[aymie]

Hello,

My name is Amy, I'm a WAHM to three, DD Ashleigh, 13; DD Allysa, 11; and DS Chase, 22 months. My husband and I moved our family to a more rural county in Michigan three months ago. While it is more rural than where we were living, it's just next to where we were and very close to several large cities, and is home to two colleges and has a very nicly sized county seat.

A little history, my husband lost his job three weeks after we discovered Chase was on the way when his company left Michigan. I ended up being able to take advantage of the WIC/MSU breastfeeding peer counselor program because of this and gained so much more than the ability to properly BF my son. I'm feverently passionate about BF'ing now. Prior to the birth of my son, I was what I thought was a good mom, but BF'ing has opened my eyes up to a whole different way of parenting and looking at society and it's influence on how I was raising my children. I was a teen mom with both of my DD's and my husband joined the army a month before our oldest was born to support us. I did not have any BF'ing education and failed miserably at my attempts to BF with my girls, but I did try for a few weeks.

I did not attend LLLI meetings prior to the move because they confilicted with my DD's church activities and since my DH works second shift, I had to manage all of the kid's activites in the evenings. I thought LLLI meetings here, in Adrian, MI, would be a great way for me to meet new moms and get involved in the BF'ing community since a new collabrative had been formed in our former county, right after we moved, and I was very upset when they invited me to join in and I couldn't due to the move. Big shock, there is no, nor can anyone recall there ever being, LLLI meetings in all of Lenawee County, Michigan!!! That shocked me. This is a unique area, there are two colleges, lots of families that run the gammet of socio-economic status and a large Hispanic population, both permanent and migrant farm workers. There needs to be lots of different kinds of support here for BF'ing moms. The is one FT peer counselor at the WIC/MSU office here but she is bilingual so her work with the Hispanic community is very time and effort consuming. There is one LC at the main hospital, who is also the charge nurse for the birthing center. There apparently was another LC at a smaller hospital but she has retired from that position. That is the extent of the BF'ing support, education and advocacy in the area. I am trying to figure out what to do. I have contacted an LLLI leader in a nearby city and I am planning to join LLLI and become a leader so I can hold local meetings but that is going to take a little time, I need to go to some meetings first, lol. I have lucked out in that my next door neighbor is President of the local Native American Organization and he has asked me to join he and several others for a meeting with hospital administrators to discuss Native health needs. He wants me to speak to the importance of BF'ing and natural birth and I am going to suggest a peer conselor program run out of the hospital as well as mom/couple's educational classes pre and post birth. I was also invited to set up a tent at next year's Pow Wow and hand out information, set up a BF'ing/changing station and just generally promote BF.
Here is where I am struggling:

1) Native needs, if anyone can point me in a solid direction, a Native BF'ing mom would be great, I would love to be able to walk into this meeting with more than some gov't studies of WIC eligble Native moms, which is all I have now.

2)I want to blow this area away with BF'ing awareness, support, education. Thoughts like hitting the Chamber of Commerce up for help in setting up Employer Education classes to promote the reasons why they should encourage employee BF'ing and providing a place to pump, store and even BF on site are coming to mind, but should I try to start some sort of independent Lenawee BF'ing support organization or go on with the LLLI leadership and take it all from there?

Thanks in advance, this fourm is great, I've been reading a lot of the posts over the past few days and I am so excited to learn more about natural parenting.
Amy

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[Cutie Patootie]

You go mama!

I wish I had some information for you but I am sure other mamas will.

 

[hawkfeather]

what an awe inspiring attitude momma!

I say make a list of all breastfeeding friendly organizations where you are.. maybe even look for others inyour area here on MDC as well.

I just googled your community and "breastfeeding" and found a mother to mother peer support program..maybe whom ever runs it would be a good startign resource?
http://www.michigan.gov/mdch/0,1607,...3925--,00.html

i also found this --

"Barbara Robertson, IBCLC, MA
Dyad Lactation Services
2595 Powell Ave, Ann Arbor, MI, 48104
(734) 975-6534
Serving Washtenaw County; for a travel fee, Wayne, Monroe, Oakland, Livingston, Jackson, Lenawee Counties

As an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, my goal is to provide mothers and babies with professional and compassionate breastfeeding support. Care will be based upon the most accurate, up-to-date research and best practices available. I provide timely hospital or home visits. I also sell Medela pumps and breastfeeding supplies."

It seems like this woman may be a good one to contact Jennie Ramos, Breastfeeding Peer Counselor, 517-263-7861, [email protected] she set up a display locally in your area for WBW!

I also recomend contacting any local midwives or doulas.. who are generally a wealth of info for community resources on breastfeeding!!

Sounds like your area can really use your motivation and care!! Good for you!!!!

