I love hand-made, knit or crochet items. A couple of weeks ago at a garage sale I saw a beautiful baby set in blue that was either knitted or crocheted. As as I fingered it, it was one of the first times I wished I knew the sex of our baby! It was decently priced and reminded me of what my grandmother and great aunts would make.

Sarah-Jean found this next little item on Etsy and thought it was absolutely adorable and clever. So since we have been on the topic of nursing and breastfeeding, I thought I would share this cute accessory. It definitely makes a breastfeeding statement for those of us desiring to do so!

Here is the Boobie Beanie by SarasStitches, an Etsy store. It is a cleverly designed completely hand-made, crocheted infant hat. It actually looks like a breast and can be worn by a baby, toddler or child while they are nursing! SarasStitches is very creative and talented, if you ask me!

The Boobie Beanie is made of 100% cotton, which those of you who have felt organic cotton, you know its very soft. The fact that it is hand crocheted tells us that it will be very warm too, as hand-made items tend to be.

SaraStitches gives you the option of a pink nipple or a brown one. She can also make it in a different skin tone or size. This breastfeeding baby product may be purchased for $15.00 at the following link: http://www.etsy.com/listing/48683858/boobie-beanie

Gotta love this:

I am all for breastfeeding in public, although, I am more of a discreet nursing advocate. But this comic cracks me up because it is so absurd to think of having an animal cover up while they are nursing their offspring.

This has been a huge controversial issue that has even had media in regards to women breastfeeding on airplanes, in restaurants and other public places. The breast has become such a sexualized body part that their other function, nourishing a child, seems to have been forgotten.

While it is my desire to protect the eyes of young boys and men who struggle with where their eyes roam, I also believe that a mother has the right to breastfeed her child where ever. I don’t think that women should have to hole themselves up in a bathroom stall – how gross, especially a public bathroom – or some other dungeon to feed her nursing child. Nursing a child is a natural bodily function and those that have a problem with it need to get over it.

Related Articles:

Celebrity Slam –
Kim Kardashian Slams Public Breastfeeding – http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2010/06/21/2010-06-21_kim_kardashian_slams_public_breast_feeding_as_sister_kourtney_does_it_on_tv.html

and http://www.usmagazine.com/momsbabies/news/kim-kardashian-slams-woman-for-breastfeeding-in-public-1970241

Law & Public Breastfeeding – http://www.007b.com/breastfeeding_public.php

Breastfeeding Laws – http://www.ncsl.org/IssuesResearch/Health/BreastfeedingLaws/tabid/14389/Default.aspx

At a Tulsa Water Park this week – http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0610/747710.html – My husband wondered what the difference was between a bikini clad woman at a water park and a woman possibly showing a bit of breast while nursing???

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/nurse-in-for-breastfeeding-in-public-april-11-2010

Cake Lingerie is a designer brand that specializes in the creation of luxurious maternity lingerie, nursing bras, sleepwear and nightwear.

From the humble beginnings of a mother wishing for beautiful yet functional lingerie, to a now global brand, selling in 16 countries and over 200 stores like Harrods in the UK and Destination Maternity in the US. Cake Lingerie is all about fashionable maternity lingerie, gorgeous nursing bras and celebrating the beauty of motherhood.

Being 30 weeks pregnant, I’m super excited about Cake’s exciting new global campaign ‘Real Mums, Real Fit’ campaign. With this campaign they are celebrating the true essence of motherhood so they specifically used no models and had no touch ups done so these mums are as ‘real’ as can be and most importantly proud of their beautiful god-given curves!!

Check out the amazing pictures…

Check out their maternity lingerie and fashionable nursing bras.

It’s hard to feel sexy when you’re pregnant, especially if you are tired and sore! Feeling beautiful in your own skin can be challenging but I love that these beautiful women are so confident and bold!

What do you think of the ad campaign? Do you like seeing “real women” in ads?

The same friend that gave me the Medela Bamboo Camisole also gave me a Medela Sleep Bra – again brand new.

I hate to sound repetitive, but this sleep bra is very comfortable. Isn’t it great to find products you love?! Time will tell if it stretches out like another sleep bra I bought and now sits at the bottom of my dresser drawer because the straps fall off my shoulders, etc. I guess I can throw it out now since I have this new one. As you can see from the photo to the right, the Medela sleep bra has a racerback design that helps keep the straps in one place.

