Hello Dear Boobjuicers and Friends!
Okay, I've tried to keep this blog positive and non-judgemental, and I will try again, but right now I'm pissed off and need a good, sarcastic rant.
I've just about had it with rude, ignorant comments about "extended" breastfeeding. Which - news flash- isn't really extended, at 18 months, it's just not cut off quite as early as most moms in this country. And besides which, wouldn't have been made if I hadn't patiently answered several intrusive, judgmental questions from (mostly non-parents, but one pediatrician who also has kids) people who need to go get their own house in order before peering into mine. So here's a quick primer for the ignorant - please feel free to print it out and hand it to those out of the loop (resisting diligently the temptation to make a snarky comment about who will receive said printouts).
1.) "Extended" breastfeeding does not equal mom goes into kindergarden class and whips shirt off.
2.) The average age of weaning globally is way older than 18 months. A quick Google search turned up 4.5 years. Which means that, given how averages work, at least some kids weaned later than that.
3.) This does not mean I'm going to record a youtube video when my kid is seven if I'm still nursing at that point (which given how much travel there is in my job, I won't be. I'm thinking age two, people. Maybe three.)
3.a.) It's pretty easy to not record yourself breastfeeding and put it up on youtube. I've done it every day for eighteen months.
4.) "Extended" breastfeeding is not weird. Feeding corn syrup solids to a baby is weird. Necessary sometimes perhaps, but weird.
5.) "What will his friends think" is not an adequate reason to change my parenting choices. That's a great way to raise a spineless sheep who can't think for himself and does only what is pre-approved by the masses. Ugh, scary.
5.a.) Given items 1 and 3a, how the heck are his friends going to know, anyway? Does some evil faction bent on embarrassing my son have a secret video feed into my kid's bedroom which they're going to replay at his nursery school? I'm thinking no.
5.b.) And besides which, breastfeeding is nothing to be embarrassed about. The shocking waste of a natural, God-given gift for creating health and bonding in infants by the richest country in the world is something to be embarrassed about.
6.) If all that isn't enough for you, maybe grief over your own childhood or parenting choices is what's doing the talking here, rather than a carefully considered opinion. Either way, if you can't handle it, get your damn closed circuit nannycam out of my nursery, get a hobby, and leave me alone.
And last, but not least, I would like to officially apologize for any ignorant comment I ever made about anyone's parenting choices before I had kids of my own. Or since, for that matter. Including formula feeding. I shall redouble my efforts to lead by example, not judgement. And now I shall get ready for work.
Nice Suzi back next time, promise.
Much love,
Suzi
Monday, August 23, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Don't Mess With the Stash, Man!
Hello Dear Boobjuicers and Friends!
So, Mama C.C. told me an absolute horror story recently... her husband unplugged the freezer.
Why would anyone do that? There was some reason, she related it to me, but I was so horrified by the idea of losing the stash of breastmilk that was always barely big enough for the work week ahead that I didn't hear it. That event worked out okay, but then there was another freezer-related situation which resulted in a portion of her stash thawing. On like a Saturday morning. AAAAIIIIEEEE! So she fed her kiddo the thawed milk for the next 24 hours and had to spend a weekend pumping instead of getting a nice, cuddly break from the breadwinning week routine. Ugh. Poor Mama C.C.!
Things like this always had me in abject terror when my little guy was on just boobjuice or mostly boobjuice, and I was making the donuts 45 minutes away (on a lucky traffic day) from him. In retrospect, really it wasn't so scary - I mean, I'm not a surgeon or some vocation that you really can't leave on a moment's notice, and babies don't starve to death in 45 minutes. But it felt like that, and that made the whole thing just so much more wrought with anxiety. It's almost like there's some awful screechy violin music playing in the back of your head the whole time you're at your day job, and you can't hear through it to the practical solution behind the potential crisis.
