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Realistic Baby Dolls

Posted by on February 23, 2011 8 Comments

 There are baby dolls that you can purchase that you really bottlefeed and that really wet their diapers.  While, I see nothing wrong with allowing our children to use their imaginations and “pretend” like their dolls are drinking and eating, I also understand how utterly cool these dolls are in the eyes of little girls.

Realistic Dolls Don’t Promote Breastfeeding

I also recognize that since little girls can’t lactate, in order to use these “life like dolls” a little girl has to bottle feed her baby. I don’t really like that.  Pretend play is very important in molding who our children become as adults, so I’ d like to put on record that I really, really, really wish that people wouldn’t pre-design our little girls to grow

Baby Alive Cloth Baby Diapers

Happy Heinys' Baby Doll Diapers photo submitted by Kristen Eggers.

 up to be bottle feeders. If our daughters grow up to be bottle-feeders, they will be at a higher risk of developing breast, uterine, ovarian and cervical cancer. This may not seem like a big deal now, while they’re tiny perfect little girls. Fast forward thirty years though, when this little girl is now your best friend, your shopping buddy, and the person you talk to every day on the phone. This woman is the mother of your grandchildren. Now tell me that her risks of breast, uterine, cervical and ovarian cancer are not a big deal. I could go on endlessly about the reasons we should help our daughters be OK with breastfeeding, but most of us already know the benefits that your future adult daughter breastfeeding your grandchildren will deliver.

Realistic Dolls Come with Disposable Diapers

I also don’t like the idea of wasting disposable baby doll diapers. From the doll maker’s perspective, these are awesome. They promise repeat business. Not only do they win the purchase of the initial doll, they also win the purchase of hundreds of disposable diapers for these dolls. This is such irresponsible consumerism; it’s actually repulsive to me. I understand disposable diapering an actual baby. I don’t like the waste. I think that if people actually tried cloth diapers, they would find that it’s easy, fun and makes you feel good, but I do “get” disposable diapering an actual baby. There is nothing in the world that can make me understand or accept disposable diapering a doll though. This “playing” leaves our daughters with the legacy of even more pointless garbage to deal with when her generation is in authority. This “playing” wastes our resources. This “playing” encourages waste, for absolutely NO REASON. A bag or two of disposable toy diapers may not seem like a lot when it’s just your daughter creating it in the whole grand scheme of garbage. However, if they’re mass producing these toy diapers, that means that we are mass disposing of these diapers. You see? Thankfully, there are other options. For example, Happy Heinys makes reusable cloth diapers for dolls. Sure, they’re fifteen dollars for a pack of three. The thing is though, the disposable doll diapers are ten dollars for a pack of six! A pack of six diapers will last a little girl, maybe a day. Reusable cloth baby doll diapers will last your daughter a lifetime.

“It’s just playing!”

It may seem like this is all pointless. It may seem like I’m making a big deal over nothing. Playing is not just playing. Playing shapes children’s mindsets. We have the opportunity to raise conscientious, responsible adults.  How we sculpt their playing as little ones matters. Even if you don’t believe this though, if you facilitate this kind of playing in your child, think of how you’re going to explain to your future adult daughter facing a waste crisis of epic proportions with her entire generation that you bought her disposable diapers for her doll. If you provide these “bottle feeding” dolls to your child, think of how you’re going to comfort your future adult daughter, when breastfeeding is more commonplace and she doesn’t find it comfortable.

What do you think? Can you justify the ridiculousness of these realistic dolls and their disposable accessories? Do you agree? I’d love to hear your opinions.

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World Breastfeeding Week.

Posted by on August 9, 2010 Leave a Comment

Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding

Every facility providing maternity services and care for newborn infants should:

1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care

staff.

2. Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy.

3. Inform all pregnant mothers about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.

4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within a half-hour of birth.

5. Show mothers how to breastfeed, and how to maintain lactation even if they should be separated from their infants.

6. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breastmilk unless medically indicated.

7. Practice rooming-in – allow mothers and infants to remain together – 24 hours a day.

8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand.

9. Give no artificial teats or pacifiers (also called dummies or soothers) to breastfeeding infants.

10.Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic.

