Shocking abuse of New Zealand dairy calves

Shocking footage, as published on TV. And further unaired footage, from Farmwatch.

Of course, it's only shocking if you haven't been paying attention. For decades, investigative psychic geniuses, I mean, animal activists like those at Farmwatch always manage to find the only tiny .0001% of farms where terrible, horrible, no-good very bad things are happening.

When the government organisations like MPI in New Zealand somehow can't find them. Or do anything about them.

The news has gone worldwide. And the reactions come flying. All versions of:

"Please please don't make me feel guilty about this."

Everyone wants to blame somebody else for those adorable horrible dead-eyed baby animals.

Sick twisted individuals

Those 99.99999999% of dairy farmers who naturally love their animals flap their hands accusingly at the transport operators who have let them down. Who knew that animal transport workers leave the calves for hours at the side of the road? Or fail to cuddle the baby calves gently into padded baskets in the backs of trucks?

Something must be done to those bad people! (And now it will, thanks to the media attention.)

And the farmers post kissy pictures of themselves with animals...who are still alive and conscious enough to enjoy their photo op.


Biased troublemakers

Actually, it's the activists' fault, for publicising the covert pictures. That's illegal! Fonterra is "very disappointed". No, it's the TV station's fault, for not presenting "the other side". After all, it's not fair to just show the tiny tiny minority of bad stuff found by the investigative psychic geniuses.

Blinkered consumers 

Fact: the dead baby calves have always been a part of your glass of milk. The money from the sale of the baby calves is just as much a part of dairy farmers' shaky profit margin as the highly-publicised milk powder price. And where there's profit margin, there's a margin to cut - i.e., the time spent getting those pesky calves into those trucks, and into the slaughterhouse machines, as quickly as possible. Having the calves reduced to weak and unresisting objects is good for the economy.

You know what they say in show biz. Never work with animals or children. Baby animals must be the worst.
This is the price of your cheap milk and cheese.


Now we see the violence inherent in the system. And it's ugly. Luckily, there are so many options instead of cows' milk.

6 Years of Natural Weaning in 5 Steps

Welcome to the Carnival of Weaning: Weaning - Your Stories
This post was written for inclusion in the Carnival of Weaning hosted by Code Name: Mama and Aha! Parenting. Our participants have shared stories, tips, and struggles about the end of the breastfeeding relationship.

 I breastfed our son, on cue, day and night, from the day after his birth.  (You can read about the unpleasantly exciting birth in my previous Carnival post.

From the start, I stopped everything and responded to his every cue for milk. At one stage, I figured out that he'd figured out that I stopped everything and responded to his every cue for milk. 

When he started signing for milk when he didn't want milk but just wanted me to stop everything, I had to laugh and learn to respond to that a bit differently.

With our son, I learned at La Leche League that breastfeeding is far and away, bar none, no contest, baby, the best and easiest way to ease a growing child's journey through our rough, tough world.

Recipe

1. Take one sad or mad child
2. Fold closely in mother's arms
3. Apply gently to breast
4. Hold until fully done 
5. Repeat as desired
   

Result

• A happier, calmer, more grownup child

Magic like that is worth holding onto.

Weaning process - Step 1: Nature's weaning

So it was all "milk and who cares about honey because hey, there's milk" for the first two years of our son's life.  My pregnancy with our daughter was his first real experience of weaning - he was a few months past two when he noticed:

1. There was less milk
2. It tasted funny
3. Mummy said, "Ouch, time to stop!"

Reportedly, many children fully wean during a pregnancy, but our son simply adapted to all the changes.  Long breastfeeding sessions were too painful for me, but two-year-olds don't have a great need to breastfeed for long either.  He accepted the limitations, learned some manners, and we both just kept on bonding.

Weaning process - Step 2: Night weaning

I knew that I would be too tired with one newborn to also respond to our son at night.  Our son did not like sleeping by himself in a separate room, and he was a frequent waker.  (I moved him from my room due to my hyperalertness from PTSD, and I still can't help wishing it could have been different.)

