holisticIBCLC

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS & WEBINARS FOR PARENTS

2012-02-27T06:39:00.000+01:00

SEMI-PRIVATE WEBINARS: Gut Health and Healing for Breastfeeding Families

Next Session Has Been Requested:
March 4, 2012, 9am EST, 3pm CET (so 2pm in the UK)

These webinars are ONGOING--NEW WORKSHOPS WILL BE SCHEDULED AS OTHERS FILL
WITH TIME ZONES ACCOMMODATED AS BEST AS POSSIBLE

PRICE: $70US per person

Contact:
IParentLLC@aol.com

COURSE HIGHLIGHTS:
how the gut becomes compromised in mothers & children

nutritional approaches to gut healing in mother & child

additional strategies for supporting gut healing in mother & child

limited to 4 parents so as to provide personalized education

follow-up support available

THE PURPOSE OF THIS WORKSHOP is to help parents understand the significance of gut health and healing as the foundation of their child's well-being. Gut physiology and the basics of gut healing will be discussed. The course is designed to help parents of breastfeeding infants and toddlers take a more holistic approach to problems such as "colic', reflux, allergies, eczema, low milk supply, oversupply, etc.

Many parents find themselves confronted with the reality of infants and young children whose guts have been compromised during pregnancy or birth, infancy or early childhood as a result of the mother's leaky gut, birth interventions, exposure to artificial feeding, medications, allergens and/or environmental toxins. Indications or associated conditions in infancy include "colic", infrequent stooling, fussiness, "reflux" or GERD, high-need behaviours, tongue-tie, allergies, poor growth or failure to thrive, eczema and thrush and often include "behaviour problems" or "picky-eating" in older children. Maternal issues include: history of infertility, PCOS, over or undersupply, depression, chronic infection including plugged ducts or mastitis, allergy, asthma, chronic or frequent infections such as sinus or UTIs, digestive problems, migraines, fatigue, poor sleep, candida, skin conditions and other inflammatory conditions One semi-private 2 1/2 hour session held with 3-4 participants to address personalized strategies for your own families--your individual questions and answers will be addressed within the group Workshop is held once per week; once the worksop has reached a capacity of 4 attendees, the next one will be scheduled. Requests for dates and times that accommodate your time zone may be made.

HERE'S HOW THIS PROGRAM WORKS:
Support is key for most parents to make significant lifestyle changes and the nature of that support often changes with time.

Once you participate in a workshop, you may be added to a closed FB group where attendees may offer and receive ongoing support. Parents well on their way in this process will be member of the group as well.

There will also be once per month webinars offered as ongoing support, should there be enough interest, beginning in March to anyone who has finished this workshop. The webinar will be 90 minutes and the fee will be $10, but will only be held with at least 10 participants.

THIS WORKSHOP IS HOSTED BY WIZIQ--HOWEVER CONTACT ME DIRECTLY FOR PAYMENT AND PLACEMENT IN A WORKSHOP--YOU NEED A COMPUTER WITH AUDIO TO PARTICIPATE--YOU DO NOT NEED SKYPE OR VIDEO --YOU DO NEED THE LATEST VERSION OF FLASH PLAYER

PRIVATE SKYPE CONSULTS MAY BE ARRANGED AS WELL

CONNECTICUT:
Home Remedies and Vibrational Medicine Workshops
Intuitive Parenting Network LLC presents: Raising Children Holistically: A Series of Workshops for Parents

Workshops to be held in a CT--final location TBD

The Sumati Home Remedy KIT may be available for pre-order if there are enough requests.

April 1, 2012
Self-care and Home Remedies
In Western culture, the concept of well-child care has trained us to rely on doctors to treat the simplest of ailments from coughs and colds, to stomach aches and insect bites. Yet, taking care of our own children – keeping them well and treating them ourselves– can be the most empowering of experiences. Choosing safe and effective treatments is usually quite simple with the proper information. We will discuss simple home remedies to address many of the most common ailments, drawing upon over twenty years of practical experience. Raising children with a holistic approach to well-being instills a confidence and attunement that they will carry with them throughout their lives.

April 29, 2012
Vibrational Medicine – Includes a Discussion of Intuition, Homeopathy, Flower Essences, EFT, MAP Sessions and other Energy Practices
There is no medicine more profound or deeply healing than energy medicine. From addressing simple emotional hurts to physical bumps and bruises, from re-patterning harmful behaviors to accelerating healing in any area, energy medicine is THE medicine of the future. It has been proven to be useful in both acute and chronic imbalances. We will teach the foundation of simple techniques such as EFT, MAP Sessions and the basics of using flower essences and homeopathy. We will also discuss more specialized energy techniques that you can use in conjunction with a practitioner.

Pricing:
Each workshop is $100 prepaid by 2 weeks prior to the workshop date. Both workshops can be taken for $175. Payment is preferred through paypal by making the payment to IParent4@aol.com. Payment may also be made by check.
Space is limited. To register, or with questions, please contact Jennifer IParentLLC@aol.com or Lynn at 860-918-6023

BALTIMORE, MD: Raising Children Holistically: Self-Care & Home Remedies
Saturday, May 12, 2012 9:30am until 4:30pm
Intuitive Parenting Network LLC presents:Raising Children Holistically: A Series of Workshops for Parents: Workshop One: Self-care and Home Remedies

Zoe Maternity
2000 Girard Ave, Baltimore, MD

Self-care and Home Remedies
In Western culture, the concept of well-child care has trained us to rely on doctors to treat the simplest of ailments from coughs and colds, to stomach aches and insect bites. Yet, taking care of our own children – keeping them well and treating them ourselves– can be the most empowering of experiences. Choosing safe and effective treatments is usually quite simple with the proper information. We will discuss simple home remedies to address many of the most common ailments, drawing upon over twenty years of practical experience. Raising children with a holistic approach to well-being instills a confidence and attunement that they will carry with them throughout their lives.

The Sumati Home Remedy KIT may be available for preorder if there are enough requests.

Pricing:
The workshop is $80 prepaid by April 1, 2012, $100 by May 4, 2012 for $175. Payment is preferred through paypal by making the payment to IParent4@aol.com. Payment may also be made by check.
Space is limited. To register, or with questions, please contact Jennifer IParentLLC@aol.com
Jennifer Tow, BFA, IBCLC currently lives in Paris, prior to which she practiced holistic lactation in Connecticut (USA), prior to which she designed and coordinated a hospital-based breastfeeding peer counselor program. Through her companies, Intuitive Parenting Network, LLC and Intuitive Health Network, Jennifer relies upon her 20 years of passionate information-gathering, learning and training to provide holistic lactation consulting, parent education and mentoring to the families she works with.

Jennifer's passion for working with women and babies was catalyzed by her own homebirths and her experience raising her children (born in 1988, 1992, 1998). Inspired by the healing of her own body through holistic therapies, she has raised her children from the premise that all life seeks its own well-being and acts in its own best interests. Primary is a trust that through the practice of raising vibrational energy, we allow the body’s intelligence to direct its own healing and restore homeostasis. She is committed to the protection and promotion of physiologic birth and breastfeeding, conscious parenting and holistic choices in healthcare and education. Jennifer is a certified energy healer (the Reconnection and Reconnective Healing), and has extensive education and experience in a range of holistic practices including homeopathy, herbalism, Bach Flowers, EFT, pranic healing, nutrition, intuition and home remedies and is certified in Past Life Regression. Jennifer is co-creator of the Sumati Home Remedy Kit. She is currently writing a book on the use of holistic practices for lactation consultants. She provides workshops for families, individuals and health care providers on topics related to birth, infant feeding, attachment and holistic practices in both parenting and professional practice.

ennifer is the mother of three children born at home in 1988, 1992 and 1998 and a granddaughter born at home in 2009.

You may find Intuitive Parenting on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Intuitive-Parenting-Network-LLC/180214818659165

or at www.ibclc.blogspot.com
What's in the KIT?http://holisticibclc.blogspot.com/2011/08/so-whats-in-kit.html

Twitter: Iparent4

Some comments from prior attendees:
“The series was more helpful and informative than many of the ‘Holistic’ health books I’ve purchased over the years, and I do think what I learned was well-worth the time and expense. I recommend this series wholeheartedly, and feel anyone who is motivated to find alternative paths to wellness, or has many questions about the path they’ve already begun will find more than their money’s worth in this series." --– Liberty Liscomb, Families for Conscious Living, USA

“The classes were treasure troves of information. I went home absolutely exploding with information to share with my husband.”
– Liberty Liscomb, Families for Conscious Living, USA

“Buying the kit has made a huge difference in treating myself and my family. All the products are fantastic and we have the kit out all the time. I love being able to help teach my kids how to take responsibility for their own health.” – Sabrina Granniss, IBCLC, USA
http://www.facebook.com/events/334723453237939/

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FOR IBCLCs/PRACTITIONERS!

2012-02-27T05:36:00.001+01:00

THREE LOCATIONS in March-May 2012 for HOLISTIC PRACTICES IN LACTATION 2-Day Workshop:

East Haven Connecticut, USA: March 29, 30, 2012, Followed by HEAL THE MOTHER/HEAL THE BABY March 31 (this presentation only in CT)
Bennington, Vermont, USA: May 4, 5, 2012
Baltimore, Maryland, USA: May 10, 11, 2012, Followed by a Workshop for Parents: Raising Children Holistically: Self-care and Home Remedies for Parents: May 12, 2012 ( http://www.facebook.com/events/334723453237939/)

ALL THREE LOCATIONS:

Holistic Practices in Lactation: A 2-Day Workshop with Jennifer Tow, IBCLC

Program Schedule:
Day One:
8:30-9am Registration
9-9:45am Introduction: Holism, Self-Care and Empowerment
9:45-10:45am The Art of the Intake in a Holistic Approach
10:45-11am Break
11-12:30pm Nutrition in the Breastfeeding Dyad
12:30-1:30pm Lunch
1:30-3pm Heal the Mother/Heal the Baby: Nutrition, Gut Function & Healing
3-3:15pm Break
3:15-4:30pm Introduction to Holistic Modalities in Breastfeeding
Day Two:
8:30-10:30am Holistic Approaches to Common Breastfeeding Problems
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-11:30am Holistic Approaches to Common Breastfeeding Problems (cont)
11:30-12:30pm Working Collaboratively: Building a Support & Referral System
12:30-1:30 Lunch
1:30-3:30pm Holistic Approaches in Practice & Case Presentations
3:30-3:45 Break
3:45-4:30 Q&A

"The 2 day workshop was inspirational. I found Jennifer knowledgeable, motivating, challenging and interesting. Though much of the information was new to me, Jennifer captured and held my attention and things were explained in ways that were easy to understand and made sense. I have tried to make lifestyle changes myself as a result and when I counsel moms, I address broader lifestyle issues. Jennifer fielded many questions and answered many concerns without losing the flow of the conference. Because so much of the information was new and valuable it would help to have a copies of the text slides to make notes on. I didn't want to miss a thing!"....Silvia Neni Rojas Ochs, IBCLC, Jacksonville, FL

More and more mothers are interested in using non-pharmaceutical approaches for treating the most common physical and emotional concerns of pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding. Practitioners who recognize the normalcy of birth and breastfeeding are well-equipped to support mothers in accessing and utilizing holistic approaches to care. Practitioners can easily gain basic knowledge and skills in homeopathy, energy medicine such as Bach Flowers and EFT, herbs, home remedies and nutrition specific to the needs of pregnant and nursing mothers. In using these therapies, mothers are offered an alternative to more interventive care, while the practitioner also models a holistic approach that the mother can integrate into her own care and the raising of her family.

These holistic approaches are simple and practical and can often be integrated immediately. Some are both preventive and therapeutic such as the use of nutrition in pregnancy, while others are deeply supportive such as the use of Bach Flowers or EFT. Most have acutely therapeutic applications such as the use of home remedies, herbs or homeopathy for treating mastitis or plugged ducts, normalizing milk supply or healing birth trauma.

This workshop has been approved for 7.75LCERPs & 4.75RCERPS by the IBLCE.

CONNECTICUT ONLY:
Heal the Mother, Heal the Baby: Nutrition, Gut Health, the Enteric Nervous System & Breastfeeding: A one day workshop with Jennifer Tow, IBCLC

March 31, 2012
8:30am - 4:30pm

Pricing: Prior to February 1, registration is $100, includes breakfast and lunch. Through March 1, registration is $125. Late registration through March 23rd, registration is $140.

Objectives:
Address the implications that maternal and infant gut health may have for the breastfeeding dyad
Discuss how breastfeeding difficulties may be resolved through healing the maternal gut
Learn indications for evaluating the infant's gut function and protocols for restoring function
Consider the long-term implications of gut function for maternal and infant health
Explore the various theories and holistic healing modalities that address maternal and infant gut function

The internal terrain reflects itself in the external terrain in a myriad of ways that may well explain many breastfeeding problems. Gut health and integrity drives the nature of the enteric nervous system, thus the implications for well-being are significant. When the maternal body’s reaction to imbalance results in a pro-inflammatory response, a cascade of disease processes may result. Maternal health and well-being, post-partum depression, food allergies, milk supply, PCOS, tongue-tie, reflux, "high-need" infant behavior, slow growth, failure to thrive and numerous feeding difficulties may all find origins in the integrity and vitality of the mother’s internal terrain. In attending to the health of the maternal gut, while supporting the infant in his own healing, we may find that many breastfeeding problems are resolved both acutely and chronically. In a discussion of maternal gut health, the function of the enteric nervous system and the implications for infant gut integrity, we will come to a deeper understanding of why healing the mother's gut may well be integral to successfully addressing a wide array of breastfeeding difficulties.

