Baby Feeding by Moms Friends
Comments on this article
My Comment:

“I was tandem nursing my two year old son and my newborn when A mother in my church community adopted a very ill newborn. He had multiple surgeries to heal his damaged heart and bowell, and when released from the hospital, was not doing well on formula. A woman in our congregation convinced his mother to let some of us breastfeed him to supplement his formula feeds.

Five mothers helped breastfeed him for a few weeks while he recovered from surgery. He had a big turnaround with his health and lived two more happy years before he died at the age of two from his heart condition. This was a very sweet experience for all of us. Nobody pumped, we just latched him on and he nursed like a pro.

I also tried to nurse my best friends baby once when I was tending him, and he used his two new little baby teeth to bite me so hard I bled.”

Jenny Hatch
Babytalk Poll: 45 Percent Say Cross-Nursing is ‘Disgusting’ or ‘Weird’
By ANN PLESHETTE
July 28, 2008 —
Breast-feeding, what many believe to be the most intimate act between a mother and child, is also generally believed to be an act exclusively between a mother and child.
According to experts, however, there is a growing trend of cross-nursing, in which a mother will allow another woman to breast-feed her baby.

Continue reading “ABC News: Baby Feeding by Moms Friends” →

Standard-Times photo by Patrick Dove

Every two weeks since early September 2007, young Silas Bohl has received a special package from halfway around the world. His mother, Capt. Ginger Bohl, is deployed with the Air Force in Afghanistan. The packages contain 30 to 40 pounds of frozen breast milk that travels in a convoluted, globe-trotting shipping route from the war zone to the Bohls’ home. Ginger Bohl’s deployment wraps up in mid-January, and she hopes to be back in San Angelo in time for Silas’ first birthday.

Standard-Times photo by Patrick Dove

Mike Bohl unpacks a cooler of frozen breast milk with his son Silas in their San Angelo home. The milk comes from Bohl’s wife, Air Force Capt. Ginger Bohl, who is deployed in Afghanistan.

From Afghanistan with love.
Thanks to reader Kelly in Nevada, here’s a pretty inspiring story for you:
Air Force Captain Ginger Bohl, deployed to Afghanistan in August when her son was about 6 months old, has been sending pumped milk back to him ever since.
The San Angelo, Texas Standard Times reports:
“It’s my wife,” says Michael Bohl, her husband and Silas’ father. “She is an amazing woman – her spirit, her faith, everything about her just shines.”
Ginger Bohl, an Air Force captain, is an active-duty doctor deployed in Afghanistan from Goodfellow Air Force Base. Since leaving in late August, Bohl has sent home biweekly shipments of her breast milk, frozen and shipped in 30- to 40-pound quantities directly to the Bohl family.
Thirty-five pounds of milk is about 4 gallons’ worth. This delicate commodity makes it halfway across the planet, a distance of more than 8,000 miles, in just three short days.
The father notes that Ginger has been very lucky to have an power and a freezer at her post, and that the family is lucky to be able to afford the shipping costs. He suggests a moratorium on deployment for breastfeeding mothers beyond the current four month limit. He also notes that the importation hasn’t always been smooth:
Shipments have been held up by customs and the USDA because of the potential for infectious diseases.
“There’s one guy at JFK (airport in New York City) who is now very informed about the benefits of breast-feeding and why we needed the milk right away,” Bohl said. “I was even sent to the IRS to get the milk because they thought we were running some kind of Afghani breast-milk ring.”
Ginger Bohl will return home in a few days. Her husband says:
“She’s been gone for so long, nearly half of his life,” Bohl said. “Every time he hears her on the TV [through a webcast], he crawls up to touch it. He knows her face and her voice. He knows his mommy. I know it won’t be a problem.”
Jenny Hatch
Just a little comment. Mothers in the military should not be sent away from babies under three years of age!!! This is absolutely nuts.

Top Nursing stories from 2007!
Jenny Hatch

Modest Nursing:

“I decided, with not much surprise, that I would only be comfortable breastfeeding around my husband, mother, and sisters. That was where I would draw the line. I resigned myself to the fact that any visitors to our home during feeding time would not be entertained until breastfeeding had finished. I would have to excuse myself to the bedroom for mother and baby time.

Since my comfort zone for breastfeeding my child would be limited to my immediate family, this would mean I would be restricted to few public engagements after the baby arrived. I knew I would be comfortable breastfeeding in my home and my parents’ home, but definitely not in public. I decided that family parties, long shopping trips, and vacations were out of the question.

Although I was certain about my pre-baby decisions, I discovered that I actually loosened up a little after Madeline arrived. I discovered I could be a little more flexible. I found I was comfortable breastfeeding in the new mothers’ room at the local baby superstore. I nursed in a friend’s bedroom during a huge housewarming party. I even nursed in front of my husband’s best friend. I’ll admit I never did reach a comfort level to breastfeed at the mall, in front of my in-laws, or during trips to the park. I didn’t take many trips outside of my home and my social engagements were limited. I was still rather conservative but much braver and open about my inhibitions than I thought I could be. Having a child changed the way I thought about my breasts. Why? Maybe it was all the poking and prodding they did at the hospital, the hospital gowns that left little to the imagination, reading every written piece about breastfeeding I could find, or quizzing my friends about breastfeeding.

Maybe it was the realization that my breasts were not sex objects but rather a source of food and comfort for my baby. And certainly, it was becoming a mother and doing what I felt was best for my baby. I let go and let love happen and everything else fell into place.”

Jenny Hatch