Milk Mama Diaries: Experiencing the One Asia Breastfeeding Forum

Welcome to the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival (August). For this month, we write about the World Breastfeeding Week 2014 - Breastfeeding: A Winning Goal for Life and share how breastfeeding can help the Philippines achieve the 8 Millennium Development Goals developed by the government and the United Nations. Participants will share their thoughts, experiences, hopes and suggestions on the topic. 

Please scroll down to the end of the post to see the list of carnival entries. 

This is a much delayed post! I've been writing it for several months now but was not able to finish.  I finally found the drive to complete it in time for Milk Mama Diaries Carnival.  I feel that this post will help me explain the relationship of breastfeeding with the 8th Millennium Development Goal - Global Partnership.

Milk Mama Diaries Carnival: Breastfeeding, A Winning Goal for Life!

I can't believe that it has been almost 2 years since our last Milk Mama Diaries blog carnival!  My co-host Mec (Mec as Mom) and I have been busy and not been able to regularly host the carnival.   However, with the prodding of our breastfriend, breastfeeding diva Velvet Escario-Roxas, we decided to revive the carnival this month to help the public understand more about this year's World Breastfeeding Week 2014 theme:  Breastfeeding, A Winning Goal For Life!

This year's theme refers to the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which were set by governments and the United Nations way back in 1990.  These goals aim to fight poverty and promote healthy and sustainable development by 2015.   WABA would like to emphasize the importance of increasing and sustaining the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding post-2015.   Likewise, by protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding, YOU can contribute to each of the MDGs in a substantial way.

MCNP Blog Carnival: What's in our diaper bag?

This post is written for the MCNP EB/Expo Blog Carnival with the theme "The Modern Cloth Nappy: The Practical Choice for Moms Today"  We aim to share and spread the knowledge and encourage moms to switch to cloth diapers.  Please scroll below to read the other carnival posts about switching to cloth, cloth diaper styles or preferred diaper for specific times. 

With my N, cloth diapering was a part-time endeavour.  We switched to cloth when she was about 6-7 months and only during the day time and at home.  Back in 2008, there were few moms who were into cloth diapers and there was no support or information group like the MCNP yet.  I remember using Next9's first generation diapers - the velcro and sized Tushy Wushy diapers.   At that time, we were afraid of leaks and chose to go disposables at night and whenever we had to go out.

The Modern Cloth Nappy: The Practical Choice for Moms Today

I'm happy to be part of this wonderful community of mothers who are addicted to cloth diapers - Modern Cloth Nappying Pinays.  This group is a local online community aimed to promote the use of reusable cloth diapers in the Philippines.  A little over 1 year old, the group now has more than 2,500 members.  Unlike the cloth diapers used by our parents, the modern cloth nappies are anything but primitive or plain.  There are now a lot of choices and for some moms, this can be overwhelming!

The community aims to share the knowledge culled by the members from use, application, trial and error.  The community has grown and now has a spin-off group called MCNP GB (Group Buys) composed of more than one thousand members which exists solely to organize coop / group buys of various mommy and baby products.

Join our September Milk Mama Diaries Carnival - World Milksharing Week 2012

It is time for another Milk Mama Diaries Blog Carnival.  I apologize if my co-host Mec (Mec as Mom) and I have not been able to regularly host the carnival for the past 6 months.   However, this is a perfect time to host a carnival as next week, September 24-30 is World Milksharing Week 2012.  The theme is: Sharing Milk, Nurturing Community.

I have previously written about donating breastmilk and its importance especially during emergencies and calamities.   Milk banks are also constantly in need of donated milk to provide for the NICU babies who rely on them.

For this carnival, Mec and I are inviting mom/dad bloggers to share their thoughts/experiences on and hopes for sharing milk.   The carnival is also open to families who are milk recipients and would like to share their own experiences or challenges being a milk donee. Check out my previous carnival posts to get an idea of how the blog carnival works and how posts look like. To join, please fill up the form here or below.

Going out of town with cloth diapers

This post is written for the Real Diaper Week Carnival with the theme "Real Simple. Real Diapers."  We aim to educate and advocate the use of cloth diapers in the Philippines.  Please scroll below to read the other carnival posts about cloth diaper styles, how to's or must haves. 

