Pop Quiz: Assuming physiological normalcy for both mother and infant, a healthy milk supply depends on:
a) Making sure mom goes through a batch of lactation cookies at least once a week.
b) Getting the best tincture from a health food store.
c) Drinking 4 cups of breastfeeding tea blends every day.
d) Obtaining a prescription for Domperidone.
e) None of the fracking above.
Following on my recent theme of nursing support in the age of social media, breastfeeding support products are more easily available than ever before. How is this going for us? Have we, with all our good intentions in making galactagogue products more widely available, contributed to the (apparently growing) perception that mothers can't have a normal milk supply without teas, tinctures, cookies, and pills?
First off, what is a galactagogue?
Defined: Ga·lac·ta·gogue: gəˈlaktəˌgäg/ noun. 1.a food or drug that promotes or increases the flow of a mother's milk. Common and popular herbal options include blessed thistle, fennel, and the most famous reindeer of all: Fenugreek. Drop into any mom's forum, and you'll see that every thread discussing supply will inevitably include recommendations for various galactagogues, in drug (i.e. Reglan or Domperidone), food (oatmeal for all), and herbal forms, fenugreek being by far the most well-known.
A brief stroll down the aisle at New Seasons, a local Whole Foods-like company in the Portland area, revealed these options:
So, here I go with another post in which I preface with a disclaimer and close with a hedging qualification. Let me be clear: There is nothing at all wrong with galactagogue use when needed! I cannot stress this enough. Part of the very reason we have such a diverse array of options for galactagogues in the first place is because women in vastly different cultures in a variety of ecosystems all over the world have sought them out and passed them down through generations.
The world is very different now - so many undeniable improvements, and yet the matter of marketing as a major force in our collective psyches is a critical one. Let's think about this: how does formula marketing actually function? The most effective formula marketing depends on insidiously undermining women's confidence (I discussed this here and then illustrated it here, a la Mad Men). Is the promotion of galactagogues as something lots and lots of women are likely to need really that different, purely psychologically speaking?
It IS different in some crucial ways because it's not artificial infant milk, of course, and ever moreso because it's not as though well-intentioned companies like Motherlove are engaging in underhanded tactics like slipping samples into gift bags of hospitals. And they possess nowhere near the financial oomph that massive corporations like Abbott wield. My point is not their intention, but the effects on us as a community of mothers. What overall effect does the promotion of galactagogues (whether from professionals, peers, or by the company itself) have on attitudes toward breastfeeding? We collectively need to ask ourselves if this is helpful.
Boiling it down, is it helpful for us to have so many mothers believing that A) they cannot produce a normal supply without purchasing and consuming a product or products, even really high-quality ones? Again, taking a peek into any peer support forum is guaranteed to provide multiple examples of galactagogue recommendations flowing as freely as an uninhibited milk ejection reflex. And possibly even more damaging, is it B) helpful for mothers with genuine low supply to be taking them (haphazardly in many instances, i.e. all-fenugreek-all-the-time) without addressing or even identifying the underlying issues?
And as one learns more about herbal galactagogues in particular, you can't help but notice that most herbs function by supporting the health of the mother, working with whatever underlying condition may have caused or contributed to her low supply in the first place (many of the most effective galactagogues work primarily on the digestive system, for example, the very core of maternal health). Low supply doesn't just happen randomly to moms who are unlucky; there is always a reason. But just as with the matter of breastfeeding advice in general, the most critical point is to tailor the plan to each dyad, and to use when NEEDED.
Again I find myself on the horns of a dilemma. I am truly glad and grateful that a variety of galactagogues are so readily available when mothers need them, and often in such good quality and variety. And yet. I want to discuss all of the above, with pros, peers, moms, and companies too, but I also want to convey this bottom line:
Moms, you do not have to take galactagogues Just Because. Not as a preventative measure, not even "just in case."
So say we all.*
P.S. Yes, I am hereby claiming the Battlestar Galactagogue name as my very own, especially if I decide to create my own herbal blends as part of my future practice. I CONTAIN MULTITUDES.
P.P.S. Aside from galactagogues, there are many other 'helpful' products being marketed to breastfeeding mothers which have a very much related effect, as corporations recognize this category of mothers as a largely untapped group and try to figure out how to profit off of them. (This sounds terribly cynical, I realize.) Take the recent Milkscreen products as merely one example. Since I like to drop in on Babies R Us et al once in a while to keep in touch with the latest products that are widely available - and thus the marketing moms are being exposed to - I may address these other products in a follow-up post.
