Now WestJet has made the news by harassing a breastfeeding customer.

“[The flight attendant] came up and said quietly, ‘You know, some men find the sight of a bare breast quite offensive. Can I offer you a blanket to cover up with?” Tarbuck said on Wednesday.

Tarbuck declined the offer of a blanket, but one was brought to her anyway. “I was pretty shocked,” said Tarbuck.

…

Tarbuck said on the WestJet flight, she was nursing discreetly, and the only other people in her row were her husband and daughter.

This mom was nursing, as many traveling moms do, while the plane was taking off to ease the pressure in her 11 month old child’s Eustachian tubes.  If she hadn’t been nursing, her child could have been screaming.  So, which would these gentlemen prefer?  To avert their eyes or hear a child crying?

You know what I find offensive?  The fact that the “visual discomfort” of fellow passengers was deemed more important than the physical discomfort of a child.

I am a very modest when nursing in public and, still, have had people ask me to go elsewhere to nurse even though absolutely no skin, let alone my breast, is exposed.  For some people, it’s simply the knowledge of “what is going on” that sends them over the edge.  Which is really sad.  Personally, I feel like having a blanket on my baby is more “attention drawing,” plus, my children would never nurse with one, so that would have never worked for me anyways.

So, the ever humorous Krista Cornish Scott wrote a letter to WestJet’s CEO:

Dear Sean Durfy, CEO,

I was so happy today to read your reply to the recent criticism of your treating breastfeeding women as second-class citizens. In an email to those questioning this behaviour your company representative stated “If a guest is engaged in an activity that makes others uncomfortable, or has the potential to make others uncomfortable, flight attendants have a responsibility to engage the guest in an effort to find a solution.” I was very relieved to hear this, as I frequently fly WestJet with my family and I have been made uncomfortable numerous times by other guests. You may want to stock up on more blankets.

You can read the rest at Elemental Mom where Krista, sarcastically, targets fat people, thin young girls, and couples holding hands.

Well, it’s been 2 1/2 weeks since I got sick and while I still have a mild cough & runny nose, both kids are still totally healthy!  Amazing!!!

One of the last remnants of our trip are the Philadelphia CityPasses I purchased.  I bought them in January to be all prepared for our week in Philly in February.  Well, me, being the queen of the list, did not include the CityPasses on our packing list and remembered as we were driving to the airport that I didn’t pack them… UGH!  Since I was sick for the last 2 full days there and we got to spend more time with the bride and groom than I anticipated, it ended up being fine.  But now I’ve spend almost $150 on these tickets and have no opportunity to use them…. so I’ve listed them on ebay.  If you plan to be in Philadelphia, and will be doing some sight-seeing, check them out!

As with most of my wacky decisions, this one started with me simply being open to the idea and not discounting it until I gave it a try.  My older child nursed all through my pregnancy even though my milk dried up around 12 weeks. 

Nursing two has had its benefits.

First, in this flu season, it has helped keep my kids healthy.  I am on day 6 of a nasty bout with the flu, but both of my kids are still totally healthy (read: full of energy)!  While it’s hard being a sick mom, it would be even more difficult if both my kids were sick at the same time and I’m certain that breastfeeding both of them is playing a role in this.

KellyMom explains how this works:

The best thing you can do for your baby when you’re sick is to continue to breastfeed. When you have a contagious illness such as a cold, flu, or other mild virus, your baby was exposed to the illness before you even knew you were sick. Your milk will not transmit your illness to baby, but it does have antibodies in it that are specific to your illness (plus anything else you or baby have been exposed to) – they’ll help prevent baby from getting sick, or if he does get sick, he’ll probably not be as sick as you.

What a great way to give my children, especially my infant, a ‘leg up’ in fighting disease!  As long as I breastfeed, all of the antibodies my immune system makes in response to diseases I encounter, my children will receive through my breastmilk.

The second amazing side effect is that I’m 3 months post-partum and 7 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight!  I actually was able to button up my ’skinny jeans’ yesterday!  (I still had a little muffin-top, but, they zipped!)  This is simply amazing because with my first child, I was carrying around that last 15 pounds for two years until I finally lost it through counting calories and exercise.  I’ve been eating what I want – without going crazy – and not exercising.  It’s incredible. 