Someone called me once to discuss the storage at work situation. My routine was to use the classy little black cooler bag Medela provides in the Pump-in-style kit to transport the bags to and from my office. I would put the freezer pack in the freezer when I got in each morning, and return the black cooler bag to the fridge after each session. This prevented having to walk through the office with a little bag of breastmilk, which might have weirded out some clients (phooey on them if they're weirded out, but since they're clients, we go for the more discreet option, eh?) I also had a fabric grocery bag which I would use to transport the pump parts to and from the sink for washing, but for the next kiddo (no I'm not pregnant) I'm going to do what Mama C.C. suggested and have enough sets of pump parts so I don't have to wash during the day.
What tips and tricks do you mamas have to share? Leave me a comment so we can all benefit from your boobjuice wisdom.
Lastly, if you are one of those very blessed high-production mamas, do NOT let your extra milk sit in the freezer and expire - donate!!! There are lots of ways to donate breastmilk - locally or even internationally. Here is a nifty map of milk banking organizations in North America. And here is a trailer for a movie about donating breastmilk to save premature babies, which will totally make you cry.
You could save a tiny life! What an amazing gift to give.
Happy boobjuicing!
Much Love,
Suzi
So, Mama C.C. told me an absolute horror story recently... her husband unplugged the freezer.
Why would anyone do that? There was some reason, she related it to me, but I was so horrified by the idea of losing the stash of breastmilk that was always barely big enough for the work week ahead that I didn't hear it. That event worked out okay, but then there was another freezer-related situation which resulted in a portion of her stash thawing. On like a Saturday morning. AAAAIIIIEEEE! So she fed her kiddo the thawed milk for the next 24 hours and had to spend a weekend pumping instead of getting a nice, cuddly break from the breadwinning week routine. Ugh. Poor Mama C.C.!
Things like this always had me in abject terror when my little guy was on just boobjuice or mostly boobjuice, and I was making the donuts 45 minutes away (on a lucky traffic day) from him. In retrospect, really it wasn't so scary - I mean, I'm not a surgeon or some vocation that you really can't leave on a moment's notice, and babies don't starve to death in 45 minutes. But it felt like that, and that made the whole thing just so much more wrought with anxiety. It's almost like there's some awful screechy violin music playing in the back of your head the whole time you're at your day job, and you can't hear through it to the practical solution behind the potential crisis.
Someone called me once to discuss the storage at work situation. My routine was to use the classy little black cooler bag Medela provides in the Pump-in-style kit to transport the bags to and from my office. I would put the freezer pack in the freezer when I got in each morning, and return the black cooler bag to the fridge after each session. This prevented having to walk through the office with a little bag of breastmilk, which might have weirded out some clients (phooey on them if they're weirded out, but since they're clients, we go for the more discreet option, eh?) I also had a fabric grocery bag which I would use to transport the pump parts to and from the sink for washing, but for the next kiddo (no I'm not pregnant) I'm going to do what Mama C.C. suggested and have enough sets of pump parts so I don't have to wash during the day.
What tips and tricks do you mamas have to share? Leave me a comment so we can all benefit from your boobjuice wisdom.
Lastly, if you are one of those very blessed high-production mamas, do NOT let your extra milk sit in the freezer and expire - donate!!! There are lots of ways to donate breastmilk - locally or even internationally. Here is a nifty map of milk banking organizations in North America. And here is a trailer for a movie about donating breastmilk to save premature babies, which will totally make you cry.
You could save a tiny life! What an amazing gift to give.
Happy boobjuicing!
Much Love,
Suzi
Monday, August 16, 2010
Hey! Look what Congress Did!
Good news, Dear Boobjuicers and Friends!
Did you know that federal law now requires pumping breaks? Below are the relevant paragraphs of a 900+ page bill which passed in April, most of which has nothing to do with this (for full document, see: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ148.111.pdf):
(Emphasis added)
SEC. 4207. REASONABLE BREAK TIME FOR NURSING MOTHERS.
Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C.
207) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(r)(1) An employer shall provide—
‘‘(A) a reasonable break time for an employee to express
breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s
birth each time such employee has need to express the milk;
and
‘‘(B) a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from
view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public,
which may be used by an employee to express breast milk.