This is quite the time to be a new breastfeeding mom. Support for breastfeeding has never been more abundantly available, especially when it comes to social media forms of it. There are multitudes of message boards, there are blog followings with regular, lively discussions, there are lactation support websites with many different specialties - and then there's the juggernaut (you see what I did there) that is Facebook, of course. Breastfeeding discussions come up regularly on fan pages for various bloggers and organizations, but the liveliest action by far is in the groups, whether open, closed, or secret. I have no idea if anyone has ever tried to get a ballpark idea of how many Facebook breastfeeding-related groups there are, but there have to be hundreds if not thousands.
So this is great, right? It's what we've always strived for, yes? Nursing moms helping one another, spreading positive promotion of breastfeeding, cheering each other on by the dozens, this is living the dream. In many, many ways, absolutely yes! But in some other ways, well . . . it gets complicated.
I'm part of quite a number of different groups and boards, some of them breastfeeding specific, others more about parenting in general. I witness and sometimes participate in breastfeeding-related threads on a daily basis, and have been doing so for years. You know that saying "The more you know, the more you realize you don't know?" The deeper I've gotten into my lactation science program at school, the quieter I've gotten on those threads. Note my long period of radio silence on this very blog; it's definitely related. Partly due to being absurdly overcommitted, fer sher, but part of it is also due to a growing realization of my own limits.
In the boards and the groups and the pages, within any given breastfeeding thread, there's an ever-variable mixture of totally great advice, utterly terrible advice, and advice that could maybe, possibly, perhaps be good - IF we had a hell of a lot more information about the mother and baby at hand. All this comes with a liberal serving of emotional support- never something to be discounted; at times it is what the mother needs more than anything. And ALL OF IT IS MEANT TO HELP. But when it comes to even the seemingly-simplest of nursing issues, how can moms possibly sort this all out? Sometimes they'll get lucky and go with advice that happens to be sound, and all is smoothly resolved. But sometimes, not.
Let me see if I can illustrate this with an example.In my Advanced Case Studies class a few terms ago, one of our texts was the excellent book "Case Studies in Breastfeeding: Problem-Solving Skills and Strategies" by Karin Cadwell and Cynthia Turner-Maffei. In it was an table that sums the social media support dilemma up perfectly. As part of learning the Eight-Level Lactation Consulting Process, a chart was laid out with six different dyads, labeled A through F. Eight columns listed the various steps: 1) History, 2) Assessment, 3) Symptoms, 4) Problem Formulation, and so on. The interesting part: Column three was identical in every case. "Mother describes hard breast with shiny skin; breast larger than normal and warm to the touch; breast pain."
Every single mother presented with the exact same symptoms. And EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM had a totally different underlying cause, with a different strategy devised to address their issue.
But in (totally well-intended!) online situations, many sympathetic moms will read the presenting symptom and only know their own individual, unique experience of that symptom. That experience might be relevant to the mother at hand - and it also very well might not. And sometimes moms simply want to share their own stories in return, which is also a very valid need - but conflating that with offering advice is treading into very tricky territory.This was an insight shared with me by Jennifer Tow, and I think about it frequently when following such conversations. It can be so hard for both storyteller and advice-seeker to know whether the shared story has any practical relevance to the situation at hand.
Case in point: Fenugreek might very well have helped your supply, but it is absolutely not appropriate for every woman, nor is it a panacea for supply issues in general, which can range from simply turning around some poor management in the early postpartum period to very complex physiological conditions.
Lactation pros are sometimes present on such threads - and it is worthwhile to note that they are often the ones offering the LEAST advice of all. This may be partly for financial reasons, partly for liability concerns, but primarily because they know full well just how individual each case really is. Without a maternal health history, information about the birth itself, a feeding assessment, an oral evaluation, and any number of other relevant pieces, the full situation is incomplete - and that's not even getting into the options for how to actually address the issue (once it is actually identified) with a comprehensive care plan. The variables are endless and the details always, always matter.
I think lactation professionals have been reluctant to bring this matter up because seriously, the good intentions of everyone ARE so deeply felt and appreciated, and who wants to be the Scoldsy McBuzzkill who rains on the peer support parade? Honestly, where would we even BE without peer support? The progress we as a society have made in reclaiming breastfeeding has everything to do with it, and we owe an immense debt of gratitude to the founders of La Leche League, the most famous breastfeeding peer support group of all time. LLL began as peer support, continues as such, and is AWESOME for it . . . but there's a fourth L in that organization that makes all the difference in the world. Every meeting is facilitated by a Leader. Some meetings need more active guidance, in others the mothers need very little input, but that guidance isthere for a reason.
For the most part, I write this post not because I have solutions to propose, and certainly not because I think lactation consultants should be the only persons allowed to speak about breastfeeding (because how paternalistic would that be?), but because I want to open this up for discussion. Let's talk about this. IBCLCs, moms, other perinatal professionals, breastfeeding peer counselors. I truly believe that unless the formula companies have become so devious that they're willing to plant undercover undermining minions on message boards ( . . . actually, let's not rule that out altogether), every mother posting in groups and boards is doing so mainly because they genuinely want to help. This is not an easy topic to discuss, but I think it's time.