We had already reached the stage where the breastfeeding response at night was very brief. Now we began Daddy Duty - when our son awoke lonely at night, he was comforted to sleep again by Daddy instead of me.

While our son did not embrace the change with joy, at the age of two he was able to accept it - the level of distress was manageable between him and Daddy.

Weaning process - Step 3: Bedtime

I knew there could be times when the new baby would need me at bedtime.  While our son could go back to sleep during the night with Daddy, I still always breastfed him to sleep at bedtime. I needed to go off duty.

This was probably the roughest toughest weaning we did.  One evening, I breastfed him (now 2y 9m) and then went to visit my sister's house - and only came back when Daddy told me he was now asleep.  It was pretty late.

But I knew he had Daddy with him.  And I knew he was not 3 months old, or 6 months old, but not far off three years old, with years of my love and strength behind him, the communication skills to express his emotions, and the knowledge of other means of comfort.

This isn't to say I never responded to our son at night or fed him to sleep again because of his new sister. But now he and I both knew he could do this without me.

Weaning process - Step 4: New sister

I was again in the hospital for an emergency surgical birth of our second child, so our son had to do without me for a few days. It was brilliant having him visit in those early days of milk engorgement - a newborn hardly makes a dent but a 3 year old?  Bring it on!

Word of warning

It may be that our son broke my waters early because I did not insist that the bouncy boy be super careful with my pregnant body during morning feeding sessions. Undercooked babies are often extra hard work, and if there's any chance that this warning could help someone else, it will be worth it.

He generally understood the new rule of Baby Goes First: he still got to breastfeed but the baby needed milk more as that was her only food.

Sometimes I actually tandem fed - both at once - but it was physically uncomfortable to hold those positions.  And usually at least one of them was wiggly enough to make me nervous about going two directions at once. So normally, he just learned to wait his turn.

Weaning process - Step 5: Life

Age 3, age 4, age 5, still awaiting his short turn at the breast in the morning. Sometimes patiently. Often he would get a short nighttime feed on one side before I took his sister for the long feed to sleep. 

But there were sleepovers at Grandma and Grandpa's or with school friends. He didn't miss me when I wasn't there.

And then he would get up and be more interested in a joke book than whether he got his turn.

And not long after he turned 6, he often complained he couldn't get very much.  With his sister (3) feeding only a few times a day now, I'm sure the leftovers were pretty low.  I told him that it was because he didn't need it very much anymore. I mentioned how lucky he was, and that probably none of his friends had gotten milk for this long.

Soon after that, I asked him if he was OK with not having milk anymore.  No problem.

Was it hard for me to stop after all these years? Well, he was getting pretty big and developing a real big kid attitude.  It was always very quick and even starting to feel not quite right anymore. It really was time.

He has a couple of times wistfully said he wishes he could still have milk. He still loves to get lap time, whenever we can and especially when his sister is getting her short feeds.

Perfect.

Thank you for visiting the Carnival of Weaning hosted by Dionna at Code Name: Mama and Dr. Laura at Aha! Parenting.
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants (and many thanks to Joni Rae of Tales of a Kitchen Witch for designing our lovely button):

(This list will be live amind updated by afternoon May 21 with all the carnival links.)