Program Schedule:
9-9:30am Introduction: Gut Health: The Foundation for Well-Being
9:30-1:45am Gut Function & the Maternal/Infant Eco-system
10:45-11am Break
11-12:30pm Indications for Gut Healing in the Breastfeeding Dyad
12:30-1:30pm Lunch
1:30-3pm Implications for Breastfeeding Success & Supportive Interventions
3-3:15pm Break
3:15-4:30pm Long-term Implications for Gut Healing and Case Presentations

This program has been approved for 6 LCERPs by the IBLCE.

Jennifer Tow, BFA, IBCLC practices Holistic Lactation. She has been in private practice for 15 years in Connecticut and most recently in Paris, prior to which she designed and coordinated a hospital-based breastfeeding peer counselor program in Hartford. Through her companies, Intuitive Parenting Network, LLC and Intuitive Health Network, Jennifer relies upon her 23 years of passionate information-gathering, education and training in holistic practices to provide holistic lactation consulting, parent education and mentoring to the families she works with. She also provides workshops for families, individuals and health care providers on topics related to birth, infant feeding, attachment and holistic practices.

Her areas of focus in infant feeding are healing infant trauma, the inter-dependent relationship between maternal gut health, hormones, milk supply and the well-being of the dyad, and the synergy of maternal-infant physiology, form and function, including tongue-tie. Having established a reputation for working with parents to resolve complex feeding problems, Jennifer now works with clients internationally, primarily through Skype. She integrates a myriad of holistic modalities, such as nutrition, herbs, home remedies and energy medicine in mentoring families who choose a deeper and more permanent approach to healing.

Jennifer is the mother of three children born at home in 1988, 1992 and 1998 and a granddaughter born at home in 2009.
Registration information:
Please register through Paypal by making your payment to IParent4@aol.com and include your name, address, phone number and email address. If alternative payment arrangements need to be made, please contact Jennifer @IparentLLC@aol.com or 860-833-5343.
HOLISTIC PRACTICES IN LACTATION:CT LOCATION:
http://www.facebook.com/events/290621060977027/
Thursday & Friday,
March 29-30, 2012
8:30am - 4:30pm

Pricing:
Register by January 31, $210 both days, includes lunch
Register by March1, $235 both days, includes lunch
Register by March 23, $260 both days, includes lunch
The Village at Mariner's Point
111 South Shore Drive East Haven, CT 06512
203-787-8444
For a map and directions see: http://www.villageatmarinerspoint.com/p/assisted_living/contact_us/east-haven-ct-06512/the-village-at-mariners-point-3935
VERMONT LOCATION:
http://www.facebook.com/events/367630543263474/
Friday, May 4, 5, 2012 at 8:30am - 4:30pm
Pricing:
Register by February 27, $210 both days, includes lunch
Register by March 30, $235 both days, includes lunch
Register by April 30, $260 both days, includes lunch

Circle of Life

125 Elm St., Bennington, VT 05201

MARYLAND LOCATION:
http://www.facebook.com/events/148011615320373/

Thursday-Friday
May 10, 11, 2012
8:30am - 4:30pm
Zoe Maternity
2000 Girard Ave
Baltimore, MD

WEBINAR: HEAL THE MOTHER/HEAL THE BABY

2012-02-20T20:06:00.000+01:00

Heal the Mother, Heal the Baby: Nutrition, Gut Health, the Enteric Nervous System & Breastfeeding: A 2-part Webinar with Jennifer Tow, IBCLC

February 22, 2012, 12noon-3:30 EST, 9AM-12:30PST, 6-9:30PM, CET
February 23, 2012, 12noon-3:00 EST, 9AM-noonPST, 6-9:30PM, CET

Pricing: $100 Registration Deadline EXTENDED to February 20, 2012

Program Schedule: DAY ONE: (EST):
12-12:30PM Introduction: Gut Health: The Foundation for Well-Being
12:30-1:45PM Gut Function & the Maternal/Infant Eco-system
1:45-2PM Break
2-3:30pm Indications for Gut Healing in the Breastfeeding Dyad

DAY TWO: (EST)
12noon-1:30PM Implications for Breastfeeding Success & Supportive Interventions
1:30-1:45PM Break
1:45-3:00pm Long-term Implications for Gut Healing and Case Presentations

This program has been approved for 6 LCERPs by the IBLCE
Objectives:
Address the implications that maternal and infant gut health may have for the breastfeeding dyad
Discuss how breastfeeding difficulties may be resolved through healing the maternal gut
Learn indications for evaluating the infant's gut function and protocols for restoring function
Consider the long-term implications of gut function for maternal and infant health
Explore the various theories and holistic healing modalities that address maternal and infant gut function

The internal terrain reflects itself in the external terrain in a myriad of ways that may well explain many breastfeeding problems. Gut health and integrity drives the nature of the enteric nervous system, thus the implications for well-being are significant. When the maternal body’s reaction to imbalance results in a pro-inflammatory response, a cascade of disease processes may result. Maternal health and well-being, post-partum depression, food allergies, milk supply, PCOS, tongue-tie, reflux, "high-need" infant behavior, slow growth, failure to thrive and numerous feeding difficulties may all find origins in the integrity and vitality of the mother’s internal terrain. In attending to the health of the maternal gut, while supporting the infant in his own healing, we may find that many breastfeeding problems are resolved both acutely and chronically. In a discussion of maternal gut health, the function of the enteric nervous system and the implications for infant gut integrity, we will come to a deeper understanding of why healing the mother's gut may well be integral to successfully addressing a wide array of breastfeeding difficulties.

Jennifer Tow, BFA, IBCLC practices Holistic Lactation. She has been in private practice for 15 years in Connecticut and most recently in Paris, prior to which she designed and coordinated a hospital-based breastfeeding peer counselor program in Hartford. Through her companies, Intuitive Parenting Network, LLC and Intuitive Health Network, Jennifer relies upon her 23 years of passionate information-gathering, education and training in holistic practices to provide holistic lactation consulting, parent education and mentoring to the families she works with. She also provides workshops for families, individuals and health care providers on topics related to birth, infant feeding, attachment and holistic practices.

Her areas of focus in infant feeding are healing infant trauma, the inter-dependent relationship between maternal gut health, hormones, milk supply and the well-being of the dyad, and the synergy of maternal-infant physiology, form and function, including tongue-tie. Having established a reputation for working with parents to resolve complex feeding problems, Jennifer now works with clients internationally, primarily through Skype. She integrates a myriad of holistic modalities, such as nutrition, herbs, home remedies and energy medicine in mentoring families who choose a deeper and more permanent approach to healing.

Jennifer is the mother of three children born at home in 1988, 1992 and 1998 and a granddaughter born at home in 2009.

Registration information:
Please register through Paypal by making your payment to IParent4@aol.com and include your name, address, phone number and email address. If alternative payment arrangements need to be made, please contact Jennifer @IparentLLC@aol.com or 860-833-5343.

You will be emailed the link to join the webinar, so please indicate the email address you wish the link mailed to.

Please let me know if you are interested in hosting this workshop at a conference in your area.

In Response to Facebook's Harassement of Nursing Moms

2012-02-06T18:23:00.000+01:00

Dear Facebook Management,

I have gone round and round in my head trying to compose a letter to you that will address, in some meaningful way, the confounding behavior of your staff towards women on Facebook. What eludes me is any rational motivation for your actions that I might intelligently address or debate. The contradictory actions of your staff, when addressing issues that are of significance to the women who use your site have an almost arbitrary, adolescent tone to them. 

Given that 58% of your users are women and that women use social media far more actively than men, one might think you would have an interest in treating women with respect and dignity. Yet, based upon the actions of your staff, there appears to be an unwritten guideline that it is perfectly acceptable for images to be posted on FB that display womens’ bodies as objects of male sexual desire, commentary and misogynistic denigration. Images of women whose bodies are displayed solely for the pleasure of men can be found effortlessly on FB simply by typing in keywords that are commonly used by prepubescent boys to describe women’s breasts.

By contrast, your staff appears to have taken quite the opposite attitude when women share images of themselves nursing their children. Pages that are designed to support and educate nursing mothers, allowing them to gain confidence, reflect their pride and even communicate their pleasure in the wondrous physiologic purpose of their own breasts are hassled, harassed and shut down. Even on personal pages, mothers are harassed for posting images of their children at breast.

An obvious conclusion one might draw from the actions of your staff, actions which appear to contradict your own policies, is that the eight-member all-male Board of FB is uncomfortable with images of women taking pleasure in the nature of our bodies, our babies and our selves as mothers. A pleasure that does not include you. A pleasure that reflects our sexuality but is in no way sexual. Perhaps the idea that women truly delight in feeding and nurturing our babies at our breasts is disconcerting to you in some way.

Whatever might be going on in your own minds about this, I would like to suggest that you…for lack of a better way to say it…grow up. Having stewardship over one of the most significant social tools used in the world today is not a role for adolescents or condescending bureaucrats. It is a role that ought to reflect intelligence, leadership and the forward-thinking creativity that put FB on the map to begin with. Like it or not, you are in the position to effect great change or inflict ongoing harm.

The normalization of breastfeeding is surely one of the most significant public health issues of this century and you are uniquely positioned to catalyze a shift in the right direction by doing what all of us should do, and ignore images of nursing mothers, unless they are personally meaningful to us, just as we do with the millions of other ordinary images we see every day. The posting of a nursing photo is no different from the posting of an image of a child being fed or nurtured in any other way. It is no more significant to FB than a child at a birthday party, at the beach, in a swing. It is just life, the normal, everyday life of millions of women and children. By instructing your staff to simply react in no greater way to images of nursing children than they do to any other ordinary photo, a very important shift will occur. And the staff of FB will have grown into their stewardship in a responsible and meaningful way.

Best Regards,

Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, USA & France

Intuitive Parenting Network, LLC

holisticibclc.blogspot.com

IParentLLC@aol.com

Birth of Morgana Faye, 1992

2012-01-08T07:35:00.001+01:00

Both of my babies' births have been prefaced by a slow descent into the primordial. On both occasions, I required a full week of intense nesting activities interspersed by equally intense mood swings, while contractions became increasingly noticeable, to finally make the “descent” from my head into the depths of my body. Preparation for my second birth was so intellectually exhausting that the power of my mind finally yielded to the power of my body seven days after my “due date”.
    As with my first birth, the onset of labor was a gradual process. As I come face to face with the raw power of my body in giving birth I am at once terrified and electrified. The intensity of my labors is a direct reflection of the time it takes me to give in and allow myself to ride the waves of energy coursing through my body. Immersion in the birth experience means fully embracing the power of creation, becoming one with it.
    I experienced my labor as if it were a dream from which I awoke and floated restlessly back into, wanting desperately to see how it would come out, but wondering if I would ever fully awaken. In reflecting on my births I recall an intense, deeply cellular memory of always feeling safe. I don’t believe I could have fully experienced and truly owned my other feelings without that prerequisite safety.
    I was awake most of the night of August 15, watching my labor pass like a slow procession before me. By 7 in the morning I had tired of watching alone and was losing my ability to remain fully present. As the day dawned drizzly and cool, Donna and the apprentice Nancy arrived, as did my son Allie’s godmother Beverly. My husband David set up the elaborate system of hoses that filled and drained the drinking trough that took center stage in the living room. I had decided when Allie was 6 months old that my next birth would be underwater, and once Morgana agreed to relinquish her breech position near the end of my pregnancy, everyone was comfortable with the idea.
    Throughout the morning Donna and Nancy seemed to almost fade in and out of my reality. I have strong memories of the smells, sounds and tactile experiences of my labor, while others retain the more visual experiences for me. We chose to shoot only black and white photographs of my births, because black and white photography has always felt much closer to the bone for me and seems to resonate the full range of senses, whereas color is primarily a visual experience for me. I later hand-colored some of the photos, adding my own subjective visual texture.
    I remember the smell of muffins in the morning, the sweet taste of the sauce in the lasagna at midday, the firm pressure of Nancy’s hands on my lower back and the immense comfort of Beverly caring for me by caring for my son. I remember the way the wood of the deck gave slightly beneath my feet, damp from the drizzle that came and went all day. I am eternally grateful to Donna for the rhythm of her hands as they moved across her needlework, trusting in my body and in me, allowing a deep sense of security within me.
    My labor was easily described as a labor from hell. My labor had stalled for hours at 7 centimeters, even with Donna holding my cervix through contractions three times and Nancy administering foul-tasting herbs to strengthen and regulate my contractions, which at times would simply stop for 20 minutes or more. Even though we all knew that my labor was definitely not progressing by any textbook standard I never felt pressured to speed things up and the interventions oddly fell into the rhythm of the birth. I kept changing positions, getting in and out of the tub, laboring on all fours or leaning on Donna throughout contractions. I liked having space around my body when I felt strong, but when I felt diminished I leaned on Donna and soaked in her strength.
   I felt the baby's quest to be born swell with intensity as the day wore on and I told Donna she was needing to come soon. To this day, I am amazed at Donna’s ability to read birthing energy in all its nuances. At some level, she knew that there was an emotional block to my ability to stay fully present in my body. She suggested that David play music. Normally I am loathe to hear music when I am trying to focus, but that day I would have tried anything Donna suggested. David played “In a Country Churchyard” by Chris de Burgh, the song that we had played at our wedding 11 years before. I felt my body relax into the tub while David sang the song to me. As tears streamed down my face, I felt my intellect finally collapse into full acceptance of the work my body needed to do. I progressed almost to transition as the song played, while Donna and Nancy cried in the kitchen.
    I left the tub, and as I rocked, leaning on the couch, I told Donna that I had finally reached my limits. As she was supporting me through what was obviously transition, my water broke and Barbara arrived. Barbara’s presence completely changed the atmosphere in the room such that within a short time I was in the tub and pushing. It took a long time to push out my son Allie, so I was unprepared for the intensity of the first few pushes, which brought my baby’s head to crowning. Donna told me I could catch the baby myself, but I had death grips on David’s and Barbara’s hands as I squatted in the tub and I had no intention of releasing them. By this time Allie was standing before me with Beverly behind him, camera in hand. I have a fabulous shot of Allie standing in front of the tub while I am bearing down and being quite loud, as he is covering his ears. Beverly held him from then on, so I have no more pictures of the actual birth.
    Barbara’s voice reached me, reminding me to breathe. With the next surge, Morgana’s head was in the water. In that moment, time stood still. My memory of the three minutes before the final surge is one of the longest, clearest memories I hold within me. Morgana’s head was sideways in the water and I could see her face clearly. There was vernex on her body and tiny curls covered her head. At that moment she appeared to literally stand between two worlds, simultaneously containing the innocence of new life and the wisdom of eternity in her tiny body. I felt as if she and I were interwoven threads in the fabric of life, a fabric woven by all the births gone before us, and I felt a vital bond with all birthing women throughout the millennia.
    When I finally took a breathe, I raised my eyes to see everyone looking at me. I gazed into Donna’s eyes, content to remain where I was forever. Donna never spoke, but her energy reached out to me as if to simply will the next contraction. I answered her from deep within my soul and gave my daughter forth into the world. As I got out of the tub I lifted her into my arms, intent on being the first to hold her. Morgana nursed within moments of her very gentle birth and so began weaving her own way into the fabric of life.
    David and I chose Morgana’s name along with Alexander’s name nine years before Allie was born and long before we had ever heard of homebirth or water birth. Her birth was a dance that she choreographed while the rest of us simply gave ourselves to its wisdom. Morgana Faye was meant to enter the world just as she had on the 16th day of August 1992. Morgana means “by the sea”.

