Comments on: Got an Angle, Give an Angle – Need an Angle, Take an Angle

By: Sami

Sami — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:45:25 +0000

My breasts or yours? Why is it that when you decide to breast feed your baby, your breasts which have been private property and kept under wraps at all times whilst in the company of others can suddenly become acceptable guests in their own right at a family / friends social gathering? Is it possibly that your breasts no longer belong to you, but have in fact unfaithfully decamped to the opposition? When I say opposition, I mean the sweet baby who likes to play, feed and poop for hours on end, as long as those hours fall between midnight and 5am of course. And of course not to mention the state of our breasts by the time our little Angel has sucked the life out of them a few months later so that they no longer even look like your breasts let alone remotely felt like your own breasts in months! From an individuals point of view it’s almost impossible to imagine why any woman would do this kind of compromising torture to any part of their body let alone the part that most makes them feel like a beautiful and sensual woman, but that’s just the point isn’t it? As a mother you are no longer an individual are you? You are in fact one half of a double act that is now and forever more you and baby too. And wierdly, you just don’t mind either, you don’t mind lots of things that you thought you would hate and never get used to and you don’t mind sharing your most prized assets either, not just with your baby of course but the whole restaurant too, or whichever unfortunate member of the family you happen to be sitting next to when your left breast falls out of it’s double G cup while you are burping the baby on your knee and haven’t noticed. So as long as you don’t mind, then why should anyone else? After all, it’s not everyday someone wants to show you their boobs is it?

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 08:14:21 +0000

Jennifer-

Re: International Wedding Rituals

An interesting way to make it personal may be to turn it into informative questions like:

Would you do want your wedding guests to all wear this at your wedding? You would if you were getting married in -insert location here-. Etc.

Re: Breastfeeding

Maybe an article geared to help women with how to react to those that are offended with public breastfeeding. Like ten things to say when confronted by someone offended by your breastfeeding in public.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:16:18 +0000

Re: New Breastfeeding Angle…

Data find that overweight women are more likely to quit breastfeeding early compared with their skinny counterparts. Why? And what can be done to reverse this?

(As an overweight woman who breastfeeds her infant, I can say that I am self-conscious about my body and it was tough for me to breastfeed in public in the beginning for fear of drawing attention to my body. I got over it because I needed to feed and comfort my baby…but I don’t see any articles that tackle this subject.)

By: Damaria Senne

Damaria Senne — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:18:10 +0000

@Jennifer – here are some ideas:

- The art of henna has been practiced for thousands of years by many cultures in South Asia, the Middle east and North Africa. What does henna mean to the bride and the women in her family? What does a very dark shade of henna mean? If you are a westerner and your friend is getting married, would you let her family paint you?

- The bride price -There are a lot of cultures in the Middle east, South Asia where the bride must bring a dowry. What happens if you’re a guy marrying someone from this culture? Do you take the money and say “thanks” even though the dowry is not part of your Western culture? Do uou decline the dowry? Is it an insult to refuse dowry?

- By contrast, in many African cultures, the groom must pay his finance’s family the “bride price.” The exchange of money/goods strengthens the ties between the two families. This can be a good way for both sides of the family to get to know each other, or an excuse to extort huge amounts of cash.

Would you pay? if the bride’s family offered to let you forego the process, as it’s not your culture, would you agree? What does this practice mean to the love of your life? And if you did pay, would it be an electronic transfer (cellphone banking allows you to send money to the most rural of African villages:-) or would you rather your family represntatives travel to the Boondooks and negotiate the marriage on your behalf?

By: Terreece

Terreece — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:22:55 +0000

Jennifer – International Wedding Customs…Maybe something about how to introduce the customs to wedding guests before the event. How to find a wedding planner that is fluent in mixing customs. The wedding dress – how different customs approach it. Top web site with international wedding gear. Fusion weddings – the trend, the planners & some couples… Hope that helps!

Okay folks :0) Monday I’m launching a new series on my parenting channel that will be all about breastfeeding. I’m using all of the great ideas you all have given me. There was just so many good ones I couldn’t pick!

Any more angles for Jennifer’s article?

By: Ann G.

Ann G. — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:03:32 +0000

@Jodee and Terreece – My mom is British and for years it was advised that nursing mothers drank half a pint of Guinness to help them relax and let the milk flow most efficiently.

@Damaria – My neighbor’s teen son’s girlfriend had a baby this year. THe infant almost died. Turns out he had Celiac’s Disease and while the infant’s mom thought she was doing the best by breastfeeding him (she’s 16 so that wasn’t an easy choice for her), it turned out that her breastmilk was actually killing her son because of the wheat she’d been eating. As she was still in high school, she had to give up breastfeeding because she wasn’t willing to alter her diet that drastically, especially not when the high school was providing her with free breakfast and lunch. The baby was switched to a special formula and he’s thriving now.

By: Damaria Senne

Damaria Senne — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 05:30:27 +0000

I’ve read that a Baby can be allergic to a mother’s milk (i.e. have a negative reacttion to the protein in the mother’s milk). Your article could explore what it means and whether it’s a reversable condition, and if so, what you can do to make sure you can breastfeed your child painlessly.

By: Melissa

Melissa — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:42:01 +0000

Not necessarily appropriate for a parenting or tips type article, but I still think it’d be interesting to talk about breastfeeding practices across cultures. For example, in Mexico it’s not uncommon to see a mother walking down the street, with her two year old holding on for dear life, lips latched on to her nipple.

And my husband swears he was breastfed until an embarrassingly old age, which makes me twitchy yet no one blinked an eye in his indigenous village.

By: Christie

Christie — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:36:21 +0000

I breastfed my twins (before Angelina Jolie came along). They were preemies and came home from the hospital drinking from preemie bottles, which basically pour the milk down their throats.

I pumped, fed bottles and practiced breastfeeding with them until they finally got the hang of it. It took about a month. A long, frustrating, sore nipples, “I don’t know if I want to keep doing this,” month.

Everytime I was completely ready to give up my husband kept urging me to just give it one more shot. I did.

In addition to his support, I found support online. While I never participated in forums, I read everything I could about breastfeeding. Blogs were particularly helpful because they provided real examples of other new moms (of twins and singles) who were experiencing exactly what I was going through and making their own decisions about breastfeeding.

A resource list of breastfeeding blogs, forums, online information/support groups, etc. would be a great angle for your post.

By: B J Keltz

B J Keltz — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:00:06 +0000

Beer works. Start the beer about 15 minutes before feeding time for the best effect.

However, you could always mention when the letdown is so strong the baby can’t swallow fast enough and ends up choking on it. It’s happened…turned out I didn’t need the beer after all, lol.