Toddlers

Toddlers are strange creatures…not quite babies and not quite kids.  It is a very challenging age for me…the one I find the most challenging.  My poor son’s life consists of him trying to do fun, interesting things that no one else wants him to do.  It is a frustrating experience indeed!

They say that newborns are born helpless as an adaptation for upright walking and pelvic size. They say that because of this the newborn is totally dependent on his mama

I say that the real reasons newborns are helpless if because if they were born as walking, destructive toddlers, no one would keep them.  Who would want a baby that as soon as he pops out, he immediately grabs your cell phone and tosses it in the toilet.  Or in caveman days….he gets into the cave’s supply of meat and furs and strews them all over the land.   They wouldn’t survive.  No…God knew what he was doing when he made the newborn a cute, helpless creature..

Breastfeeding is NOT Obscene

Facebook recently had virtual “nurse-in”, protesting their classification of breastfeeding photos as “obscene”.    Calling breastfeeding obscene, is well…obscene.

Is this an obscene photo, I ask you?

Most people would say it is beautiful….a lovely example of mother and child.  Words like pureness and serenity come to mind.

The question comes to mind though…so what?  So what if facebook doesn’t allow breastfeeding photos?  Does it really matter? 

The answer, is YES it does.  It matters a lot. The health and well-being of our nations mothers and babies depend on it.   Every time breastfeeding is thought of as something that should only happen behind closed doors, or something private, or something that needs to be covered up, or hidden then mothers and babies are harmed. 

Fact:  Babies are born to be breastfed.

Fact: Babies NEED to breastfeed VERY frequently.

 Fact:  Humans (and especially women) are social creatures and NEED  friendship and compani0nship with others.

Fact: Mothers learn how to breastfeed by watching other mothers breastfeed.

If breastfeeding is kept private or hidden then it will never be normalized.  Mothers won’t learn by watching other mothers, women won’t feel comfortable breastfeeding in front of others, and a mother who isn’t comfortable breastfeeding around others is much more likely to wean prematurely.

  The AAP recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six-months and a continuation of breastfeeding for at least a year.   The WHO recommends breastfeeding continue until  2 years of age.

In order for most mother/baby dyads to reasonably meet those goals, the mothers needs to feel comfortable breastfeeding as she goes about her daily life.  Breastfeeding needs to be seen as the normal way one feeds and comforts a baby.  Breastfeeding needs to become the norm.  Hence, breastfeeding pics needs to be seen as normal…right up there with the obligatory first Christmas, or first Halloween pics.  A way that proud mothers can share pictures of their babies.

Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is NOT obscene.

Punished by a Baby?

Our nation has just voted a man into the presidential office that believes his daughters should never have to be punished by a baby?  How sad is that….that anyone could view a baby as punishment?   I wonder if he believes that certain babies are more of a punishment than others….like if your baby has a genetic defect, you must have done something really bad.   Probably…considering that he is a staunch supported of abortion rights and studies show that 84% of down syndrome babies never make it to the outside.  

The fact is, that of all the women I know who have birthed a baby that was conceived during “less than ideal times for having a baby”..NONE of them view that child as punishment….most would say a blessing.   The same holds true for those whose babies are born, less than perfect.  The only regrets are for the babies that aren’t there.

A friend of mine just published this blog post.   I think we should all read it, it is so very true.

Not Back to School

It’s that time of year again…(da,da,da,da)…BACK TO SCHOOL….except not for us…we’re not going back to school.

In a few weeks our homes school group will have a lovely “Not Back to School Beach Day” While all the other kids are in school, our kids will be frolicking on the beach. While all the other kids are in school, my kids have time to play and read and draw and paint and ice skate and swim and go to the library and the zoo and the playground and the farm and the museum and well… wherever we darn well please.

That is the beauty of not going to school…we aren’t bound by schedules and clocks and other restrictions. We can just LIVE life. Sure, we have our “school work”…but guess what..somehow me manage to do in 1 hour what it takes the school system, 4 or 5 to do. AMAZING how that works, efficiency is a wonderful thing!

