A Texas mother’s negative experience at her local Target last month led to a day of Nurse-In demonstrations today.
New mothers from at least 35 states showed up at branches of the shopping centre to show their support and assert the legality and normalcy of being able to nurse their children in public.
Michelle Hickman, a mother of four, said she was ‘harassed and humiliated’ by Target employees on November 29 after she tried to feed her little one in the Houston store.

Booby trap: Michelle Hickman’s bad breastfeeding experience at Target last month inspired Nurse-In’s across the country Wednesday

She said she was feeding her five-month-old son Noah when she was ‘harassed’ by Target employees
‘I never knew that sitting in a Target and doing what’s normal – which is feeding my baby – would result in all of this one day but I’m glad it did,’ Mrs Hickman told ABCNews.com.
More than 6,700 moms and breast-feeding supporters have joined the Target Nurse-In group.
A week ago, Mrs Hickman was rushing to complete her Christmas shopping in time when her five-month-old son Noah started crying.
The mother tried feeding him by the women’s jeans department after she covered up with a blanket, according to her Facebook recounting of the event.
Several employees asked her to relocate to a more private location, such as a family fitting room.
“Even after I informed the 2nd employee of my legal right to nurse in public she still suggested me moving closer to the jean display, turning to face another direction, and also turn my basket a certain way which would have put me practically underneath the jean display and totally barricaded me in.”
One employee even told her she could get a ticket for ‘indecent exposure,’ she wrote on the website Best for Babes.

Ahem. Let me get my soapbox.
I”m sure Target will issue the standard apology, maybe even get Al Sharpton in there to lend them some cred. However, this is the way BIg Box stores operate. Hire uneducated employees, and allow them to harass the customers by intimidating them. This isn’t the first time something like this happened. Last year the local Toys R Us tried to kick a woman out for nursing her child. And this is a child’s store? They obviously don’t care about their intended demographic-parents.
These shops are not baby friendly. They don’t have time to answer your questions or the knowledge to attempt one. Boing Boing is set up to make life easier for new parents. That means I walk around it every day to make sure it’s easy to navigate with a stroller. Other shops have buzzers to help you with your stroller. The Gate has a spacious beer garden for you to hang with your friends and your babies during the summer. This is what makes a community. People helping each other.
It’s up to you to make the world a better place for your children. Start by putting your money where your mouth is. If you like your neighborhood, spend your $5 here, and it goes much further. Don’t put your friend who works at a book store out of a job because you can save a few dollars at Amazon. Remember this story, and how this woman must’ve felt with not one-but three employees demanding she cover up. This is not the world I am trying to create with my shop. I hope you feel the same.

Thank you for anything you can give.
BOING BOING will be closed on Black Friday in honor of the true spirit of Thanksgiving.
“Spend time; not money. Only one is the gift you can never return.”

Below is the letter I received yesterday. Please feel free to use that as your guide.

Oh, thanks so much for the books and the onesies Karen, that’s fantastic!
As for collecting things for the rez, would you consider collecting clothing and winter gear for babies and toddlers instead of Christmas gifts? There are 600 kids in the Head Start program on the rez and they can sure use some protection from the cold! They’ve got babies up to two years old …They can use infant sizes up to 6T. The winters temps in SD can drop well below zero and the kids are ill protected in terms of clothing…Perhaps people would be willing to bring in clothing that their babies and their older kids may have outgrown? Gently used items are fine as well as they are in good condition and the little ones grow so fast they typically don’t wear out their things before they outgrow them!

]]> http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/share-the-wealth-boing-boing-will-be-closed-black-friday/feed/ 0 http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/sorry-to-burst-your-bubble/ http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/sorry-to-burst-your-bubble/#comments Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:39:48 +0000 mothershipster http://boingboingmaternity.com/?p=520 I HATE BALLOONS.

Of all children’s products, balloons are the leading cause of suffocation death, according to CPSC injury data. Yup, In 15 years, through parties and store openings, I’ve never given them out. While balloons have a natural fascination for babies and stores like to give them out as free marketing tools, they are dangerous. Broken balloons should be kept out of harms way and removed immediately. Partially deflated balloons should be removed from the apartment, party area, etc..but most of the time there are too many balloons to keep track of, and it only takes one to choke a child.
“Since 1973, more than 110 children have died as a result of suffocation involving uninflated balloons or pieces of balloons.