Prior to a planned trip to Subic where we would be spending the Holy Week, Baby E had been using cloth diapers and cloth wipes 24/7.  However, the said trip made us debate on whether to keep him in cloth diapers or momentarily switch to disposables.  We also had to consider the fact that we would be living in a friend's guest house.  We eventually decided to continue to cloth diaper him 24/7 -- and we survived!

Join our Real Diaper Week Blog Carnival

The focus for this year's Real Diaper Week is advocacy and education with the overall theme being "Real Simple. Real Diapers."  If you're interested in joining this, then I'm sure you know all about the benefits of cloth diapering and bursting to share them! I also know that there are a lot of Pinay moms who are well-versed and highly experienced in the use of cloth diapers.  Since we aim to educate, promote and inform and I'm not sure if there will be a future local cloth diaper carnival, let's try to cover as much information as we can during this carnival!
You can choose to write about any of the 3 categories below:

• Cloth Diaper How to's - how to make cloth wipes, how to remove stains, how to prep new diapers, how to survive overnights or short trips on cloth diapers, etc. etc.
• Cloth Diapering Must Haves - day-to-day essentials, when going out, when out on a trip, etc.
• Cloth Styles - talk about your cloth diaper stash, post a review of your favorite diaper brand or store, the different types of cloth diapers

If this is your first time to join a blog carnival, you can check my previous carnival posts to have an idea how a blog carnival works.  To join, please fill up this FORM.  Deadline for registration is 14 April 2012.  Posting instructions and carnival rules will be e-mailed to all participants on 15 April 2012.  The carnival will go live on 16 April 2012.  PLEASE POST ON 16 APRIL 2012, beginning 12MN.

Don't forget to email me your link once your post is up so I can include you in the list of carnival participants.

On Breastfeeding Number Two - Redux

Welcome to the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival (February).  For this month, we focus on back to basics.  Participants will share advices - either the best breastfeeding advice they received and/or the best breastfeeding advice they can give to new moms.  Please scroll down to the end of the post to see the list of carnival entries. 

The best breastfeeding advice I received during the early days of nursing N was that it will get better and to take breastfeeding a day at a time.  And this advice was also most helpful during my experience with nursing baby E.

Early in my pregnancy, I wrote about my worries about breastfeeding baby E (nicknamed Flower at that time).  S and I were joking about how I had to live up to my blog (being a breastfeeding mom with Baby E) - otherwise I would have to rename it!
Baby E came on 21 December 2011 at 39 weeks and 2 days.  Labor and delivery was uneventful and although my wishes for a delayed cord clamping were not met, we were eventually put skin to skin and he latched within the first 30 minutes.  I kept him roomed-in during my entire hospital stay and nursed him round the clock.

Join the February Milk Mama Diaries Carnival

For the 1st carnival of 2012, our topic will be "Back to Basics".  Participants are asked to share one of two things:

1. The best breastfeeding advice they received OR/AND

2. The best breastfeeding advice you can give to new moms. 

Going Raw (for a while!)

Welcome to the January 2012 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Experiments in Natural Family Living
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have reported on weeklong trials to make their lives a little greener. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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My family loves and enjoys good food! As long as food tastes good, we used to be unconcerned about health consequences.  Things changed when I had kids.  When N was born, I became more conscious of the food we ate - more so when I found out that S was predisposed to having high cholesterol.  Some changes I did were having weekly organic vegetable deliveries and enrolling my cook in several healthy cooking classes.  
One of the classes I found was a Raw Food Class organized by Dahon Kusina.  It was a weekend cooking class which I was supposed to attend.  But considering that I left the cooking to our helper and rarely stepped in the kitchen (yes, N cooks/bakes more than I do!!), I decided to send our cook G instead.  I felt that it would help our family more since she will learn about the benefits first hand rather than I learn about them then instruct her thereafter - with a chance of losing out on some of the information given.
After that weekend, G was able to whip up some raw food goodness for the family. 

soaked shiitake mushrooms 

raw salad - cabbage, tomatoes with cayenne pepper

california maki

raw pasta (zucchini strips) with pesto 

unfried rice

So how did they fare?  The raw pasta was quite good with the pesto sauce.  N loved the california maki.  However, the other dishes were a bit too spicy for her because the main spice used to flavor the dishes was cayenne pepper.   
I had resolved to have 1 raw meal per week for the family.  Then I got pregnant and with my hormones and appetite going haywire, the 1 raw meal per week experiment eventually got cancelled. 
I resolve to go back to this experiment again - probably try to have 1 raw meal per month first before increasing the frequency.  I don't see my family going 100% raw but I would love to include a regular raw meal in our diet for 2012. 

