She's a Little Person, Not a Doll: New and Improved!

I wrote this post a few weeks ago, but deleted it for reasons I will not mention.  I regret having completely removed the post because a simple revision was all I should have done, but I didn't consider that at the time.  

Many of the clothes out there for baby and toddler girls are not to my liking, so I do sometimes have a difficult time finding clothing for Addisyn.  Frills, bows, ruffles, glitter, sequins, etc. just aren't my cup of tea.  And I don't know why, but I don't find the cartoon character clothing appealing either.  I think it's partially because I feel it's over done, but it's also not something I would wear myself, so why would I put it on her?  I know that I'm in a minority here, a quick browse through any girls' clothing section is evidence of that.  Clothing with embellishments abounds, and obviously it sells, otherwise they wouldn't be making so much of it.


Don't get me wrong, Addisyn isn't being raised gender neutral.  She has plenty of pink and purple in her wardrobe.  I like to find cute outfits for her, they just don't have a bunch of extra stuff on them.  (Side note: Sometimes I wonder about the safety of things like bows, ribbons, rhinestones, and other small items on baby and toddler clothing.  Yes, they do seem to be attached very well each time I've checked, but if it's advised that baby toys shouldn't have small parts which could potentially come off, then why does a lot of clothing?)  And she does wear dresses for special occasions.  Check out her Easter dress ===============================>

I mentioned in the original post that I do sometimes shop in the boys' section for things like pants and shoes, but rarely find much.  Most of the time I can find pants in the girls' section, but if they're just too glamoured up for my liking I will check out the boys section.  I don't typically buy anything for her that looks "boyish", but the boys' section seems to be the best place to find the plain simple pants, non-decorated, solid-colored t-shirts, and occasionally shoes.  Finding shoes in the girls' section for me can be a nightmare - they all seem to be white, pink, or purple, and have all kinds of extras on them.  Most of the time what I'm looking for is a nice, solid color (or mostly solid) that can be worn with anything.  That is perhaps my biggest pet peeve about a lot of girls' clothing, that so much of it only matches the few things available within that collection.  That's why I like pants and shorts that are just plain brown, black, denim, or khaki, because they go with anything, so her wardrobe is more versatile.  Think about it, mens' and women's pants are pretty much identical except for sizing and fit.  In the toddler section, those differences don't exist, so most of the time boys' pants aren't very gender specific where the girls often are in a big way.
<=== A boy's shirt we had to get because daddy is a pilot! :)

Diaper laundry day...

A friend of mine recently asked me to write a post specifically about how I store and wash our dirty diapers.  Of course in our household it's just something that we do, so while I have written several general posts about cloth diapering I hadn't thought about going through my storage and wash routine.  How we store and wash our diapers has evolved over time to suit our needs, so I'll go through it all.

For the first two months we used disposable diapers on Addisyn and used our Diaper Genie II to store dirty diapers.  When we first converted to cloth (we immediately went from using disposables full-time to using cloth full-time) I continued to use our Diaper Genie just as I had before except instead of throwing the diapers out when it was full I'd take the bag out, cut it open, and dump it into the washer.  I used this method until the pail liner (a waterproof, cloth drawstring bag for dirty diaper storage) that I had ordered arrived.  After that we continued to use the Diaper Genie, but I modified one of the empty plastic inserts so that I was able to use my reusable pail liner instead of having to buy the refills.  I was pretty proud of my ingenuity, but the Diaper Genie didn't really hold enough, and it could be a pain to put the pail liner back in.

This brings us to our present set-up.  We currently use a Rubbermaid kitchen-sized trash can with a lid to store our diapers.  It easily holds 2-3 days worth of diapers, and the pail liner is a perfect fit.  We don't have any issues with smell when it's closed (when open it smells like a dirty hamster cage!), but people who do have diaper pail smell issues can put a few drops of tea tree oil on a cloth wipe and leave it in the pail.  Just a small amount of tea tree oil is a wonderful way to control odor, and it's safe for your diapers. We actually use a couple of drops of tea tree oil in our cloth wipe solution.  It has natural antiseptic properties and helps to prevent mildew and that "old wet" smell in the wipes.


