It’s the end of a long week of dealing with three children with swine flu a coughing virus some unidentified illness and I need a good diversion. Time to dig through the Google search terms that brought people to Breastfeeding 1-2-3.

1. To the 9 people searching for “Halloween snacks”: My little 15-month-old loved her Halloween snack of breastmilk, thank you for asking. Chocolate is not for my toddler, but it’s okay for nursing moms in moderation. (By the way, I’m not sure about the irony here, but when I gave my toddler her choice of Halloween hand-me-down costumes — a fairy princess, a cow, or a tiger — she chose a cow. ‘Nuff said.)

The Google Chrome logo looks suspiciously like a nipple and areola.... Image by Randy Zhang

2. To the 9 people searching for “leukemia in toddlers“, I’m sorry. You put my week in perspective.

3. To the 8 searchers for “breastfeeding123 blog angela”: thank you.

4. To the people looking for “woman 3 breasts video”: Extra nipples are not all that uncommon. I’ve read that up to three percent of the population will have a third nipple away from the normal location on the chest.

5. To the person who asked “what should I name my baby girl”: I think Angela is a lovely name.

6. To the person searching for “newscaster nipples”: now that’s a really specific fetish. Sorry you didn’t find what you were looking for.

7. To the 5 people looking for “123″: I say “456.” Let’s see how popular that sequence is!

8. To the people looking for “freezer paper”: I’m in favor of it.

9. For those looking for a “minimalist baby registry“: I applaud you. All you really need are you, your breasts, and your baby!

10. To the righteous looking for “nestle unethical action“: I think you just gave me an idea for a new post tag.

11. To those looking for a “breastfeeding contest”: it’s totally not a contest. But I win.

12. Regarding “Stanford hand expression”: I’ve never found them to be an overly demonstrative people. Oh wait, you mean this.

Thanks for playing and have a good weekend!

In accordance with my belief that a new parent’s job is to focus on the baby at the expense of the house if need be, I have developed some shortcuts to getting the cleaning and cooking basics done while maximizing time with the baby. Here are five tips for being as efficient as possible:
1. Wear your baby. Babywearing keeps your baby safe and happy while giving you two hands free to get some work done. If you can master carrying your baby on your back, you can even accomplish some more rigorous cooking and cleaning jobs. Just the other day …read more

Here’s my philosophy on balancing the responsibilities of a baby and the housecleaning: Your only job as the parent of an infant is not to cross the line from untidy to unsafe. I have found that being the type of parent I want to be has required me to lower my standards when it comes to keeping a home.
When my child is an infant, my child comes first — first before the dirty dishes in the sink, and first before the unfolded laundry. Those dirty dishes don’t pose a hazard to my baby, nor does the unfolded laundry. So when …read more

October is Attachment Parenting Month and I could not pass up this opportunity to talk about some ways to stay close to your children after they have weaned. Attachment Parenting International explains:
“Attached at the Heart Through the Years” is the theme for AP Month 2009 and a statement that healthy, secure attachments between parents and children is a dynamic process that extends throughout childhood and does not end with baby bonding. During AP Month, parents are challenged to re-examine their daily activities and traditions and learn new ways to grow with each other and remain close and …read more

Join the on-line book discussion of The Wet Nurse’s Tale! Elita at Blacktating first posted a very interesting interview with the author Erica Eisdorfer and then reviewed the book. Now the book has been released and Tanya at the Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog has suggested an on-line discussion group.

I have put a hold on the book at one of my county libraries (25 cents gets it shipped to my local branch!) and I can hardly wait to get started reading next week. The timing is good because I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by …read more

When doing your holiday gift shopping, consider one of these beautiful calendars featuring breastfeeding pictures from various non-profit organizations. You can have your 2010 calendar shopping make a difference for mothers and babies around the world by purchasing one of the following calendars:
~ Check out the 12 full-color pictures from the IBFAN Breastfeeding Calendar 2010. The calendar is available from Baby Milk Action for £7, £6 if ordering 10 or more. Add £2 per calendar for shipping and handling outside the United Kingdom (although you might be able to order a calendar from your national International Baby Food Action Netork …read more

Welcome to the October Carnival of Breastfeeding! Today’s topic is “I wish I had known….” It’s perfect timing for my sister, who just made me an aunt over the weekend with the birth of her beautiful baby boy!
Today I share a guest submission from a woman who does not have a blog but who felt strongly about sharing her breastfeeding wisdom in hindsight. At the end of her comment you can find the links to all the other carnival participants. First, Crystal offers the following insight:
What I wish I had known…to trust myself and my body to do …read more

We’re in the thick of Nestlé-Free Week — are you participating? At my house it’s Nestlé-Free Week for 52 weeks out of the year, but those who do not already boycott Nestlé might try to do so for just this one week and for their Halloween candy purchases in particular. This year for Halloween I chose to buy Smarties, those little pieces of pure processed sugar and food coloring. The poor Smarties company has to put on the homepage of its website: “Do not confuse our Smarties with Nestlé chocolate Smarties”! I wanted something without corn syrup and something not …read more

Yesterday I practically shouted from the rooftops about how my husband settled my 15-month-old back to sleep in the night. After three nurslings and seven-and-a-half years of mothering, this toddler sleep thing remains much of a mystery to me. All I know for sure is that I am not willing to let my child cry-it-out.
So what bits of sleep advice can be gleaned from my experience? I have come to these five conclusions:
1. Do what works for you. If co-sleeping and nursing your baby back to sleep help you both get a better night’s rest, then do it!
2. If something …read more

Okay, fine, it’s not exactly media-worthy, but it is Big News in our house. News worthy of Capital Letters. You see, my husband has been able to settle my 15-month-old back to sleep THREE TIMES over the last several nights!
My husband is a great father and very good with the kids, so it should not be quite so newsworthy, except my other daughters refused to be settled back to sleep by anyone other than me (and my mum-mums) until they were over two-and-a-half years old! So the fact that my husband was able to settle our third daughter at the …read more