Yet another beautiful year of NOT going back to school!.

Wonder Drug!

I stumbled upon this great article today…click the link for the full-version/credit. 

Imagine if today, scientists discovered a drug that could save 13 per cent of all the babies who currently die. Now imagine that drug also made your baby cleverer – and dramatically slashed her chances of developing heart disease, diabetes, leukaemia, asthma or obesity as an adult. Oh: and imagine it was free.

The “drug” exists. It is called breast milk. Yet in the developed world, we often stigmatise women who give it to their babies as “creepy”. In the developing world, we allow corporations to tug babies from their mother’s nipple, and put them on to powders that bring more profit – and more death.

I come at this from a strange perspective. My mother breastfed me until I was nearly three; she only stopped the day I wrote her a note saying I expected to be breastfed that afternoon.

Praying and Ecological Breastfeeding

I was browsing the Kippley’s Blog and came upon this post.  They mention in their prayers:

 So may I suggest a Prayer of the Faithful like this:  “For a rebirth of chastity, for a stop to contraception, for a stop to abortion, and for a culture of life, let us pray to the Lord.”  Implicit in that is a prayer that engaged couples will be chaste and that married couples will be generous in having children and use only systematic natural family planning if and when they need more spacing than they derive from ecological breastfeeding.  And that of course implies a prayer that they will do eco-breastfeeding for all sorts of good reasons. 

I thought this was very interesting.  Thankfully we have gotten to the point where “most” faithful Catholics recognize the importance of breastfeeding and at least do so for the first several months.   Actually, *most* Americans in general breastfeed, at least initially.  Studies tell us that the initiation rate of breastfeeding is around 70%, however the duration is still low and at 6 months only 30% are still breastfeeding and only 14% at 12 months.

As Catholics, I think we are called to “do more” than the general population.

The Catechism of The Catholic Church states that

2370 Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality. These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom. In contrast, “every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible” is intrinsically evil:

I firmly believe that the teaching of NFP MUST be taught in conjunction with ecological breastfeeding.  Ecological breastfeeding teaches us that “natural child spacing” (that is a child spacing of 2.5-4 years) IS possible.  Since the catechism teaches us that NFP is permissible for the use of “just” reasons (and there is MUCH debate about what THAT entails).  With the use of ecological breastfeeding, the need for NFP is greatly reduced.

So, I join the Kippley’s in their prayer….that married couples will be generous in having children and use only systematic natural family planning if and when they need more spacing than they derive from ecological breastfeeding.  And that of course implies a prayer that they will do eco-breastfeeding for all sorts of good reasons. 

 

Healthy Sleep Habits

I recently read this article on sleep.  It got me thinking about healthy sleep habits.  I am actually one of the few people I know who has what I consider to be healthy sleep habits.

I believe healthy sleep habits to be those to of our ancestors, before the invention of artificial lights, and TV’s and computers.  In days past, one went to bed shortly after dark and awoke shortly after day-break feeling well-rested without the need of caffeine or other stimulants.  

Healthy sleep means one doesn’t need an alarm clock to  awaken,  and they go to bed and awaken at approximately the same time each night.  It is well documented that shift work is unhealthy, but even sleeping later/staying up later on weekends can take its’ toll.   I firmly believe in the importance of regular sleep routines.

New research is also coming out on the ill affects of nighttime lights.   The best sleeping environment is a totally dark room which is on the cooler side.   Sleeping in a totally darkened room has been shown to both prevent cancer and help regulate the female cycle.

So, shut off the computer, turn off the lights and go to sleep!

Is Ecological Breastfeeding REALLY difficult?

I was reading another blog  about ecological breastfeeding and came across the comment that ecological breastfeeding is REALLY difficult.    I had to stop and think about that.  Do most people  (who even bother to think about ecological breastfeeding at all that is) really think it is REALLY difficult? 