We wash our diapers every 2-3 days using GroVia's Tiny Bubbles detergent that is specifically made for cloth diapers.  You do have to be careful which detergents you wash cloth diapers because of the additives that some detergents contain.  Here is a list of how some different detergents rank for use in cloth diapers.  Things like enzymes, brighteners, plant-based chemicals, etc. tend to not rinse out of diapers well and may diminish the diapers' absorbency, causing leaks and odor problems.  Detergent buildup is also a common cause of diaper rash in cloth-diapered babies.  We have "stripped" our diapers a couple of times, which involves washing them with 1/4 teaspoon of blue Dawn dish liquid, and then rinsing them like crazy to get out all of the detergent buildup.  Fortunately we have not had to do that since we started using Tiny Bubbles.  I use the recommended amount of our detergent because it was specifically made for cloth diapers.  With regular store-bought detergents you should use anywhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of the  specified amount for the load size.  If the diapers smell after they're washed, try using a little more.  Less detergent is required in HE washing machines because there is less water used.

So washing... I just pull out the pail liner full of diapers (cloth wipes and wetbags also go in in the pail), dump all of the diapers into the washing machine (the pail liner goes in, too) and do a warm wash.  I follow up with an extra rinse to get out any extra detergent that might be hanging around.  Most of the time I dry my diapers on a clothes line or drying rack, and then toss them in the dryer when they're still just a little damp to soften them up (air drying leaves the cotton stiff).  I do not put my diaper covers, wetbags, or pail liners into the dryer as they dry quickly on their own and don't need to be softened after hanging.  If I am just machine drying it helps to speed up drying time if I throw in a dry towel, or some homemade wool dryer balls.  And that's my wash routine!

I will add one other piece of information that I found useful when we used to use pocket diapers overnight that were stuffed with microfiber soaker pads.  Microfiber is extremely absorbent, and when microfiber stays on overnight there is A LOT of urine in there.  This large amount of urine may cause odor problems, it did in ours.  The solution: rinse the diaper with water before putting it into the diaper pail.  I used a cheap plastic bucket, rinsed the microfiber soaker over the bucket, and then poured the bucket contents into the toilet.

Just some thoughts...

Since I have become a mother I have heard many women say that while they were pregnant random strangers would approach them and ask if they were going to be breastfeeding their child.  Others complain of people trying to pressure them into breastfeeding, or being made to feel as though they had to.  Earlier this month I wrote this post about a book I read called The Politics of Breastfeeding: When Breasts are Bad for Business, and it's that book that really got me thinking about this...

Every time I receive a Babies R Us circular in the mail there are two things that I can always count on to either be on sale, come with a free gift or gift card, or something similar: infant formula and disposable diapers.  Every time I walk into the baby section in any given big box store there is always an aisle with nothing but diapers, and an aisle with nothing but formula.  Some of the most nurturing-looking television or magazine advertisements I've seen are for infant formula, and some of the funniest I've seen are for disposable diapers.  Since Addisyn has been born I can't tell you how many formula and diaper samples and coupons we have gotten in the mail.  My point is this: every day we are bombarded with pressures to use infant formula and disposable diapers.  It is so normalized that we rarely take notice, and I think because of this it has almost taken on a subliminal quality.

There are no prolific advertisements and mailings for breastfeeding and cloth diapering, it is almost strictly word-of-mouth or making the effort to go out and find good resources for information.  Many people find this more direct, word-of-mouth approach offensive, and often mistake it for something it isn't.  The author of The Politics of Breastfeeding recalls a conversation she had with a friend where she had presented some statistics about breastfeeding.  Her friend became defensive and accused her of trying to convince her to breastfeed.  This blew the author away, because all she was doing was giving information that she found interesting, there was no intent at all to try to pressure her friend into doing anything.