• On Breastfeeding, Weaning, and One Mother’s Identity — Jessica at Natural Parents Network has been nursing one or more of her children since 1993 - breastfeeding is wrapped up in her concept of mothering and herself. She shares her thoughts on weaning.
• two tales of weaning — Aspen at Aspen Mama writes about their countdown to wean.
• Wean Me Gently — Tam at Please Send Parenting Books shares a beautiful weaning ceremony.
• You say potato, I say bleeeuuuuch... — Anelie at Mindcradle had read the books and knew just how to introduce her baby son to solids—unfortunately, he had other ideas.
• A Post Called Weaning — (Not) Maud at Awfully Chipper writes about how weaning her son took longer than she expected.
• On Weaning, Pregnancy and Emotion — Shannon at The Artful Mama talks about her mixed emotions as she allows her son, Little Man, to guide her through his weaning process.
• half of her life — Staci at Springpatch Jam looks back on her nursing relationship with her first born.
• Is it just this After Forty Mom or is it harder to wean when its your last? — Amanda of After Forty Mom shares her emotional journey towards the impending self-weaning of her toddler daughter.
• Nursing Limits — Jorje of Momma Jorje shares how she has weaned her toddler down to minimal nursing and her guilt about the decision to do so.
• Weaning Video Series #1: Preparation for the Weaning Process — Why is weaning such a taboo topic? Dionna at Code Name: Mama got mamas from across the blogosphere to start talking about weaning - on video. Come check out the first video in a series of five that she'll be posting this week.
• Weaning due to anxiety — Shannon at Pineapples & Artichokes talks about how she had to wean to preserve her mental health.
• When Will I Wean? A Guest Post — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama hosts a guest post from a mama who contemplates when her breastfeeding relationship will end.
• On His Own Terms — Momeeezen shares her heartbreak from when her son weaned much earlier than she anticipated.
• Our Weaning Story - Sudden, Surprised, and Embracing a New Season — Weaning doesn't always go how we imagine. That Mama Gretchen shares the story of her daughter's sudden weaning and how she has embraced this new season of motherhood.
• A Tale of Two Weanings — Valerie at Momma in Progress shares the similarities and differences of how her nursing relationships with her now six-year-old and four-year-old daughters came to a close.
• She Doesn't Remember — Alicia at Lactation Narration finds that her 6 year old no longer remembers nursing, only one year after weaning.
• It's The End of the World As We Know It — A story about the end of a tandem nursing relationship on Never Mind The Rain: A toddler moves on to a new phase in her life before mom is fully ready.
• A Natural End To Our Breastfeeding Relationship — With two self-weaning children, Jennifer at Our Muddy Boots does not know when the end will come, but that it will be natural and without regrets.
• Child-Led weaning: It's Not Extreme; It's Biological — Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children explains why child-led weaning is based on biology rather than social constraints.
• 6 Years of Natural Weaning in 5 Steps — Jess at miniMum shares how and why she let her first child stop when he was good and ready.

• Is This Weaning?: A Tandem Nursing Update — Sheila at A Living Family bares all her tandem nursing hopes and fears during what feels like the beginning of the end for her toddler nursing relationship.
• Memories of Weaning: Unique and Gentle — Cynthia at The Hippie Housewife shares her weaning experiences with her two sons, each one unique in how it happened and yet equally gentle in its approach.
• Weaning Aversion' — Gentle Mama Moon shares her experience of nursing and unplanned weaning due to pregnancy-induced 'feeding aversion'.
• Three Months Post-Mup: An Evolution of Thoughts On Weaning — cd at FidgetFace describes a brief look at her planned (but accelerated) weaning, as well as one mamma's evolution on weaning (and extended nursing)
• Weaning my Tandem Nursed Toddler — After tandem nursing for a year, Melissa at Permission to Live felt like weaning her older child would be impossible, but now she shares how gentle weaning worked for her 2 1/2 year old.
• Every Journey Begins with One Step — As Hannabert begins the weaning process, Hannah at Hannah and Horn's super power is diminishing.
• Reflections on Weaning - Love Changes Form — Amy from Presence Parenting (guest posting at Dulce de Leche) shares her experience and approach of embracing weaning as a continual process in parenting, not just breastfeeding.
• Weaning Gently: Three Special Ideas for Success — MudpieMama shares three ideas that help make weaning a gentle and special journey.
• Guest Post: Carnival of Weaning — Emily shares her first weaning experience and her hopes for her second nursling in a guest post on Farmer's Daughter.
• 12 Tips for Gentle Weaning — Dr. Laura at Aha! Parenting describes the process of gentle weaning and gives specific tips to make weaning an organic, joyful ripening.
• Quiz: Should You Wean for Fertility Treatments? — Paige at Baby Dust Diaries talks about the key issues in the difficult decision to wean for infertility treatments.
• I thought about weaning... — Kym at Our Crazy Corner of the World shares her story of how she thought about weaning several times, yet it still happened on its own timeline.
• Celebrating Weaning — Amy at Anktangle reflects on her thoughts and feelings about weaning, and she shares a quick tutorial for one of the ways she celebrated this transition with her son: through a story book with photographs!
• Naturally Weaning Twins — Kristin at Intrepid Murmurings discusses the gradual path to weaning she has taken with her preschool-aged twins.
• Gentle Weaning Means Knowing When to Stop — Claire at The Adventures of Lactating Girl writes about knowing when your child is not ready to wean and taking their feelings into account in the process.
• Weaning, UnWeaning, and ReWeaning — Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy discovers non-mutal weaning doesn't have to be the end. You can have a do-over.
• Prelude to weaning — Lauren at Hobo Mama talks about a tough tandem nursing period and what path she would like to encourage her older nursling to take.
• Demands of a Nursing Kind — Amy Willa at Me, Mothering, and Making it All Work shares her conflicted feelings about nursing limits and explores different ways to achieve comfort, peace, and bodily integrity as a nursing mother.
• Breastfeeding: If there's one thing I know for sure... — Wendy at ABCs and Garden Peas explores the question: How do you know when it's time to wean?
• Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Two, Three? — Zoie at TouchstoneZ discusses going from 3 nurslings down to 1 and what might happen when her twins arrive.