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Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• Make your own moisturizer! — Megan at boho mama whips up a winter skin-friendly moisturizer.
• Cold Water Only — Brittany at The Pistachio Project talks about how you do not need hot water to wash laundry.
• Family Cloth... Really?? — After lots of forethought and consideration, Momma Jorje finally decides to take the plunge with family cloth.
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle : 5-5-5 Things A Day — Luschka from Diary of a First Child writes about decluttering her home in an attempt to create a gentler living space. She takes on a new project where she sets a goal of reducing, reusing and recycling every day.
• Pros and cons of family cloth — Lauren at Hobo Mama would love to continue replacing paper products with family cloth … if she could only get over how damp she feels.
• Craftily Parenting — Kellie at Our Mindful Life finds that crafting makes her a better parent.
• Changes — Laura at Pug in the Kitchen couldn't choose just one area to experiment with, so she wrote a long post about all the fun changes initiated in her life!
• Life without Internet: Not all it's Cracked up to Be — Adrienne at Mommying My Way tries to go a week without the Internet, only to realize a healthy dose of Internet usage really helps keep this stay-at-home mom connected.
• My Progression to Raw Milk — Kerry at City Kids Homeschooling shares her natural parenting progression all the way to trying raw milk.
• mama's new little friend. — Sarah at Bitty Bird tries a menstrual cup to "green her period," and is pleasantly surprised when she falls in love with the product!
• Before you throw it out, try homemade laundry soap! — Jennifer at Practical OH Mommy shows visual proof that homemade laundry soap is cheaper, easier, and works better than the store-bought chemicals!
• Oil, Oil, No Toil, No Trouble — K from Very Simple Secret talks about her foray into the oil-cleansing method.
• I Need a Hobby — Amanda at Let's Take the Metro couldn't decide which experiment to run, so she did them all.
• 7 days of macrobiotics for a balanced family — The Stones make a [successful] attempt to release the "holiday junking" with 7 days of macrobiotic meals to balance their bodies and souls. Elisabeth at Manic Mrs. Stone includes an explanation of macrobiotics.
• Chemical Free Beauty Challenge — Jenn at Monkey Butt Junction turned to natural alternatives for her daily beauty and cleaning routine, with great results.
• Greening my Armpits!? My Green Resolution — Shannon at The Artful Mama talks about how she decided to give up her traditional antiperspirant and make the switch over to crystal deodorants and definitely isn't looking back!
• Going Raw (for a while) — Jenny at Chronicles of a Nursing Mom shares her family's experience with raw food.
• Do we get to eat gluten today? — Sheila at A Gift Universe has been trying to figure out if her son does better with or without gluten in his diet … but it's really hard to tell for sure.
• Hippies Can Smell and Look Fabulous Too! — Arpita of Up, Down And Natural details her experience of going shampoo-free and overhauling her cosmetics to find the balance between feeling beautifully fabulous and honoring her inner hippie.
• Our cupboards are full...but there's nothing to eat — Lucy at Dreaming Aloud takes on the challenge of chomping through the contents of her storecupboard rather than going shopping — but there's something that she just can't bring herself to do …
• Elimination Experiment 3.0 — MudpieMama recounts the messy adventures of her baby daughter trying to be diaper free.
• Family Cloth Trial — Amyables at Toddler in Tow talks about making and using family cloth wipes in the bathroom for the first time.
• Taking a Hiatus — Amy at Peace 4 Parents shares how her experience of much less internet interaction affected her family and how it will change her approach in the future.
• Trying Out the Menstrual Cup — Lindsey at an unschooling adventure ditches the tampons and gives menstrual cups a try.
• Managing Food Waste in Our Home — Tired of the holiday waste, Robbie at Going Green Mama takes a weeklong focus on reducing food waste in her home, and learns some lessons that can take her through the new year.
