A Drop in the Ocean

I got to "Y" in my gratefulness alphabet that I started several months ago.

Today, I don't have to ask "why" when it comes to being grateful - I can see it in front of me, in so many ways.

It's so humbling to realize that people are behind me, supporting my project, wanting to spread the word, the word that people CAN do something, that we CAN help, even if its just a drop in the ocean.



About two weeks ago, I decided I would go to Greece to assist the (mostly Syrian) mothers and babies who are living this cold winter in a foreign country, with very little of the things we take for granted: shelter, food, heat ... there are families living in borrowed housing in Athens, or on the street, and there are tens of thousands of people living in camps in the north of Greece, waiting for permission to move north so that they can start the difficult process of rebuilding their lives.

I started a campaign to raise funds. I had no idea I knew so many generous people! I reached my original goal in eight days! I am still accepting funds, because I now know that I may need to buy supplies when I am there, and if I have money left over I will be donating it to the organizations I will be working with.

I have bought my ticket, and I'll be spending some extra cash on excess baggage. I'm taking newborn diapers, underwear, and a few extras to distribute.

One of my young friends is SEWING UNDERWEAR for me to bring - that is one of the clothing staples that people are in great need of.
A woman came in to the cafe today, with a huge bag of new underwear her husband donated from his store.

Everyone is giving, whether it's money, love or things. I am so grateful to you all! When I'm there, on Monday, I will be working hard to make sure that mothers and babies get the care that they need, but I will keep you in my heart and I will send updates every day.

Gratitude

Yesterday, December 27, 2016

I went over to a friend's place early in the morning to deliver a package for my son. Then down to the cafe with some supplies and ingredients for our baking extravaganza. Then over to pick up a gift for a friend who is grieving.

Then home for a minute, and I spoke to a postpartum mother who is healing from  c-section and learning how to breastfeed. Spoke to another postpartum mother who is finally getting the hang of feeding, and we discussed poop and the color of poop and breasts and all that baby talk.
I went for a run, I was going to do five k but man! the sidewalks were icy, I came home after a slippery run of 3 and a half k.

Back to the cafe, to pick up a meal for my grieving friend. I dropped it off at her house, full of love and sadness.

Then off with my family: three sons, husband and "daughter-in-love". We went shopping! I bought my lovely DIL a pair of sandals to wear indoors, and we got some booze, and didn't buy anything else but laughed together at the crazy consumer-inspired road rage happening.

I love my family - all for one and one for all! L'Chaim!!

Then back home, a bit to eat, drive downtown, to the movies!! Rogue One! I brought drinks in my purse because Cymbalists don't like to pay $7 for a small Coke.

Hey, the battle between good and evil? Good wins!!! But everyone dies in the end.

Then out for a drink, and we got a big plate of nachos, but they had chili con carne on them which we don't eat, so we got it to go and dropped it off for a homeless man on St Catherine - he ate well last night!

Then a different bar, the Whiskey Cafe, our regular. Drank good Scotch, had a blast, went home to our warm house, welcoming dog, and comfortable bed.

I lay in my bed so happy, so full of love and gratitude.

People living in Greece right now who have escaped the bloodshed in Syria? They had lives much like mine! Ok, maybe without the really insane Boxing Day consumerism, and no going to bars, but they had nice clothes and furniture and real houses and devices and good jobs and cars.

Now they have nothing. Tens of thousands of them are living in Greece, and I want to go there for three weeks to help young families with newborns, or those who are pregnant, so that their lives and the lives of their children, can be made a tiny bit better.

Please donate to my campaign, and share if you can!

https://www.gofundme.com/MothersandbabiesinGreece

Mothers and Babies

Many years ago I decided to interrupt my studies and go to Africa. I visited my parents in Botswana, then traveled for months through southern and east Africa, visiting the place I was born and the countries I last saw when I was very young.

