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World Breastfeeding Week- TGIF!

August 6, 2010 by
Random, funny French ad using breastfeeding to sell their beer.
B@@bs are used to sell beer all the time these days but it sure doesn’t look like that now!

Squiggle Bug doesn’t believe in sleep any more. At 2.5 years old she has figured out how to run on pure energy. I’m jealous. I haven’t had time to really do my own blogging. Because, seriously, I have to at least attempt to sleep once in a while even if Squiggle Bug is dead-set against The Piano Man or I actually getting to sleep.

This blog carnival is intended to be open minded and thoughtful, to encourage dialogue and view breastfeeding from all different perspectives and experiences and I secretly (now not-so-secretly) hope that will be a spring board for viewing and discussing the rest of life. It’s also supposed to have funny moments. Don’t think there is much room for humor when it comes to breastfeeding? Check the blog name. Only someone that has never has sported two wet circles perfectly positioned on the chest of their top with milk that came from their own body or has never had a baby dive-bomb their chest with an open mouth or had a toddler screaming “MY BOOBIE!” could think that. Trust me, there is room for humor. There has to be. It’s a carnival hosted by The Leaky B@@b and if The Leaky B@@b can’t do humor well then, we’re screwed.

Talk about a perspective! A really kind Leaky shared this photo with me to demonstrate how she tandem feeds her twins while co-sleeping.

So I finally got something out. There are so many different perspectives I could give on breastfeeding so I shared 4. And just so you know, if you know me in real life and you bring up any of those perspectives I will deny every. single. one. Except for the Easter dress poop one, I have photographic evidence of that.

Other blogs today have a wide spectrum of perspectives, visit and let them know you’re stopping by from The Leaky B@@b checking out different perspectives on breastfeeding.

Perspectives: When “Natural” =/= “Easy”– I knew I’d love this post from the first two lines. “Hi, my name is Star, and I used to think breastfeeding was disgusting. I like to think of myself as a breastfeeding success story.” When Star isn’t chasing her toddler or nursing her infant, she works as a peer breastfeeding counselor, blogs, and spends time with her fiance. She blogs here.

The Joys of Breastfeeding Past Infancy #17– Once again, NursingFreedom.org brings a charming and informative post to the carnival. NursingFreedom.org was cofounded by Dionna of Code Name: Mama and Paige of Baby Dust Diaries. NursingFreedom.org is dedicated to normalizing breastfeeding and advocating for breastfeeding rights. Please follow NursingFreedom.org on its Facebook page to connect with other mamas who are passionate about breastfeeding advocacy.

Postpartum OCD Part 2 of 2: The Mom Who Couldn’t Stop Logging– Postpartum depression, breastfeeding difficulties and OCD, Anne invites us to journey deeper into her experience, sharing a perspective as debilitating as it is hopeful. Dou-la-la is written by Anne, doula-in-training, birth advocate and a moderately crunchy mother.

Breastfeeding and Early Intervention– A professional that works with children birth to age three in her state’s Early Intervention program, Susan gives us her perspective working with the families in need of her program’s services. A mom of 7 children, she provides support to families with special needs children drawing on her training and her own personal experience with Early Intervention for 3 of her own children. She has enjoyed the roller coaster of different breastfeeding adventures with all of 7 of her kids and is currently nursing her youngest. Susan blogs at My Breastfeeding Journey.

Our guest post today talks about breastfeeding and one’s faith and how this influenced one mom of 3. I hope you enjoy The Way of The B@@b from Jessi, an American Taoist living in China doing her best to parent her children naturally.

There are still give-aways going on and even some more to come: Kate Hansen prints and PumpEase Prize Pack.


Amber submitted this drawing done by her 8 year old step-daughter Kate and had this to share about it.

“[This] is of a woman sitting in a chair breast feeding her child and being happy about it.

Kate was very curious about when I started breastfeeding her siblings, and asked a lot of questions about how and why. When her mother had another child this year Kate told her very matter of factly, that her new sister should have the “Boobie Juices” cause that was what is good for the baby, and not those phooey bottles.
Kate is very proud to tell people that babies should have breast milk and that our 2 kids have it making them really smart.