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Breastfeeding tip: Train Your Boobs Not to Leak

Posted by on July 27, 2010 6 Comments

When my son was born, an awesome lactation consultant gave me some advice on how to train my boobs not to leak. I didn’t realize at the time how precious the information was. As months went on and women would comment on how brave I was not to be wearing nursing pads, I was continuously perplexed.

Was I privy to some huge breastfeeding secret?

Indeed, it seemed I was. Thanks to my lactation consultant, I only had to wear nursing pads for the first two weeks while breastfeeding my son and daughter. I had planned ahead though and bought some very comfy cloth nursing pads so those first two weeks with leaks weren’t too annoying.  I’ve since felt the disposable papery ones and I’m very thankful I’ve never had to wear them. After that two weeks was over, here’s the benefits I enjoyed that most nursing moms do not:

  • My breast have never leaked in public
  • I did not have to wear a bra to bed
  • I did not wake up leaking from my boobs
  • When one boob would let down to feed my child, the other one did not

Stop Your Boobs From Leaking

It doesn’t take long to gain control of the let down mechanism. It’s a two part system though and it’s remarkably simple for how much aggravation it saves.

  1. When you are nursing your baby, take your forearm on the same side of the boob that is not in use and press firmly for about thirty seconds. You will start to feel the let down tingle diminish. At that point, you can release pressure.
  2. When you are going through your day and your baby cries for food and you start to feel the letdown tingle, press firmly against both boobs (as though giving yourself a hug) with your forearms until the tingle diminishes.

The first week, it will take about thirty seconds each time and you will still need to wear nursing pads, and I HIGHLY suggest cloth, washable ones for the environment and your own comfort. The second week, it will take about ten seconds of pressure and slowly take lest time.  Before you know it, and for the rest of the duration of your breastfeeding career with that child, you will merely have to tap on your nipple with your forearm for about a half a second in those rare instances when you feel unwanted letdown.

It’s that simple.  You will want to profess enormous gratitude to me later, but just pay it forward. It shouldn’t be such a well guarded secret.

Dawn Papple

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BREASTFEEDING TIP: Pain in the breast!

Posted by on July 9, 2010 2 Comments


BREASTFEEDING TIP: Pain in the breast!

Sometimes, there is pain associated with breastfeeding, but there are ways to avoid this and ways to rapidly heal this too! If you experience extreme pain in either of your breasts, you should consult your doctor. In the mean time, here are a few at-home pointers.

Engorgement

Engorgement is often described as being very painful and while the pressure can get uncomfortable, the pain is unnecessary. On demand nursing will usually result in nursing every two hours or so. While this may seem like a lot, if you nurse on demand, the discomfort associated with engorgement is minimal. You do not have to wait until the baby is crying to feed him. He will let you know that he is hungry with signals such as:

  • Increased alertness or activity
  • Mouthing
  • Rooting.

Paying attention to these cues will make engorgement much less of a problem. The American Academy of Pediatrics sites crying as a LATE indicator of hunger. If the baby does end up crying for his feeding don’t feel guilty though, you just gave birth and you’re certainly quite exhausted and it may be difficult to pick up on minor cues like these.

Thrush (Yeast)

If the pain is associated with itching or reddening of your nipples you may have thrush. You can recognize thrush by the patches of white on the inside of the baby’s mouth and on his tongue. You can treat thrush with a great remedy called Three Sister’s Anti-Fungal Tincture taken internally. Your baby will get its benefits through your breast milk.

If your baby gets thrush, you’re probably only a day away from him developing a diaper rash with tiny blisters that look like a heat rash on his butt. You’ll want to treat the baby’s butt very quickly because a yeast rash can get very raw very quickly. If your breast itches, run out and get your baby butt supplies to have on hand. Even catching it a few hour earlier can spare your baby’s butt a lot of pain.

  • An over the counter yeast cream put on the baby’s butt consistently and for a good solid week after the rash disappears will work really well and probably keep you out of the ped’s office if you apply it as soon as you catch it.
  • Just because the rash goes away, doesn’t mean you should stop treating it, it’s lurking inside waiting to pop back up, you can be sure of it.
  • Just a reminder, when your baby is just born, always wash your diapers on hot so that they don’t build up with yeast. Check the hot water heater, mine is at 130 degrees and worked perfect.

