The day will come when U.S. mothers can truly feel safe breastfeeding their babies and young children anywhere, anytime, anyplace. I likely won’t live long enough to see the culmination of the cultural transformation that is currently underway in America, but I am confident that my children will one day view breastfeeding not as best, optimal, perfect, or ideal, but simply as normal. And I know that ultimately their children, my grandchildren, will reap the benefits.

While many find the slow pace of change frustrating, age confers a level of patience and confidence in knowing that measured, thoughtful change is more often…

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Employed by the Red Cross after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, text messaging contributed to record donations. In less dire circumstances but indicative of the popularity of text messaging, millions text their vote for their favorite American Idol. But what can text messaging do for you?

With text4baby, the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) is flipping the text message and using it to help expectant and new moms.

The familiar ping, ding, or ringtone sounds out from your handset:

“Give your baby a good start by not drinking alcohol, smoking or using drugs. For help call 800-784-8669 (smoking); 800-662-4357 (drugs & alcohol).”

“Feeling…

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Since its October 2006 launch, baby gooroo has transitioned from infancy to toddlerhood through a series of baby steps. The most recent changes are reflected in the redesign of our website, improvements that we hope will make your online experience even better.

At the top of the home page you will find three content buckets—Kids, Parents, News—designed to give visitors quick and easy access to the most popular posts in recent days within each category.

With the most popular social media hubs newly integrated into the site, sharing content is easier than ever before. Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, Digg or Tumblr, parents and…

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If you are weary of searching for the perfect breastfeeding video and have decided that it simply doesn’t exist, you’re probably right. No single video can meet the needs of every new and expectant parent, but a good video can still be a valuable teaching tool.

Breastfeeding: A Guide for Success is one example of a video worthy of consideration.

Produced by Greenwood Cinematography in cooperation with the Northwest Georgia Breastfeeding Coalition (NWGBC), Breastfeeding: A Guide for Success is divided into eleven sections—ten chapters plus a segment containing FAQs (frequently asked questions). A navigation bar located at the bottom of the screen allows viewers to…

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August 18, 2009, American Express in partnership with NBC/Universal decided to shine a light on small businesses with the launch of a contest designed to recognize their entrepreneurial spirit and resilience.

Each applicant was asked to detail its journey from inception to the present, providing examples of its ability to innovate, maintain a customer-first model, and adapt to economic challenges.

The deadline for submissions was September 13. Three judges, Ellen Degeneres, JJ Ramberg, and Diane Von Furstenberg were tasked with reviewing the submissions and identifying three finalists.

The winner will be selected by the general public from among the three finalists. Online voting is currently underway…

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You betcha!

As a matter of fact, breastfeeding is such an effective strategy for preventing ear infection, the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) in its newly revised policy statement lists exclusive breastfeeding until at least three months of age as one of the six things parents can do to reduce their child’s risk for ear infection.

Other recommendations include:

• following simple hygiene practices such as washing hands after handling used tissues
• limiting the use of pacifiers
• avoiding childcare settings
• encouraging childcare workers to exercise good hygiene by routinely washing hands and cleaning toys
• not smoking

Research shows that formula-fed babies have twice as many ear infections as breastfed babies—a statistic that becomes…

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A hard plastic pump is nothing like a soft infant body. Its mechanical noises are very different from a baby’s coos. Its vacuum pressure doesn’t compare to a baby’s suckling motions.

The breastfeeding mother’s body is biologically set to release its milk in response to a baby’s cues. Despite manufacturers’ best efforts, pumps are nothing like babies. Is it any wonder that breastfeeding mothers who pump their milk might report some difficulty in producing milk for such devices? And what can be done to overcome this challenge?

Tap Your Senses
Jenniffer Milone, president and founder of PumpingSecrets.com, thinks she just might have the…

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During the first 10 days after birth, human milk changes dramatically in color, viscosity, and volume. The first milk produced is called colostrum, followed by transitional milk, and finally mature milk.  

When you compare colostrum and mature milk, the differences are so obvious it’s easy to see why they have different names. Colostrum is yellow. Milk is white. Colostrum is thick. Milk is thin. Colostrum is in short supply (albeit just the right amount). Milk is abundant. Colostrum is produced for just a few days. Milk can be made for years.

In the end, it’s all various forms of milk, so why…

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Whenever I browse most pregnancy guides, sometimes I wonder how I got through those nine months without daily full-blown panic attacks.

Have you seen some of those bold-faced chapter subheadings, addressing the various disasters that no doubt wait around every corner? It’s like a survival guide for nuclear winter.

My preferred pregnancy books—the ones that celebrate aspects of pregnancy in a realistic way, and address fear and pain without magnifying it—are not new. “Birthing From Within” was first published in 1998; “Spiritual Midwifery,” in 1976 (and retains its original groovy language to prove it).

A recent trip to the bookstore confirmed that most…

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In recognition of World Breastfeeding Week (August 1-7) a provocative new advertisement was recently released by Best for Babes.

The eye-catching ad is a visual pun with a serious message reflective of this year’s World Breastfeeding Week theme: Breastfeeding, A Vital Emergency Response.

Best for Babes Co-Founders Bettina Forbes and Danielle Rigg maintain that women are being pressured to breastfeed yet prevented from doing so. 

“Moms don’t need more pressure, judgment, or guilt,” says Forbes, who initially did not want to breastfeed.  “It’s the cultural and institutional barriers—or ‘booby traps’—that are keeping moms from making informed decisions, and preventing those moms…

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I know that Susan Rose isn’t real, but I can’t stop thinking about her.

Maybe it’s because I know that people like her did exist, mostly long ago, and likely had similarly poignant experiences. But probably it’s because Susan’s creator, Erica Eisdorfer, has crafted such a compelling story in her debut novel, “The Wet Nurse’s Tale”, (available from Random House in August.

Susan Rose is indeed a wet nurse, living dirt-poor in Victorian England. And how does one become a wet nurse? Well, she must have had a child, obviously. And where is the child while the wet nurse feeds rich women’s…

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There are many things about motherhood that came as complete surprises to me, which makes me wonder what other information has been withheld from me over the years.

For example, no one told me that when I was pregnant that I’d wet my pants if I coughed or laughed really hard, or that both hair in weird places and my feet would grow. I certainly did not know that stretch marks looked like that.

After my son was born, I did not expect that his poop would resemble road tar or that I’d be so sleep deprived and miserable that I considered…

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