It's like Pride Week for Zofia and me!

Happy World Breastfeeding Week to Zofia and me!

See how excited we are? Any chance Zofia gets to celebrate boobies, she takes it and RUNS with it... usually still with my nipple in her mouth. This is our 4th WBW together and she's not seeming to lose any steam. In fact, this Saturday marks the first time she will ever go to bed without me or my boobies. She's spending the night with her Yia Yia and I'm having a night alone with my husband. This is a HUGE milestone in our breastfeeding relationship. Wish us luck! I think I'll need it more than her.

The focus is to share with people the benefits of nursing, showcase the people that are out there to help with a breastfeeding journey, and to encourage people to support breastfeeding mothers. I made a joke about Zofia getting me a present to celebrate, but in all honesty, the gifts she's giving me are plentiful. Our relationship certainly isn't the norm in the USA but there are so many benefits to BOTH of us in the extended nursing relationship Kellymom.com says:

Breastfeeding benefits toddlers and young children…nutritionally, immunologically and psychologically.

• Breastfeeding contributes to your child’s NUTRITION

• Breastfeeding contributes to your child’s HEALTH

• Breastfeeding contributes to your child’s INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT

• Breastfeeding contributes to your child’s SOCIAL and MENTAL DEVELOPMENT

• Breastfeeding your child past infancy is NORMAL

• MOTHERS also benefit from breastfeeding for a longer duration

If you see a nervous mama nursing in public or have a special person in your life who is currently nursing, give them a high 5 and a little word of encouragement.

We'll be celebrating with boobies:

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My Diagnosis. Also? I think I have a mustache.

Had you told the girl in this picture that in ten years' time she'd be sitting in the bathroom putting Rogaine on her head with hair remover on her lip and an estrogen patch on her butt, I'd wager she'd keel over. Either that or punch you. Probably punch you. I use to be really bitchy. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that at the age of 32 I'd be dealing with the body of a 55 year old. The official diagnosis is estrogen deficiency. My body thinks it's in menopause. I've lost at least 50% of my hair, my ovaries have shut down, and for the past 6 years I've honestly thought I was losing my mind. The anxiety, depression, memory loss, COMPLETE emotional instability: ALL symptoms of estrogen deficiency. How did it take so long to figure out? Well, since I've been pregnant or breastfeeding since 2006, it was kind of hard to tell what was what. Certifiable problem or hormonal pregnant girl? Your guess. It wasn't until my body really started shutting down and I really started getting scared that I actually had dementia did I get full bloodwork. What's next? For the time being while we wait for Zofia to wean I'm on an estrogen patch. I shed my tears about the hormone replacement therapy drying up my milk and bringing an end to this stage of Zofia's life, but if left untreated, estrogen deficiency leads to osteoporosis, stroke, and heart disease. As my mom pointed out, Zofia would rather drink out of a cup than have me die of heart disease. Touche, mom. I'm not going to cut her off cold turkey though, so they aren't going to test for the cause of this deficiency just yet, such as tumors, as breastfeeding would skew the findings in lab work. (For now I'm going to pretend like there's never been any mention of tumors as I MIGHT FREAK THE FREAK OUT!!!!!!)

So, that's where I am. Estrogen patch firmly on my butt and a lot of fixing and healing to do. The toll that it has taken on my body, marriage, kids, career, and relationships is hard to put into words. The task of rebuilding everything makes me feel like an asthmatic acrophobic about to scale Mt. Everest. Impossible. I'm scared y'all. Real scared.

If you're the praying type, send me a prayer. If you're the hugging type, send me one of those. If you're the forgiving type, well thank the Good Lord for you.

My Nursing Photos Got Creeped

Here is a snapshot from my evening. I'm a loving mother that bathes with her children and nurses until they are done. I'm not weird. I'm not extreme. I'm just normal. 

I share pictures throughout my day just like everyone else on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Some photo their lunch. Some photo their cars. Some photo their kids. I've had the same followers on Twitter and Instagram for a long time and they've grown to feel like they know us. They're friends and many are fellow parents. I never felt odd sharing photos of my kids with these moms, dads, and friends.

Then today some weirdness started.

Men making cat-calls.

Sites asking if they could show my pictures on their site for "hot girls showing their boobs."

What? I'm nursing. I'm nursing my BABY. She's 2 and NOT too old to be nursing. The WHO backs me up on this and I think they've done their homework. For a moment I questioned myself and wondered if I had asked for it. I was quickly reminded by iamnotthebabysitter that I had not done anything wrong. I was the victim. Actually, I was supported by a great many followers, new and old, including kellynaturally and the gentleman at mouselink. I need to stay strong and realize that only through this will breastfeeding become normal and accepted by all again.

