I was gifted this book by a mother in my lactation consulting practice.

You would have to be under a rock to miss that the long awaited movie rendition of Elizabeth Gilbert’s moving memoir Eat, Pray, Love opens today in theaters throughout the States.  Her yearlong journey of healing and self-discovery has touched the heart strings of millions of readers the world over.

Some will call it a “chick flick”, but it is really a love story that invites us all to live our lives with authenticity.  Elizabeth’s narrative spoke to the fundamentals of what binds us all together as human beings: food, connection with spirit and love.  Now the vicarious and passion-filled travelogue that was so transformational for her is about to come to life on the big screen.

Although different in form, this is quite similar in substance to the symbolic journey taken by a new mother.  Buffeted by a flood of hormones, her body and psyche will expand while she eats for two and contemplates the new life growing within her body.  During that first year of pregnancy and breastfeeding she will navigate tremendous changes in her self-image and identity.  She moves from morning sickness through the energized passionate appetite for life of the second trimester.  Finally toward the end of the 9′th month, this morphs into a cocooning phase which will extend through early breastfeeding.  She has prepared throughout this entire period to be fully present for meeting and embracing her new love…her beautiful baby.

In the zen stillness of a breastfeeding moment, a baby is nurtured and much love is shared.

Breastfeeding is Eat, Pray, Love.

Every breastfeeding mother has a story.  What is yours?

Breastfeeding Awareness Month 2010 has found its way into the news cycle.

The media and many blogs have taken up the mantle to feature breastfeeding on a regular basis throughout this month.  Sadly, their focus has not been on the theme of  promoting, protecting and supporting it through the Ten Steps.

Controversy turns out  far more sexy content.  Supermodel Gisele Bundchen’s comment that there should be a law that mothers breastfeed for 6 months, like her, most definitely has long legs.

Not to be left out of the mix, Bethenny Frankel, the reality tv personality from Bethenny Gets Married, has now added her two cents to the fray.  She has apparently told US weekly,  “It’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard.”   A breastfeeding mother herself, she added this politically correct disclaimer.  “Breastfeeding is one of the most rewarding experiences, but it isn’t for everyone.”

Ironically, The Dish Rag blog used these two women as examples of why it takes money and a staff to breastfeed.  How ridiculous.  One of its selling points is that breastfeeding is much less expensive.   Gisele and Bethenny may live in a more luxurious fashion but that has little to do with their being able to breastfeed.   The dish rag author has chosen to ignore the very real cost of not breastfeeding.

A dad in my prenatal breastfeeding class had taken notice of all the buzz around this topic.  He felt that most of the furor was being voiced by those who had challenges with breastfeeding, or those who had chosen not to breastfeed.  He shared that he thought it was just a personal opinion and one most likely taken out of context for effect.  He didn’t really get all the fuss.

I tend to agree with him.  Gisele and Bethenny are both in the public eye.  They are both vocal new mothers who represent aspects of a modern breastfeeding experience.

We need to focus less on the semantics.  Rather than “milking” such a trumped up controversy to get  negative attention, we  need to be facilitating breastfeeding success.  That’s a model that should be copied!

What do you think?

The reality show, Bethenny Gets Married, has just ended its first season. I was the first lactation consultant at Lenox Hill Hospital (1988-90) where Bethenny gave birth to her daughter Bryn Hoppy via Cesarean Section on 8 May 2010.

I was most interested in seeing how breastfeeding would be depicted both in the hospital and after Bethenny was discharged home. The pump was introduced in the early days after her C/S; the baby “nurse” Gina was shown following her around with pump parts and pumping seemed to be encouraged as a frequent part of Bethenny’s daily breastfeeding routine.

This is a candid clip of Bethenny talking with her therapist about the luxury of having a baby nurse and her impressions of breastfeeding before and after the birth of her daughter.

Bethenny’s experience has much in common with new mothers everywhere. However, having a baby nurse seems to be more of an urban phenomena.   It is an expensive option which seems luxurious at first glance, but has the potential to alter the long term success of breastfeeding. I will discuss that in more detail in my next post.

For now, I am curious if you also have been encouraged to pump and give bottles from the very beginning of your breastfeeding experience?

If so, has it added to your sense of overwhelm, fatigue or anxiety about your milk supply and/or caused problems with your latch?

Today is the end of World Breastfeeding Week 2010.

As it ends I invite you to contemplate this Celtic Mandala of Anu or Aine, The Great Mother.   She is the womb of life and and through her breasts she passes on its spark and vitality in the form of mother’s milk.

Anu or Aine-The Great Mother

In my world, where I am a community-based registered nurse and lactation consultant, protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding will continue on a daily basis.

I’ve been privileged to help so many moms and babies to join our global breastfeeding family.  Over the past 24+ years, it’s testimonials and feedback like this that have kept me going.

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Although, I still feel at times like a salmon swimming up stream, I embrace being called a “Breastfeeding Mary (aka Máire) Poppins”

Just the other day, during this week of breastfeeding celebration, I ran into a mom and her daughter that I had helped about 14 years ago.  Mana Allen re-introduced me to Molly who had gone on to breastfeed for many years in an  extended breastfeeding relationship that they had both relished. They thanked me yet again and Mana commented this week here on the blog.

Someday soon I imagine that I will have the honor and pleasure of helping Molly or another graduate of my practice to become a breastfeeding mother.

That will be a full circle moment!

World Breastfeeding Week 2010 is drawing to a close.  The focus has been on the Ten Steps of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative which aims to have health professionals and health care facilities promote and support breastfeeding.

In August of 2009, I was honored to have my article Breastfeeding: the Mother in Charge published in the UN Chronicle.  (click on cover)

It poses the following question…

When cultural anthropologists of the future look back on this moment in human history, what will they find? Will they see a tipping point in breastfeeding advocacy where we were able to successfully support and preserve breastfeeding?

The Ten Steps can help move us in the right direction.   Ultimately, our actions must speak louder than our words or policies. We need to teach mothers the fundamentals of how to achieve a deep, pain-free  latch.   Conscious Breastfeeding will put them in charge of their breastfeeding outcomes.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person, some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change we seek.”

~ Pres. Barack Obama

I invite you to read my article and share your thoughts.