While breastfeeding is certainly playing a role, I also think having a vaginal birth is partly responsible.  While I did experience discomfort in the days following my home VBAC, it was nothing in comparison to my cesarean recovery.  After about a week, I hardly felt like I had a baby and we were back in the groove of my life – albeit at a slower pace.  So I wasn’t sitting in front of the TV nursing depression and physical pain with food like I did after my cesarean.  In fact, I didn’t experience any depression after my home VBAC – wow, was that nice!

Don’t be to jealous though, my tummy is still entirely gelatinous.  It did firm up, eventually, with my first child, so I’m really hoping once I kick this flu and get to the gym, it will again.

1. Myth: You have to toughen your nipples to prepare them for breastfeeding. Reality: This is false and possibly painful! A woman’s body is perfectly suited to breastfeed a baby with zero preparation.
2. Myth: Breastfeeding hurts.  Reality: If you are in pain during or after breastfeeding, this most likely means that the baby is not latched on (attached to the breast) correctly and/or has improper sucking techniques. See a lactation consultant or call La Leche League immediately. You can also go here for some instructional videos on proper latch.
3. Myth: You won’t produce enough milk.  Reality: Milk production is based on supply and demand. The more your baby breastfeeds, the more milk you will produce. As your baby breastfeeds less, your milk production will decrease.
4. Myth: You can’t tell if your baby is eating enough.  Reality: This is a variation of “How do you know how much your baby eats?” If your newborn has 5-6 wet disposable (or 6-8 really wet cloth) diapers and is gaining weight, as determined by your doctor, s/he is getting enough to eat. Babies, unlike when mommy reaches for another bowl of ice cream, eat when they are hungry, and stop when they are full!
5. Myth: You can’t breastfeed if you have inverted/flat nipples. Reality: I am living proof that this is false! With the help of a nipple shield, I was able to breastfeed my daughter from the beginning (after a rough start) and have her completely weaned off the shield, and nursing without it, by six weeks.
6. Myth: You can tell how much milk your baby gets by how much milk you can pump.  Reality: Babies are the ultimate breast pump! They can extract milk like no machine can. In addition, stress hormones can inhibit milk ejection, so if you are in a time constraint, upset, etc, your milk may not let down and/or flow as quickly as it would if you were nursing your baby.
7. Myth: Nursing moms need to follow a special diet.  Reality: There is no evidence that supports the notion that nursing mothers should avoid spicy, strong tasting, or similar foods. In fact, breastfed infants more readily adapt to new foods since the flavor of breast milk constantly changes as a result of the mother’s diet.
8. Myth: Babies don’t need to be breastfeed past 6/9/12 months. Reality: Babies continue to benefit from breastfeeding until they wean. This is why the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding “for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child…There is no upper limit to the duration of breastfeeding” and the World Health Organization emphasizes the importance of nursing up to two years of age or beyond.

Breastfeeding can be a challenge. I know this first hand. It’s hard to believe that after all the problems I had getting breastfeeding established, I am now nursing a toddler. I am living proof that if you want to breastfeed, finding a good knowledgeable lactation consultant, educating yourself, and surrounding yourself with supportive friends, family and lactivists, will increase your odds for a successful breastfeeding relationship.

When I first got pregnant, I didn’t know anything about breastfeeding. Of course the phrase “Breast is Best” was floating around my brain, but beyond that I didn’t know anything besides the legend of the sore nipples. There are so many myths about breastfeeding floating about that it’s hard for the newly pregnant woman to flush out the truth from fiction. I was told by a nurse that I needed to prepare my nipples with steel wool. Another person told me “Just wait till your nipples start bleeding!” Then at my first prenatal appointment, my midwife saw that I had inverted nipples which can make breastfeeding difficult. It was then that my quest for knowledge really began.

I started reading. By far the best book was The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers, but I also read The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding and a few others that left such an impression that I can’t remember their titles.