On a border somewhere in East Africa, two things happened on the same day that deeply affected me and led me to where I am today. As I was waiting to cross to the other side, a young woman leaned heavily on the fence, clearly having labor contractions. She was on her own; a group of women crowded around her and led her away.

A few hours later, a woman came to me with a baby. The baby was sick, clearly dying. The mother explained to me that the baby had diarrhea and asked me if I could help. Back then, I was 23 years old, and although I knew quite a bit about First Aid, herbal healing, helping survivors of sexual assault, and the English Romantic Poets, I knew nothing about newborns or breastfeeding.

I didn't know that around 20% of all infant deaths were due to diarrhea, I didn't know about the links between malnutrition, formula feeding, breastfeeding, and infant death.
She thought I could help her, and I couldn't. I hope you never see a baby and mother looking at you like that.

I realized that day that I wanted to devote my life to making a safer world for mother and babies. I had a lot of other things to do with my life  as well, though, and spent several years meeting my true love, raising five sons, running an organic farm, studying midwifery, and working as a doula. 

Now I am ready, I have the skills to share and the time to spend. I am going to Greece to contribute to the effort to provide prenatal, childbirth and breastfeeding assistance to families in Greece who are living in very difficult conditions. Temperatures are low; people do not have good winter clothing; they are living in tents, in squats or in the streets. Babies are still being born, and children are still being raised.

“…statistics showed that in serious emergency situations, such as the one currently facing those affected by the Syria crisis, disease and associated death rates among under-5 children are higher than for any other age group.

The risk of dying is particularly high because of the combined impact of communicable diseases and diarrhea together with possible increases in rates of under-nutrition as people flee their homes.  The people inside Syria and those displaced may find themselves often in very difficult and unsanitary conditions thus can be at major risk of serious water-borne diseases. Breastfeeding confers critical protection from infection especially where safe water is unavailable and there is poor sanitation. Breastfeeding saves lives.” from safelyfed.org


I have created a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for my trip. If you have been wondering what you can do to help, this is it! Please help me help mothers and babies in Greece!

GoFundMe

Please share my campaign, and if you can donate even a small amount, it will be gratefully appreciated. The funds will go towards my air travel, accommodation, transport, and supplies while I am there, and any left over will be donated directly to the organizations in Greece who are working with mothers and babies. 


I am wishing you all a year full of health, joy, peace and love.  

Baby Cutting

"It's just a little cut. Baby won't feel it." Does that sounds familiar? 

I sit in friendly silence so many times when midwives from various cultural places and bases are discussing male circumcision. I've learned over the years that when religion and emotions meet, its better to keep silent. 

But I am surprised and - yes - shocked to see the epidemic of frenotomies and the over-diagnosing of ankylglossia - commonly known as "tongue-tie".

In researching this subject, I found some sites and articles that suggested that the incidence of ankylglossia was about 10%. The suggestion is made that if this condition is not cured when the infant is very young, it could lead to speech and digestive problems when the child is older. But that can't mean that 10% of the population needed to be cut! We do have a pretty sophisticated system of communication, called language, that most of us can manage with quite effectively.

I found a critical summary of research done up to 2004 in a nice online journal that focuses on evidence-based medecine. The studies they looked at came up with an incidence of 1-4%, which is still hefty, but not unreasonable. It is suggested that frenotomy definitely helps reduce maternal pain during breastfeeding. The conclusion that is drawn, however, is that "...in the main this appears to be one of those areas where there is much opinion but little evidence. A much more thorough review [7] concludes that controversy is fuelled by lack of good information about intervention. It is surprising that there is not more good information. Ankyloglossia is not rare, affecting one to four babies in every 100. There is a congenital component, but we know little about other possible associations, except possibly with cocaine use in pregnancy. Clearly there is a need for more research, which need be neither expensive nor complicated. Less opinion, please, and more evidence. A great topic for postgraduate qualifications and the tongue-tied." (http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band124/b124-2.html)