This is not a breastfeeding blog

Photo from Rehydration Project newsletter - check it out!

I am a committed breastfeeder and my children are weaning naturally (in years, not months).  It's very important to me and sometimes I write about it.

But I have no formal training and there are plenty of expert breastfeeding sites available.

There but for the grace of...

Each mother faces her own journey and obstacles.  This is not about judgement.

Had my sister not stood up for my first child against the hospital staff, nobody else (including me) would have stopped his tiny body from being pumped full as he could hold with artificial milk (formula).

I could now (unnecessarily) be a bitter wannabe breastfeeder as well as a bitter wannabe homebirther.

Instead, I have a dream.  It's about a different world of baby feeding.

My dream

Breastfeeding

• Breastfeeding is the normal way to feed every baby...and any young child still needing extras on top of solid foods.

• Mothers see breastfeeding from childhood on, within the home and out in public.  So do fathers.

• Before the baby's birth, mothers learn even more about breastfeeding the same way we currently learn about birth.  Every mother has already joined a community breastfeeding support group (like La Leche League) before she even looks her own baby in the eye.

• There are lots of trained breastfeeding experts who really know how breastfeeding works and why it sometimes doesn't work.  They're available to all new mothers, especially those who are at known risk for breastfeeding problems. 

When breastfeeding doesn't work

When a mother can't breastfeed her own baby, she

• employs a wet-nurse (a respected and rewarded profession) or 
• uses a milk bank (common, affordable, and well-stocked by healthy donors) 

All birth institutions support this as standard.

• Artificial milk is rarely needed.  It would be available only by prescription, not in the supermarket.  We know the artificial can't be as good, especially for such a complex substance as biological mammalian milk. 

• We don't spend money trying to improve artificial milk or show that it is really just as good - we need that money to support our wet nurses and supplies of donor breast milk.

It takes a mother...and a village

• Mothering your own children, including breastfeeding and natural weaning, is as highly respected and valued an occupation as any that is commercially paid. 

• We accept the general benefit to all society of having young children in the consistent care of their own mothers.

• There is tax relief and real social support available to encourage mothers to be the first, best, and most available childcare for the crucial first few years. 

Impossible?

Very possible, with a lot of baby steps.

• Milk banks - already increasing again worldwide, now that safe testing is available.  Please support the New Zealand Maternity Manifesto, which asks our politicians to support milk banks among other positive initiatives.
• Wet nurses - a golden opportunity and a respectable and valuable way for some mothers to supplement their income in a struggling economy. 
• The money - already in circulation, spent on artificial milk.  Now we just need to get real.
• The attitude?  That's up to you and me, baby.

Feeding in Nature

A tigress has just birthed cubs in an animal reserve.  Would her carers decide, "This tiger has a more important job to do as an exhibit in our reserve.  We will take her cubs and feed them artificial milk so she can return to her normal life as soon as possible.  Nobody has proved that it isn't just as good."

If they did, imagine the reaction of the tigress.