She is very smart herself, and she cracks me up!”
Filed Under: Breastfeeding, breastfeeding stories, Children's Art Project, guest posts, World Breastfeeding Week

The Way of the B@@b

August 6, 2010 by

For our WBW blog carnival on “Perspectives: Breastfeeding From Every Angle” we are pleased to host guest posts from various contributors. Today we hear the Taoists perspective on breastfeeding from Jessi, originally one of The Leaky B@@b regular contributors and partner.


Everyone’s motivations for breastfeeding are unique to themselves, but there are certain commonalities for most. Health benefits, frugality, and convenience generally top this list and for good reason. All three are incorporated in my personal reasons for breastfeeding, but unlike most, none of them are the most important reason to me. Unlike most, the biggest motivating factor for me is philosophical, or a more relatable term, religious.

Our family is Taoist. Over the years, I’ve learned that Taoism is not very widely known or understood. Unlike it’s more commonly acknowledged “brother” Buddhism, Taoism isn’t even a household word. Before I met my husband, even I admittedly was ignorant to this ancient philisophical system.

In short, Taoism is named after Tao (道), which literally translates as “the way”. The main texts of Taoism are the Tao Te Ching (道德经) by Lao Zi and the works of Zhuang Zi. I always find it difficult to give a succint explanation of Taoism because outside of the basic principles, it gets very complex and VERY open to personal interpretation, but the fundamental is this:

Nature is the ideal example of the Tao. If you bring your life into harmony with the ways of the natural universe you will be enlightened and at peace.

Obviously, under this main belief there is a lot of sub-declarations that are more specific but the basic idea is pretty much just that.

What this means in reference to my choices as a mother become a bit more obvious once you are aware that Taoism dictates that you pursue the path of the most natural choices and it really does not get much more organic and natural than nourishing my children from the very body that nutured and grew them from the moment they were created. Being Taoist effects and enriches and influences so many aspects of my parenting life, but breastfeeding is one of the most effected. It adds another facet to an already beautiful bonding experience. Of course, any experience in our life is made that much more meaningful when it had a relation to our faith, whatever path you walk.

I could not imagine my life without my breastfeeding experiences. My oldest son nursed until 21 months and probably would have gone longer, but I was 4 months pregnant with twins and my supply suffered and he lost interest when the well ran dry. And now, nursing twins, which is a whole other journey, just seems natural and comfortable. No measuring formula, mixing and warming bottles, no climbing out of bed in the middle of the night to prepare night feedings. I just roll over to whichever side of me is making the noise and drift back to sleep while the hungry baby fills their tummy and then does the same.

Convenient, easy and lets me sleep as much as possible. Damn, Mother Nature knows what she’s doing!

Filed Under: Breastfeeding, breastfeeding stories, World Breastfeeding Week

Not From Personal Experience or Anything

August 5, 2010 by

This post is a part of The Leaky B@@b blog carnival “Perspectives: Breastfeeding from Every Angle” for World Breastfeeding Week 2010.

Me feeding Smunchie at a working ranch during a field trip.

I’ve wanted to share some giggle-worth perspectives on breastfeeding but for the life of me I can’t find my funny bone lately. Well, I have, it’s been in my head. I’m constantly cracking myself up, unfortunately all anyone hears of that humor is me laughing at myself because I can’t get it from out of my head onto the computer screen. Which is fabulous. I walk around and giggle from time to time because I mentally write a line or develop a concept that I find funny. A frazzled looking woman walking around laughing to herself, what’s so odd about that? Where I live, you see it all the time, particularly near that one part of town. Fortunately I’m regularly upstaged by my children so I think the crazy lady laughing and mumbling to herself goes mostly unnoticed.

To shut-up the voice in my head telling me funny stories and to make myself seem at least a little less crazy, I wrote down some of these under-developed perspectives. I feel I need to be clear, none of these are things I know personally, these aren’t my personal perspectives and experiences here. No, I’m sure I can’t relate to these perspectives at all. Ever. In all the years nursing 5 kids. Nope. Ok, maybe a little…

