Breastfeeding and other parenting thoughts shared by a new mom
This information is mostly for new moms ... I recently moved from Thunder Bay to Calgary. I would say that moving to Calgary has opened my eyes to all these things: importance of Breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and baby wearing. Therefore, I just wanted to share it back to northern Ontario since these are my roots. Being a new mom has opened my eyes to so much. I realise how challenging this is and I just want to share this with other moms because these concepts are important in raising healthy strong Anishnabe children.
I have been taking a lot of time thinking about how I bond with my new baby and how we as Anishnabe people need to nurture these bonds. I also have been thinking about the impact of colonization and especially residential schools impact on our quality of family relationships; especially mother and child relationships. I feel that as women we need to reclaim our right to bond with our babies as best we know how. One way to give our babies a good start is by breastfeeding. Admittedly after my emergency c section in Sept. 2006 with our first baby, I found nursing really hard. Giving up nursing was the worst thing I could possibly do. Getting advice from other mom's who gave up nursing because they didn't see the benefit in it, or maybe just lacked support was my mistake number two. To reconcile all of these, I worked hard to relactate: to bring back my milk and to use bottles less and less. Even though my baby does not nurse 100% I know I am giving him the best I can. I remember also hearing in a Native Studies Class we were talking about the role of women and, one of my professors Edna Manitowabi said to all of us " Ladies: your breasts are not ornaments", and I totally see what she means by this..
Research has shown that Breastfeeding has so many benefits for our babies. For the first six months, it is recommended that women breastfeed for many reasons such as boosting your baby's immunity, bonding with your baby, prevention of Suddent Infant Death Syndrome(SIDS) and a host of other reasons. You can continue on to Breastfeed until you feel you would like to wean. The World Health Organization recommends the first six months up until age 2. It's entirely your decision. It is in my opinion that women are not informed enough about Breastfeeding. I learned that it actually takes a bit of practice and may or may not come naturally to women. Therefore I am inserting these links for women if they need them. I also HIGHLY recommend the book the "Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" put out by the Le Leche League. I'm not sure if I am the" only mom who just thought Breastfeeding would come naturally, but I struggled with it. The best advice I would give any new mom is to read up on breastfeeding, get tips, find support and don't give up! I found support from an Attachment Parenting Yahoo Group in Calgary and find their knowledge very important. Their link is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CalgaryAttachmentParenting/
Research says that women who deliver via C-Section may have a rougher go at Breastfeeding but keep up with it, and remember, relactation is possible in a window of time if you should decide that you gave it up and want to give it another go. I started breastfeeding after giving it up at my baby's three month birthday. It took a lot of work but it came back by doing three things: taking medication to help increase milk supply, helping baby nurse again, and getting as much skin on skin with my baby.
I would also like to mention the concept of Attachment Parenting. ATTACHMENT PARENTING first begins with principles such as baby wearing, co-sleeping, breastfeeding, and being responsive to baby. Once connected, stick with what is working and modify what is not. Listen to your own intuition! Trust your body. Trust your baby. Trust yourself. See this article on co-sleeping: http://www.canada.com/topics/lifestyle/parenting/story.html?id=b02e0dce-0aac-4652-98c0-e42ee9bb2c13&k=71805
Meegwetch...
Please check out these sites and encourage new moms to do so as well:
http://people.clarityconnect.com/webpages3/wiessinger/bfing/index.html
(discusses breastfeeding)
(discusses brestfeeding)
(discusses breastfeeding)
(positive parenting)
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/5/T051100.asp
(baby wearing)
(baby slings)