A WAHM's Office and Mini Co-workers

After being a SAHM for the last 5 years I've recently jumped back into the real estate game. I do all of my work from home and only schedule appointments for when my husband is home with the ladies. It really is an ideal situation and I don't take any of it for granted. As I prepare to submit an offer, I looked around at my office and company and had to smiles.

A typical office scene:

Here the ladies are working on some Angry Birds.

Athena is having a little face time with herself.

 Zofia is diligently working on her ABC's.

 Perhaps HR should have a little talk with Zofia 

about co-worker booby etiquette.

I'm now off to send a fax. First I'll have to get the dog off the table and stiff-arm Zofia away from the sending documents. I hope your work day is going just as swimmingly.

I'm about to make everyone want 2 kids RIGHT NOW.

It's nappy cuddlekins time.

Honestly? I never want them out of my bed.

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

When I found out I was pregnant with Athena, breastfeeding was a mere blip on my radar. I thought it was kind of creepy and I was intimidated by my cousins who do extended breastfeeding. I had no help and no education but I managed to give Athena breastmilk for 2.5 years through exclusive pumping. She loved her milks. 

When Zofia came along 2 years and 11 months later I wanted to try again. After exclusively pumping for her for 5 months, we finally got the hand of the latch. 2 years and 2 months later we're nursing and going strong. I want to share my own personal email plus the websites I value most with their breastfeeding information. Educate. Normalize. Nurse in Public. Bring the boobies back!

And the body by boobies...

Have breastfeeding questions? 

Email me at brocus77@gmail.com

Visit www.kellymom.com

Visit www.theleakyboob.com

Athena's take on the Time magazine cover is one of the better ones, no?

Athena is kind of like a National Geographic photographer. She quietly goes through the house taking pictures of unsuspecting people to catch them in their natural habitat. Sometimes that means you're photographed in the shower, sometimes it means you're photographed cramming a hot dog in your face. Sometimes she even takes videos or uses effects to dress up her work. Most people probably wouldn't let their 4-year-old play with their smartphone or digital camera, but I just love the stuff she comes up with.

Today while I was trying to get a diaper on an unwilling Zofia (which is similar to putting one on a Tasmanian Devil) she hopped up on the table, jerked my top down, and showed me who was the nursing boss.

Tasmanian Devil courtesy of National Geographic:

Tasmanian Devil courtesy of Athena Brocus:

Don't worry, I'll clean the table before you guys come over for dinner.

Not Another Time Magazine Post

There it is. I finally figured out why the Time magazine controversy bothered me so much. It wasn't the age of the child nursing. It wasn't the model-like mother used to sell magazines.

It was the comments.

But why the comments? This took a few days of soul-searching.

I had an epiphany at 14 and stopped caring what people thought. The next day I went to school in a space dress and white go-go boots and never looked back. It's been a fabulous quality that I hope to pass on to my daughters. Be yourselves and be happy. As a mother I suppose I could be described as an "attachment parent." I babywear, I cosleep, and I nurse on demand. As Zofia has yet to wean herself, I seem to now be an "extended nurser." Never have I ever been bothered by the critical comments made about me "spoiling my children," or "being a weird hippie." It's just been par for the course until now. The comments. The comments of the general public calling her a pedophile and declaring this as incest.

Do you remember my post? I know what a pedophile is. I've lived with two of them. My biological dad is a "watcher" and my brother is in prison for molestation.

The woman on Time's cover? She is not a pedophile. Nor am I for nursing my older child. We are mothers doing what is best for OUR children. Not your children. Not the neighbors' children. OUR CHILDREN. So think before you speak. Consider before you comment. Know what you're saying. Things may not be what they first appear.

My 4 year old Andy Warhol

Even when she was tiny, Athena has always been fairly good with a camera. Her new hobby is taking pictures using the special effects on my phone. The effect du jour is the "Andy Warhol" effect.

Here are some of her shots:

Mom nursing Zofia.

Athena's Feet in ballet slippers.

Mommy lounging.

I get so much joy out of her creative, growing mind. She's always amazing me. I'd share more but she has taken far too many of them with me in my underwear in the background so... we'll wait for some new ones.

Can you, like, drink when you're nursing or not?

I guess it depends on who you ask.

When I started drinking my daily red wine (that I was talking about the other day) I wanted to be sure things were safe. I exhaustively began studying reports of the effects of drinking while nursing, the opinions of the American Academy of Pediatrics and Le Leche League, and scouring the pages of KellyMom.

