Posts Tagged ‘Breastfeeding’
Chocolate Cafe Not So Sweet on Breastfeeding
Aug 18, 2010 | Filed Under: In the News | Tags: BIPS, Breastfeeding
Hold on to your Hooter Hiders: it’s another BIPS (Breastfeeding in Public Scandal)!
According to the New York Daily News, a Manhattan mom is suing a chocolate cafe for allegedly kicking her out for breastfeeding her 5-month-old daughter –
I’m sorry; let’s just back up a second here. Did they say CHOCOLATE CAFE? Dear God. Belinda Carlisle was right: heaven really is a place on Earth.
Pardon me as I wipe the drool from my chin and try to re-focus…
Okay, so, Julia Acevedo-Taylor claims she and her friend were breastfeeding their “hungry and tired” babies when Lily O’Brien’s Chocolate Cafe’s manager approached them and demanded they “stop doing that.” The moms — who say they were being “as discreet as possible” (their attorney’s translation: no nipple bared) — politely refused and were told to “leave and never come back.”
A tearful Acevedo-Taylor left the cafe immediately and now claims she’s lost her ability to nurse in public.
Huh. I wonder where she lost it? Under her car seat, perhaps?
Here’s the kicker: customers at the store are actually greeted with a small pink sign that reads, “Breastfeeding Welcome Here” and “Beautiful Breastfeeding.”
Ha, haaaa! Just kidding apparently.
When questioned about the incident, Lily’s owner, Cathal Queally, says he’s “all for breastfeeding” and explained that the manager had merely asked one of the moms to be more discreet in response to a few complaining customers.
Upon hearing the news, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger generously declared the ladies are welcome to openly breastfeed at his restaurant, Schatzi on Main, anytime!
Breast Milk Satisfies — and Offends
Apr 20, 2010 | Filed Under: In the News | Tags: Advertising, Breastfeeding
This billboard from the Ohio Department of Health promoting breastfeeding has sparked a little controversy among folks in Ohio, with one Toledo resident eloquently noting:
Bébé au Lait Covers Put the ‘Rest’ in Breastfeeding
Mar 19, 2010 | Filed Under: Babies,Kids,Shopping | Tags: Breastfeeding
Excited to be nourishing your little one with breast milk, but not thrilled about the prospect of flashing your Uncle Ron at the next family gathering?
Then rest easy, new mama, with a stress-reducing Bébé au Lait nursing cover (originally known by its more subtle title, “Hooter Hider”). These around-the-neck shields are not only stylish, but also bigger and more secure than, say, a blanket or a deterring “please look elsewhere” raise of the eyebrow.
In other words, the Fort Knox of nursing covers.
Around since 2004, the Bébé au Lait covers — popular with celebrities — were recently updated with two new print designs, as well as with an additional cotton terry pocket to help with quick clean-up, and to store breast pads or pacifiers or something really important, such as a chocolate bar for later.
Because moms can never have enough pockets. Or peace of mind. Or chocolate.
Available at bebeaulait.com and independent retailers. Suggested retail price of $35.
Target Calls the Cops on Breastfeeding Mother
Dec 12, 2009 | Filed Under: In the News,Parenting News | Tags: Breastfeeding
STOP! In the name of Hooter Hiders…
A Michigan mother who started breastfeeding her four-week-old daughter in the Electronics aisle at Target was told by Security that she had to stop because public breastfeeding was illegal — and, when she disagreed, Target called the police. D’oh.
Move Over, Jenny Craig: Some Tout Breastfeeding as Weight Loss Plan for Mothers
Nov 17, 2009 | Filed Under: Fitness,Health & Beauty,In the News | Tags: Breastfeeding
There’s a new article in The New York Times discussing the calorie-burning benefits of breastfeeding. (Yup! It’s time to talk boobs again.)
Pumped Breast Milk Like Shot of Espresso If Given at Wrong Time of Day
Oct 5, 2009 | Filed Under: Babies,Featured,In the News,Kids | Tags: Breastfeeding
Just when you thought the rules surrounding breastfeeding couldn’t get any more confusing — Drink lots of fluids! Breastfeed for six months — no, ONE YEAR! Don’t paint your nails while breastfeeding! Be sure to nurse with one hand behind your head while jumping up and down like a monkey! (Seriously, please do and send the video to me) — a new study comes out confirming that giving babies pumped milk could disrupt their sleep if given at the wrong time of day.
Say wha –?
You see, researchers from Spain have found the composition of breast milk changes throughout the day. The milk contains more nucleotides, an ingredient known to induce sleep, at night (from 8 p.m. – 8 a.m.). So if we feed the baby at night with milk that was pumped in the morning, well… we may end up with a restless Cranky Pants. In fact, it’s like giving coffee to a baby because the day-specific ingredients stimulate activity in the infant.
The bottom line: In order to ensure correct nutrition, the baby should be given milk at the same time of day that it was expressed from mama’s breast.
“It is a mistake for the mother to express the milk at a certain time and then store it and feed it to the baby at a different time,” points out the researcher.
