I Am Mom Enough

Have you seen the latest issue of Time Magazine? I haven't had a chance to get a copy yet, but have read excerpts and have seen it discussed all over the web for the last couple days. Regardless of the tone of the articles or any spin that the writers may put on the issues, I find it really encouraging to see mainstream America opening up and talking about topics like breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and positive discipline, because ultimately these issues affect not just parents and children but on many levels our society as a whole.

I do find the cover photo to be a bit exaggerated.  I am sure it was purposely posed to incite controversy and drive magazine sales. I personally know lots of Attachment Parents and extended breastfeeding moms including myself. I have seen some wild gymnustics and lacrobatics performed by active toddlers intent on exploring and looking at everything while nursing. I wouldn't be shocked, but to date I have never seen a preschooler drag up a chair to stand on while nursing.  Little people can be intensely creative problem-solvers when they are trying to get what they want, so I guess this scenario, although it's not typical, isn't completely unrealistic.  If it was girlfriend of mine and her preschooler, I'd probably have a good-natured laugh. Then, I'd say let's all go sit in the living room where it's more comfortable for nursing.

Here are two moms, who are part of a local moms group I started, giving their take on the Time feature on ABC2 News in Baltimore:

I completely agree with what Jessica said about her daughter Payton nursing, "When she turned a year old, I just was like I can't take her away from this. She loves it. She relies on it. It's her comfort, puts her to sleep." I felt this same way.

When my youngest daughter turned one, she was already scheduled for surgery the following month to correct a slight birth defect of her ear. I knew we wouldn't wean before the surgery, because breastfeeding was such a comfort to her and also because breastmilk provides pain relief and promotes healing. Originally my goal was to breastfeed my baby for at least a year, and we made it YAY!!!  I thought after she recovered from her surgery, we would be done.  But then around that same time, I learned that The World Health Organization and many health organizations world-wide actually recommend breastfeeding until at least the age of two.  Before I had children, I never imagined myself nursing a toddler, but  it felt so natural to continue, and I am so happy that we did!

" . . . people have to realize this is biologically normal. It’s not socially normal. The more people see it, the more it’ll become normal in our culture. That’s what I’m hoping. I want people to see it. There seems to be a war going on between conventional parenting and attachment parenting, and that’s what I want to avoid. I want everyone to be encouraging. We’re not on opposing teams. We all need to be encouraging to each other, and I don’t think we’re doing a very good job at that." from Q&A with Breast-Feeding Mom Jamie Lynne Grumet -- A conversation with the woman on TIME's May 21 cover

I talk regularly to moms who think attachment parenting, child-led weaning and gentle, loving parenting are integral to raising happy, healthy confident kids. I think every good mother does the best she can at the time with the resources and information that she has. The more we learn and share, the better parents we become. I intentionally chose the moms in my circle of friends for their desire to be the best mothers they can, to grow and learn as both women and mothers, and for their ability to be understanding and supportive.  Motherhood can be hard at times even without feeling like you have to justify your every parenting decisions or impress everyone around you with your stellar mothering skills. Raising children is not a contest to be won. I don't need to be "#1 Mom!" I do need to be able to share openly with my fellow moms without fear of being judged as not "mom enough."

Related Posts:

• 101 Things to Do With Your Toddler (counting-on-me.blogspot.com)
• Ryan Gosling on Cloth Diapers  (mamahealthnut.blogspot.com)
• Cloth Diapering: Healthy Baby Bums  (mamahealthnut.blogspot.com)
• Make Your Own Flu Vaccine  (mamahealthnut.blogspot.com)

Make Your Own Flu Vaccine

What's in the Flu Shot? This video about the ingredients of the flu vaccine is both scary and funny.



Everyone has the right to know the truth about what's in vaccines and what the actual benefits are versus the risks. This vital information (not just the hyped-up drug company and government-back propaganda) should be public knowledge.

You can't go back in time, but going forward never let anyone inject anything into your body or the bodies of your children without doing your homework first. You cannot trust pharmaceutical companies, doctors, insurance companies, or the government to provide you with unbiased information or make the choices that are healthiest for you and your children.

