Happy Breast Feeding Week!!

Show us your boobies!!
Well, while you are nursing anyhow. And for the most part, you can't even see anything when you are nursing. If you do, you are standing too close or just looking for something.

I've breastfed both my kids for as long as they wanted. I let them wean themselves off. Most of the time, it's after a period of separation. I was away from my youngest for a long weekend, during which he was bottle fed by dad. He wasn't really interested in me after that. Not that it wasn't offered. But I am guessing he likes to bite his bottle nipples, HARD.

I have read a lot of articles recently that have a definite lean towards not encouraging women to breastfeed. Of course, not surprisingly, one of those is a show on parenthood sponsored by, gasp, a couple of companies that produce formula. Other ones have highlighted the difficulties that can come along while learning how to breastfeed. Yes, learning. Although it is the most natural thing, it does really take a while, 3-6 weeks, to establish the best breast feeding relationship. I think that the thing most lacking in society is support for women struggling with the difficulties. Support that is accessible, available and works. I'm lucky. I live near a great doctor's clinic who is a trained lactation consultant. Dr Manson of the Birth Experience in Brampton, is a student of Dr. Jack Newman. I went to her for help in correcting my son's tongue tie. Within a week of his birth, he was latching like a pro. Thank goodness, I don't know how much more my poor nipples could have taken.

I'm lucky, I've taken lactation training and have helped as much as I could with my clients' issues with breastfeeding. I've got someone to send them to when I can't help them any further.

Outside of the actual physical issues around breastfeeding, there are the societal ones. I was floored to read an article shared on Facebook about a popular female morning radio show host who went on what I can only describe as a rampage about this woman who was breastfeeding at a restaurant she was at. I'd like to point out, she stated more than once that she couldn't see anything, but it was the IDEA of breastfeeding that turned her stomach. Really lady? I could get nasty (as I did in the privacy of my own livingroom while reading) and make comments based on her photograph. It was her male co host who ended up telling her she was going a bit far, jumping to the defense of the breast feeding mother. "Why couldn't she do that in the bathroom?" or "bring a bottle" if the baby gets hungry. Talk about ignorant about babies and breastfeeding. She even went on to say that her own mother breastfed her, but she didn't breastfeed her own children.

Why is this such an issue for her and many others?? Because society has sexualized breasts. Sure, they look nice done up in a good push up bra, but why do we have them. To feed our babies. If it wasn't for the fact that we, as women, birth babies and are therefore responsible to raise them (anthropology-esque speaking, I know dads are much more involved than they were, in say, the stone age) we wouldn't have boobs. Men don't have them, because they don't have uterus's. Trust me, if men had babies as well as us, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

I'm also grateful that i live in Canada, where I'm able to take a full year's maternity leave and still have a job to come back to. And get a bit of money to boot. Money I've been paying into since i was 14, so I don't feel even a twinge of guilt when it comes to taking some back. My friends in the States don't have that luxury. They get what, 6 weeks unpaid leave? Topped up with vacation if they have it? How can they be expected to continue to provide breastmilk when many of them cannot pump more than once or twice a day, in a washroom. Not exactly the relaxed, calm atmosphere it's prescribed for optimal results. I know some who have managed it though, and good for them! It takes a lot of work, but they were dedicated.

I guess the long and short of it is, to be successful in anything, you need guidance and support. We wouldn't hand our 16 year olds the keys to the family car without some lessons. Would you?


   

Here we go again!

I started this blog 3 years ago, thinking to write about birth and motherhood and being a doula. Then life happened and here we are 3 years later. I think I managed maybe 2 or three posts on the last blog. I'll try to be better about this one. I'm pretty sure it will be a life mush up though, instead of just strictly about being a doula. I read way too many interesting blogs to be consistent :)

It's been awhile

I've done a lot since the last time I posted here. I'm still doing the doula-ing and loving it. My most recent adventure has been my own home birth. My son was born here at home on the August long weekend. It was amazing, and I was so grateful I was able to experience it.

My daughter's birth was long, in a hospital where I received and epidural and pitocin. Although I was still under the care of my midwives, I felt detached from what is a "natural" experience. I was tired, overwhelmed and just wanted to get it over with. I had great care and support, but I was just done. It took me a while to recover and I had some issues with breastfeeding because of all the edema that had built up due to being on the saline drip for so long. I had gone into childbirth hoping to be able to go longer without intervention, but you know, best laid plans and all.

It took over 2 years for us to get pregant (that lasted more than the first trimester) the second time. I was diagnosed with MALT, a form of cancer, when my daughter was 18 months old. After surgery and radiation, we waited for a year before trying for another child. We tried on our own for a year, and then with the help of a fertility clinic we did get a sticky baby, eventually.

I started planning for a home birth in my second trimester. Since I knew what a contraction felt like, there was less of that fear of the unknown to deal with. That's a huge issue for a lot of first time mums. I had been teaching childbirth classes for a while and helping moms with their births for 5 years so I felt much better prepared than i had been the first time around. My midwives were very supportive of a homebirth, they set me up with my