HAPPY HOUR! Peace, Love, Breastfeeding

Lisa, at Ice Mudd and YoHo Graphix 4 Me, has out-done herself for World Breastfeeding Week. Offering daily free digital download embroidery designs EVERY DAY this week and contributing 2 give-aways to The Leaky B@@b, she's made sure we can party hard.

Check out this awesome vinyl art wall decal Lisa is giving away just for Leakies on our Facebook page from 4-10pm CST tonight.

(Please note, the decal for this give-away is light blue)

It's Happy Hour at The Leaky B@@b. To be entered, head over to The Leaky B@@b on FaceBook and look for the post on our wall saying "COMMENT HERE TO BE ENTERED!" You don't have to do anything else to be entered but if you haven't already, "like" YoHo Graphix 4 Me page and show another Leaky your support. Good luck everyone and have fun!

Breastfeeding in Fine Art

I love breastfeeding art. There is something profoundly quieting about an artistic rendering of a woman nourishing and comforting her child at her breast. Photography and hand drawn or painted, Historical and modern creations alike draw me in, in a way no other theme in art does. Maybe it is because I am a breastfeeding mother but I actually think it is more than a personal connection with the act of breastfeeding and more that depctions of breastfeeding share one primal truth about mothering: mother requires vulnerable sacrifice. To breastfeed a child of any age requires the mother to expose a part of her body, to offer it to the child purely for their nourishment. Any benefits of breastfeeding a mother receives are secondary, the primary objective is to meet her child's needs. All mothers, even those that don't breastfeed, understand this motivation in caring for their children but, after birth, nothing visually illustrates this as much as breastfeeding. Viewing a moment of that physical illustration preserved in the form of art is a moving experience, humbling and uplifting as only being confronted with unconditional love can be.

And so it is that I am please to be able to share a generous give-away from Kate Hansen. Kate has 2 of the above print set aside for readers of The Leaky B@@b. The recipients will be chosen via a random drawing from your comments below. A fine art print for free, one that embraces such a beautiful moment in mothering, what a way to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week.

To be entered go to Kate's website and browse her Madonna and Child Project gallery then come and tell us which is your favorite in the comment section below.

For an additional entry, go "like" Kate's Facebook page and let me know by leaving another comment saying "I like Kate!"

Share this give-away for one more entry, comment letting us know what social networking site such as Twitter, Facebook, or a parenting forum (not the TLB forums) you passed this really neat opportunity along to.

This give-away will close Saturday at 11.59pm, CST.


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This Give-Away Is Now Closed!
Thanks to Kate Hansen and everyone that entered.

The winner is Sondra Rose! I'll need you to e-mail me at theleakyboob @ theleakyboob.com (no spaces) to get your e-mail address to pass along to Kate for her to get your shipping information. Congrats and enjoy! Oh, and once you get your print, we'd love to see some action shots!

World Breastfeeding Week- Thursday!

Squiggle Bug

Squiggle Bug is walking around the house calling for her toilet, like it ran away or something. I find this confusing.

What does that have to do with World Breastfeeding Week? Nothing, nothing at all. Except as evidence that I do actually think about other things than breastfeeding. Like toilets. And poop, but you already knew that.

Are you a crafty lactivist? Lisa once again offers up a neat embroidery design for breastfeeding mom with iLactate! Free download and if you give it a try share a pic please!

From tube-fed to boob-fed- Becky found reality to be a little different from the what she had dreamed when she imagined having a baby but she wouldn't change it for the world. A daughter with a rough entrance into the world and facing special needs starting out with tube feedings. But this is a breastfeeding story. Becky writes about ferself: "I am a mom of a very special little girl who is nothing what we expected, but loved more than we ever imagined. She is my full time job, the love of my life, and she blesses me daily with her ability to do more than anyone ever expected!"

Breastfeeding and Bible Study: WWYD?- It was a sticky situation, one woman feeds her baby at a Bible study and the hostess finds out that another woman is too uncomfortable with breastfeeding to continue attending. What would you do? Dionna writes about natural/attachment parenting and life with a toddler (soon to be preschooler) at Code Name: Mama. She also cofounded NursingFreedom.org, a site dedicated to normalizing breastfeeding and advocating for breastfeeding rights.