During my 11 months of eating dairy-free a friend told me that formula is not so bad, and they wondered just how good my milk could be if I wasn't consuming milk myself.  I have had a few other people mention formula to me as a remedy to certain things, or a better option.  It's not the suggestion of formula that really bothers me, it's the general misunderstanding and lack of accurate information about breastfeeding among a big portion of the population.  I do feel that in those situations I have an obligation to set the record straight.  Not because I'm trying to convert anyone, or change anyone's mind, but because I think we need to work on eliminating this kind of false information that runs rampant in our society.  I explained to my friend that you don't have to drink milk to make milk.  After all, humans are the only mammal on this planet that consume the milk of another species.  Every other mammal makes perfectly good milk for their babies on a dairy-free diet, and humans do, too.  All I had to do was make sure I was getting my calcium and vitamin D from another source.  As is a typical reaction, I believe, she sort of threw her hands up and said "okay, okay - you do what you think is best".  With that kind of reaction, do you think she had actually understood and took to hear what it was I was trying to express to her?

I have never heard of anyone being offended by the barrage of formula and diaper advertising that we are exposed to daily, but heaven forbid anyone should approach someone and give any information about breastfeeding or using cloth diapers.  Unless, or course, the person being approached breastfeeds and uses cloth diapers, and this is unfortunate.  We do a disservice to mothers by not providing them with accurate, truthful information, and I think in that respect it's important, even for families who use formula, even in families who have already raised their children, to have accurate information.  And I think that a big part of the reason that this misinformation still exists is because so many people shut down and are dismissive when they perceive that how they do things is being challenge, when much of the time the person giving them the information is just trying to dispel inaccuracies.  People are unwilling to listen to new, useful, accurate information, but continue to spread whatever erroneous information that they may have.  I'd rather someone give me accurate information on a subject that I didn't care to hear about than inaccurate information.  I'd rather have somebody be direct about something than feel like I'm being brainwashed by a plethora of advertisements.

Born in the USA: A Book Review

I just finished reading a collection of true horror stories titled, Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First by Marsden Wagner.  The first thing that the author, Dr. Wagner, is a man.  Yes, a book by a male doctor who is fighting for women to have the kinds of births that they want and deserve.  The kinds of births that medical professionals and our health care system often get in the way of.  But, as I said, it's filled with horror stories...

A big focus of this book was Cytotec, a drug intended to be used on patients with stomach ulcers.  Uterine contractions are a known side-effect of the drug in female patients, and some obstetricians have taken full advantage of this, despite the fact that Cytotec is clearly labeled that it is not to be given to pregnant women.  Those doctors who use Cytotec for labor induction do so because the drug is cheaper than other induction drugs, such as Pitocin; and, unlike Pitocin, Cytotec does not have to be used continuously.  Pitocin is administered intravenously, and once the IV is stopped, so are it's effects.  Cytotec comes in capsule form and can be given orally, or placed inside of the vagina in order to stimulate contractions, and there is no stopping its effects until the drug has worn off.  The problem is that Cytotec tends to bring on contractions that are too strong, and too close together (hyperstimulation), and again, there is not stopping or slowing the effects.  This frequently leads to fetal distress, and there is an increased risk of uterine rupture, especially in those women with a previous c-section.  This drug has costs many women and babies their lives, yet, it is still in use.

Of course there are plenty of stories of doctors who induced women's labor for their own convenience, and in some cases didn't even inform the woman that they were being induced.  There is an account of a couple who intended to have a natural birth, the doctor was aware of this, and he still (unnecessarily) induced labor against the family's wishes.  The baby went into fetal distress and the mother ended up having a c-section as a result.  All of this could have been avoided had the mother been allowed to birth as she had intended.

Of course we're not talking about medically necessary inductions or c-sections here.  While some births do require medical intervention, most pregnancies and births are low risk and require no intervention.  Obstetricians are trained to find problems though, they're trained to use medical technology, to do surgeries.  All too often an unnecessary medical intervention, be it induction, augmentation, epidural, whatever, can lead to further interventions, and sometimes to loss of life.