Most of the victims were under six years of age, but the CPSC does know of several older children who have suffocated on balloons. ” Please, you might think me a grump, and I’ve been called worse, but I will never give out balloons. When you notice the “well curated” stock (Thanks Matt!) I choose to have at BOING BOING, you might also notice what I leave out.
I am the gatekeeper. And this gate will not have balloons attached to it.

]]> http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/sorry-to-burst-your-bubble/feed/ 0 http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/how-to-wear-a-baby-when-its-cold-out/ http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/how-to-wear-a-baby-when-its-cold-out/#comments Sat, 05 Nov 2011 14:13:44 +0000 mothershipster http://boingboingmaternity.com/?p=514 PEEKARU BABY WEARING VEST!! SELLING OUT NOW AT BOING BOING!

More Photos..

Baby Wearing Made Warm
The Peekaru Original™ is a fleece vest that zips over a soft baby carrier to keep you and your child warm. It fits comfortably over all carriers, including Baby Bjorns, Hotslings, Ergos, Mei Tais, and Wraps1.

Made from 85% recycled high quality Polartec fleece, each Peekaru Original™ saves approximately 25 plastic bottles from reaching the landfill. In addition, Polartec fleece is Oeko-tex Standard 100 for textile products of all types which pose no risk whatsoever to health. Feel good knowing that while you are holding your baby close, you are also helping the environment.

With sizes and colors for both women and men, the Peekaru Original™ is a perfect accessory to your favorite baby carrier. You’ll love the style, and your baby will love the comfort. Learn more about the Peekaru™ today!

“I just had to tell you that I love the Peekaru and so does my little Audrey. The first time we wore it, 5 separate people stopped me to ask what it was and where I got it and many others smiled and made comments about how cozy it looked. It’s a big hit. Thanks for carrrying it!”
- Julie, Brooklyn

]]> http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/how-to-wear-a-baby-when-its-cold-out/feed/ 0 http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/the-best-environment-is-you/ http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/the-best-environment-is-you/#comments Sun, 30 Oct 2011 06:37:54 +0000 mothershipster http://boingboingmaternity.com/?p=482 ARTICLE EXPLAINING NEW (OLD) FINDINGS THAT ATTRIBUTE OPTIMAL INFANT DEVELOPMENT TO CO SLEEPING http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2054393/Bad-news-dads-Babies-share-mothers-bed-age-good-hearts.html

“Babies ’should sleep in mother’s bed until age three’

Newborn babies should share their mother’s bed until they are at least three years old”- Daily Telegraph 10/29/11

Most of you know, that like physicians, my hands are tied when it comes to recommending how you treat your newborn. Those who know me well also know how frustrating this is. Usually, I say go with your gut, and do what’s best for your family, and hope for the best. Then I watch with anguish as a mother frantically pushes her baby in a stroller, and tells me “her baby doesn’t like to be carried.” So sad. Sad that these same mothers tell baby wearers that they are “spoiling their baby.”
To spoil is to ruin. You cannot spoil a baby; a newborn infant; by carrying it “too much.”
You can spoil, i.e., ruin a child’s life-into adulthood-by not carrying her at all.
I cannot tell you to let your baby sleep on their stomach because that’s the only way they will sleep.
I cannot tell you that SIDS is a myth, and there is no scientific basis behind the “back to sleep” campaign.
I cannot tell you that many of these “SIDS’ cases were actually homicides-suffocation by parents.
I cannot tell you that co-sleeping is best for baby, and best for you because you will sleep.
I cannot tell you that there has never been one incidence of SIDS in a non-smoking, non drinking, home with parent who are not obese, nor use pillows or blankets.
I cannot tell you that autopsies on infants are a relatively new procedure, and SIDS was implicated automatically.
I can tell you that breastfeeding itself lowers the “risk of SIDS.”
I can tell you that every new parent who thinks they can solve their child’s sleep problem is kidding themselves if they are not swaddling their baby. That’s all I can say without getting attacked. I’ll leave the rest up to these researchers and doctors. Please read them.

VIDEO OF DR. NILS BERGMAN:

http://vimeo.com/16323781

“The very best environment for a baby to grow and thrive, is the mother’s body,” says Dr Nils Bergman, a doctor specializing in Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) in South Africa. “When placed skin-to-skin on the mother’s chest, the baby receives warmth, protection and food, and its brain can develop optimally. Not feeding the baby often enough and leaving it to sleep alone after a feed can result in the baby getting colic”, he adds. “The mother’s skin is the baby’s natural environment, and both physically and emotionally the healthiest place for the baby to be”.