©JenniferTow, 1992

Taking good care…

2011-10-06T08:13:00.003+02:00

“Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food.” We all seem to know this intuitively when we are nursing our babies. Read any breastfeeding or parenting board and you’ll see scores of suggestions for using breastmilk for ear infections, pink eye, burns, candida, diaper rash, cradle cap, stuffy noses, eczema, cuts and so on. Moms advise one another to feed their milk to older children when they are ill and mention hearing of breastmilk being used to treat cancer and other illnesses. We encourage one another to nurse through fevers, teething, infections and injuries. We nurse our babies to sleep and into a new day, we nurse them in new situations and around new people, we nurse them to quiet them on airplanes and at public events, after a nightmare and at the end of a long day. We know we have in our milk the power to nourish, to comfort, to heal, to take good care.

Many common difficulties mothers might face while nursing are also discussed on these boards and pages. We know that babies who are “colicky”, refluxing, vomiting or have eczema might well have food allergies. So, mothers encourage one another to eliminate certain foods from their diets—thus manipulating the nature of our food as medicine. We know that we can increase levels of certain nutrients--vitamin D, for example or change the fat composition of a mother’s milk by changing her dietary intake (or Sun exposure). Our milk is food and it is also medicine.

We know we have the means of taking good care of our little ones while they’re nursing, but we rarely turn that awareness toward developing our innate skills in taking good care of them into childhood. Suddenly, the advice on parenting boards becomes limited primarily to over-the-counter medications, a few comfort measures or a trip to the doctor when children aren’t feeling well. How is it that we do not know the simple means of taking good care of our own human bodies, our own human beings?

To be fair, many mothers also struggle to trust their own bodies, their own milk and their ability to fully nourish their babies as well. Maybe, even most mothers face this struggle. Certainly, nursing has yet to return to us as the biological norm it was designed for, and is far from being the cultural norm either. Even so, when moms put babies to breast, they commonly realize they have something pretty amazing going on. They begin to trust, begin to realize the value of the vast resource at their disposal.

The lesson that nursing offers us here is that taking good care is usually simple, based in nutrition, amplified through nurturing, and offered as a kind of common knowledge, mediated through intuition. But, just as we as a culture have lost both the art and common sense of feeding our babies for several generations, so, too have we lost the art of taking good care of our own families. We have lost the wisdom of our food, the knowledge of its healing properties and the use of plants and common home remedies as medicine. We have lost our energetic connection to taking care of one another and so energy medicine is dismissed as quackery or a placebo by many of us. While nursing, we begin to claim our birthright, our ability to know our bodies, to trust their wholeness, but in the process of weaning, we most commonly turn away from this very same right to knowledge and wisdom. We turn towards an external, rather than an internal guidance system.

In my work as a parent educator and lactation consultant, I have found that once mothers come to trust their bodies and their milk, they are often eager for the knowledge and confidence that comes of learning the deeper art of taking care. But, while nursing our babies offers us wisdom through the very act of doing so, mothers have no such guide in learning to parent holistically throughout their babies’ childhoods.

Yet, I have found that given the choice of using holistic approaches in taking care of their children, rather than over-the-counter medications, more often than not mothers will choose natural remedies if they can feel confident in their use of them. In working with mothers, I am able to guide them through their insecurities in learning to use holistic practices, such as nutrition, homeopathy, home remedies, herbs and in seeking other supportive therapies from holistic providers.

For example, a mother who has come to trust that she can nurse her baby through a fever, relying on the antibodies and digestibility of her milk to help her baby get well, has been prepared by her experience to trust in the body’s innate desire for homeostasis. Once weaned, when her child is not well, she has the option to use “fever-reducing medications” and hydration solutions, or she can continue to trust in the body and choose from among simple supportive therapies such as homeopathy, coconut water for hydration, essential oils or Bach Flower remedies for comfort and herbs and nutrients (such as vitamin C, zinc or vitamin D) for immune support. She can choose supportive foods that encourage healing and restrict foods that do not. It’s a much simpler leap to get there than most parents realize.

During the past six years, I have been developing a project to help parents gain the knowledge, learn the skills and grow in the confidence it takes to use holistic therapies in taking good care of their families. Through my workshops, I have been teaching parents to use holistic therapies within a supportive context with other parents, while offering a Home Remedy KIT ( What's in the KIT?) designed to make it easy to access the products most commonly relied upon. Through long-term support via a yahoo group, parents who have taken my workshops have been able to try new therapies while learning from one another, finding confidence in their successes, and in turn, supporting and teaching other less experienced parents. In this project through which I am converting my workshops to webinars, adding a fully functional website and producing other supportive materials, I can turn a small, successful experiment into a full-fledged, large-scale endeavor.

Just this week, a mother new to holistic therapies posted to the yahoo group, looking for a way to avoid the probability that her doctor would prescribe antibiotics for her baby’s ear infection. Several mothers posted my favorite treatment—onion juice in the baby’s ear. Other supportive suggestions included castor oil compresses and immune support. The mom posted the next day that the onion juice “worked like a dream”. The baby’s fever had done its job, broken on its own and the baby was recovering. All of this was new to the mom, but because she had the support of other mothers at her disposal almost 24 hours a day, she gained confidence in trying this new therapy. Through support knowledge becomes wisdom.

Each time, it get easier and easier and as the mother gains wisdom, she will offer that wisdom to others. This is my vision, on a much larger scale. This mom, as do we all, knows we have the option of seeking medical care should we or our children need it, and that as well empowers us. The more we gain confidence in our own skills, the better we know our children and ourselves, the better we are at managing both home care and care from our practitioners. It has been my experience that empowered mothers have better relationships with their health care providers. To see the comments and reviews of the Home Remedy KIT, click here: reviews.

This project, the KIT Project, is the foundation of my work in helping parents raise their children holistically. I will be taking the Raising Children Holistically webinars live this Fall. Parents will soon have the opportunity to access the workshops from anywhere on the globe, but a strong support system is essential in ensuring that the information gained is much more than an intellectual exercise; that parents have the confidence to put into practice the skills they learn.

There are only two more days to my IndiGoGo fundraiser, designed to support the expansion and success of this project. In the past weeks of upheaval, this project has not had my attention. Given that there was amazing support when I initially launched the fundraiser, and that many who expressed support have yet to donate, I am making this final two-day effort to come as close to my goal as possible. If you are as passionate as I am about helping parents gain the confidence to take good care of our families, then I hope you will see the potential in this Project and make a donation in support.

Please click here to learn more and to donate to the KIT Project: IndieGoGo Fundraiser.

Thank you for your support!

So, What's in the KIT?

2011-08-11T04:34:00.002+02:00

Some folks have asked me for more detail about the Sumati Home Remedy KIT, which I am actively promoting as part of my IndieGoGo Project. I have reprinted the information on the development of the KIT here, followed by some additional information:

BIRTH OF THE KIT: One day six years ago, after a particularly hectic group in which moms were eager to have another discussion about natural healing remedies, I sat down with two friends and we made a list of all the natural healing products we had been using for years in taking care of our own families. We brainstormed, included everything we could think of, then eliminated the ones we would not consider essential if stranded indefinitely on a desert island. We eliminated the products we thought duplicated one another. What we had when we were finished was a pretty amazing Home Remedy KIT. The KIT contains approximately 40 products from homeopathic remedies, to herbs, first aid treatments and immune support. It addresses all of the common ailments you might encounter such as minor injuries, colds, headaches, stomach aches, sore throats, fevers, rashes, sunburn, insect bites and much more. Because the KIT contained the very same products we would suggest when advising our own friends and families, we called it the Sumati (sanskrit for “good advice”) Home Remedy KIT.

In designing the KIT, we began by selecting 12 homeopathic remedies, choosing those most commonly used with children, those for common ailments such as ear aches, teething, respiratory infections, burns, wounds and injuries and those you might want while away from home. We added supplements that have acute applications, such as magnesium, zinc and vitamin D. We rounded out the selection with topical treatments such as the luxurious but supremely healing rainforest tamanu oil, two essential oils, stabilized oxygen, the amazing sangre de drago, made from a rainforest tree sap, perhaps our most versatile product--a calcium bentonite, a silver hydrosol and a soothing chest rub. Rescue remedy is included to ease emotional stress. In addition, we selected home remedies and herbs from among both Eastern and Western sources.

For example, among the topical treatments, we have included the Chinese herbal liniment zhen gu shui, (translated as "bone setting solution), which I learned to use liberally during my ten years training as a martial artist. This simple liniment can bring immediate relief to pulled and strained muscles, while also providing equally effective deep healing to torn ligaments and bruised bones, a fact to which any martial artist can attest.

From a completely different modality, the homeopathic, anti-inflammatory ointment Traumeel is included because it can be applied liberally to bumps, bruises, scrapes, sprains and strains. The products blends 12 botanicals and 2 minerals as active ingredients, found by many to enhance the healing properties of arnica alone. It's a wonderful remedy for children, who don't tend to resist its application, such as they might with the strongly-scented zhen gu shui, which is often preferred by adults, athletes or those who fancy themselves to be! There are topical treatments for sunburn, wounds, insect bites, rashes, inflammation, scars, fungal infections and respiratory infections.

To support the immune system when the body is under stress or under viral attack, we have included supplements, herbs and homeopathic remedies. From the ever-popular homeopathic remedy oscillococcinum to zinc and vitamin D, which I boost when my family is sick, to one of the most well-researched immune-supporting herbs elderberry, as well as one of my personally favorite Chinese herbs yin chiao. In addition, the workshops provide additional information on the use of a variety of common kitchen remedies, such as garlic poultices for inflammation, onion for ear infections, mustard poultices to relieve chest congestion and apple cider vinegar for any number of ailments.

The KIT, along with the information presented in the workshops/webinars is designed to be a first aid tool and first line of defense when we find ourselves contending with any manner of discomfort, injury or ailment common to our everyday lives. The information is educational in nature and is designed to provide a basic understanding of the role holistic remedies can play in maintaining physical and emotional well-being. It is not designed to replace appropriate medical care or to diagnose or treat disease. Rather, it is designed to support he body in in its innate desire to maintain well-being and restore homeostasis.

