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HERE to go directly to The Curious Lactivist to read the entire article
Breastfeeding could save the US $13 billion dollars, US employers must now provide women with time and space to express their milk, even the new Adam Sandler flick features a four 48 month old child breastfeeding; it all sounds good, and then we find out that Enfamil now has a new flavored formula – chocolate, created especially for toddlers, and suddenly I want to crawl back into bed again.
Melissa Bartick (chair of the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition) had an impressive study published in Pediatrics recently. Her figures show that in addition to saving the US $13 billion dollars in health care costs over 900 lives could be saved as well if breastfeeding rates were to meet US recommendations. Her follow up article (“Peaceful Revolution”) calls for women to feel anger (rather than guilt) for the lack of support they receive. Amie Newman however believes that it will take more than public policy and knowing about health care cost to get women on board. Using herself as an example, she nursed her first child for a few days and her second for three years. The only thing that had changed was her frame of mind. While visiting Vermont’s only “Baby Friendly” hospital recently I had a conversation with their Lactation Consultant Terry Donofrio voiced similar concerns. “It used to be that women chose breastfeeding as a lifestyle. Today they choose it for health reasons but they don’t have the lifestyle to accommodate it,” says Terry. I have to agree. Having to go back to work before your baby has even started solids is not conducive to breastfeeding. Nor is the new IPhone app that lets you keep track of every feed, and don’t even get me started on the number of mothers who are scared silly at the thought of taking their baby to bed with them. We need a cultural change as well.
Thanks to Obama’s new health care package (“Thank you, page 1239!”) we now have a law guaranteeing mothers who work in a company with over 50 employees time and space to express their milk. (Notice I didn’t say pump? I’ve met mothers who work full time and hand express. They were able to meet their baby’s need without any help from Medela, thank you very much!) What we don’t know yet is how the law will be enforced, what a “reasonable” amount of space looks like, and whether or not women will get paid for their “lactation time”. It’s a step in the right direction if the direction we want to go in is separating moms and babies. I would have preferred a six month paid maternity leave, but beggars can’t be choosers.
In the medical news, there was an interesting Canadian study that showed that the negative effects of giving your children fast food can erase some of the positive benefits of breastfeeding (Higher asthma rates linked to fast food.) The rise of celiac disease in Sweden in the 1980’s has been tied to the recommendation at the time to wait before weaning to introduce gluten. Weaning was early in those days and the amounts of gluten recommended were high. And how it was wonderful to see an article about reducing pain during vaccinations recommending that the baby breastfeed during the inoculation! I will always remember the story Diane Bagley once told me about her daughter Leah. Leah was a still a young nursing toddler when she fell and cut her finger. After no one could her to hold her hand still at the ER Diane insisted that they let her nurse her while they stitched her up. The staff watched in amazement as Leah held out her tiny hand and nursed until the stitches were complete. (Diane by the way is the graphic designer for the Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition – she did the wonderful “For All Walks of Life” campaign!) ...
ScienceDaily (Apr. 23, 2010) — A substance found in breast milk can kill cancer cells, reveal studies carried out by researchers at Lund University and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.Although the special substance, known as HAMLET (Human Alpha-lactalbumin Made LEthal to Tumour cells), was discovered in breast milk several years ago, it is only now that it has been possible to test it on humans. Patients with cancer of the bladder who were treated with the substance excreted dead cancer cells in their urine after each treatment, which has given rise to hopes that it can be developed into medication for cancer care in the future.
Discovered by chance
HAMLET was discovered by chance when researchers were studying the antibacterial properties of breast milk. Further studies showed that HAMLET comprises a protein and a fatty acid that are both found naturally in breast milk. So far, however, it has not been proven that the HAMLET complex is spontaneously formed in the milk. It is speculated, however, that HAMLET can form in the acidic environment of the babies´ stomachs. Laboratory experiments have shown that HAMLET kills 40 different types of cancer, and the researchers are now going on to study its effect on skin cancer, tumours in the mucous membranes and brain tumours. Importantly, HAMLET kills only cancer cells and does not affect healthy cells.