‘‘(2) An employer shall not be required to compensate an
employee receiving reasonable break time under paragraph (1) for
any work time spent for such purpose.
‘‘(3) An employer that employs less than 50 employees shall
not be subject to the requirements of this subsection, if such requirements
would impose an undue hardship by causing the employer
significant difficulty or expense when considered in relation to
the size, financial resources, nature, or structure of the employer’s
business.
VerDate Nov 24 2008 22:43 May 14, 2010 Jkt 089139 PO 00148 Frm 00459 Fmt 6580 Sfmt 6581 E:\PUBLAW\PUBL148.111 PUBL148 dkrause on GSDDPC29PROD with PUBLIC LAWS
‘‘(4) Nothing in this subsection shall preempt a State law that
provides greater protections to employees than the protections provided
for under this subsection.’’.
This is a great country and if we keep working at it, soon it will be a much more boobjuice-friendly country. This is a step in the right direction. Hurray!
Much Love,
Suzi
Did you know that federal law now requires pumping breaks? Below are the relevant paragraphs of a 900+ page bill which passed in April, most of which has nothing to do with this (for full document, see: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ148.111.pdf):
(Emphasis added)
SEC. 4207. REASONABLE BREAK TIME FOR NURSING MOTHERS.
Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C.
207) is amended by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(r)(1) An employer shall provide—
‘‘(A) a reasonable break time for an employee to express
breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s
birth each time such employee has need to express the milk;
and
‘‘(B) a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from
view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public,
which may be used by an employee to express breast milk.
‘‘(2) An employer shall not be required to compensate an
employee receiving reasonable break time under paragraph (1) for
any work time spent for such purpose.
‘‘(3) An employer that employs less than 50 employees shall
not be subject to the requirements of this subsection, if such requirements
would impose an undue hardship by causing the employer
significant difficulty or expense when considered in relation to
the size, financial resources, nature, or structure of the employer’s
business.
VerDate Nov 24 2008 22:43 May 14, 2010 Jkt 089139 PO 00148 Frm 00459 Fmt 6580 Sfmt 6581 E:\PUBLAW\PUBL148.111 PUBL148 dkrause on GSDDPC29PROD with PUBLIC LAWS
‘‘(4) Nothing in this subsection shall preempt a State law that
provides greater protections to employees than the protections provided
for under this subsection.’’.
This is a great country and if we keep working at it, soon it will be a much more boobjuice-friendly country. This is a step in the right direction. Hurray!
Much Love,
Suzi
A Real, Live Question for Suzi! Heading Back to "Work"
Hello Dear Boobjuicers and Friends!
Mama Lisa emailed me asking for tips as she is heading back to "work" soon after a blissful 6 month leave. My response is below, hopefully it will be of some help to another mama about to pick up her Bessie and head to the donut factory. Also, I put "work" in quotes because I gotta tell you, hanging out with a bunch of relatively quiet grownups who are usually all potty trained seemed pretty darn easy by comparison...
Reply to Mama Lisa:
I'm so glad you emailed, I hope I can be helpful. Going back part time is smart, and it will still feel like a lot. You can totally do it, I just tell you that because a lot of moms feel really overwhelmed and skip straight past "this must just be hard, I bet all moms feel like this," to "I'm doing this wrong, I can't do this, it will be this hard forever." So hopefully when you hit that point you will remember that we all felt that way when we started to try to swing breadwinning, brestpumping, and everything we were doing before the tyke showed up. You get more efficient at it and it is totally worth it.
So, that said, I think a couple thoughts are that it took me a while to figure out my pumping routine, and until I did, my productivity was kind of crap. My concentration was crap too, the first couple days, freaking out about leaving Kiddo for the day, what if they ran out of milk, etc. Which alludes to my next point, below, but the ongoing theme here is to be patient with yourself those first few days/weeks/whatever it takes and don't let the adjustment period scare you out of breadwinning or breastpumping. I was still learning new tricks even when Kiddo had hit a year and I was starting to move off pumping...
