Through the eyes of a child

For World Breastfeeding Week I was excited to host "Perspectives: Breastfeeding through Children's Eyes Art Prject." The original plan was to take submissions for a week and then select one to be printed on note cards, a collaboration with Paper Mama, the sales of which would go to benefit Best For Babes Foundation. We were and are all super excited. But we want more submissions.

In an effort to get more submissions, we're going to extend the contest deadline to September 15th. We have some great submissions so far and love seeing how your little ones view breastfeeding. We are looking forward to even more. Spread the word and ask your little ones to share their artistic expressions of their perspective of breastfeeding!

To submit, send a scanned copy of a high quality photograph of your child's piece to theleakyboob @ theleakyboob.com by September 15th with your child's first name, age and anything they had to say about breastfeeding and their submission. You may submit as many as you'd like.

We are looking forward to all of the submissions and hope to help a good cause and I'd love to show that children seeing breastfeeding is not a sexually perverted act and is in fact a positive in not only the lives of the mothers and babies but the children exposed to such beautiful nurturing as well.

Earth Baby on Breastfeeding

For our WBW blog carnival on "Perspectives: Breastfeeding From Every Angle" we are pleased to host guest posts from various contributors. Today we are honored to share a guest post from Earth Baby, sharing her perspective on breastfeeding as the 11 year old girl, oldest of 5 sisters, all breastfed.

Jessica (The Leaky B@@b) breastfeeding Earth Baby in the hospital November 1998

I don’t remember being breastfed, but I know that I was.

I am not a professional when it comes to breastfeeding, at least not since I was a baby and I don’t remember that, but I do know some things about breastfeeding: it feeds the baby; it keeps them healthy; you don’t need to hide to breastfeed, it’s natural; it gets moms closer to their babies and helps the babies to know their mom. Last week I learned that the boobies can change temperature if the baby is too hot or too cold. The mothers need to eat a lot (not to make themselves fat) to produce milk; and we all know that babies love their mommy’s milk!

I am happy that my mom is breastfeeding but will I want to breastfeed my own children? Right now I think I would but I am not sure if I will approve of it when I am older. But I think I will. The reasons why I would breastfeed are because it is safe. It is healthy for the child and the mother. In other words, why did God make breasts? Is it for men to admire them? No way! It would let the babies have a chance to trust us. I think I will breastfeed my babies because God made us to do so, so when they are close to me they can trust me.

Earth Baby and her mommy, 1999

Babies being healthy and happy makes me feel happy. They are chubby, cheerful, and sweet after being fed. Feeding your babies can help soothe them if they are troubled, or to get smiles. The best part of breastfeeding is…cuddling! I’m not sure if it is true but whenever my mom breastfeeds, they seem to be snuggled close together. I love that.

Earth Baby, a chubby, happy, breastfed baby, June 1999

Some people don’t feel comfortable with moms breastfeeding in public or around them. But I think they don’t realize that they were once breastfed. I feel completely comfortable that my mom or myself, when I am grown up, can breastfeed anywhere, around anyone, or anyplace. My mom breastfed me and has breastfed four other children ever since I was born. I don’t mind, I had to be there when my mom breastfed my sisters. I am used to it.

There is this question that has been stuck in my head for a while, what would I do if my husband didn’t agree with me breastfeeding? I would tell him that it is important to do it and I will not hide from him or public. We decided that we wanted children. I was pregnant for nine months. I did it, not him. I gave birth to our child, he didn’t, even if he helped me. I did all of the hard work of bringing a child to us. Then I would say to him that I get to decide what to feed our child because I gave birth to her/him and it is my body. If he disagreed with me and told me what to do, I would tell him, “we need to keep our baby healthy. You like to get smiles from our child. She/He smiles after I nurse her/him and you like it.” Then I would give him the baby and walk away but when she/he cries he'd want me to come back to breastfeed her/him and I would tell my husband he made a good choice.

The author today, 11 years old.