Artificial milk for human babies is largely created from milk stolen from a mother cow or goat and her baby.  These placid animals have no choice when their milk, their babies, and their mothering role are taken from them.

Don't your babies deserve a tigress?

Tradition! Breastfeeding, fathers, and families

Sir Elton John's new baby Zachary is being fed mother's milk - expressed and sent via plane!

As a vegan parent, breastfeeding advocate, and environmentalist, I feel like Reb Tevye who wrestles with tradition against personal choices within his traditional family of wife and many daughters in Fiddler on the Roof:

"On the other hand...but on the other hand...." and "You are right...you are also right..."

Before reading the whole article, I thought, "Wonderful that the baby is getting breastmilk and not formula.  But it is flown overseas?  How wasteful!  Why not get milk from a local mum?"

On the other hand....
Then I read the article: it is Zachary's own mother, the surrogate, who is expressing the milk.  Still very wasteful of the earth's resources, but much better for Zachary.  And still very cool to get the breastfeeding exposure from articles like this.  Go Elton!

But on the other hand...
Even better for Zachary would be the surrogate mother being a wet nurse in person, but presumably that would make more of a connection between baby and mother than has been arranged.  What a shame little Zachary won't know his mother better.

You are right!
This is not an ideal nuclear family.  Sir Elton is 63 and his partner David is male. Many people have expressed their discomfort with a child having such parents.

Also clear is the discomfort at rich Sir Elton and his partner who can buy a child - they would probably be rejected as adoptive parents as more suitable couples would take priority.  Many of these suitable couples will never get the child they hope for.

You are also right!
Yes, the situation is totally wacko from any normal perspective.  But in the real wacko world (not that idealised normal one):

• children get raised by grandparents
• children get raised by only one parent
• children get raised by unstable parents
• children get raised by parents who can't afford them
• children get fed artificial milk even when their mothers could breastfeed them
• surrogacy already exists
• the rich get to do pretty much anything they feel like with their money

In this context, Elton and his partner David hardly seem an automatic disaster scenario for a child.  And neither is this a dreadful way to use their essentially unlimited amount of money, compared to what other super-rich people have done.

What do you think?
Is there another hand?

This post is dedicated to all the lovely Dads I know, especially, of course, my own Dad as well as the amazing father to our own children.  L'Chaim!

Got Money? La Leche League International milks the cash cow

Mothers giving milk....?

La Leche League International has grown since 1956 from a group of seven mothers to a highly reputable worldwide organisation with unparalleled achievements in promoting breastfeeding as the normal and healthy way to feed babies - with almost all work done by volunteers.

However, as with many worthy organisations, funding is a constant struggle.

This recent press release announces their first baby steps into the world of big business: the licensing of the slogan "got breastmilk" to LLLI from the California Milk Processor Board.   Sales from branded merchandise will provide royalties to the CMPB as well as funds to LLLI.

I was a longterm LLLNZ member with real responsibilities... but an even longer term vegan.  I see my breastfeeding relationship with my children as a logical extension of my veganism in order to raise healthy vegan children.  Knowing that some of the membership fees have supported factory dairy farming is saddening and unacceptable.

Conflicts of interest
A breastfeeding organisation and a commercial milk manufacturing organisation are a very odd couple.

• Cow's milk manufacturers supply formula manufacturers in a clear commercial link.  If cow's milk were not so readily available, human milk banks would quickly reappear for those mothers truly in need.

• The cow's milk industry commits atrocities on mothers and babies as a matter of doing business.  These are mother and baby cows, but the sheer numbers of victims and their acute maltreatment makes the despised behaviour of Nestle look gentle in comparison. 

• The same commercialisation which often hinders the natural human breastfeeding relationship has resulted in a horror show for the same maternal relationship for innocent cows and their calves. 

LLLI's commercial deal with the CMPB implies a natural relationship between breastfeeding and drinking cow's milk that simply is not supported by evidence.

In exchange for market share, LLLI lends its hard-earned gravitas and worldwide reputation for being an evidence-based organisation with an unbiased concern for women's and children's health...to commercial cow's milk processors.  In the process, LLLI loses its freedom from commercial pressure - a unique resource scrupulously maintained for decades.