Perspective #1: The Cheap Lazy Mother
Ladies and gentlemen I’m a cheap, lazy mother! No, not that way, get your mind out of the gutter. Don’t you love how by saying that your mind totally goes in the gutter? Ah, the delights of cheap humor. But it is true, I am a cheap, lazy mother. Yeah sure, breast is best… ok, normal, we’ll go with normal, since I’ve had a thing or two to say about getting rid of that terminology. Human breastmilk is normal feeding for human babies. It is also cheap. And easily available, as long as everything is working normally. I love that. It can be kind of difficult sometimes for the first few weeks maybe but considering you’ve either pushed the equivalent of a human Smart Car out of your vagina or had your belly opened up and pulled apart to remove the human Smart Car, you understandably have some laying around to do anyway. May as well get the cheap feeding machines up and running while you lay there. A few weeks further down the road and you’ll be well into not just the cheap part but the “OH-MY-GAH-WHY-CAN’T-EVERYONE-IN-MY-FAMILY-EAT-THIS-WAY?” mode. Particularly if you’ve been down this road before and those former happy b@@bie customers are now little (or big) people that constantly say any variation of “I’m hungry” or “What’s for dinner?” And then complain about the options. (Consequently, our bilingual home is proof that you do not have to speak a language well to understand “I’m hungry.” “I’m hungry” whined in any language sounds just as annoying as it does in English. Even when that other language is French.) But when you have a regular b@@b customer it is over and done with just a lift of your shirt and best of all, no complaints. Those little buggers love it every time! The original fast food and infinitely better for your customers, b@@bie juice is ready and available to customized perfection whenever, where ever and however. Nothing can make that claim no matter how it is packaged and marketed. (HA! Take THAT Nestle!) When 4pm rolls around in my house and I realize I never threw “something” in the slow cooker and I have to actually figure out “something” to cook, I have found myself wishing I could just park my butt on the couch and feed my family without having to get up. It’s not gross or disgusting. It’s lazy and cheap but still better than McDonald’s. And just because I’ve wanted to do that doesn’t mean I have.

The big girls have turned me down every time, dang it.

Perspective #2: The Vain Mom
I’ve heard women say they didn’t want to breastfeed because it would ruin their breasts and make them sag. Aside from the fact that they are wrong about that and obviously haven’t researched if that is true or not, they are missing out on so much! And, it’s not, by the way. Blame pregnancy, gravity and genetics, if your breasts are going to sag they are going to sag. Look around, there are plenty of older women who have never even had children that have their knockers knocking their knees. These women that don’t breastfeed to spare their breast, I have to wonder what they are thinking. Breastfeeding is awesome! Burn 500 calories just by breastfeeding! That’s like eating a whole giant slice of chocolate cake and it doesn’t even count. HELLO! What in the world am I going to do when Smunchie weans? Plus, breastmilk b@@bs are firm but soft, full but natural, bouncy but expanded. They look great in a low top, in a t-shirt, and drop-dead stunning in the nude. Ruin my breasts with breastfeeding? Heck no! Breastfeeding did me a FAVOR!

Perspective #3: The Diaper
Now why should you give a crap what the diaper’s perspective is on breastfeeding? Well, for starters, I get to use an obvious pun. Secondly, it’s a valid perspective. Diapers deal with the other side of breastmilk and formula. (Score, another obvious pun!) Whether you’re changing it, near it when it is being changed, washing it or taking the sausage links of plastic wrapped fecal packages to the trash can, there are no ifs, ands or butts (I am on an obvious pun ROLL!), breastmilk poop looks better, smells better and cleans up better than the formula variety. People, I’ve dealt with both and here is the cold hard truth (or should I saw the warm, soft, sort-a-sweet smelling truth?): breastmilk poop is way better than formula poop. Formula poop is nasty, stinky, ugly and just plain a load of sh*t no matter how you dispose of it. (And the puns just keep a-coming.) The color of breastmilk poop is even better, I love the color- check out my walls. And if you cloth diaper, breastmilk poop is like a mustard color lazy pass: you don’t have to rinse, spray, dunk, swirl or flick just toss the soiled dipe in your wetbag and go on you merry way until the next time it is time to wash diapers. Wash. Hang any stained ones on the line in the sun. Voila, done. You don’t have to flush all your time away (YES!) trying to scrape off sticky, stinky formula rejects. The diapers will thank you for breastfeeding, no matter what kind of diapers you use.