World Breastfeeding Week- "All I can say from personal experience is 'just do it!'" Journalist and solo mom to two, Olivia writes about WBW and her experience breastfeeding from the get go and out and about. Birth, pregnancy, breastfeeding and reproduction issues are the theme for her blog Write About Birth.

An Open Letter to My Alma Mater- Sadly, we know that many doctors and nurses receive less than adequate education on human lactation but what about those studying biology? I love this letter Abbie wrote to her Alma Mater concerning her education in lactation as a student of biology. Abbie is a wife, mom, teacher and environmentalist who was raised on my family's farm. She likes to cook from scratch, garden, craft, read and write in her spare time.

Not a planned part of our carnival but I'm going to point you all in the direction of Dou-la-la again, she has an informative post regarding the dangers of early supplementation and one reason that is often overlooked.

I'll have guest posts and give-aways up today plus Happy Hour on The Leaky B@@b Facebook page again. We've had lots of fun. Be sure to enter the PumpEase Give-Away that closes on Saturday.

Natural Pure Essentials has a special 10% discount just for The Leaky B@@b readers with the code leakyboob. Find Safe Sippy, cloth diapers, safe sunscreen options, and other natural parenting items for all your needs. The discount is good through Saturday and thanks to Navine for helping make World Breastfeeding Week a time to encourage all moms.

Don't forget about our Children's Art Project with Paper Mama to benefit Best For Babes Foundation! Send in your child's creation about breastfeeding and help support this great cause, one piece will be selected for note cards and the winner will receive a set of their own.

It's been a great week and we have 2 days left. I hope you're enjoying the different blogs, guest posts, give-aways and offers. I'd love to know how you have found ways to honor World Breastfeeding Week, comment and share here. Thanks!

KIDS EAT FREE!- WBW PumpEase Give-Away

The beautiful ladies of PumpEase are offering up this fantastic PumpEase Prize Pack for The Leaky B@@b readers during World Breastfeeding Week.

From their website: "PumpEase hands-free pumping support will hold your breast pump in place as securely and comfortably for your 1000th pumping session as it did for your 1st. Our patent pending, 'no-stitch' horn openings accommodate ALL makes and models of pumps guaranteed."

The PumpEase Prize Pack includes:

A PumpEase Hands-Free Pumping Support

A Best For Babes Door Hanger

A Breastmilk Storage Guide Fridge Magnet

• To be entered into this give-away comment on this post after you've "liked" the PumpEase Facebook page saying "I like PumpEase!"

• For an additional entry, share this give away on a social networking site such as FaceBook, Twitter or a parenting board (Not TLB forums) and let us know how you shared it in another comment.

• And for one more entry visit the PumpEase website, come back here and comment again telling us your favorite product on the website.

That's it! This great give-away is open through Saturday for World Breastfeeding Week. Good Luck!

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This Give-Away Is Now Closed!
Thanks to PumpEase and everyone that entered.

The winner is Bex1974! PumpEase will need your shipping address could you e-mail me that information? Congrats and enjoy!

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Update

Since I haven't heard from our original winner, I did another drawing and the winner is Farmer's Daughter. Congrats!

Happy Hour! Thank You For Nursing In Public cards give-away

Whether you whip them out all loud and proud or stealth feed, nursing in public helps encourage future moms of all ages to consider breastfeeding as the most normal way to feed a baby. Thank the moms that take part in this education with Paper Mama's beautiful "Thank You For Nursing In Public" cards.

Win a set of these cards tonight during The Leaky B@@b Happy Hour give-away from 4-10 PM CST tonight. Have something handy to show your support to breastfeeding moms in public without wondering what to say. Since we can only have one winner tonight, you can go order your own set directly from Paper Mama.

It's Happy Hour at The Leaky B@@b. To be entered, head over to The Leaky B@@b on FaceBook and look for the post on our wall saying "COMMENT HERE TO BE ENTERED!" You don't have to do anything else to be entered but if you haven't already, "like" Paper Mama's page and show another Leaky your support. Good luck everyone and have fun!