Here are some summaries of my research:

The American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Drugs classifies alcohol as a “Maternal Medication Usually Compatible With Breastfeeding.”

Dr. Jack Newman, member of the LLLI Health Advisory Council, says this in his handout "More Breastfeeding Myths":

Reasonable alcohol intake should not be discouraged at all. As is the case with most drugs, very little alcohol comes out in the milk. The mother can take some alcohol and continue breastfeeding as she normally does. Prohibiting alcohol is another way we make life unnecessarily restrictive for nursing mothers.

 I've talked to a considerable number of new moms that were under the impression that they could never have a drink while nursing. In fact, many new moms I've talked to are under the impression that they are restricted by activities they can do, foods they can eat, medications they can take, and drinks they can have. It breaks my heart that so many women give up on nursing before they ever get started just because they are ill-informed. I want to shout it from the rooftops! "Mommies! You can nurse AND have a life!" For now I'll just be happy with shouting it from my blog.

Eclusively Pumping Breastmilk - What's your best tip?

A childhood friend and neighbor of mine just had a wee babe the other day. He's lovely, tiny, and oh that new baby smell... I just want to huff his head right now. She has decided to exclusively pump for him and WIC has wonderfully outfitted her with an electric Medela pump.

This is her second go at the breastfeeding thing. After a preterm birth, anxiety, no support, first time single-motherhood, and desperation, she ended up scrapping breastfeeding with her 1st son and went to formula. She really wants to try again and succeed. This time around she has more knowledge, a 24 hour texting hotline with me for any questions, and an incredibly involved fiancee. I so want to see her succeed, so I'm hoping all you blogger/twitter/facebook friends will leave me a comment with your most helpful tip or advice so I can pass it on to her. It can take a village to breastfeed one baby sometimes and you guys are my village. Let's help a pumping sister out!

Am I breastfeeding a preschooler?

I might be. I guess technically I am. Is that weird?

For the majority of my young life I was fairly indifferent to children. I had no idea whether or not I wanted to have them let alone consider breastfeeding one. When my husband and I finally succeeded in creating one, I read a bit about breastfeeding but it seemed SO weird to me. What little experience I had with seeing others do it did little to warm me to the idea of it. When seeing a relative breastfeed well into preschool age, I absolutely belonged to the "If they're old enough to ask for it they're too old to do it" school of thought. A friend and I cracked many a joke about her neighbor that breastfed her older toddler.

But here I am putting breastmilk into the sippy cup of my almost 4 year old. How did we get here? With zero education and little support in the hospital, Athena and I never figured out how to latch her on. I gave up almost immediately and started pumping her milk. We easily breezed through the first year. Then Athena did not tolerate milk well early in her toddler years, so I kept pumping for her. Pumping became such second nature, all of a sudden she's 2 1/2 and we're still going strong. Then along came Zofia. With a new baby my supply went up like crazy again and Athena kept drinking the leftovers because she liked feeling like a baby again and she likes my milk. Kellymom says:

Although there has been little research done on children who breastfeed beyond the age of two, the available information indicates that breastfeeding continues to be a valuable source of nutrition and disease protection for as long as breastfeeding continues.

This past week the ladies had a stomach bug. Athena couldn't even take a sip of water without if rocketing back up, however when I gave her 3oz of breasmilk it all stayed down. For the duration of the illness I was able to keep my ladies hydrated and fed using my magic milks. Right then I was so happy that I had continued letting Athena have breastmilk.

I've been asked if I plan on putting breastmilk in Athena's lunchbox when she goes to school. Well, if that's what she wants, I just might. I don't know how long we're going to continue on like this, but as of right now, every time she goes and gets my pump out of the cupboard, hands it to me and says "Mom, will you please pump me some booby juice?" I'm going to do it.

Support is crucial. Help The Leaky B@@b.

No one told me that breastfeeding could be hard. No one told me how many "booby traps" and road blocks would be thrown at my desperate, uneducated attempts at it.

Let me tell you something...

It didn't come naturally to me, the "lactation consultants" at my disposal knew about as much as I did, and I had no breastfeeding friends or family in the area. A page like The Leaky Boob would have been an absolute godsend.
When I had Athena 3 years ago we had NO idea what we were doing. I didn't know how birthing worked. I didn't know there were things I could do to prevent my c-section. I didn't know what breastfeeding was "supposed" to be like right after birth. I was so sick from my c-section I was barely conscious, but a lovely nurse still wanted to attempt immediate breastfeeding. She had my husband desperately trying to latch a screaming infant onto my semi-conscious body. After many failed attempts all three of us were crying. She was the only one that would make such an effort.