How can we best help each other to help each other?
A reading from this week's Breastfeeding Politics & Policy class stopped me in my tracks, for obvious reasons.
"I think she looks like you," [the lactation consultant] says with a wink.
"I'm adopted," I say blankly. It's a telling response. I'm so accustomed to discounting the physical resemblance people claim they see between me and my own mother that I forget Faith and I are related. Even though I have the episiotomy stitches to prove it. Which, right now, are hurting me a lot.
Lisa studies me for a while.
"So am I," she replies slowly. Then she shows me a picture of her own (breastfed) daughter, now eight years old. Bright eyes, mile-wide grin, she looks like a miniature version of her mother.
And that's when I know it is no accident that Lisa has devoted her career to helping mothers forge abiding, biological bonds with their babies. Nor is it any accident that I desire this relationship so deeply. Your body out of mine. From my body into yours. First blood, then milk. These are the living threads that weave mother and child together. As much as I love my adoptive mom, this bond is a connection we never had. And as for the unknown woman who gave birth to me, we were lost to each other before I was even as old as Faith is now. And for about the twelfth time today, I begin to cry.
Welcome, Second Time Around Carnival of Breastfeeding readers!
Finger-feeding at about 6 weeks. Still at the beginning of a long, strange trip.
Could I do it all over again? Would I?
I do hope to have a second child someday. No, there are no current plans or even prospects, but I would love for Lily to have a sibling, I'd love to give birth again, and, honestly, I really would love to have the chance to have a normal, or at least a less abnormal, nursing experience.
When I got to act as a wet nurse a few times for a friend's baby, it choked me up the first time she latched on and chowed down happily - this was something I never got to experience with a newborn or even a young infant. By the time Lily and I made it, she was a roly-poly, active, distractable 5 month old on the verge of crawling - a very different creature than the little borrowed bundle I was guest-nourishing. Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled beyond belief that Lily was breastfeeding at all. It was just . . . different.
When we were in the midst of Lily's struggle, I found myself succumbing to moments of desperate jealousy of other moms with newborns or young babies who were able to nurse. My fantasies of motherhood had involved a lot of babywearing, strolling about with the baby nursing and sleeping in my ring sling at the grocery store, in cafes, on long walks. I envisioned making my way through my reading list while I nursed with my feet up in my glider with an ottoman. Tethered to the pump, I looked at those other moms through heartbroken, envious eyes.
Needless to say, I didn't get halcyon days of early motherhood. Please don't mistake this for bitterness - what I DID get was the learning experience of a lifetime, for which I have found my way to be grateful (the Anne of 2.5 years ago is telling me to piss off, but never mind that). It has led to what I feel is a true calling for me, a real vocation. It has given me insight and painful empathy for the mothers I will be serving, having experienced many of their woes firsthand. And it was a real triumph for both of us to be able to overcome everything that we did. I genuinely am not bitter.
Serenity at last.
But the question remains: could I do it again?
I would pray to be blessed with normalcy, but there is NO guarantee. I know much more now, to put it lightly. I would be prepared for any and all of the factors that affected us last time - tongue tie being the biggest, but the other components as well. What's the likelihood of facing some, most, or even ALL of these again with a second baby? Impossible to predict. Another tongue tie is certainly a strong possibility, as heredity is involved, but if we got it addressed immediately, our chances would be much better. Wouldn't they?
No guarantees. What if lightning strikes twice? Can I walk through the fire again? So many life factors come into play. Lily was a first baby. It would be so hard to repeat the process all over again with another child to care for, though as she gets older, she may be independent enough that having to take many of these measures could be more feasible than if she were still a young toddler. What would my financial situation be? What if I needed to return to work earlier than I did with Lily? How would that affect us? All of it daunting - yet not totally deterring.
I would imagine that it's something like a mom preparing for a VBAC after an unwanted cesarean, or looking at another birth after any difficult birth experience, period. Although I was blessed with a really wonderful birth, some aspects of our nursing experience were on the traumatic side, though it was a slow-motion trauma that occurred over months and months. What do VBAC-seekers do? They prepare with information, they seek out good care providers and other support, they evaluate their prior experience and look at factors that affected the outcome, considering whether these are likely to recur. And they work on the emotional healing as well - many times the preparation for the the next birth is a part of the healing process in itself. I'll dub myself as a mom seeking BBAC, then, perhaps: Breastfeeding Baby After Challenges (or Craziness).
So this time around, I'm armed with information, with resources, with experience, with support. I doubt I could be more prepared. Will this be enough? Only one way to find out.