And when one of those diapers can’t possibly hold the entire package of goo one day and you and baby are both wearing it smeared all over your white Easter dresses, you’ll thank yourself for breastfeeding just because yellow mush smells like buttered popcorn or yogurt. You will not thank yourself for the white ensemble or the lack of a change of clothes for yourself. Not that I know this from personal experience or anything…

Perspective 4: The Sleep Deprived, Harried Mom
To get air to her nipples as they toughen up during the first few weeks of breastfeeding her new baby she took an old stained tee of her husbands and strategically cut 2, 2 inch holes in the chest. A needy and upset tiny infant hasn’t slept more than 20 minutes at a time for the last 9 days. Her head itches constantly from needing a shower, her hair having been in the same ponytail since the shower she had after giving birth, now drooping and creating a halo of frizz around her head as though she stuck her finger in a light socket. Just as she was going to get in the shower for the first time in 5 days because that little person finally fell asleep and let her set him down, the doorbell rings. Knowing she looks like a meth addict but craving adult interaction, she stumbles to the door, hesitating for just a moment but far too exhausted to figure out why. They are going to leave and you’ll not have spoken to another adult other than her husband for who-knows-how-long if you let this moment pass! Flinging open the door with a little too much fake enthusiasm she sees a twenty-something man in a brown work uniform holding a digital clipboard and a box. Somebody thought of her and sent a package! Suddenly she is 6 years old again, filled with glee, A PRESENT! Controlled by fatigue still, she gives a lopsided bounce and weak clap, croaking “yay!” The expression on the attractive (hey, she’s tired, not dead) delivery man’s face difficult to read, she reminds herself to not act so desperate and takes his clipboard to sign for the package. Avoiding her eyes, he awkwardly takes the clipboard back, pushing the cardboard package away from him. She takes it and reads the label, her best friend from out of state sent the hand made blanket they had planned together for the baby. Even more excited, she bounces up and down a little more and needing to share that excitment with someone she calls out to the UPS guy retreating from the house “Thank you so much! You don’t know how much this means to me? What’s your name? Joe? Joe, thank you so much, I could hug you!” Like a cornered puppy desperately looking for an escape, he nearly trips over a flower pot to bolt to his truck. He must have a lot of packages to deliver, he’s in such a hurry. Inside she opens the box and admires the beautiful handmade blanket with her son’s name stitched into it and reads the card 6 times, having to wipe the snot and tears from her face at least as many times. The clock is ticking though and she knows the angle sleeping in the co-sleeper will wake up soon and become the swirling vortex of screaming. Shower. Still smiling slightly thinking of the blanket and note from her friend, she walks with a little more energy now into the bathroom to shower. Walking past the closet door with it’s full-length mirror, she sees someone. Oh, that’s me. Wow I look… Oh. My. God. Smile gone. The hair, the eyes the red nose and blotchy skin, they are nothing.

Shirt.

Holes.

Nipples.

All the blood drains from her face. For just a minute she sees how it looked from the other side of the door. How she looked. And it totally makes sense.

For just a few seconds she feels a little sick.

Then she snorts, chortling at the image and the memory of the scene. She rushes to the shower to start the water and laugh without waking the baby. Silently giggling she tugs the ponytail free and looks in the mirror. With a bray, she’s laughing hysterically, tucks her hands into her shirt and jabs her fingers through the nipple holes. She has to lean against the wall and hold her side when she suddenly realizes she’s about to pee, she takes her seat and remains on the toilet until the uncontrollable laughing subsides and mops her the snot and tears from her face once again. Stripping down, she gets in the shower and shrugs, oh well, who cares, she’s just happy she’s actually getting to shower. And, as a bonus, she peed in private. When the baby wakes up she’ll have to tell him all about it.

Other Perspectives
I have more. Oh yes, I talk to myself all the time and think up funny and even some not so funny perspective about breatsfeeding. And other subjects too, actually. Here are some I’ve written before.

Lactating b@@bies and I have a conversation. Well, I talk to them really. I let them know how I see things on a few issues. More on b@@bies, A-DD, here. I talk about b@@bs a lot.

This could be called “The Smart-ass vs. Polite response to Stupid Breastfeeding Comments Perspective”

For a colorful perspective on breastmilk, particularly on The Piano Man and Earth Baby’s first poop experience you should check out “Holy Crap.”

My friend Sue takes a look back at breastfeeding now that her youngest is weaned. Talking about the experience of giving her 4 children the “sweet nectar of life,” Sue brings humor to even the most, um, interesting experiences she had breastfeeding.