Following are some testimonials I have received about the KIT and the workshops (which are discussed more thoroughly below):

"I met Jennifer about 5 years ago, she was always caring and making sure I followed up on her suggestions so I could achieve desired results about my breastfeeding challenges. Less than two years later I went to the Home Remedies Workshop and still use the remedies in my kit, I always use it at home and it always goes with us on short and long trips. I feel blessed to know Jenn and thanks to her I belong to a Healthy Minded support group of wonderful Moms that are always supporting each other on this wonderful parenting journey, thank you Jennifer for always been there for all of us, no matter what the issue we are facing."...Deidy Hernandez-Forte, CT, USA

"I recently purchased Jen's Home Remedy Kit and took her intensive course on the use of the remedies. It has been absolutely life-changing! I use it on literally a daily basis-- for cuts and scrapes, bug bites, illnesses, stomach-aches, teething, everything imagineable! Even my medicine-loving husband swears by our kit and raves about it to anyone who will listen. "...Tammy Outlaw-Miller, CT, USA

"I took Jen and Elisabeth's Holistic Family Wellness workshop over two years ago and continue to use the irreplaceable tips on achieving and maintaining optimal health on a weekly, if not daily basis. The kit turned out to be worth it's weight in gold and makes it easy to take on my travels --I feel I have most everything I could want for any situation. I am so grateful to myself for realizing I could not possibly 'know it all' and to these ladies for teaching me to be the best caregiver possible to my kids, right here in my own home. We haven't seen or needed a doctor in more years than I can count! Many blessings upon you and all the ladies I met there and good luck in your continued business ventures :)"....Liberty C Liscomb, CT, USA

"Jen's Sumati kit is an excellent and empowering collection of products and her class teaches one how to use them. There is nothing like making the salve to put on a cut or burn, providing relief for an upset stomach, or helping one find allusive sleep. It was an excellent investment that has more than paid for itself."...Amy Farber Monticello, CT, USA

"Jen also introduced me to wonderful alternative practitioners who have been vital to our health. The holistic first aid kit I purchased from her is used constantly and my family has been amazed at what we've accomplished with alternative medicine. I've only scratched the surface of all there is to learn but with Jennifer and the network of women she has set up, I am inspired to learn more all the time. "...Cori Roy Griswold, CT, USA

I met Jennifer about a year and a half ago and she opened my eyes to my own power to heal myself and my children. I bought the full kit and since then, I’ve grown and learned so much about holistic living. This project is so exciting because it will allow her to share her knowledge and experience on such a broader scale...K Salsa, OR, USA

“…The kit has empowered me; I feel confident that I can care for my family’s health and well-being using this arsenal of knowledge Jen has given me. Before I had the kit, when my children were sick I would feel helpless to ease their symptoms and help their bodies heal, but now I have tools at my fingertips to help them to feel better and recover quickly. I highly recommend this kit, and I highly recommend Jennifer”…..Kate Cordick-Burns Heiser, CT, USA

The workshops/webinars designed to provide the knowledge and skill to effectively use the KIT and other holistic remedies and modalities are described here:

WORKSHOPS: Next, I wrote a curriculum for a full-day workshop on Home Remedies and offered the course to my clients, in combination with offering the KIT. I taught the use of simple household medicines such as garlic, onion and other kitchen herbs, as well as common products that could be purchased. The project was a resounding success. It accomplished exactly what I had hoped, allowing mothers to immediately implement the new information, rather than storing it away for future reference. In particular, having the Kit made using the remedies immediately accessible and participating in the yahoo group allowed moms to try things, ask questions and learn quickly.

I repeated the workshops, but incorporated them into a three-day series entitled Raising Children Holistically, including Nutrition and Energy Medicine. Moms loved them! They found they gained enough solid information to feel confident in taking care of their own children, in supporting one another, in educating their families and in finding the motivation to explore these topics well beyond the basics offered in the workshops. You can read reviews about the KIT and my work here.

Now, this same series is being adapted into a 12-hour webinar series, so as to reach enough families that we may experience this ripple of parents actively engaged, intuitively connected and skillfully prepared to care well for their children as it becomes a tidal wave of self-confidence and wisdom.

To support the KIT Projrect: http://www.indiegogo.com/The-KIT-Project?a=208652&i=addr

"Breast is Best" Cultivates a Western Mythology

2011-08-10T23:26:00.002+02:00

The Breast Milk Cure by Nicholas D. Kristof was published in the New York Times on June 22, 2011:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/opinion/23kristof.html

Nicholas Kristof was recently in Niger, where he wrote a piece, published in the NY Times about the country's surprisingly low breastfeeding rates. In that piece, he also addressed the challenges he perceived might account for such low breastfeeding rates, as well as why the situation is so dire in the region.

As if taking the words straight from the pen of the esteemed Gabrielle Palmer, who wrote in The Politics of Breastfeeding, "If a multinational company developed a product that was a nutritionally balanced and delicious food, a wonder drug that both prevented and treated disease, cost almost nothing to produce and could be delivered in quantities controlled by the consumers' needs, the very announcement of their find would send their shares rocketing to the top of the stock market. The scientists who developed the product would win prizes and the wealth and influence of everyone involved would increase dramatically. Women have been producing such a miraculous substance, breastmilk, since the beginning of human existence..."

Kristof similarly writes, "What if nutritionists came up with a miracle cure for childhood malnutrition? A protein-rich substance that doesn’t require refrigeration? One that is free and is available even in remote towns like this one in Niger where babies routinely die of hunger-related causes? Impossible, you say? Actually, this miracle cure already exists. It’s breast milk."

He continues: "When we think of global poverty, we sometimes assume that the challenges are so vast that any solutions must be extraordinarily complex and expensive. Well, some are. But almost nothing would do as much to fight starvation around the world as the ultimate low-tech solution: exclusive breast-feeding for the first six months of life. That’s the strong recommendation of the World Health Organization."

There are some errors in his column, such as his comment that the artificial infant milk manufacturers have become more "restrained" in their marketing tactics (babymilkaction) or that artificial infant milk is "pretty safe" in America, where only 13% of babies are exclusively breastfed by 6 months breastfeeding duration in the US. In Niger, the rate is only 9%. The problem is not unique to Niger either. He writes, "Next door to Niger in Burkina Faso, fewer than 7 percent of children get breast milk exclusively for six months. In Senegal it’s 14 percent; in Mauritania, 3 percent."

Kristof writes that the "biggest problem is that many mothers believe that breast milk isn’t enough, and that, on a hot day, a child needs water as well." Usually, as there is no safe source of water, infants are given water from mud puddles or other unsafe sources.

Kristof clearly gets it---that for some reason, in a country where breastfeeding until the age of two is still quite common, exclusivity is virtually non-existent. He accurately reports that babies should be exclusively breastfeed for 6 months and that malnourished mothers can still nurse their babies. He provides some excellent statistics:

"A 2008 report in The Lancet, the British medical journal, found that a baby that is partially breast-fed is 2.8 times as likely to die as a baby that is exclusively breast-fed for at least five months. A child that is not breast-fed at all is 14.4 times as likely to die."

"Over all, The Lancet said, 1.4 million child deaths could be averted each year if babies were breast-fed properly. That’s one child dying unnecessarily every 22 seconds."

He states very clearly that "The challenges with breast-feeding in poor countries are not the kinds that Western women face, and many women in the developing world continue nursing their babies for two years. The biggest problem is giving water or animal milk to babies, especially on hot days. Another is that mothers often doubt the value of colostrum, the first milk after childbirth (which is thick and yellowish and doesn’t look much like milk), and delay nursing for a day or two."

In spite of the fact that the article draws very clear distinctions regarding the life or death consequences of making such uneducated errors in Niger, whether they be steeped in myth, have some historical intent or other cultural implications, these distinctions seemed to be lost entirely on many of Kristof's readers. In one stunning response after another, readers who were primarily American women, ignored these facts both in the NY Times and on his Facebook page.

In response to Kristof's very legitimate concerns that the practice of withholding colostrum followed by supplementing with animal milks and often-contaminated water are causing morbidity and death among millions of babies, readers argued over and over that breastfeeding is draining, difficult, painful, hard to learn and that you have to have a lot of help, clean water and good nutrition to do it and that such stress all but makes success impossible. And, of course, according to them, women with HIV cannot breastfeed.

How did they so effortlessly miss the glaring point that these mothers do not have access to clean water, much less the money to purchase powdered artificial infant milk. That not breastfeeding is the absolute risk factor here, no matter what other factors there might be. Not breastfeeding is the risk if the mother has HIV, if the mother is poorly nourished, if she is exhausted, if she is overwhelmed. Not breastfeeding means infant illness and possibly death. Not breastfeeding means a return of menses and the subsequent monthly iron loss and more pregnancies. Not breastfeeding means greater risk of HIV infection for the baby. Not breastfeeding means more family resources spent on feeding the infant instead of the mother, who can in turn nourish the infant.

How is it that intelligent people read both the facts and Kristof's conclusion and yet posted as they did? It was this question that gave me pause, that really made me ponder the implications and that gave impetus to this post.

I was curious that the reader responses were extrapolated from their own Western experiences and then applied to the mothers in Kristof's piece, who themselves never express such concerns. Yet, as if they never read the piece, those commenting make their assumptions as to how impossible it must be for these mothers to breastfeed for the very same reasons that they themselves have found it difficult. Rather than understanding that breastfeeding is the only safe option in Niger, they wrongly imagine the situation as if their own challenges have simply been transferred to a more hostile environment. It never occurs to them that it is this very hostility that makes breastfeeding essential, not optional.

One reader wrote: "I essentially agree with the logic of the article. Yes, breastmilk is superior. Yes, it has all of those good antibodies. Yes, it's free. But, from a pragmatic standpoint, there is one element that is missing: it is hard for some women to breastfeed and, often, it doesn't work no matter how hard you try." And another: "Those of you reading this who champion breastfeeding, please continue to do so, but please remember to keep your militancy and judgmentalism bottled up. Not everyone can do it."

I have no idea what those commenting imagine mothers, immersed in poverty, with very limited access to clean water, should feed their babies instead of their own milk. What seemed clear to me is that Western biases make it difficult for us to view anyone else from beyond our own paradigm where infant feeding is concerned. Perhaps American women, who assume that the challenges they themselves may face are universally inherent to breastfeeding, rather than bound in cultural bias, are at a loss as to why they experience breastfeeding the way they do.

Another comment follows: "Kristof is right to underscore the value of breastfeeding for all newborns, and particularly for those in developing nations where safe formula is unavailable, in short supply, or prohibitively expensive. ....Successful breastfeeding takes considerable work, time, patience, and loads of assistance from fellow family members and even, perhaps, outside sources."

Many mothers come to assume that breastfeeding is universally a struggle few can overcome. If we perceive the challenges familiar to American women as sufficient to warrant most of us abandoning exclusive breastfeeding, and we recognize how much more intense challenges might be in developing nations, then there is certainly a linear logic in expecting even fewer women in Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania or Senegal to succeed.

A common myth, frequently repeated in the comments was the belief in the need for extra food to make breastmilk:

"Breast milk is great, but it is not free. The mother needs extra calories, extra nutrition, extra fluids."

Several writers tried to correct this myth, explaining that the body is more efficient after birth and while extra calories are used, extra food is not necessary. But, Americans, so quick to judge the cultural myths of others--such as feeding babies water that the Koran has been dipped into, held fast to their own, even in the face of new information:

"Several commenters claimed that milk-producing women require no more water or nutrients than non-milk-producing women. If this idea is true, then the water and nutrients in the milk are coming out of nowhere. The idea is as absurd as a perpetual motion machine."

Another myth they held fast to and repeatedly argued was how difficult it is for mothers to make enough milk.

"Of course breast is best, and it is especially important to encourage breastfeeding in countries where sanitation is poor, but Mr. Kristof seriously underestimates how difficult breastfeeding can be, even when the mother is highly motivated to do it. I gave birth recently, and always intended to breastfeed exclusively for at least 6 months. It didn't work out that way. I simply did not produce enough milk."

"I just want to throw out there the fact that women pay a price for constant and exclusive breastfeeding."

Interestingly, the readers tended to ignore the fact that most mothers in Niger continue breastfeeding for two years. These mothers are not throwing in the towel. They do not, however, seem to understand that some of their choices--religious or cultural--are terribly dangerous to their babies. In the same way, American women do not seem to understand that their own feeding choices are just as likely to be culturally mis-driven, albeit more commonly by Big Pharma and the marketplace.

"I feel the author does not have a real sense of the obstacles many mothers face in producing enough milk to keep a baby satisfied and the mother in good health. I know from my own experience, as a pampered non-starving North American, that when I would so much as skip a meal, my milk supply would dwindle in a very marked way." Physiologically speaking, mothers will not be risking their milk supplies by skipping a meal. When we view breastfeeding as so fragile, we can easily find cause to expect failure.

In general, breastfeeding was viewed in the highly touted, artificial-feeding mindset that has been the prevailing marketing strategy of artificial infant milk manufactures for the past twenty years--"Breast is best, but when you can't..."

"So my humble, non scientific opinion as to why women aren't thrilled to nurse is that it makes them feel physically terrible, and it impairs their ability to function. Like a good workout, it can be emotionally satisfying, but it's not without a steep physical toll."

Most interesting to me is that few of the responses to Kristof's article focused on problem-solving, as they were so immersed in their own experiences and the belief that "breast is best...but when you can't" (however one might decide that), you simply don't. If we can possibly believe that breastfeeding is just icing on the cake, nice if you can do it, but no big deal if you cannot in developing nations with no other options, it is no surprise that we think it's readily expendable in the West.