Let's take it from the top.
*****
Please stop by the other Breastfeeding Carnival participants' posts and leave some comment love:
If you're a mother who found herself struggling with either supply issues or your baby's serious latch issues, you might have needed to supplement, whether with your own pumped milk, whenever possible, donor milk, or, if neither is available, formula. With getting back to exclusive breastfeeding as a goal, if you were getting informed support from a reputable source, you may have been advised to try an at-the-breast supplementer, such as a Lact-Aid or an SNS (the "supplementary nursing system" by Medela) in order to avoid the pitfalls of using a bottle too early, nipple/flow confusion in particular. Finger- or cup-feeding are also frequently recommended by good lactation professionals, and are great in the short term, but some mothers occasionally need to supplement for longer while their supplies are established or their babies suck coordination is improved.
But without adequate instruction - and good demonstration - these supplementers seem devilishly complicated to the point of maddening, and understandably, many mothers get fed up with trying to figure them out. A search online for a decent YouTube video turns up a few Jack Newman offerings. I have the utmost respect for Jack Newman, and the information he makes available is incredibly valuable - but to be brutally honest, these supplementer videos are of little to no use to a mother who is trying to figure the damned thing out, and in particular, how to get their baby latched using the supplementer all by herself, which is going to be the reality for 99.9% of all moms out there. He's doing it all FOR her. It's nice to show it in action, and promote its benefits, but not helpful at all in learning HOW.
Moveover, the way he pushes the tubing into the baby's mouth after the latch is established is completely impossible to do if you're using a Lact-Aid instead of an SNS (which I do strongly recommend; more on that later), because its tubing is so much softer than that of the SNS. This is one of the reasons a Lact-Aid is preferable in the first place, but you MUST put the tubing in at the same time the baby latches on.
So, I'm taking it upon myself. Pretty much literally. Why? Because I believe so strongly in supplementing at the breast whenever supplementing is needed, whenever it is possible. In addition to the way supplementers circumvent nipple confusion, it also makes it possible for mothers who have supply issues to increase the amount of stimulation, and thus production, their breasts are getting. (Regular pumping sessions may still be advisable for a while - please consult an IBCLC about this if it is your own situation - but why not kill two birds with one stone? Pumping and supplementing is hard enough.)
And perhaps most importantly but more challenging to quantify, it IS breastfeeding, and will help to improve baby's latch (again, see IBCLC for advice on how to monitor this) AS you are feeding, whereas with a bottle, even slow flow and/or "breast-like" bottles like the Breastflow, one can only cross one's fingers and hope too much damage to baby's technique isn't done. Using paced feeding and an upright position helps, but it's challenging.
This is also personal: The Lact-Aid made it possible for us to make the transition to the breast after struggling for months, and I firmly believe we never would have made it without it.
An important note: I mentioned that there are two major types of supplementers out there, the Lact-Aid and the SNS by Medela. I have used both, and FAR AND AWAY, I feel that Lact-Aid is the superior product. I write about this in our nursing story, but in a nutshell: It is much, much more user-friendly in several ways, including the way you wear the bags around your neck, the fact that no taping is necessary, and the fact that the tubing itself is very soft and shouldn't disturb baby at all - they probably won't even notice, especially if they're newborns. I started using it when Lily was 4 months old and she was fine, whereas the harder tube of the SNS makes many a baby balk. YES, it's true, I also have ethical issues with Medela, but I promise you I felt this way long before I learned of some of Medela's questionable practices.
Make no mistake: if you choose to use the Lact-Aid, and I sincerely hope you do if supplementing is necessary, there is still going to be a learning curve. I cannot tell a lie: the first few days are pretty much gonna suck. But every feeding is practice, and within a few days, you'll start to really get the hang of it. And in a week or possibly two, it'll be down pat. To be honest, for the first couple of days, I only did Lact-Aid feeds a few times a day, during the times when Lily (and her mom) was at her 'best', i.e. not in the middle of the night. And then I gradually added more Lact-Aid feeds in. You might want to try phasing-in this way, too. Take it one feed at a time.
OKAY. Without further ado, here's a very short video, starring my boob and the baby of one of my clients, with whom I became friendly. I actually had been donating some milk to her privately as a result (she had breast reduction surgery years ago, and like some, though not all, BFAR moms, had to supplement a bit). I also occasionally babysat, and we mutually decided, Well, if she's getting my donated milk anyway, why not offer it from the tap?
Let me be clear: this isn't exactly an official extra service I regularly offer to clients, it just kind of worked out that way. I had worked with them on using the Lact-Aid, too, and one day, after struggling with descriptions and coaching, I said hey, since I've nursed her anyway, would you mind if I simply showed you on myself? She was totally fine with that, and so I did. It was IMMEDIATELY much easier for her. And then it occurred to me that, due to the dearth of existing videos it might be helpful for the internet masses to see as well. She offered up her beautiful little one for me to film (isn't she precious?), and here we are, our other kiddos chattering in the background.