The practice of midwifery is another big topic in this book.  Studies have shown that a low risk birth at home or in a birth center is just as safe (perhaps safer in some cases) as giving birth in a hospital.  Obstetricians have done a good job of spreading fear about out-of-hospital births and about the use of midwives.  Why would they do this?  Because they lose business when women choose midwives.  There are horror stories given here, too.  Doctors accusing midwives of "practicing medicine without a license", but midwives ARE licensed.  A midwife accused of botching a birth when a day old baby is found to have severe breathing problems; though it is later discovered that the respiratory problems were due to a genetic deformity and the doctors were too busy trying to throw the midwife under the bus to see what the real problem was.

I can't begin to even touch on all of the personal accounts and research contained in this book.  It's a surprising read, one that infuriated me, saddened me, disheartened me, but also gave me hope, because there are people out there who are working hard to improve our maternity system.

I'll leave you with an interested tidbit of information to consider...  The US spends 40% more on health care than Canada, 90% more than Germany, and 100% more than Japan.  Yet, all 3 of these countries have a lower infant mortality rate.  There are 22 countries that have lower mortality rates than the United States, all of them have universal prenatal care, while 25% of American women receive little or no prenatal care.

Goodwill, Great Deals!

We live in a 1760 square foot, 3 bedroom house.  Before Addisyn was born the front bedroom was my little room, and the middle bedroom was the guest room.  When I was pregnant we transformed the middle bedroom into a nursery, and "my room" became the guest room.  We recently decided that having that front room as a permanent guest room was a waste of space in our modestly sized house.  After all, nobody has stayed the night with us in almost a year.  So, we're going to get rid of the queen-sized bed and invest in a good air mattress for those rare occasions when we actually have overnight guests.  We will be turning the room into a playroom for Addisyn.  It will be much easier for us to hang out in there with a baby gate to keep her in than chasing her all through the house.  A little bit of the room will be for me, too!

My grand plan was to put a little desk or table in the room where I could sew while Addisyn played.  I was also hoping to find a nice, shelf-type toy organizer.  So, off to Goodwill I went to see what I could find!  In the past week I've been to 3 different Goodwill stores, and found some great deals!

My main mission for the first Goodwill trip was to find a desk or table to use as a sewing station.  I pulled in the parking lot, and the store was PACKED!  As it turned out, it was half-price day - what luck! I did find a small, one drawer desk in great shape priced at $15, so I paid $7.50!  There was also a  20th Anniversary Trivial Pursuit game for $3.00.  The box was taped shut, so I couldn't be sure if all of the pieces were there, but for the $1.50 it would cost me on half-price day I decided to risk it.  The game is complete as far as I can tell (I didn't count the cards), and half of the cards were still in the factory wrapping!

A few days later I went to a different Goodwill, still searching for a toy organizer for the playroom.  I didn't find anything for her toys, but I did find a few toys that I had been wanting to get for her at prices I couldn't turn down.  Addisyn ended up with a Little Tikes piano and drum, both in great shape, and only $1.35 each!

We went to a third Goodwill store this afternoon, and still haven't had any luck with a toy organizer, but found a couple other things.  (Sounds like Walmart for a lot of people, huh?  Coming out with more than you intended!)  I bought the Scene It!  DVD movie trivia game for $0.50.  The box was open, so I knew that the game was missing the 4 original token pieces, but they had been replaced with other pieces for moving, so no big deal.  Everything else was there.  But my best deal by far: a Kelty Treble laptop/messenger bag for $3.15.  The bag is practically brand new, and retails for $79.95!!!  Even on Amazon they are $60-70!  What a steal!

Of course buying from Goodwill is about more than just sweet deals, this organization has been a Godsend for millions of people.  It provides jobs, job training, and other support to individuals and families in need.  We've made many donations to Goodwill, too.  We love that it's a place where we can take things we no longer need or want and know that somebody else will get some use out of them, and we can get a tax deduction from what we donate.