Studying the integration of the substanceHERE to read the original article
Researchers at the University of Gothenburg are focusing on how HAMLET can be taken up into tumour cells. The researchers, Roger Karlsson, Maja Puchades and Ingela Lanekoff, are attempting to gain an in-depth understanding of how the substance interacts with cell membranes, and their findings were recently published in the journal PLoS One.
"I want to share with all the parents out there, the true story and feelings of a real man that was circumcised as an infant. Adam has been able to be honest and brave in a way that touches my heart deeply. His story makes me weep for all the other men that are in his position, and for all the boys that someday will be. To all the parents out there who have left their son intact, I'm sure you will be grateful that your own son will never have to struggle in the way that Adam has."
HERE to read the Entire wonderful article by Woman UncensoredAdam's words:
" Circumcision for me has been a whirl of mixed emotions, over all of them I can assure that none of them are good. When I have to think about my circumcision I have to face a hard fact, I have been altered, and in a very personal way at that. I am reminded that as a baby boy being born as was, was just not good enough. Most people I have encountered don't tend to think circumcision can cut so deep, but it is a cut with much depth to it. I find people left and right, circumcising their children with no qualms, and who just think they're doing the best for their child, and that the foreskin is just a flap of skin, to justify themselves they'll say `it's just a piece of skin.' And thus with such reasoning they circumcise their children, they cut away a piece. However, from my experience, the effects of circumcision come to create much more, ultimately the results of being circumcised come to create in amount the equivalent of a mosaic, therefore it is not one piece, but thousands of pieces building up. This mosaic created out of me and many other men, is in all essence I think something ugly something which should not have been made, simply and graphically put it has come to make a mosaic created solely of blood and flesh, of torture and screams, of pain and psychosis.
A lot of circumcised men are aware of their very personal unchosen alterations, but as men we are taught to not express our emotions, therefore it is rare you will hear a man express how he feels and especially if he is bothered by his circumcision. As men one of our utmost inner values is to build up security and confidence in ourselves, yet where can one have confidence if he knows he wasn't good enough from birth, that he had to be altered? It is no secret that as men we constantly fawn over our sexual prowess, and try our best to maintain our sexual securities, we worry if our penises are big enough to do the job right, if they'll bring our partners the best pleasure they can have, if they'll bring ourselves the best pleasure we can have, if they'll impress another, amongst many more manhood worries. Certainly, we shouldn't be so focused on our penises, but society has made us so, starting from birth when society was intently focused on our penises with the contemplation of circumcision, thus from the beginning we were spawned to constantly question ourselves in the penis department, for those men who were left intact they question their cleanliness and acceptance as society tells them they are dirty people and many have been shied away from for it, and for those of us who were circumcised we question our acceptance as well and our quality as men, part of our penis wasn't good enough, the foreskin, thus it holds strong possibilities that many other aspects of our penis might also not be good enough, and the whole folly of penile preoccupation is born.
"Svoboda of Attorneys for the Rights of the Child, an organization that has
brought lawsuits against doctors who have circumcised babies, said: "This is
going to affect the kind of damages that adult men get for being circumcised
against their will as babies. Lawyers are going to be in court holding up
this article and judges are going to have to pay attention. To win a legal
case you have to show harm, and what the harm cost you, and this article
does that.""
HERE to read the original articleCircumcision Causes Lifelong Harm, Concludes New Research
U.S. attorney warns doctors, "The foundation is well laid for lawsuits."
BOSTON (Monday, June 24, 2002) - A new study on circumcision in the latest
edition of Journal of Health Psychology concludes that the surgery causes a
host of psychological problems-including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD)-in adults who have suffered the surgery as babies. The study is due
on doctor's desks this week.
"Half of all men who were circumcised as babies have some degree of PTSD.
PTSD is what happened to men who went to Vietnam, and parents are doing it
to their babies," said J. Steven Svoboda, Executive Director of Attorneys
for the Rights of the Child, a lawyer and co-author of the study.
The study concludes that the trauma of circumcision affects the developing
brains of babies, and as a result, they may later suffer a host of
psychological problems as adults, including "depression and a sense of
personal vulnerability," in extreme cases causing the men to react in
"aggressive, violent, and/or suicidal behavior."