Failure to be kept in conact with the mothers skin, maintains Bergman, is not only a negative behaviour but also creates a state of pathophysiological stress. This is true for healthy full-term babies, as well as those born prematurely. As with other mammals that are moved from their natural environment, human babies react with protest and despair. In the protest phase, the baby tries intensely to re-establish contact with its correct environment, the mother, usually by crying.

If that fails, the baby becomes too tired to cry anymore. Instead it lapses into a state of despair in which the individual withdraws in order to conserve energy and concentrate on survival. The result of this is a lower body temperature and heartbeat, while at the same time there are greatly increased levels of stress hormones, because a baby separated from its mother, is in fact stressed. When the baby is returned to its correct environment, which is skin-to-skin on the mother’s chest, the temperature and heart rate quickly return to normal levels.

Human babies are biologically extremely immature when they are born. Nils Bergman points out that the newborn’s brain size is only 25% of its final size, which he compares with 45% in chimpanzees and 80% in antelopes. Not until around one year of age does the human baby’s brain reach 80% of its final size. Compared with other mammals, we should have a 21-month pregnancy.

Despite their immaturity, human babies in their proper environment, which is skin-to-skin on the mother’s chest, can take care of themselves, says Nils Bergman. He refers inter alia to the research of Ann-Marie Widström, that healthy newborn babies without any prompting and without assistance, can crawl up to the mother’s breast, find the nipple, latch on and start to breastfeed.

Dr Bergman says that babies sleep in cycles of 1 to 1 ½ hours. But even if the baby is asleep, the brain registers whether or not it is in its right environment (skin-to-skin with its mother or separated from her). Of course babies can be made to sleep alone and for longer periods, but that is a learned behavior, not a natural or healthy one.

The development of the brain is benefited and normalised by skin contact.

The greatest advantage of the baby being kept skin-to-skin with the mother for 24 hours a day, and being breastfed freely, is the development of the brain, Nils Bergman points out. A baby is born with a maximum number of synapses (that is, potential connections) between the nerve cells. Neurological pathways become established between the synapses that are used, and unused synapses die off. By 6 months of age, all the baby’s brain cells are fully developed. After that, it is the neural pathways that have been formed which become the important determining factor in the quality of life that the individual will experience. These neural pathways can be stress-related or pleasure-related paths, depending on the environment in which the baby is placed – closeness to the mother, or separation from her.

In the first 8 weeks of life, skin-to-skin contact is the most important stimulant for the development of the brain. He says this continuous physical contact is an essential requirement if the fundamental structures of the brain are to be developed in a healthy way. After this requirement, the most important stimuli that the brain needs for normal development are eye contact, and the physical need to be carried by the parents. Sometimes babies have to go through painful procedures or stressful situations, and at such times it is even more important for the baby to have skin contact with the mother.

In Western societies one often hears the advice given that babies be put down to lie on the floor in order to develop their back muscles. Nils Bergman emphasises, “What is commonly done is not necessarily normal, or what should be done”. A baby who is carried, develops in a very different way from a baby who is left lying down. The physical differences relating to where the baby is placed, are not in or of themselves of primary importance, he says, it is the final outcome, optimal brain development resulting from being carried by the parents, that matters.

“Only in the last century we have abandoned our three million year-old pattern of caring for children. We have replaced continuous carrying of the child, co-sleeping with the parents, and breastfeeding on immediate demand with leaving the child to lie alone, ignoring its crying, and feeding it every four hours with formula”, he adds.

Mothers need support.
BOING BOING SUPPORTS YOU.

]]> http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/the-best-environment-is-you/feed/ 0 http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/bugs-in-the-bugaboo/ http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/bugs-in-the-bugaboo/#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 23:45:08 +0000 mothershipster http://boingboingmaternity.com/?p=476 And you thought slings were unsafe? Women have been wearing their babies for thousands of years, and they do it because it makes life easier. If it was risky, do you think it would be a universal standard in caring for baby? Just because our litigious society turns normally sane people into neurotic helicopter parents, doesn’t mean you have to become one too.

Only in America does one bad apple cause parents to abandon what is best for baby-carrying- to what is worst for baby being left in a cold, hard stroller while crying to be held.
Pick your baby up.
Hold them close. Babies want and need to be held, and if you’re wondering while you’re shaking your stroller, why your baby cries so much, look no further.
It’s unfortunate when any accident occurs and a baby is hurt. Take the recall of the Phil and Ted’s stroller, which caused 2 dozen cuts and two finger amputations. Other strollers have also been implicated:
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with Graco Children’s Products Inc., of Atlanta, Ga., is announcing the recall of about 2 million Graco strollers due to risk of entrapment and strangulation. CPSC and Graco have received four reports of infant strangulations that occurred in these strollers between 2003 and 2005. In addition, CPSC is aware of five reports of infants becoming entrapped, resulting in cuts and bruises, and one report of an infant having difficulty breathing.

