I started my mothering journey with high hopes and misinformation about breastfeeding. Although I was able to breastfeed my first three children, it was with formula supplementation and early weaning. After my fourth child was born, I fell into the cloth diapering community through a twist of fate and found myself immediately drawn to the attachment parenting community. For the first time I was given solid information about breastfeeding that encouraged me to think outside the box and recognize the bumps in the road of my past experiences as just that: bumps. I realized that my pattern of weaning at the six-month mark could be overcome with a little diligence and understanding of what was happening with my child at this age. His disinterest wasn’t a sign he was ready to wean, he was simply more interested in the world around him and easily distracted. All this information paid off as my son and I continued our nursing relationship into his second year. Little did I know what an impact this would have on me as I headed into my biggest challenge as a mother.

http://mothering.com/articles/new_baby/breastfeeding/lactation-after-loss.html

One big reason so many women stop breast-feeding is that more than half of mothers of infants under six months old go to work. The 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act guarantees only twelve weeks of (unpaid) maternity leave and, in marked contrast to established practice in other industrial nations, neither the government nor the typical employer offers much more. To follow a doctor’s orders, a woman who returns to work twelve weeks after childbirth has to find a way to feed her baby her own milk for another nine months. The nation suffers, in short, from a Human Milk Gap.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/19/090119fa_fact_lepore?currentPage=1

The Tulane Breastfeeding Program, a campus-wide initiative of Tulane faculty, staff and students, has identified six rooms for new mothers who want a private space to pump breast milk.

According to Brewer, who now serves as the statewide coordinator, “Breastfeeding is normal and women should feel welcome to breastfeed anywhere on campus. When direct breastfeeding is not possible, the second best option is a mother’s pumped milk. Providing space for mothers to pump their milk allows mother, infant, workplace and society the opportunity to receive the myriad of benefits of human milk. We hope these efforts will encourage and enable more women to breastfeed and provide breast milk to their infants. We also hope to encourage other workplaces in the state to provide more support to mothers.”

http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/010609_breastfeeding_program.cfm

On Friday, Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law An Act to Promote Breastfeeding, a bill that protects a mother’s right to nurse her baby in public, and one that could impose a $500 fine to anyone who harasses a nursing mother.

“This is a great victory for public health,” said Dr. Melissa Bartick, an internist and chairwoman of the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition. “Mothers can now follow medical recommendations without feeling that they have to be confined to toilet stalls.”

http://www.patriotledger.com/news/x497786644/State-becomes-third-to-last-to-adopt-breastfeeding-law

In a culture where most mothers wean their babies from the breast before three months of age, the thought of a mother continuing to nurse her son or daughter into toddler-hood or beyond leaves some pe
ople aghast. Despite ample research identifying early weaning as a risk factor for disease and illness, and despite the recommendations of leading international medical organizations to continue to nurse for at least 2 years or beyond, fewer than 7 percent of U.S. mothers continue to breastfeed their children at 18 months.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/211386/when_to_stop_breastfeeding_your_child.html?cat=25

When my daughter was born four and a half years ago, I had no plan for how long I would breastfeed her, I just knew that I would start off breastfeeding and then go with the flow. It so happens that in our case going with the flow meant that one month shy of her fourth birthday she was still nursing (albeit only once a day), and as I would soon discover, we weren’t the only ones on this path.

http://crunchydomesticgoddess.com/2009/01/02/breastfeeding-until-age-3-4-or-5-more-common-than-you-think/

In two new studies, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that taking maternity leave before and after the birth of a baby is beneficial both for the health of mothers and newborns.

While one study found that women who started their leave in the last month of pregnancy were less likely to have caesarean deliveries, the second one discovered that new mothers were more likely to establish breastfeeding the longer they delayed their return to work.

http://indihot.com/health/longer-maternity-leave-results-in-fewer-c-sections-and-increased-breastfeeding.html

Sonnie Atwood had fed herself.

On a lunch date Tuesday with her sister, Missoula singer Eden Atwood, and their children, Sonnie ordered the Fajita Fiesta Pollo Salad at the Red Robin restaurant in Missoula.

The salad was, she says, “fantastic,” and their waitress friendly and efficient as she served Sonnie, Eden and their 5-year-old sons River and Ben. When lunch was over, it was time for Sonnie to feed the fifth person at their table – her 20-day-old son, Canyon.

Atwood, 26, admits that she didn’t use the baby’s blanket to cover herself as she breastfed Canyon.

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2009/01/01/news/local/news05.txt

Facebook began as a site just for college kids, but now it is an online home for 140 million people from all over the world. Among the new faces of Facebook are women like Kelli Roman, 23, who last year posted a photo of herself nursing one of her two children.

One day, she logged on to find the photo missing. When she pressed Facebook for an explanation, she got form e-mails in return.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=6561849

Recently, Facebook has started ‘pulling a myspace’ by not allowing people to post profile pictures of babies nursing. The pictures have been reported as ‘obscene’ and have been removed- their posters warned not to repost or fear being kicked off of Facebook.

We’re wondering: what about a baby breastfeeding is obscene? Especially in comparison to MANY other pictures posted all over Facebook that really are obscene.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=2517126532

Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dora Akunyili, has cautioned mothers on excessive dependence on breast milk substitutes.

Akunyili, who spoke during the launch of a crËche built by her agency on Tuesday in Abuja, said the use of breast milk substitutes was fraught with many dangers.

She admonished career women to resist the lure of switching to baby food as breast milk when properly stored can be given to babies in the absence of their mothers.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200811190107.html

Breastfeeding for at least four months helps children breathe more easily and may curb their susceptibility to asthma, reveals research published ahead of print in the journal Thorax.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/128748.php

The number of Chinese women who rely on breast milk alone to feed their newborns has dropped as working mothers have less time to nurse and fall prey to advertising about the benefits of infant formulas.
Such economic pressures have taken China’s tainted milk crisis to every corner of the country. They also explain why a country disgusted by an even deadlier fake baby formula scandal four years ago has been so badly hit again.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26890654/