So next point, and since you are already pumping you are probably well on your way, but the more milk you can leave for Kiddo, the more relaxed you will be at work. Even though rationally I knew the little dude would not starve if he got one feeding an hour late, I was always freaked out about having enough milk in the fridge and freezer to make it through the day, which I often barely did. So if you can build up a hefty stash, great, and if you can't, don't worry, my little guy and I made it and we never had a big back supply.
Lastly, as much as you will want to skip pumping on your days off from breadwinning gig, and particularly if keeping ahead on the stash is tricky for you like it was for me, I really recommend pumping at least once on your days off. Especially if your kiddo sleeps a good stint at night and you can sneak out of bed before him in the morning and pump when you are super full, you will find it easier to keep ahead of him on supply. At some point he will have an appetite increase right on Tuesday morning, so your body won't get the signals until Friday (you may get lucky, maybe he'll always have appetite increases on Friday morning, but I sure wasn't that lucky), so you might find you have worked through a backlog you thought was a whole extra days supply or something. It happens... (And yes, there were weekend days I just couldn't bring myself to pump, and somehow Kiddo never went hungry, or not for long.)
Good luck, enjoy the return to work, and congrats on the little guy!!! You are right, we breastfeeding moms must take care of each other!
Much love,
Suzi
Mama Lisa emailed me asking for tips as she is heading back to "work" soon after a blissful 6 month leave. My response is below, hopefully it will be of some help to another mama about to pick up her Bessie and head to the donut factory. Also, I put "work" in quotes because I gotta tell you, hanging out with a bunch of relatively quiet grownups who are usually all potty trained seemed pretty darn easy by comparison...
Reply to Mama Lisa:
I'm so glad you emailed, I hope I can be helpful. Going back part time is smart, and it will still feel like a lot. You can totally do it, I just tell you that because a lot of moms feel really overwhelmed and skip straight past "this must just be hard, I bet all moms feel like this," to "I'm doing this wrong, I can't do this, it will be this hard forever." So hopefully when you hit that point you will remember that we all felt that way when we started to try to swing breadwinning, brestpumping, and everything we were doing before the tyke showed up. You get more efficient at it and it is totally worth it.
So, that said, I think a couple thoughts are that it took me a while to figure out my pumping routine, and until I did, my productivity was kind of crap. My concentration was crap too, the first couple days, freaking out about leaving Kiddo for the day, what if they ran out of milk, etc. Which alludes to my next point, below, but the ongoing theme here is to be patient with yourself those first few days/weeks/whatever it takes and don't let the adjustment period scare you out of breadwinning or breastpumping. I was still learning new tricks even when Kiddo had hit a year and I was starting to move off pumping...
So next point, and since you are already pumping you are probably well on your way, but the more milk you can leave for Kiddo, the more relaxed you will be at work. Even though rationally I knew the little dude would not starve if he got one feeding an hour late, I was always freaked out about having enough milk in the fridge and freezer to make it through the day, which I often barely did. So if you can build up a hefty stash, great, and if you can't, don't worry, my little guy and I made it and we never had a big back supply.
Lastly, as much as you will want to skip pumping on your days off from breadwinning gig, and particularly if keeping ahead on the stash is tricky for you like it was for me, I really recommend pumping at least once on your days off. Especially if your kiddo sleeps a good stint at night and you can sneak out of bed before him in the morning and pump when you are super full, you will find it easier to keep ahead of him on supply. At some point he will have an appetite increase right on Tuesday morning, so your body won't get the signals until Friday (you may get lucky, maybe he'll always have appetite increases on Friday morning, but I sure wasn't that lucky), so you might find you have worked through a backlog you thought was a whole extra days supply or something. It happens... (And yes, there were weekend days I just couldn't bring myself to pump, and somehow Kiddo never went hungry, or not for long.)
Good luck, enjoy the return to work, and congrats on the little guy!!! You are right, we breastfeeding moms must take care of each other!
Much love,
Suzi
Friday, August 6, 2010
Big Latch A Big Success!!!
