Babies All Look Different!?

Before Baby, I had the general impression that all babies looked alike. Just like all Jack Russel Terriers have the same basic appearance... Or zebras, despite that whole 'everyone has a different stripe pattern', psh, whatever, they all look basically the same. There's a science behind this (according to some program I watched just today on the Science channel). All babies are born with these connections in their brains. If they are exposed to enough people faces, they're brains are wired for people faces. If they are exposed to a bunch of monkey faces and few people faces, people will all look the same to them, monkeys will have distinct facial features. Interesting stuff... but I'm really deviating from my original idea here.

So, you know, you look at a baby and a baby is a baby is a baby. They have pudgy faces, big eyes and dimples and drool everywhere. There's no denying it, they are freaking cute, but they all look the same.

Then I had my own. And, let me tell ya, he was the most beautiful baby in the WORLD... To me. I'm sure everyone else thought 'yep, cute baby', but didn't find him as breathtaking as I did. I didn't see his dad or me in him... I kind of saw my grandpa, but really, he was just Flynn. As he's grown, though, we started to notice features reminiscent of family members. Yep, there's my grandpa... but when you put him next to a picture of his cousin as a baby, he's the spitting image. Next to a picture of his dad when he was a baby, it's like twins. Those are certainly my lips and earlobes... I hear it all the time: "He looks just like you."

Poor kid.

Then I looked at a picture of myself, circa 1988. I was about five years old and posing in the kitchen on my little plastic roller skates. Blond curly hair, big eyes and button nose... Oh. My. Gosh. He DOES look just like me.

Oh man. Poor kid.

And I look around. All the babies look just like their moms and dads. In fact, they all look totally different. All babies don't look the same. They have their mom's eyes and their dad's cheeks. They look like little people. How did I miss this before?

It's like some switch in my brain has been flicked. Just another of those things that you really only get after you have a baby of your own... at least for me!

Breastfeeding... The Law?

I don't even want to talk about it. I'll say this much: I have worked my ever-living BUTT off to breastfeed my son to the extent that I do. I have been blessed enough to received milk from another mom, and I have researched formulas (for supplementation) until my eyes go blurry (before decided on Nature's One Baby's Only Organic, more on that another day). I have a complete breakdown over my inability to completely feed my son with my own breasts at least once weekly. If you can't tell how important breastfeeding is to me (nay, how important I feel breastfeeding is to babies), then... well... I'll tell ya. It's gosh darn important.

Gisele Bundchen, a super model (I can't admit to having heard of her previously though) was recently quoted in an interview (according to the UK's Daily Mail) as saying, "There should be a worldwide law, in my opinion, that mothers should breastfeed their babies for six months."

I know I've had this conversation with friends before. And I, of anybody, know that can be asking a lot of some women. Clearly I and others like me are out there, having issues with breastfeeding, should we penalized? No. But once upon a time in our evolution, other women would have stepped up to help us keep our babies fed, we would not have had formula to turn to. Women didn't have the option of 'choosing not to breastfeed'. I just posted yesterday about how important breastfeeding can be in the first six months, as a study released earlier this spring demonstrated.

Did Gisele jump the gun? Should she maybe have been more... precise in her wording in order to prevent such a massive backlash? Is she backpedaling now because she wasn't exact in her meaning? I don't know... I think she said what she meant. I think a lot of women get on edge about it because they either don't like being made to feel guilty about their choices or their inabilities.

She was being interviewed. She was not being asked to give a deposition and draft an actual law proposal. Perhaps what she really meant to say was this:

"I think there should be a worldwide law giving infants the right to access the best food possible, which would be human milk for at least the first six, most developmentally crucial months of their lives. Although I understand that some women have difficulties with breastfeeding and may not be able to do this for one reason or another and for those women help shall be available to them in the way of lactation consultants, La Leche League leaders and members, medical/herbal/homeopathic/holistic intervention for mom and baby and a donor milk program (wet nurses). More important than telling women to breastfeed AFTER baby is born, is to receive PROPER education BEFORE baby is born, which can be achieved by taking back the hospitals from the grips of formula companies and their sales pitches, free samples, etc, and by having properly trained lactation consultants on staff who are in the room within minutes after baby's birth to offer assistance, or a pump and proper pump education in the case of the newborn being admitted to the NICU.

Maybe she was going for something more like that? Or maybe that's what I would say if the national... or world news... gave a crap about what I had to say.

The deal is this. Gisele didn't say anything that hasn't been said a million times. I'm basically sure I didn't say anything that hasn't been said before. But a celebrity said it. And when celebrities talk, a whole lot of people listen and take what they say to heart.

(In the following statements, I'm using the term 'we' to mean the generic, pop cultured-absorbed American public.) We care when Lindsey Lohan goes to jail. We care when Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie are no longer friends. We care... oh my gosh... I don't watch enough to know what we care about... But I think you get my drift. There are a few celebrities out there doing things the natural way (Gisele also had a home birth), who are NIP proponents, who are sleep sharing proponents, etc... Do we hear about them? Not so much... Because it isn't seedy or edgy or obsessive-worthy, until someone makes a generalized (some would say insensitive) statement.

Rock on, Gisele. Just maybe choose your words a little more carefully next time.

WHO Recommendations... Meh.