Earth Baby has shared her personal perspective on breastfeeding already, but all of my girls have very vocal opinions on breastfeeding.

My perspective of a 4 month old Smunchie nursing in the carrier.
Filed Under: Breastfeeding, breastfeeding humor, breastfeeding stories, humor, World Breastfeeding Week

HAPPY HOUR! Peace, Love, Breastfeeding

August 5, 2010 by

Lisa, at Ice Mudd and YoHo Graphix 4 Me, has out-done herself for World Breastfeeding Week. Offering daily free digital download embroidery designs EVERY DAY this week and contributing 2 give-aways to The Leaky B@@b, she’s made sure we can party hard.

Check out this awesome vinyl art wall decal Lisa is giving away just for Leakies on our Facebook page from 4-10pm CST tonight.

(Please note, the decal for this give-away is light blue)

It’s Happy Hour at The Leaky B@@b. To be entered, head over to The Leaky B@@b on FaceBook and look for the post on our wall saying “COMMENT HERE TO BE ENTERED!” You don’t have to do anything else to be entered but if you haven’t already, “like” YoHo Graphix 4 Me page and show another Leaky your support. Good luck everyone and have fun!

Filed Under: World Breastfeeding Week

Breastfeeding in Fine Art

August 5, 2010 by

I love breastfeeding art. There is something profoundly quieting about an artistic rendering of a woman nourishing and comforting her child at her breast. Photography and hand drawn or painted, Historical and modern creations alike draw me in, in a way no other theme in art does. Maybe it is because I am a breastfeeding mother but I actually think it is more than a personal connection with the act of breastfeeding and more that depctions of breastfeeding share one primal truth about mothering: mother requires vulnerable sacrifice. To breastfeed a child of any age requires the mother to expose a part of her body, to offer it to the child purely for their nourishment. Any benefits of breastfeeding a mother receives are secondary, the primary objective is to meet her child’s needs. All mothers, even those that don’t breastfeed, understand this motivation in caring for their children but, after birth, nothing visually illustrates this as much as breastfeeding. Viewing a moment of that physical illustration preserved in the form of art is a moving experience, humbling and uplifting as only being confronted with unconditional love can be.

And so it is that I am please to be able to share a generous give-away from Kate Hansen. Kate has 2 of the above print set aside for readers of The Leaky B@@b. The recipients will be chosen via a random drawing from your comments below. A fine art print for free, one that embraces such a beautiful moment in mothering, what a way to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week.

To be entered go to Kate’s website and browse her Madonna and Child Project gallery then come and tell us which is your favorite in the comment section below.

For an additional entry, go “like” Kate’s Facebook page and let me know by leaving another comment saying “I like Kate!”

Share this give-away for one more entry, comment letting us know what social networking site such as Twitter, Facebook, or a parenting forum (not the TLB forums) you passed this really neat opportunity along to.

This give-away will close Saturday at 11.59pm, CST.

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This Give-Away Is Now Closed!
Thanks to Kate Hansen and everyone that entered.

The winner is Sondra Rose! I’ll need you to e-mail me at theleakyboob @ theleakyboob.com (no spaces) to get your e-mail address to pass along to Kate for her to get your shipping information. Congrats and enjoy! Oh, and once you get your print, we’d love to see some action shots!

Filed Under: World Breastfeeding Week

World Breastfeeding Week- Thursday!

August 5, 2010 by
Squiggle Bug

Squiggle Bug is walking around the house calling for her toilet, like it ran away or something. I find this confusing.

What does that have to do with World Breastfeeding Week? Nothing, nothing at all. Except as evidence that I do actually think about other things than breastfeeding. Like toilets. And poop, but you already knew that.

Are you a crafty lactivist? Lisa once again offers up a neat embroidery design for breastfeeding mom with iLactate! Free download and if you give it a try share a pic please!

From tube-fed to boob-fed– Becky found reality to be a little different from the what she had dreamed when she imagined having a baby but she wouldn’t change it for the world. A daughter with a rough entrance into the world and facing special needs starting out with tube feedings. But this is a breastfeeding story. Becky writes about ferself: “I am a mom of a very special little girl who is nothing what we expected, but loved more than we ever imagined. She is my full time job, the love of my life, and she blesses me daily with her ability to do more than anyone ever expected!”