So… if I want to get actual work done in the day, I should feed nighttime milk to Miss Skye ALL DAY LONG! Like slipping her a Mickey. Um, not that I would actually DO that or anything. Just a passing thought. *AHEM*
Employer Fined for Firing Breastfeedin’ Mom
Aug 24, 2009 | Filed Under: In the News | Tags: Breastfeeding
A Los Angeles restaurant owner has been ordered to pay more than $46,000 for firing an employee who dared to breastfeed her baby during her breaks.
Let’s Talk About Breasts
Aug 11, 2009 | Filed Under: Babies,Candy's Column,Featured,Kids | Tags: Breastfeeding
“Are you breastfeeding?”
It’s a question I’ve been asked — just estimating here — four gajillion and seventy-two times since announcing I was pregnant. Coming from a family that primarily bottle-feeds our babies (explains why I later took so quickly to the beer bottle… and vodka bottle… and tequila… and…), I was taken aback by matter-of-factness of it all. Not only were the State of My Breasts apparently in the public domain, but the breastfeeding question was also completely rhetorical. Almost combative at times. More like, “You’re breastfeeding, aren’t you?”
And I wasn’t. Planning on breastfeeding, that is.
I liked the idea of allowing Mr. Candy to bond with Baby Girl during feedings. I’d also done my due diligence, poring over medical research merely suggesting breastfeeding could have protective benefits — research findings filled with “may”s and “could”s and some pretty major biases, including surveying affluent mothers who, yes, breastfed but also had access to superior health care that could account for their children’s seemingly better health. Popular literature routinely lays guilt trips on mothers who — GASP! — decide to bottle feed, ignoring the benefits of using formula, like avoiding the environmental toxins and allergies that we sometimes pass through our breast milk and offering Vitamin D, an important vitamin breast milk often lacks.
Having done my homework, I would respond to the question as any confident, knowledgeable mother-to-be would: By avoiding eye contact and mumbling, “Um, no, I’m not. ANYWAY… How ’bout those crazy Gosselins, huh?!”
A confrontational person, I am not. And it’s not that I was ever ANTI-breastfeeding, that would just be plain loco, but rather anti-BREASTFEEDING NAZIS. You know the kind of person I’m talking about, don’t you? The person who SCHA-REAAAAMS in all-caps, all the time, in mommy forums about how women who choose to bottle-feed should not be allowed to procreate, are lazy and, oh yeah, can leave their jacket behind when they die because they are GOING STRAIGHT TO HELL! The person who “tsk-tsks” when you dare to admit you have chosen to feed formula, the devil’s food, to your child. The person who, frankly, scares me so much that I would actually encourage a discussion about the Gosselins. Yes! The freakin’ Gosselins! ANYTHING but breastfeeding versus bottle-feeding. It’s a subject that riles up ladies on a level akin to the Angelina versus Jen debate. And I, simply being pro-feeding-your-baby, did not have the energy or passion required for that conversation.
So, yeah, color me surprised to find myself BREASTFEEDING.
Our second day at the hospital, I was enjoying some precious skin-to-skin time with Miss Skylar — bra on, no nipple in sight (after you experience birth, you don’t give words like “nipple” or “vagina” or “leaky” a second thought… much to my dad’s chagrin) — and she became so animated, like crazy animated, literally LIFTING her head and entire body to move toward my breast and chow down. I haven’t seen anyone that enamored with my boobs since my friend’s drunk dad held an hour-long conversation about Napa Valley with them — “Hello? Eyes up here!” — at his daughter’s wedding reception in 2001. Ew.
I was all, “Holy shit! Did you see that?!” Mr. Candy could only nod in amazement. Seeing my daughter’s instinctive, primal reaction to the milk my body was producing for HER tugged at my heartstrings. It really did. So then I was all, “Um, uh, maybe I should try breastfeeding?”
Now, I’d devoured a ton of books and television shows about pregnancy and baby-raisin’ the past nine months. But, obviously, I’d skipped the chapters on breastfeeding technique. So I did what ANY new mother would when it comes to the most natural thing in the world: Cheated and called the nurse for help.
“Help!” I cried when the nurse answered my call. By this point, Skylar was foaming at the mouth. I kid you not. Cujo ain’t got nothing on this kid when she’s hungry.
The nurse positioned Cujo in my arms and… she immediately latched on like a pro.
“Holy shit! Do you see this?!” Mr. Candy could only nod in amazement. Or perhaps he was speechless, as his dreams of bonding with baby during feedings and bonding with my (milk-free) breasts during sexy time, quickly flashed before his eyes.
Sorry, honey. Keep your receipt and come back in six months.
Cujo has been attached to my breast ever since. And to be honest…? I love it. The bonding time, that is, as well as the knowledge that I could be providing a healthier start for our little girl. Key word: could. Having talked to my friends who are breastfeeding mommies, I realize how lucky I am that Cujo breastfed so naturally, without the help of a lactation consultant, boobie coach or whatnot.
Bottom line: Cujo loves the boob!
Despite my unexpected and pleasant breastfeeding experience, however, I am STILL pro-feeding-your-baby-however-possible and anti-judging-other-mommies. We mothers should be banding together and respecting each others’ parenting decisions, not casting unfair aspersions.
Unless, of course, we’re talking about the Gosselins. Can you BELIEVE the way Jon is parading all of his skanks in front of the world and his kids? Yuck! (Watch: In ten years, he’ll be holding conversations with his daughter’s friend’s breasts…)
