World Breastfeeding Week Daily Special

Thanks for visiting our blog! Don’t forget to check yesterday’s World Breastfeeding Week Kick Off Post for a great special that is valid through midnight tonight! We also have another special offer valid ONLY today.

Celebrate Breastfeeding by being a SEXY MOM. Choose one of our Nursing Chemises to sleep in while your little one sleeps. When you get up to nurse, they have easy-to-access nursing clips so you can feed your baby while half asleep – AND these little outfits are so cute, I can GUARANTEE you that your spouse or significant other will be thrilled that you treated yourself! Available in sizes XS through 3X, there is something for every mom! Use coupon code ‘MOMISSEXY‘ at checkout today only and save 30%!!

World Breastfeeding Week Celebration

Today is the first day of World Breastfeeding Week and we are SO EXCITED!! To celebrate we are having a week long party on our blog.

1) We are launching a great new line – Intertwined Love ~ Mother & Child by Kadin James Designs. The designs are spectacular and we are so excited to have them all! We love this collection so much that we even had a special design custom made exclusively for our boutique! The collection consists of five pendant designs (shown in the photo) and two rings! We’ll need your help naming our new piece – so stay tuned for more information on that (coming up on Monday). We’ll also be doing a giveaway of one of these great pieces AND some of the “samples” we had made when trying to come up with this design. Check back on Monday for complete details!!

2) We are having daily specials in our boutique. These will be items that are on sale for one-day only. Each special will be announced at the end of the blog post for that day – so stay tuned for some great deals!! Today’s special is on our favorite dress – the Vanna Tank Dress. The photo shown is me wearing this beautiful dress and dancing away! It is stunning and your friends will never know it is a nursing dress. Better yet – it is also a maternity dress – so you can wear it while pregnant and after the baby comes for discreet breastfeeding. Enter code VANNA and save 30% on this great dress!! This special is good today and tomorrow only (Aug 1-2), so shop early before it ends!!

3) We will have some great guest bloggers being featured this week too! So stay tuned for more info!

We are so excited to celebrate breastfeeding with you! To kick off the celebration – please leave a comment on this post letting us know how many kids you have and how long you breastfed each of them. Comments on this post will be entered into a drawing later in the week for a great super-secret prize – so be sure to leave one!

Ask Judy: Has My Baby Weaned?

Dear Judy. So as you know we recently moved. The move allowed us to put our two older boys in the same room, giving the baby his own room. So the other night we set his crib up and let him sleep there. He ended up sleeping from 9:30 pm to 9 am! Needless to say I was SORE in the morning.

I Thought no big deal – it was his first night and I’m sure tonight would be different. Sure enough he ended up passing out in his play pen at 8:30 pm and my husband just moved him into his crib and he slept all night. For most this would be wonderful news. But he has been falling asleep without nursing. So that’s 3 nights in a row he has not nursed. I think he may have weaned!

I do NOT want him weaned. I really want to nurse him till he is two and I still have until February until that happens. I just want to cry! This is our last baby and my last chance at that bond

This can be so difficult on a mom, but don’t give up yet. It is very rare for a baby to wean that suddenly. He is probably reacting to his new environment and all of the new exciting things. He will want to nurse again! Is the nighttime session the only time that he nurses? If you aren’t ready for him to stop, then offer the breast after dinner – a little earlier than bedtime. That will give him the ability to still fall asleep at bedtime without nursing, but still give you the ability to continue your bond with him.

Be forewarned, though – if you re-initiate breastfeeding, he may not want to give it up when he turns two and then you may end up going much longer! I also thought we would go until two, then I thought age three was my max. My son will be four next week and I think we are finally done.

Keep in mind too, that even when weaning does come, you will still have many ways to bond with your baby. He is lucky to have nursed so long – and if this does end up being his time to wean, your bond with him will continue through all of the other ways in which you nurture him.