Breastfeeding and Bible Study: WWYD?- It was a sticky situation, one woman feeds her baby at a Bible study and the hostess finds out that another woman is too uncomfortable with breastfeeding to continue attending. What would you do? Dionna writes about natural/attachment parenting and life with a toddler (soon to be preschooler) at Code Name: Mama. She also cofounded NursingFreedom.org, a site dedicated to normalizing breastfeeding and advocating for breastfeeding rights.

World Breastfeeding Week– “All I can say from personal experience is ‘just do it!'” Journalist and solo mom to two, Olivia writes about WBW and her experience breastfeeding from the get go and out and about. Birth, pregnancy, breastfeeding and reproduction issues are the theme for her blog Write About Birth.

An Open Letter to My Alma Mater– Sadly, we know that many doctors and nurses receive less than adequate education on human lactation but what about those studying biology? I love this letter Abbie wrote to her Alma Mater concerning her education in lactation as a student of biology. Abbie is a wife, mom, teacher and environmentalist who was raised on my family’s farm. She likes to cook from scratch, garden, craft, read and write in her spare time.

Not a planned part of our carnival but I’m going to point you all in the direction of Dou-la-la again, she has an informative post regarding the dangers of early supplementation and one reason that is often overlooked.

I’ll have guest posts and give-aways up today plus Happy Hour on The Leaky B@@b Facebook page again. We’ve had lots of fun. Be sure to enter the PumpEase Give-Away that closes on Saturday.

Natural Pure Essentials has a special 10% discount just for The Leaky B@@b readers with the code leakyboob. Find Safe Sippy, cloth diapers, safe sunscreen options, and other natural parenting items for all your needs. The discount is good through Saturday and thanks to Navine for helping make World Breastfeeding Week a time to encourage all moms.

Don’t forget about our Children’s Art Project with Paper Mama to benefit Best For Babes Foundation! Send in your child’s creation about breastfeeding and help support this great cause, one piece will be selected for note cards and the winner will receive a set of their own.

It’s been a great week and we have 2 days left. I hope you’re enjoying the different blogs, guest posts, give-aways and offers. I’d love to know how you have found ways to honor World Breastfeeding Week, comment and share here. Thanks!

Filed Under: Breastfeeding, guest posts, World Breastfeeding Week

KIDS EAT FREE!- WBW PumpEase Give-Away

August 4, 2010 by

The beautiful ladies of PumpEase are offering up this fantastic PumpEase Prize Pack for The Leaky B@@b readers during World Breastfeeding Week.

From their website: “PumpEase hands-free pumping support will hold your breast pump in place as securely and comfortably for your 1000th pumping session as it did for your 1st. Our patent pending, ‘no-stitch’ horn openings accommodate ALL makes and models of pumps guaranteed.”

The PumpEase Prize Pack includes:

  • To be entered into this give-away comment on this post after you’ve “liked” the PumpEase Facebook page saying “I like PumpEase!”

  • For an additional entry, share this give away on a social networking site such as FaceBook, Twitter or a parenting board (Not TLB forums) and let us know how you shared it in another comment.

  • And for one more entry visit the PumpEase website, come back here and comment again telling us your favorite product on the website.

That’s it! This great give-away is open through Saturday for World Breastfeeding Week. Good Luck!

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This Give-Away Is Now Closed!
Thanks to PumpEase and everyone that entered.

The winner is Bex1974! PumpEase will need your shipping address could you e-mail me that information? Congrats and enjoy!

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Update

Since I haven’t heard from our original winner, I did another drawing and the winner is Farmer’s Daughter. Congrats!

Filed Under: World Breastfeeding Week

Happy Hour! Thank You For Nursing In Public cards give-away

August 4, 2010 by


Whether you whip them out all loud and proud or stealth feed, nursing in public helps encourage future moms of all ages to consider breastfeeding as the most normal way to feed a baby. Thank the moms that take part in this education with Paper Mama‘s beautiful “Thank You For Nursing In Public” cards.

Win a set of these cards tonight during The Leaky B@@b Happy Hour give-away from 4-10 PM CST tonight. Have something handy to show your support to breastfeeding moms in public without wondering what to say. Since we can only have one winner tonight, you can go order your own set directly from Paper Mama.

