Breastfeeding Today: Previous Issues

Comfort Objects and Attachment Parenting

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

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

Why Breastfeeding Is Good for Mothers’ Mental Health

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

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

Breastfeeding: What’s in it for Mothers?

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

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

The Power of Hand Expression

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

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

Give me a Meeting with Mothers

Monday, January 14, 2019

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

Birth Trauma and Mother’s Recovery

Monday, January 14, 2019

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

Was It Worth It?

Thursday, January 10, 2019

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

Letter to Support My Sister

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

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

Nights

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

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

The word SUGAR spelled out in sugar crystals with a red o entry sign placed on top

No Added Sugar

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

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