Hello all! We're doing another carnival for the Breastfeeding Cafe for the last two weeks of July! I'm so excited! Topics are all about breastfeeding and especially activism because the theme this year for the Cafe is Mothers See! Mothers Do! In public, in pictures, and online too!
Even if you don't have a blog, you can still participate! We need guest bloggers (one per day) for the Cafe's blog!
If you're interested in participating in the Carnival, email me at clindstrom2 {at} gmail {dot} com. Last year was a ton of fun and I'm hoping that this year be huge!
Here are the topics for this year:
Monday, July 18—Mothers Before Me: How were you influenced by the mothers before you when it comes to breastfeeding? Did you witness breastfeeding as a child? Was breastfeeding considered taboo in your family? How did this influence your choice to breastfeed?
Tuesday, July 19—Eco-Breastfeeding: The environment is a hot topic at the moment. Was the environment something you considered when you decided to breastfeed? Does the environment come into consideration for other parenting choices you've made?
Wednesday, July 20—Wordless Wednesday-Breastfeeding Photos: Show us your breastfeeding photos! Maybe just your favorite or maybe every photo you have, up to you!
Thursday, July 21—Language and Breastfeeding: Most people don't realize how their language can influence our ideas of breastfeeding. Do you feel this is an issue in our society? If so, how can we change our language to rid our community of the bias against breastfeeding? How do you feel breastfeeding is portrayed by the language in our media?
Friday, July 22—Nursing in Public: What are your views on breastfeeding in public? How do you feel a mother breastfeeding in public influences others in public? Do you feel breastfeeding in public helps to normalize breastfeeding?
Saturday, July 23—Birth Experience: How did your birth experience affect your decision to breastfeed? Did the people present at your child's birth truly support breastfeeding? Did you get off to a good start or did you have to fight to figure things out? Did you receive good information on breastfeeding from your birth attendants?
Sunday, July 24—Online Breastfeeding: This is the internet age. Many of us log on more than we'd care to admit, but in the case of a new mother that can possibly be a good thing. How did the internet influence your breastfeeding? Did you participate in online forums, Facebook, Twitter, or any other kind of online community? Did this influence your parenting choices? Did these influences help or hinder your efforts?
Monday, July 25—First Nursing in Public Experience: This could be anything from the first time you witnessed a mother breastfeeding in public to the first time you did it yourself. How did you feel about it then? How do you feel about it now?
Tuesday, July 26—Breastfeeding and Multiples: No we're not just talking about twins, triplets, etc. Any way that you breastfeed with multiple children. Maybe you've breastfed while trying to conceive, maybe you've breastfed while pregnant, maybe you've tandem nursed, maybe you've just breastfeed a younger child while chasing the older one. How does breastfeeding help you parent? What are the challenges?
Wednesday, July 27—Wordless Wednesday-Babywearing Photos: Let's see your favorite babywearing photos! This year at the cafe we will be having a special top-secret babywearing flash mob! There's still time to participate, so let me know if you're interested!
Thursday, July 28—Importance of Breastfeeding: Why is breastfeeding personally important to you? Who helped you to first see why breastfeeding would be such a benefit? You know what they say--there's nothing like word of mouth.
Friday, July 29—Reliable Online Breastfeeding Sources: We all know that it is a mutual blessing and curse that anyone can post on the internet, so what do you do to shield yourself and others from the ones who are wrong? How do you find a good breastfeeding resource online? How do you help other new moms to find good sources of information?
Saturday, July 30—Book Review: Books are a large influence on how we parent and can bring new ideas into light (or help us to shun old ones). Maybe it's your absolute favorite breastfeeding/parenting book or one you recently read. Maybe it's one that helped you through the hard times or maybe it's just advice on what kind of breastfeeding/parenting books to read. Let's talk about books!
Sunday, July 31—How You Influence Others: What do you think is the most important thing that you do to influence pregnant and new moms to breastfeed? Do you have a story of a mom who you feel you’ve really helped?
