt Lake City, UT 84118 USA
Tel: (801) 969-7391
bernshaw@comcast.net
“Human breasts, and the incomparable nurturing and nourishment they provide, help define who and what we are as a species.” (James Akre. The Problem with Breastfeeding: A Personal Reflection. Hale Publishing, 2006.)
Categories: Milk Banks · Salt Lake City
On June 11, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney (NY) and Senator Jeff Merkley (OR) re-introduced the Breastfeeding Promotion Act. Check out the history of the bill on the website of co-sponsor Representative Lois Capps (CA): Capps Praises Introduction of Breastfeeding Promotion Act.
Spread the word, start a conversation, support the mothers and mothers-to-be around you! Federal legislation will broaden public understanding and make a real difference in the choices women make for themselves and for their children.
Proposals would ensure employed moms have a comfortable environment to breastfeed or pump. How would federal mandates make a difference in your life as a nursing mother working to support your family?
– Susan
Categories: Advocacy · Breastfeeding Promotion Act · Breastfeeding in the Media · Legislation
A couple moms have asked about the thumbsucking issue that came up at both the Thursday Morning Series Meeting and the Friday Cafe Day.
Thumbsucking is a self-soothing behavior of interest to some who study infant and child behavior. Anthropologist Katherine A. Dettwyler PhD (Reflections on Anthropology: A Four-Field Reader, co-editor; Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives, editor; Dancing with Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa) posted her informal response to a similar query a few years ago on a list for lactation professionals. The question continues to be of interest to parents so she posted that letter on a website she maintains for families. This morning someone mentioned she would like to share this observation with her husband so I am linking the commentary here, “Is It ‘Normal’ To Suck Your Thumb?” (Be aware it is a tad graphic although the analogy in question may strike a chord with some dads!)
There are a number of articles about thumbsucking on the LLLI website. Clearly it is an issue of interest.
There is a difference between thumbsucking and the occasionally chewing and exploration you might notice in a teething baby. One mom astutely noted that her baby sometimes finds his fist with his mouth when hungry — and with newborns you might see something similar in the self-rousing behavior of little arms and hands rising against the chubby face of someone who would like to nurse!
As with so many issues of childhood, different mothers will guide their children differently if thumbsucking patterns appear. And everyone from Grandma to baby’s dentist will have an opinion!
More questions? Bring them up at the next meeting or Cafe Day, you’re bound to hear a variety of experiences.
– Susan
Categories: Thumbsucking
Melissa, Charity, and Susan had a lovely time at the June morning series meeting yesterday. We had some great discussion about all of the wisdom we have acquired mothering through breastfeeding.
One of the topics that came up during the meeting was Vitamin D supplementation. We have two links on the “Help” page here on the blog that addresses this topic, Vitamin D and “Should my breastfed baby be receiving vitamin or fluoride supplements?” Both of these pages give information that can help moms make informed choices about Vitamin D supplementation.
WarmLLLy,
Charity
Categories: Supplements
Tagged: Series Meeting, Vitamin D
La Leche League is a community resource for nursing families offering mother-to-mother encouragement, information, and education. Together we explore the multifaceted role of breastfeeding in the mother-child relationship.