• Going Offline, Cloth Tissues, and Simplicity — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama muses over her time away from blogging and social networking. In addition, she shares her newfound love of cloth tissues and simplicity.
• The Oil Cleansing Method — Erica at ChildOrganics explores an easy, organic and natural way to tackle skin care.
• Experiments in Natural Family Living - Natural Toys! — Lani at Boobie Time enjoys the silence of natural toys and being more present with her son.
• Discovering a New City and Organic Foods — Amy at A Secure Base describes her family's switch to and search for organic foods for one week.
• My Experiment in Homemade Bread — Crunchy Con Mommy tried — and loved — baking her own homemade bread.
• Menu Planning: Stop the Excuses — Gaby at Tmuffin stopped the excuses and started planning her weekly meals, drastically cutting her grocery budget and stress level and improving the quality of foods she fed her family.
• My First Menstrual Cup — Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children was pleasantly surprised with her first experience using a menstrual cup.
• My Natural Beauty Regime — Christine at African Babies Don’t Cry shares the results of banishing cleanser and soaps from her bathroom, as well as a couple of natural homemade recipes that have worked well on her skin.
• Unplugging and Creating a Rhythm: Our Experiment in Natural Family Living — Dionna at Code Name: Mama focused less on gadgets and spent more time with her family to create a healthy rhythm for the new year.
• Experiments in Natural Family Living: 5 First Steps Toward Preparing for a Natural Birth — Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama discusses how she tackled the pressing matter of how to begin preparing for a natural birth.
• All you need is...vinegar! — Kristen at My Semi-Crunchy Life learns that one household product can replace all the cleaners in her cabinet.
• Nope Nada Ixnay Negative Pass Decline — Zoie at TouchstoneZ finds out what shakes loose if she says, "YES!!" to anything anyone asks of her over the space of 10 days.
• Reducing our exposure to toxins found in plastics — Syenna at Gently Parenting Twins throws out the melamine and BPA plastics which have been hanging around the kitchen for too long.
• Duh! — Kat at Loving {Almost} Every Moment shares how she began the process of helping her 2-year-old son stop physically acting out.
• Experiments in Natural Parenting: Starting, Stopping, and Gaining Perspective — Melissa at Vibrant Wanderings explains how pregnancy brain interfered with her attempts to complete an experiment, but how she gained some interesting perspective as she started and stopped several.
• From Experiment to Lifestyle — Abbie at Farmer's Daughter shares her experience avoiding processed foods for a month, and deciding to make it a permanent lifestyle change.
• From Disposable Paper to Reusable Cloth – AGAIN! — Terri at Child of the Nature Isle stops flushing trees down the toilet and switches to the softest ever butt-wiping material: cloth.
• Extra! Extra! Water Heater Turned Down, Mom Doesn't Notice! — Thomasin at Propson Palingenesis finds an energy-saving experiment that's so easy she didn't even realize it was happening.
• Worm Tea — CatholicMommy isn't sure how successful her worm bin will be, but she's having fun anyway.
• Miles to Go ... — Rachael at The Variegated Life learns that when it comes to sleep debt, she's in real deep.
• My Month With Water Kefir — Paige at Baby Dust Diaries experiments with a new fermented probiotic drink homemade in her own kitchen.
• OMG Mom is Home... All Day Everyday: A Week-Long Experiment in Connecting — What a difference a week makes! Ana at Pandamoly is afforded a week off from work and takes the chance to reconnect and reattach with her 16-month-old son through an experiment in simply being there.
• Creating Healthy Family Recipes — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now shares her experiment with healthy, gluten-free recipes and a chocolate muffin recipe that was created during the experiment.
• Adventures in Alternative Haircare: No 'Poo — This guest post at Natural Parents Network from Amy at Anktangle chronicles a months-long journey into the world of no 'poo.
• My Experiment in Natural Family Living: Natural Family Planning — Birth control options are seriously limited for those of us trying to live a little closer to the earth, so Mama Psalmist experiments with natural family planning.

