Breast Milk Contains Stem Cells

I think intuitively, most people recognize the power of human milk for human babies.  However, it is nice to see science continuing to discover more amazing qualities of human milk.  The most recent news is the discovery that human breast milk contains stems cells.  I would imagine that this discovery could lead in many directions, but that’s for another time and another post.  Here’s the link to more information about this recent discovery in Australia.

Bisphenol A Leaching from Baby Bottles

Feeding your baby expressed breast milk necessitates that you use a bottle and nipple.  So the recent report released by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) showing that Bisphenol A is leaching out of hard, clear plastic bottles is particularly troubling.

Bisphenol A has been shown to be a hormone modulator and has been linked to several forms of cancer.  Read about the Environmental Working Group’s findings here.  And here is the EWG’s information on baby-safe bottles and formula. 

Mariana Breastfeeding Dolls

Would you like to promote breastfeeding and help support the efforts of women in Chama Viva, Brazil?  Check out these breastfeeding dolls made by the women of the community.  By buying this doll you will be supporting Chama Viva’s activities and will support these women and their families.

FAQs- Ask Yours Now!

One of the things I would like to do with this website is add more “how to” information and provide information that will assist the many women who visit the site.  When I was EPing, information was critical and finding support from other women who were also EPing was invaluable; yet this information and support were not always easy to find.  So here’s your chance to get questions answered!!  Use the comment form below to ask whatever you like (as long as it relates in some, even remote way to EPing, lactation, breastfeeding, even parenting) and I will do my best to answer your questions or locate the answer for you if it is something beyond my scope of knowledge.  I hope that this post will grow into a valuable resource as it progresses!  And now here’s the disclaimer-please remember that I am not a medical professional.  The information provided on this site is of a general nature only. It is not intended as a replacement for medical advice.  Any actions taken as a result of information obtained from this site are done so at the risk of the reader. It is recommended that you discuss your plans with your doctor and your baby’s doctor before taking any actions :)

New Report About the Dangers of DHA in Infant Formula

I’ve heard the controversy about the addition of DHA and ARA in infant formula for a number of years now.  My own experience with cow’s milk with added DHA was definitely a negative experience.  Now, a group in the the United States has released a report discussing the risks of adding these omega-3 fatty acids, produced in laboratories from algae and fungus into infant formula.  Since these products came on the market about 5 years ago, numerous complaints have been made.  Premarket testing was apparently ignored and some medical professionals refer to formulas with these added omega-3s as diarrhea formula.  Parents need to know the truth!!  Read more about this report here.

I May Be Showing My Age Here…

I clearly remember watching The Alligator King on Seseme Street when I was a kid.  I think I love it as much today as I did back them.  The perfect thing to watch while you’re pumping.Guaranteed to put a smile on your face!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40JL_NKmGO0

Buffy Saint Marie on Sesame Street

Do you think you would see this today on children’s television?  http://youtube.com/watch?v=g3DWRhfNm4c  I would like to see it, but I have yet to see breastfeeding shown in a positive way on any of the shows my kids watch.  More often, bottlefeeding is shown as the norm.

My Ramblings and Reflections Five Years Later

 My son is turning five years old this month.  Hard to believe.  Five years ago I started pumping for my 31 week preemie thinking that it would just be for a short time until he was able to breastfeed.  Never could I have imagined that it would end up taking me where I am today.  After one year of exclusively pumping for my son, I weaned.  One month after that, I started writing my book, Exclusively Pumping Breast Milk: A Guide to Providing Expressed Breast Milk for Your Baby.  About ten months after that, I had completed the book and begin this website.  Now, three years later, there have been over 25,000 visitors to this site from all around the world and the number of daily hits to the website continues to increase.

My year of pumping seems so distant now (oh how I wish I had this understanding of time and perspective while I was going through it all) and yet it encompasses everything I do on a daily basis: my book and publishing company, the fact that I am now nursing my 18 month old daughter, my new business venture, Nursed and Nurtured, through which I hope to provide education and support to women in order to provide them with the support, encouragement, knowledge, and strength that I wish I had received with my son.  The lessons from that year are still being deciphered and continue to amaze me. 

Life is precious.  The experiences we have in this life are, each one, an opportunity for growth, for reflection, for celebration, for sharing.  The past five years have taught me to enjoy life in the moment, not to wish away the experience regardless of how difficult or trying it may be since it’s these difficult moments that remind us just how sweet life is.  As the U2 song states, “The only pain is to feel nothing at all.”  To really experience life you need to feel the entire range of emotions, and I guess in some small way I look at difficulties now as a reminder of how good life is.

Dennis Brutus, an anti-apartheid activist, was imprisoned in South Africa at the Robin Island Prison.  While there he wrote a poem called Endurance.  It begins:  Endurance is the ultimate virtue, The essential thread on which existence is strung, When one is stripped to nothing else and not to endure is to end in despair.

Perhaps the most important lesson I have learned from my experience exclusively pumping specifically, and from motherhood in general, is the lesson of endurance.  To simply endure and continue, even though it may be difficult, provides such wonderful rewards in the end.  And now, five years later, I can look at my wonderful, sensitive, thoughtful son and not have a single moment of regret over the many, many hours I sat expressing my milk for him; the many, many hours of sleep I lost; or the freedom that I may have had if I was not pumping.  I don’t think I could say the same thing if I had, as had been suggested to me numerous times, chosen to switch to formula.