Leche, Baby!

I had no idea that there was a correlation between breast-fed babies and vitamin D deficiency, which can lead to a softening of bones, or rickets. If I had known that I would have been more vigilant about multi-vitamins for both myself and my son. My son was breast-fed for 2 years, although he started eating other foods around 6 month, which may have caused him to be inadvertently deficient in Vitamin D.

Physicians have known for more than a century that exclusive breast-feeding may be associated with vitamin D deficiency and rickets, and that the condition is easily prevented and treated with inexpensive vitamin drops or cod liver oil. But doctors are reluctant to say anything that might discourage breast-feeding.

Read the full article from the New York Times here.

A friend of mine, a school nurse and an avid holistic care practitioner, recommends Designs for Health’s Vitavescence powdered multi-vitamins for my toddler. You could also try a liquid vitamin supplement from your local health food store.

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I haven’t had much time to post lately, but recently came across these articles that are too important to pass over.

It seems that some popular baby shampoos have an ingredient (not listed in the ingredient label) called 1,4-dioxane–a known animal carcinogen.

Channel 10 News did a piece on baby wash:

Although 1,4-dioxane is not listed on the label, there are some clues that it’s there.

Look for the words sodium laureth sulfate, or peg.

There are manufacturers that don’t use 1,4-dioxane, among them, California Baby and Aubrey Organics.

Popular dish soaps have also been found to contain 1,4-dioxane, the biggest offenders are the “natural” dish detergents- including the very popular brand, Seventh Generation.
Read 7th Generation response.

Brands found not to contain 1,4-dioxane include Burt’s Bees, Clorox Green Works, Avalon Organics and Dr. Bronner’s.

Babyherbs products are recommended as a safe alternative, and also California Baby and Aubrey Organics (thank goodness! I wash my son with CB and have since he was an infant)

The Environmental News Network has the full story here.

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Are you considering herbal remedies for your child, or are you currently giving your child an herbal remedy? If so, it’s worth it to do a little research to determine whether or not the treatment has been shown to work and that it’s not harmful. Just because something is labeled “natural” doesn’t necessarily mean it is safe.

A 2003 paper by Dr. A. D. Woolf published in the Journal of Pediatrics reviews the use of herbal products to treat children’s health conditions.

Here are some things to keep in mind if you are considering using herbal remedies:

Not much is known about how herbal remedies affect children. Most have not been subjected to rigorous clinical trials; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration labels herbal remedies as “foods,” which means they don’t have to meet the same standards as do drugs and over-the-counter medications for proof of safety, effectiveness, and what the FDA calls “Good Manufacturing Practices.”

The contents of an herbal remedy aren’t always clear. One study reported that high levels of contaminants were found in imported herbal remedies from China. (cont’d)

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A great rule of thumb to ask yourself before eating is:

“Does this food give my baby and me nutrients or just calories?”

If your answer is the latter, then eat something else!

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that pregnant women in their second and third trimesters should eat 300 extra calories a day and nursing mothers should add about 500.

It isn’t as much as you might think…

Three hundred extra calories is roughly equal to one cup of whole-milk yogurt plus an apple. Add two slices of whole-wheat bread to that and the total jumps to 500 calories.

For great information about nutrition during pregnancy, read this article published by the University of Rhode Island’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program.

To learn more about children’s nutritional needs, visit the Children’s Nutrition Research Center. Look under “consumer news” and nutrition on the web site. They have a great electronic newsletter that you can sign up for too.

Photo credit: James Gathany/CDC

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I have completely weaned my two-year old toddler and the transition was surprisingly gentle!

For the past 6 months or so I have nursed my son only for his afternoon nap. I was very reluctant to try to completely wean him because I was afraid he would stop napping altogether (his nap lasts a good 2 hours and during this time I get a lot of my work done).

Last week, we unexpectedly weaned. He skipped his nap, and nursing time, on Monday because I had to be away from him in the afternoon. The next day, at nap, I said, “let’s just pretend to nurse”, so he did. He curled up into my arms and pretended to nurse over my shirt. He is familiar with pretending: we often pretend to cook or eat, or pretend to swim, etc. He was surprisingly agreeable to pretend to nurse. After all, I wasn’t saying “no” and we still got to cuddle. But after about 40 minutes of him doing flips and tossing and turning in bed, I gave up trying to get him down that day.

The next day we did the same thing. We pretended to nurse and this time he did fall asleep, after about 30 minutes. I was shocked! I probably shouldn’t have been (kids need to sleep), but for the past two years I (or more accurately, my nipples) have been the only thing to get him to nap. If he was going to wean, I reckoned, then the best way was going to be to spend a few days apart. I never imagined it possible to wean him the way I did.

