Hey Facebook - Breastfeeding is NORMAL!

So, it's the same old story.

Someone posts a picture of themselves (or someone they know or have professionally photographed) breastfeeding on facebook, someone reports it as "offensive" or some such nonsense, and so facebook removes the picture.

They give the owner of said picture some kind of basic, canned reason, saying that their picture was reported and so it's been removed. I've even heard of some pages being shut down for breastfeeding pictures, or personal accounts being suspended for a time.

Really?

I mean, REALLY??

Have they actually SEEN some of the vile, sexualized, half-naked pictures that are elsewhere in their software? Pictures that show WAY more boob than some sweet baby being nourished does. (seriously - I just did a quick search and typed "sex" into their search function. Some of the disgusting and awful pages that came up made me think that I *never* want to let our kids get a facebook account. Or get on the Internet. Ever.)

I know it's an old argument - and an old fight.

"Facebook isn't owned by us, the user. It's owned by shareholders, and run by a corporation. We have to follow their rules. No matter how ridiculous and backwards they are."

Yes! Ridiculous and backward describes it exactly.

{sigh}

Well, we have an answer for all this.

We are going to start a Photo Gallery here on the blog and will post your beautiful breastfeeding pictures here! We know how precious those breastfeeding moments are. We know how sweet it is to capture those moments in a photograph. We also know how wonderful it is to share that beauty and those tender moments with others!

So, send me your breastfeeding pictures! Get them to me this week (by Sunday 10/26/13), and I'll work on getting the photo gallery up and running next week! Just email them to me at media@elegantmommy.com, and let me know if you'd like me to include yours and baby's first names in the caption.

Let's take a stand that shows how beautiful breastfeeding really is, and maybe the more people who see it will realize that it's really just normal, and such a beautiful life experience!

I look forward to getting TONS of beautiful breastfeeding pictures!

~Evie

Reduced Prices on Rebekah Scott? Yes Please!

Check out our facebook albums below by clicking on the links above the pictures. These pictures are just a sampling of the adorable items we have in stock as of today. If you find something you want, just leave your email address and your preference of local pick-up or shipping - which is ONLY $2.00 unless otherwise noted - in the comments on the picture of the item you want (in the facebook album), and we'll send you a paypal invoice. Once it's paid for, it's yours!

Click here to see all our available cosmetic bags, only $10.00 (on SALE!!) and made locally by Rebekah Scott Designs

Click into the album and see all of the beautiful designs available!

**Please note that the items in these albums are what we have in stock as of 10/22/13. Because these are items made by Work at Home Moms, stock and quantity of each fabric and design is limited. If you see something that you would like and it's not available when you order it, we will let you know as quickly as we can and will help you get something else that works for you!

Birth "Device" Not Required

Oh. My. Word.

Did you all see this? Apparently some company decided to invent some torture medical labor-helping mama-helping - oh, I don't know - Some kind of device that is supposedly designed to help prevent "pelvic floor damage", and speed along labor/pushing.

From the initial article (found HERE), it explains that: "The device itself is surprisingly simple: a mechanical dilator that would penetrate the first third of the vaginal canal and basically pre-stretch it to full dilation. It would be used for an hour or two during the first stage of labor, and is equipped with sensitive load and location sensors, plus a semi-automatic force-controlled actuation system, so the device can be removed quickly."

Um, ok. {blink}

So, I'm really not much of a feminist or anything, but seriously? Two men came up with this? To benefit who or what, exactly? Their tee time?! I'm sure this - um - device can't possibly be about helping women have more confidence in their bodies to give birth in the way that they were designed to do. Because even if they had the best of intentions with the design (I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt on this), it completely missed the mark.

Don't women who give birth in this country have enough against them? Maternal and infant mortality and morbidity is CRAZY high, c-sections are rampant (next time you are in a room with other women, look at the woman on your left, then look at the one on your right. Statistically one of you three will have a c-section. Yep. It's that bad), and our culture simply doesn't value birth for the POWERFUL and emotionally significant life event that it is. 