We got up to the room and informed everyone that we would be breastfeeding, and since I was having such a hard time, they sent in one of their lactation consultants. After a few minutes of helping me, she informed me that my nipples were flat and I would more than likely have a hard time getting it down... and in came the cart stocked full of bottles of formula.

Oh my, I have such a hard time admitting my ignorance. Please bear with me.

Sigh.

Well, if the medical professionals are saying I can't do it, I must really not be able to, right? So Louis and I gave Athena the formula. No more help came. But you know what did come? Lots and lots of free formula.

After we got home Louis and I still felt like there must be a way to get Athena breastmilk. There HAD to be. So I kept pumping. And crying. And pumping. We kept fumbling toward what we felt was important: getting the milk out of these hoots!

One day while I was sitting in my bed, hooked up to my pump and crying to my husband, he exclaimed: "THERE'S MILK SQUIRTING OUT!!!" We did it. We didn't stop trying and we did it. From that day forward Athena got my milk for the next 2 1/2 years.

In that time I began blogging, using Twitter, and Facebook. I developed wonderful online relationships with women that have taught me so much about breastfeeding and supported me all along. Now I have a 6 month old, Zofia, who has always breastfed with ease. Who knew it could be so different? Not me. And I bet there are a lot of other women out there just like me. Women, that if they had those "friends" telling them that it will get better, giving them tips and a virtual shoulder to cry on, maybe we'd have more breastfeeding success stories.

Having such a huge social networking site describe a breastfeeding support page as "indecent" is such a huge setback for breastfeeding in the United States. Please join me in "liking" The Bring Back the Leaky Boob page on Facebook. Let's change the minds of all those that just plain don't understand the unbeatable benefits of breastfeeding babies.

Anti-Breastfeeding Dialogue on TV Irks Me

Funny enough, I was sitting on the couch breastfeeding Zofia while Louis was watching TV. He was watching The League on FX, (Season 2 Episode 11 to be exact) and I was only vaguely paying attention. A woman enters a restaurant scene with her baby and joins her husband and another couple at the table. They comment that there's a kids' menu, she declines and begins breastfeeding the baby.

Cue disgusted faces all around.

This is then followed by a scene in which the husband is lamenting to his buddies that his wife is still breastfeeding, he doesn't get to play with her boobs, and he's afraid his kid is going to be "weird." He fears that someday she's going to be squirting breastmilk in the boy's mouth from the dugout while he's playing baseball. All the men loudly concur that this activity is madness and shout the famous "If he can ask for it, he's too old for it!"

Um, the baby is only 19 months old. Most organizations agree that breastfeeding should continue beyond a year.

They continue on with different characters being disgusted by the child's breastfeeding and end the show with the baby latching on to a man's breast.

I don't care if this was done for comedy. It wasn't funny.
I don't care if this show is geared toward men. My husband is my biggest breastfeeding supporter as ALL father's should be.

I'm tired of the negative portrayals. I'm tired of the "Booby Traps." It needs to STOP.

I'm sure the producers of "The League" and the execs at FX couldn't possibly care less about me boycotting their show, but movements start with one.

Wordless Wednesday - Boobies are a common theme around here.

Wordless Wednesday - Body by Boobies

This calls for Guinness Cookies. Yeah, you heard me.

As many know, I am a breastfeeder and I love it. (In fact, I'm doing it right now!) Athena drank breast milk until she was 2 1/2, and I never had a supply issue until I got pregnant with Zofia. Pregnancy made my milk disappear completely. Athena decided organic milk was tasty, so she switched and made it a non-issue.

Since Zofia was a week old I have had enough milk to feed 3 babies. The only problem was it came out like a fire hose and made her cough, sputter, and fuss. I started researching and discovered that I had breastmilk oversupply & hindmilk/foremilk imbalance. So I started using their suggestions for cutting back. This was a mistake. My production has PLUMMETTED. I'm freakin' out man. I'm in panic mode. I'm making her nurse like crazy, I'm adding pumping sessions, and I'm drinking beer. Call it an old-wives' tale if you must, but it's always worked for me. The problem? I don't like beer. The solution?

Grumbles and Grunts' World Famous Milk Maker Cookies!!

Oatmeal and beer are two of many items thought to increase milk supply, so a-baking we went!

(Athena's baking in her witch costume.)

These cookies are the perfect vehicle to get all the oatmeal and beer-y goodness into me without all the beer-y taste or alcohol! And this morning? I nursed Zofia then pumped out 3 extra feedings .

I believe that's what you call BOO-YAH!!!!!

Breastfeeding article that will probably ruffle feathers

Study: Lack of breastfeeding costs lives, billions of dollars