HUGS

Mastitis: One Mom’s Journey And Advice

By Donna Bruschi

When my baby was 8 days old, I started feeling exhausted. I had felt pretty good up until that point. I had been going to the store and to the pediatrician and to the Lactation consultant (because nursing was not going well). His diapers were pretty dry and I had painfully sore nipples. That morning, I woke up to painful breasts as well and over the course of a day developed angry red streaks on my left breast and red near the nipple on my right. I had developed mastitis.

Mastitis is a common problem among breastfeeding mothers. The exhaustion, aching muscles and fever mimic the flu but the red streaked breasts and tender spots make mastitis unmistakable. Although there are several contributing factors, the most common one is exhaustion. Most mothers with mastitis try to do too much. Even mothers who feel great, may bring on mastitis simply by skipping naps. Mastitis is more common around the holidays when added pressures pile onto an already stressed situation. Other contributing factors include over-abundant milk supply, fussy babies and babies who who don’t latch on correctly. Mastitis can come on rather unexpectedly the first time. The mother may notice breast soreness, flu-like symptoms, and the hard lump of a plugged milk duct before full blown mastitis sets in, or she may not.

Healing mastitis includes plenty of rest, canceling all activities and going to bed. The mother should continue to nurse frequently to unblock the plugged duct and drink plenty of water. Hot compresses can relieve soreness and cold compresses can help shrink overactive milk production, if the mother thinks it is a contributing factor. If the mother doesn’t feel better within a day or so of sleep and nursing, she should go to her healthcare provider who will probably prescribe antibiotics and more rest.

In my case, I was already on post surgical antibiotics and listened to my body, which needed some rest. The mastitis cleared up pretty quickly and I continued getting my son to latch-on better over the next week or so. He went on to nurse for 3 more years. I had a few plugged ducts after that but none ever developed into full blown mastitis. In hindsight, I should have had a home visit from a lactation consultant or visiting nurse as soon as we came home from the hospital. I would have had better latch-on and more energy.

In cases of recurring mastitis, mothers should investigate poor latch-on or sucking problems. She can also work on reducing stressful activities and situations. A La Leche League Leader can listen, carefully evaluate the particulars and give support and guidance. For a local LLL Leader, visit the La Leche League website.

Donna Bruschi is the mother of three adolescents, including twins. She is a Resonance Repartterning practitioner who specializes in parenting. She supports parents who want to love and communicate with their children from conception into adulthood. She leads several support groups in New Paltz, NY including La Leche League and Parenting Teens. For more information about classes and sessions visit her website.

Have you had mastitis? We’d love to hear your experiences. Do you have any tips that you can share with other moms? Please leave a comment on this post and share your journey!

Contests & Reviews Featuring Items From Our Boutique

Hello Mommy News and Views readers! I just wanted to let you know about some great reviews and contests that are going on right now that feature items from our boutique. Be sure to visit each one and sign up so that you can win some great maternity and/or nursing attire!

1) Capri Yoga Pants – these great pants are so versatile they can be worn during and after your pregnancy! Felicia from the CollegeSAHM Blog has reviewed them and she says “..These are the most comfortable maternity pants that I ever owned and they fit me perfectly..” Please visit her blog to read more about her review and to sign up to win a pair of these great pants for yourself! Contest ends 7/7/09.

2) Drop Cup Cami Nursing Tank: This tank is wonderful for breastfeeding moms! Suzie Q Homemaker reviewed it on her blog and she loved it. She says “…Not only is this nursing tank beautiful, it is extremely user-friendly…” Please visit her blog to read more about her review and to sign up to win one of these great tanks for yourself! Contest ends 7/11/09.

3) Kelly Two-Tone Nursing Tee: This beautiful basic is perfect for any new mom! It was reviewed on the Sage & Savvy blog and she said “…It’s made out of soft cotton spandex, so it’s stretchy, meaning it’s very possible that you can use it from right after the birth of your child until you stop nursing…” Please visit her blog to read more about this great top and to sign up to win one for yourself. Contest ends 7/11/09.

We are thrilled to have these great blogs review our items and even happier to be able to give away items to all of you. So be sure to visit each blog and sign up to win something today!