If you have any doubts about that, just look at Hollywood portrayals of birth. Then talk to your friends about their birth experiences. Did the majority of the births you saw on the screen or heard about from women you know make the mom feel in control, empowered, and respected? Or did the majority of them have a care provider swoop in for a few minutes, tell mom what was "wrong" with her body and how she was laboring and progressing and how he was going to "fix" it. Then whatever he did to "fix her broken body" lead to another intervention, and another, maybe even to surgical birth?

I just feel that WAY too many providers* have no idea how to support a laboring woman in

Mom deserves emotional support!

the way she needs to be. She needs to be respected, talked to (and not about), and whoever is caring for her needs to be supportive and make sure that she knows exactly what is going on at all times. SHE should be the one in charge, and if she needs some alone time with her birth partner to discuss options before proceeding with any intervention, then it should darn well be given to her. Without her having to ask for it. Birth trauma** is a real thing, and it can be caused simply by not respecting mom enough to give her all information and time necessary to make a good decision for herself and baby.

Women's bodies are NOT broken! They CAN give birth on their own! They did for thousands of years before all these fancy medical procedures and "devices"  were invented, and except for a small minority, natural and intervention free birth should be extremely attainable.

So, as far as this new device to stretch out women's vaginal tissues before baby is making his way through the birth canal, implying that a woman can't do it on her own? I say, no thank you. 

And I hope you do to. You don't need it. You can give birth on your own. You were designed to do this, and unless a real medical necessity comes up, you won't need anything other than some great support and the information and time to make good decisions for yourself. 

You CAN do it. Device not required.

~Evie

P.s. You can read more about this company and device here.

*I really hope this goes without me saying, but I know that not ALL providers don't know how to really support a mom in labor. I have had the great pleasure to work with many AMAZING doctors, midwives, and nurses who really, really understand birthing women. Unfortunately, not all providers are amazing, and this commentary is directed at them. If you are pregnant and don't feel like your provider is amazing, SWITCH! It's never too late, and really it can make all the difference in your birth!

**If you have experienced birth trauma, first of all - I'm SO sorry! Secondly, check out Educated Mommy's event page on facebook (HERE) and come join us at our next Birth Trauma Support Group. It's a safe place to come and get the support you need to help deal with what you have gone through and how you are feeling about everything now. We are here to help!!

The Superior Infant Food

We have long known that breast milk is the best food for baby. Nothing can even compare. Breast milk is literally alive, and made specifically for your baby. It has your antibodies and it has specific hormones, proteins and enzymes that are made to support your baby's physiological development.

Not only that, but you have the absolutely perfect amount that baby needs! Your body will regulate to the amount needed based on how often baby eats, and will produce as much or as little as needed.

Now, when pumping because you need to go back to work and other things in life come

up, complexities are added and there can be production challenges that you may need to work through.

I just want you to know that *IT'S WORTH IT!*

Here is an excerpt from The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding  by La Leche League that briefly introduces just why it's superior:

Human milk has long set the standard for infant feeding. After all, human breast milk is the only food uniquely designed by nature for the human baby. It contains all the nutrients babies need each day, plus many substances that help keep them healthy and promote optimal growth and development. Through the years, research has confirmed what common sense dictates: a mother's own milk is the best possible food for her infant. Artificial infant feeding products can't even come close to duplicating the rich mix of nutrients and biologically active substances manufactured in mothers' breasts.

Just consider what human milk feeding accomplishes in a newborn baby. The comment "My, how that baby has grown" is music to a nursing mother's ears. Your baby's rate of growth during the early months is far greater than at any other period of life. The human brain is one-third its adult size at birth and reaches the two-thirds mark by age one. Your baby's head grows about four and one-half inches (11.25 centimeters) during his first year to allow for the tremendous growth of his brain. Good muscle development and substantial increase in length are other significant signs of progress, along with baby's weight gain. Getting bigger is serious business for a baby, and mother's milk provides all that babies need to grow, until solids are started sometime in the middle of the first year. Even then, human milk remains baby's nutritional mainstay for most of his first year.

Human milk, custom-made for the human baby's digestive system, is more readily assimilated than artificial formulas. It also protects against disease and helps every system in baby's body develop in the way nature planned.