It’s Happy Hour at The Leaky B@@b. To be entered, head over to The Leaky B@@b on FaceBook and look for the post on our wall saying “COMMENT HERE TO BE ENTERED!” You don’t have to do anything else to be entered but if you haven’t already, “like” Paper Mama’s page and show another Leaky your support. Good luck everyone and have fun!

Filed Under: World Breastfeeding Week

World Breastfeeding Week- Wednesday!

August 4, 2010 by
Color pencil drawing by Shallanee, age 6.

It’s Wednesday, hump day. There is no possible way on earth that I can say “hump day” and really only think “oh hump, as in the middle of the week… just going down to the weekend from here!” No. Say “hump day” and I giggle like a jr. high boy thinking of the time I saw the bears getting it on at the zoo. I am not the only one that thinks this, I know I’m not.

This particular hump day is half way through World Breastfeeding Week. The shear volume of blogs, articles, news-debacles out there for WBW is astounding. It’s like lactivist are going to take over the world or something. It’s kind of cool.

But there is something else extra special about this hump day though too. It is The Piano Man’s birthday today. Which means it probably really is “hump day” if you know what I mean. *jr. high boy giggling goes here.* If my mom is reading this, she probably just died a little reading that I put not so thinly veiled innuendos on the internet and some of my real life friends are not going to look me in the eye the next time I see them. Or laugh like a jr. high boy. *HI SUE!*

ANYWAY…

It’s The Piano Man’s birthday, which is nice. But back to World Breastfeeding Week and our fantastic blog carnival (if I do say so myself- which I do because I can since I haven’t written the carnival submissions myself).

Our beautiful art work in this post today are submissions to our Children’s Art Project “Perspectives, Breastfeeding Through Children’s Eyes.” All these drawings are making my heart go pitter-patter. Aren’t they beautiful? I just love them. We really need more though, please, please, please send us your child’s art work depicting breastfeeding.

Mom’s Milk Is The B(r)e(a)st!– More art for this week is coming from Lisa Crigger with a new digital embroidery downloadable design every day for World Breastfeeding Week. Cute and fun designs for free every day this week!

And the bloggers are really bringing it, once again.

How It’s Supposed To Be– Natural doesn’t always mean easy. In this post Rachel shares the path she has traveled in breastfeeding her children full of difficulties and triumphs and always love. Rachel is a busy mom to five. When she’s not nursing her youngest child (and sometimes when she is), Rachel blogs at A Reservation For Six.

Postpartum OCD, A Retroactive Self-diagnosis: Part 1 of 2– “Then it all went to hell.” Dou-la-la joins TLB blog carnival today with a painfully honest look back at her postpartum days and breastfeeding challenges with her newborn including a video of a stressful feed. Dou-la-la is written by Anne, doula-in-training, birth advocate and a moderately crunchy mother.

Don’t Muddy Your Milk: Shame and Breastfeeding– Returning with The Leaky B@@b carnival, NursingFreedom.org takes a look at how shame impacts breastfeeding. NursingFreedom.org was cofounded by Dionna of Code Name: Mama and Paige of Baby Dust Diaries. NursingFreedom.org is dedicated to normalizing breastfeeding and advocating for breastfeeding rights. Please follow NursingFreedom.org on its Facebook page to connect with other mamas who are passionate about breastfeeding advocacy.

Nursing The Divine– I can’t give a little intro for this one. You simply HAVE to read it. Whatever your faith, you will love it. GO READ IT NOW. Kate Hansen is an artist, mother and breastfeeding advocate from BC, Canada. After reading her post you should also go browse her artwork. Oh yeah… and be looking for a give away of one of her prints.

Our guests posts are once again really wonderful. Don’t Ever Want To Forget comes from the heart of Alex on her daughter weaning when she was ready at 3.5 years old. A poem and reflections, you will probably cry. Our second guest post I am ridiculously proud of as it is from Earth Baby. She writes as an 11 year old girl going through puberty, big sister to 4 sisters, sharing her thoughts on breastfeeding and her future as a breastfeeding mother some day. I even hunted down some old school photos to scan in for her post.