"We're hearing from a lot more men about emotional difficulties, sexual
difficulties, and psychological problems that they are attributing to their
circumcision," said Ron Goldman, Ph.D., Executive Director of the
Circumcision Resource Center in Boston, a psychologist, and another
co-author of the study with two other academics, "and it brings the
attention to mental health professionals that circumcision may be the cause
of some of the problems that they are diagnosing in men."
Up to now, many mental health professionals have been unaware of the
psychological harms of circumcision. "Now, men who have problems that they
cannot explain, and which may be mystifying their therapists, may look at
circumcision as the possible root of their problems," added Goldman.
The study's authors write, "PTSD may result from childhood circumcision,
just as it does from childhood sexual abuse and rape," and that "some men
circumcised in infancy or childhood without their consent have described
their present feelings in the language of violation, torture, mutilation,
and sexual assault."
The study found that "as compared with genitally intact men, circumcised men
were often unhappy about being circumcised, experienced significant anger,
sadness, feeling incomplete, cheated, hurt, concerned, frustrated, abnormal,
and violated." The authors also found that circumcised men reported lower
self-esteem than did genitally intact respondents.
Svoboda of Attorneys for the Rights of the Child, an organization that has
brought lawsuits against doctors who have circumcised babies, said: "This is
going to affect the kind of damages that adult men get for being circumcised
against their will as babies. Lawyers are going to be in court holding up
this article and judges are going to have to pay attention. To win a legal
case you have to show harm, and what the harm cost you, and this article
does that."
Svoboda has a warning for doctors who continue to circumcise babies against
the recommendations of medical bodies: "We know the physical damage being
done by circumcision, and that it is not medically recommended at all. The
foundation is well laid for lawsuits. Doctors who are still doing
circumcisions are already investing in a lot of trouble, and this study
makes their trouble worse. They just have to wait 18 years until that baby
grows up and they're in for a lawsuit. And an army of lawyers will be there,
with this study and many more in their arsenal."
Marilyn Milos, Director of NOCIRC, an organization that seeks to end routine
neonatal circumcision in North America, says, "This is the first time an
article addresses the long-term psychological trauma. The trauma is
significant for babies, resulting in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Any
time that we can determine that there is such severe harm to an unnecessary
procedure it should be outlawed. Female genital mutilation has been
outlawed, and we need the law to set the standard, here, too, followed by
aggressive educational programs. Parents and doctors need to know that this
is a harm that lasts a lifetime."
Svoboda is convinced that this study will have a major impact on
circumcision in the U.S. "Doctors ignore a lot of medical literature," he
said, "and they ignore the screams of the babies, but they listen when they
hear the word 'malpractice.' As a lawyer willing to sue, I've never had a
doctor not listen to me."
The Journal of Health Psychology is an interdisciplinary, international
journal that acknowledges the social context of health, illness, health
policy, and publishes theoretical, methodological, and empirical studies.
The circulation of the Journal is worldwide and papers are invited from
authors throughout the world.
The U.S. circumcises over 1.2 million male infants per year. The rate has
gradually declined to just under 60% in recent years. Circumcision is
generally considered an American cultural practice, but the pertinent legal
questions have not been decided and are only recently being asked. The
debate about circumcision has been more vocal lately due to increased
awareness and questions about harm and lack of proven benefits. Proponents
continue to claim potential decreased risk of certain diseases, but these
claims are not accepted by any national medical organizations.
"I recently heard through the grapevine about a woman whose doctor had scheduled a c-section because of suspected big baby. (She is of course weeks from her due date.) But, when the doctors vacation plans changed he no longer needed to schedule the c-section, and told her as much..."
HERE to read the entire article
The Jerk
So- your friends have introduced you to this "great"guy. He makes great money, has a nice car, big new house, good looking, all that seems important. You get a little closer a little faster than you would have liked and now you feel stuck in the relationship. As you get to know him better there are some things that really bother you about him.
You don't feel like he respects you at all. Whenever you mention something that is important to you he just blows it off. You have been wanting to go see a ballet for months and he just won't go- even though you go with him to countless monster truck shows. All of your opinions he would just rather not hear, and if you voice them anyways he makes a rude comment about how you don't really know anything. Sometimes he even scares you a little bit.
But- he is a great guy on paper, and all your friends love him. You have been going together for a few months now and it just feels like it would be too hard at this point to get out of the relationship. You hate being rude and hurting somebody's feelings anyway.