Dissent and the majority

LLLI made this decision despite strong and ongoing concerns voiced by a minority of their Leaders, perhaps including

• vegans
• many other LLL mothers who found that they must themselves stop drinking cow's milk to enjoy a healthy baby (free of eczema and or digestive pain)
• others who recognise the philosophical ironies or the commercial conflicts

One of the three highly-respected co-authors of the latest LLLI official breastfeeding handbook (The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding) is a vegan, as are other members of her family.

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding clearly states that milk from other animals are "never necessary for humans".  This is in stark contrast to the message in the recent press release "cow's milk is the other best natural source of food for children" - if not strictly attributed to LLLI, so closely linked that few will notice the difference.

No conflict?

The international organisation have confirmed that they see no conflict of interest between LLL philosophy and cow's milk production.  They are there to help human mothers.

While LLL has never been associated with animal rights, they have never before been associated with animal exploiters.  Human and animal welfare are inextricably linked, and this issue is a prime example, not an exception.

Comments can be made directly via the Contact page for LLLI.

Natural weaning and healthy vegan kids

My two favourite causes - breastfeeding and veganism - together at last!

Yo-yo day success!

I've been quiet for longer than I meant to.  Sometimes life just gets so darned exciting that it's hard to sit down and write it all down.  But along with

1. surviving school holidays
2. editing the next issue of La Leche League New Zealand's magazine
3. attending the La Leche League New Zealand Conference (and hopefully getting the T-shirt)
4. organising the La Leche League New Zealand photo competition

 ...I have kept on minimising my life's burdens. 

Now you see it....
Today I got rid of a yo-yo before even posting about it - how good am I?

This little bouquet was a gift from DH's work when DS Alex was born.  

Hmmmm, I must have decluttered the photo, too.  Onward and upward!

It was a cunning blue arrangement of fabric flowers and rolled up baby washcloths and onesies.  I obviously  valued it because it was a true yo-yo - I can't count how many times I looked at it and then put it down again.  Until recently, I hadn't even removed all the baby items from the arrangement, and that meant that instead of using some of the onesies (like, 5 years ago when they would have fit), they are now in my gifting box!

But I have today passed the remains along to my favourite charity shop, and hopefully some crafty soul will breathe new life into it.

But wait, there's more!
I also donated the crossbars of a baby gym  - because I've lost faith that we are ever going to find the fabric part of it.  I mean, we lost a digital camera in that move, so I'm sure we could have lost a piece of fabric not much bigger than a pillowcase.   And those crossbars got used as weapons just once too often.

5+ a Day - help your kids eat their veggies!

Alex at his chubbiest ever!

My Secret 

Serve chocolate dipping sauce!

But Seriously....
I've posted some vegan dinners that I serve to my family.  But we all know that in today's environment of ample and (on average) unhealthy food, it can be a real chore to do your duty and get fresh fruits and vegetables that last step off their plates and into their tummies.

My children are no angels at my table but they do eat a pretty decent share of the good stuff.  Apart from sheer luck, it's possible that the following helped:  

1.  Start them young
My children were both exclusively breastfed until well after 6 months, and then I started with fruits like avocado and banana as well as kumara - all lovely and sweet!  I like my broccoli and cauliflower and courgettes and carrots cooked pretty soft (and sweet), so it wasn't hard to encourage an adventurous table-tyke to steal from my plate.

As vegans, we moved from baby fruit foods to baby grain foods, and they never had the baby foods with the strong and addictive tastes of cheese, milk, or meat.   This probably made a difference.

Several mums I know use baby-led weaning for introducing solids, and don't use mashed foods at all.  It's certainly easier for young children to eat veggies and fruits in this process than fibrous meats. 
 
2.  Walk your talk (well, eat it)
I've been vegan all their lives so they see me with a plateful on a regular basis.  There is no better teacher than example.

You don't have to be a vegan to set a good veggie example.  But you do have to eat them, and be seen eating and enjoying them. 

