Alice Allan, Central Asia Originally published August 2016 and republished with the express permission of the author. Photo: Alexander Simantiri-Coates Cloth mothers: where do comfort objects fit into attachment parenting? My favorite childhood toy, or to coin the great British psychologist D.W. Winnicott’s phrase, my “transitional object,” was a puffin (actually he still is). He … Read More
KATHLEEN KENDALL-TACKETT, PHD, IBCLC, FAPA Originally published July 2015 and republished with the express permission of the author. Español New research shows how breastfeeding lowers mothers’ risk of depression, helps them get more sleep, and overcome past adversity. Each year, hundreds of thousands of mothers worldwide become depressed after giving birth. Professionals are more aware of … Read More
KATHLEEN KENDALL-TACKETT, PHD, IBCLC, FAPA Originally published August 2016 and republished with the express permission of the author. Photo: Adriana Mesec maj Español Great for babies. What’s in it for mothers? A colleague recently sent me an Op-Ed from the Washington Post written by a group of mental health professionals who had horrid personal breastfeeding experiences and concluded … Read More
Diana West, BA, IBCLC Originally published January 2015 and republished with the express permission of the author. I was a new mother struggling with low milk production and a baby who wouldn’t nurse when the first effective “consumer grade” breast pumps were invented. I’d been renting a hospital-grade pump to remove my milk, but the … Read More
ALISON JONES, OXFORD, UK Originally published July 2016 and republished with the express permission of the author. Photos: Esther Edith La Leche League When I feel depleted, give me a meeting with mothers, like of mind, kind, with tea and snacks, where no one attacks choices, and challenges are met with gentle voices, and choruses of … Read More
KATHLEEN KENDALL-TACKETT, PhD, IBCLC, FAPA Originally published February 2016 and republished with the express permission of the author. Photos: Belle Verdiglione Photography ESPAÑOL Angela dreamed of a natural, unmedicated birth. She was managing her labor well when suddenly the cord prolapsed. Her dream birth ended in an emergency cesarean under general anesthesia. Both mother and baby survived, … Read More
JESSICA WIMPENNY, Silsden, West Yorkshire, UK Originally published January 2015 and republished with the express permission of the author. Prior to my baby’s birth I decided to opt for breastfeeding her. This decision was based on the apparent ease of it as a feeding method, the knowledge that I could be anywhere at any time and … Read More
KAREM ROITMAN, Oxford, UK Originally published November 2016 and republished with the express permission of the author. Photo: Elizabeth Stanley Photography Español My beautiful sister, I am so excited to meet your new baby, my little nephew. You will be an amazing mother! I know you want to breastfeed and I want to support you in … Read More
BETH WICKENDEN, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, UK Originally published November 2014, republished here with the express permission of the author. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting when I was expecting … perhaps a doll, certainly not a wailing, nipple-blistering, scrunched-up little being that I was nevertheless meant to adore. Yet adore him I would. … Read More
ANNA GLADSTONE-BUCHANAN, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, UK Originally published November 2015 and republished with the express permission of the author. Sugar is BAD for us. You cannot escape this message in the media about how sugar addiction is harming us and our children. Sugar consumption has been linked to everything from obesity and dental caries, to cancer and heart … Read More