Oh, and my purchases weren't only made because I thought it looked like a good deal for the item.  I had been eyeing the Scene It! game on and off for years, but never wanted to put out the money.  For a long time I had thought it would be nice to get a messenger bag that was made to carry a computer, but they're so pricey, and my computer usually doesn't leave the house, so I couldn't justify buying one, until now!

My haul ($15.35 for everything pictured!):

Midlife... crisis?

What do you think of when you hear the term "mid-life crisis"?  More than likely, it's probably the same thing that comes to my mind - a man in his mid-30's to mid-40's, give or take a few years, who goes out and buys himself some fancy sports car, or other "toy".  Never have I heard of a woman having a midlife crisis, at least not in these terms, but I'll get back to this....

First, let me introduce you to my husband's "other women"...  Meet his Cannondale road bike and GT mountain bike...

My husband began his relationship with his mountain bike about 6 weeks after Addisyn was born, and woman #2 the road bike arrived today.  I'm glad that he's enjoying mountain biking with friends, but I'm more than a little jaded that it's something he waited until after Addisyn was born to take a serious interest in...  I got a new mountain bike just over 3 years ago because I wanted to get into mountain biking, and I had hoped it would be something we could do together.  He didn't want to get a bike then, and we ended up buying a lower quality mountain bike from a big box store when I got mine - something I wouldn't feel comfortable using for real mountain biking.  Both of Matt's bikes: higher quality from a real bike shop.  Meant to be taken on the trails.  I encouraged it though.  Like most women, I like to see my man happy and enjoying life, and I knew he'd love biking.

Midlife crisis?  Probably not, I don't think he's old enough, and what might the crisis be?  On the other hand, it would be for the best if this were his midlife crisis - bikes are cheaper than sports cars after all - and not the warm-up to his midlife crisis.

Meet my midlife crisis:

I love her, she is my world, but life with a toddler is a lesson in controlled chaos.  My midlife crisis will last another 18+ years, but most of my toy purchases these days are for her, or to make my life with her easier: cloth diapers, baby carriers, etc.  And I know I'm not alone here - I've heard of so many other cloth diapering mamas asking for cloth diapers for Christmas and/or birthdays.  My friend, The Gnome's Mom, just got a new Petunia Pickle Bottoms ERGObaby carrier (you pretty much have to be a mom to know what I'm talking about) for her birthday.  For Mother's Day Matt and Addisyn got me a nice, new sewing machine - I love it!  It's still something that provides benefits to the whole family: I'm learning to sew cloth diapers, I'm making shirts (and possibly in the future, Halloween costumes) for Addisyn, I've made reusable produce bags, and maybe one day I'll be able to generate some extra income with my wares.

But look how happy he is!  I hope that when Addisyn gets a little older, and isn't so reliant on me, mountain and road biking is something that Matt and I will be able to do together.  Until then my bike is great for family rides - when the weather cools down that is...

Dear Netflix,...

Netflix has, all of a sudden, become much more popular than it already was, but not in a good way...  Yesterday they announced, via their blog and customer email, that they would be splitting their $9.99 1 DVD out at a time and unlimited streaming video plan into 2 separate items each costing $7.99.  That's right, to continue getting DVDs and streaming video our monthly payment would increase 60% - from $9.99 to $15.98!

Needless to say there has been a lot of anger and backlash as a result of this announcement.  Simply Google "Netflix" and you will be rewarded with pages and pages of articles about the announcement and its less-than-friendly reception.  Netflix' Facebook announcement of their plan change has drawn more than 38,000 comments, mostly negative, and they are still rolling in.  There are also lots of comments indicating that whoever is running their Facebook page has been deleting comments, so who knows how many comments have actually been made?  Many Facebook pages have been created that encourage Netflix customers to boycott, protest, cancel their plans, etc.

We're not happy about it in this household either, so here, in letter form, I give you my thoughts...