Muffin Tin Monday

Have you tried Muffin Tin Meals for your little ones yet?  I've seen lots of posts about them all around Blog Land, but hadn't tried them until recently.  I only had full-size muffin tins (with 12 cups), so I purchase four 6-cups muffin tins at The Dollar Tree especially for muffin tin meals.  The cups in the tins are regular size, but the tins themselves are small (just six cups).  At first it was a little bit of a challenge for me to come up with six healthy, balanced servings of kid-friendly foods, but it gets easier and my girls really love them!

Here are a few of the combinations we've tried so far:

1. Morning Star Farms Chik'n Nuggets

2. Carrots

3. Raisins

4.Watermelon

5.Keebler Club Minis Multi-Grain Crackers

6. Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1. Annie's Bunny Grahams Friends

2. Blackberries

3. Chobani Blueberry 0% Greek Yogurt

4. Nature's Promise Organic Unsweetened Applesauce

5. Strawberries

6. Plain Quaker Oatmeal w/Raisins Added

1. Mashed Potatoes

2. Snaps Peas

3. Watermelon

4. Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

5. Baby Carrots

6. Mozzarella String Cheese

1. Chobani Blueberry 0% Greek Yogurt

2. Post Banana Nut Crunch Cereal and Milk

3. Grapes

4. Banana

5. Raspberry

6. Craisins

And here's my youngest daughter cheesing like a crazy baby in anticipation of her muffin tin breakfast:

Can you tell she loves them?

Backwards is Best!

Riding rear-facing is safest! One of the most important jobs you have as a parent is keeping your child(ren) safe.  Automobile crashes are the number one cause of death for children under fourteen.  This makes car safety especially important. Parents often ask, "How soon can I turn my child to face forward?" The universally accepted response is to keep your child rear-facing until AT LEAST one year of age AND 20 pounds in weight.  This is the minimum. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other Child Passenger Safety organizations strongly recommend that you to keep your child rear-facing as long as possible, and that may mean up to 35 or 40 pounds for most convertible car seats.

• Rear-facing is safest for both adults and children, but especially for babies, who would face a greater risk of spinal cord injury in a front-facing carseat during a frontal crash.
  
• Rear-facing car seats spread frontal crash forces over the whole area of a child's back, head and neck; they also prevent the head from snapping relative to the body in a frontal crash.
  
• Rear-facing carseats may not be quite as effective in a rear end crash, but severe frontal and frontal offset crashes are far more frequent and far more severe than severe rear end crashes.
  
• Rear-facing carseats are NOT a safety risk just because a child's legs are bent at the knees or because they can touch/kick the vehicle seat.
  
• Rear-facing as long as possible is the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and can reduce injuries and deaths.   

Sources: www.car-safety.org and www.healthychildren.org

Gross Shopping Cart News

Fuel for my Germaphobia  . . . from MSNBC.com:

"Every day, parents blithely drop their toddlers into the baskets of shopping carts, never giving a moment’s thought to who might have had their hands on the handle last. Preliminary results from a new study show that may be a mistake.

Researchers from the University of Arizona swabbed shopping cart handles in four states looking for bacterial contamination. Of the 85 carts examined, 72 percent turned out to have a marker for fecal bacteria.

The researchers took a closer look at the samples from 36 carts and discovered Escherichia coli, more commonly known as E. coli, on 50 percent of them — along with a host of other types of bacteria.

The study’s results may explain earlier research that found that kids who rode in shopping carts were more likely than others to develop infections caused by bacteria such as salmonella and campylobacter, Gerba said.“That’s more than you find in a supermarket’s restroom,” said Charles Gerba, the lead researcher on the study and a professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona. “That’s because they use disinfecting cleaners in the restrooms. Nobody routinely cleans and disinfects shopping carts.”

Shopping cart handles aren’t the only thing you need to worry about when you go to the local supermarket, Gerba added. In other research, he’s found that reusable shopping bags that aren’t regularly washed turn into bacterial swamps. “It’s like wearing the same underwear every day,” Gerba said."

I alway try to use disinfecting wipes or a shopping cart cover and diligently wash my both cart covers and my reusable bags.  This article made me feel less like I'm being obsessive and more like I'm being proactive and smart!