World Breastfeeding Week- Wednesday!

Color pencil drawing by Shallanee, age 6.

It's Wednesday, hump day. There is no possible way on earth that I can say "hump day" and really only think "oh hump, as in the middle of the week... just going down to the weekend from here!" No. Say "hump day" and I giggle like a jr. high boy thinking of the time I saw the bears getting it on at the zoo. I am not the only one that thinks this, I know I'm not.

This particular hump day is half way through World Breastfeeding Week. The shear volume of blogs, articles, news-debacles out there for WBW is astounding. It's like lactivist are going to take over the world or something. It's kind of cool.

But there is something else extra special about this hump day though too. It is The Piano Man's birthday today. Which means it probably really is "hump day" if you know what I mean. *jr. high boy giggling goes here.* If my mom is reading this, she probably just died a little reading that I put not so thinly veiled innuendos on the internet and some of my real life friends are not going to look me in the eye the next time I see them. Or laugh like a jr. high boy. *HI SUE!*

ANYWAY...

It's The Piano Man's birthday, which is nice. But back to World Breastfeeding Week and our fantastic blog carnival (if I do say so myself- which I do because I can since I haven't written the carnival submissions myself).

Our beautiful art work in this post today are submissions to our Children's Art Project "Perspectives, Breastfeeding Through Children's Eyes." All these drawings are making my heart go pitter-patter. Aren't they beautiful? I just love them. We really need more though, please, please, please send us your child's art work depicting breastfeeding.

Mom's Milk Is The B(r)e(a)st!- More art for this week is coming from Lisa Crigger with a new digital embroidery downloadable design every day for World Breastfeeding Week. Cute and fun designs for free every day this week!

And the bloggers are really bringing it, once again.

How It's Supposed To Be- Natural doesn't always mean easy. In this post Rachel shares the path she has traveled in breastfeeding her children full of difficulties and triumphs and always love. Rachel is a busy mom to five. When she's not nursing her youngest child (and sometimes when she is), Rachel blogs at A Reservation For Six.

Postpartum OCD, A Retroactive Self-diagnosis: Part 1 of 2- "Then it all went to hell." Dou-la-la joins TLB blog carnival today with a painfully honest look back at her postpartum days and breastfeeding challenges with her newborn including a video of a stressful feed. Dou-la-la is written by Anne, doula-in-training, birth advocate and a moderately crunchy mother.

Don't Muddy Your Milk: Shame and Breastfeeding- Returning with The Leaky B@@b carnival, NursingFreedom.org takes a look at how shame impacts breastfeeding. NursingFreedom.org was cofounded by Dionna of Code Name: Mama and Paige of Baby Dust Diaries. NursingFreedom.org is dedicated to normalizing breastfeeding and advocating for breastfeeding rights. Please follow NursingFreedom.org on its Facebook page to connect with other mamas who are passionate about breastfeeding advocacy.

Nursing The Divine- I can't give a little intro for this one. You simply HAVE to read it. Whatever your faith, you will love it. GO READ IT NOW. Kate Hansen is an artist, mother and breastfeeding advocate from BC, Canada. After reading her post you should also go browse her artwork. Oh yeah... and be looking for a give away of one of her prints.

Our guests posts are once again really wonderful. Don't Ever Want To Forget comes from the heart of Alex on her daughter weaning when she was ready at 3.5 years old. A poem and reflections, you will probably cry. Our second guest post I am ridiculously proud of as it is from Earth Baby. She writes as an 11 year old girl going through puberty, big sister to 4 sisters, sharing her thoughts on breastfeeding and her future as a breastfeeding mother some day. I even hunted down some old school photos to scan in for her post.

I slacked on give-aways yesterday, the girls and I needed to get out of the house and be busy but I will try, admist The Piano Man's birthday celebrations, to get the give-aways up and going. Thanks for your patience and, er, enjoy your hump day. I know I will. *snort*

Color Pencil drawing by Daisha, age 11

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