Sex and Breastfeeding

This weekend I was discussing nursing with friends and sex came up in the discussion.  I found it odd that some women have to stop nursing because their partner has an issue with it, as it relates to the bedroom.  So glad that has never been an issue for me.  After the discussion I got online and came across two breastfeeding headlines that are on totally opposite sides of the fence.  First, a dad writes an article venting about how seeing his wife nurse their 5 year old son turns him off sexually.  (See article here)

On the other hand, another father says that latching on and nursing during sex has cured his erection problems.  (See video here)

What are you thoughts?  Have you ever had this discussion with friends?  Has breastfeeding ever been an issue positive or negative in the bedroom?

Teach Me How to Dougie Cover/Parody

Had to post this, saw it several times in my facebook newsfeed, shot to every effort to promote breastfeeding!

More Breastfeeding Hip Hop!

So I ran into another breastfeeding Hip Hop anthem :-) Tell me what you think, cool or corny?  I am always happy to see educational material permeated in music whether its US history, Algebra or health related.  But I always wonder, would you bump this in your car?

Hennessey's Grill and the Breast Pump

I came across this story and felt so bad for this young mother.  I don't understand why the manager would think there would be milk spraying all over his office.  I used to pump in my supervisors office all the time and he was very gracious and respectful about giving me that space.  Unfortunately not every mother has that luxury.

I am sad to look at the map they briefly show in the news story, that does not show 100% of states requiring employers to provide a space for a mother to pump.  I never had to mention any laws to my employer because everyone was just accommodating.  Yet even with a workplace that supported breastfeeding I was barley getting by with my milk supply.    I can't imagine what it would be like if I had to struggle like this mother.  More power to her and I pray this ends on a better note.

Breastfeed Ya' Baby

Saw this online and just had to share!  How cute is that?

Are there other cute Hip Hop Breastfeeding videos out there? Please share!

Racism and Breastfeeding (See Update)

This weekend I saw an image on my facecbook newsfeed.  The image is below.  The image was accompanied by this caption:

"Wow, what a fascinating photograph. I remember my grandmother telling me about her wet nurse. Back in the day, if a woman couldn't nurse ( or simply didn't want to because of their social class ) there would be another woman around who could and would. What do you think about wet nurses? I say- let's bring 'em back! I would nurse a hungry baby that was not my own in a second.

Nurse and Child, USA, ca. 1850.

Source: Getty Museum"

How anyone could post an image like this without addressing the historical impact of slavery and the obvious oppression is beyond me.  Call it ignorance if you want, but I believe that for many the choice to remain ignorant comes from the privileges afforded from racial oppression.

Bring wet nurses back?  I cannot imagine a system in today's society that would allow for the profession of wet nurses to exist without extreme exploitation of women.  On top of that, if it were to resurface as an option, it would only be for women of the upper classes, and would again exploit and demean women of color.  No!  Can't see it!

Thankfully some people recognized that this image wasn't just about breastfeeding, but many comments from people displayed a lack of concern for the historical implications of this photo, and that is why I leave you with this next image: NEVER FORGET!

Update Friday July 13, 2012:  I asked "The Skeptical Mother" why she hadn't responded to all the comments on her photo, she sent me a private message stating that she deleted the photo because of all the ignorant comments.  

(Summary, the photo was posted in May, lots of white women loved the photo, commenting how great it was that this woman gave the child such a gift, etc, etc, etc.  Somewhere along the line, the photo was shared with black women and in June a lot of black women commented on how offensive it was.  All got quiet!  A few white folks stood up to support black women, then it was deleted) 

She then posted this next photo with the following caption:

The Skeptical Mother

A month or so ago, I posted a photo of a baby with her wet nurse. I'm ashamed to admit that I was completely ignorant to the fact that the vast majority of wet nurses during the 19th century in the US were enslaved. My grandmother had a wet nurse in the early 20th century who was german and not enslaved and I think in the back my of mind that that influenced my view of wet nurses. I saw it as something beautiful and noble.. which it *can* be, but certainly not for the many, many women who were forced to leave their own babies in order to love and care for a baby who was not their own. A baby who would some day grow up never to acknowledge what these women truly did for them. I would love for wet nurses to come back, but I think it's also very important that we learn the history behind them and acknowledge their suffering.