A more recent study shows that indeed, nipple pain is significantly reduced and breastfeeding satisfaction is higher when frenotomy is performed on "...infants with signficant ankyloglossia". (http://jgh.ca/uploads/breastfeeding/aaptonguetie2004.pdf

On the other hand, " ...ankyloglossia is relatively uncommon in the newborn population, but inspection of the tongue and its function should be part of the routine neonatal examination. Most of the time, ankyloglossia is an anatomical finding without significant consequences for the newborn or infant affected by this condition. Current evidence seems to demonstrate that despite ankyloglossia, most newborns are able to breastfeed successfully". (http://www.cps.ca/en/documents/position/ankyloglossia-breastfeeding).

No one is arguing that severe ankylglossia will not lead to breastfeeding problems including nipple damage and pain; reduced intake, and a possible consequent failure to thrive. 

However, I am seeing the current approach as akin to the movement towards "routine" circumcision in the U.S. in the post-war years. I assume that the rationalization was based on an understanding of cleanliness and hygiene, and possibly to limit the spread of STDs (with the men just back from a series of battlefields, could that have been a concern?). 

Routine circumcision peaked in the U.S. during the sixties, when up to 90% of boys were circumcised, from around 30% in the thirties. (http://www.circs.org/index.php/Reviews/Rates/USA) 

In the U.K., the rate of circumcision due to diagnosed phimosis was under 5% in the 80's, and even this low rate has been criticized. It has since dropped appreciably, because of a better understanding of true phimosis and an improved diagnostic approach: "...The decline is attributed to the increased use of evidence-based medicine". (http://www.cirp.org/library/treatment/phimosis/rickwood2/ ) It has been dropping consistently in Canada, with most provincial health care plans delisting it. The average rate in Canada in 2006/7 was just over 30%. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevalence_of_circumcision#Canada)

Are we going to have another pendulum swing in thirty years, when we realize that we have been unnecessarily cutting the second most sensitive part of our babies' bodies for absolutely no reason?

When I was interning in Bali last year, at the Yayasan Bumi Sehat, I had an experience that taught me an important lesson about breastfeeding. I came in for my shift at 6am and the intern who was leaving let me know that there was a postpartum woman in one of the beds who was having serious difficulties breastfeeding. The intern was frustrated and worried, and asked me if I could find a way to let the mother know that she needed to be proactive about feeding her baby. 

The woman was twelve hours postpartum, and she was lying on her side on a low bed in the postpartum room. She was wrapped in a sarong but her breasts were bare, and the baby just had a cloth diaper covering his bum. Her breasts were not the best. They were large, with little tone, and her nipples were deeply inverted. I greeted her and asked how she was doing, she was doing well, she had eaten, everything was fine. I asked if I could sit with her. I sat next to the bed and kept my hands to myself. I wanted to get the baby's head, and stimulate her nipple, and put two and two together. But I didn't.

In Bali, you see a lot of people sitting around. People aren't frantically doing stuff like we do. They hang around and shoot the breeze.

I got her some water. Then I sat back down. Other people came in and out. I stayed. She put the baby on and took him off for about two hours, until finally he was well latched and sucking vigorously. 

This baby continued to thrive. I continue to sit on my hands and provide support. Certainly, we have mothers and babies who are not well: mothers get sick; babies have anomalies; breasts (very rarely) don't produce milk. 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Don't even try.

What to Expect from Nestle

We all have our prejudices and opinions about breastfeeding and natural birth. At a certain point, however, it is important to try to discover the facts buried deep beneath everyone's political agendas. I was struggling with this for a few days before I decided to write this blog, and a lady jumped out from the past and told me very clearly that I have to speak out.

I was in my early twenties, traveling through Africa on my own. I was walking to get on a ferry, which was basically a very large raft kept afloat by prayers and habit, to cross a river. A woman about my age approached me. She had a baby on her back, and she swung him around and presented him to me. Because of the color of my skin, she expected me to have some knowledge, medication, or connections that would assist me to bring her baby back. He was almost dead. His eyes were glazed and dry. He had diarrhea, she explained. I had no idea what to say to her. I didn't know anything back then. I had never seen a dying baby before, and I hope you never will.