The hi-tech Bugaboo Bee which sells for more than $700.00 and is loved by celebrities and style-conscious mothers is at the centre of a safety alert.Owners of the Bugaboo Bee have been advised that the front wheels could lock without warning, causing it to tip over. This is the second recall, after the 1st one in 2009. Many parents are unhappy that they have been kept in the dark about the problem ; but this is big business folks, and caring about babies is not their #1 concern.
It is mine.
Please carry your baby.
It’s simple, inexpensive, and as stylish as you want to be.
Remember,
happy mommy=happy baby.

]]> http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/bugs-in-the-bugaboo/feed/ 0 http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/the-aap-recommends-that-all-bumpers-be-removed-from-cribs/ http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/the-aap-recommends-that-all-bumpers-be-removed-from-cribs/#comments Wed, 19 Oct 2011 02:42:08 +0000 mothershipster http://boingboingmaternity.com/?p=464 Due to previous studies, especially the one taken by the CPSC in 2007, the AAP has recommended removing bumpers from infant’s cribs. While we still don’t know the reason for SIDS, 27 infant deaths which were originally thought to be SIDS, were due to strangulation and other accidents caused by crib bumpers.
The other myths that have been busted (thankfully!) is that vaccines were linked to SIDS. It’s quite the opposite actually. Vaccines have been shown to lower the incidence of SIDS by 50%. I abhor bad science, and will not tolerate the spreading of fear due to ignorance in my shop. If you don’t want to vaccinate your child, that is your choice. Until it becomes a community issue, then you have made it our choice too. Neither Autism or SIDS can be linked to vaccines. Babies get vaccinated around that period; 2-4 months, when SIDS most frequently occurs. Your best defense? Breastfeeding! Breastfed babies also show a lower incidence of SIDS; taking all other variables (race, environment,) into account.
Keep wearing your baby.
Keep breastfeeding your baby.
Maybe do both at the same time!
The Maya Sling is perfect for that

SIDS is still a mystery. Recent research links it to a serotonin imbalance. Until the science is there, be cautious about what gimmicks and “fixes” you are putting in your newborn’s nursery. An infant’s nursery should be a simple, restful place; not a place to go Tinkerbell crazy:)
THIS IS WHAT NOT TO DO:

AND THIS IS WHAT TO DO: A SWADDLE, NO BLANKET, NO BUMPERS, NO PILLOW, NO NOTHIN!
A SIMPLE SWADDLE:
:
A WOOMBIE:

One of the major turning points in the medical community’s attitude toward bumpers was a study published in the September 2007 issue of The Journal of Pediatrics that examined deaths and injuries attributed to infant crib bumper pads, based on information from the Consumer Product Safety Commission for 1985 through 2005. Researchers found reports from medical examiners and coroners of 27 accidental deaths of children ages 1 month to 2 years, that were attributed to suffocation when they became wedged against a padded bumper or strangulation by a bumper tie around the neck. Eleven of the infants who died most likely suffocated when their face rested against the bumper pad, 13 infants died when they became wedged between the bumper pad and another object, like the crib mattress, and three infants died when they were strangled by a bumper tie. The conclusion of that study read, “These findings suggest that crib and bassinet bumpers are dangerous. Their use prevents only minor injuries. Because bumpers can cause death, we conclude that they should not be used.”

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/18/health/no-bumpers-cribs-sids-parenting/index.html?hpt=he_c1