I slacked on give-aways yesterday, the girls and I needed to get out of the house and be busy but I will try, admist The Piano Man’s birthday celebrations, to get the give-aways up and going. Thanks for your patience and, er, enjoy your hump day. I know I will. *snort*


Color Pencil drawing by Daisha, age 11
Filed Under: Breastfeeding, guest posts, World Breastfeeding Week

Earth Baby on Breastfeeding

August 4, 2010 by
by Ophélia Martin-Weber

05.15.16 Editor’s Note: Today, this author is 17 years old and while much of her perspective remains essentially the same, she has matured in her views as well. This young lady now articulates that for her, just seeing breastfeeding so often from her mom, family friends, and on social media, makes it seem like no big deal and just what you do when you have a baby. Though she doesn’t intend to have children for a long time yet and is passionately pursuing a professional career in ballet, Ophélia has expressed that should she have children she fully intends to breastfeed… like it’s just what you do.

To learn more about what Ophélia is doing today, go here where she shares her latest adventures and is currently seeking crowd support in reaching her body positivity goals in dance.

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For our WBW blog carnival on “Perspectives: Breastfeeding From Every Angle” we are pleased to host guest posts from various contributors. Today we are honored to share a guest post from Earth Baby, sharing her perspective on breastfeeding as the 11 year old girl, oldest of 5 sisters, all breastfed.

Jessica (The Leaky B@@b) breastfeeding Earth Baby in the hospital November 1998


I don’t remember being breastfed, but I know that I was.

I am not a professional when it comes to breastfeeding, at least not since I was a baby and I don’t remember that, but I do know some things about breastfeeding: it feeds the baby; it keeps them healthy; you don’t need to hide to breastfeed, it’s natural; it gets moms closer to their babies and helps the babies to know their mom. Last week I learned that the boobies can change temperature if the baby is too hot or too cold. The mothers need to eat a lot (not to make themselves fat) to produce milk; and we all know that babies love their mommy’s milk!

I am happy that my mom is breastfeeding but will I want to breastfeed my own children? Right now I think I would but I am not sure if I will approve of it when I am older. But I think I will. The reasons why I would breastfeed are because it is safe. It is healthy for the child and the mother. In other words, why did God make breasts? Is it for men to admire them? No way! It would let the babies have a chance to trust us. I think I will breastfeed my babies because God made us to do so, so when they are close to me they can trust me.

Earth Baby and her mommy, 1999

Babies being healthy and happy makes me feel happy. They are chubby, cheerful, and sweet after being fed. Feeding your babies can help soothe them if they are troubled, or to get smiles. The best part of breastfeeding is…cuddling! I’m not sure if it is true but whenever my mom breastfeeds, they seem to be snuggled close together. I love that.
Earth Baby, a chubby, happy, breastfed baby, June 1999


Some people don’t feel comfortable with moms breastfeeding in public or around them. But I think they don’t realize that they were once breastfed. I feel completely comfortable that my mom or myself, when I am grown up, can breastfeed anywhere, around anyone, or anyplace. My mom breastfed me and has breastfed four other children ever since I was born. I don’t mind, I had to be there when my mom breastfed my sisters. I am used to it. 

There is this question that has been stuck in my head for a while, what would I do if my husband didn’t agree with me breastfeeding? I would tell him that it is important to do it and I will not hide from him or public. We decided that we wanted children. I was pregnant for nine months. I did it, not him. I gave birth to our child, he didn’t, even if he helped me. I did all of the hard work of bringing a child to us. Then I would say to him that I get to decide what to feed our child because I gave birth to her/him and it is my body. If he disagreed with me and told me what to do, I would tell him, “we need to keep our baby healthy. You like to get smiles from our child. She/He smiles after I nurse her/him and you like it.” Then I would give him the baby and walk away but when she/he cries he’d want me to come back to breastfeed her/him and I would tell my husband he made a good choice.

The author today, 11 years old.


I have had my times where I am scared when my mom breastfeeds in public. I feel like I might be mocked for breastfeeding when I was a baby. I am also scared that after if someone points out my mom breastfeeding they will have a little fight with my mother and that then she will give up and I don’t know what to do. My little sister needs her breastmilk. I’m scared it will also happen to me, that people will judge me that I shouldn’t breastfeed my baby someday in public.

It seems a little strange that my developing breasts are going to be bigger, full of milk with a nipple and a baby on top of it someday. I really don’t want to have big or little boobs when the time comes, just something just right for breastfeeding. 

Earth Baby
Filed Under: Breastfeeding, Children and breastfeeding, guest posts, World Breastfeeding Week
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