I have had my times where I am scared when my mom breastfeeds in public. I feel like I might be mocked for breastfeeding when I was a baby. I am also scared that after if someone points out my mom breastfeeding they will have a little fight with my mother and that then she will give up and I don’t know what to do. My little sister needs her breastmilk. I’m scared it will also happen to me, that people will judge me that I shouldn’t breastfeed my baby someday in public.

It seems a little strange that my developing breasts are going to be bigger, full of milk with a nipple and a baby on top of it someday. I really don’t want to have big or little boobs when the time comes, just something just right for breastfeeding.

Earth Baby

Don't Ever Want To Forget

For our WBW blog carnival on "Perspectives: Breastfeeding From Every Angle" we are pleased to host guest posts from various contributors. Today we are honored to share a beautiful poem from Alex and her memories looking back at her child-led weaning experience when her daughter was 3.5 years old.


Don't Want to Forget

I don't ever want to forget

That she called them Waa, and then MommaWaa, and then Yummies, and finally they were her Yums.

That she named them Jack and Jill, and she loved them.

That when I laid her down, the imprint of her ear would be pressed into my arm just below my elbow and I always wanted to be brave enough to get it tattooed there.

I don't ever want to forget

Her sleep eating.

How angry I felt sometimes, and how I had to learn to listen to what both our bodies needed.

How I thought it would never end, and then it did.

******
A Child-led Weaning

It's been happening slowly and organically, just the way I had always hoped. Less and less often with occasional bouts of tornado like nursing, reassuring herself, I think, that all was still good in her world.

The day before yesterday I thought it might be coming to an end, this amazing relationship, and I soaked up the warmth of her - the weight in my arms, her ear pressed into the bend of my elbow. The stillness that only belongs to that moment. Then today, when she nursed (due to the natural rules of demand based supply) there was nothing. And miracle beyond all miracles, she was ok!

I told her that her yummies say she is big enough now, she doesn't need their milk anymore. And so she stood up to check how big she was and then asked if she could hug them outside their bra. Her smile was so happy and full that I had to take pictures. And so we were done.

We baked a cake last night, and Daddy grilled steaks. We put every candle we had on the cake, and we blew them out together, the three of us. It was a group effort all round, this breastfeeding thing.

I do feel as though I have lost one of my tools. What about her runny nose? What do I do next time she has the flu? Dehydration? I've never had to worry about that!

And I feel proud! Proud of her and me and us. I was scared from the get go that breastfeeding wouldn't work for me. My body lets me down sometimes, and I feel like I don't stick with things that are hard. But I did it, and it really is empowering. I feel as though I have birthed again. An end to one stage, one I cannot go back and revisit, but with it the sure knowledge that I have done a good thing and she is full.

Baby Belle Girl, I wish that all your transitions could be this good. That I could know that you have had your fill, are completely satisfied and are ready to go. I hope I can always let go and know that now I've done what I needed to do. Mama's so proud of you.

Alex's Daughter.

Perspectives: Breastfeeding through Children's Eyes Art Project

Yesterday I had an idea. That idea has turned into something I'm very excited about.

Children see and understand more than we give them credit for. They are also more accepting, curious but uninhibited in their quest for understanding. I love that about kids. It can also be a little bit maddening but when I take the time to really see and try to experience the world from my children's perspective I am overwhelmed at the simple beauty they take time to appreciate but I often rush by.


As adults, we love to wax poetic on the things that are important to us. So much so that we can go on and on and on about our favorite topics and we won't be happy until we're sure we've shared it with everyone in the world. Not only shared it, but have them agreeing with us, telling us we are absolutely right. Children also love to talk about their passions but they move on quickly, finding other ways to connect with their passions including creative play and art.