According to these new comments, it seems most people had NO IDEA black women in the United States of America were forced into slavery and forced to be wet nurses.  And people wonder why we have Black History Month!

Chocolate Cup Cakes

• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups of So Delicious Unsweetend Coconut Milk 
• 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup Bakers Cocoa Powder 

So the above recipe was for the family, but I had some left over batter and added some oatmeal flour, brewers yeast and flax seed meal and made some lactation mini cupcakes, but they taste like brownies!

Beautiful Breastfeeding Art

Wordless Wednesdays

Artist: Erin Currier

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Breastmilk Ice Cream

We made it! 1 year of nursing, pumping, hand expressing, bottle feeding breastmilk, teaching family how to thaw out and handle breastmilk, figuring out how to nurse in public, learning how to nurse in public without a cover, dealing questions, comments, weird looks, etc. We made it! And honey, we ain't dont yet!

To celebrate, I wanted to do something special, so I decided to use some pumped breastmilk and make some ice cream!


I used 100% organic ingredients

7oz of organic breastmilk :-)
1 tablespoon of raw sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

I added the sugar and vanilla to a bottle of cold breastmilk and shook it up to mix the ingredients, then I added it to the frozen bowl of the ice cream maker.

I then tured the ice cream maker on and let it churn for about 10 minutes, and well it didn't quite look like "ice cream"  so I put it in the freezer and later on gave a little to my little one.  Of course she loved it!  The consistency was just that of frozen breastmilk. I would like to get better at making ice cream, so if any breastfeeding mamas out there have had success and want to share tips please do :-) Either way my little one enjoyed this treat as a celebration of a year of breastfeeding!

Happy Father's Day

This Fathers day I want to give a shot out to my dear husband, a handsome, sexy, loving man who has been so supporting of breastfeeding.  He makes sure he washes all of my pump parts before we go to bed and helps me pack my pump bag in the morning.  He gently reminds me to pump when I am tired.  He encourages me to nurse in public!  He is very supportive of me nursing anywhere and is always there to comfort me when I feel insecure.  Also he was the first to enforce the policy that we not bring bottles for our baby if I am present to nurse.  He makes funny jokes about how our LO makes backflips while nursing and he jokingly but confidently lets people know that out LO may nurse as long as she wants.  Happy Fathers day to a loving husband who is an awesome supporter of breastfeeding. I love you baby!

Breastfeeding on Community

So I just wanted to give a shot out to one of my favorite TV shows for the breastfeeding/pumping references on this past weeks episodes.

 I actually missed the first reference until I re-watched it! Last week Shirley had her baby, and now she is pumping. Enjoy!




I know the feeling of being somewhere and wanting to hurry up and get things done because I had to PUMP!

A little of my history

I remember the first bottle of Similac I received in the mail while pregnant.  I looked at it sideways and wondered how they got my address.  Immediately I wanted to discard it because I knew I wasn’t going to give my baby any of that stuff.  I asked my sister if she had any friends who had babies who would use it and it was gone the same day it arrived.

Fast forward to the day I gave birth in the hospital: It was beautiful, my daughter was born, nurses asked me if I wanted to have skin to skin contact, I said yes.  They asked me if I wanted to breastfeed, I said yes.  She nursed for the first time minutes after I gave birth and I felt so good.  The next couple of days in the hospital she continued to nurse but one nurse offered a bottle and said the doctor recommended it.  No other explanation was given as to why or what doctor recommended it so I refused it and it just sat on a table in our room.  Breastfeeding for some reason didn’t hurt while I was in the hospital, it could have been because I was on Motrin and Vicodin round the clock, or because nearly every time she latched there was a nurse present to help with positioning her mouth and body. At that point thought breastfeeding was going to be a breeze.