 

[aymie]

Thanks for the info from your goole search. I have not yet gotten in touch with anyone from Ann Arbor, though that is one of the larger nearby cities I was refering to in my post. Still, she is about 40 minutes away and states she serves this area for a travel fee, which is great, if you can afford it. Jennie Ramos is the sole peer counselor for the mother to mother program, so you found the same issue I have been having, it looks like there are resources here, but in reality there is one woman who works out of the hospital and one who works with WIC clients. Period. Thanks for the encouragement though. I feel like i am taking on the world. There is a doula in the county I moved from whom I have been in contact with and am hoping to work more closely with her but right now I am just feeling like the sky is falling! Hopefully this week will get better. I just keep thinking, if it's like this here, and we are in resonably clost proximity to Toledo, OH, Ann Arbor and Detroit MI and the affluent Oakland County MI, what is the rest of the country like?!?

 

[mama24-7]

You have such great ideas & enthusiasm. You are going to make a difference! Have you started to write your ideas down so you know where you would like to focus?

If you are looking for a Native woman who is nursing and/or knowledgabel about the needs of other Natives, I think the organization who asked you to be a presence at the Pow Wow would be a good place to start w/ that.

Also, LLL Leadership preparation does take time and energy. It's a wonderful way to begin your "career" in lactivism. However, if you heart isn't attached to LLL, then that may not be the best place to put your energy.

Good luck & let us know how you're doing!
Sus

 

[sapphire_chan]

That sounds like a very cool project.

My dad grew up in Tecumseh and I still have family in the area, but I don't think they're the types to know about breastfeeding resources.

 

[User101]

Welcome to MDC! This sounds like a fabulous opportunity. Have you been in contact with a local LLL leader? She can help you decide if leadership is for you and might also be able to provide you with resources.

 

[Kavita]

I am from MI (grew up in Oakland County and went to school in Ann Arbor). I would suggest contacting the Michigan Midwives' Association and seeing if there are any midwives in your area or close--they would be a good resource for you.

I would also check out the tribal area here at MDC--maybe post this there as well.

 

[aymie]

Well...the Native Organization that invited me to be at the pow wow is the same organization who asked me to accompany them to the meeting with the hospital, since those who are going are not knowledgeable about BF'ing and they weren't aware of anyone in the organization who really is. The meeting is tomorrow morning so hopefully I can get on the tribal area here and find someone, I was just hoping to speak to someone in MI, but at this point, anyone will work.

I have been in contact with the LLL leader in Toledo, OH, as that is the closest meeting to us. She was very helpful and nice but to be really honest I am a little bit leery of LLL. I'm absolutely fine with it being a lot of work and time consuming, and so on. This might sound odd but I have been a Girl Scout leader for my dds in the past and it's so corporate and has such a narrow agenda, it didn't feel right. I fear that once I get into LLL, I may find the same atmosphere and that is not something I wish to be a part of. Supporting BF'ing for women of every walk of life, political affiliation, social status and so on is my goal.

Midwives in this area seem to be few and far between, I know when I had my son in '04, I had to find one in Toledo, and I was living in a more progressive area in these things than the area I am in now. I am going to look into that as well though.

I have been approaching this like I do my business, with lots of notes on every contact I have made and a list of "to contact" as well. I have more than one location secured for meetings and a list of possible others, as well as a list of to do's to get word out once I start holding meetings. Now my biggest issue is where to go from here, the LLL road or the independent road. After I speak with the hospital administrator tomorrow, I'll have a better idea of how possible it would be to even go the independent road as if I do that, I would want and need them to join me in that.

Toledo and Ann Arbor seem to be where the women who are getting support are going but that just isn't possible for everyone. It's nice that we are reasonably close, like 40 minutes or so, from areas that do have a lot of midwives, BF'ing support and other resources but I can't understand why there are none here, nor can I sit by and not try to do something about it. Like I said before, BF'ing changed my whole parenting approach, not only with my son but with my pre-teen daughters too. It opened my eyes to many things about natural parenting that I instinctively had always wanted to do or had done, like the family bed, but that I had never really felt good about because society screams that these things will make your children insecure, anti-social and generally screw them up for life and ruin your marriage. I really want to bring that same kind of knowledge to other moms who may be feeling like I did. I'm starting with breastfeeding but this is really about a whole lot more.

 

[Janice in Canada]

Welcome to MDC.

Re: Natives & bfing & peer counseling

I know a woman in Manitoba, Canada - she works on a Reserve and has set -up peer counseling programs. She is not native, but works almost exclusively with this population. In fact, this reserve has really adopted the bfing (and support it) in order to reduce Type 2 Diabetes, which Native are at high risk for.

Please email me directly at momsformilk @ sasktel.net and I will give your her email address and introduce her to you.

Janice