It has now been almost two weeks. Other than having an engorged breast, things have gone smoothly. He still asks to nurse and I let him (pretend) whenever he wants. He has been asking to pretend nurse more often and I let him–I don’t see the harm. It’s now much easier for my husband, my mother and his babysitter to get him to take a nap, which I am very thankful for.

Ending nursing brings mixed emotions. I am sad because this beautiful part of our relationship has come to an end. And yet it’s a milestone, a necessary and inevitable part of my son growing up.

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Welcome, Carnival of Breastfeeding readers! The topic for this carnival is “Beginnings and endings”. My post is about the process of weaning a toddler.

I found myself wondering, after reading Tara’s post, Weaning a toddler while pregnant, how many women need advice like this? What percentage of women are still breastfeeding a toddler and what percentage of those toddler nursing moms are willing to endure the pain of nursing, due to sore nipples from pregnancy, in order to continue breastfeeding? I would guess very few.

When my son was nearing a year, friends and family started asking me how long I planned to nurse. They also tried to convince me that my son didn’t need the breastmilk anymore. A very good friend of mine even told me that I had to “cut the cord” and that breastfeeding “had no nutritional value” after a year. The funny thing is that at one point of my life (prior to having a child) I believed that.

It is true that breastmilk comprises less of a baby’s overall diet as it grows and begins to eat a variety of foods, but it is certainly not true that breastmilk loses its nutritional value.

“Breast milk continues to provide substantial amounts of key nutrients well beyond the first year of life, especially protein, fat, and most vitamins.” (Dewey 2001)

Kellymom put out a fantastic fact sheet about the value of
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The Department of Health and Human Services has released a report about the potential toxicity of bisphenol A. Marion Nestle, the author of What to Eat has a nice summary and a link to the report on her blog.

For pregnant women, infants, and children, the panel has some concern about effects on the nervous system and behavior, but minimal concern about accelerated puberty. Mostly, the panel thinks more research is needed. The report is now open for comment.

Bisphenol A is the controversial chemical used in many plastic products, including childrens sippy cups. I have written about this before here and here.

Technorati Tags:
breastfeeding, bisphenol A

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My friend Tara and I went to see a screening of a new documentary called “The Business of Being Born” at my local art center, which was packed full of dulas and midwives. It was an amazing movie that shows how the culture of birth, in the United States, is based on mis-information. Tara sent out an email (see below) urging friends and family to see it. It will be released nationally in January at limited locations and will be available on Netflix in March.

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Hello Friends,

If you are a woman, are having a baby, thinking someday you might, have had babies and now have a daughter, I think you would enjoy this movie to learn more about birth and well woman care in our culture and it’s future. Or maybe all of them! Or you have a practice where you can spread this news around.

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Voucher Code: VC1218B

Click on the images below to see amazon’s latest sale price.

Do you have other coupon codes to share? Please submit them in the comments!

You might consider Sigg bottles as well, though I can’t find a coupon code for them. The company makes a range of child-themed bottles:

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I received my Klean Kanteen sippy and I think it is a good solution to the Bisphenol-A leaching sippy cups. The Klean Kanteen comes with an adapter and a toddler spout by Advent that is made from non-leaching polypropylene plastic.

Pollution in People is an informative website that has a section on Safer Consumer Products for children and babies. There is a section on baby bottles and sippers where they recommend more alternatives that are not made from polycarbonate plastic, which can leach Bishenol-A:

“Choose bottles made of tempered glass, polypropylene plastic, or polyethylene plastic, such as Evenflo glass or pastel bottles, Gerber opaque bottles, or Medela bottles. Choose sippy cups made of polypropylene or polyethylene, such as Avent Magic Cup, First Years Take & Toss, Gerber Color Change, and Playtex Sipster. “

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An article came out recently about the health impacts of Bisphenol A, a chemical used in the plastic of certain popular-brand bottles and sippy cups. Apparently, the chemical is leeching out of the plastic and into the fluid in the container.

The NIH said studies have indicated the chemical may mimic a natural female sex hormone, and the upcoming review comes in part due to its widespread human exposure and evidence of reproductive toxicity in animal studies.

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I thought my friend who suggested it was crazy–so much so that the first time I had a clogged duct I politely ignored her advice. The second time I got a clogged duct I was so afraid of getting an infection that I would have tried anything. Hot compress, gental massage and a cabbage leaf tucked in my bra, over the area that was clogged. For me, it worked like magic! After an hour or two the clogged ducted was completely gone. If I have I could tell a nursing mother only one piece of advice, it would be to use a cabbage leaf when you have a clogged ducts

More information can be found here:

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