Yet another reason to breastfeed!
Here is another story that trumpets the benefits of breastfeeding! Yeah
November 14, 2007
February 19, 2007
Social ladder for breast fed children
This article, in all honesty doesn't really get me too excited about the benefits of breastfeeding. Frankly there are a million other/better reasons to breast feed. But for what it is worth, I thought I would add it to the list of reasons breast is best. Of course, I couldn't breast feed, but that doesn't mean I don't believe whole heartedly that it is the superior way to feed a baby.
August 05, 2006
Mom's milk again
Just one quote from this article that speaks volumes."The more we look at breast-feeding, the more benefits we see. As this is something that is, in evolutionary terms, normal it is likely to be important in normal human development," Plus, do you love the photo they used or what! Very cool!
Personally I hope it is the mind set of the parents that choose to breast feed that makes the difference that this article is referring to, because even though I can't breast feed I still consider myself a non-breast-feeding-breast-feeder.
July 05, 2006
Yet another reason...
To breast feed. Read this article. I wet the bed when I was a child until very, very late in adolescence and it was only with the help of a urologist and some pills that I was able to stop. My mom didn't breast feed me very long, 2 months top and even then she supplemented with formula. I wonder if anyone else has experience with this new study. It further makes me disappointed that I couldn't breast feed Jake. He did nurse a little while the other night and I'm still making a drop or two (roll eyes) but not even close to being enough to support him. Damn shame!
March 07, 2006
It does a body good!
So the heated subject these days in blog land and forum land seems to be adoptive breastfeeding. I wrote a lot about this on my old blog about a year ago and the exchange between readers was mostly positive but the debate on the forums was extremely heated. Now, it seems after reading Manuela's post about this subject and Afrindie's post about this that there is once again the whole debate about adoptive moms just pretending to be the real parents. I got a few emails from blog readers who had read my comments on those two blogs I also had someone send me a PM because of something they had read on a forum regarding breastfeeding. That is why I have decided to discuss this subject and my opinions, on my blog. Let me start by saying that I have induced lactation twice before, for the first matches we were in. One of the most painful things to go through is a failed match compounded by leaking breasts. It is as they say, insult to injury. I can't imagine how difficult it would be for moms who had miscarried or had a stillborn baby, but the emotions I went through had to be similar, although not as intense.
10 facts about breastfeeding (Adoptive and otherwise):
- Breastfeeding is NATURAL
- Formula is NOT natural.
- You do NOT have to take drugs or hormones to induce lactation. (You don't even have to take herbs to induce)
- Adoptive breastfeeding is not about "pretending" to be the child's mother
- Adoptive breastfeeding has the EXACT same benefits as a biological mother breastfeeding her child (other than the colostrum during the first few days).
- An adoptive mom's breastmilk will change through her child's nursing life based off the needs of the child just the same as if the child was born to that woman.
- Some adoptive moms can 100% breastfeed their babies
- Breastfeeding is more than just nutrition
- Improved breastfeeding practices could save 1.5 million children a year! Don't believe me, read this.
- Nearly every major health organization in the world recommends exclusively breastfeeding your child for the first 6 months of life and then continuing to breastfeed for at least another 6 months.
Having read those facts let me tackle the #4. When Jill hands Jake to me and signs those papers I will be Jake's mom. Jill will always be his birth mom, his biological mom and his natural mom, but I will be his mom, his REAL mom. Breastfeeding my child is a benefit to him. It is my job and it will be my greatest joy in life to provide my child with every benefit possible.
I'm tired of reading from birth moms and anti-adoption folks that adoptive moms are pretending to be real moms by breastfeeding. Don't place your opinions about adoption on me. Don't say I'm pretending. I'm not pretending when I started exercising more and eating better since we visited Jack and Jill. Because of that visit, it really sunk in that I could be a mom real soon and I want to be healthy for my child! It is not pretending when A and I go out and buy the "Jakemobile" so that we have an ultra safe vehicle for our new baby. It's not pretending when I stare at his ultra sound picture or when I cried my eyes out when I heard his heartbeat over the phone. If that is pretending than it should have been me, not Reese holding up the Oscar for best actress on Sunday night!
I mentioned adoptive breastfeeding to Jill very early on in our relationship. I actually had no intentions of inducing lactation this time around, until after the baby was home with us. I was going to use a Lact-Aid for the first few months so that the baby could learn to latch and still receive the bonding benefits of the position and skin to skin contact of breastfeeding. But once I mentioned it to Jill she encouraged me to start induction so that I could breastfeed at the hospital. I told her I would not be breastfeeding at the hospital. She and I still disagree on this point and she hopes that I will change my mind... I won't. Luckily for us, this is a comfortable conversation to have because she, like me has this baby's best interest at heart and because she is secure with her decision to place the child for adoption.
While I don't think it is a conversation adoptive moms must have with a potential birth mom, I do think it is a conversation that they should have. I also, don't think it is the adoptive mom's responsibility to ask the potential birth mom if they "can" breastfeed the child. I think that is a parenting decision and I think adoptive parents have the right to make that call. I also believe that a potential birth mom needs to ask the potential adoptive family about adoptive breastfeeding if it is a concern to her, just like she would ask a potential adoptive couple other concerns she might have like how they might discipline or what religion the child will be raised. The moral and ethical responsibility of the adoptive parents is to be honest about their intentions, be it breastfeeding, religion or discipline.
People who emailed me recently and last time I blogged about his subject told me they were "too scared" to post a comment about adoptive breastfeeding. It is sad to me that so many people are scared of this subject. Thank goodness Manuela and Afrindie weren't afraid to get you all talking! I would love to know more people's thoughts on adoptive breastfeeding, heck breastfeeding in general.
Here are just a few of the web sites I have bookmarked about breastfeeding or adoptive breastfeeding.