Gifts of Breastfeeding

"Welcome to the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival (December). For this month, we want to honor breastfeeding for having enriched our lives and blessed us, maybe even empowered us, in a way that only breastfeeding can. Please scroll down to the end of this post and check out the other carnival participants."

The holiday season is here and what better topic for the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival than the gifts that breastfeeding has brought to my family?  I won't be talking about the benefits of breastfeeding but rather about the new horizons that breastfeeding has opened up to me.

Join the December Milk Mama Diaries Carnival

It's Carnival time again and since it is the holiday season, what better topic to have but "BREASTFEEDING GIFTS".  You can share about how breastfeeding has enriched your life, delighted you or maybe even changed you.  Talk about your most favorite gift, pair it with a popular Christmas song or carol (e.g Twelve Gifts of Breastfeeding) - be as creative as you can!  Feel free to make it as personal, introspective or grateful as you can.


If this is your first time to join a carnival, you can check out my previous carnival posts to have an idea how this blog carnival works.  To join, please fill up this FORM.   If you don't have a blog but would like to join, please email me or Mec so we can arrange to have you hosted as a guest blogger.

My Budding Chef

Welcome to the November Carnival of Natural Parenting: Kids in the Kitchen
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared how kids get involved in cooking and feeding. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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at The Culinary Workshop

learning how to measure

I'm no cook and I am definitely happy (and lucky) that we have helpers where I live.  I sent my 2 helpers to various cooking classes and they can now whip up an excellent paella, a complete japanese and korean dinner, thai meals and can follow various recipes by the book.  But what makes me happier is they allow my little budding chef, N to work with them in the kitchen.

Barriers/Myths vs. Extended Breastfeeding

Welcome to the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival (November). For this month, participants share their experiences on extended breastfeeding. This includes tips to moms with young babies, as well as barriers and myths which discourage extended nursing. Please scroll down to the end of this post and check out the other carnival participants.

My daughter, N, weaned at 3 years and 5 months. If you read my early days in breastfeeding, I wouldn't have thought that we would go beyond 2 years of nursing! I've previously shared about the challenges and the highs and lows I had in nursing a toddler. For this carnival, let me focus on the myths and barriers against extended breastfeeding faced by moms.

Join the November Milk Mama Diaries Carnival

Ok, so I have been remiss in my duties! This blog carnival was supposed to be in October but with baby on the way, things got crazy and with Mec's permission, I'm moving the carnival to November! :D

So our topic for this month would be extended breastfeeding. Participants are asked to share their experiences with breastfeeding their toddlers (past 12 months old) as well as their tips to moms with young babies. Participants can also talk about barriers to extended breastfeeding which includes myths or comments they received from people around them.

Join the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival for August

Since August is Breastfeeding Month, we decided to have a special Milk Mama Diaries Carnival and adopt the theme of World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA):  Talk to me! Breastfeeding - a 3D Experience" on a more personal level.

Locally, our own Department of Health's National Center for Health Promotion has the theme "Breastfeeding: Talk and TSEK" which will be launched tomorrow, 8 August 2011.  So for this month's carnival,  we will focus on communication, as the third dimension in breastfeeding support. We are asking participants to share about how they communicated their desire to breastfeed and/or breastfeeding goals to their support system.

More on Breastfeeding Promotion plus a Guest Post

"Welcome to the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival (July).  For this month, we join the National Nutrition Council - Department of Health in celebrating Nutrition Month with the theme "Isulong ang Breastfeeding - Tama, Sapat at EKsklusibo!" Participants will share their experiences in promoting breastfeeding or their tips on how breastfeeding should be promoted.  Please scroll down to the end of this post and check out the other carnival participants."
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I don't know if you have noticed but the Department of Health has become more active in promoting breastfeeding.  There was a launch of the campaign early this year, followed by a bloggers' event in May plus the creation of their Facebook page and hanging of tarps in MRT stations.  Then for Nutrition Month, DOH has decided to again focus on breastfeeding as its theme, resulting in various activities in several regions nationwide, all geared towards promoting breastfeeding.

DOH Breastfeeding TSEK Tarp at Baclaran Station of LRT Line 1
*Photo from DOH Breastfeeding TSEK Facebook page

The efforts are indeed laudable BUT (of course there is a but!) I feel that there is much more to be done for the promotion to be effective.  For my post today, let me start with a bucket list of other ways by which breastfeeding can be promoted before I share the guest post.