So long as we continue to believe that milk production is a fragile process, that we need to never skip a meal, have plenty to drink, never be uncomfortable, that breastfeeding depletes us, that artificial feeding is a "safe" alternative, that we are immune to marketing and cultural biases, that breastfeeding advocates must be wary of inducing "guilt", then we will continue to view breastfeeding as optional, rather than the fact of life it is meant to be.

Given the prevalence of reader comments imposing a Western perspective on Niger, external of the Western realities responsible for that perspective, such as medicalized birth, artificial feeding as the cultural norm, paltry parental leave policies and a pounding marketing and misinformation campaign that has lasted for 50 years, it is no surprise that the rates of exclusive breastfeeding are so poor in the West. That there can be such a significant disregard for the facts in favor of Western mythology is powerfully instructive. Consider the implication when readers draw the almost absurd conclusion that women who have no safe choice other than their own milk just cannot manage to exclusively breastfeed. If we think they cannot, even when it is a matter of life and death, it is easy to see why we have such such widespread acceptance that few American women can indeed succeed with breastfeeding, let alone exclusive breastfeeding.

Yes, we need to address the underlying issues: birth practices, misinformation, marketing, cultural biases and the lack of parental leave that all work hard against breastfeeding success. But, until mothers are given all the facts--including just how vital breastfeeding is--and how risky the alternative is--then it's a wonder that anyone would wade through the enormous challenges to find success.

And, if we continue to believe that our own experiences are universally inherent to breastfeeding, rather than culturally designed, then we are less inclined to be terribly vigilant in recognizing and avoiding the misinformation that subtly guides our decision-making. Marketing strategies, myths, lies, misinformation and other practices that cause us to struggle so much in our own efforts to breastfeed probably bring little cognitive awareness to our beliefs. The fish cannot see the water in which he swims. I suspect that this may well be the overwhelming success of the marketing strategies designed by the artificial infant milk manufacturers.

The KIT Project: Knowledge Growing into Wisdom

2011-07-30T16:54:00.006+02:00

With increasing frequency, friends and clients have been asking me to post a detailed description of my services on my blog. Given that my work is somewhat unique, I am going to try. I am a lactation consultant. That’s how I meet most of the mommas I help; they come to me to help them feed their babies. Over the years, I have developed a varied client base from all over the globe, many connecting with me through the internet, although the majority of my referrals are still by word-of-mouth. Because I take a holistic approach to lactation, using homeopathy, herbs and home remedies, as well as nutrition to support my clients, I find that many of them naturally become interested in applying this same approach to other areas of their lives, especially in raising their children.

BACKGROUND: Before becoming a lactation consultant, I was a mother learning to trust in and support the body’s innate healing process in raising my own children in an ever-evolving holistic paradigm. Before becoming a mother, I went through an agonizing and ultimately expansive journey in healing my own body. Read my " I Wasn't Born This Way" post. Without a doubt, my personal experiences have informed my passion for educating and supporting other mothers. I think my perspective on family health has uniquely evolved through the benefit of learning to raise my own children holistically while simultaneously learning to use the same skills with my clients. There is no more effective way to learn than to teach and to so while relying on observation, intuition and trust in the process of healing, I have been able to identify and meet the needs of my clients in an integrative way.

I took the first key step several years ago, while living in Connecticut, when I organized a once-per-week Mom’s Group for my clients, subsequently setting up a yahoo group so that clients from all geographic areas could receive support. The transformation in the women involved in these groups and thus, in their families is nothing short of amazing. The false premise that people do not want information that might challenge their lives and their mainstream world-views cannot hold its own against mothers fed up with seeing their children sick, over-medicated and behaving in ways that make no sense. In focusing on raising healthy children, they find they have evolved healthier families overall.

Most of the moms in my group have been interested in learning about nutrition and gut healing, home remedies, homeopathy and other forms of energy medicine. In spite of the success of the group, I was constantly frustrated when the same questions came up with each new influx of clients, because it meant that the need and desire for information was universal, but was not being met. I wanted to find a way to provide many more moms with a much broader skill set than I could within the group context.

original products--we have replaced a few and added new ones

BIRTH OF THE KIT: One day six years ago, after a particularly hectic group in which moms were eager to have another discussion about natural healing remedies, I sat down with two friends and we made a list of all the natural healing products we had been using for years in taking care of our own families. We brainstormed, included everything we could think of, then eliminated the ones we would not consider essential if stranded indefinitely on a desert island. We eliminated the products we thought duplicated one another. What we had when we were finished was a pretty amazing Home Remedy KIT. The KIT contains approximately 40 products from homeopathic remedies, to herbs, first aid treatments and immune support. It addresses all of the common ailments you might encounter such as minor injuries, colds, headaches, stomach aches, rashes, sunburn, insect bites and much more. Because the KIT contained the very same products we would suggest when advising our own friends and families, we called it the Sumati (sanskrit for “good advice”) Home Remedy KIT.

I repeated the workshops, but incorporated them into a three-day series entitled Raising Children Holistically, including Nutrition and Energy Medicine. Moms loved them! They found they gained enough solid information to feel confident in taking care of their own children, in supporting one another, in educating their families and in finding the motivation to explore these topics well beyond the basics offered in the workshops.

EVOLVING: There have, however, been significant challenges in getting this information beyond such a small, self-referring audience. First, the KITS need to be produced in sufficient quantity to make them available on an on-going basis and this requires funding. While the workshop can be taught without the KITS, at least 90% of people who take the workshop prefer to have them, given how convenient they are to use. I have even given a dozen or so private tutorials, along with the purchase of the KIT to folks who have just wanted to learn how to use natural remedies and cannot get to a workshop. Secondly, to reach an audience large enough to significantly make a shift towards what I believe could easily be common knowledge, I need to teach the workshops as webinars, providing on-going support via website and through free follow-up webinars. Thirdly, I need to develop materials that support parents’ ability to integrate holistic practices into their daily lives. Ebooks and phone apps are my first goals on that front. My intention is that our children learn this information and these skills so thoroughly that it becomes their primary healing language. My evidence that this is possible comes from my own family, where my adult and teenage children have grown up with these skills and are adept in treating themselves and others.

WEBINARS & MORE: What I have designed is a webinar series that rolls much of the three individual workshops into one. Over 6 two-hour sessions, I will cover the basics of nutrition and gut health, home remedies and energy medicine. Participants will be offered the Home Remedy KIT for purchase. I will set up two free one-hour webinars per month to provide on-going support. Over the next several month

s, as funding increases, I will activate additional support opportunities such as my website, a variety of ebooks and ultimately a phone app. It has taken me twenty-five years to learn as much as I have because there has never been a good resource—I want to offer other parents the opportunity to learn and integrate this information much more quickly and efficiently.

While the workshops in no way supplant the appropriate use of medical care, they provide attendees with the knowledge and skills to maintain their own and their families’ health and well being through the use of excellent nutrition, self care of common ailments and energy medicine, such as EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). Indeed, they may well support more effective use of medical intervention, when necessary, as healthier people tend to respond better overall to medical care.

Over the past twenty years, I have worked with thousands of families and the most rewarding experience has been in watching families take full control of their own well-being through implementation of this information. My clients have encouraged me for years to take the KIT and workshops to a whole other level, but I thus far I have not had all of the pieces in place to do so. At this juncture, I have made the decision to take this project off the back burner and make it a priority. Given the number of mothers who contact me through the internet asking for this information, I think the time is now. I cannot possibly continue to help enough mothers on an individual basis to reach everyone who is interested.

KNOWLEDGE GROWING INTO WISDOM: Currently, I need to raise capital for product, for development and for implementation. When you consider the difference in a child raised on real foods, not exposed to antibiotics or over-the-counter medications (so often the subject of recalls), taught to trust and know and heal his own body, vs a child raised on the Standard American Diet, living with allergies, asthma, ear infections, behavior problems, often overweight and cognitively compromised, I would think there really is only one choice for parents to make. Raising children holistically does not mean you will never have a sick child by any stretch of the imagination. What it does mean is that you will have children with a strong foundation, better able to manage the reality of living in a world of environmental toxins, ever-evolving microbes and significant physical and emotional stress on so many levels. I can think of nothing more worthy of the effort I have expended in learning these skills over 25 years, than the fact that I have children who now have the innate ability to care well for themselves throughout their lives.

FUNDRAISER: Right now I am running an IndieGoGo Fundraiser to take this project to its full potential. Folks who donate will be offered opportunities to receive a Kit or attend a webinar. Please stop by my IndiGoGo page and support this project. My current goal is to purchase product for the KITS, launch the webinar series, complete the basic support materials and get the website revisions and phone app underway. That goal is $22,000 with a deadline of October 7.

SUPPORT THE KIT PROJECT! Of course, you can support the project at a basic level with any amount of money. As a matter of fact, if everyone I know donates only $10, I would be more than 1/2 way there! But, I want this energy to go well beyond simple support—I want folks involved! I want folks excited about this project!

SOMETHING NEW JUST FOR YOU! So, I have gone ahead and done something that’s been brewing in my mind for a while—I have designed a Sumati Mini travel/overnight KIT specifically for this fundraiser. I polled the scores of folks already using the Sumati Home Remedy KIT for their input and I am really excited about the final product. So, for a donation of $200, you will receive the Sumati MiniKIT and the link for an ebook on the use of the remedies. For a donation of $450, you will be able to attend the webinar series free of charge as well--so the MiniKIT and the webinar series together!.

For a donation of $700, you will receive the Sumati Home Remedy KIT and a link for an ebook on the use of the remedies. For a donation of $1000, you will be able to attend the webinar series free of charge as well--so the Sumati Home Remedy KIT and the webinar series together!.

But, I want everyone to have a chance to attend a workshop series or have a KIT. So, for every $500 raised, I will draw 1 name from among those who have donated between $10- $200 to receive a free Sumati MiniKIT and when we reach each $1000 mark, I will also draw a name to receive free workshop attendance for the series. Look for additional perks to be added as we get closer to our goal!

The first workshop series is scheduled to launch in September, with a new series launching every few weeks on different days and times, so that hopefully everyone should find a time they can manage. Of course, all perks may be gifted to another person. All products will ship within 30 days of the end of the fundraiser—so well in advance of the holidays. However, we will ship sooner, as we have enough perks ordered to make bulk purchases of products. Shipping to some countries may not be possible due to costs or restrictions. In effect, what you are doing by participating in this project is enabling it to launch. The money you are donating above and beyond the actual cost of products funds the development of the support system, which in my experience, is the backbone of the project's success.

There is also opportunity in my plan for two key investors, in addition to the amazing family who helped me get this whole project underway this past Spring with an investment at the development phase. If you are interested at that level please contact me by email at IparentLLC@aol.com

And, in keeping the original intent, my description of services, current and under construction is now on my blog.

Highlight on Services

2011-07-30T13:07:00.000+02:00

DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES:

Holistic Lactation Consulting in person or via skype or phone with a focus on complex feeding issues specific to normalizing milk supply, supporting babies in overcoming allergies and slow growth, maternal and infant gut health and healing, and evaluation and support for tongue-tie. –Intake 150euros/ $175. Follow up 60euros/$75 per hour.

Holistic Parenting Consults and Mentoring (via skype or telephone), including one-time consults (usually focused on nutrition or gut healing) as well as multi-week mentoring in supporting families in making overall lifestyle changes including nutrition and gut healing, integrating home remedies and other holistic practices. – One-time consult 175euros/$200, otherwise fee varies depending upon format.

Workshops for Parents on Raising Children Holistically

These can be done in person in a variety of ways, including a one-day introductory workshop, a two-day workshop that incorporates Nutrition, Home Remedies and Energy Medicine or over 3 full-day workshops. --Fee varies depending upon format.

Webinars for Parents on Raising Children Holistically are offered on an on-going basis via WizIQ (12 hours over 6 weeks) and incorporates Nutrition, Home Remedies and Energy Medicine-- $100

Sumati—Home Remedy KIT--$350

Raising Children Holistically Webinar (12 hours over 6 weeks) and incorporates Nutrition, Home Remedies and Energy Medicine) & Home Remedy KIT--$430

Raising Children Holistically Home Remedy personal tutorial (3 hours) & Home Remedy KIT--$475

Customized Webinars can be designed for small groups with individualized focus. Webinars for a group living in a geographic area is an ideal opportunity as it allows the group to continue to work together to facilitate more rapid growth and learning. Fee varies depending upon the material covered and the length of the webinar.

Webinars on Gut Health and Healing offers 3 participants at one time an opportunity to engage in a semi-private discussion (2 hours in length) specific to the needs of their own family while learning from the experience of others and reducing the cost of a private consult. 60euros/$75 per webinar per person.

PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOPS/SEMINARS:

Heal the Mother, Heal the Baby: Nutrition, Gut Health, the Enteric Nervous System & Breastfeeding

The internal terrain reflects itself in the external terrain in a myriad of ways that may well explain many breastfeeding problems. Gut health and integrity drives the nature of the enteric nervous system, thus the implications for well-being are significant. When the maternal body’s reaction to imbalance results in a pro-inflammatory response, a cascade of disease processes may result. Maternal health and well-being, post-partum depression, food allergies, milk supply, PCOS, tongue-tie, reflux, "high-need" infant behavior, slow growth, failure to thrive and numerous feeding difficulties may all find origins in the integrity and vitality of the mother’s internal terrain. In attending to the health of the maternal gut, while supporting the infant in his own healing, we may find that many breastfeeding problems are resolved both acutely and chronically. In a discussion of maternal gut health, the function of the enteric nervous system and the implications for infant gut integrity, we will come to a deeper understanding of why healing the mother's gut may well be integral to successfully addressing a wide array of breastfeeding difficulties.