This week we are taking a look at some of the many different perspectives on breastfeeding and one that we want to hold high is breastfeeding from the perspective of children. Using art, any medium, any form, children of all ages are invited to send in their art work expressing how they see breastfeeding, what they think of breastfeeding, and how breastfeeding makes them feel. It can be abstract or literal, a painting or a sculpture, comic strip or a dance. Take a picture (or video if it is a dance or song) and send it to theleakyboob {@} theleakyboob {DOT} com. Visual art will be entered into a contest as we search for a child's artwork to be breastfeeding note cards. The winner will receive a set of their note cards and additional cards will be available for sale through The Leaky B@@b and Paper Mama to benefit Best For Babes.

We want to see any and all artistic expressions of breastfeeding your child creates but here are the guidelines and some tips for an entry to be considered for the contest.

• Colorful images work best and are most eye catching.
• If possible, scan the original artwork on a scanner. If that isn't possible, take as high a quality photo you can with natural lighting, no shadows, and crop to eliminate distractions in the background.
• Bigger may be better as it is easier to scale an image down than to make it bigger and we want to be able to see your child's work well.
• Only visual art, not performance art, can be considered for the contest but please don't let that stop you from sending in a poem, dance, or song your child creates about breastfeeding.
• Multiple submissions by the same artist and family are welcomed.
  
• The deadline is August 9th for a submission to be considered for the contest but we will gladly enjoy seeing your child's art any time.
  

I look forward to seeing the world of breastfeeding from your children's perspective.

World Breastfeeding Week- Perspectives: Breastfeeding from Every Angle

So it turns out, World Breastfeeding Week is a family affair in our house. It's kind of funny, really, we go from a vague "oh, it's world breastfeeding week" last year to "let's host a blog carnival and all get involved" this year. Strange and fun. The Piano Man is working on the new website trying to learn code, design and all sorts of new things on the techie side of things. I'm reading and reviewing submissions for the "Perspectives: Breastfeeding from Every Angle" blog carnival and squeezing in time to write my own as well as content for the website, Earth Baby is at the archaic PC writing a guest post for TLB carnival, The Storyteller has ducked behind the piano creating her first every comic strip just for World Breastfeeding Week, Lolie is filling pages and pages with her colorful perspective on breastfeeding, Squiggle Bug settled in for an early bed time and Smunchie has had her b@@bie snacks a couple of times over. I looked up from NAKing (nursing at the keyboard-ing) to see my family all engrossed in preparations for World Breastfeeding Week, filled with an unexpected contentment that they all so willingly embrace the mission of The Leaky B@@b.

And it gave me a great idea. A great, wonderful, delightful idea.



The Leaky B@@b blog carnival is "Perspectives: Breastfeeding from Every Angle" and I'm delighted to say that we have some fascinating perspectives to share with you this week. Everything from personal stories to professional education, historical attitudes and feminist opinions, the delightfully easy experience to the challenging heartbreak of disappointment. And then some. I'm breathless with excitement about the treasures in store this next week which will go very well with my current sleepless state.

To add to all that though is my great, wonderful, delightful, best-ever World Breastfeeding Week idea.

I asked Earth Baby, The Storyteller and Lolie if they'd like to contribute anything for World Breastfeeding Week. They surprised me by enthusiastically diving in to their various projects. Lolie asked me for some ideas and guidance in creating pages of rainbow drenched depections of breastfeeding. After giving her a few pointers and creating one of my own I sat back as she filled page after page. I had to cut her off to send her to bed but I love the radiant images she made.

Inspired by Lolie, we are adding at the last minute a new component to our celebrations of World Breastfeeding Week:

Perspectives: Breastfeeding through Children's Eyes Art Project.



Anything pretty much goes. With as little guidance as possible, invite your child to create something about breastfeeding, take a picture or scan the original and send it to us at theleakyboob@theleakyboob.com. We will feature each and every single submission we receive as part of our celebration for WBW. Experiment with different mediums, paint, crayons, pencils, clay, playdough, sticks, bee's wax, you name it. Please let it be your child's work, if you'd like to send something of your own creation in, I welcome that too but not for the Children's Art Project. When sending in a submission for the Perspectives: Breastfeeding through Children's Eyes Art Project, please include the child's first name (last is not required), age and the medium as well as a title if there is one. Any and all submissions may be used on The Leaky B@@b blog and website at any time, all rights released.

