Fenugreek at Freddy's

I did some grocery shopping at Fred Meyer the other day, while buying ingredients to make recipes with a friend. As always, the bulk section saved my life but as I was measuring and writing down price codes and labels I found something I wasn't even looking for -- Fenugreek! I decided to purchase a small amount.

I've heard of many women talking about it, and according to Livestrong.com, "Fenugreek is a medicinal herb that may help increase the production of breastmilk for nursing women and may help lower blood sugar levels, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. This herb may help increase breastmilk because the glands that produce milk are modified sweat glands and the herb may increase sweat production"

I have no immediate use for this, but I guess in the back of my mind I'm secretly hoping if someone ever complained about low milk production, and asked me about it I would have some on hand. Then I'd follow one of the many instructions found here for preparation, and viola -- a happy baby and mama, right?!

Maybe that will happen. Maybe it won't. One day, I'm sure. But for now I'm not going to sit around wondering about it too much. It'll be here if anyone asks.

Update:

A couple of hours after I finished this short post, I came back to admit I am omitting information, which somewhat skews the purpose of my Fenugreek purchase. The truth is I did just happen to see the Fenugreek at Fred Meyer in the bulk section as I was shopping for ingredients to make dinner with my friend. I was surprised to see it there since I had never dealt with this herb before. As I saw it and picked up the bottle to scoop out and measure my purchase, I had in my mind that if I was lucky enough, someone I know who just had a baby just a few months ago, and who is bottle-feeding because of a low milk supply, would benefit. I did not actively look for remedies and I would never just bring it up to her for fear that I would seem as if I'm not trusting her position or her judgement that she knows what is best for her situation. I do not know what she deals with or how she feels about the situation and her feeding choice is not my call. I also worried that I would seem pushy. I was hoping that while seeing her we would somehow get on the conversation of her low milk production and I would have Fenugreek on hand so she could try this remedy and initiate re-lactation and provide her new baby with her milk. But so far this has not happened.

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Prescriptions REQUIRED for Infant Formula? Say WHAT?

Someone from the Target Nurse-in facebook page that was created as a meeting place for the recent nation-wide protest that happened last week, made a suggestion. The suggestion, one I'm still trying to wrap my brain around, was that infant formula be available only via prescription, and this person not only believed formula be available only through a doctor's order, but has already initiated a process to get this in place -- she said she was in the process of getting a petition together to begin gathering signatures. Now, I won't immediately go into my ideas on this one since to be fair, I'm sure she had all the best intentions in the world.

I'm sure she's a nursing mother, or someone who has nursed one child or more and knows the benefits of breastfeeding and the bond it creates. That's fair to say, I'm sure. Good for her! Maybe she knows that infant formula is unfairly marketed to women, often in lower socio-ecomic statuses, communities Of Color, and that its ingredients are no match for mother's milk. Yes, this is all possible. As the staunch breastfeeding advocate she is, it is not unreasonable to assume this.

Here are just a few other details I can imagine.

She is probably a white woman. A heterosexual white woman married to a heterosexual white man. She is probably a stay-at-home mother, and her formally educated husband, no doubt, goes to work everyday -- well, Monday through Friday at least to you know, bring home the bacon. Every morning he probably pulls his sports car, maybe a BMW, from their three-car garage attached to their nice big house that sits inside of a gated community -- probably in the hills, and drives to his job. On the way he makes several cell phone calls to discuss things like rates, finances -- interest, before arriving at the office where he sits behind a computer all day and drinks wine and expensive meals at lunch time, engaging a corporate business partner on ways to increase profits and productivity. Probably.

This beautifully crafted white family with a stay-at-home mother and a formally educated husband probably have people helping out who have English as a second language, probably have Brown skin or darker, and come on a weekly or more frequent basis to mow the lawn, and help the stay-at-home mother tend to her children, leaving their own in the care of others. The beautiful white family eats dinner together -- a meal not prepared by the stay-at-home mother. Oh no. She is there on the sidelines -- in the background of whoever it is making this dinner. She may be off sewing, nursing her children in another part of the nice big house, out shopping or who knows, maybe she's at a breastfeeding support group, where all of the other women -- the other stay-at-home mothers whose husbands are also at work, sit in a circle and talk about how wonderful it is they can nurse their babies. They've never had any issues with a baby not being able to latch, low milk production, or any other social or health barriers. Great!