There you have it. Please, in the comments, ask me about anything that needs clarifying, or anything to do with the Lact-Aid. One thing I can think of right off that merits a bit more explanation: If you want to start off the feed with milk from the breast and add the supplementation at the end, which is preferable, you can either delatch and relatch, or, even easier, as I demonstrate, simply start the feed with the tubing pinched off in one of the notches in the body of the Lact-Aid device, then, when babe's sucking slows down, release the tube from the notch and the supplement will start to flow. Oh. and one other note, the bag of milk is hanging kind of low here - you can adjust the strap so it's much higher, and you can nurse in lots of different positions.
Again, feel free to deluge me with questions.
Somehow I knew it would just be a matter of time before, one way or another, I showed my boobs on the internet. But here it's for a noble purpose, right? RIGHT? If it convinces even one mom go with the Lact-Aid instead of a bottle, or instead of tearing her hair out with an SNS - and then giving up and going with the bottle, it is all worthwhile.
*~*ADDENDUM*~*
When I shared this with my own LC, Jennifer of Intuitive Parenting Network, she quoted my statement, "Because I believe so strongly in supplementing at the breast whenever possible, any time supplementing is needed," and said "I am allowed to smile, right?"
I feel it's only fair to point out what she's getting at, which is that when faced with doing this myself, I fought it tooth and nail. I talk about this in the link to our nursing story I posted towards the beginning, but I think it's worth repeating here as well. Yeah, I literally resisted using this for months. MONTHS. My experience trying to use an SNS at about 6 weeks was just so indescribably awful that I desperately wanted to avoid using anything like it ever again if I could. So I kept pumping around the clock and bottlefeeding my milk to Lily. I was using the upright "paced" technique, and I would try various ways to offer the breast before, during, after, and in-between feedings, but I was still bottlefeeding her. And was really making little to no progress towards our goal. Treading water is all it really amounted to, and driving myself nuts with frustration in the process.
Jennifer, and other moms in our support group who had trod the Lact-Aid path tried many times to convince me that the Lact-Aid was going to be a much different, much better experience, and more importantly, because I was at a total standstill in progress with the bottlefeeding, it would likely be the one thing that got me over the hump. And they were absolutely right about both things. If I had tried using the Lact-Aid earlier than I did, I could have started nursing her many weeks, even months earlier than we finally did. No exaggeration.
People often commend me for sticking it out the 5 months it took to get Lily nursing, and I appreciate that and do take it in, but honestly, the stubbornness that I tapped into to get her ON the breast is the same stubbornness that made me resist using the Lact-Aid, and therefore held up our progress much longer than was probably necessary. I just had to get to the end of my rope, my absolute wit's end, the point where I was truly on the edge of just giving up altogether and EPing for her. I was trying to figure out how I could make my peace with this decision, and I realized that the only way I would ever be able to be okay with giving up on breastfeeding is if I truly KNEW that I had tried everything. And the Lact-Aid was the final frontier. If things didn't work after that, then I would be able to forgive myself, knowing that I had done my very honest best. But only then.
So I took the proverbial deep breath and threw myself into it. And it was tough for a few days, but after that, grew progressively easier - and I saw progress. Real progress. Within 3 weeks she was only taking about 2 ounces per day from the supplementer (I used it at every feed, but only released the flow of the tubing when she was starting to slow down). I kept using it for another week, just to be on the safe side, but really, we had made it. We had crossed over. And it was totally the Lact-Aid - and those who convinced me to try it - that did it.
I'm grateful beyond words that Jennifer can now smile at my stubborn ass. If you're facing anything similar to what we faced, any variation on it - look, DON'T follow my example. Don't torment yourself for months, fearing that breastfeeding will be impossible for you, out of fear of some frustrating feedings and having to learn a new technique. Supplementing at the breast is a godsend in the right situation. Just do yourself a favor and use the superior product, commit to overcoming the learning curve (because you WILL), and go for it. I'm rooting for you!
Age is also a major factor, of course, as gravity gets to all of us, losing and gaining large amounts of weight, which in turn loosens the skin and weakens the Cooper's ligaments which help give the breast its structure, and, possibly most surprising, smoking status is a significant factor as well. For the same reason that smoking causes wrinkles - the breakdown of elastin - smoking contributes to sagging of the breasts, clinically known as 'ptosis'. (Fitting term. Makes me think "ptooie!")