Guest Post: Breastfeeding is the Only Way

Welcome to the Carnival of Breastfeeding for July! This month's theme is "Breastfeeding the Special Needs Baby".  I asked Pittipat M. Chupungco to share her story about breastfeeding her second baby, Janina who was diagnosed with Apert Syndrome. She originally shared her breastfeeding story in a February post in her blog. Janina has recently undergone syndactyly release and Pittipat updated her story to include this recent development.  Read their story below.  Thank you, Pittipat for sharing!  Please scroll down to read the entries of the other participants.
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The moment I found out I was pregnant, I did not think twice about breastfeeding my baby.  That was never a question for us.  When my eldest child was born, it was then that I realized that breastfeeding was not as easy as it seemed.  In spite of the challenges, we persisted and thankfully, succeeded.
When Janina was diagnosed with Apert Syndrome, our immediate concern lay on her chances of survival since very few doctors knew about the Syndrome.  Janina had breathing and cardio issues and had to be kept in the high-risk NICU.  Later on, when the doctors assured us that children with Apert Syndrome could live normal and healthy lives, we were able to get our bearings and focus on the long road ahead of us. 

Of Parenting Styles

Welcome to the July Carnival of Natural Parenting: Parenting Philosophy
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared their parenting practices and how they fit in with their parenting purpose. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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Three years ago, my friend Stephen asked me about Stan's and my parenting style. He had watched a show on the Lifestyle Channel about parenting styles in raising babies - "Bringing Up the Baby". The series focuses on the parenting styles advocated by 3 experts from different decades. For the 1950's, the expert was Dr. Frederic Truby King, who advocated a strict routine method. For the 1960's, it was Dr. Benjamin Spock, who is for individualized routine parenting. And finally, for the 1970's, it was Jean Liedloff, for the continuum concept. The basics of these styles are as follows: King - Discipline -- Predictability -- Early detachment of baby and mother -- Order -- One size fits all -- Start as you mean to go on; Spock - Acknowledges individuality -- Tailor-made routine -- Relieves parental guilt -- Balance and Liedloff - instinct -- Based on human evolution -- Community.
N is now 3 years and 7 months old.  Since Day 1, I can say that we have been following some form of responsive parenting in dealing with her.  She used to nurse on demand and there were no scheduled feeds.  We also co-slept with her and shared a bed.  
I am doubly glad that (even if we never really talked about it) Stan and I share the same parenting philosophy style.  At this time, we both agree that N's needs (and soon Flower) will take precedence over Stan's and mine.  We schedule everything according to her needs.  With my parents having the empty nest syndrome now, I realized that it won't be long before N and Flower themselves will want to be independent and Stan and I will end up with more time on our hands than we want.
As for bringing her up, Stan and I listen to our moms, to our friends, our doctors, but we do our own research and talk about what we think is best for N and follow this decision. We don't necessarily follow what other people tell us. Also, we don't keep N with us 24/7. We're lucky to have a yaya (nanny) who takes really good care of her (especially when I'm at work), reads to her, perseveres in doing arts and crafts, putting hot compresses when she has booboos, talks to her, makes her laugh and MOST IMPORTANTLY, doesn't watch TV when Naima's around.
If I would need to choose among the three featured styles on the show, I would like to think that our style would be more of Liedloff. However, given the changes we make to adapt to our own culture, I will still say that our style is uniquely our own.  Stan and I live by this quote from Dr. Jay Gordon which I really like and try to apply in the way we bring up Naima: "What many people try to do is fit the baby in to their lives, rather than wrapping their lives around the baby."

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Visit Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:
(This list will be live and updated by afternoon July 12 with all the carnival links.)