I don't think people fully understand the significance of the use of baby formula in countries where poverty is rampant, and clean water is impossible to find. Here in Canada, those women who bottle feed their infants may be at risk for being sneered at, and their babies may be at higher risk for allergies or obesity. But in Africa and all over the world, babies who are fed formula are at a higher risk of  infection, from the moment they are born until they are at least two years old.

Unicef recommendations on breastfeeding are here, and they are worth looking at. The authors suggest that "The major problems are the societal and commercial pressure to stop breastfeeding, including aggressive marketing and promotion by formula producers. These pressures are too often worsened by inaccurate medical advice from health workers who lack proper skills and training in breastfeeding support."

Nestle is one of the major formula producers in the world and has just bought Pfizer Nutrition which markets four brands of artificial formula. Nestle actively promotes its breastmilk substitutes in Africa and elsewhere, claiming that HIV positive mothers' babies should not be breastfed. This is a subject that has seen much research and discussion over the past few years and it is by no means a conclusive claim. Infection rates can go up by over 60% after six months, so perhaps a better suggestion would be (see WHO recommendations) that babies everywhere and in every situation should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life.

The problem with formula feeding in poverty-stricken areas are twofold: one is the lack of clean water, refrigeration, sterilizing equipment and so on. Bottles are washed in less-than-sterile water; the powdered formula is mixed with infected water; and the remaining formula is left out and breeds bacteria. WHO guidelines on the preparation of powdered formula are very strict concerning cleanliness and refrigeration. This level of cleanliness is simply not possible in many households around the world.

Nestle has been boycotted for over forty years because of its aggressive marketing of breast milk substitutes  all over the world.

This is why I was shocked to see that it is sponsoring the What to Expect When You're Expecting movie premiere, and to see that these two organizations are partnering to sponsor a contest for pregnant women. The prize is a trip to Hollywood to see the WTE movie. Visit the link: Nestle Baby.  If you try to enter the contest, you are told that only "Nestle Baby Program" members are allowed to enter. So you go to the Nestle Baby link. A tiny popup opens to let you know that breast is best for up to six months. Then you are met with a $100 coupon for free samples, including formula and bottles.

This is directly in contravention of the World Health Organization's International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitues, which states that: "there should be no advertising or other form of promotion to the general public" and that "manufacturers and distributors should not provide … to pregnant women, mothers or members of their families, samples of products…" Promotion through any type of sales device, including special displays, discount coupons and special sales, is prohibited. Furthermore, no company personnel should seek direct or indirect contact with, or provide advice to, pregnant women or mothers.



I expect and encourage What to Expect to immediately sever ties with Nestle, for the sake of their own reputation, and for the sake of the health of millions of mothers and babies around the world.

La Mamma!

I was lucky when I had four little ones, because I lived in Italy, a country world-renowned for its art and culture. What? You are imagining I took my four rambunctious boys to the museums? No! The museums came to us ...
There was one image that was always around, and that was the image of a mother and child. Everywhere I looked, when I first arrived in Florence with my oldest, who was then a babe-in-arms, was an image of a beautiful woman with a baby on her lap. The religious details didn't mean anything to me - but the beauty of that image moved deep into my soul and colored much of what I believe about mothering.
I was honored back then. It was a generation that wasn't too reproductive, and we made up for it by having four boys each two years apart. Everyone looked at me with admiration, though they thought I was a happy fool. A peasant once drew me aside to ask me if I knew about "the pillola" - the little pill. I was happy in my ignorance and enjoyed the fertility of that life.