If you haven’t tried a sleep nursing bra, one of the advantages to them is that you just pull back the cup to nurse. No clasps or hooks to mess with at night. Sleep bras don’t really offer much in the way of support, but that’s because they were made for nighttime use and comfort. However, I did find conflicting info about the support the sleep bra offers on Medela’s packaging and Motherhood’s website. The Medela package says, “Light Support”, whereas Motherhood says, “Medium support”. Perhaps, it is all a matter of perspective.

My bra is white, but Motherhood offers it in light blue and pink as well. It sells for $19.99 at Motherhood.

For more information, please visit these two sites:

http://www.motherhood.com/collection.asp?Keyword=medela&Search=True&website_id=1

http://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/products/intimate-apparel/321/sleep-bra—white

When you hear Medela, what do you automatically think of? I think of breast pumps, after all that is the product they have made their brand. I feel like I have been out of the loop even though I have been nursing and pregnant for pretty much the last 14 years…Because last week a friend gave me a brand new Medela Bamboo Nursing Camisole. My friend couldn’t use it and passed them along to me. I didn’t even know that Medela had intimate apparel products, but am very thankful for my friend’s generosity!

My nursing camisole is black, but it also comes in white. It is form fitting, as it is 67% Rayon from Bamboo, so it is made mostly out of eco friendly material. Then the rest of the materials are: 28% Cotton, 5% Spandex and what they call exclusive trim, which is a fancy way of saying it has a lacy trim across the chest. The chest area fits snuggly like a bra and has nursing openings that don’t get in the way and fit securely around the breast.

The clasps are very easy to open, but closing them was more difficult at first because there seemed to be a trick to pressing down on them to get them to snap back in place. One clasp seemed harder to snap back into place than the other. I finally managed it after a couple of tries though.

I really like this camisole and it fits me even at 20+ weeks pregnant! It is comfy, eco friendly, washes up nicely and a pretty nice addition to my nursing wear/maternity wear.

Medela doesn’t actually sell this nursing camisole on their website, you have to visit their retailer page to find out which retailer carries it. Each retailer may not carry every Medela product either. I did find that Target Online carries the camisole, but only in black and it retails for $34.99. Wow, and I got it free. Thank you, friend!

The month of April is National “March” for Babies Month. http://www.marchforbabies.org/

In honor of National “March” for Babies Month, Virtual BreastfeedingHelp.com is offering a special:

Buy one 30-Minute Consult and get another one FREE for yourself or a friend!

Visit VirtualBreastfeedingHelp.com for more information.

As many of you know March of Dimes is committed to helping expectant moms bring healthy babies into the world. They host their walk for babies and donate 76 cents of every dollar earned back to research to help babies begin healthy lives. To find out more about local walks in your area, just go to March of Dimes and click on the events locator to find an even near you. Some are being held as early as April 9th and as late as May 2nd in my area, so if you are really serious about participating now is a good time to start planning.

Here is one of the family ambassadors for March of Dimes giving her testimony of how March of Dimes helped her:

You may also be interested in a little message from the president of March of Dimes:

I am pleased to report that thanks to your volunteer efforts, we have begun to make progress in our national campaign to reduce premature birth. As you will see in this news release, the 2008 preliminary preterm birth rate fell by 3%. ”

Read the complete quote at the March of Dimes Blog.

Courtesy of www.inhabitots.com

It turns out attachment parenting isn’t scandalous at all, though some still consider it to be. In my opinion, it’s the healthiest form of parenting for a child and it’s how I am raising my second son, Daniel. But, I have still received criticism from friends and even some family members for my choice.

Consider the history of attachment parenting…

During World War Two when Americans were stationed in Okinawa, they discovered a very curious phenomenon. At the time, the people of Okinawa had no known incidence of mental health problems. Depression and anxiety disorders were unknown. This was a very happy culture, indeed. Americans took a closer look at how children were being raised, and they observed that babies were worn by mothers, and slept in mother’s beds, and were always with siblings or older family members. No one was ever alone and affection was liberally given to all children of all ages.

This observation coincided with a study by the WHO. In 1950, the World Health Organization sponsored a study called “Maternal Care and Mental Health”. This is the study which promoted the now-famous Harry Harlow to experiment with Rhesus monkeys in finding out the effects of maternal separation on infants.