3.  Veggies first!
Starches, especially refined starches, satisfy your sweet tooth as well as being extremely filling.  Meats, cheeses, and other rich savouries overwhelm your taste buds.

Kids and grownups alike - eat a nice pile of veggies as the starter to your meal 

1. You are hungrier
2. They will taste better
3. You will eat more veggies
4. (Optional benefit) You will eat less of the rest of the meal

Expect no joy from reluctant foragers by offering the fronds of health after a big plate of chips and tomato sauce.  While my kids don't eat meat or cheese, they do love the meat substitutes that we have at some meals.  But they don't get them unless the veggies go in first.

• One popular concern is that if you feed children too much fibre, they may not get enough calories.  If you feel your child is now eating too many vegetables and is therefore wasting away :-) please use your own judgement.  The opposite problem is way more common.

Mine eat too much starch, and now more refined starches than when younger.  Alex was more adventurous in his tastes when younger and Nadia is copying him in everything.

My kids' favourite veggies
For what it's worth...both of my kids vary quite a bit in their tastes so yours will too.

• Broccoli and cauliflower cooked nice and soft
• Nadia has joined Alex in the cucumber fan club
• Alex eats the part of the tomato with not one seed please.  Nadia eats the seeds.  With a bit of "look over there" we can get through quite a bit.
• Alex will eat raw carrot sticks under duress, but heaps shredded carrot and lettuce on wraps.  Nadia's also keen on shredded carrot
• Black olives
• Gherkins
• Alex wishes corn on the cob grew year round.  Me too.

The usual kid preparation tricks apply: making it fun with shapes or dips can go a long way. 

Also check out:

• Cool veggies
• Get them involved!

And if you haven't succeeded on the veggie front, you can score some points with fruits:

• apples, bananas, mandarins, kiwifruit, avocado...
• dentists don't recommend dried fruits but they do pack well in lunches

Go forth and vegetate!  You won't regret it...

Nursing in public

Welcome to the July 2010 Carnival of Nursing in Public



This post was written for inclusion in the Carnival of Nursing in Public hosted by Dionna and Paige at NursingFreedom.org. All week, July 5-9, we will be featuring articles and posts about nursing in public ("NIP"). See the bottom of this post for more information.


***

Our first child, our unexpected son, was born only 1.7kgs (3lbs 12oz) while I was unconscious.  Instead of being introduced, he lay in an incubator under Daddy's hands while I was treated with increasingly painful measures to stop my haemorrhage.  While my life was saved with drugs and transfusions, my sister singlehandedly prevented the routine formula feeding of our tiny boy.  She quoted to the special care department the WHO recommendations for supplementation when mother's milk is not available...and did not back down.

• In fact, it is standard hospital policy to formula feed babies who are small (so they can gain chart weight) and babies who are big (because mum couldn't possibly produce enough milk for a big appetite).  A friend of mine with a large baby was told she would need to supplement before she had recovered from her epidural!

During our stay in special care, Alex and I were on a frequent feeding schedule and I pumped after each feed.  I was just able to supply the tube-feeding supplement schedule the hospital prescribed - they were clearly so reluctant to use the donor milk available.  Alex was judged by staff to be feeding very well, when in fact he was too weak yet to do it properly.  We learned by ourselves at home instead.

I nursed Alex on cue, round the clock, while in an as yet unrecognised state of post traumatic stress disorder from his birth.  If I couldn't nurse him in public, I couldn't have left the house.  I nursed him above 2 kgs, and 3 kgs (a normal birth weight), and exclusively until about 7 months.  I nursed him past 1 year, and 2 years, and sometimes painfully through my second pregnancy.  And we all learned a new relationship when Nadia joined us.

• It's my right to feed my babies in public. I've earned it. 
• It's my duty to feed my babies in public, so other children won't grow up as I did, with no memories of seeing a baby at a mother's breast. 
• It's my pleasure to feed my babies in public, to show that a good baby is one who trusts her mother will respond to her needs, not one who has given up asking for a response.
• It is my habit to feed my babies in public without even stopping my conversations, and I hope that my nonchalance will be contagious.

