Stupid Thrush

I am really tired of thrush!!! Will's tongue has gone from one lession to an entire breakout. I'm feeling worse and I'm not sure what to do about it. I now have family planning Medicaid, which won't cover a checkup on the infection, so I'll have to p-o-p and we can't afford that. William's 'scripts do not seem to be working and the acidophilus isn't helping me any. Does this get worse before it gets better?

Old news, but interesting comments

So how many new Victoria's Secret sold nursing bras at one point? I had no clue, unfortunately between then and now there probably wouldn't even be a chance for me to purchase one. I only found this information on La Leche League Mother-to-Mother Forums page. This information was posted back in December 2007.

Unfortunately, our nursing bra collection has been discontinued but we do still have several styles and sizes available. These items can not be ordered on our website as they are no longer featured. To order the bras, please call customer service at 1-800-475-1935 and we will be happy to assist you. The item numbers can be found below:

Piped Full Coverage Nursing Bra: 223-080
Lace Trim Nursing Bra: 223-057
All Over Lace Nursing Bra: 223-074
Nursing Plunge Bra: 223-065
Leopard Nursing Bra: 223-076
Lace Trim Nursing Cami : 223-059

If we can help you further, please reply to this e-mail or call anytime.

I had told you that I had received a comment from a battle buddy of mine. A friend I served with when we were in Germany had left a comment after I posted the above video. Here is what she had to say:

"Victoria Secret ran off a woman while she sat on the bench outside their store and breast fed her baby in North Charleston SC a couple years ago. They told her their products are not for breast feeding mothers and further more their products were not made for mothers at all!! She sued them and won a substantial amount of money, I don't shop their anymore."

And I said I would do some research and find out more about this shop and their politics on breastfeeding. This is from ABC News about the incident:

Breast-Feeding Moms Take Action

'Lactivists' and Lawmakers Push to Allow Public Nursing

By ADRIENNE MAND LEWIN

Dec. 20, 2005 

It was one of those moments new moms dread. While Lori Rueger was shopping with her infant daughter, the baby "pitched a fit" -- she needed to be fed.

"When I started heading back to the car, I saw there was a Victoria's Secret," Rueger said. "Being a past customer of Victoria's Secret, I knew they had really nice dressing rooms. [I thought:] 'I'll see if they let me use it and buy something for their trouble and be on my way.'"
Instead, she said, she was told that breast-feeding in the store was against company policy and was advised to go to a nearby bathroom, which she told the employee she would not do. "I just kind of looked at her and said, 'I wouldn't eat in there. Would you?'"

I have to wonder...why do people feel the need to be so rude? Especially when it comes to the health of our babies. I get it, Victoria's Secret sells items that create the female form in a sexual manner; but as you saw the beginning of this post, Victoria's Secret did sell nursing bras at one time. So how do the workers at this store get away with doing such a horrible thing? Especially when one of their most famous models happens to be a nursing mother as well. Here are few sites that talk about Heidi Klum and her breastfeeding:

Mom Heidi Klum is in fine form
Heidi's Secret
Heidi Klum becomes mom

Though some of the reasons she states why she breastfeeds isn't what we would all expect, but it's enough that the store should back her one hundred percent. Especially since Victoria's Secret is a big advocate for breast cancer awareness and research has stated breastfeeding can reduce the chances of getting breast cancer.



So what does Victoria's Secret say about this? In the Summer of 2006, there were nationwide protests due to two mothers in separate incidents from Massachusetts and Wisconsin told to go to the bathroom to feed their babies. The company responded by stating they have a policy allowing women to nurse their babies in their stores. A Victoria's Secret spokesperson apologized for the incidents that occurred and said the employees had behaved inappropriately.


Though time has passed since then, the laws have become even more beneficial for breastfeeding women. If it weren't for the perverts that could be lurking around any corner when I'm in public, I would pull the girls out and happily feed without the use of a cover.


It's amazing how women in other countries, mostly third-world, can pull out their breasts and feed their babies in public without a problem. The people in these countries do not view the female form as strictly sexual, but as a beautiful form that gives birth to the future and can nourish that future with the best possible food they can receive.


What are your thoughts?

Next blog...research on a certain store that says their products are not made for mothers

I got an interesting comment from a battle buddy about a certain lingerie store discriminating against a #breastfeeding mom. Going to research more and see how this well known company feels about #bfing. #bfcafe

My hero

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, of different backgrounds and color, and from different parts of the world. Heroes are ordinary people that accomplish something extraordinary. These can be the men and women who serve in the Armed Forces; Police or Sheriff Departments or State Troopers; Fire Departments; and many other jobs. These people may put their lives on the line everyday.


Than there are those who don't do such jobs but do something just as extraordinary in a different facet. These are people who may work in government offices, for the YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, shelters for needy people, such as displaced families, and most importantly volunteers.


 This hero is a woman who has dome something extraordinary for today's women. She stood up for women in New Jersey by requesting the Mayor to proclaim August “Breastfeeding Awareness Month” according to NJ.com.


She is Roselle Park Councilwoman Larissa Chen-Hoerning. She is serving her term as Third Ward Councilwoman. With a Bachelor's Degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Master's Degree from Yale University, Larissa works part-time as a therapist with autistic children, is a member of various family-oriented organizations, the founder of her local ICAN and DiaperFreeBaby chapters, is co-leader of the Northern NJ Babywearing group, and does independent consultations as well.

