Formula Companies Suck. End of Discussion
Posted by: 1wmcaw on: September 24, 2009
When is someone going to hold formula companies accountable for their horrendous marketing practices? A recent article here details the quickly falling breastfeeding rate in Vietnam, while formula companies are marketing products to mothers and babies that imply if your child is fed this particular food, they will become astronauts.
The bigger issue here isn’t even that formula is being advertised so heavily (which is a problem, for sure). The largest problem is that mothers who want to breastfeed are not encouraged and will find it more and more difficult to get help when they need it. Instead, they will be sent to the store across the street from the hospital to buy a can of formula.
The companies also get around the whole bribing doctors issue by saying that they never gave the doctors or clinics money, but they did “donate” all the clinic furniture and took the staff out to a nice lunch. You know what? In my world, new office furniture and a fancy meal is a freaking bribe. You are giving me something with the expectation you will get something in return. Formula companies do not slap their labels on everything under the sun without believing it will have some affect. When you can’t give birth without seeing a Similac label in your baby’s hospital bed, you’ve found a problem.
And vilifying the people who promote breastfeeding? Well, there is no end in sight. I do not make money supporting mothers who choose to breastfeed. No fancy lunches, no new furniture. My only “reward” is the satisfaction I get when women tell me that I helped them to have a wonderful breastfeeding relationship with their babies. It just doesn’t seem fair that I’m the “bad guy” so often, when the really slimy bastards are promoting sub-standard nutrition for babies and risks to women’s health all over the world.
Bedtime for Kids…what a concept
Posted by: 1wmcaw on: September 15, 2009
Yes, folks…a study has been completed that shows having a set bedtime for children is beneficial for them. (Article here.)
If you are a parent, do you really need a study to tell you this? It’s been my observation among my extended family, that the children who didn’t have bedtimes were monsters due to exhaustion. And their parents were always wondering “why won’t they behave?”
My own kids have always had an early bedtime. They are early risers, regardless of the time they go to bed. So I take advantage of my evenings by tucking them in at a decent hour. Sometimes, my son stays up for a while reading or playing with his toy cars. I don’t have a problem with this. Playing quietly is still resting, in my opinion. Running screaming down the hallways because you’re so tired you actually can’t sleep, doesn’t do anybody in the house any favors.
Sleep deprivation sucks. Take it from someone with chronic insomnia. Add to that a limited ability to verbalize and express your frustrations, well, it’s no wonder you see monster behavior.
SAHM I Am
Posted by: 1wmcaw on: September 9, 2009
You can take a lot of flack being a stay at home parent. On the one hand, you have people who think that you “do nothing” all day and expect you to have an outlook that comes with “living the good life.” On the other hand, you have people who can only focus on the struggles of parenthood and allow the hard moments to become the only aspect of their lives they give much thought too.
So today, I’m going to acknowledge a middle ground in how I feel about being a stay at home mom. The all time greatest perk of SAH-parenthood? Flexibility. There are days when maybe I should be on task with laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, and bill paying, but instead, I spend the time at a playground with my kids blowing bubbles into the breeze. Other days, I may feel as though I’ve reached the end of my rope trying to entertain the kids and maintain the house, so we order a pizza for dinner and I don’t fret over the fact that a home cooked meal did not make it’s way to my table. By not being chained to a schedule, I am more open to what I can or cannot accomplish at any given moment. Those levels of accomplishment change from day to day, situation to situation. All that is required of me is honest admission of my own limitations in each circumstance.
I think so many times we let ourselves wallow in the “what-ifs” of our lives. What if I had done A instead of B? Would I be happier/healthier/wealthier? Maybe. Maybe not. I’ve never believed I could have it all at any given time. I get a little here, a little there, and you know what? I think my life is better off for it. Even as I write this, I realize that I’m writing from a privileged position. This is not a commentary on how everyone should be. Simply a review of my state of mind.
And right now, that’s looking pretty nice indeed. 
