NEWSLETTER

October 2010

Articles have been flying across my computer this month in all types of ways. I know I won't be able to include so much information. I do post some things on FB only, like a great story on "Why we choose cloth diapers", and this one that reinforces why you should ask for "non-seperation" in the hospital - "My baby was given to the wrong mom". If you are not a fan of South Jersey Babies and Karen Kurtz, IBCLC on Facebook please become one now (see above).

I have also gotten behind and can't believe it's the end of the month already. With Halloween here one thing that must be included is the Nestle Boycott. If you don't currently boycott Nestle it's time to learn why this is such an important cause. Read more below.

On a more positive note, read below about the wonderful study from Notre Dame university that validates everything I have believed for years as a mother and that I try to impart to other families through South Jersey Babies and my Lactation Consulting Business.

Karen

The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding - The new edition is now available! Buy one for yourself and a couple for baby gifts for your friends.

Boo Nestle - Make your Halloween Nestle-Free

The following is from the site: http://boonestle.blogspot.com/ urging those who don't boycott Nestle to start this Halloween. You can find more information on the boycott at http://www.infactcanada.ca/Nestle_Boycott.htm From the time my children were little, they knew "we don't buy that, it says Nestle", now even our cat has a conscience, since Nestle bought Purina a few years ago our cat boycotts too! You'd be surprised the number of their products you buy unknowingly if you are not a long time boycotter.

What Did Nestlé Do To Deserve a Boycott?

Nestlé is a major player in the world, selling products that range from breakfast cereals to coffee. But there are two main areas that Nestlé is the most known for: infant formula and candy. Unfortunately, it is in these two areas that Nestlé has not only made the most money, but also created the most damage world wide.

You may recall as a child a mass boycott of Nestlé and their many brands. Perhaps your parents joined the boycott, perhaps you're still boycotting Nestlé today, or perhaps you weren't aware at all. In any case, the boycott ended in 1984 but was reinstated in 1988 because Nestlé did not live up to the promises it made. The boycott is is still active today.

   •   CRIMES AGAINST BABIES: Nestlé contributes to the unnecessary death and suffering of infants around the world by aggressively marketing baby foods in developing nations, in breach of the World Health Organization's international marketing standards. Nestlé says they don't market to parents but they market aggressively to medical professionals and provide free formula to hospitals. Parents are convinced to use formula instead of breastfeeding and by the time their free supply of the formula runs out, mothers' ability to breastfeed has disappeared and Nestlé has a paying customer at the expense of a child's health and life.

   •   Regardless of how you feel about the use of formula in your life, it's important to understand that in the developing world, the difference between formula and breastfeeding can mean life or death to infants due to the lack of availability of clean water, lack of means of sterilizing bottles and that parents are often unable to prepare bottles to minimum specifications because they can either not read their own language or read the English directions on the label. Additionally, because formula is so expensive, many parents water down the formula to make canisters last longer. The World Health Organization estimates that 1.5 million infants die around the world every year because they are not breastfed.

   •   CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN: Nestlé is one of the major cocoa importers that still sources its cocoa beans from the Ivory Coast. According to the US State Department, there are approximately 109,000 children working in the country's cocoa industry under slave-like conditions. Nestlé promised in 2001 to make its chocolate "child labor-free" by 2005 but that promise was broken and the deadline ignored.

   •   CRIMES AGAINST COMMUNITIES: Nestlé is also guilty of pilfering public water supplies worldwide for profit, wreaking damage on the environment as well as communities. Their water mining operations have caused damage to watersheds after assuring rural communities they would be "good corporate neighbors." Small towns that refused to throw open their water supplies to Nestlé have been targeted with litigation designed to bully and bankrupt. For more information, visit http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=240

Child rearing practices of distant ancestors foster morality, compassion in kids, research says

Three new studies led by Notre Dame Psychology Professor Darcia Narvaez show a relationship between child rearing practices common in foraging hunter-gatherer societies (how we humans have spent about 99 percent of our history) and better mental health, greater empathy and conscience development, and higher intelligence in children.

“Our research shows that the roots of moral functioning form early in life, in infancy, and depend on the affective quality of family and community support,” says Narvaez, who specializes in the moral and character development of children.

Narvaez identifies six characteristics of child rearing that were common to our distant ancestors:

• Lots of positive touch - as in no spanking - but nearly constant carrying, cuddling and holding;
• Prompt response to baby’s fusses and cries. You can’t “spoil” a baby. This means meeting a child’s needs before they get upset and the brain is flooded with toxic chemicals. “Warm, responsive caregiving like this keeps the infant’s brain calm in the years it is forming its personality and response to the world,” Narvaez says.
• Breastfeeding, ideally 2 to 5 years. A child’s immune system isn’t fully formed until age 6 and breast milk provides its building blocks.
• Multiple adult caregivers - people beyond mom and dad who also love the child.
• Free play with multi-age playmates. Studies show that kids who don’t play enough are more likely to have ADHD and other mental health issues.
• Natural childbirth, which provides mothers with the hormone boosts that give the energy to care for a newborn. Read more.

Here is a well referenced blog post that all pregnant women should read.

I am giving the 10 areas she talks about, to read all the information and references, please visit the post. If you are pregnant I urge you to discuss all of these issues with your midwife or doctor, if they are not open to discussion and avoiding these interventions routinely consider another health care provider.

My concern is with any practitioner, MD or midwife, who ignores evidence because “I’ve always done it this way and never had a problem. . .”

Following is a sampling of the current evidence regarding ten procedures commonly used in modern obstetrics despite a lack of evidence to support their use. Please note: many of these procedures are beneficial in specific situations. It is their routine use without medical indication that I am addressing.

1. Inductions/elective c-sections for suspected macrosomia (big baby)
2. Pitocin to speed labor
3. Amniotomy to speed labor
4. Continuous electronic fetal monitoring
5. Requirement of “immediate” emergency services for women attempting a VBAC.
6. Routine Episiotomy
7. Routine ultrasound to estimate fetal size
8. Immediate cord clamping
9. Directed (purple) pushing
10. Supine Pushing

Full post with references

Along the same lines there is also this study:

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has published a report on disrespect and abuse in facility-based childbirth around the world. Read that here.

More good news:

New Mothers Grow Bigger Brains Within Months of Giving Birth: Warmer Feelings Toward Babies Linked to Bigger Mid-Brains

ScienceDaily (Oct. 20, 2010) — Motherhood may actually cause the brain to grow, not turn it into mush, as some have claimed. Exploratory research published by the American Psychological Association found that the brains of new mothers bulked up in areas linked to motivation and behavior, and that mothers who gushed the most about their babies showed the greatest growth in key parts of the mid-brain.

Read full article

CoSleeping

FYI - There are many states running campaigns and/or even trying to pass laws against co-sleeping. I thought this statement by UNICEF was a good counter and the appropriate common sense response to this trend.

"The authors state it is difficult to be precise about the dominant direction of the relationship between bed-sharing and breastfeeding, whether mothers share beds because they are breastfeeding or whether bed sharing make breastfeeding more likely to be successful. They conclude that given the likely beneficial effects of bed sharing on breastfeeding rates and duration, risk reduction messages to prevent sudden infant deaths should be targeted more appropriately to unsafe infant care practices such as sleeping on sofas, bed sharing after the use of alcohol or drugs, or bed sharing by parents who smoke and that advice on whether bed-sharing should be discouraged needs to take into account the important relationship with breastfeeding. This research was partly funded by the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths."

See full article