Dear Netflix,

We received the email informing us of your intentions to split the DVD and streaming video into two separate plans with new charges for each, and like so many customers we are not happy and will, more than likely, be canceling our service as a result.  In your blog announcement you claim that you "are offering your lowest prices ever", yet our monthly bill would increase from $9.99 to $15.98 for the same service - this is not a lower price.  The only people who will be paying less will be those who had ONLY DVD service and those who had ONLY streaming service, but I assume most of your customers have the combined plan that we currently have. 

You also say that "[your] members now have a choice: a streaming only plan, a DVD only plan, or both."  You present this as though it is a positive, but I already had the choice between streaming or DVDs under my combined plan.  Were we to continue our service we would not keep both options, and the neither individual plan has enough appeal without the other.  And you forgot to mention the 4th option: completely ending business with Netflix.

In any given month we might receive 8 DVDs with the DVD only plan because of the mail turn around time.  For that same $8 we can simply go to the nearest RedBox, know that we will get 8 movies for our $8, and have our disk instantly instead of waiting 2-3 days for a new Netflix disk to arrive in the mail.  If our RedBox disk doesn't work we will get codes for 2 free rentals, one for the disk that didn't work, another for the trouble.  What do we get from Netflix for a non-working disk besides more waiting?

We would love to just downgrade to streaming video so that we can watch instantly, but the selection with streaming video alone isn't good enough in our opinion.  Rarely are any newer, worthwhile titles made available, and I am surprised by how many older movies and shows are only available on DVD.  Many speculate that your intentions are to use this new plan to "force" customers into the streaming only plan so that you can save costs on shipping and in the warehouse.  On the Netflix blog you seem to be surprised that "there is still a very large continuing demand for DVDs."  I'm not sure how you couldn't have predicted this with so many titles only available on DVD.

I am not one to criticize without offering some ideas as alternatives, so here goes:

1) Continue the combined plan as is (or even just adding a dollar or two - we'd keep our plan if the price difference was small) while working to increase the streaming video selection.  Many customers will be selecting only 1 option, and you will be losing $2.00 every month for each customer who does this.  Increasing streaming availability will decrease the number of DVDs you will have to mail, and you will have that extra $2.00 a month per member to work with.  Then, if you wanted to, you could begin phasing out DVDs as streaming availability becomes better.

2) Charge the full $7.99 for the first option,  but only half of that for each additional option that a customer chooses.  Insurance companies, cable/internet companies, etc offer discounts when more than 1 service is purchased, it's a good business practice.

I'm sure that there are other options that would be more customer-friendly and work for your business too.  I hope that in the near future we will see either a complete withdrawal of this new plan, a reduction in price for the new plan for use of both streaming video and DVDs, or (and this would be best for us) a much better streaming video selection, but we're not going to continue paying you monthly while waiting for the streaming selection to improve.  We would love to continue to do business with you, but we will not if plans proceed as currently anticipated.

Sincerely,

Yours Truly

A Month of Milestones

The month of July has, thus far, been a very busy month for Addisyn in terms of milestones.  She has started clapping her hands, she shakes her head back and forth when we say "no", and she cut her 10th tooth.  But the biggest milestones have been in the walking department.

Addisyn has been cruising around the furniture and walking while holding onto our hands for months now.  During the last couple of weeks though she has shown an increased interested in walking around the house while we hold her hands.  A few days ago our neighbor and their children came over for dinner, and Addisyn had a blast "chasing" them through the house while holding onto my fingers.  Just within the past couple of days we have been able to get her to walk while only holding one of our hands.  She does a good job, but is much slower and more unsure of herself with only one hand to hold.  And then we went to the pool...

The pool has always been a great place for her to practice standing.  She has been able to stand for months by herself, but she rarely does it anywhere else besides in the pool.  Most of the time we let her go and she drops to the floor and crawls off, but in the pool that's not an option.  So today we decided to let her give walking a try on her own in the pool.  She can't just drop down there, and the buoyancy while in the water (which is up to her chest in the kiddie pool) helps her to feel supported even when we're not holding on.  She started out with just a few steps, but she was walking!!!  Before we left to come home she was doing upwards of 15-16 steps at a try!