Your milk is uniquely suited to meet your baby's nutritional needs. No two mothers produce identical milk. Even the milk of an individual mother varies from day to day and during different times of the day - just as other fluids and systems in our bodies fluctuate. The colostrum your baby receives on the first day of his life is different from the colostrum on day two or three. The milk produced by mothers of premature babies is higher in certain nutrients to meet her baby's special needs. Even the taste of the milk changes with the diet of the mother. You could say that your milk is programming your baby's taste buds for the coming fare on the dinner table. One study showed that when mothers consumed garlic capsules, their milk had the odor of garlic, and their babies sucked more vigorously and took in more milk. During one feeding, your milk varies from skim to creamy, permitting your breastfed baby to enjoy a change of tastes that could be compared to a multi-course meal. Human milk will sustain, strengthen, protect, and fill out your baby's precious body, and put a recognizable bloom on his skin. Human milk is the food of choice for human infants; anything else is a distant second.

If you are a breastfeeding mom, or will be soon, make sure to come to Educated Mommy tomorrow evening (Thursday, 10/10/13) at 6:30 p.m. for our Breastfeeding Support Group! We are here to help you in all your breastfeeding needs, answer questions, and basically just be the support that you need to have a very successful breastfeeding relationship with your little one.

Also, if you are one of those mamas that will be heading back to work soon, or have just returned to work and need some support in anything - breast feeding, pumping, or just someone to talk about what you are going through when you are away from your baby for work, make sure to join our support group specifically for "Going Back to Work" this Saturday morning (10/12/13) at 9:00 a.m.

We hope to see you soon!

~Evie

Reference:

La Leche League International (1997). The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, Sixth Revised Edition. New York: Penguin Group.

Messes

Well, it seems as though fall may have finally arrived here in SD. In fact, in some parts of the state, it sounds

like it might just be skipped altogether...blizzard warnings in the west!

Today I was watching a friend's kiddos for awhile, and having a really full house got me thinking about messes. They couldn't go outside to play cuz it was cold and raining, and the messes in the house started to pile up as they played, created, and were just being - well - kids.

As a mom, there are gazoodles of messes in our lives, aren't there?

It starts when baby first is coming and arrives. Birth is messy. It's a glorious mess, actually. Baby comes out messy, baby immediately starts making messes - in their diaper, on our shoulders, and in our lives. I mean really. Let's be honest. A baby really messes things up. Kids really mess things up.

They interrupt our "me, myself, and I" way of living. They require sacrifice. They require parts of you - your attention, energy, loving, hugs, encouragement, and teaching. All. The. Time.

The thing is, once you meet your sweet precious little one for the first time, when you actually *see* their face and can hold them and kiss them and look into their eyes, it's a mess that you could never again imagine not having.

As they grow, the same thing happens - over and over again. You think you get it all figured out and then they go and mess it up. They start to walk, talk, repeat what you say [yikes!], and become their own individual person, and it's a mess that you can't imagine not having. They turn 5, start school, loose teeth, make friends of their own, and it's a mess that you can't imagine not having. They turn 10, and well - I don't really know what happens then. I'm not there yet. I have a feeling they're gonna mess it all up again, though. Just when I think I've got it. And it will be a mess that I can't imagine not having. I won't even begin to think about the teen years yet.

My kitchen counter right now

Not only do they mess with our selfishness, they make messes in our homes. I know you know what I'm talking about. By the end of the day your home barely resembles itself. They are constantly getting new things out, making up games, building forts, crafting, playing with legos or lincoln logs. All while never even considering putting anything back when they are done. 

Even so. As I think about the messes around our house right now, I'm also counting my blessings. Each mess is a mess that I would never want to not have. Because if I didn't have it, it would mean I didn't have "my heart walking around outside my body."* 

I prayed for children for so long. I feel like the most blessed mama in the world to have them now. I'll take their messes - in my life and in our house - because it means I get to have them right here with me. And it's a beautiful mess.

~Evie

*borrowed from Elizabeth Stone's quote: "Making the decision to have a child - it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."