I am still tandem feeding both Alex and Nadia.  I appeared on a local documentary for this rarity, and felt quite badly represented, but couldn't pass up the chance to explain the breastfeeding continuum from newborn onward - and why there is sometimes no good reason to stop.   

But...

I feed 2 year old Nadia only in friendly places, and the only friendly place to feed my 5 year old (18kg) Alex is at home.  Because we still have a long way to go, baby....









Welcome to the Carnival of Nursing in Public




Please join us all week, July 5-9, as we celebrate and support breastfeeding mothers. And visit NursingFreedom.org any time to connect with other breastfeeding supporters, learn more about your legal right to nurse in public, and read (and contribute!) articles about breastfeeding and N.I.P.


Do you support breastfeeding in public? Grab this badge for your blog or website to show your support and encourage others to educate themselves about the benefits of breastfeeding and the rights of breastfeeding mothers and children.

<center><a href="http://www.nursingfreedom.org/p/carnival-of-nursing-in-public.html" title="Carnival of Nursing in Public"><img src="http://www.babydustdiaries.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/inip1.png" alt="Art by Erika Hastings at http://mudspice.wordpress.com/" border="0"></a></center>

This post is just one of many being featured as part of the Carnival of Nursing in Public. Please visit our other writers each day of the Carnival. Click on the links below to see each day’s posts - new articles will be posted on the following days:

July 5 - Making Breastfeeding the Norm: Creating a Culture of Breastfeeding in a Hyper-Sexualized World

July 6 – Supporting Breastfeeding Mothers: the New, the Experienced, and the Mothers of More Than One Nursing Child

July 7 – Creating a Supportive Network: Your Stories and Celebrations of N.I.P.

July 8 – Breastfeeding: International and Religious Perspectives

July 9 – Your Legal Right to Nurse in Public, and How to Respond to Anyone Who Questions It

Breast is best - please turn on sense of humour!

This isn't a satire of non-breastfeeding mums!  As I was writing this, I felt mostly the total disconnect of communication that we have between these two "sides" in the mommy wars.

BF mum: “Breast is best.  After all, as mammals we…”
FF mum: “I am NOT a bad mother!”
BF mum: “What?  No, no, but studies show that…”
FF mum: “I had nipple problems.”
BF mum: “Ah, you see, the correct latch can be…”
FF mum: “My nipples fell off. They had to be surgically replaced.”
BF mum: “OH!  Umm, well, breast surgery can cause complications, but generally…”
FF mum: “My baby lost lots of weight.  When he was down to ½ kg, my doctor made me use formula.”
BF mum: “Oh dear.  You see, weight loss in the newborn is usually…”
FF mum: “I had to go back to work within 3 hours of delivery.  The only place I could express was in the construction workers’ lunchroom!”
BF mum: “Wow.  Did you know that employers are required to...”
FF mum: “If I don’t get 10 hours sleep a night, I attack people at random.  I just got out of prison.”
BF mum: “I see. Sleep deprivation is always…”
FF mum: “My religion forbids seeing my own breasts or I will go to hell and my soul will be distributed between legions of demons.”
BF mum: “I see.  There are often sensitive cultural aspects…”
FF mum: “My baby was born with three heads and I couldn’t feed and I wish people would stop looking at us like she’s a freak!”
BF mum: “Mothering multiples can be tricky – there are sometimes different positions…”
FF mum: “I’m an orphan solo mum living on a desert island…”
BF mum: “Isolation from the community is a very difficult…”
FF mum: “My baby was kidnapped by aliens and it was too late by the time we got him back!”
BF mum: “OK, but sometimes after periods of separation, bonding can be assisted by relactation…
FF mum: “My family owns a formula company and if I’d breastfed, my husband would have divorced me.”
BF mum: “Often your family isn’t where your best support…”
FF mum: “So you see, I had to use formula.  The most important thing is that the baby is fed!”
FF mum: “Hey sista, chill out, I had formula and so did my babies and we’re all Olympic champions!”
BF mum: “But, but, breastmilk has amazing properties formula can never match, and for most women with the proper support…
FF mums: “Stop making us feel guilty, you militant breastfeeder!”