Pictured here is Larissa with her six-week-old-son attending a meeting debating an ordinance regulating overnight truck parking on borough streets. What you don't see is Larissa breastfeeding her son while the meeting is in order. “I want to help women say ‘Someone else is out there breastfeeding, and maybe it’s OK to do,’” [Larissa] said last week, according to NJ.com. [Larissa] said that she doesn’t think the act of nursing her baby, discreetly shielded from view by the desk in front of her, should be stigmatized as dirty or shameful.

According to La Leche League International spokeswoman Loretta McCallister, she has never heard of an elected official like Larissa breastfeeding her baby while conducting official business at a public meeting.

This is a huge step for breastfeeding mothers. I have read comments where people disagree with this or felt it was wrong for her to do while she was working. Do we not eat while we are at work? Are snacks not passed around during a meeting to help keep people from being bored and leaving early? Sometimes parents bring their toddlers to meetings and feed them there. How is this any different? 


Unfortunately, society views public breastfeeding to be stigmatic. No one has any right to tell a mother where, when and how she should feed her baby. Not to mention the article is getting hammered by people who don't understand the importance of what she is doing. It's not about bringing a baby to show off or say "look at me." This is about standing up for all women. This is about doing what is best for her child. This is someone who is advocating on behalf of all women saying that it is alright to care for your child's needs in public. People do it for their children everyday, what is so different if a woman breastfeeds her child?

I look forward to the day when we can bring our children with us everywhere we go. I look forward to the day when society will no longer view us as sexual creatures but as the women they will fall in love with, marry, have children and watch their wives breastfeed their children, openly in the public. Times have come so far, yet people pretend to be so modest as society finds its way around every little subject.

I hope the next time you see a breastfeeding mother you can go up to her and tell her thank you.

Time to educate more people about breastfeeding...

Well, I knew I would eventually come by it. Someone was bound to post about it or even create a blog about it, but I shouldn't be surprised to see a fan page created about how some people are disgusted by those of us that breastfeed in public.

Seriously, do you really think we should breastfeed in a public restroom? Have you seen how nasty a public restroom is? People who say such things must not have a problem using public restrooms without a seat cover. It is the same thing. And where should we sit; on a toilet, the floor or should we just stand for 15-30 minutes?

I won't call these people ignorant, because not all who believe this may be ignorant. Some people still view breasts in a sexual nature, and by all means, if they feel they want to, it is all within their rights to do so...as it is within our rights to breastfeed wherever we want to.

I'm excited that a fan page was created to help educate those on breastfeeding. And I think that is what the world needs. We learn in school, as young as the 4th grade (that's how young we were when we first learned, now I believe they do this in the 3rd grade), all about the birds and the bees and where babies come from. We even learn that a baby is fed from their mother's breasts.

Did you know there are laws that protect us from those who feel a baby should publicly starve? Maybe this is a harsh way for me to be putting it. People who find it unacceptable or offensive aren't saying we should starve our babies, only that we should do it in complete seclusion. Here is a link on information regarding each state, updated as of March 2010: National Conference of State Legislatures. For Mississippi alone, the state I live in, here is some information: "Mississippi requires licensed child care facilities to provide breastfeeding mothers with a sanitary place that is not a toilet stall to breastfeed their children or express milk, to provide a refrigerator to store expressed milk, to train staff in the safe and proper storage and handling of human milk, and to display breastfeeding promotion information to the clients of the facility." I find this interesting since I was told by my lactation consultant daycare or childcare centers won't store breastmilk.

Here is more information:
Miss. Code Ann. § 13-5-23 (2006) provides that breastfeeding mothers may be excused from serving as jurors. (SB 2419)
Miss. Code Ann. § 17-25-7/9 (2006) prohibits any ordinance restricting a woman's right to breastfeed and provides that a mother may breastfeed her child in any location she is otherwise authorized to be. (SB 2419)
Miss. Code Ann. § 43-20-31 (2006) requires licensed child care facilities to provide breastfeeding mothers with a sanitary place that is not a toilet stall to breastfeed their children or express milk, to provide a refrigerator to store expressed milk, to train staff in the safe and proper storage and handling of human milk, and to display breastfeeding promotion information to the clients of the facility.
Miss. Code Ann. Ch. 1 § 71-1-55 (2006) prohibits against discrimination towards breastfeeding mothers who use lawful break time to express milk.
Miss. Code Ann. § 97-29-31 and § 97-35-7et seq. (2006) specifies that a woman breastfeeding may not be considered an act of indecent exposure, disorderly conduct, or disturbance of the public space.

These laws are also followed by many other states as well. And for my friends in Washington State:

Wash. Rev. Code § 9A.88.010 (2001) states that the act of breastfeeding or expressing breast milk is not indecent exposure. (HB 1590)
Wash. Rev. Code § 43.70.640 (2001) allows any employer, governmental and private, to use the designation of "infant-friendly" on its promotional materials if the employer follows certain requirements. (2001 Wash. Laws, Chap. 88)
Wash. Rev. Code § 49.60.30(g) (2009) provides that it is the right of a mother to breastfeed her child in any place of public resort, accommodations, assemblage or amusement. (2009 Wash. Laws, Chap. 164, HB 1596)
Wash. Rev. Code § 49.60.215 the law states that it is an unfair practice for any person to discriminate against a mother breastfeeding her child in any place of public resort, accommodations, assemblage or amusement.

Here is something I would like to part with you from my fellow bloggers at If Breastfeeding Offends You...
 

So if you feel the need to discriminate against breastfeeding mothers, keep this in mind: we are protected.

And remember: