Breastfeeding: Option or Baby's birthright?

I am a lactivist, but I have not always been.

Once upon a time, my child was tiny. When he came home from the NICU, he was tipping the scales at 4 pounds, 5 ounces. As we were getting ready to leave the hospital, our discharge nurse came in and asked if I planned to exclusively breastfeed Spencer. When I told her yes, she shoved a can of high calorie formula in my hand and said, "We never recommend that a preemie be exclusively breastfed." She proceeded to tell me that I had to take Spence to his pediatrician by the end of the week and if he didn't gain weight he'd be readmitted to the hospital.

Needless to say, it scared me to death. I became obsessive about getting extra calories in him and pretty much only used bottles with expressed breastmilk and formula mixed in them. Around the same time, I caught a cold and my doctor, who knew I was pumping for a preemie, told me to take Sudafed. My milk supply tanked and eventually dried up.

At the time, I didn't go to great lengths to keep or increase my supply. I had a very "formula is just as good" attitude.

Then I started researching and learned how bad formula can be for kids. Don't get me wrong, I don't think its poison or anything, but it has been linked to increased rates of childhood and adolescent obesity, increased asthma and other respitory illnesses, and even SIDS. My own child started getting ill and had excema pop up all over his upper body when we made the switch from 1/2 formula, 1/2 breastmilk to all formula.

Why would anyone think those risks are ok for thier child?

On my way home tonight, I started thinking about how I think its borderline child abuse to deny your child the right to be breastfed just because you don't like it or find it difficult. Welcome to motherhood, where you have to make sacrifices for your child! No one ever said that being a mom would be easy, and here's a prime example. There are a very limited number of people who physically cannot nurse, around 1-3%, and I understand and sympathize with these women. Still, there's no reason that the rate of breastfeeding in the US at the age of 6 months is under 50%. No excuses!

We as Americans have not put the correct connotation on formula usage. The norm is breastfeeding and anything else is substandard, period. Should I ever, for some reason, not be able to produce breastmilk, I won't turn first to formula. I will solict lactating women whom I know and ask them for donations of breastmilk.

I don't want MY child to eat something substandard.

Been Busy!

In the last two weeks, my family has:

1. Moved and put most of our furniture in storage in our new town
2. Had a vehicle totaled in an accident caused by the winter weather
3. Had to locate the dogs since they were spooked so bad by being in said accident and ran away
4. Gotten the flu (all three of us, ugh)
5. Had to have Trogdor's neck stitched up because he managed to rip it open on something

Stressful much? I'm praying that next week isn't nearly as exciting.

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As a side note, I want to vent for just a moment about American work culture.

My boss is a single woman with no children. Because my flu, and then Spence's, went beyond the weekend, I ended up having to call in sick both Monday and Tuesday. In all honesty, I needed to take Wednesday off as well.

I called in on Sunday night for Monday so my boss would know ahead of time and could possibly even get a sub early. I was obviously sick. I was almost incoherent and could barely speak; this was not me skipping out on work. I started feeling a bit better on Monday, but at the same time Spencer spiked a big fever indicating he had come down with it as well. I called on Monday, before 2:00, to let her know I would need to be out Tuesday as well.

The attitude I got! Ouch! I am not one to miss a ton of days. In fact, including the two I missed this week, I've been out 5.5 days all semester. I don't feel that is excessive at all, especially considering last year I was sent to a conference about one day a month from October to April.

Why is it that Americans are so obsessed with work? Why does it have to be something that consumes all? I want work to be something I do for money and nothing more. I want to leave work at work and not drag it home.

Europeans get amazing benefits and are encouraged to take time off. Many, if not most, European countries give their employees 30 vacation days a year. Americans get half that if they have an amazing job. Millions get no vacation time at all.

Its unfortunate and makes for stressed out people.

Going Organic

After the news that the FDA said milk and meat from cloned livestock were safe for human consumption, I decided that my family needed to take the plunge and move from the more commercially available foods to those of an organic nature.

I've always felt that organics were better than your regular everyday food. Can it really be good for us to have pesticides, growth hormones, and antibiotics floating around in our systems all the time? But organic food is more expensive, even cost prohibitive for some.

This ruling by the FDA made me take a closer look at the expense of organics. I went to my local organic market, Wild Oats (recently bought out by Whole Foods), and did a little cost analysis of things I typically buy. The pre-cut and packaged pineapple was only $1 more, the vanilla I needed for baking was only around $0.75 more. The milk (around $3 a gallon at Kroger as opposed to $3 for a half gallon of Horizion Organic) and chicken ($10 for a bag of boneless, skinless breasts at Kroger vs. $7 for 2 organic, free range boneless, skinless breasts) were typically several dollars more. Most people believe that these areas (the milk and meat) are the two where most of the "nasties" come over, so it makes sense to me that it would be more expensive to produce these things "nasty-free."

The FDA has also said that the meat and milk of clone offspring have probably already been put into stores because they were "lost track of." Excuses, excuses.

Regardless, I wouldn't mind these things being marketed if they would just consent to label them. The same goes for the genetically modified produce, which I'm also uncomfortable with. Label them and I won't complain. I also won't buy them.

Little mister decided he needed a new hair do for the evening. I guess being with mommy all the time rubs off! LOL

Christmas

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

We bought 99% wooden toys due to the nasty recalls of all the Chinese made toys and they were a big hit with Spence! He absolutely loves the wooden parking garage and has played with it non-stop.

My dad got Spence a plastic art desk/easel, but it is all American made plastic. I couldn't be happier with it. :)

Happy Holidays!

Flu shot, schmu shot

So, apparently flu shots are now mandatory for New Jersey preschoolers. Where do I even begin with this?

First off, I have a hard time with the state mandating that I must inject anything into my child. Typically it wouldn't be too big of a deal. I'd say "fill out a philosophical exemption" and be done with it, but NJ only has religious and medical exemptions. True, I don't live in New Jersey, but this sets a terrifying precident. Today it is New Jersey, tomorrow it could be Arkansas.

Secondly, why can the state mandate private preschools? I understand the logic behind vaccinating publicly schooled children. Attend the public's school, abide by the state's rules. But for a privately owned preschool? It just doesn't seem right.

Third, while many organizations push the flu vaccine, it hasn't even been proven truely effective. Many are still preserved with mercury as well, which is one of the culprits of the big vaccine/autism debate.

I, quite simply, am not on board with forced vaccinations, flu or otherwise.

So....its been awhile.

I guess you could say I got busy. Or maybe I just didn't have anything to say.

I shall be back later with thoughts on the mandatory flu shots for New Jersey preschoolers.