It’s good to up your yogurt intake as well. Yogurt must have live and active cultures to do its job. Inside of the yogurt are bacteria that live in our bodies naturally. They eat yeast.  Common causes for thrush infections are:

  • Antibiotics prescribed because of Group B Strep also kill the good bacteria.
  • Antibiotics prescribed for C-Sections also kill the good bacteria.
  • Eating too much sugar before and after birth. Sugar feeds yeast.

Another great route for combating thrush is to take a really good pro-biotic. You can find them at your health food store; just ask the attendant. While you’re there, ask about homeopathic remedies for yeast infections. There are lots available now. I’ve even seen some at Walgreens by the women’s personal items.

Mastitis / Clogged Ducts

Pain in the breast could also indicate that you may have mastitis or a clogged duct. This should also be mentioned to your doctor if it lingers more than a day or two or you have a high fever. In the meantime, here are some (non-drug, non-medicinal) home remedies for mastitis and clogged ducts:

Since we already learned that antibiotics will cause a yeast infection, which will in turn be given to your baby, trying these at home options first is definitely worth it. No sense in trading one pain in the breast for another!

Dawn Papple dawnnoelle1045@hotmail.com

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BREASTFEEDING TIP: Get a good latch through easy positioning

Posted by on June 26, 2010 Leave a Comment

One of the biggest hurdles for new moms is getting the infant to latch on properly. There are a few things that you can do to assist your new baby. We always see images of the mother cradling her new bundle that is staring up at her with the infant’s body parallel with the ceiling. That is NOT the easiest way for a new baby to nurse. I know the football hold is very popular among lactation consultants, but I could never quite get it right either. So, in an attempt to find a hold that eliminates all chances of user error, I decided to look at the technical structure of what makes a hold adequate for a good latch.

Positioning plays a huge role in proper latch. Until you and the baby get the hang of it, make sure that you have your bellies fully facing each other. This will make latching on tremendously easier for your baby. And it will only be needed for a few weeks while the baby becomes a master of his new job. New babies should be turned fully on their side so that their bellies and pelvis make FULL contact with the mother’s chest and belly.  A pillow will help with this at first. It works best if the mother’s torso and the child’s body make perpendicular intersections with each other. I’ve drawn two diagrams to demonstrate what I mean.

Another problem new mothers face while breastfeeding is a sensation like her nipple is being pinched. That is also due to improper latching on. An easy way to resolve this is to make sure that the underside of the baby’s lips are making contact with the mother’s breast. Imagine that the baby were to maintain proper lip positioning while the mother took him away from her breast. His lips would be folded over so that his gums as well as the underside of both his lips would be in clear view. The pinching is felt when the baby sucks while his gums are in contact with the inside of his lips. So after the baby is sucking, just swipe your finger in between his lips and his gums. If that is too difficult you could always just pull the upper lip up and the lower lip down while the baby is nursing. That will also force the baby into proper positioning.

During the first couple of weeks, our nipples have to toughen up from all of this latch and positioning practice. This process can be very uncomfortable. Applying lanolin to the nipple will help with this immensely. No new nursing mother should be without lanolin. This helps with mild irritation and will heal and prevent painful cracking. If you run out of lanolin, don’t do nothing! Until you get some more, rub a little bit of your own milk on the nipple when you finish a feeding it will protect and sooth it with its own antibacterial qualities.

Dawn Papple dawnnoelle1045@hotmail.com

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Breastfeeding Tips- Relax

Posted by on June 11, 2010 1 Comment

BREASTFEEDING TIP: Relax

I have way too many breastfeeding tips to put them into just one blog. So over the coming weeks, I will break them down for you. Breastfeeding shouldn’t be this big mystery, but because the last century somehow managed to put men in charge of our earliest mothering experiences, breastfeeding mothers are left in the dark about it until the moment is upon them and they are left to figure it all out at once.