Of course you have a crazy, opinionated friend. She thinks a man should be respectful of you and what is important to you. Her husband treats her well, but doesn't have all that fancy stuff. She is actually happy in her relationship, unlike your friends. She keeps telling you to dump the jerk before it is too late, and you are stuck with him forever.
Seriously!
When we think about the above situation, it seems obvious right? Get out- find somebody good that you actually like and who likes you and respects you.
How many times do we hear this same stupid excuse though about somebody's doctor? "Oh, I am already 35 weeks, it is just too late to change." Or maybe this one, "Well, my sister went to this doctor too and I didn't know who else to go with. He is all right, and he tells me not to worry about anything."
It is not too late to change doctors until the cord has been cut. Am I being clear enough? We are talking about the birth of your baby. This is one of life's BIG events. It will change you. I am going to say that again, because it is so important. Birth will change you. How do you want your birth to change you? Do you want it to be full of regrets? Do you want to feel like a passive participant on a crazy ride where somebody else is behind the steering wheel? Or do you want your birth to be beautiful and empowering, like you hear it can be?
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Image by Adrisbow Photography
"This study was just routine," said Russian biologist Alexey V. Surov, in what could end up as the understatement of this century. Surov and his colleagues set out to discover if Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) soy, grown on 91% of US soybean fields, leads to problems in growth or reproduction. What he discovered may uproot a multi-billion dollar industry. After feeding hamsters for two years over three generations, those on the GM diet, and especially the group on the maximum GM soy diet, showed devastating results. By the third generation, most GM soy-fed hamsters lost the ability to have babies. They also suffered slower growth, and a high mortality rate among the pups...... .... Preliminary, but Ominous Surov warns against jumping to early conclusions. He said, "It is quite possible that the GMO does not cause these effects by itself." Surov wants to make the analysis of the feed components a priority, to discover just what is causing the effect and how. In addition to the GMOs, it could be contaminants, he said, or higher herbicide residues, such as Roundup. There is in fact much higher levels of Roundup on these beans; they're called "Roundup Ready." Bacterial genes are forced into their DNA so that the plants can tolerate Monsanto's Roundup herbicide. Therefore, GM soy always carries the double threat of higher herbicide content, couple with any side effects of genetic engineering.... ... Years of Reproductive Disorders from GMO-Feed Surov's hamsters are just the latest animals to suffer from reproductive disorders after consuming GMOs. In 2005, Irina Ermakova, also with the Russian National Academy of Sciences, reported that more than half the babies from mother rats fed GM soy died within three weeks. This was also five times higher than the 10% death rate of the non-GMO soy group. The babies in the GM group were also smaller (see photo) and could not reproduce. In a telling coincidence, after Ermakova's feeding trials, her laboratory started feeding all the rats in the facility a commercial rat chow using GM soy. Within two months, the infant mortality facility-wide reached 55%. When Ermakova fed male rats GM soy, their testicles changed from the normal pink to dark blue! Italian scientists similarly found changes in mice testes (PDF), including damaged young sperm cells. Furthermore, the DNA of embryos from parent mice fed GM soy functioned differently. An Austrian government study published in November 2008 showed that the more GM corn was fed to mice, the fewer the babies they had (PDF), and the smaller the babies were. Central Iowa Farmer Jerry Rosman also had trouble with pigs and cows becoming sterile. Some of his pigs even had false pregnancies or gave birth to bags of water. After months of investigations and testing, he finally traced the problem to GM corn feed. Every time a newspaper, magazine, or TV show reported Jerry's problems, he would receive calls from more farmers complaining of livestock sterility on their farm, linked to GM corn. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine accidentally discovered that rats raised on corncob bedding "neither breed nor exhibit reproductive behavior." Tests on the corn material revealed two compounds that stopped the sexual cycle in females "at concentrations approximately two-hundredfold lower than classical phytoestrogens." One compound also curtailed male sexual behavior and both substances contributed to the growth of breast and prostate cancer cell cultures. Researchers found that the amount of the substances varied with GM corn varieties. The crushed corncob used at Baylor was likely shipped from central Iowa, near the farm of Jerry Rosman and others complaining of sterile livestock. In Haryana, India, a team of investigating veterinarians report that buffalo consuming GM cottonseed suffer from infertility, as well as frequent abortions, premature deliveries, and prolapsed uteruses. Many adult and young buffalo have also died mysteriously....HERE to read the entire article
Co-sleeping is surrounded by myth, with all co-sleeping branded as irresponsible, when it is actually unsafe forms of co-sleeping which lead to harm. Rather like wanting to ban all car driving because of the possibility of road deaths, without differentiating between safe and reckless driving. To quote an October 2009 study of SIDS in south west England: "Many of the SIDS infants had coslept in a hazardous environment ... specific advice needs to be given, particularly on use of alcohol or drugs before cosleeping and cosleeping on a sofa."