Alas, there is a very pervasive belief out there that breastfeeding, rather than pregnancy or any of the above, directly causes sagging, or otherwise 'ruins' one's breasts. This is especially disheartening when one looks at the perceptions of young women: a survey in the UK found that almost a third of them planned not to breastfeed because they believed it would "ruin the look of their breasts". I don't think it's a stretch to guess that the numbers in the US would be similar.
It's frustrating, to say the least, knowing that the same women who would deny both their babies and themselves breastfeeding due to this myth (especially considering that many of those same women maybe smokers). Add to this the possibility that smoking mothers might also believe that they would be better off formula feeding their babies due to nicotine being passed into their milk. While there is no denying it is far, far better to quit, if a baby IS to be in the household of a smoker, breastfeeding is absolutely still the better choice, as it helps to protect the baby from some of the damage that they would be exposed to regardless. (See Kellymom.com for more in this.)
But I digress. Back to aesthetics. I bring this up because of a debate that took place a few days ago. How exactly do we begin to break down what seems to be a deeply-ingrained belief in this harmful myth? Well, one breastfeeding advcacy site, Dispelling Breastfeeding Myths took the initiative and started a volunteer gallery of post-breastfeeding breasts, issuing a call over ye olde information superhighway for submissions from mothers. And some other breastfeeding advocates, like Just West of Crunchy, took issue with this approach.
Where do I stand? I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I see both sides.
Oooooh, courageous, I know. But truly - I understand that this is a serious problem that needs a really assertive approach to start changing public perceptions, and a provocative approach has a lot of appeal. But I also see that there may be some real problems with execution and interpretation, and it IS sadly true that a lot of the furor about nursing "in public" (used in quotes because really, it shouln't ever need the qualifier) is framed by the opposition as the exhibitionism of mothers who just love to use any excuse to, as the phrase goes, whip 'em out.
Once more with feeling: breastfeeding DOES NOT affect ptosis. Pregnancy does, as does number of pregnancies. Age does. Genetics may. A history of SMOKING does. History of large amounts of weight being gained and lost in general does (sometimes associated with pregnancy, but also on its own). But whether or not a woman chooses to USE her existing expanded breast volume to feed her baby does not change the shape of the overall breast. Now, the nipple, yes, it will become somewhat more drawn out. But sagging? It has been studied and dismissed.
So, as I stated in JWOC's comment thread, can we brainstorm? What are some other ways to get the word out that breastfeeding does NOT ruin the shape of your breasts, and moreover, that smoking is far more harmful? Can we come up with a different provocative way to get this message out?
P.S. If you need some more food for thought and visual illustration, check out this gallery of the ravages of smoking on one's appearance. The pictures of twins are particularly potent.
I'm a big-time NPR fan. "Morning Edition" in the morning and "All Things Considered" in the afternoon, "Fresh Air" whenever I can catch it, "This American Life" on the weekend, I'll even listen to "Car Talk" and enjoy it despite not knowing a thing about cars beyond getting from point A to point B. And one of my favorites is the quirky news quiz show, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me". I love it all, and have given regularly to several stations over the years. Call me a latte liberal if you will, but NPR is most definitely a staple of my life. I feel incomplete unless I've played along with puzzle master Will Shortz on Sunday's Weekend Edition.
So I was surprised and frankly pretty annoyed to hear the following subtle dig against breastfeeding on "Wait, Wait" this past weekend. The guest of the moment, via phone, was Denis Leary, and Sesame Street was the topic:
SAGAL: So we're going to ask you three questions about that landmark kid's show.
Mr. LEARY: Oh boy.
SAGAL: Taken from the new authoritative history of "Sesame Street," called "Street Gang" by Michael Davis.
Mr. LEARY: Okay.
SAGAL: All right. First question, as I'm sure you remember, or maybe you don't, "Sesame Street" was known for introducing kids to real world concepts in a gentle way.
Mr. LEARY: Uh-huh.
SAGAL: One of the notable early examples was an episode in which one of these things happened.
[Doul-la-la note: I already know what's coming.]
Was it A: Mr. Hooper's grocery store was vandalized? B: folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie breastfed her baby right in front of Big Bird?
(Soundbite of laughter)
SAGAL: Or C: special guest star Elizabeth Taylor explained to Grover why she had had four different husbands?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. LEARY: Oh man, I'm going with A.
SAGAL: You're going to go with A?
Mr. LEARY: Yeah.
SAGAL: It was Buffy Sainte-Marie.
Mr. LEARY: I can't believe it.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. LEARY: Really?
SAGAL: Yeah, she really was. She was a guest on the show for the first five seasons.
Mr. LEARY: Really?
SAGAL: They went through her pregnancy and the birth of her baby, off-screen I hope. And so she breastfed him on camera and Big Bird asked about it and eventually said, "You know, that's nice" said Big Bird.
[Dou-la-la notes: more laughter and disbelief here.]
