Today my husband took my older girls to a major league baseball game while I stayed home with my 11-month-old. The minute her sisters (i.e., the entertainment) left she started fussing! Who wants to stay home with boring old mom anyway?! Now I say this in the most loving way possible: this child is like a dog, if only in the sense that she goes to the door, bangs on it with her hands and yells until I say we’re going out! She wants to be where the action is, there’s no mistaking that.
o we headed out the door …read more

*** Last Updated November 11, 2008 *** Please see the notes for each branch of the U.S. military. If you have notice of updates to military breastfeeding regulations and policies, please alert me with a comment and I will be happy to keep this information up to date!
A military new mother generally receives six weeks of maternity leave starting the day she leaves the hospital. The leave can be extended upon written request along with a physician’s recommendation.
Air Force: The Air Force offers four-month deployment deferrals after the birth of a child. On May 23, 2007, Air Force Instruction …read more

A new Colorado breastfeeding law goes into effect on August 5, 2008. The Workplace Accommodations for Nursing Mothers Act reads in part:

A study out of Harvard Medical School indicates that breastfeeding for a total of at least two years reduces a woman’s heart attack risk by 19 percent! The study followed nearly 100,000 nurses who gave birth between 1998 and 2002. Those who breastfed for at least two years were 19 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack than those who did not breastfeed.
The Telegraph quotes study leader Alison Steube:
“Pregnancy is associated with a number of things that you normally wouldn’t want to happen to your body including storing more fat and having higher than normal levels of fatty …read more

In the new year breastfeeding legislation has been proposed or passed in several states including Arkansas, Indiana, New York, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Oregon joins that list with the introduction of House Bill 2372. The Oregon legislation would require employers with 25 or more employees to provide unpaid breaks and a private location for nursing mothers to express milk. The Reluctant Lactivist, an Oregon nursing mother named Chris, notes that if the bill is enacted it would affect 10% of businesses employing 70% of Oregon workers.
A public hearing on the measure is tentatively scheduled for February 7th, 2007 before …read more

As part of the breastfeeding bloggers’ New Year’s resolutions I took the Motherwear Pledge to choose at least three ways to support breastfeeding this year. One of the things I pledged to do was to compliment another mother who was nursing in public.
I got my chance the other night at the gym (see, I’ve been keeping my own New Year’s resolution to get more exercise). I saw a mother seated in a leather chair outside the gym day care. As her infant boy nursed he played with a silk scarf — I suspect as a way to distract him …read more

My rating: 2.5 out of 5.
Description: Children’s board book published in 2001.
Subject: “A nursling’s celebration of the joys of breastfeeding.”
Appropriate age of child: 6 months and up.
List price: $8.95.
Pros: Sturdy board book. Actual color photographs as opposed to illustrations.
Cons: Strained rhymes. Grainy picture quality.
I do not relish criticizing any book much less a children’s book about nursing, but I simply cannot give this book my unreserved endorsement. The concept has such great potential but the result is disappointing. I’m Made of Mama’s Milk by Mary Olsen contains over 20 photographs of a nursling who appears to be approximately one …read more

Carolyn came across the Mom-to-Mom post on toddler nursing and left a very nice comment (thanks so much Carolyn and thanks to all 12 people who left comments on that post!) Because her comment tells such a wonderful story with her perspective on nursing each of her seven children, I thought I would share it here:
“What a fun website! I was surfing for info for my daughter on caring for a toddler while nursing a baby, and ran across your site. Ah, memories of nursing back in the dark ages of the ’60s came back. My first …read more

There’s more good news from Wisconsin as last night the Madison Common Council passed an ordinance protecting breastfeeding public similar to the ordinance passed by the county board in Dane County, Wisconsin. The new law bans interfering with a mother who is breastfeeding or pumping in public in Madison, the capital city of Wisconsin.

The response to the poll “How Old Is Your Nursling?” was excellent. Now I want to know how old you are (even if you are not currently nursing). If you just can’t bear to reveal that information, choose the option “I’ll never tell!”
[Edited to remove inactive poll. See the poll results here.]
To see the results from the last poll about how often you exercise each week, click here.