This couple probably has top-of-the-line health insurance -- the best one you can think of, and an extremely small co-pay, if one at all. If there's ever an emergency trip to the hospital they have no problem paying a deductible, or even GETTING to the location of course, since their fancy, fast car usually parked in their three-car garage attached to their nice big house inside of the gated community that sits on a hill, can be used at any time. They need not worry about waiting for a specific time of day or a schedule for the bus, walk long distances to the pharmacy, call and wait for an expensive taxi, or worry about the high cost of gas, since funding for all of these are taken care of by the labor of those workers in a rank lower than the husband's, and others -- those who more than likely cannot afford the nice big house in a gated community, sports car that would get them anywhere at any time -- even to the Dr's office, top-of-the-line health insurance -- the best one you can think of, the money for the co-pay or deductible, just the same as this beautiful white family with a stay-at-home mom, her formally educated husband who has a great job, top-of-the-line health insurance -- yes, the best you can think of, with little or no co-pay, and lives inside of a nice big house in a gated community in the hills, with a fancy, fast car parked inside of their freakin' three-car garage.

The Breastfeeding Coalition of Washington: I'm In!

I met with a representative from the Breastfeeding Coalition of Washington (BCW) yesterday! Finally! I say finally because we've been trying to meet for months, without success. So this was a great transition directly after the Target nurse-in, and over a hot cup of tea, discussed the coalition, public health, advocacy, and other topics. And I love the pen she gave me!

 Before the meeting's end I was made a member of this coalition and was overjoyed at the moment! This is my second coalition, the first being the Indiana Black Breastfeeding Coalition (IBBC), which I am still thrilled to be a part of.

I was asked a question yesterday during this meeting that has been in my mind since. "What is the answer to ending disparities?" Among communities Of Color, which is the reason I'm involved in this arena. I would love to have the answer to this one, and the only thing I could think of so far is to promote literacy and critical thinking, which I believe is a start to being able to make truly informed decisions. Of course it goes deeper than that, and we must take into consideration other factors as well -- racism, sexism, classism, which all work together, and must ensure we are not strictly making these issues for women to deal with. I don't have all of the answers.

I believe coalitions are such a great way to bring individuals and groups together to see the differences also, while recognizing we are inevitably working towards a common goal, while listening to and understanding each and learning the culture of these groups. I get more and more excited at the thought. I anticipate working with others.

Who Says Men Can't Breastfeed?

Now this is not your everyday situation, but I'm always thankful when I see contributions like these from those so willing to help out our little ones in the animal kingdom -- or in this case, to provide such nourishment to a stuffed baby manatee. And of course I'm always grateful for public breastfeeding advocacy! =D

The Nurse-in @ TARGET

I went to the Seattle, WA at Northgate Target yesterday to attend my very first nurse-in!    

The event was due to the harassment of a mother, who was confronted with both a rude sales associate, and a representative when she called in to complain about the anti-breastfeeding she encountered on-site. The nurse-in was organized as a  nation-wide protest to challenge the entity's policies or no policies on breastfeeding awareness.

I was the only Black woman in attendance, and of the small circle of about 15 the only one without kids. That didn't surprise me of course, but I also didn't see many women Of Color, and it got me wondering where they were. I know I must take things into account, such as location, but of course I was wondering. I saw random women with babies, and did not hesitate to approach them and ask if they wanted to join in. That I noticed, none of the Target associates had any problems with breastfeeding, and I even asked for some chairs for those involved, and a female associate asked what was going on. When I told her this is a nurse-in, and gave her the reasons why, her jaw dropped in disbelief right before stating she "supports us 1,000 percent!" Target apparently responded to this incident, but of course they were a day late and a dollar short.
 