A New Mom Must-Have For Summer

The Story Of A Real-Life Wet Nurse

Our guest blogger today is a REAL-LIFE Wet Nurse!! Her story was so incredible that I begged her to let me share it here on Mommy News Blog! There is also a great in-depth story about wet nurses that you can find on the Parenting Blog – we encourage you to read that coverage as well. Please read below and share in the joys that this mom has felt by being able to donate her breastmilk to other babies! I hope you feel as inspired as I have by her story!

By Military76Brat

I am a proud mother of an 11 year old daughter. Right after having my daughter my dream was to breastfeed her to have the closeness and bonding that breastfeeding offers not only to the mother but the child as well. After about 4 weeks of breastfeeding my daughter, she wasn’t gaining weight like she should have been. It was later determined that she had a problem with her bite which made it difficult, nearly impossible to latch. I was determined though to give her the best food in the world though. So, sadly I went to formula feeding my daughter. Why? Because I didn’t find out until 2 months later that I could feed her breast milk from the bottle. So, I went back to pumping to at least try to mix in my own milk to make it better for her in the long run. She didn’t take to the milk and by that time was hooked on formula. It was heartbreaking to watch her reject me (or at least it felt like rejection).

I had a good two gallons of milk stored in the fridge and freezer of my apartment. I didn’t want to pour it down the drain. So, I learned about donating breast milk to banks for mothers who wanted to give it to their babies. I did just that for about 4 years!

Then I moved to a larger city, where I learned of another need that I had never heard of, and that was of being a “wet nurse” or surrogate breastfeed as the proper terminology was used. I learned of it from a friend of mine (who has since moved away) as she was doing this for a family. I asked her how she started doing this, as I was still producing milk as if I was a cow that was ready to feed a dozen calves! She told me that I could either go through a clinic where I could be matched up to families with the same lifestyle (which would cost up to $3,000 out of pocket for testing and background checks) or I could just talk to a good majority of my friends that I had that were pregnant and ask what their thoughts were of the subject.

To my surprise it was taken very differently than what I expected. There were at that time two families that wanted to have their babies fed breastmilk. One didn’t like the thought of actually breastfeeding or pumping and the other simply stopped producing milk after 2 weeks. I offered to be a wet nurse for them. They looked at me stupid. I told them that being a wet nurse did not mean having to have the child attached to my breast, that I could pump and then they could bottle feed. I did show them that I was clean and disease free from medical documentation to put their minds at ease. They were very open to this idea. Their partners were astonished that this could even happen in this day and age. They thought being a wet nurse died out after the late 1600’s!

So, for a year I dedicated to solely pumping for TWO wonderful babies that were not mine (a boy and a girl). Then they slowly told their friends who told other friends who told others (see the cycle of word of mouth). I started getting phone calls and letters asking me for my services.

I am currently pumping for one child who every now and again (more so when I get to have her for a few hours so her parents can have alone time) she will want to latch and feed directly. The parents are perfectly fine with this.

I have grown apart from the other families that I used to pump for, but from time to time I will get a letter that has a picture of one of the young ones in it! I don’t charge for this service, I do it because it is a natural resource and breastmilk is the best food for all babies under 1 years old!

Alas though, I fear that I may only have it in me to do this one more time after this one (which means another 2 years in my definition). So far in my years of doing this (7 of being a wet nurse and 4 providing pumped milk to milk banks) I have provided mother’s milk to 13 children, and I don’t know how many babies were given my milk when I donated to the milk bank in my old city.

I am a mother to a wonderful 11 year old daughter. I host a blog Celebrating Life w/Bargains that gives my opinions on wonderful items from all across the spectrum of things that every person can use as well as wonderful giveaways that I find across the web. My dream one day is that I can eventually start up my own non-profit organization and really give more back to the world, and starting my blog is just one way that I am preparing myself for that time.

Do you know of anyone who has been a wet nurse? Salma Hayak brought this subject to light in the news recently when she breastfed a baby in Africa. How do you feel about it? Would you breastfeed another mother’s baby? Would you donate your pumped milk to someone who needs it? Please share your comments, questions and stories. We would love to hear them!

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