Sunday, March 31, 2013

Breastfeeding Support Blog Party

Nursing a 3 month old Delilah, now a healthy 3 year old!
Photo by Bella Photography by Nicole Aarstad
As an avid supporter of breast feeding, I was troubled to learn of Weston A. Price
Foundation's position on breast feeding. The Weston A. Price Foundation is a nutrition education non-profit that is respected by many in the whole food, organic food, and local food movements. To paraphrase, they have come out saying that only breast milk from mothers who adhere to a strict "perfect" nutritious diet should be fed to infants, and that their formula recipe is superior to breast milk from mothers who do not eat the diet they prescribe. Since I'm a vegetarian, my breast milk is automatically ruled out as adequate for my children. Nice, huh?

I have yet to see any legitimate studies to support their claims. On the other hand, there are a multitude of legitimate studies demonstrating the benefits of human milk for human babies.

Pregnant women and new mothers face enough uncertainty, anxiety, and misinformation about breast feeding without being made to feel that they must eat a strict diet in order to provide adequate milk for their children. I absolutely support providing information to nursing mothers about how to eat nutritiously, however claiming that anything less than a perfect diet is unacceptable is irresponsible, incorrect, and stands to discourage mothers from providing their babies the most perfect food for them, their mothers' milk.

Below is information on a Breastfeeding Support Blog Party, and a collection of links to Breastfeeding Support blog posts ranging from the composition of breast milk to tips for pumping mothers and everything in between!

*** 

On Thursday, bloggers from around the world came together in a show of support for breastfeeding mothers. New mothers have enough challenges without having to feel guilty for how they feed their baby, especially when they are choosing the most natural of means - breastfeeding.

Over the last few days there has been a lot of heated debates, controversial posts, and social media outcry against the position that the Weston A. Price Foundation takes on breastfeeding. While they do present sound information on the ideal diet for breastfeeding mothers, they do so in a manner that brings about guilt, fear, and confusion.

The bloggers who participated in the Breastfeeding Support Blog Party are not trying to create a divide between mothers. They simply want to offer support, in the form of blog posts, as to why breastfeeding should always be the first choice both for baby and mama.

We hope you take some time to read the posts that were written as part of the Blog Party. There are also over 140 posts linked up as part of this. Take some time to check them out here or link up your own breastfeeding support post!

 Dionna at Code Name: Mama has come up with 40 ways that family, friends, coworkers and employers can support mothers who pump breastmilk, along with a ton of resources for you and the pumping mom in your life. There are also some fun graphics you can print and pass out, with 70% of all proceeds going to buy pumps for moms in domestic violence shelters!

 Destany at They Are All of Me writes about ten common breastfeeding myths that scare women out of breastfeeding.

 Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama discusses how her diet wasn't WAPF perfect, but she still breastfed a perfectly healthy baby.

 Christine at African Babies Don't Cry is passionate about breastfeeding, here are her 101 reasons why!

 Kelly at Becoming Crunchy discusses the question of whether you should still nurse - even if your diet isn't 'right'.

 Jorje of Momma Jorje has enough pressure in her life, she is glad she doesn't have to worry about what, when and how much food she feeds her son since he is also still nursing.

 Angela at EarthMamas World discusses a few of the most common problems that a mama may encounter while breastfeeding. Angela also shares natural remedies for each of these breastfeeding problems!

That Mama Gretchen reflects on the beautiful bond breastfeeding has created as her two children have transitioned from their womb experience to their earth side one.

 Julia at A Little Bit of All of It shares ways breastfeeding and breastmilk are unique and special in a way only they can be.

 Amy W. at Natural Parents Network shares 5 scientific reasons that mother's milk is an unequaled form of nutrition and nurture: so awesome, and so unique!

 Laura at Authentic Parenting shares solid information on iron intake for the breastfed baby.

 Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama shares the questions (and answers) about breastfeeding she wished she had a friend to answer for her before becoming a mama.

 Abbie at Farmer's Daughter choose to breastfeed her children in part because it’s easier than bottle feeding, not to mention that it is the best nutrition for babies, that it has health benefits for both mother and child, that it encourages bonding, and of course that it’s free! Basically breastmilk is the ultimate convenience food.

 KerryAnn at Cooking Traditional Foods shares how the rush to recommend raw milk formula actually harms mothers.

 Starlene at GAPS Diet Journey shares her experience with nursing and why she feels it is an important piece of the your baby's health.

At Living Peacefully with Children, Mandy draws a connection between how formula companies market and how women are treated by society.

 Amy at Anktangle outlines a few of the many ways breastfeeding benefits both mom and child—aside from providing excellent nutrition.

 Adrienne at Whole New Mom shares Part One and Part Two of 100 Reasons Why Breast Is Best.

 Dawn at Cultured Mama shares her personal breastfeeding journey and how she overcame low supply issues and successfully tandemed nursed with only one breast.

12 comments:

  1. Hi Joella,

    I'm sharing this with my breastfeeding FB group. The owner of the group also has a bfing blog called Mummie's Nummies. If you haven't already, you might want to check her out. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for sharing it! <3 I have heard of her! :)

      Delete
  2. I was shocked to read this post yesterday. As a breastfeeding mother and as a pro-breastfeeding blogger. One problem is that you have not provided the proof in the form of a link to the Weston A. Price Foundation to show us where it says what you claim. Is this the article? From Dec. 2001? http://www.westonaprice.org/childrens-health/successful-breastfeeding-and-successful-alternatives?qh=YToyOntpOjA7czoxMzoiYnJlYXN0ZmVlZGluZyI7aToxO3M6MTU6ImJyZWFzdGZlZWRpbmcncyI7fQ%3D%3D - why is it suddenly causing such a stir?
    Second, I have just read this article, and it does not say that homemade formula is better for babies than mother's milk, nor that mother's need to adhere to a "perfect" diet. What I see is a thorough article that questions the current attitude that mom's diet doesn't change the composition of her breastmilk. The article even states that vegan mothers should breastfeed, but should supplement with animal proteins. I don't agree with that statement, but I am not outraged by the suggestion. As a vegetarian myself, I am curious to read more on the topic and to look-up the studies that they are referencing in the article.

    ReplyDelete
  3. At last week's Healthy Life Summit, Sara Pope, a representative of WAPF gave a presentation entitled "Is Breast Really Always Best"? in which she states (I'm paraphrasing and am waiting on a transcript) that breast milk is only superior to the WAPF formula recipe if mom adheres to the WAPF diet. I consciously chose not to link to information that I find to be harmful to women who wish to breast feed.

    To clarify, I'm not outraged by the notion that a mother's diet impacts her milk, I am troubled with women who do not adhere to the WAPF suggested diet being discouraged from breast feeding.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your reply, I would be interested in that transcript!
      I completely understand where you are coming from. This is exactly the type of story that the media could turn into "WAPF says formula better than mother's milk!" Which would not only be twisting of the WAPF message, but would also be unequivocally false in every possible sense!

      Delete
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