A Blast from the Past

Co-Sleeping is better, overall, for moms and babies. It allows moms and babies to sleep better and comforts babies in a way that is unparalleled by sleeping alone. If you have had questions about co-sleeping, check out this post from last year. And please, tell us your stories of co-sleeping - we’ll post them if you like.

This is probably the most frugal and green tip I can give! There is nothing more natural - and cheaper - than breastfeeding. And any mother can do it.

But first things first. Breastfeeding is the cheapest way to feed your baby. Period. It is estimated that families will spend over $1000 a year on formula and related costs alone. Add in extra money for doctor visits because formula fed babies are more prone to ear infections and food allergies and the cost goes up even more!

Breastfeeding is easy and way more convenient than bottle feeding. One mother I know couldn’t believe that I would nurse my baby. “Isn’t it a pain?” she asked. “Why don’t you bottle-feed?”

I don’t bottle feed, I told her, because I’m too lazy.

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Looking over the news this morning, I wandered over to Mothering.com one of my favorite sites for all things parenting, and came across a blog post that someone wrote about this article on Babble.com.

The post was fairly typical, but the comments that followed it were what appalled me…not because I found them unusual, but because, frankly, they bored me. There were probably 14 comments all detailing why you should breastfeed, how you should only nurse, how bottlefeeding is bad, etc., etc. Now, I am completely in favor in breastfeeding. I encourage it to new moms whenever I can. I have written many articles detailing the benefits of nursing…and I fully support the Nestle boycott - as well as vilify the formula companies that try to make moms believe that formula is just as good as breastmilk.

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Although that’s the first thing I’m going to suggest you do with it - put a cloth diaper on your baby or toddler’s butt. As you can see from this post, there are many reasons to do that. Not the least of which is that potty training is easier!

You can also use a cloth diaper…

…as a cleaning rag. They don’t leave streaks and are great for polishing furniture (not that I really ever do this).

…in place of a paper towel - they are superabsorbant, after all.

…as a baby spit-up cloth.

…as a breast pad when nursing - just cut them into little squares or circles.

…in a first aid kit. They are great for stopping blood, padding splints, or rolling up behind someone’s head.

…for craft projects - they are great organic batting. I have a great kneepad for the garden made with a few cloth diapers sewn inside some pretty, waterproof fabric.

…as dishtowels.

…as a pad under a baby’s butt in the bath.

That’s just a few…have another idea? Let us know!

Well, my apologies for not posting lately, but I have been a bit preoccupied…

Our sixth baby - and second girl - arrived on Oct. 3! Kiara was born at our local birthing center after about five hours of labor. She is 9 lbs 2 oz and not my biggest baby - but in the top 3! We had another natural birth - although no tub this time, which I kind of missed. But I was a little too erratic this time to stay in one place.

She was born at 7 am and we came home that night. We are happily ensconced in loafing on the couch, catching up on email and light publishing duties, and watching DVDs from Netflix!

Thanks to all the subscribers and posters who have wished us well. I will post the “official” birth story a little later.

And yes, the cloth diapering, breastfeeding and co-sleeping have begun…and I love every snuggly second of it!

Best,

Misha

From the New York Post

“First came smoking. Then there were trans fats. Now the nanny-like city’s public-health crusade is taking on the baby bottle.
Free formula samples and formula promotional materials are now banned from gift bags given to new mothers at the 11 hospitals run by the city’s Health and Hospitals Corp.

Instead, new mothers will get a tote bag stuffed with disposable nursing pads, a mini-cooler for breast-milk bottles, and pint-sized T-shirts for the babies that proudly declare “I eat at mom’s.”

The move comes as World Breast Feeding Week is set to begin tomorrow.

And today, city health officials will announce a campaign to promote breast-feeding instead of using formula.

‘Nationally, there has been a push to return to breast-feeding,” said Dr. David Garry, director of obstetrics at Jacobi Hospital in The Bronx. “Human milk is still the best for newborn babies.’”

Read the rest…

Real Living - the ezine, turned blog, is now becoming Organically Inclined. I had such an overwhelming response to that little bumper sticker I put out, that I’ve decided it’s a much better name! So - from now on, Real Living will be known as Organically Inclined and is becoming a print/pdf zine in August!

Inside the first issue will be a few reprints of popular articles as well as some great new stuff…including poetry, tips for the frugal, essays on the good - or simple life, birth stories, parenting stories and a new swap it section.

If you have a writer lurking somewhere inside you or you just have a great story to tell - or even a pretty good story that you tell really well - I’d love to hear it. In particular, I’d love to see some articles on practical things - like your lazy gardening tips or how you keep the diaper pail smelling fresh!

So, please email me at misha@mishakennedy.com and hopefully you’ll see your name in print. We are happy to offer contributions a one year subscription to the zine - as well as that super cool bumper sticker…

 Since 1977, breastfeeding advocates have encouraged the boycott of Nestle and it’s products. I first read about the boycott about 15 years ago. I heard that Nestle would dress saleswomen up as nurses and send them to third world countries to convince new mothers that formula was better for their babies than breastfeeding. The Guardian recently published their investigation to see if Nestle had changed their ways. Here is some of that article to give you an idea of why we boycott all Nestle products.

Milking It

By Joanna Moorhead

“Eti Khuman’s face lies cradled on her mother’s shoulder, her cheek resting in against Mina’s collarbone. Eti is beautiful, but she is poorly: her breathing is heavy, and Mina has the distracted look of a mother who is very worried indeed. Eti’s illness - first vomiting, then diarrhoea - struck without warning. Like all mothers in Bangladesh, Mina knew to fear diarrhoea: in this country, diarrhoea can kill. So she wasted no time in bringing her eight-week-old daughter here, to the main diarrhoea hospital near her home in the capital, Dhaka.

“Eti was admitted, and now she and Mina are in the main ward, a sweltering room so packed with beds that there is barely space to walk between them. It’s a general ward, but most of the patients are babies. Some, like Eti, are being held by their mothers: others lie quietly on their beds attached to drips. Not one is crying: they are all much too weak for that.

“Twenty-five years ago, when Dr Iqbal Kabir first came to work at this hospital, small babies were almost unknown as patients. Today, he says, infants make up as many as 70% of admissions.

“The reason? Kabir shakes his head, and points to a poster on the wall above Eti’s bed. The same poster is displayed, many times, around the ward. It shows a baby’s bottle, with a big cross drawn heavily through it. The message is clear. “Bottlefeeding is harmful,” says Kabir. ‘Because bottlefed babies get diarrhoea, since their formula is mixed with dirty water and since their bottles are not sterile. Do you know how many breastfed babies are admitted here with diarrhoea? The number is almost zero.’”

Read the rest here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2079757,00.html

For more answers about the Nestle Boycott, check out: http://www.babymilkaction.org/resources/boycott/nestlefree.html