Flowers in Vase
Do you like my daughter’s picture? We followed an easy finger-painting technique from the Usborne Book of Art Skills.
Frume Sarah has Haveil Havalim up at her place.
Here’s a beautiful photo presentation of Jewish life in Poland in the 1920’s.
The LA Times has a heart-wrenching story about a battle over visitation rights for a severely disabled mother of triplets.
This study about the costs of not breastfeeding has gotten a lot of attention, although not as much as articles or studies that minimize the impact of breastfeeding seem to receive. Lenore Skenazy says to Quit Picking on Moms Who Don’t Breastfeed. Ph.D. in Parenting explains why It’s Not About Picking on Moms.
Batrick has a response in the Huffington Post called, Peaceful Revolution: Motherhood and the $13 Billion Guilt. One reader (who failed at breastfeding) wrote to tell me it’s the first pro-breastfeeding article she read that didn’t make her feel guilty.
“Do you like my daughter’s picture?” YES! JPIX, please.
Great painting!
In France there is also a controversy about blaming moms who don’t breastfeed. I had read an article about it and thought that maybe the woman who was denouncing this trend was exaggerating. But then a young colleague told us about the pressure she got when she wanted to stop breastfeeding because it was too painful – both physically and psychologicaly as her daughter didn’t get enough food and cried all the time. She was still at the clinic and several doctors and nurses ruhed to her room and started lecturing her. She broke into tears and is still very uneasy about this although it happened almost a year ago.
Another colleague, who breastfed until she went back to work, said that the midwife who followed her during and after pregnancy blamed those “radicals” who gave breastfeeding a bad image.
I realize that I have practically written a post, sorry Hannah.
Excuse the spelling mistakes.
Thanks, Leora! I will.
I-D, your comments are welcome. France is known, by the way, to have extremely low breastfeeding rates.
I agree that lecturing a mom who is suffering is absolutely the wrong way to go. The question is, how could your colleague been supported earlier, to prevent things from getting to that point? With the understanding that not all mothers will succeed.
I had a lot of problems with my first baby – it was painful and he wasn’t getting enough. Fortunately, the most helpful person was a calm mother who showed me how to hold the baby. The doctor just suggested formula. The nurses weren’t helpful. Then I read everything I could about breastfeeding, and I learned that proper positioning is key. I also attended lots of La Leche meetings, but they were more social than helpful. A calm, experienced mom was the best. And a boppy pillow. Why can’t nurses learn to be calm and and teach in the same manner? (I suppose some are, somewhere).
The story about the triplets is just tragic on so many levels.
Leora: I just added an excellent link by Melissa Bartock.