Mr. LEARY: I can't believe Buffy Sainte-Marie breastfed her...
SAGAL: It's true.
Mr. FELBER: I can't believe Big Bird was okay with it.
And cue more laughter, and then they moved on.
Now really, I don't bring this up to bitch the regulars or the hosts of "Wait Wait" out. I really do love the show, I have nothing against Denis Leary, and might even, if pressed, admit to having a bit of a geeky audio crush on Peter Sagal, rivaled only by my other radio boyfriend, Ira Glass. I wouldn't say I'm furious about it, either - irritated, yes, but it was just a passing exchange. Perhaps it's even a bit of a stretch to call it a 'dig', maybe it's nothing more than a bit of juvenile squeamishness. I'm not calling out the lactivist dogs, asking for a boycott or even a letter-writing campaign. It's not like they're working some anti-breastfeeding agenda, it was just a thoughtless moment. But thoughtless as it was, it's also a revealing moment, and really goes to show, despite some higher initiation rates, just how backasswards we've become about it all today.
Here's the shocking segment:
Despite rendering Leary, Sagal, Felber et. al. shocked at the thought that Big Bird might be "okay" with observing a mammal feeding her young as nature designed, this was actually not the only time this was included on Sesame Street. The producers and writers apparently thought it was important and relevant enough to children that they included it again, years later, when principal actor Maria had her own baby, and they delivered essentially the same scene, with a child as the inquisitive party rather than Big Bird:
Now, I don't have the media archives to determine whether or not either of these caused waves of shock or outrage or anger or disgust among the parents of decades past. I've never heard of any major letter writing movement, and if a few viewers were disgruntled, I haven't heard anything about it. (That doesn't mean it didn't happen, so if anyone out there with access to Lexis Nexis wants to do me a favor and run some searches, I'd be grateful.)
But imagine that either Buffy or Maria did such a thing on Sesame Street today. What do you think would happen? How might the public react? With the advent of the internet, would the blogs and boards light up with frenzied debate over whether such a thing were appropriate? Would massive boycotts ensue? Would lawsuits be threatened and FCC fines be levied?
I would venture a pessimistic guess that all of the above would probably take place (note the furor over Katy Perry's cleavage earlier this year), and that would be only if the Buffy/Maria segment were re-broadcast or reproduced: mother nursing baby, unapologetically but still quite discreetly. Can you imagine if it were taken a step 'further', as it was in yet another 70's children's show?
Because on Mr. Rogers, there was once an absolutely beautiful segment on all kinds of animal mommies feeding all kinds of animal babies: kittens, calves, puppies, piglets, and humans. And in that segment, we not only see a human mother nursing, with the baby's head in the appropriate place, but we see her areola.
And not only her areola, but her NIPPLE.
And not only her nipple, but her nipple DRIPPING MILK.
And this happens twice!
Unfortunately, copyright restrictions have since made the video unavailable online, though one intrepid viewer managed to catch part of it. I prefer the full video, putting the humans in context with all other animals, and with Mr. Rogers' sweet introduction and closing words. But in a pinch, we at least have the most SHOCKING images, so I can at least prove I'm not making it up. Warning: aforementioned dripping nipple included:
Sorry if I've offended your delicate/momentarily juvenile sensibilities, Misters Sagal, Felber and Leary, should you happen to chance upon this - Mr. Rogers seemed 100% fine with it, in his quintessentially gentle and loving way.
Being me, of course, I wish PBS were in a position to bring these kinds of scenes back, though I realize today's kid requires a little more razzle-dazzle; say, in the form of a certain Red Menace (as he's known in our household). So, should any contemporary Sesame Street writers stumble across this, consider it a spec script for a new segment of Elmo's World (though those of you with littles know full well that once you know the format, it pretty much writes itself).
ELMO'S WORLD TITLES, OPENING THEME.
ELMO
Hi everybody! Welcome to Elmo's World! Elmo's so glad to see you. And so is Dorothy! Say hello, Dorothy!
[Close-up on Dorothy's fish bowl. Elmo giggles.]
ELMO
GUESS WHAT ELMO'S THINKING ABOUT TODAY? Ya-da-da-DAH!
Nursing. You know, nursing!
[Elmo opens the door to see an image of a human mother nursing her baby. Kazoo theme plays over montage of various mothers nursing their babies in various positions. Newborns, in slings, twins in the football hold, a mother pumping and then a baby being bottlefed the expressed milk, toddlers, closing with an image of a happy baby delatching with a milk-drunk grin.]
ELMO
Elmo wants to know more about nursing. Let's ask Mr. Noodle! Oh Mr. Noodle!
[Window shade flies up to show Kristen Chenoweth in Noodle Family costume.]