Okay. So... Suffice it to say that a good majority of the American public heeds the warnings and recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) when it comes to vaccinations, flu vaccines and specific health crisis alerts (you know, like swine and avian flu and such). However, it seems the American public also turns a blind eye to the WHO's recommendation to breastfeed for at least two years. According to the WHO's website, fewer than 1 in 3 babies are exclusively breastfed for their first six months.

I've been told that the American Academy of Pediatrics also recommends breastfeeding for a minimum of 24 months. I have perused their website and haven't come up with that, although they do agree with the WHO in that all babies should be exclusively breastfed for at least six months. They also go on to say that many babies aren't ready for solid foods until at least eight months, meaning that exclusive breastfeeding should be continued until the baby is ready to accept solid foods (but this is a topic for another day).

This week is World Breastfeeding Week, but I wouldn't have known that if I wasn't involved in a circle of women who strongly advocate breastfeeding. However, during the flu season, you can't go a day without seeing dozens of reports and recommendations released by the WHO concerning the flu and all things related.

According to the CDC, since the 1990's, flu-related deaths ranged from around 17,000 in the mildest season to 52,000 in the most severe season, which averages to about 36,000 per year. Studies going back to 1976 bring that average per year closer to 25,000. Mind you, about 90% of deaths attributed to the flu are in people 65 years of age or older.

A study released this spring found that the lives of 900 babies could be spared each year if 90% of women breastfed exclusively for the first six months of life. Maybe this isn't the staggering loss of life that the flu presents, but these are babies, in the start of their lives, and they should be given every opportunity to survive their first year.

The fact is that breastfeeding can prevent a whole slough of diseases and illnesses such as SIDS, ear infections, stomach viruses, asthma, obesity, diabetes and, get this, the FLU! (The science behind this is that mom's milk has a whole host of antibodies and all sorts of other good things that help protect baby while his immune system is in it's infancy -no pun intended- because, really, that's what nature intended).

All that said, the very thought of breastfeeding a baby past 12 months is pretty taboo in our culture. Especially when the topic of nursing in public (NIP) is raised, you often hear someone say, "Well, at least it wasn't/isn't a four year old". Our perceptions have to change! Nursing a four year old is a wonderful thing, and on a global scale, totally normal and healthy.

I nurse told me recently about how she had nursed her daughter "until she was, like, 12 months, but she's, like, 15 months now and STILL tries to get into my shirt to nurse." I looked at her blankly. "They say they don't remember," she said, "But I'm pretty sure she does."

I wanted to scream, "OF COURSE SHE DOES!"

Oi.

On a global average, children are breastfed until they are about four years of age. It makes sense. Even poorly nourished moms can put out highly nourishing milk. Especially in regions of the world affected by poverty, poor drinking water, famine and/or disease, mom can still make a good, nutritious meal for her child/ren.

But we live in America! Land of the free, home of the Whopper! We have good drinking water (that comes in plastic bottles we can just throw away), plenty of food (on the dollar menu) and good medical care (if you can afford it). (Okay, I'm done taking digs). So, why should we breastfeed so long if we can just give our kids food and whole cow's milk?

Okay. For one, why is it totally NOT weird to drink milk from another mammal made for that mammal's babies, but it's totally weird to continue nursing our children past a year? Two, why was 12 months chosen as this magical number that suddenly means a child is no longer in need of the wonderousness that is breast milk? We recognize that babies reach mile stones at various ages in their development, but suddenly, at 12 months, they are all at the same level of development?

Okay, okay. This is getting long. And I think it's one of my lesser entertaining, but most informative posts that I've written. I would just LOVE to see more attention paid to a very basic, totally free, totally green, totally healthy way to feed babies make it to the mainstream. It's World Breastfeeding Week, folks! Get out there and advocate (lactivate)!

First Catch!

While I was in Minneapolis this past week, I couldn't resist visiting Ikea. I LOVE Ikea. I love inexpensive Scandinavian furniture. I love the random bins of inexpensive items, the room displays and the kids' area. I also found that I love eating there, after sitting down to nurse Flynn and have some breakfast in the restaurant.

I didn't have much money to spend, but I was there with the other early risers, rushing the doors shortly after they were unlocked. I forgot how crowded that place gets. Here's a shameless plug for babywearing- I was SOOOO glad not to have a stroller to try to navigate through the crowds.

I spent a lot of time in the children's section. I love all the little room decorations, the cute fabric patterns for the bedding, and all the fun toys. This trip, I bought a potty. They're an inexpensive version of the Baby Bjorn potties found all over the place. Couldn't pass it up for the price. In fact, I should've bought more than one.

After arriving home yesterday afternoon, I put the potty on the floor by the couch. A short time later, I saw what I thought was Flynn signaling an impending pee. I held him over the potty. Nothing. A short time later, I tried again. Moments later, I heard a dull plop. Yep, I totally caught a number two. I was so excited, I texted Shane and a friend who also ECs. As parents, we couldn't be prouder. I had ecstatically praised Flynn after his success.

Then he decided he was hungry. While he nursed, I continued texting with both Daddy and my friend.

Then I felt a warm wetness spread across my shirt.

Awesome.

Note to self: Poop seems to come in conjunction with pee.

Well, can't win 'em all!