However the night I was discharged it started to be painful.  Initially I thought I could endure the pain, and just switch breast each time, but the pain got worse, till one time I was crying asking for my husband to go to the store in the middle of the night and buy some formula.  I didn’t know what to do.  I desperately wanted the pain to go away but I didn’t want to give my daughter any artificial milk either.  I tried to hand express some milk into a bottle and I was able to squirt out maybe half an ounce at most.  She drank that but obviously it wasn’t enough.  I began to supplement, but only for a while I thought. 

The next morning we went to see the pediatrician and found out our daughter had newborn jaundice.  The doctor recommended we supplement.  I had already begun supplementing, but it broke my heart to hear a doctor recommend it.  I felt like I had failed so soon.  She was only a few days old and she had lost too much weight.   We then went to see the lactation consultant who told us to follow the doctor’s recommendations but to also start pumping and give her breastmilk via the bottle.  This is when I learned I had flat nipples.  The LC handed me some nipple shields but did not show me how to use them.  The only thing she did show me how to do was to use both the hospital electric pump and the manual pump she gave me.  I pumped 4 ounces in her office and felt good at the time because this was the first time I saw my milk come out so fast.  We fed my LO breastmilk in the office and went on our way. 

That night I sent my husband to the store to buy a double electric pump and I began pumping almost exclusively.  I was pumping every two hours and giving maybe one or two bottles of formula a day for about a week or so, then from there on out we were only using breastmilk.  I would try to get her latched on at least once a day, then twice a day, till we were about half and half with pumping and nursing.  I did the thing where you open the baby’s mouth so they can latch, I also had to pull my nipple out manually and sometimes with the latch assist so that she could feel the nipple.  It took a lot of patience and repeated practice but eventually we got to a point where around 4 months we were exclusively nursing, with the exception of when the hubby and I had a date.  Then at 5 1/2 months I returned to work and began pumping again.  

Now here we are at 9 months and I feel blessed.  

Morning Pump

So I am up at 3:30am pumping, my little one is 8 months old and is eating homemade baby purees and breastmilk. This weekend the hubby and I had some time alone and so we dipped into the freezer stash for a date night, however I didn’t pump all weekend so now I am playing catch up with the milk. Sometimes when I am online and I read about all these moms with 100+ oz in surplus I get so jealous. On any given day I have about 30oz in the freezer and the milk in the fridge is the daily supply for when I am at work. I feel like my baby is eating pay check to pay check, and we really don’t have a huge saving for her. I would love to have 100+ in the freezer and be building upon that, but I know for me that would take a lot of work and time. Right now I am hoping to pump at least 4 1/2 oz to add to the 7 1/2 that is already in the fridge so she will have her 12 oz that she normally goes though while I am at work. Taking a peak at the bottles while I am typing looks like I will make my minimum goal for the morning, now off to take a nap until my little one wakes up.

In the Beginning...

Growing up I always knew my breast were different.  Looking at my mothers breast and other women in the locker room told me that my girls marched to a different tune.  However, I never talked about it to anyone and never really thought it was a big deal.  I just figured, hey my boobs are unique.  

It was 3 days after the birth of my first child, when I walked into the office of my Lactation Consultant.  I lifted my shirt as my husband held our baby, then the Lactation Consultant looked at my breast and said, “You got, FLAT NIPPLES and you’re engorged.”  My heart dropped as if I had been diagnosed with some terrible disease.  

She then went on to get the Medela Symphony pump, hooked me up to it  and watched as my liqid gold droped into each bottle.  “Wow,” my husband said as  he was impressed as the milk came in.  She then went on to bottle fed my baby 2oz of my breastmilk, and told me to take the other 2oz home.  

At the time I felt like it was a positive meeting: I was feeding my daughter breastmilk as opposed to formula.  But later on I realized that she wasn’t helping me all that much.  She never actually taught me how to BreastFEED my child with my flat nipples.  She handed me some nipple shields, that she didn’t show me how to use, and sent me home with several pump part accessories and a manual Medela Lactina pump which was too much manual for me to use.  I eventually figured it out with lots of trial and error and online research, thanks youtube!

This is my story and the beginning of my journey as I progress along as a mommy with FLAT NIPPLES.