I look at my clients here in a city that is under snow much of the time, where children are considered a nuisance, and the best times are when mom and dad get to go out on their own, and I admire those women I meet who devote their immense energies to being with their young ones. I work with women to achieve their optimum birthing experience, but often I find I am giving support after the baby is born and named - when the mother wants assurance that she is doing the right thing by holding her baby when he cries, or she wants her baby to sleep with her, or she keeps her two year old home from daycare. It is hard enough being a mother without having to cope with everyone else's ideas about what you should or shouldn't be doing. If only we could honor mothers just for being mothers! I felt I received that honor, when my boys were small - no one knew who I was or where I was from, but when they saw me with my children, they congratulated me. I was fulfilling the honorable task of raising babies.

To the mothers having and raising babies! To the women who support them!

Volunteer Doulas

Imagine you were alone. Imagine you were new to a country where everything was different - the climate (cold), the language (confusing), the way people act towards each other (are they angry?), the system....
Imagine your country was at war, and imagine that no one in your family could be found.
Imagine, now, that after experiencing violence and abuse at the hands of strangers, that you found yourself pregnant.
We are very lucky, us Canadians. We live in a place where you can have your baby in a safe place, where you can get medical care if you need it, where people have the luxury, the possibility, to help others. And though there are problems, and though we don't all get the birth experience we always dreamed of, we are fortunate.
Montreal Birth Companions accompany women in need through their pregnancy, labor and birth. A volunteer doula will be on call and available for questions day or night, before a woman goes into labor. She will be by the woman's side as she labors, and she will share in the joy when the baby is born.
The Montreal Birth Companions doulas and administrator (yours truly) having been working on a shoestring since 2004. We are dreaming of growing, and for real growth to occur, we need cash.

Dining for Social Change is putting on a gourmet dinner tomorrow night. People will join together to eat good food, have fun, and the proceeds will go towards providing a doula for every woman in need.
I love having things fit together - and this event is one of those times. It is the hormone oxytocin that stimulates the woman's uterus to contract so that the baby can be born. This hormone is also important in breastfeeding. It is called the "love hormone". And it is produced when people are eating together.

So, a toast to all of you! Life, love and happiness to the women we serve, to our volunteers, and to our joyful diners!

Baby Milk

Being one of the bottle-fed generation, I wasn't brought up with an intimate acceptance of breastfeeding. Two years travel in Africa took care of that. In the countries I visited, it was common to see babies and toddlers snacking on milk at all times and in all sorts of places. Women would sit down for a minute, to get a little break from their work, and a toddler would run up for his milk break. A woman would be walking on a path, with a heavy sack on her head, and her small baby nursing from her sling.
Breastfeeding for me was a straightforward event. And for most women, it is, or it should be. Unfortunately, many women who are giving birth in the hospital (reality check: over 90% of North American women) are being educated wrongly about their breasts and breastfeeding and end up having painful difficulties with what could be such an easy and joyous activity.
Most women's breasts are well equipped to produce milk. Some women have nipples that aren't perfect, and some have had surgery that makes it more difficult. But there are a few simple ingredients that make up a happy breastfeeding relationship:
Skin! is one of them. Take your bra off - take your clothes off - take your baby's clothes off!
Remember when you first met your true love? You probably spent a lot of time in bed without any clothes on. That's the way new babies like to relate with their new mothers.
No interference! is another. Forget the bottle, the pump, the soother, the baby equipment. If you want to get breastfeeding off to a good start, you and the baby are all you need. Later, you can play with all the baby toys.
Position! is important. Make sure the baby is taking the breast correctly. Breastfeeding should not hurt for longer than about thirty seconds at the beginning of the feed. If it does, remove the baby and place her on again. Get someone to observe you feeding if you are in pain - and call someone in soon to prevent problems. Call your doula! Do not suffer in silence!

It is such an indescribable feeling, looking down at a fat and happy breastfed baby and knowing that your body helped that child to survive and thrive. Remember that your body created a newborn, and it can create enough milk for that newborn.

This post is dedicated to Luna, who is transcending her limits.