Holly from Integrative Mom is a writer here at the perch. We love having Holly as a part of our team and welcome her new little boy into this world.
Hollys' two handsome boys with their Nesting Pillow!
I think her new little one is going to be a writer..as soon as he arrived, Holly "birthed" more amazing blog posts..nothing like " a little inspiration". Hollys' blog Integrative Mom is the best place to visit for natural parenting! Here is her latest post "Labor and Childbirth"
Last week was World Breastfeeding Week, and I devoted every post to it over atIntegrative Mom. However, even though the week is for educating women through out the world on the importance of breastfeeding, the number one news story concerning breastfeeding was women defending themselves as to why they chose to formula feed their babies. The reason for this outburst was because Gisele Bundchen, obviously not thinking, made an off the cuff comment in a magazine interview about how it should be made law.
I was extremely saddened -not by her comments, but by the reaction to it. We moms should all be on the same team, and spewing the hate mail before she was even given a chance to explain herself just shows how vulnerable we all are. Those interviews can be misconstrued and quotes taken out of context to sell magazines, and it worked! Many of us bought into the hype.
I was outraged by some of the things people wrote in response to her flippant remark. The criticism that came forth addressed her birthing method, career, husband, intelligence, family, ethnicity, etc. She may be wealthy and famous with a husband many women swoon over, but she needs grace and forgiveness like the rest of us.
We all need to give each other a break. I think most moms out there know “breast is best” and make the decision that's right for them- which for some, means choosing formula feeding. We must trust that we are all doing the best we can- even when it involves a new mom who is so passionate about what she is doing that she wants the rest of the world to do the same.
As in every area of nutrition, there is lots of conflicting information concerning breast milk. Some examples of highly debated topics are:
The importance of breast milk after the first year- some say babies should breastfeed until age 2 while others deem breast milk unnecessary in the 2nd year of life.
How the mother’s diet affects breast milk- Some say it doesn’t matter what you eat, the milk will contain what it needs, while others say the quality of the mother’s diet has everything to do with the quality of breast milk. (This week alone I've read that calcium levels are always the same in breast milk, and your body will pull from bones and teeth what it needs to make sure your baby is nourished, while in another respected publication I read that your milk will be completely void of calcium unless you're supplementing and drinking cow milk.)
The safety of consuming alcohol while breastfeeding: the advice ranges from, “Don't drink a drop of alcohol while you are breastfeeding” to “the main reason you shouldn't drink is because you can’t take care of your baby if you’re under the influence of alcohol.”
Many times these recommendations are based more on opinion and societal norms than fact. You can drive yourself crazy trying to figure out what to do in the face of all of this conflicting information. My advice? Listen to your maternal instincts and do what’s best for your baby. And when in doubt, as in the case of whether or not you can alter your milk’s calcium content, eat those extra leafy greens. I err on the side of, “it can’t hurt, and might actually help!”
The time my baby is breastfeeding is so short in relation to the rest of his life, and I want to look back knowing I did the best I possibly could have done- even when that meant choking down the fermented cod liver oil in hopes of increasing the omega 3 content of his milk.
Monday, June 27, 2011 at 01:20AM 