Hello Dear Boobjuicers and Friends,
Well, the Big Latch on PDX was a roaring success! We went to Zenana Spa (which rocks, check it out), because my friend mama G.A. has thrush (see my earlier post on this serious pain in the boob) so hanging out in a chocolate shop would have been a bummer. Mama C.C. from work joined too! We all piled into the yoga studio at Zenana (did I mention that they rock? I believe I did.) and sat on bolsters, blankets, and the floor. I have never seen so many babies in one place in my whole life. Including in the maternity ward at the Catholic hospital where my father died. Which had lots of babies in it. Which made me feel better when my father died. Tangent much Suzi?
Right, so, latching. We got 56 mamas latched on at once - or maybe babies, I'm not sure how they counted the mamas latching two babies at once (wow!!!) - is that one mama latching, or two latches, one per twin/boob? In case the fire martial is reading, there were some in the lounge outside the yoga studio, too. It was still crazy though, and a little overwhelming. I got to make an announcement for this blog, and some mamas asked for my blogcard (which is cute and has flowers on it because my awesome artist husband helped me make them). Even more exciting, I was interviewed about nursing Kiddo and about my blog for KBOO Community Radio, by a beautiful mama with a completely adorable, six-week-old snugglebean in a sling, who miraculously seemed to sleep through the whole, noisy, beautiful event.
Surprisingly, Kiddo actually cooperated! It's not a time of day that he ordinarily would nurse, so I figured I'd be lucky to get him latched at all, but he stayed latched for maybe 20 seconds. Not bad! After the official latch on time, Zenana's mother talked about giving birth in 1969 and being the only mother on the ward who wanted to breastfeed. We have come a long, long way - and we have a long ways left to go to restore this important and beautiful part of motherhood to the "modern" world.
Later we played with yoga balls and learned some tough lessons on scarce resources and inter-toddler dynamics.
As a quick reminder, latctivism doesn't have to be this large and complicated. You make progress every time you nurse in public, support another mama, or share your stories of loving to nurse your little ones. Keep up the good work!
Much love,
Suzi
PS - check out the Big Latch website later to find out how many kiddos we got latched at once!
Well, the Big Latch on PDX was a roaring success! We went to Zenana Spa (which rocks, check it out), because my friend mama G.A. has thrush (see my earlier post on this serious pain in the boob) so hanging out in a chocolate shop would have been a bummer. Mama C.C. from work joined too! We all piled into the yoga studio at Zenana (did I mention that they rock? I believe I did.) and sat on bolsters, blankets, and the floor. I have never seen so many babies in one place in my whole life. Including in the maternity ward at the Catholic hospital where my father died. Which had lots of babies in it. Which made me feel better when my father died. Tangent much Suzi?
Right, so, latching. We got 56 mamas latched on at once - or maybe babies, I'm not sure how they counted the mamas latching two babies at once (wow!!!) - is that one mama latching, or two latches, one per twin/boob? In case the fire martial is reading, there were some in the lounge outside the yoga studio, too. It was still crazy though, and a little overwhelming. I got to make an announcement for this blog, and some mamas asked for my blogcard (which is cute and has flowers on it because my awesome artist husband helped me make them). Even more exciting, I was interviewed about nursing Kiddo and about my blog for KBOO Community Radio, by a beautiful mama with a completely adorable, six-week-old snugglebean in a sling, who miraculously seemed to sleep through the whole, noisy, beautiful event.
Surprisingly, Kiddo actually cooperated! It's not a time of day that he ordinarily would nurse, so I figured I'd be lucky to get him latched at all, but he stayed latched for maybe 20 seconds. Not bad! After the official latch on time, Zenana's mother talked about giving birth in 1969 and being the only mother on the ward who wanted to breastfeed. We have come a long, long way - and we have a long ways left to go to restore this important and beautiful part of motherhood to the "modern" world.
Later we played with yoga balls and learned some tough lessons on scarce resources and inter-toddler dynamics.
As a quick reminder, latctivism doesn't have to be this large and complicated. You make progress every time you nurse in public, support another mama, or share your stories of loving to nurse your little ones. Keep up the good work!