More Mainstream Twaddle about the Breastfeeding Doll
Posted by: 1wmcaw on: September 7, 2009
I just can’t get over the “outrage” surrounding this doll. Can no one in the media see the hypocrisy of being “offended” by a babydoll that allows little girls to breastfeed, just like mommy does? Little girls and boys mimic mom with teddy bears and other stuffed animals, as well as dolls. So a toy company took advantage of a corner of the market. What’s wrong with that?
According to this commentary on toys, everything. The author concludes by saying his daughter would not be allowed a breastfeeding doll because, unlike a toy cell phone, no one at preschool will give him a curious phone call if his daughter shows off her new toy. (And I won’t even address the fact that this is being written by someone who could never actually experience breastfeeding in his life.)
Isn’t that exactly the point? You shouldn’t be getting a phone call about a little girl nursing her doll (or stuffed animal or teddy bear) at all! It is normal behavior that all children should be used to, and not cause convulsions for adults with sticks up their behinds.
I think the breastfeeding doll is wonderful, because it exists as an alternative to the pervasive bottlefeeding propaganda in our culture. My own daughter, who breastfed beyond the age of 2, still believes that bottlefeeding is how all babies are fed. Toys that apparently have nothing to do with babies and feeding, still contain images of bottles and associate them with happy babies. I have done my best to to avoid the bottles-are-for-babies standard in our culture, and yet my little girl still believes that as fact. She knows she was nursed at my breast, but the generalized “babies” are always fed by bottles.
PCOS frustration
Posted by: 1wmcaw on: August 28, 2009
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Gah…polycystic ovaries suck. Not really a newsflash, I know, but my experience with the condition lately has been all downhill. My hair is falling out, my weight is out of control, and my acne reminds me of being 15. My metformin isn’t particularly helping now, and I’m not sure what else to do about it. We aren’t trying to expand our family at the moment, though it might be on the table in a year or so. I hate being on multiple medications at once, but it seems like the direction I’m heading, given the severity of my symptoms right now.
Ugh. I’d love to see an announcement some day soon about a cure for PCOS. For now, I’ll just have to dream. And manage each symptom has it comes up.
Missing the Midwest
Posted by: 1wmcaw on: August 27, 2009
Technically, where I live now is still the Midwest. But it is a vastly different place from where I grew up. As the seasons change and Fall begins, I find myself missing home even more. I love the colder, turtleneck-and-blue-jeans weather. I love the way the air smells coming off the water. And I couldn’t describe the changing colors adequately even if I possessed the largest vocabulary in the world.
Fall being my favorite season also makes me miss my favorite people. I was the only one to leave home and go off to college. I really do miss the crazy Thanksgivings where there are so many people and so much food that you can’t hear yourself think, let alone speak.
I think I need another vacation.
Unassisted Childbirth
Posted by: 1wmcaw on: August 25, 2009
I will be the first to admit that I am on the slightly crunchy side of mainstream when it comes to pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting. I’m a sleep sharing, baby-wearing, breastfeeding, gentle-disciplining mama. In spite of my two epidural filled inductions, (or maybe, because of them?) I’m a natural childbirth advocate. I truly believe that it is *ideal* for moms and babies.
However, in my latest perusal of all things granola, I’ve come across the frightening concept of Unassisted Childbirth or UC. With UC, a woman (hopefully) obtains prenatal care through an OB or midwife and educates herself with the goal of delivering her baby by herself.
I cannot even describe how much this swing of the birth pendulum terrifies me. I totally agree that the C-section rate in the U.S. is out of control. I understand and encourage women to take back their bodies for themselves and for their babies. In many cases, I believe women would benefit from midwifery being the standard of care whether they are in a hospital, birth center, or at home. The point being that someone with training other than the woman in labor is there to help. Women cannot be rational or objective in labor. And please don’t leave me comments about how you balanced your checkbook during transition. I’m not buying it. There is always going to be a point where the intensity is all you can handle. Often, that is the moment when things can go wrong.