I am on my third round of ecological breastfeeding.  The little one is barely 3 months old and nursing as I type right now.   Honestly, it doesn’t seem difficult to me.  In fact, it seems the most natural thing in the world, and actually almost lazy.  I mean, you really don’t have to DO anything.  Babe cries and I get to sit down and pop him on.  I mean what other mothering practice gives one so much leeway to spend so much time just sitting or lying down, and while doing that I can read, type, check email, surf the internet, pay bills online, eat lunch, read stories to other children, home school my oldest, pray, do leg lifts (while lying down), talk on the phone, have conversations with other family members  or do Internet research.

Granted, one generally can’t do all those things in the early days of breastfeeding, but with practice one becomes quite adept at MTN (multi-tasking nursing).   It is the same with nursing in public.  While it is awkard in the beginning, with a bit of practice one can become quite proficient at latching a baby on while carrying them in a sling and grocery shopping, or during a meeting or party or at the park or a whole host of other places.  

Over the course of the last 6 years in my breastfeeding career, I have nursed children everywhere from real estate offices to the confessional,  from the classroom (where I briefly took my oldest to work with  me each day as a young infant) to the crisis pregnancy center where I used to volunteer as a counselor.  I have taken my babies to conferences and bible studies and basically everywhere else I go.

If pacifiers and leaving a baby isn’t even an option, one learns to adjust in marvelous ways.   Babies are remarkably portable and home is where ever mom is.

Likewise, if one is accustomed to nursing whereever and whenever during the day, it is natural to continue that at night.  After all, what could be easier than waking up at a babies slighted stir, sticking a nipple in his mouth and then blissfully falling back asleep.  Having a baby sleep separately seems like so much more WORK…I mean you would actually have to get out of bed!!

Nursing just seems like the EASIEST way to calm a baby, and soothe him.  Certainly easier than a pacifier which can get lost and dirty and falls out of his mouth and stolen by older sibling to use in their play.

Nursing is certainly easier than preparing baby foods and cleaning up afterwards. When one ecologically breastfeeds, there isn’t such an emphasis on “starting solids” and really going through the bother of pureeing foods and spoon-feeding and clean-up….well nursing is just easier (and cleaner too!). 

Babies are born to be breastfed…and even more so, I think they are born to be ecologically breastfed.  It is God’s intended way of mothering and nature’s way of child spacing.  Of course it doesn’t
“work” for everyone, but I really believe that it can work for “most” people “most” of the time .

Cats and Catholics

Last week we adopted a cat and I have come to the conclusion that a cat would make a rotten Catholic.   It’s a good thing that animals don’t have everlasting, spiritual souls as I can’t see cats being heaven-bound.  They aren’t very obedient or humble and rather seem almost condescending.  Our new cat is constantly testing the waters, breaking the rules, stretching the boundaries.  If he can’t slip through the gate..he just jumps on over.   I can’t see a cat being too good at certain virtues, like obedience or humility and if the kitten population is anything to go by, they aren’t too good at chastity either.

Nonetheless,  I hate mice and I hate rats.  I’m  also not too fond of bats.  But..I LOOOOVVE Cats 

Cats are still wonderful.  There is just something about those intelligent eyes, the twitching tail, the purr that makes them so endearing.  Having a cat sit in your lap, purring while you stroke his fur is the best therapy and stress-release.  Somehow, while petting a cat, all is well, the world seems all right and problems are managable.

Plus, they perform the most important job in the world….they rid the house of MICE  (see prior post to learn more of my love of mice).

Breastfeeding and Arthritis

Breaking news:   Breastfeeding decreases the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis.

A woman who has just two children and breastfeeds each of them for a year decreases her risk of rheumatoid arthritis by 50 percent,” he says. “That is just striking.”http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/04/health/webmd/main653734.shtml

 

Wow..that is striking!!!  This just further confirms that nor only is breastfeeding good for the mother, NOT breastfeeding is bad.  Just another confirmation that when you start fooling with nature and God’s Plan, things get messed up.