]]> http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/the-aap-recommends-that-all-bumpers-be-removed-from-cribs/feed/ 0 http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/we-are-bebe-au-laits-featured-retailer-of-the-month/ http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/we-are-bebe-au-laits-featured-retailer-of-the-month/#comments Sat, 08 Oct 2011 14:14:51 +0000 mothershipster http://boingboingmaternity.com/?p=448 When a good product comes around, I’ll keep it.
Many imitators will follow, but BOING BOING stays loyal to the original innovator.In this case, the nursing cover from Bebe Au Lait. I understand what it’s like to come up with an idea and have others who follow in your footsteps bite you in the back. Maybe those others won’t do it as well. Maybe they will charge more money for adding on something that isn’t needed. Maybe they will become more successful because they get funding that you never had. I have loyalty. Call me a sentimentalist.
BEBE AU LAIT was invented by a nursing mom. It allows you to nurse your baby discreetly, without the burp cloth falling over their faces. It also cuts out distractions for your curious 4 month old. While I never loved the name “Hooter Hiders,” and actually made an embarrassing gaffe when speaking to the owner years ago, I love the product.
However, it’s not necessary for everyone. I’m happy women feel comfortable nursing wherever they are. That’s important. And I wish when it was only women, that nobody would wear one. As a breast feeding educator, I know that women who breast feed around other women are twice as likely to prolong their overall breast feeding time. It helps those who are just starting out gain confidence when they’re allowed to see others nurse in the open. I actually insist that nobody use them in the mother’s groups I own.
I was not one of those women though. WIth my SNS and tubes and insecurity, I wished I’d had something like that 15 years ago! I never felt comfortable exposing myself in the city, or around my in laws. But that’s just me!
Bebe Au Lait gives you a way to nurse wherever you are, with whomever you are with, without thinking twice.
Thanks for honoring me as Retailer of the Month.

Featured Retailer of the Month: October 2011

Boing Boing
204 6th Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Years in business: 16

Contact Info:
Web: http://boingboingmaternity.com/
Phone: (718) 398-0251

Hours: Tues-Fri: 11 AM – 7 PM, Sat & Sun: 11 AM – 6 PM

What Bebe au Lait products do you carry?
We carry the Bebe Au Lait brand nursing covers because I prefer that name and the packaging.

What are your customer’s favorite prints to purchase?
My customers like modern and subtle colors and black. They love the Yoko; then Mint Chocolate and Marmont; the Black Eyelet in summer.

What is your favorite Bebe au Lait product?
I love the Bebe Au Lait Nursing Cover.

What is the best way you’ve found to display the Bebe au Lait line of products?
Slatwall – but really anywhere – customers come in asking for them.

What is the one thing you would like others to know about you?
We were the first shop in the USA to combine babywearing and breast feeding because we know how important these two things are in raising happy and healthy children. We stock only the best products, and will never sell something because it’s the latest trend. We know what works, and that’s why people have trusted us to be the leader and go-to shop since 1995.

]]> http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/we-are-bebe-au-laits-featured-retailer-of-the-month/feed/ 0 http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/im-pro-biotic-i-dont-use-soap/ http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/im-pro-biotic-i-dont-use-soap/#comments Fri, 26 Aug 2011 22:23:54 +0000 mothershipster http://boingboingmaternity.com/?p=414 Well, actually I do use soap, just not anti bacterial soap.

Nor should you. The overuse of antibiotics has led to a direct rise in superbugs. The rise of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria, such as  the deadly MRSA are a wake up call to all parents. Doctors will prescribe antibiotics when pressured by parents. While they are prescribed for flus and sore throats, they are not proven to do any good. Moreover, the use of antibiotics for ear infections are ridiculous. And dangerous.

Children with ear infections should be treated for their discomfort with pain killers, like acetaminophin. Instead parents will keep dosing their kids needlessly with antibiotics for each reccurance; insisting this is what their doctor would recommend.  Children with ear infections will get better without antibiotics, and with no ill effects. This is called the observation option. This option reduces the use of unnecessary antibiotics, and limits the child’s exposure to the side effects of antibiotics. It also reduces the chance that super bacteria, bacteria that cannot be killed by antibiotics, will develop.

In 2000, a pneumococcal vaccine became commercially available for children under age 2. Sold as Prevnar, the pneumococcal vaccine attacks seven strains of the bacterium  that can cause ear infections.In the early years following its introduction, the pneumococcal vaccine cut middle ear infections by 20%. By 2003 doctors began to see kids with ear infections caused by strains of  pneumoniae other than the seven included in the vaccine.  In a study of kids who had the vaccine, nine children carried a new strain called 19A that is not included in the vaccine and proved resistant to all FDA-approved antibiotics for ear infections in children. This is how we create new superbugs. By treating ear infections with unnecessary antibiotics, we have created a new strain that we might never be able to cure.

Children who carry the superbug develop particularly agonizing middle ear infections and often need surgical insertion of pressure-equalizing tubes in the ears. We shall see more and more children come of age who have had these tubes needlessly inserted in them because of their parents’ reliance on antibiotics.

Now it’s  your turn to say no.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2029817/Superbug-risk-children-given-antibiotics.html

]]> http://boingboingmaternity.com/blog/im-pro-biotic-i-dont-use-soap/feed/ 0