Much love,
Suzi
PS - check out the Big Latch website later to find out how many kiddos we got latched at once!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
BoobJuiceTown!
Hello dear boobjuicers and friends!
Portland has many nicknames. Stumptown is my favorite because it's cute somehow. If I liked beer, beervana would be a top hit. But I would like to humbly suggest an addition. Boobjuicetown! This is a great city for a nursing mama. I'm particularly excited at the moment because of the upcoming Big Latch On PDX. I got the day off at the gentle prompting of new boobjuicer and supermama G.A., and we will be (ahem) furthering the cause of education and empowerment of America's mamas and the welfare of their children. By hanging out in a chocolate shop. Heh. Is this a great town or is this a great town? Thought so.
I met the founder of Big Latch on PDX today, at the Babyfriendly Block Party, which was a nice event (free chat with a lactation consultant!) I gave her some cards for my blog and she said she would put them in the gift bags for the mamas! Yay! Only wish I had made more... ah well. And I met someone from Oregon Nursing Mothers' Counsel. Okay, so take a moment - there *is* an Oregon Nursing Mothers' Counsel. Awesome. Anyway, gave her a card too, and found out how to become a volunteer. Because that's what I need, another activity. But anyway, it's good to know in case I decide I need another outlet for my lactivism. Which I might - poor marketing guy from one of our vendors got an email full of links and comments for his wife about their new baby. Ah, well he has a delete button, and he said it would be of interest...
But I digress. So there was an event in New Zealand, where Joanne is from, and she moved here and decided to organize a similar event. She's already planning next year - bigger, whole Northwest? There's someone in Houston who wants to do one... I say the more the merrier, and the Midwest needs some lactivism pretty big, I hear.
Local mamas, check out the website and bring your babies to the Big Latch On this Friday! Who knows if Kiddo will latch on in the middle of the morning at 18 months old, but just being an example of a mama still nursing at 18 months is exciting.
There are lots of other reasons that Portland is Boobjuicetown but I am soooooo tired. Bedtime for this mama.
Keep Boobjuicing and take good care!
Much love,
Suzi
Portland has many nicknames. Stumptown is my favorite because it's cute somehow. If I liked beer, beervana would be a top hit. But I would like to humbly suggest an addition. Boobjuicetown! This is a great city for a nursing mama. I'm particularly excited at the moment because of the upcoming Big Latch On PDX. I got the day off at the gentle prompting of new boobjuicer and supermama G.A., and we will be (ahem) furthering the cause of education and empowerment of America's mamas and the welfare of their children. By hanging out in a chocolate shop. Heh. Is this a great town or is this a great town? Thought so.
I met the founder of Big Latch on PDX today, at the Babyfriendly Block Party, which was a nice event (free chat with a lactation consultant!) I gave her some cards for my blog and she said she would put them in the gift bags for the mamas! Yay! Only wish I had made more... ah well. And I met someone from Oregon Nursing Mothers' Counsel. Okay, so take a moment - there *is* an Oregon Nursing Mothers' Counsel. Awesome. Anyway, gave her a card too, and found out how to become a volunteer. Because that's what I need, another activity. But anyway, it's good to know in case I decide I need another outlet for my lactivism. Which I might - poor marketing guy from one of our vendors got an email full of links and comments for his wife about their new baby. Ah, well he has a delete button, and he said it would be of interest...
But I digress. So there was an event in New Zealand, where Joanne is from, and she moved here and decided to organize a similar event. She's already planning next year - bigger, whole Northwest? There's someone in Houston who wants to do one... I say the more the merrier, and the Midwest needs some lactivism pretty big, I hear.
Local mamas, check out the website and bring your babies to the Big Latch On this Friday! Who knows if Kiddo will latch on in the middle of the morning at 18 months old, but just being an example of a mama still nursing at 18 months is exciting.
There are lots of other reasons that Portland is Boobjuicetown but I am soooooo tired. Bedtime for this mama.
Keep Boobjuicing and take good care!
Much love,
Suzi
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