• Between Love and Fear: On Raising our Children Sensibly — Mamma Earthly at Give an Earthly discusses the fear factor in parenting and how she overcame it, despite societal pressures.
• really, when do i get my cape? — Sarah at small bird on fire is a working city mama trying to learn how to set aside her expectations of perfection and embrace the reality of modern parenting.
• Baby, Infant, and Toddler Wearing — Child wearing is part of Sarah at Nourished and Nurtured's parenting philosophy. In this post, Sarah describes benefits of child-wearing and gives tips for wearing babies, infants, and toddlers (even while pregnant).
• First Year Reflections — As her daughter's first birthday approaches, Holly at First Year Reflections reflects on how she and her husband settled into attachment parenting after initially doing what they thought everyone else did.
• Making an allowance — Lauren at Hobo Mama welcomes a guest post from Sam about the unexpected lessons giving a four-year-old an allowance teaches the child — and the parent.
• How to be a Lazy Parent and Still Raise Great Kids — Lisa at Granola Catholic talks about how being a Lazy Parent has helped her to raise Great Kids.
• Philosophy in Practice — Laura at A Pug in the Kitchen shares how her heart shaped the parenting philosophy in her home.
• What is Attachment Parenting Anyway? — Gaby at Tmuffin describes the challenges of putting a label on her parenting philosophy.
• Of Parenting Styles — Jenny at Chronicles of a Nursing Mom talks about how she and her husband tailored various parenting styles to fit their own preferred parenting philosophy.
• Moment by Moment Parenting — Amy at Peace 4 Parents encourages those who care for children (including herself) to explore and appreciate parenting moment-by-moment with clarity, intention, trust, and action.
• Maintaining Spirituality in the Midst of Everyday Parenting, Marriage, and Life — Sarah at Nourished and Nurtured shares her perspective on finding opportunities for spiritual growth in every day life.
• Parenting Philosophy — Lily, aka Witch Mom's parenting philosophy is to raise child(ren) to be compassionate, loving, inquisitive, and questioning adults who can be trusted to make decisions for themselves in a way that avoids harming others.
• Long Term — Rosemary at Rosmarinus Officinalis thinks about who she would like to see her daughter become — and what she can do now to lay a strong foundation for those hopes.
• Connection, Communication, Compassion — She's come a long way, baby! After dropping her career in favour of motherhood, Patti at Jazzy Mama discovered that building solid relationships was going to be her only parenting priority.
• My Parenting Inspirations - Part 4 — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama looks at her biggest parenting inspiration and how that translates into her long-term parenting philosophy.
• A Parenting Philosophy in One Word: Respect — Jenn at Monkey Butt Junction summarizes her parenting and relationship philosophy in one word: respect.
• Knowledge and Instinct — Kat at Loving {Almost} Every Moment believes that knowledge and instinct are super important … as are love, encouragement and respect. It's the ideal combo needed to raise happy and healthy children and in turn create meaningful relationships with them.
• THRIVE! — The Sparkle Mama wants to set a tone of confidence, abundance, and happiness in her home that will be the foundation for the rest of her daughter's life.
• On Children — "Your children are not your children," say Kahlil Gibran and Hannah at Wild Parenting.
• This One Life Together — Ariadne aka Mudpiemama shares her philosophy of parenting: living fully in the here and now and building the foundation for a happy and healthy life.
• Enjoying life and planning for a bright future — Olivia at Write About Birth shares her most important parenting dilemmas and pours out her heart about past trauma and how healing made her a better parent.
• My Parenting Philosophy: Unconditional and Natural Love — Charise at I Thought I Knew Mama shares what she has learned about her parenting philosophy from a year of following her instincts as a mama.
• An open letter to my children — Isil at Smiling Like Sunshine writes an open letter to her children.
• My Starter Kit for Unconditional Parenting — Sylvia at MaMammalia discusses her wish to raise a good person and summarizes some of the nontraditional practices she's using with her toddler son in order to fulfill that wish.
• Responsiveness — Sheila at A Gift Universe has many philosophies and goals, but what it all boils down to is responsiveness: listening to what her son wants and providing what he needs.
• Tools for Creating Your Parenting Philosophy — Have you ever really thought about your parenting purpose? Knowing your long-term goals can help you parent with more intent in your daily interactions. Dionna at Code Name: Mama offers exercises and ideas to help you create your own parenting philosophy.
• Be a Daisy — Becky at Old New Legacy philosophizes about individuality and how she thinks it's important for her daughter's growth.
• What's a Mama to Do? — Amyables at Toddler in Tow hopes that her dedication to compassionate parenting will keep her children from becoming too self-critical as adults.
• grown-up anxieties. — Laura at Our Messy Messy Life explains her lone worry concerning her babies growing up.
• Why I Used Montessori Principles in My Parenting Philosophy — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now tells why she chose Montessori principles to help her now-adult children develop qualities she wanted to see in them as children and adults.
• Parenting Philosophies & Planning for the Future — Momma Jorje considers that the future is maybe just a fringe benefit of doing what feels right now.
• Not Just Getting Through — Rachael at The Variegated Life asks what truths she hopes to express even in the most commonplace interactions with her son.
• Parenting Philosophy? Eh... — Ana at Pandamoly shares the philosophy (or lack thereof) being employed to (hopefully) raise a respectful, loving, and responsible child.
• Parenting Philosophy: Being Present — Shannon at The Artful Mama discusses the changes her family has made to accommodate their parenting philosophy and to reflect their ideals as working parents.
• Who They Will Be — Amanda at Let's Take the Metro shares a short list of some qualities she hopes she is instilling in her children at this very moment.
• Short Term vs. Long Term — Sheryl at Little Snowflakes recounts how long term parenting goals often get lost in the details of everyday life with two kids.
• Parenting Philosophy: Practicing and Nurturing Peace — Terri at Child of the Nature Isle sets personal goals for developing greater peace.
• Yama Niyama & the Red Pajama Mama — Part 1: The Yamas — In part 1 of a set of posts by Zoie at TouchstoneZ, Zoie guest posts at Natural Parents Network about how the Yoga Sutras provide a framework for her parenting philosophy.
• Yama Niyama & the Red Pajama Mama — Part 2: The Niyamas — In part 2 of a set of posts by Zoie at TouchstoneZ, Zoie explores how the Niyamas (one of the eight limbs in traditional Yoga) help her maintain her parenting and life focus.
• Our Sample Parenting Plan — Chante at My Natural Motherhood Journey shares hopes of who her children will become and parenting strategies she employs to get them there.
• Philosophical Parenting: Letting Go — Jona at Life, Intertwined ponders the notion that there's no right answer when it comes to parenting.
• Unphilosophizing? — jessica at instead of institutions wonders about the usefulness of navel gazing.
• Parenting Sensitively — Amy at Anktangle uses her sensitivity to mother her child in ways that both nurture and affirm.
• how to nurture your relationships — Mrs Green at Little Green Blog believes that sometimes all kids need is a jolly good listening to …
• Philosophy Of An Unnatural Parent — Dr. Sarah at Good Enough Mum sees parenting as a process of guiding her children to develop the skills they'll need.
• Life with a Challenging Kid: Hidden Blessings — Wendy at High Needs Attachment shares the challenges and joys of raising a high needs child.
• Flying by the Seat of My Pants — Heather at Very Nearly Hippy has realized that she has no idea what she's doing.

