A newborn baby has only three demands. They are warmth in the arms of its mother, food from her breasts, and security in the knowledge of her presence. Breastfeeding satisfies all three.
~Grantly Dick-Read
One of the biggest roles that La Leche League plays is that of mentor, breastfeeding mothers mentoring other breastfeeding mothers.
Even though breastfeeding IS a natural biological process, it is also a learned art and while some moms and babies seem to arrive at breastfeeding bliss with hardly a bump, other mothers need far more support and guidance to see them through.
While breastfeeding is becoming more and more culturally accepted in our own society today, in other cultures, breastfeeding is the norm: not only do women nurse their infants in children in public without anyone giving it a second glance, mothers and grandmothers are there with advice for their daughters, who have, in turn, grown up watching how babies are nursed all around them.
For an interesting insight of a foreign nursing mom living in a country for which breastfeeding is not only the norm, but also has social status and reverence, take a minute to read this article about a mom learning to nurse her son in Mongolia.
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We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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URGENT CALL FOR HUMAN MILK DONATIONS FOR HAITI INFANTS
The Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA), United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC), International Lactation Consultant Association/United States Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA/USLCA), and La Leche League International (LLLI) are jointly issuing an urgent call for human milk donations for premature infants in Haiti, as well as sick and premature infants in the United States.
This week the first shipment of human milk from mothers in the United States will be shipped to the U.S. Navy Ship “Comfort” stationed outside Haiti. “Comfort” is currently set up with a neonatal intensive care unit and medical personnel to provide urgent care to victims of the earthquake. An International Board Certified Lactation Consultant stationed at the U.S. Navy base in Bethesda, MD is assisting with providing breast pump equipment and supplies to the “Comfort.” Dr. Erika Beard-Irvine, pediatric neonatologist, is on board the “Comfort” to coordinate distribution of the milk to infants in need. HMBANA, USBC, ILCA/USLCA, and LLL are responding to requests to provide milk for both premature infants and at-risk mothers who have recently delivered babies on board the U.S.N.S. Comfort, but an urgent need exists for additional donations.
At the current time, the infrastructure to deliver human milk on land to Haiti infants has not yet been established. As soon as that infrastructure is in place, additional donations will be provided to older infants.
Mothers who are willing to donate human milk should contact their regional Mothers’ Milk Bank of HMBANA. A list of regional milk banks is available at the HMBANA website at www.hmbana.org.
Currently milk banks are already low on donor milk. New milk donations will be used for both Haiti victims as well as to replenish donor supplies to continue to serve sick and premature infants in the U.S. Donor milk provides unique protection for fragile preterm infants. Financial donations are also strongly encouraged to allow HMBANA, a nonprofit organization, to continue serving infants in need.
UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the Emergency Nutrition Network, and medical professionals all recommend that breastfeeding and human milk be used for infants in disasters or emergencies. Human milk is life-saving due to its disease prevention properties. It is safe, clean, and does not depend on water which is often unavailable or contaminated in an emergency. Relief workers, health care providers, and other volunteers are urged to provide support for breastfeeding mothers to enable them to continue breastfeeding, and to assist pregnant and postpartum women in initiating and sustaining breastfeeding.
For more information, contact HMBANA at 408-998-4550 408-998-4550 or www.hmbana.org . Additional information can be provided from the United States Breastfeeding Committee at 202-367-1132 202-367-1132 (www.usbreastfeeding.org), ILCA/USLCA at 1-800-452-2478 1-800-452-2478 (www.ilca.org or www.uslca.org ), or La Leche League at 847-519-7730 847-519-7730 (www.llli.org) .
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Change and growth take place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved with experimenting with his own life.
Herbert Otto
Heed the still small voice that so seldom leads us wrong, and never into folly.
Marquise du Deffand
Posted in Thoughtful thursday | Leave a Comment »
Did you konw that sprouts are one of the most nutritious forms of food around?
Radish sprouts contain 29 times more Vitamin C than milk and 10 times more calcium than a potato.
Mung bean and soybean sprouts contain nearly 50% more protein than the dry seeds from which they grow as well as retaining the same amount of B vitamins
One cup of soybean sprouts is only 86 calories but meets 9% of your daily needs for protein, 3% for fiber, 18 % of vitamin C, 8% iron and 30% folate.
New studies point to alfalfa, clover, broccoli, flax, and soybean sprouts as super-rich powerhouses that help protect agains breast and colon cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis and symptoms of menopause.
Broccoli sprouts in particular pack a wollop of good-for-you nutrition aas they contain a substance that could possibly be off-the-charts protection, even more mighty than antioxidants, against heart diseases in a more intensive form than that found even in regular broccoli.
All you really need to sprout are the seeds and a counter-top. Why not try adding some of these nutrition building-blocks into your family’s meal time?
*from Fresh Food From Small Spaces by R. J. Ruppenthal
Posted in Foodie Friday, Nutrition, Whole Foods | Leave a Comment »
antithesis
I am large in my skin
I make no apology
This belly grew three babies
Why should it be flat?
It curves with the memory of the womb.
These breasts fed three babies
Why should they be pert?
They swell with the memory of milk.
These hips carried three children
Why should they be slim?
They are full with the memory of life.
My bones are secret under flesh
My skin plump and white and fine
Mine is the face of Botticelli
Mine is the water of the Nile
Mine is the shape of things forbidden
Daughter of Gaia, grown beautiful and wild.
~Lorri Barrier
(poem published in Mothering Magazine, Sept/Oct 08)
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