By Wendy Wisner, IBCLC
The majority of new moms return to work after having a baby—only 34% decide not to return to work, and as many as 1/4 of moms return to work within 2 weeks of having a baby. The reasons moms return to work are usually financial, although some women do so because they genuinely love their jobs. [Read more…]
Besides feeding it to your baby! Abby Theuring, The Badass Breastfeeder shares her fun ideas! What are yours?
By Abby Theuring, MSW
The “mommy wars” are imaginary. They do not exist.
People judge. It’s normal and it’s natural. It’s not a human flaw. It’s not that people haven’t heard the whole story. It’s just what happens with humans. We judge each other. We are social creatures and this is in our nature. We do not have to stop. We do not have a major character flaw. [Read more…]
By Abby Theuring, MSW and Nancy Mohrbacher, IBCLC
The amount of misinformation about breastfeeding is staggering so it’s sort of surprising to me that when it comes to tandem breastfeeding the problem is that there is very little information at all! Nancy Mohrbacher, IBCLC, FILCA and I (both of us have tandem nursed) are here to help you navigate the world of tandem nursing myths. [Read more…]
By Wendy Wisner
We need to come up with new language for long-term breastfeeding.
Here’s the thing: I’ve used all the terms myself. I have said I’m doing “child-led weaning.” I’ve called it “natural weaning.” I say often that I am nursing my children “until they are done.” I have called myself an “extended breastfeeder” and I have said I am nursing my kids “long-term.” [Read more…]
Badass April shares, “This is our first recorded (second latch) after finishing chemo and pumping and dumping for almost 5 full months. When people told me I was crazy for trying this I stuck to my guns. I wasn’t letting cancer take away my God given right to nurse my last born child. It was a battle I fought and won! Relatching was a battle too after all those months of bottles and he was1 day shy of 4 weeks old when we started chemo and just turned 6 months when I got the ok to nurse. Feel free to share away as I had a hard time finding positive stories of mommas in my situation. Most I found the moms tried to pump but ended up quitting due to the side effects of chemo!”
You may be expecting a snarky blog post aimed at critics of “extended” breastfeeding filled with awesome comebacks to sling around comment threads of breastfeeding posts. But I have written enough of those. A recent conversation in a thread on my own page reminded me that some people just… don’t get it. Some people just really don’t know why someone would breastfeed a toddler. They ask, “But doesn’t he eat food? Drink regular milk? Isn’t he too busy playing?” This post is dedicated to all of the people who want to know more about this. The people who ask questions, hold back judgement and have an open mind to listen to someone else’s experiences. [Read more…]
Badass Yana is a farmer in South Africa. On her farm she has rhinoceroses and other game. On the farm next door there are lions. Poaching of these wild animals is a big problem in South Africa. [Read more…]
By Wendy Wisner, IBCLC
Every mom has different goals for breastfeeding. As an IBCLC, I always strive to support each mom in her specific nursing goals, whether she wants to nurse for just a few months or many more. Each mom’s life situation is different, nuanced, and complicated. As much as I know the powerful benefits of nursing a child to 12 months and beyond, I would never tell a mother she should do so if it is not something she wishes to do, or if she feels that her life circumstances don’t warrant it. [Read more…]