The experiment went as follows:

“In Harlow’s classic experiment, two groups of baby rhesus monkeys were removed from their mothers. In the first group, a terrycloth mother provided no food, while a wire mother did, in the form of an attached baby bottle containing milk. In the second group, a terrycloth mother provided food; the wire mother did not. It was found that the young monkeys clung to the terrycloth mother whether or not it provided them with food, and that the young monkeys chose the wire surrogate only when it provided food. Whenever a frightening stimulus was brought into the cage, the monkeys ran to the cloth mother for protection and comfort, no matter which mother provided them with food.” (1)

The study continued:

“When the monkeys were placed in an unfamiliar room with their cloth surrogate, they clung to it until they felt secure enough to explore. Once they began to explore, they occasionally returned to the cloth mother for comfort. Monkeys placed in an unfamiliar room without their cloth mothers acted very differently. They froze in fear and cried, crouched down, or sucked their thumbs. Some even ran from object to object, apparently searching for the cloth mother, as they cried and screamed. Monkeys placed in this situation with their wire mothers exhibited the same behavior as the monkeys with no mother.” (1)

One of the most important findings of this study was that it contradicted the traditional advice of child-reading at the time, which was to limit physical contact with the mother. It was believed that too much physical contact between infant and mother would result in spoiled and needy children who would never find independence as autonomous beings.

It was also thought at the time that feeding was the most important factor in mother-child bonding, not physical affection. And this was also a time when formula companies were pressing mothers to formula feed and not even consider breast-feeding their infants. Breast feeding was considered vulgar by upwardly mobile society and formula was considered as the logical advance in feeding and it was also considered to be more nutritious than mother’s milk.

Continue Reading >>

[Article by Sarah Polyakov]

We wrote about Virtual Breastfeeding Help back in December here. But just to give you a recap, Laura Haessly, a Certified Lactation Consultant with IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultants) and Kim Leonetti, a Business and Marketing Director, had the heart and desire to see mothers succeed in their efforts to breastfeed their babies so they started Virtual Breastfeeding Help. Trouble breastfeeding? Knows someone who is struggling in their nursing experience? No need to leave home, they come to you virtually.

Virtual Breastfeeding Help’s Mission is:

All new mothers, no-matter where they are, deserve to have easy access to exceptional breastfeeding help. All new moms deserve to experience the deep satisfaction of nurturing their babies at their breasts. This is exactly why we started helping moms virtually via Webcam and Skype.

Well, they are back and are wanting to help Haiti in their time of need. For a limited time, you may receive free lactation consultations with any donation you make to “Save the Children” in Haiti. Here’s a win-win situation, you get the help and support you need to continue nursing your baby, plus you get to help the children in Haiti as well. What a great opportunity!

FREE Lactation Consultations! A Valentine to You and Children in Need!

Through Valentine’s Day with any donation you make to “Save The Children” in Haiti you will receive a FREE 30 Minute Lactation Consultation (new clients only please) at VirtualBreastfeedingHelp.com

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had much opportunity to shop for nursing or maternity lingerie. HOTmilk seems to have come up with a unique product line that fills a void in the market place for women looking for “special” maternity/nursing lingerie. There are a couple of nightwear items that I’d probably buy, but the rest I could probably live without. Just call me a prude. I am just too practical, I guess.

Here’s what HOTmilk has to say about their lingerie collection:

Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to give exquisite lingerie that lifts the spirits. Chic and stylish designs cater to the mood of every woman.

Our philosophy is to empower women, and to remind them that they are beautiful, confident and SEXY!

See the latest HOTmilk collections and enter to win Valentine’s Day prizes at www.hotmilklingerie.com. (Contest goes live on February 1, 2010.)

For photos visit HOTmilkLingerie.com

They have these categories:

Lingerie 2010
Lingerie 2009
Camisoles
Nightwear

Efforts around the world continue to be poured out in support of Haiti and the needs of the people there. We recently shared information about ways for your families to reach out and help in those efforts to support Haiti during this devastation. One of those ways was to donate breastmilk. We received the following update on that particular effort today from VirtualBreastfeedingHelp.com. Read more below:

As promised we are updating you on DONATING BREASTMILK TO HAITI!

Breastmilk for Haiti The USS Comfort, the Navy’s floating medical treatment facility, is taking patients from Haiti. They have a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and the onboard lactation consultant has pumps and kits to assist lactating mothers. The neonatologist has requested banked human milk from the Human Milk Banking Association of North America. Donations of milk are desperately needed to support this effort and ensure that US babies have the donor milk they need. To help, please call (408) 998-4550. Please remember that HMBANA milk banks are nonprofit, so monetary donations are needed as well.

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