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Homemade formula and the Weston A. Price bust-up
It's always kind of interesting when crunchy people fall out with each other (you know, like elimination communication fans vs. let-your-child-sit-in-diapers-till-they're five-if-they-want-to...
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Yes, we still need strollers
Stroller, prams, pushchairs, buggies--they're a part of childrearing, whether you love them or hate them. And an awful lot of people do seem to really hate them. Dislike of buggies is one of the top...
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Bullshitometer: Is it OK to leave breastmilk out of the fridge for several...
Information on storing expressed breastmilk (EBM)--particularly the question of how long you could leave it outside the fridge--wasn't something I really focused on back in the days when I actually...
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Why we need "feeding rooms," not "breastfeeding rooms"
It's a funny thing about Japanese breastfeeding; breastfeeding rates here are high, yet you will rarely see a woman actually nursing. I remember pondering this question in pre-motherhood days and...
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White elephants in the freezer: The pros and cons of breastmilk stashes
Back in the glory days when Baby Seal was tiny, my "freezer stash" fluctuated, but basically consisted of two to three plastic containers stuffed at crazy angles around the frozen peas. For one thing,...
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"Las Dos" and breastfeeding diversity
"Las Dos" "Las dos" (meaning "both") is a phrase used among many Hispanic women to describe the common practice of using formula supplementation alongside breastfeeding--not necessarily out of dire...
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Bullshitometer: Rice cereal edition
Rice cereal is widely used in many countries as a first food for infants, either stirred into a bottle or mixed with breastmilk/formula and fed with a spoon. Hang around any discussion group with...
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Bottles for toddlers, nursing for toddlers
Well, it's been a while since I blogged: choosing nursery school programs (my baby is now three! How did that even happen?) while working full time and studying tends to do that to a girl. In fact,...
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Why don't Gypsy and Traveller women breastfeed?
I came very late to the Channel 4 documentary series "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding," having spent the last couple of months catching up on the two 2011-2012 series. The series itself was largely fluff--in...
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When breastfeeding arguments aren't actually about breastfeeding (Part 1:...
What do the following headlines all have in common?Drunk Mom's Baby Dies During BreastfeedingBreastfeeding Mom Kills Baby While DrunkMom Suffocates Baby While Breastfeeding, But It Could Have Been...
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Why I am (surprisingly) in favor of banning the bags
Increasing numbers of American hospitals seem to be "banning the bags" these days--that is, abolishing their long-established habit of handing out free samples of formula to mothers on maternity...
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When breastfeeding arguments aren't actually about breastfeeding (Part 2: "No...
NO BABIES HERE, PLEASE A few weeks ago, I talked about the way in which stories about unsafe sleeping practices and child welfare issues sometimes get distorted into "breastfeeding stories" by the...
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The earthquake
Even when you live in a country like Japan which experiences minor tremors on a frequent basis, the sensation of a big quake--like the one that rocked Japan on 11 March 2011--is something you are...
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Bullshitometer: Women with HIV should not breastfeed their babies
Should HIV-positive mothers breastfeed their babies? Canvas a few different sources--the La Leche League (LLL), the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) and your local mums' group--and you are apt...
View ArticleNo-BS breastfeeding resources updated
Finally got round to sorting out the HTML issues on that page, not to mention updating some of the content, getting rid of/fixing broken links and reorganizing the categories somewhat. Will go through...
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Pumping cultures, nursing cultures: Japan, Britain and the United States
I am a British blogger, who lives in Japan... and I follow a lot of motherhood-related stuff in the States, because a lot of my favorite blogs and parenting groups/forums are US-based. There are lots...
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What to expect when you wean your child at the age of 4.2 years
When I had my baby, I didn't quite expect that I'd be breastfeeding her for longer than 12 months. If you'd suggested to me that the duration of our nursing "relationship" might be reckoned in years...
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Is there a need for more nuance in the vaccine "debate"?
Alice Dreger--an academic whose gutsiness in taking up controversial issues I have a lot of respect for--has recently written an article on yet another hot-button topic: A heretic inthe academy: What...
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Fat vaginas and shrinking newborns in Japan
When I got pregnant I weighed 53 kilos at 170cm (118 pounds, 5’8); I gained 13 kilos or 28 pounds over my pregnancy. My daughter was born at just 2.6 kilos (5 pounds 11 ounces). By British or US...
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No-BS Book Reviews: "Work. Pump. Repeat" by Jessica Shortall
There are a lot of breastfeeding books out there, and quite a few that I wouldn't recommend to anyone who has to work outside the home in their baby's first year. So it's refreshing to come across a...
View ArticleOffering a breast across the species barrier
Another one of my occasional forays into what might loosely be termed "weird stuff" (nursing from extra breasts, nursing by males etc.) This time, a look at the odd world of human women who choose to...
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The white gold rush: Why Chinese shoppers are going all-out for foreign formula
I'm lucky enough to live in a neighborhood that is attractive and interesting enough for people to actually pay to come and visit it (i.e. Tourist Central). Japan has seen almost uninterrupted growth...
View ArticleWell, I'm back at last!
Well, I had assumed that the blog was pretty much done and dusted--been there, done that, no longer breastfeeding. Don't get me wrong, breastfeeding is a fascinating subject, but when you are no longer...
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When manual pumps are best
Because Baby Seal for a very very long time was going to be an only child, I went ahead and gave away most of the baby stuff (I hate clutter--if there is a medical word for the opposite of a hoarder,...
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I love glass baby bottles
Oh the joy of a breastfed baby who will accept bottles! After my experience with my first baby, I was that close to just not bothering with bottles at all this time round. Having seen Little Squish...
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