Now, we figured that it would still be a little while before she would try walking on dry land.  She's got places to go and things to do, so crawling is a much quicker option for her at this point.  But low-and-behold we got home and gave it a shot and she walked 4 steps!  Hopefully we can get her to make another attempt tomorrow.  She ended up toppling over after her steps today and wasn't very happy about it, but she was also hungry and tired.

Free Time???

These days I usually only get free time when Addisyn is asleep.  She typically only takes one short nap a day, and then there's bedtime.  The problem I find myself having is that I don't know what to do once I have time, not because I don't have anything I want to do, but because I have so many things I'd like to do. Sewing, blogging, reading, playing games... so many choices, so little time - literally.  

Addisyn's afternoon nap usually only lasts around 45 minutes.  On good days she'll take a really long nap of an hour and a half - these days are few and far between.  Yesterday, after debating with myself a few minutes about what to do, I decided to start sewing some reusable produce bags during Addisyn's nap.  I got out my box of sewing supplies, set up my sewing machine, cut 2 pieces of nylon mesh for the bag, and she woke up...  I let her cry for a couple of minutes while I sewed a piece of fabric to what will be the bottom of the bag, and that's as far as I got.  Bedtime is the best quality, and longest free time that I get; and it's hard to not stay up late to try to take advantage of every minute that I have.

"Flash" Mob!

Today I participated in a flash mob that brought a whole new meaning to the term.  I met up with 37 other mothers and their nurslings and we all breastfed our babies in the middle of Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth to promote breastfeeding awareness.

Anyone who would have walked by in the 20 minutes or so leading up to mass breastfeeding event would have known that something was going on.  When we arrived there were a few other mothers with their babies standing outside of the Starbuck's across the street, and the group quickly grew.  A few minutes before the breastfeeding was scheduled to begin we all spread out across the block on either side of the street and prepared to feed our babies.  

I feel it was a great event!  There were babies of all ages there: tiny newborns up through children who appeared to be 3-4 years old.  There were mothers there who nursed discreetly (I didn't see any covers), and those who felt comfortable baring it all.  There were LOTS of babywearing moms (I decided at 102 degrees it was a little too hot to be comfortable wearing Addisyn).  Lots of other moms who used cloth diapers and who had natural births.  There were also several moms-to-be out there! :)  What a wonderful thing to see ahead of time how much support there is out there for parenting methods and choices that don't always seem to be "the norm".   Oh, and I can't forget about all of the very supportive daddies/husbands (mine included) who were in attendance!  I'm not sure how many people actually walked by and took notice (I wasn't really paying attention), but it's such a great feeling to be around other mothers who breastfeed (and cloth diaper, and wear their babies, and had natural births)!

The Politics of Breastfeeding: When Breasts are Bad for Business - A Book Review

Gabrielle Palmer first published her tome The Politics of Breastfeeding: When Breasts are Bad for Business in 1988.  Since then there have been two revisions, the most recent in 2009.  The book is quite thorough, covering the history of breastfeeding through different cultures and socioeconomic groups.  The other big focus of The Politics of Breastfeeding is the infant formula industry (hence the subtitle: When Breasts are Bad for Business).  Palmer begins with the origins of artificial infant milks - when doctors actually used to make and sell formula - and follows the evolution of formulas, formula companies, and formula marketing and advertising to present day.  Throw in a healthy serving of discussions on women's rights and our place in society throughout the history of the world, and this book has something for every woman, and would be great educational material for men as well.