Holistic Practices in Lactation: A 2-Day Workshop with Jennifer Tow, IBCLC

More and more mothers are interested in using non-pharmaceutical approaches for treating the most common physical and emotional concerns of pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding. Practitioners who recognize the normalcy of birth and breastfeeding are well-equipped to support mothers in accessing and utilizing holistic approaches to care. Practitioners can easily gain basic knowledge and skills in homeopathy, energy medicine such as Bach Flowers and EFT, herbs, home remedies and nutrition specific to the needs of pregnant and nursing mothers. In using these therapies, mothers are offered an alternative to more interventive care, while the practitioner also models a holistic approach that the mother can integrate into her own care and the raising of her family.

These holistic approaches are simple and practical and can often be integrated immediately. Some are both preventive and therapeutic such as the use of nutrition in pregnancy, while others are deeply supportive such as the use of Bach Flowers or EFT. Most have acutely therapeutic applications such as the use of home remedies, herbs or homeopathy for treating mastitis or plugged ducts, normalizing milk supply or healing birth trauma.

Optimizing Human Potential Through Normalizing Infant Feeding

I have given this workshop at a wide variety of conferences, including those for lactation consultants, chiropractors, pre and perinatal psychologists and birth professionals. The workshop focuses on recognizing and healing compensatory feeding behaviors using an integrative approach designed to restore healthy function. There is an emphasis on healing birth trauma and detecting and treating tongue-tie, including the importance to structural work in normalizing function. A holistic approach to normalizing milk supply and addressing other breastfeeding problems in integrated into the case presentation.

Webinars, a book on Holistic Practices in Lactation, ebooks and a curriculum are currently in development.

We Are All....One Another.

2011-07-02T16:07:00.002+02:00

Last month, when a mother and her 15 month old baby, who were living in a shelter in Spain, were separated due to policies that opposed the normal course of the breastfeeding relationship, the world rightly rallied to their aid. The anonymous mother, known as Habiba, and her child were represented in court by a well-known human rights attorney, while the mother’s loving, normal, attached relationship with her child was described as such by a famous psychiatrist. Mom and baby were traumatized by the illegal and immoral separation, but in the world of courts and social services, the reunion was swift and certain. weareallhabiba

“We are all Habiba” was the rallying cry that swept across Facebook and took life in protest actions across the globe. Indeed it is easy to imagine that we are all Habiba. Or that we could be. Who cannot imagine that any one of us, alone in a foreign land, fleeing partner abuse, might find ourselves at the mercy of a system unsupportive of the attached, responsive parenting we have come to rely on as mothers. Those of us in the breastfeeding community, those of us who strive to normalize culturally that which is already normal physiologically, can easily identify. In a world where maternal-infant detachment is the norm, where artificial feeding is not only accepted, but preferred, we necessarily closed ranks around this mother and her beloved daughter. Just as we would hope others would close ranks around us should the same warped sense of mainstream reality come crashing into our worlds one day.

I think those of us who willingly nurse our children until they wean themselves, birth our babies at home, homeschool our children or use holistic medicine tend to always live just a little on that razor’s edge—where we know at any given time—the culture at large might attempt to call us to task. Might attempt to evaluate us based upon their paradigm and find us wanting. And if they do, the tool at their disposal--the hammer they wield--could instill fear in the surest of parents—the risk of losing our children.

Even so, most of us tend to do what we do pretty well—we create support for ourselves in our communities and on-line, we educate ourselves so as not to be caught unprepared, we tend to make choices rather than live by default and we tend towards activism, raising our collective voices when proposed laws or false enforcement threaten our freedoms. And, in fact we even tend to have the science behind us. After all, breastfeeding, attachment, even homebirth, while they may threaten an established order, are the biological norm.

We are nurturing and loving and attached parents. Our births are beautiful and powerful and our children healthy and secure. Our children escape the pitfalls of institutionalized dogma and are free thinkers. Our homeschooled children are the topic of countless articles of academic success. Under scrutiny, who could really prove otherwise?

And right there, right in that neat little package wrapped up in a bow comes the sticky wicket. Who indeed? Probably, just about anyone. Because, life just doesn’t work that way and personal freedoms are not grounded in personal purity.

I have been mothering for 23 years. My first two homebirths were painful, there were days when tandem nursing made my skin crawl, there were months when I was certain my children’s entire resume would one day read that they could build legos, there were days when compassionate friends suggested one of my children might be better off medicated and there was an entire year when I “defied” medical advice and did not know if my son would live or die for my choices. There were 9 agonizing months when my adult son had no legal rights to his newborn daughter and those rights were only secured when I was able to borrow money for legal fees. It’s a story any family wishes could only be invented, a story of how basic human rights can be held hostage by the terrorist with the bigger bank account. Of how love is the most sorely absent commodity in family court.

I am divorced after thirty years of apparently getting the relationship thing all wrong, and can easily and rightly be accused of misjudging my former partner’s capacity for retaliation. I lost my house and if you look at my life from the outside, I am, in effect homeless. I live in France, which I can really explain to no one, yet it has been demanded that I explain it in a court to people who have no interest in the futures of my children. The one person for whom it makes sense is…effectively...lost to me. My children have been rocked to the core of their beings these past two years.

On the other hand, I love my children and my granddaughter madly and I daresay my children love another even more. The depths of devotion they have for one another is sometimes mind-boggling. And is too often the only reason I get up every day. And work. Because, I am good at what I do in the world. I help mommas breastfeed and I help them heal their babies and themselves. I teach mommas how to take care of their own families and I teach my colleagues ways to practice holistic lactation. I am an energy healer and a writer and a teacher and one of these days there will be a published book to back me up.

But, nothing is ever as it seems from the outside. Everyone is interesting and no one has it easy. Place me or you or anyone else under a microscope and we can all look pretty bad. In my case, you can read the trial documents if you want to pay thousands of dollars to do so, I suppose. Who among us lives our lives as if we will one day be in court, in front of strangers, with our hearts on trial. I can tell you this—the heart has never known true courage until its right to love fully, foolishly, without regret, is placed on trial. In the end, I am afraid that the heart has no defense. And intuition…perhaps even less. And being naked in a courtroom can bring the best of us to our knees.

Just as Habiba could not “defend” her responsive, loving, intuitive mothering, neither can any one of us defend who we are. I know I could not. We do what we do because our hearts say so. And every family has its own unique heart, its own unique story, its own unique way of being. And I doubt there is one among us who would not look foolish, at best, when our story is told from someone else’s paradigm.

When Facebook comments started circulating recently, asking for support for the Henderson family in California, I didn’t jump on board right away. Henderson petition. I have precious little time in my life right now, and my own family is at risk. And I was uneasy. Because I know that this kind of situation needs media support and while a young mother who has fled abuse, championed by famous lawyers and psychiatrists is pretty easy to get behind, the Hendersons have a history and when folks have asked others about that history, the responses have often been defensive and angry.

So, I read as much backstory as I could find. There are troubling bits of information in the Henderson story. There are stories from 1998 of the father, Jeffrey striking his then 2 year-old stepson with a belt and the subsequent loss of that child to his grandmother. In reading the story of the family’s rescue from a flood in 2005, I came away feeling very uninspired by this family’s attitude toward people who had risked their lives to rescue them. They just seemed adversarial in every interaction.

Then there is the big issue in the holistic parenting community of the great divide between ”intactivists” and, well...people who get it is just not the issue, I suppose. The story goes that the father circumcised the couple’s oldest son in the kitchen of their home. Apparently, a ritualistic nick was actually performed. And then there is what appears to be defiance of a judge’s orders by dropping out of contact with the courts after that case was dismissed in 2005.

Now, six years later, there is a new incident. The family was apparently living in an unsavory neighborhood and by accounts relayed to me, were being shaken down by a neighbor to pay for “protection” and when the dad refused, the neighbor used a CPS report as a retaliatory tool. When CPS agents arrived with police, the family refused to let them in. The door to their home was broken down and the dad was beaten and arrested. Mom was pregnant and their 5 children witnessed this attack on their parents.

In watching a video of the scene, I will be honest that I was both horrified by the action of the police and the actions of the parents. The clear violation of Constitutional rights in this case makes me very angry. In my mind, personal freedom it is one of the most pressing issues of our times. But, in watching the video, the whole incident came off as one more adversarial interaction with CPS, especially as it is unclear whether the police actually required a warrant in this situation.

The thing is, if you wrote my story for a newspaper, or I wrote yours, how might we come across? We all look innocent to our friends and guilty to strangers. It's easy to support Habiba, who did everything we might do. It might be a little harder to support the Hendersons, who, apparently, didn't. And that is what makes this family's plight one that we as parents and human beings have an obligation to take up. Because right and wrong are not a matter of who appears more palatable.

After the police invaded the home, the dad, Jeffrey, was arrested and went to jail. I know that the mom, Erica, gave birth and went to jail, forced to separate from her newborn, based on charges that were later dismissed. I know that the children have been unlawfully separated from one another and from their parents. Rather than being placed with family members when they were taken, they were placed in foster care. I know that the foster care system is a nightmare for most children placed in it. I know that CPS is overburdened, that their “social workers” are not legitimately social workers, that they overstep their bounds, that they can be arrogant, lawless and arbitrary and I know that they tend to punish parents who live outside the mainstream. I have seen all of these things happen to families I have known.

I know that in this family, two nursing children have had their health compromised for the rest of their lives by being fed artificial infant milk, even in violation of court orders that the infant be given human milk. I know that if someone had taken one of my babies and fed him or her artificial milk from a bottle, I would never overcome the trauma, loss and sense that I had betrayed my child. I do not know what this momma feels, but I imagine it is unbearable.

I know that if these children were vaccinated against their parents’ wishes, then the state has violated parental rights, the right to religious freedom and in my opinion has committed assault.

I imagine how traumatic being institutionalized in school would have been for my unschooled children and cannot imagine how it must feel for these children who have been torn from their parents and one another, after witnessing the their home invaded. Do these CPS workers consider how these children will ever feel safe in the world again?

So, while I am not impressed with some choices I have seen these parents make in their interactions with the system, I know how hard it is to feel anything other than deeply flawed in family court. It might be seductive to attempt to identify with the differences between this family and ourselves. Maybe, we can even rationalize that they got themselves where they are. After all, aren't some of their beliefs just a little over the top. But, remember, there are people who think you and I should be punished for all kinds of decisions from homebirth to not vaccinating. Who gets to decide? And does the state get to hold our children hostage to prevent us from exercising and demanding our basic civil rights?

There is something tragic and life-altering that happens when human beings interface with inhumane systems. It is easy to lose our way if the compass we have always relied upon has been our own True North. Never in my life have I questioned my own heart until I faced the reality that another person could quite literally use the inhumane family court system as a weapon to belittle and shatter that heart.

So, what I have come to is this—we do not need to whitewash human beings for them to deserve our love and our support. We are all human beings contending with the macrocosm--the world of human rights and civil rights and justice that engages our activism, and simultaneously with the microcosm--our own nurslings, toddlers, teens, adult children whose immediate needs beckon us to envelope them and make them safe. Does this family belong together? Of course. Where else? In foster care? Adopted? Does anyone who cannot support them consider what the alternative is? Maybe even more than Habiba, we are all these parents, this family. We are all this man and this woman whose hearts are as pure and as damaged and as frail and as raw and as honest and as human as yours and mine.

Babies Do Come with Instructions

2011-06-06T00:53:00.000+02:00

The kids, the dog, the cats and I live in a tiny furnished apartment in Paris. The weirdness of that reality aside, I am confounded that I still cannot use the appliances properly. I cannot manage the temperature on the convection oven and have yet to even tackle the awesome steamer machine that supposedly cleans everything to spotless perfection. I will admit, I would like to use that wondrous contraption, but aside from taking apart and putting the vacuum cleaner back together when I was a kid, I have no idea how to work objects with knobs or buttons, especially where the possibility of electricity following some alternate route is involved.

There are instruction manuals for every appliance in the apartment neatly tucked into a drawer for my perusal. The thing is, those manuals are all written in French. I speak very little French. I read a lot more French than I speak, but this is technical stuff. Still, I am curious, so one day very soon, I will haul the manuals out and try to translate them into English.

It is a strange experience to live in a world where you feel incompetent to do the things people take for granted everyday. That you yourself take for granted when you live in a familiar place. It has taken me months just to know how much money I am being asked to pay at the market. When I first lived here, clerks would be so annoyed with me because I always paid with large bills, just to make sure I was giving them enough money.

Last year, someone asked me what would possess me to move to a foreign country that includes in the bargain, a foreign language I do not speak. I replied that apparently, I need to experience the sense of disorientation, incompetence and helplessness that allows us to remember that we are flexible, adaptable and thoroughly capable of growing and expanding at any time.

Mostly, these days, expanding takes on the form of fumbling through. Sometimes I ask for help. I hate that part, but when you really want to do something and you can’t figure it out, you have no other choice. And since I really want to thrive, not simply survive, the only real solution is to learn a language I do not know.