I can't wait to see the creations we get. After all, of all the perspectives out there we breastfeed for our children, it is their perspective that may just be the most important.


ETA: Paper Mama is going to partner with us to pick one selection from the submissions to create note cards with a set going to the creator of the original artwork. Further sets will be available for purchase to benefit Best For Babes!

"Is Nursing Bad?"

I have 5 children. Five girls. Yes, five. Yes, they are all girls. Yes we have certainly figured out what causes “that” and I have to say we’re pretty dang good at it. Obviously.

I want many things for my 5 girls when they grow up. In fact, I hope they have leaky boobs themselves one day. I know they may not, for whatever reason but it will not be because they think it is weird or gross or anything else other than normal. As their mother I’m doing everything in my power to hold breast-feeding up as normal and so far, it is working. Last summer I learned that my children didn’t even know what formula was.

"Mommy, why is she giving her baby a bottle? Are her boobies broken?" 6 years old Lolie asked loudly, much to my embarrassment.

I didn't know the woman in question, she was a stranger feeding her baby at the park.

"Maybe it isn't her baby and she doesn't have milk in her boobs yet." Earth Baby, at 10 years old, was trying to explain before I could jump in to quiet the conversation.

Breast-feeding is important enough that I didn't want the conversation to halt but I could tell the woman and others at the playground could hear us and I didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable. Talking softly I encouraged them to lower their voices but immediately regretted it when Lolie asked if talking about nursing was bad. After a short pause I returned my voice to a normal speaking volume, telling the girls there was nothing wrong with talking about breast-feeding. I did explain that I didn't want to say anything that would make the woman feeding the baby a bottle to feel bad. The conversation that followed continued at a respectful volume level, thankfully.


We discussed the possible reasons why a woman would be giving a baby a bottle instead of her breast. They were immediately sympathetic that perhaps her breasts were, in fact, broken and not able to produce enough milk. It was reasonable to them that maybe this woman was a babysitter, perhaps an aunt or friend and the mom was at work and had left a bottle of pumped milk. Or that the baby was adopted and could be drinking formula because there was nobody to give him breast-milk. This idea was very sad and after I explained what formula was they wondered for a bit as to what could have happened to the biological mother and why there was nobody to donate breast-milk. That conversation gave them a great idea, since I was no longer donating my breast-milk to one of the 3 babies I had been helping to supply they insisted I go up to the woman and offer to nurse the baby or at least give her some pumped milk. Pointing out that I was actually ok not donating any more and that I didn't know this family or that they would be interested I begged my way out of that potentially awkward situation. But it was my suggestion that maybe that mom never wanted to nurse and was choosing to give formula that got the strongest reaction. I reminded them a few times to lower their voices but by then a distraught Storyteller couldn't help herself and loudly argued that "every baby should get to have their mommy's warm sweet milk if they can!" At 8 years old she was already a breast-feeding advocate. I admitted she had a point.

The conversation ended shortly after that outburst and the girls moved on to playing. I noticed a short while later that The Storyteller was assisting Squiggle Bug off the slide and walking her towards me saying, a bit too loudly, “You want to nurse? You want sweet mommy milk? Ok, I’ll take you to mommy so you can have your special boobies. You’re a lucky baby to get to nurse instead of having yucky formula.” No, not passive aggressive at all.


I started out to write a piece about sharing breast-feeding with older children and ended up with this. Breast-feeding, in any amount, is worth encouraging and showing children as normal. In the recent Old Country Buffet incident a breast-feeding mother was told “this is a family friendly restaurant” as though breast-feeding isn’t family friendly. I beg to differ and so would my children. It is about as family friendly as one can get and the more families see it happening the healthier we, our children and our future grandchildren will be.

A year later, I realized just this morning how normal feeding a baby from my breast is for my daughters. I was pumping and Earth Baby asked: “Are you going to nurse her a bottle?” Anything other than nursing just seems strange. I love that.