I’m also not jumping on the “women have been doing this since the dawn of time” argument. While that may hold true for supporting un-medicated labor, the fact is that women (or their babies) often died if they were alone when it came time for their births. Reading through many of these UC stories, there seem to be frequent mentions of “transfered to the hospital” at some point during labor or “admitted to the hospital three days after the birth” because of complication x, y, or z. I’m willing to speculate that if a trained attendant had been present at the birth, there would be far fewer “transfers” of mamas or babies who were trying to go it alone.
And the people who forgo all prenatal care as well as plan a UC? Well, lets just say I don’t have time to address all that stupidity tonight. Maybe another time
Being Childfree
Posted by: 1wmcaw on: August 18, 2009
You know, I have a lot of respect for people who choose to remain childfree. If you know yourself well enough to know that you would not make a great parent, more power to you. I do believe that too many people have children without thinking through the amount of work parenthood entails. As a parent, I’m the first person to admit that raising kids is challenging. Becoming a mom has required a great deal of sacrifice. For me, the rewards are greater than anything I may miss out on, but I understand that this may not hold true for all people.
What I don’t understand is why people without children look down on me and the life I’ve chosen. Please don’t pity me when you see me out at a restaurant with my kids and I only get to eat two bites of my dinner because I have to meet their needs. You are only seeing a single moment in an entire day. People without children somehow believe my intellect is faulty because I have chosen to reproduce. Simply because you do not have kids, doesn’t make you any more intelligent than I am.
Remember that when you insult people who have chosen to have children, you are insulting your own parents. I’m sure you can remember to be grateful that they decided you were worth the sacrifice.
Family History of Breast Cancer? Breastfeed Your Babies!
Posted by: 1wmcaw on: August 11, 2009
Yet more research has been done confirming the protective factors of breastfeeding for women. This time, it was done in the at-risk population of women with a family history of breast cancer. [Full article]
What kills me about this particular article is that it clearly illustrates how the study was performed, why it is better than studies of the past, and the conclusions you can draw from it; then at the end, some breast cancer doctor says that women can’t be expected to upend their lives in order to breastfeed their babies.
Uh, I would think, given the choice of breastfeeding my children, or having my breasts prophylactic-ally lopped off, I’m going to choose breastfeeding thank-you-very-much. I’d be willing to do just about anything to avoid being butchered. The study even concluded that women benefit from as little as 3 months of nursing their babies. 3 months and they can cut their risk in half. Imagine what a year could do!
If our doctors, hosptials, and birth centers focused on breastfeeding as preventative medicine and really worked toward helping mothers and babies reach their greatest potential, so many women would not have to suffer the agonies of cancer and cancer treatment.
But God forbid we should ask women to challenge themselves in the short term for long term gain. That’s just asking too much.
Mixed Messages
Posted by: 1wmcaw on: August 10, 2009
I’m trying to understand why young women today have such a hard time keeping their clothes on. Yet another young lady in Hollywood is having to sic her legal eagles on the vast reaches of the Internet to keep compromising photos of herself from being published. Certainly, she isn’t the first, and she won’t be the last.
But why is this such a difficult task to accomplish? If these photos (or videos, as the case my sometimes be) get out, your reputation is demolished and your career possibly ruined. At least, any legitimate career for a Hollywood star that has the word “Oscar” in it. Who is telling these sometimes underage girls that sharing their lovelies with the world will get them somewhere? It makes me sad.
On the flip side, Hugh Hefner still has hundreds of Bunnies taking their clothes off with little trouble. Even more recently, a few of them are becoming famous simply because they’ve strutted around in the buff. And there is really no talent to being naked.
I’m not sure I see the difference. Either way, you’re taking your clothes off for money. I worry about the kind of message this will send to my little girl. I want her to feel confident in her body and beauty, but I also want her to be able to retain the fullness of her dignity and respect. If we are constantly rewarding public figures for this kind of behavior, what’s a mother to do?
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