ELMO
Oh look! It's Mr. Noodle's sister, Ms. Noodle! Let's ask her. Hi Ms. Noodle!
[Ms. Noodle waves enthusiastically, cuddling a baby doll.]
ELMO
Ms. Noodle, how do you nurse a baby?
[Ms. Noodle furrows her brow, then gets an idea. She pulls out a cell phone, makes a call, then goes to the door frame accept a pizza delivery. She takes out a piece and holds it to the baby's mouth as Elmo and his chorus of kids protests.]
ELMO
No, no, Ms. Noodle, that's not how you nurse a baby! Babies need milk. Try it again!
[Ms. Noodle mouths the word "Milk?", then lights up again and exits. She reenters leading a cow on a rope, lays the baby doll beneath the cow, and begins to milk it, aiming the milk into the baby's face. Elmo and the peanut gallery protests again as the sound effect of a baby starting to cry begins playing.]
ELMO
No, not like that either, Ms. Noodle! The baby wants milk from her mommy, not a baby cow's mommy! Keep trying!
[Ms. Noodle picks up the baby and tries to comfort her as she cries. In the process, the baby doll "roots" and eventually latches on. A look of happy understanding passes over Ms. Noodle's face as Elmo and the kids cheer their approval.]
ELMO
That's it, Ms. Noodle! You did it! Yay!
[Ms. Noodle sits back in a a rocking chair, happily nursing away. The shade closes.]
ELMO
That was neat. She figured it out! Now Elmo wants to ask a baby. Hi baby!
[Camera pans left to a gurgling baby held in his mother's lap.]
ELMO
Baby, how do YOU nurse?
[Straight to the point, baby latches on and demonstrates. Elmo laughs.]
ELMO
Thanks baby! Now Elmo wants to learn more about nursing. How can Elmo learn even more?
[Close-up on Dorothy, with a statue of a Madonna and child in her bowl.]
ELMO
Oh, that's right, Dorothy! We can ask the computer!
[Computer bounces around, and then opens up an email to Elmo from a 7 year old fan, with a shot of her riding her new bike with training wheels. She tells Elmo about her baby sister who was recently born and had to use a Lact-Aid supplementer for a little while until her mama's milk came in all the way. "It was kind of like using training wheel for my bicycle!" she says. "And now my mama can nurse without the Lact-Aid, and I can ride my bicycle all by myself." Closing shot shows the young fan riding down the street.]
ELMO
Wow! There's all kinds of ways to nurse a baby. Do you think we can find out even more? How?
[The television starts bouncing around.]
ELMO
Oh yeah! TV! Let's see what else there is to learn about nursing!
[The usual TV cartoon segment music begins playing, with the oddly brusque, matronly woman narrating. She tours a zoo, showing all the baby animals being nursed by their mommies, and ends by singing a song about all the animals sleeping with their mommies close by.]
ELMO
Aww, that was so sweet. Elmo sometimes curls up with his mommy too!
[Knock on the door]
ELMO
Hey, someone came to visit Elmo! Let's see who it is!
[BABY BEAR, his little sister CURLY BEAR, and MAMA BEAR enter.]
BABY BEAR
Hi Elmo! I understand you wewe cuwious about nuwsing! I though maybe my Mama Bear could answer some of your questions!
MAMA BEAR
Sure, Elmo, ask anything you like!
ELMO
You nurse Curly Bear?
MAMA BEAR
That's right. It's really good for both of us. [Curly begins nursing.]
ELMO
Is it hard to do, making milk?
MAMA BEAR
It can take some getting used to, and sometimes mommies need some help from other mommies, but once you get started and learn how, mamas' bodies just know how to do it!
BABY BEAR
And she used to nuwse me, too!
ELMO
But Elmo doesn't understand. Elmo's seen Papa bear giving Curly Bear a bottle!
MAMA BEAR
Well, he does, sometimes. I can't always be with Curly, so I pump some of my milk ahead of time and store it in a bottle so Papa Bear can feed her too. That way Curly always has healthy mama's milk to eat!
ELMO
That's amazing! Elmo loves nursing.
BABY BEAR
Me too!
CURLY BEAR
(delatching): Me three!
[Everyone laughs.]
ELMO
Yay nursing! Hooray for nursing! Let's all sing The Nursing Song!
[The piano bounces out, and they all jauntily sing "Nurse nurse nurse! Nurse nurse nurse!" to the tune of "Jingle Bells".]
ELMO
Time to go now! Say goodbye Dorothy!
[Close-up on Dorothy's bowl.]
ELMO
Good-bye everyone! Bye!
[Closing music.]
~Fin~
I can dream, can't I?
* Photo of Lucy Lawless is from when she was poster woman for World Breastfeeding Week. (Can you dig the potency of Xena's breastmilk?)
