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By Melanie Grier When we think about advocacy, examples of movements for social change may come to mind before thoughts of how the need for advocacy shows up in our everyday lives, especially if we belong to the dominant culture and generally have less to advocate for. As a cisgendered, white-settler female in a heterosexual partnership living in colonial-Canada, I …
By Deborah MacNamara Life is not possible without attachment. We all begin as cells that embed themselves in our biological mother’s womb, with her body providing a warm and safe place for them to multiply and divide. The cellular transformation is breathtaking and provides a beautiful window to watch life unfold through connection. As the umbilical cord emerges in early …
By Tiffany Sostar By now, many of us may have learned that Shakespeare wrote King Lear in a plague time, Sir Isaac Newton did some of his best work during a year of quarantine and Edvard Munch continued to paint not only during, but having contracted, the Spanish Flu. Some of us follow Louise Erdrich’s advice by keeping a list …
Sex and babies. You almost always have one to make the other. But that’s where the conversation seems to end. There isn’t a lot of discussion about sex during the process of conception, pregnancy and after baby. We wanted to have an open and honest conversation on the topic, so we spoke to an expert. Thirty-three-year-old Jenna Nakamura is a …
The best breast feeding position is the one that is comfortable and effective for you and baby. The most common positions are: CRADLE/CUDDLE Baby lies on your lap, tummy to tummy with you. His face and knees should be close in and facing you. Baby’s head fits in the bend of your elbow with his mouth directly in front of …
Why did it take so many years for this vital service to return? Even though it is well known in Alberta that human milk is what all babies need to reduce the risk of illness and for optimum growth, Alberta lost its milk banks in Edmonton and Calgary the 1980s. [i] [ii] After more than 25 years, Calgary will again …
Breastfeeding is the biologically normal way to feed human babies. However, negative attitudes towards breastfeeding in public are still a barrier to breastfeeding for many women. Meeting our babies’ most basic need should not be fraught with anxiety. We have successfully changed attitudes before – women can vote now after all. Teresa Pitman reveals why it is so important to …
I recently attended the Alberta Breastfeeding Committee’s conference: Infant feeding: Best practice steps for primary preventative care. Over 100 of Alberta’s health care professionals ranging from delivery room nurses to lactation consultants and doulas attended the day-long conference with two of Canada’s experts on infant feeding best practices, Marianne Brophy and Louise Dumas. Louise Dumas presented information providing substantial …
1 Practice nursing in front of a mirror. The view from across a room is not the same as when you look down on yourself. Once you see how very little is revealed when nursing your baby, you will feel more at ease. 2 Nurse in a carrier of your choice. Upright nursing in a sling, wrap, or mei tai …
On January 31, 2011, my baby was born 7 1/2 weeks premature. Isaiah spent three weeks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). While he grew and made tentative first attempts at breastfeeding, I pumped to bring in my milk supply. What a supply it was! I soon made enough milk to fill a freezer– much more than Isaiah needed. …