Meanwhile, here in my apartment, I am disconnected from the information I need by my inability to read the French appliance manuals. Everything I need is there, but to me it’s all foreign—inaccessible without translation. If it were my native tongue, I would have sorted out all the appliances by now. When I lived in Toulouse, I had to look up the words labeling the washing machine cycles to be able to set the machine correctly. I am certain I didn’t do it exactly right, but the clothes got clean anyway.

I think this is similar to what it feels like for us when we have babies. We are generally so competent in our worlds that we suddenly feel at a loss when a whole new world envelops us, quite literally in a heartbeat. Yet, I doubt we are ever truly left helpless by Mother Nature and I think babies actually come in with a very useful instruction manual. All babies. Hard-wired into their physiology is all the information we need to meet their needs, and the manual that provides access to that information can be had at the breast. In other words, I think breastfeeding is the language of the instruction manual we imagine to be so elusive.

So long as we are able to read the instruction manual, we can find our way—come to know our babies and be responsive. But, for so many of us raised in Western cultures, the manual is like my French appliance manuals—written in a foreign language. I think the hormones of breastfeeding, oxytocin and prolactin are the “universal translator”, if you will. When we are tuned in hormonally, it’s as if we are taking a journey through a foreign land with a translator at our side.

All too often, given the realities of medicalized, invasive birth and the fact that we begin our journeys late in life (it is best to be exposed to foreign languages during childhood when we are more open), we may have a very difficult time navigating, even with the aide of our translator. I know that I can type all of the words from my appliance manuals into Google Translator, but chances are the translation will be incomplete and even inaccurate in parts. I will need a native speaker to clarify the subtleties. Or I can manage through trial and error.

If you grew up in a household or community where French in my case, or the language of infant feeding in the case of a new mom, was spoken during early childhood, you would have an easier affinity with it as an adult. If it had been introduced to you as part of your education, chances are, like me (I took French in school), you’d have some grasp of the vocabulary and grammar. But, if you were told that is was a dead and unnecessary language, or a language only spoken by “other people”, then you might really struggle to learn it and might easily want to give up. Learning a new language is difficult—for anyone—even more so for others.

Sometimes, when a task as simple as mailing a letter or renting a car feels like climbing a mountain, I want to give up. When I can understand enough words to know what I need to do, but not how I need to do it, I get completely frazzled. But, everyday I understand more and more. It can feel like such an accomplishment to do something I once did effortlessly, just like finding the time take a shower feels like an accomplished day for a mom with a newborn. It’s just a language like any other and anyone can learn it. Even me. Even you.

There is nothing more frightening for me than speaking French. I can know all the right words and then they can’t seem to come out of my mouth. Or they come out the wrong way. Or I know enough words to sound really stupid, to feel like a failure or like I should give up. Experienced moms, La Leche League Leaders and lactation consultants are like the native speaker who helps you sort out the nuances and quirks of the foreign language. The baby communicates perfectly, your hormones respond but your fear of getting it wrong can get in the way. Or you are missing a few words and don’t quite understand what is being asked of you and it all seems worse than it really is. It's like me, not wanting to speak French in public--I prefer to do it discreetly so no one sees how uncoordinated I am!

There is no flaw in the instruction manual--the baby, no flaw in the language--breastfeeding. Breastfeeding works. It’s how we are designed to communicate with, understand and read our babies. The baby knows what is needed and once you follow the baby, so will you. It’s like speaking French—in the beginning, a class or book might no be enough--you might need someone to translate for you or you might even need a tutor, someone to be encouraging, but eventually, it begins to be familiar and you make it your own. The more frequently you immerse yourself among others speaking the same language, the faster you learn. Becoming a breastfeeding mom takes support and education. But once you make it your own, you unlock the instruction manual. The baby is all yours to read.

The Gut, Microbes and Poop.

2011-06-05T07:18:00.004+02:00

There’s a topic I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about. To the point that I think I may be obsessed. To put it into perspective, I live in Paris. Just wandering through the streets of the city in the Spring-time is a visceral experience worthy of song and poetry and of course, blog posts. The other day, I was with my 12 year old son walking the dog, thinking about the way the gut and brain ARE. Not the way they communicate, but the way they are. The way we are.

I caught myself as I hurried to catch up to Leo. I slipped my arm into his and set a pace to match him, as I finally took in the sun, the breeze and perfect beauty of the day. I pushed the other thought away. For awhile. Clearly, it has returned. It always returns because mommas and babies and families are not as well as we could be. Not by a long shot.

As a lactation consultant I used to think about breastfeeding. I thought about my own babies, my clients and their babies, about what I read and observed and learned. I loved nursing my babies and I love helping mommas nurse their babies. So, I am still a lactation consultant, but now I pretty much think about the gut. And all that is associated with the gut—like the brain, hormones, the nervous system, structure, personality, emotions and general well-being. Because I think about the gut and the brain, I also think a lot about bacteria and inflammation. Not because bacteria cause inflammation, but because more often than not, lack of bacteria does.

In essence, bacteria are the way we are. Today, I took my son to the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. The building is ancient, of course, but so are the displays. The cursive handwriting on the jars intrigued me as much as the specimens. There were thousands of skeletons and fossils and organs of species long extinct and of those still here. Including homo sapiens.Leo asked me what was here before any of them. “Microbes,” I said.

Microbes have a 3.4 billion history on Earth and microbial mats are the oldest known ecosystem on Earth. Whatever form life on Earth takes, microbes share the journey with us. They are the way we are; they are the way that life is. NASA and other scientific sources use the term co-evolution to describe the fact that all life has evolved in relation to microbes. Microorganisms can form endosymbiotic relationships with other organisms. Examples are rampant, but the relationship that interests me is the one between the bacteria that live within the human digestive system and the human organism itself. These microbes contribute to immunity, synthesize vitamins and ferment complex indigestible carbohydrates. They drive our relationship with the world around us.

So, how does this relate to babies, birth and infant feeding? In every possible way, it turns out. While the infant gestates in a sterile environment, the mother’s body is prepared at birth to immediately alter that scenario, exposing the newborn to her own microbes, inoculating him with the flora that will rapidly multiply and populate his gut. As the infant journeys through the birth canal, he is exposed to a medley of microbes, designed to optimize his potential for thriving in the world his mother inhabits. The inner terrain and the outer terrain find perfect balance in the transition from intra-uterine to extra-uterine life.

According to archaeologist and prebiotoc researcher Jeff Leach, “…this cycle links the co-evolution of intestinal "microflora" of the mother to child, and may represent a more significant bond for those who understand it exist(sic). This evolutionary bacterial right of passage has been and continues to be critical to the success of our species, and all mammals for that matter.” Once inoculated in the birth canal, the baby is further populated by the microbes in his mother’s milk, on her skin and in her mouth. In the normal physiologic process of birth and feeding, the infant is being prepared for life in the world the mother’s body has adapted to survive in.

This is where my head starts to whirl. I ask question after question trying to see all the connections. There is no doubt, given the physiology of this process that several things should and should not happen. First, babies clearly need to be born vaginally. At birth they need to be touched only by their mothers and they need to go to breast. And they need to be kissed by their mothers. This process of inoculation by microbes that initiates in the birth canal is given robust life at the breast. The human organism, which contains 10x more bacteria than human cells, has its blueprint for functional health and well-being laid down in utero (that’s another post) and is given form and structure in the birth canal and at breast.

Human milk contains carbohydrates known as oligosaccharides, which are virtually absent in cow milk. They are undigested in the stomach and small intestine and are able to reach the colon intact where they provide food for the bifidobacterium, enabling them to multiply rapidly. Now here are two pieces of interesting information that fit a lot of pieces together for me. First, again according to Jeff Leach, “As the bacteria thrive on this "food" from mother's milk, they grow in number and absorb water, resulting in more regular and soft bowel movements. It's important to know that the bulk of infant feces are made up of live and kicking bacteria.” Secondly, the insoluble fiber in human milk acts as a kind of irritant in the gut, causing the production of a lubricant that further speeds up the process of elimination.

Someday, I am going to write “Confessions of an IBCLC Heretic”, because for almost 20 years, I have been saying that it is absolutely not normal for babies of any age to have fewer than several significant bowel movements per day. Not per week! Per day. The more I learn about the gut and the gut-brain axis, the more I have to learn. But, I am confident that human milk is not “all used up” and that babies are not “efficient enough that there is no waste”.

Such comments do not even bear up under the scrutiny of common sense. If all those babies who stop pooping at 4-6 weeks are using up all the milk, what are the babies who are pooping 6-8 times per day doing? Making it? Babies need to poop.

There is so much that we impose on mothers and babies in our contemporary, invasive birth practices that damages intestinal flora. Frankly, I think disruption of this essential process of gut inoculation is reason enough to avoid cesarean unless there is clear and real medical necessity. And it is reason enough that babies not be touched by anyone who is not the mother before the baby nurses. Introduction of any substance other than mother’s milk damages the gut—this includes artificial milk, sugar water and drugs.

So, the infant gut, pristine in utero, becomes a hotbed of microbe activity at birth and the nature of those microbes will become how and who that baby is. Gut flora determine our relationship to the environment around us, as 75% of the immune system resides with the gut. They determine much about our emotional well-being as 80% of our serotonin is in the gut. The enteric nervous system—often referred to as the ”second brain”--is embedded within the gut. Gut microbes determine our vulnerability to disease and to stress and direct our potential to thrive emotionally, physically and intellectually.

Given the significance of gut function to the well-being of the infant, I want to see all babies have strong healthy guts. So, when I see a baby who is not on solids, not sick, getting enough food and still not pooping as often as I know healthy babies do, I want to know why.

I will rule out or refer for treatment any tongue-tie and other structural causes of vagus nerve suppression, such as birth trauma. I want to rule out oversupply or over-active milk ejection reflex. I want to know what baby’s poop looks like. Pasty poop is not normal, nor is mucus or poop that soaks into the diaper or is green, simply a skid mark or takes a lot of straining to achieve. And volumes of poop once per week does not indicate the milk has been “all used up”. It means it has been sitting in the colon, going nowhere. Pasty poop has not absorbed enough water. Poop that smells foul indicates an imbalance of intestinal flora.

Other indications of poor gut function include cradle cap, eczema, skin rashes, “baby acne”, a red ring around the anus, thrush, dark circles under the eyes, difficulty organizing states, cognitive delay, difficulty sleeping, poor appetite, poor growth, “colic”, “high-needs” behaviours, congestion, reflux, refusing the breast, arching at the breast, gassiness and infection.

Clinically, I know that gut function is a problem because when babies are treated, gut function is restored. Restoring gut function is a complex topic and is somewhat individualized. Treatment eliminates allergens and food sensitivities and might include use of probiotics, bentonite clay for detoxification, digestive enzymes, slippery elm bark powder and other healing herbs, castor oil compresses on the belly and most importantly healing the maternal gut through elimination of pro-inflammatory foods and the inclusion of healing foods, supplementation, and structural or bodywork or energywork for baby and mom. Remember, the intestinal flora in the mother’s gut ends up in her milk.

The process of microbe inoculation that is clearly a primal imperative is interrupted and incomplete at best in most babies. Within weeks of birth, many mothers are observing the kinds of symptoms I have described. Because common tends to be referred to as “normal”, often symptoms are dismissed by health care providers or labeled as "dairy allergy" (as if there is no other allergy), reflux, GERD or "colic" or worse: "breastmilk allergy" and many moms end up weaning prematurely because the gut damage tends to worsen with time or the "treatment" involves weaning to artificial infant milk. Sometimes, on the other hand, the symptoms seem to disappear and certainly the gut can heal, especially on a diet of exclusive momma milk. But, often, the symptoms have simply changed or are not recognized as such. Ear infections, frequent colds, bed wetting, asthma and “tummy aches” often replace the vomiting, colic and sleeplessness of infancy. The bottom line is that our babies need healthy guts both to survive and to thrive in the world. Passing off as “normal” common indications of poor gut function serves no one, least of all, the baby.

I will continue thinking about the gut and about microbes and about how we are as they are. And with any luck, as people become more attuned to the primary urgency of protecting the gut integrity of the infant, practices will change. In the meantime, I hope we will all begin to see babies and in a different way and be more inclined toward restoring full function than simply managing dysfunction. And that we remember that to heal the baby, we have to begin by healing the mother.

I wasn’t born this way.

2011-05-12T05:22:00.000+02:00

One of the comments I often hear from folks—friends, clients and colleagues--is some variation of “you must have been raised this way”. “This way” refers to my affinity for holistic practices in my life. The truth is I have a completely mainstream background. I wasn’t born this way—I got here through experience, a lot of education--or more correctly re-education and personal evolution.

I was raised like most kids in the 60s and 70s. I mostly grew up in a variety of Connecticut suburbs (we moved a lot) where I lived with my parents and my brother and sister and our various pets. My mother worked full time, but my father was home (okay—that’s different, but not insofar as this post is concerned). Because my mom worked, I made dinner every night from the age of ten. Dinner was the standard fare of meatloaf, pork chops, mac and cheese, chicken, steak, and potatos and a side vegetable, albeit made from scratch and yet to be infiltrated by Monsanto with GMO crops or laden with the factory-farmed chemicals of today. We went to McDonalds maybe twice a year as a “treat”, did not drink soda or eat much junk food of any kind (too expensive). But we ate margarine instead of butter, “processed cheese food” and instant milk (all because it was cheap). Still, overall we had far less processed or junk food than other kids even then, but only because it was what our parents could afford and what we were used to. But I cringe now when I think of all that margarine!

