• Created on 3/20/13 by Melanie Mayo

  Originally published at MotherWiseLife.org   On our MotherWise Facebook page, we often post breastfeeding photos as part of our effort to normalize nursing, and the reaction is always the same: lots of support and celebration, lots of oohs and ahhs, but also a plethora of insulting, attacking, disgusting comments.  No matter how many times this happens, I am always stunned by the ugly reactions people have to a mother feeding her child.  Our society has received some strong social conditioning, and apparently the message is that one of the worst, most... read more

• Created on 3/15/13 by Melanie Mayo

As a breastfeeding mama, having searing pains radiating throughout your breast is every mama’s worst nightmare. Unfortunately it is quite common. This type of pain is often caused by a breast inflammation from a plugged duct or milk bleb. Luckily with proper diagnosis, there are some easy and natural home remedies you can try to quickly treat the issue and relieve the pain.   When my daughter was five months old, I was working full time and exclusively breastfeeding and pumping. I began to have searing pains in my left breast and thought I had a plugged duct. I... read more

• Created on 3/13/13 by Marcy Axness

Author Ray Bradbury pointed out, chillingly, "You don't need to burn books to destroy a culture -- just get people to stop reading them." Similarly, you don't need to actually ban nursing to decrease the incidence of breastfeeding -- just make it more and more difficult to do.   The ways our culture makes breastfeeding ever more difficult range from the insidiously subtle (hospitals' goody-bag full of formula) to the outrageously overt (Bill Maher's infamous rant equating breastfeeding -- "a private thing" -- with "farting or masturbating or... read more

• Created on 1/29/13 by Melanie Mayo

Being honest with women about the challenges of breastfeeding   By V.K. Harber   As a post-partum doula, breastfeeding is hands down the thing I spend the most time on with new mothers, and I love it. Supporting a mother in the first few challenging weeks of breastfeeding is enormously satisfying because I know firsthand the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits of breastfeeding for both mother and baby. I want to help any woman who wants to breastfeed to do so successfully.   Finding women who want to breastfeed is not hard. The campaign... read more

• Created on 1/27/13 by AdinaL

     When my second child was born a little over    five months ago, she latched on immediately and very well.  I was thrilled.  With my first daughter it had been a rocky start with oversupply and a very fast let down.  The ease with which my second daughter took to nursing was a huge relief.     Until we reached about 9 days old.       Suddenly, she started making a clicking noise with every nursing session, and I couldn't for the life of me, get her top lip flipped out to get her mouth in that perfect flange position. Combined with her 2 week... read more

• Created on 11/16/12 by Beth Berry

By Beth Berry     Before you begin your holiday baking, I thought you might want to know about the existence of a product I stumbled upon a few months ago in a Mexican grocery. Passing the jellies and pancake mix on my way to the dried beans, a small glass bottle with a familiar label caught my eye. It was Karo corn syrup – the kind your grandmother uses in her pecan pie – only there was something markedly different about this particular bottle. Above the familiar Karo font was a single word that I never imagined I'd see in conjunction with a brand name of... read more

• Created on 10/2/12 by Melanie Mayo

Until the early part of this century, mothers didn’t give a thought as to how to feed their babies. All babies were breastfed, if not by the mother herself, then by a wet nurse: a lactating woman who breastfed the child for the mother. Then along came formula, which provided a viable feeding alternative for women and babies physically incapable of breastfeeding and for infants without a mother. Yet the availability of formula has created a complex dilemma for women all over the world. Experts today are unanimous in their support of breastfeeding as the hands-down... read more

• Created on 9/23/12 by Melanie Mayo

I gave birth to my second daughter, Olive, at home in January 2012.  It was a beautiful, quick birth, that rocked my very core.  My husband caught her, and laid our 7lb 5oz blonde beauty on my chest.  Immediately after I delivered the placenta, I got myself situated in bed and offered her my breast.  I held my breath…preparing for a struggle, as I had with her sister.  I held her to my breast, gave her perfect button nose a tickle with my nipple, and instinctively, she opened wide and started vigorously suckling with such enthusiasm that my husband and I looked at... read more

• Created on 9/17/12 by Melanie Mayo

Seven babies have died after being fed a formula or breastmilk additive called SimplyThick–designed to help premature babies swallow and keep down liquids. Although the FDA has warned against the use of the product for premature infants, SimplyThick is widely available. Continued use of the thickener led to twenty-one infants developing inflamed intestines, seven of whom died. The [FDA] first warned in May 2011 against feeding SimplyThick to premature babies because it may cause a tissue inflammation known as necrotizing enterocolitis. The FDA is... read more

• Created on 9/11/12 by Cynthia Lair

Focus FOLATE! And where do you find folate?  In foliage!  Dark leafy greens!  If you’ve never tried this Americanized version of bibimbop for breakfast today is the day.  Especially if you want to have strong steady energy all day long.  When I have a big day in front of me and need to stay sharp BE BOP BREAKFAST is the best morning meal.  Brown rice sauteed with scallions, egg over easy, braised dark leafy greens and some sassy condiments.  Printable recipe here.  Trust me.  Cereal from a box does not even begin to... read more