When I was six months pregnant, I started attending La Leche League meetings. I was a little apprehensive because I had heard rumors about the “breastfeeding nazis.” Instead, I found a group of very knowledgeable and welcoming women. Some were currently nursing, some had older children but were there to give the “mentor mom” perspective. Since I didn’t personally know anyone besides my mom who breastfed longer than a couple months, I wanted to meet women who were truly supportive of breastfeeding. Between the well meaning people who told me that if breastfeeding didn’t “work out,” I could just use formula and the formula manufacturers who do such a great job marketing formula as a breastmilk equivalent, I was compelled to track down people who where committed to finding a solution to any problem I might encounter, rather than just switching to formula. (For more on formula marketing, read Milk, Money, and Madness.) For me, formula was an absolute last resort. Going to the meetings reinforced the information I had already learned via reading, which gave me confidence. Now when someone warned me “everyone gets sore nipples,” I could tell them that a bad latch is almost always the cause and to see a lactation consultant.

I am so glad I created a support system and educated myself on the benefits of breastfeeding because that helped me persist through the first few months of K’s life. It would have been so easy for me to give up on breastfeeding early on, but then I would have missed out on so much.

The breast shells I wore during pregnancy did not “push out” my nipples and K was not able to nurse until a couple hours after she was born via c-section. When I finally was able to nurse her, she did latch on, but not for any period of time. After that, she would not latch on at all. I was devastated. I wondered if the spinal I had was partly responsible. I did not want her to have any bottles or pacifiers because I feared that would further complicate the problem. Once she experienced a “pushed out” nipple, would she ever nurse?

I remember the third night of her life so vividly. K was screaming. The nurses said it was because she was hungry. My milk hadn’t come in yet, and I was only able to pump a couple drops. A nurse came in with some formula and I cried as I gave it to her. I was certain that once she had an artificial nipple, and was able to eat so easily, that she would never breastfeed. Two days later my milk came in and I was horribly engorged. My breasts were hot and felt like they were filled with little rocks. It was the weirdest thing. My wonderful daytime nurse called the hospital lactation consultant (LC). On each enormous breast, the LC put a disposable diaper, filled with ice, lined with cabbage leaves. I looked hilarious and smelled like cabbage. The LC showed me how to massage the milk out of my breasts – your body is not your own once you have a baby. She also gave me a nipple shield and I was amazed and thrilled when K would nurse!

For the next six weeks, K nursed exclusively with the nipple shield. I ultimately wanted to wean her from the nipple shield and started to become worried because she would not latch on without it. Between nursing and pumping, my nipples were “pulled out,” so the inverted nipples were no longer the issue, but K was used to the nipple shield. I was so happy that she was getting breastmilk, but it was annoying to always have to put on the nipple shield and it was very difficult to do so discreetly in public, especially with people who can’t handle seeing a baby eating lurking about. (At least in California, a woman has the right to breastfed her baby in any public or private place, other than a private residence. Many states do not protect a baby’s right to eat in public, and women can be arrested for breastfeeding in public. That’s a whole other story.) At my six week check up, BJ was able to get K to latch onto my breast without the shield and she nursed! It was amazing! There were still times, like when K was really tired or hungry, that she would only nurse with the shield, but otherwise, she was nursing without it! Within a week, she was nursing entirely without the nipple shield.

And now, here I am and she is “still” nursing. People ask me when I plan to wean K and I say, “When one of us wants to.” Now that K is a busy toddler, nursing is one of the few times that she is still. It’s really wonderful when I need a break to have K crawl into my lap and nurse and we can both just enjoy a few quiet moments.

My story could have been so different. I think I was able to preserver because I truly believe that breastmilk is best and I had the support of my wonderful husband, my midwife, and La Leche League. Our culture doesn’t want moms to feel guilty for using formula, but one of the consequences of that objective is a lack of outspoken support for breastfeeding and the mind-set that formula is a satisfactory substitute. When you combine those two viewpoints, you get a country where, according 2003 CDC statistics, only 14% of 6-month old babies are exclusively breastfed when the AAP recommends breastfeeding for at least a year and WHO recommends at least two years. Public service announcements promoting breastfeeding are altered as a result of formula industry pressure. (See the results of the campaign.) According to the United States Breastfeeding Committee, taxpayers pay $578 million per year on the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to buy formula for babies who are not breastfeeding, while formula industry revenues top $4 billion a year. Every 10 percent increase in the breastfeeding rate among WIC recipients could save WIC $750,000 per year. It’s really a shame that all of this money is spent on an inferior product when our bodies automatically produce the most superior infant food for free.