As an infant, I was apparently “colicky”, having been artificially-fed Carnation condensed milk and karo syrup. I had all the standard vaccines of the day. I also had common childhood viruses like chicken pox and measles. Our parents took us to doctors when we really sick and were sadly among the hoards of parents who bought into the lie that removing tonsils kept kids from getting sick. For the most part, though, I think we had far fewer medications than kids do today and maybe even fewer than a lot of other kids then. I know I got a certificate just about every year in school for perfect attendance.

But, other than cod liver oil, baking soda for hives, boric acid for eye infections and salt water for stomach aches, my parents were not exactly of any holistic mindset. My mother did buy “whole wheat” bread, if that counts. But, another cringe moment comes when I think of all that mercurochrome used for cuts and scrapes.

When I was seventeen, I watched a movie in high school English about slaughterhouses. I became a vegetarian that day. Granted, I had no idea what I was doing and didn’t do it well, but I was young and strong and healthy and did okay for awhile. I ate a lot of yogurt, peanut butter and mac & cheese. I did not stay healthy for long.

I was completely on my own from the age of 18 and married at 20. My college years were plagued by intense emotional stress, as my father was dying, my brother and sister were going through their own crises and I was unable to keep my focus on my education. During my early twenties, I began to really feel the strain and was hospitalized for severe dehydration and anemia. In hindsight I think that was the first time my adrenals were really spent.

Over the next few years I got progressively sicker. I had brain scans and ultrasounds and saw more than a dozen doctors. I had unbelievable migraines that sometimes lasted for days; I had more days with them than without them. I had intense pain during ovulation that escalated to the point where it was seriously debilitating for me. No one had any idea why I was so sick and in so much pain. I was medicated and medicated some more. I took more drugs during those 5 years of my life than in the rest of my life and my children’s lives combined.

A remarkable fact that most everyone I know finds shocking and that I cannot now imagine having made manifest was that I never planned to have children. From the time I was in my late teens, I was clear that I would never have children and when I married, my husband had accepted my decision. But, the Universe has interesting ways of turning us on us our heads and healing our emotional wounds in ways we may not expect. I think everyone has meaningful experiences like these, but we too often deny their importance in our lives, as we tend to be enculturated to separate the spiritual from the experiential. My life has held too much magic for me to do that and so I do not.

When I was 26, I was diagnosed with endometriosis. I did not seek a diagnosis for infertility as is so often the case, but rather because the pain I experienced monthly for almost three years had become so debilitating that I was taking very powerful narcotics just to get by, and each month they were becoming less and less effective. Finally, I had a diagnostic laparoscopy.

While I was in the recovery room at the hospital, I woke to a baby crying. To this day, I can still hear that baby’s cry. It disturbed me so badly that I asked the nurse over and over again what was wrong with him and why no one was attending to him. She repeatedly told me that he fine, but I did not believe her. My agitation about him would continue for days.

As my surgery was purely diagnostic, it was a simple out-patient procedure. After I spoke with the doctor, I was able to go home for the rest of the day. My conversation with that doctor was another gift that I would not understand for some time. He was, to say the least, cold and detached. He had not idea that I did not want children and offered little hope that I might ever be able to conceive without extensive medical intervention. I thought at the time that is was his demeanor that caused me such grief, but in hindsight, I know it was because something very primal and significant in my heart had been awakened that day. The contrast of his chill nature with the immediacy of the infant’s cry for help set in motion a complex series of events that to this day I cannot fully explain.

When I went home, I laid on my couch to read the issue of Vegetarian Times that had been in my mailbox. In it there was an article about homeopathy, a healing modality that I had never heard of. I have no idea why I did this, but I phoned the number for the National Center for Homeopathy that I found at the end of the article. I was given the names of four physicians in Connecticut who practiced homeopathy. I phoned the one closest to me geographically. Within minutes, I had made an appointment, with absolutely no idea as to what I might expect. The doctor had been very clear with me that he had never treated endometriosis, but also explained that from a homeopath’s perspective, this did not matter at all. Homeopathy restores the vital force and supports balance and healing. It does not treat a particular disease. I have no idea why I believed him, but I did.

From that moment on, I began to have exceptional experiences with healing that I began to refer to as “recognition”. It was as if I simply knew when something was right or not. There was no need for rationalizing or proving I was right. When it came to my own well-being, I just knew exactly what was right, something I had never really experienced before. It was like recognition, seamless and obvious.

Within a year of beginning homeopathic treatment and making nutritional changes (my first improvement was that I stopped eating all dairy), I was well and pregnant with my first child. Once you are awake, you are awake. You cannot put the knowing back away because it is inconvenient or challenging. "If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up." J.M. Power

I was awake and no matter how I was born, this was who I was becoming. The amazing healing and support for wellness that my family has experienced using holistic practices has been a gift I would be delighted to see anyone embrace. So, when folks look at my life and think “well you can do that but I cannot” or “it’s easy for you, but not for me”, I know they are simply not ready. And that’s fine. The day I was ready, all the Universe lined up and one awareness after another flooded into my consciousness. It just seems to work that way.

What's in a name?

2011-05-11T13:45:00.000+02:00

I thought a lot about the name for my blog. Granted, it was far less time than it has taken me to get around to actually creating a blog, but while it’s true that I often ruminate over minor decisions, this one felt pretty significant. I have been an IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant) for fifteen years. I debated for almost a year before I made the decision to sit the exam and become board certified. I was already helping thousands of women breastfeed. I was a La Leche League Leader—completely committed to mother-to-mother support and coordinated a very successful inner city peer counseling program. I was passionately opposed to the medicalization of mothering in all aspects of birth and parenting. I did not want to be a part of the problem and considered long and hard whether I could avoid that fate if I took the step to become a lactation professional.

In the end, I decided to become certified because, while working in hospital I saw how quickly the medicalization of birth was overtaking infant feeding. As birth has become more interventive, infant feeding has become more and more complicated for more and more mothers. And, there’s more than birth intervention in play. As the environment has become more toxic, as women struggle with infertility, hormone imbalances (such as hypothyroidism and PCOS), and as more and more women enter childbearing at a nutritional deficit, infant feeding has taken an even bigger hit.

We used to tell women that only a tiny percentage of women cannot produce enough milk for their babies, that breastfeeding doesn’t hurt so long as the baby is positioned correctly, that very few babies are bothered by foods their mothers consume, that tongue-tie is very rare, that breastfeeding takes a little practice and a lot of support, but that most women can succeed quite easily.

To be honest, that’s pretty much what I used to see as a La Leche League Leader. But, for the past 15 years, that has no longer been my experience. Cultural attitudes, poor science that has directed the focus away from breastfeeding and toward the product of lactation, intensive marketing by pharmaceutical companies of every manner of breastmilk substitute, the wildly and often repeated myths that fly through cyberspace and the ratcheting up of interventions in birth have changed the entire scenario. Breastfeeding in most of the Western world is not easy. Women need help. Really, really good help. So, I became an IBCLC.

Let me pause for a moment to explain something about that. IBCLC is an international certification, so it is identical throughout the world. That actually makes it pretty unique. An MD, an RN, a DO and many other health care providers cannot simply cross international borders and practice in their professions. Often, they require a different bit of training to come into line with the educational requirements in the new country. Since the IBCLC is conferred based upon the same guidelines everywhere, moving from one location to another does not require different evaluation or education. It might be true that a given country does not allow an IBCLC to practice without certain other guidelines being met, but that has nothing to do with the criteria met to become an IBCLC. So, when you hire an IBCLC, you are hiring someone whose prerequisites are to have met a certain set of educational criteria and spent thousands of hours working with breastfeeding mothers prior to passing an exam. For this reason, only an IBCLC should be referred to as a “lactation consultant“ (LC).

There is a lot of confusion around this topic, though and for the most part mothers are caught up ion the confusion without even knowing it. Sometimes, in their lack of understanding of the highly specialized education required to be a competent lactation consultant, health care providers have thought to expand their own knowledge base so as to be more helpful to their clients. Usually, such education is very limited and cannot be relied upon to support more than the simplest breastfeeding problems. In other cases, once it becomes clear to various administrators that having some kind of lactation specialist on their staff might be beneficial to their marketing strategies, many hospitals, clinics and physicians offices pay for staff members to receive breastfeeding training which typically consists of a weekend or week long program.

The problem is you don’t know what you don’t know. If a nurse or doula, for example, has taken a week-long course in breastfeeding, she knows an awful lot more than she did before. She can help a lot more moms than she could before. On the other hand, if she has no idea how complex a problem might become, she can easily have a false sense of her own skills, and have a poor sense of when she might need to refer elsewhere. To be honest, I think it also becomes awkward to promote yourself or your staff member as the “breastfeeding expert” or “breastfeeding specialist”, only to find yourself having to explain why your expertise is not sufficient. In the end, too few women receive the level of skill they need from their “lactation consultant”.

And, consider this. If you have had a hospital birth, chances today are pretty good you saw someone in your hospital who identified herself as being a “breastfeeding specialist” of some kind. She may have called herself a lactation consultant. Whether that person is an IBCLC, you may never know. Usually, you would never know to ask. I have had hundreds of moms tell me they “saw the LC in the hospital” and when I find out the person’s name, I discover that the person is not an LC at all. Alas, we as humans can be a little quirky about being “taken”. Often, in our embarrassment, we are angry at the person who told us, rather than the person who misled us.

But, this is what happens when you see someone who does not have adequate skills to assist you. Since you believe you saw an LC, you are not inclined to see another. After all, aren’t we all the same? It is especially challenging to consider that you may well have to pay out of pocket to see the credentialed LC, when the person you can see at your doctor’s office or hospital is free. It can be very difficult to imagine that there is such a significant difference that the fee is warranted.

You don’t know what you don’t know can apply just as easily to IBCLCs. For example, if you work in the hospital or clinic setting and have limited access to long-term feedback from mothers, you may well suggest strategies that are outdated or ineffective, but since you have no way of knowing this, you continue giving the same advice. Certainly, this is not always the case, but my advice is this: just as you would not assume every practitioner in any other field has the same experience and expertise, do not assume it of LCs either. And just as you would get a second opinion if someone could not help you if you had an injury, a toothache, a strange rattling noise under the hood of your car or a broken pipe in your house, please consider that your breastfeeding relationship deserves at least that much effort. While I agree that it should not have to be this complicated, and it should not be your problem, the reality is that this is how it is right now and the best you can do is learn to navigate the myriad of initials and help others do the same.

Basically, if a breastfeeding specialist has any initials other than IBCLC, her role is likely to be that of educator and support person, not clinician. The skills are very beneficial when you are hiring a birth or post-partum doula or midwife, when you are a choosing a physican’s office, when offered assistance at a WIC office or clinic. It means that the practitioner has enough interest in the relevance of breastfeeding to her role that she has chosen to spend time and money to be a better resource to her clients. But, part of the value of that additional education is her ability to establish pretty quickly when you might need more skilled intervention and to refer accordingly.

On my blog I could have used the term lactation consultant, but I decided I needed to be really clear that the initials IBCLC stand for something that I think parents have a right and a need to understand. My hope is that you will come to think of LC as synonymous with IBCLC and understand the differences as I have described above.

Here’s the last piece. The “holistic” piece of my blog name. I personally practice in a way that has been informed as much by the path of my own life as by any education I have pursued. I have been living and raising my children holistically for 25 years and have incorporated all that I have learned in those years into my practice. For me, this is where the passion, the joy and the intellectual fulfillment enters my work. There is nothing more rewarding to me than to help a momma who has a breastfeeding problem such as mastitis, thrush, pain, or a poorly growing baby avoid the common interventions that typically only address symptoms and can wreak havoc with her gut and immune system, while gently exposing her to a new way of thinking about healing and well-being. When I work with moms over a period of years through my support network (Intuitive Parenting Network) and witness the ways they learn and integrate holistic practices into their own lives, changing the paradigm in which they raise their children and care for themselves and their families, I know that this approach is both needed and valued. I believe we, as mothers, value the wisdom, the knowledge and the skill that allows us to be competent and self-reliant caregivers.

As an LC, and as a mentor in holistic parenting, I am more concerned than ever about medicalization of the normal processes that fill our daily, ordinary lives. More interventions, more drugs and more control does not make for healthier, happy, more productive lives. I think, if anything, it immobilizes us and makes us impotent. That’s one reason why I am so sensitive to the idea that a lactation consultant, another “specialist” has to be much more than someone who simply intervenes and fixes your problems.

While I think mothers learn best from other mothers and truly need and deserve loving support, we live in a culture where breastfeeding isn’t easy and finding the resources that build our confidence in becoming the caretakers of our own families is difficult to come by. Practicing as a holistic IBCLC is my way of assuring that mothers receive expert care while having access to a far broader spectrum of knowledge, options, skills and support than is typically associated with a lactation consultant. It is my intention that in providing access to these resources, I offer mothers a new set of tools, tools that build confidence through competency and allow them to find grace in the problems they have encountered and overcome.

So, Holistic IBCLC it is.