So let’s start by agreeing that breastfeeding is natural, and it’s not our faults that have been kept in the dark about it. All these unknowns as such a crucial time can create a great deal of stress for new moms.

If you are stressed, your milk will not “let down.” Without proper letdown it is impossible to feed your baby properly from your breast.

IMPOSSIBLE.

An example of this is when women have problems expressing their milk with a pump. They try to pump while at work where they are worried about how long they are taking. They are worried about someone walking in. They try to pump at home when they have somewhere to be and they are rushed.

So if you are having trouble breastfeeding the first thing you need to do is relax. Know that while many of your friends have claimed that it just didn’t work for them, you don’t have to fall into the same trap of feeling inadequate as they did.

You are NOT inadequate.

If necessary, visualize your muscles relaxing starting with your facial muscles and working down your body until you have relaxed your toes. Try listening to a CD of soothing ocean sounds or soft music meant for meditation. If that doesn’t work, listen to one of your favorite CDs from when you were young and carefree.

If you need privacy to relax, take it. If you feel it hurts the breastfeeding cause to leave the room in these first few weeks, think again. We don’t send troops to fight the enemy before they are trained. They’d get slaughtered. If your mother-in-law is requesting that you cover up, cthis moment may not be the best time to “fight for the cause.”

When we are anxious, we have an adrenaline rush. It’s the fight or flight response. If you choose to stay just to prove a point, your body won’t allow your milk to let down. Your body was created to recognize adrenaline as a sign that something is wrong. There’s no way your body will prepare to nurse when there could be a “wild animal” you are trying to need to get away from. It certainly won’t torture the child with the smell of free flowing milk when it’s not safe to feed either.

So, you can stand up for your beliefs later, in a couple of months, when you’ve got this all down good. In the meantime, if you can’t relax, excuse yourself to another room so that you will be free to work with your body rather than against it.

-Dawn

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Michelle Obama's Let's Move

Posted by on April 29, 2010 Leave a Comment

Living a healthy lifestyle is not only important for yourself, but it is imperative for our kids.  Studies now indicate that there is metobolic imprinting that takes place in utero through the first two years of life.  This programming effects how your child will process and metabolize food for the rest of his or her life.

I am not one to jump on board with everything the CDC and the FDA push on us, but I think First Lady Micelle Obama has picked an admirable crusade.  I believe in the Let’s Move campain.  By the time children are obese it is very difficult to reverse the damage.  Smoking and gaining excessive weight during pregnancy, not breastfeeding long enough, and lack of proper sleep during infancy are all risk factors in childhood obesety.  These are all targets the Let’s Move campaign aims to tackle.  We all need to take better care of ourselves. 

Factors associated with increased risk for overweight or obesity in infancy and early childhood include excessive maternal weight gain or smoking during gestation, shorter-than-recommended duration of breast-feeding, and suboptimal amounts of sleep during infancy. Such exposures during early development program a person’s long-term regulation of energy balance and may have epigenetic effects. These exposures probably influence the development of hypothalamic circuits that regulate body weight, as well as endocrine pancreatic function, changes in the proportion of lean versus fat body mass, and other cycles of metabolic programming.3 -Let’s Move — Childhood Obesity Prevention from Pregnancy and Infancy OnwardJanet M. Wojcicki, Ph.D., M.P.H., and Melvin B. Heyman, M.D., M.P.H.

My Pyramid Plan for moms.  This is a specialized calculator that will customize a food pyramid for you during you pregnancy.

You should talk to your midwife about things you can do to avoid gaining excess weight during pregnancy.

Stop smoking.  Duh.  It is gross anyway.

Breastfeed your babies for at least a year if not longer.

Make sure your baby is getting enough sleep.

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Nursing our Future

Posted by on February 26, 2010 Leave a Comment

“One of the barriers for many young mothers is a lack of awareness about breastfeeding as well as a culture that is not particularly breastfeeding friendly,” argues Dr. Massotto. The Holistic Moms Network hopes to raise awareness by showing young women images of breastfeeding and to help them find the support and encouragement they need to continue.- Holistic Moms Network

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KU_k6UkrAI]

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