I don't want to say "I can't wait for the next one," since that would mean another mother facing humiliation while trying to feed her baby. But I somehow get the feeling even with a protest at the national level we'll be back in some other store, government office or other institution. Yes it is unfortunate, but if I'm able to attend, I sure will.

   

       

Is Slavery Why Black Women Aren't Breastfeeding?

I've heard this argument before and have read similar, but I stumbled upon this article recently that is from 2009. The author doesn't go into much detail about her theory on why she believes slavery may be the reason Black women have lower numbers in breastfeeding, but here is a small excerpt, and of course you can read the full article here:

Slave Owners Purchased Us As Wet Nurses

To get to the bottom of this breastfeeding business, it's important to go back. Waaay back. A long time ago, black women were notorious for nursing. In fact, slave owners used and purchased black women as wet nurses for their own children, often forcing these mothers to stop nursing their own infants to care for others. "On the one hand, wet nursing claimed the benefits of breastfeeding for the offspring of white masters while denying or limiting those health advantages to slave infants. On the other hand, wet nursing required slave mothers to transfer to white offspring the nurturing and affection they should have been able to allocate to their own children," writes historian Wilma A.Dunaway, in the book The African-American Family in Slavery and Emancipation, published by Cambridge University Press. And since breastfeeding reduces fertility, slave owners forced black women to stop breastfeeding early so that they could continue breeding, often to the health detriment of their infants, Dunaway writes.

Now, one of the legacies of slavery is the severe social inequality in economics that still has a large impact in Black and communities Of Color today, and the article talked about the belief that breastfeeding is for poor people -- an idea still situated in many communities.

Breastfeeding is for Poor People

But there's more to our story than breastfeeding interrupted at the hands of slave owners hundreds of years ago -- though many may argue that some vestiges of slavery still exist in the mindset of the black community. Aggressive marketing by the formula companies in the 1930s and 40s made formula-feeding the choice of the elite -- "the substance for sophisticates" -- white or black. And who doesn't want to be like the rich and famous? That marketing continues to this day, down to the formula company-sponsored bag of goodies you probably received on the way out of the hospital. Then there's something I call the National Geographic factor -- that is, most of the images we see of black women breastfeeding are semi-naked women in Africa whose lives seem so far away from the African-American lifestyle and experience.

"'Breastfeeding is for poor people,' my mom once said to me," explains Nicole, a 37-year-old mom from New Jersey, who breastfed two children for a year. "My mom is a very progressive woman, but this was the thinking of her generation. I couldn't believe it."

Well, Black women DO breastfeed! But there is no denying our numbers could use a drastic increase, which is why I want to start this conversation here. Do you believe being enslaved and forced to feed a white slaver's baby left a legacy and is the reason for our lower rates? Does the image above (that I found on a postcard for sale on eBay) hit a nerve with a tradition of being mocked? Or is it more advertising? Is there more to the story? Well, I have my theory and believe it can be all and neither and more, and I will be getting into that. But for now I'm eager to hear your thoughts.

The Breast Crawl (Video)

For some strange reason, I recently woke with an insatiable urge to research the breast crawl. Why? Why not? Well, I'm not sure exactly. It is possible because I only know very little about the it, and from what I've noticed, haven't seen or heard of it applied to many situations.

In case you are unfamiliar with the breast crawl, it is a method where immediately after birth a baby is placed on the mother's abdomen instead of the mother holding the baby in the usual cradle position -- and the baby initiates breastfeeding by finding its way to the nipple. If I'm not mistaken, it is said that the baby has a greater sense of autonomy from finding its way to its food source. But this information could be incorrect.

My search for more information has begun, but I have some lingering questions like: Where did this practice initiate? Why don't we see it more often? Why is it when I look something up it is usually a practice by women who are not from or in N. America?  Does it hurt the new mother's stomach to have a baby on top of her? Can it work after a Cesarean? Do you only use the breast crawl once after birth, or can babies do this throughout infancy? What happens with twins? Of course my mind works this way, but hey, I think they're good enough inquiries! Well, I am on a search to find more info, and if you know of any, please don't hesitate to throw it my way!

Have you, or do you know of anyone who has ever practiced the breast crawl?

References and image:

breastcrawl.org

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