We are fortunate to live in a society where breastfeeding versus formula feeding is not the life and death decision that it is in some parts of the world.  I always knew that in some places a lack of clean drinking water was one hazard to formula use, but there are other things I never would have considered... Distance to get water for example.  Some mothers must travel several hours to get to their nearest source of water, and it may or may not be clean.  Then they have to carry it back.  Fuel for the fire, and time spent boiling water is another thing I hadn't considered.  It takes 10-15 minutes for an open fire to boil water, and that water must boil at least another 10 minutes to kill off any pathogens that may be in the water.  And forget preparing multiple bottles or large quantities at one time, because these sorts of places don't have refridgeration.  Imagine spending 20-25 minutes boiling water for each feeding.  Unfortunately many families in such circumstances are only able to collect enough fuel for 2 feedings - then what?  I guess they risk making multiple feedings at once, or not boiling their water.  Formula must be mixed while the water temperature is still above 70 degrees because, believe it or not, there are some pretty nasty bacteria in formula (no, it's not sterile) that can cause a world of health problems for baby if it is not prepared correctly.

It may surprise many to hear that in many places in the world it is actually less risky for an HIV-positive mother to exclusively breastfeed than to use formula - yes, you read that correctly.  It is possible to spread HIV/AIDs through breastmilk (5-10% chance), but the health risks of using contaminated water to make formula are much greater.  The risk a baby contracting HIV/AIDs actually increases if a mother feeds with a combination of breastmilk and formula.  Breastmilk coats the gut in a way that prevents most bacteria and viruses from adhering, thus protecting against infection.  Formula usage takes away this protective coating, making babies more susceptible (on a side note, while pregnant, I read that just 1 formula feed will completely change the lining of the gut, and it takes a full 3 weeks without formula for the gut to return to its exclusively breastfed state).  Now, if an HIV-positive mother has access to clean water, health care, a consistent supply of formula, and is able to afford all of these things, then formula feeding is the best option, but only if all criteria are met.  If there is a chance that she will have to use combine feedings due to of formula availability, or lack of money then exclusively breastfeeding is best.

In the US as well as other developed countries those who use formula do so with much less risk than other places in the world, largely because of clean water, clean conditions in which to prepare formula, and access to health care.  However, lack of breastfeeding still leads to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, among other things.  Centers for Disease Control gives "only 2 cost effective ways to deal with childhood obesity - less television watching and more breastfeeding promotion."  The Surgeon General's goal is that 75% of babies will be breastfed at birth, and 50% at 6 months.  Were these goals met it is estimated that there would be a savings of $3.6 billion on health care for 3 childhood illnesses alone.

The amount of information provided about formula companies and how they operate is extraordinary - I'm not even sure where to start, and hopefully this won't get too lengthy...
First of all, on ever single container of infant formula you will find at the store there is fine print that says (more or less) "breast is best" - formula companies are the origin of this expression.  However, it is in formula companies' best interest if women don't breastfeed - that means more sales for them.  And some of the ways they go about promoting their product surprising.  Formula companies often include samples in hospital discharge bags for mother who plan to breastfeed because studies have found that those who give up on breastfeeding use formula longer than those who intended to artificially feed.

In the 1970's Nestle got in big trouble in Africa for tricking mothers into using formula.  Nestle hired sales women and had them dress as nurses (called "milk nurses") while promoting and selling infant formula.  87% of mothers who used Nestle formula as a result of this promotion did so because they thought that the hospital was telling them to use formula - they thought these sales women (and yes, they were IN the hospital promoting formula) were real nurses, as was apparently the intention.

I'll use an outline for for this part as it would get lengthy otherwise...
The largest formula market in the world: Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
- 50% of formula sales in the US are to WIC, which receives huge rebates from the formula companies.
- WIC packages for formula feeding mothers have 3 times the value of those given to breastfeeding mothers.
- In the formula aisle WIC contracted formulas are available in the largest quantities and given the best shelf space.  The prices of these formulas are higher than non-WIC formulas, therefore non-WIC families end up paying more if they buy the WIC approved formulas.
- Doctors tend to recommend WIC formulas so as not to differentiate between between WIC and non-WIC mothers.

I could go on and on with statistics and information that surprised me and impressed me from this book.  It is a lengthy read, and gets a bit slow in some places (especially when discussing policy), but overall a great read!  Very informative!

"I wish I were not writing this preface," says Palmer in the most recent edition.  "There should be no need for this book."  Yet there is.