I was well equipped to breast feed. (Um…) Having worked at the March of Dimes for the absurd number of months I was pregnant, I had the benefits of breastfeeding drilled into my brain. The organization also gave me a free Medela Breast Pump (value – $300) and a boxful of What to Expect books. They even had a breastfeeding consultant contact me and offer pep talks. Even then, I was half-hearted about the whole concept. My new pal Dr. Laura would shake a stick at me for that. But I was big and uncomfortable and looking forward to having …read more

Let’s talk about the idea of family bed sharing. Is it a means to forming strong family bonds or a way to ensure that kids will never sleep in their own beds without a struggle?
In our house, the rule of thumb is that once the kids are weaned to a bottle, they are expected to sleep in their own rooms. The parent’s bed is only for the parents. This, in part, is due to the fact that my husband has serious back problems and cannot bear to sleep in compromising positions. We also share the belief that our bed is the place where we …read more

Apparently I missed a pretty exciting Dr. Phil Thursday. Dr. Phil actually showed his obvious brave side when he brought up the topic of Wet Nurses.
Via transcript from memory of The Lactivist:
DR. PHIL: All right. Another topic that gets people talking, and this one just, I got to tell you, this kind of creeps me out, is the use of wet nurses popping up in social circles. Can’t breast-feed your baby? No problem. Call one of your friends who’s breast-feeding and see if they can do it!