Co-sleeping1 is beneficial to mothers & babies and the children & adults they become:
Always follow safety guidelines such as sleeping baby on their back, avoiding smoking (in and after pregnancy), being drug and alcohol free, using light bedding and a firm mattress. For full recommendations see Safe Cosleeping from The University of Notre Dame Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Lab and Attachment Parenting International - Infant Sleep Safety
- Protective against SIDS
- More frequent breastfeeding for a longer term
- Less crying
- Calmer and more soothing night time environment
- Dramatic decrease in sleep startles
- Increased understanding of baby's cues
- Longer birth intervals
- More light and less deep sleep appropriate to infants
- More independent and secure children
- Better mental health as adults
It is ok
HERE to read the whole Article
- to breastfeed your baby to sleep
- to breastfeed several times in the night
- if your baby doesn't sleep through the night
- if your baby wants to be with you all night
- to bed/room share with your baby
the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission that showed 515 cases of accidental infant deaths occurred in an adult bed over an 8-year period between 1990 and 1997. That's about 65 deaths per year. These deaths were not classified as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), where the cause of death is undetermined. There were actual causes that were verified upon review of the scene and autopsy. Such causes included accidental smothering by an adult, getting trapped between the mattress and headboard or other furniture, and suffocation on a soft waterbed mattress.
The conclusion that the researchers drew from this study was that sleeping with an infant in an adult bed is dangerous and should never be done. This sounds like a reasonable conclusion, until you consider the epidemic of SIDS as a whole. During the 8-year period of this study, about 34,000 total cases of SIDS occurred in the U.S. (around 4250 per year). If 65 cases of non-SIDS accidental death occurred each year in a bed, and about 4250 cases of actual SIDS occurred overall each year, then the number of accidental deaths in an adult bed is only 1.5% of the total cases of SIDS.
There are two pieces of critical data that are missing that would allow us to determine the risk of SIDS or any cause of death in a bed versus a crib.
The data on the first question is available, but has anyone examined it? In fact, one independent researcher examined the CPSC's data and came to the opposite conclusion than did the CPSC - this data supports the conclusion that sleeping with your baby is actually SAFER than not sleeping with your baby (see Mothering Magazine Sept/Oct 2002). As for the second question, many people may think that very few babies sleep with their parents, but we shouldn't be too quick to assume this. The number of parents that bring their babies into their bed at 4 am is probably quite high. Some studies have shown that over half of parents bring their baby into bed with them at least part of the night. And the number that sleep with their infants the whole night is probably considerable as well. In fact, in most countries around the world sleeping with your baby is the norm, not the exception. And what is the incidence of SIDS in these countries? During the 1990s, in Japan the rate was only one tenth of the U.S. rate, and in Hong Kong, it was only 3% of the U.S. rate. These are just two examples. Some countries do have a higher rate of SIDS, depending on how SIDS is defined.
- How many cases of actual SIDS occur in an adult bed versus in a crib?
- How many babies sleep with their parents in the U.S., and how many sleep in cribs?
Until a legitimate survey is done to determine how many babies sleep with their parents, and this is factored into the rate of SIDS in a bed versus a crib, it is unwarranted to state that sleeping in a crib is safer than a bed....
...A conflict of interest? Who is behind this new national campaign to warn parents not to sleep with their babies? In addition to the USCPSC, the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA) is co-sponsoring this campaign. The JPMA? An association of crib manufacturers. This is a huge conflict of interest. Actually, this campaign is exactly in the interest of the JPMA.
