Milk Mama Diaries: Wet Nursing

Welcome to the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival (September). For this month, we will tackle milk sharing and how it can nurture the community, and how this spirit of giving can be sustained. 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.

Wet nursing has been in existence for several centuries.  I previously wrote about a UK TV show which talked about other people's breastmilk.  Locally, milk sharing is done through milk banks or mother to mother donations.  And of course, we have all heard of Salma Hayek breastfeeding another baby.

Thank you Sangobion!

Dear readers, sorry that it has taken me more than a month after the awarding to write a Thank You post to Sangobion.

First of all, I would like to thank Sangobion and Smart Parenting for choosing my blog as among the Top Ten Finalists from among 50 blogs.  It is an honor to be considered as a top parenting blog.

unboxing the iPad

Thank you also to all my readers who voted and help me win third place!  Since this was a voting contest (most votes win!) I couldn't have gotten to 3rd place without your support.

One of the prizes given was a 16gb white iPad.  It took me another month to open the iPad.  You see, we previously had an IPAD (the first one).  My daughter got addicted.  It was difficult to set rules and she threw a tantrum whenever we asked her to stop using the IPAD.  So we gave it away.  IPAD2 came and I resisted the urge to purchase one.  When the iPad was launched, again I wanted to buy one but remembered the tantrums and arguments so I resisted.

When the contest was launched, I tried my luck and won the iPad.  However, Stan and I decided to keep it first and asked N to show us that we could agree on the frequency of its use.  We did this first by scheduling TV times and her use of Stan's Galaxy S.  It was a month-long probation and happily she passed. So last Sunday, we unboxed  the iPad.  So far so good, we have been able to follow rules.

How about you? Do you have a tablet or a smartphone? How do you manage your kids' time on it?

A Mother's Commitment: Giving without Counting the Cost (a Johnson's Baby Sponsored Post)

I previously shared with you how I admired Johnson & Johnson as a company especially when it comes to taking care of their employees.  I am even happier to report that in contrast with other multinationals, J&J certainly lives up to their ethics - to listen to their consumers.  So when their consumers raised their concerns about certain ingredients in their products, J&J took action and announced that they will reformulate their products.

According to the Environmental Working Group, "Johnson & Johnson is the first major personal care products manufacturer to take such an important action in favor of its customers' safety."  In fact, EWG has a petition to thank Johnson & Johnson for its action.

Guest Post: Breastfeeding Challenges of a Doctor-Mom

I'd like to share this story from a breastfeeding mom who is also a medical doctor.  Dr. Myla V. Custodio is a mother of 5 and is an endocrinologist.  She is currently breastfeeding her youngest child.

=================
Being a medical doctor, I never bothered to research about breastfeeding until my 5th baby came.  First, I'm an endocrinologist and I studied about hormones.  I truly believed that it is only hormones that would affect milk supply.  I never considered the law of supply and demand and its effects on milk supply.  Secondly, I never had the luxury of a maternity leave.  For all my 4 kids, once I could tolerate the postpartum pains, I was already out of the house and started doing my daily hospital rounds.  I got so busy taking care of patients that I forgot that my babies need me more than anybody else.  To compensate, I co-sleep and breastfed them to the best of my abilities (although with mix feeding).  I also take care of them whenever I'm at home.  

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.