Join the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival for July

July is Nutrition Month!  For this year, the National Nutrition Council - Department of Health has decided that the theme will be "Isulong ang Breastfeeding - Tama, Sapat at EKsklusibo!" So what could be a more apt topic for this month's carnival but this?!
Breastfeeding has been receiving a lot of bad press lately from torture to bad advice to wrong help from professionals.  However, we all know how beneficial breastfeeding is to both mom and baby.  We really need to promote and spread the word about breastfeeding and its benefits.  For this month, please share about your experiences on how you were able to promote breastfeeding or how you think breastfeeding should be promoted in this country to increase breastfeeding rates and encourage more moms to breastfeed.
Read my May Carnival post to get an idea on how a blog carnival post looks like.  To join the carnival, please fill up this FORM.   Please include this short blurb on the top of your post: "Welcome to the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival (July).  For this month, we join the National Nutrition Council - Department of Health in celebrating Nutrition Month with the theme "Isulong ang Breastfeeding - Tama, Sapat at EKsklusibo!" Participants will share their experiences in promoting breastfeeding or their tips on how breastfeeding should be promoted.  Please scroll down to the end of this post and check out the other carnival participants."
If you don't have a blog but would like to join, please email me or Mec so we can arrange to have you hosted as a guest blogger.  Submissions are due by 19 July 2011 and the carnival will go live on 22 July 2011.