Giselle Says Mothers Should Be Forced To Breastfeed

Apparently Giselle told Harper's Bazaar that there outta be a law that mothers should breastfeed for 6 months. I saw a UK publication that called her a "smug mum". My reaction is that she might be exaggerating to make a point about the goodness of breastfeeding. I, personally, am very pro-breastfeeding, to the point of being a lactivist. Some of my fondest memories are of rocking my babies in the nursing chair.  Now I read a story on Fox that describes how unfair her idea is, given that some ladies cannot breastfeed for various reasons, medication, breast surgery, cleft palate, adoption.  How ironic that Giselle only breastfed her baby for 3 weeks?

pic via babychums

Like the abortion debate, the breastfeeding debate is won through education. If a gal is dead set on not breastfeeding, no amount of laws will get her to change her mind. Anything we can do to offer support to mothers and babies is a step in the right direction.  And we must be mindful that some reasons for failure of the breastfeeding relationship are not apparent in the beginning.  I have a close friend who felt awful that she could not breastfeed her son.  Around the age of 2 he was diagnosed with severe autism.  Only in retrospect did we realize that his inability to latch and suckle might have had something to do with his disability.  I think she felt vindicated in a way, but she should not have had to go through that in the first place.  Now if I see a mom bottle feeding, I assume that she did her best.  After all, her milk is gone.  So there is no point to making her feel bad about not breastfeeding.  And remember, pacifiers are a no-no.  Baby's sucking reflex should be put to work building the milk supply.

postpartum bleeding and lactation

My milk is really coming in today. I think I might try to pump what A doesn't eat for himself. I don't want to lose my abundant supply because of his youth and inexperience. ;-)

I passed a clot yesterday the size of a walnut. And there was one I found the day before the size of a pistachio nut. I wonder if there was retained tissue from the placenta. In 5 prior kids, I have never passed tissue like that before. The good news is that after that happened, the bleeding finally slowed down and the cramping is about 1/4 of what it was. The bad news is that I think I might have lost a lot of blood. We are going to get a CBC run on me today to make sure I have enough red blood cells and to make sure the white count is not too high. I also have night sweats, but that could be from the changing hormones, not necessarily a uterine infection. I have been a little dizzy the past 2 days upon standing up. Good thing I am not driving a car this week. My neighbors, MIL and everybody is pitching in to help get the kids to and from their classes so I don't have to drive. And MIL is driving all the way from Los Angeles, a 1-hour drive to take me to the well baby visit and the lab.

The well-baby visit will figure out what is going on with A's weight and bilirubin. They do a scan of his skin color with some sort of device. Not as exact as a heel stick, but it gives a ballpark figure, they told me. And with that information, I can call the rabbi to get a firm time on the circumcision Sunday afternoon. The rabbi got a little spooked when I told him that A was born at 37 weeks gestation. I am glad that he is cautious with the baby's health. Only it makes a problem calling the caterer and making invitations. Oh well. We do what we can do, right?