First Birthday Success!

Wow, what a great experience Paige's first birthday was. We are so blessed to have such great friends and family! I'm ever so grateful to have friends willing to travel far and wide to be there and to meet Paige for the very first time. Everyone who participated really helped to make the event memorable!
I can't help but think... what will future birthdays will bring? This one was eventful but I have a feeling that they will certainly become more elaborate as she gets older. So, how do we, as parents, keep birthdays under wrap? I want to teach her about the gift of giving, not receiving. I will need to make every effort to create inventive ways to teach this important value. Any great ideas out there?

Beer and breastfeeding?

So many of use have heard from friends and family that having a pint of guiness while breastfeeding will increase our milk suppy..... wrong! In fact alcohol decreases your milk supply. Google an article written by Mennella called Alcohol's Effect on Lactation. The barley in the beer may may increase supply a little so have a non-alcoholic beer instead.
Alcohol transfered to the infant via breastmilk also disrupts infant's sleep-wake cycle contraindicating the folklore that babies sleep better.
This study, by no means, should frighten mothers away from breastfeeding. Breastfeeding will continue to protect your baby and if you wish to have an occasional drink consider "pumping and dumping", always supplementing with previously pummped breastmilk!

Our little Paige will be 1!

Wow, what a crazy fast yet slow year. A lot has happened since the arrival of our little girl. She will be one tomorrow and she has experienced a lot in her lifetime; she moved from London to San Francisco! Her father and I have also been through a lot and have managed to stay strong in our commitment to each other and our responsibility to parent our daughter. We are so very fortunate to have such a well behaved, loving child (who knows what the next one will bring us :))
So... someone so intelligently asked me today.... "are you going to celerbrate her turning 1?" I of course said yes and she replied, "No, I mean are you going to celebrate the past year of being a mommy?" I thought for a second and realized that being a mommy is a huge accomplishment. There are many many sacrifices that both mommy's and daddy's experience, but as a mom you have a huge sacrifice of your body. As much joy breastfeeding brings me I know taht I will be happy to have my body back, but I'm not sure that that will ever happen! I hope to breastfeed for another year and then to start on baby #2. To be a mommy is such a selfless act worth every minute! So I think to myself, of course I'm going to celebrate the last year of motherhood and we all should. We should all be proud to have everyone standing on their own two feet (or all fours if your little one is still crawling like mine). We have birthed a human being and through our hard work our offspring will continue to thrive and be amazing children and someday adults.
Cheers to all mothers out there and let me know if you have any special celebration plans of your own!

Dispelling US Hospital Maternity Care; understanding and navigating

Below is a great link from a great website called http://www.childbirthconnection.com/ It may help you understand some of the flaws in our health care and knowledge is power. By becomming informed you will be able to better speak up for yourself and your baby while in the mix of possible mahem. Remember, pregnancy is not an illness, you are not sick and you shouldn't be treated as though you are!
http://www.childbirthconnection.org/article.asp?ck=10662

Dr. Green regarding weaning your baby to solids

Dr. Greene is a widely known pediatrician and the author of Feeding Baby Green. I have added the link regarding question/answers when it comes to feeding your baby solids. He discusses how commercially made baby food is an injustice to our children and may be the link to many childhood diseases, especially obesity. I like his philosophy because he finds it important to feed babies a variety of wholesome, organic foods from an early age and that introducing foods once thought to cause allergies may be in fact beneficial in preventing allergies. I have always fed my daughter a large variety of foods in order to expose her to as many things and to prevent a "picky eater". Seems to be working thus far, but I know that we have many eating stages ahead of us :) I also want to comment on Dr. Greene's advice of when to initiate solids, 6 months for exclusively breastfed infants and as early as 4 months for formula fed babies. This is congruent with what the World Health Organisation states.
http://www.our365.com/Wisdom/Babies/Growth/Raising%20a%20Healthy%20Eater.aspx?utm_sourse=newsletter_