Saturday, October 22, 2011

Trying To Make Breastfeeding Normal

A girl in my ward had her baby shower today. She kept telling me she'd send me a list of things she still "needed" for the baby, but she never did. The day of the shower I still had no gift, so I was left to my own devising. 

I devised this: 
It's a Breastfeeding Basket. I saw the idea on Lactating Girl's blog. It's a great gift for baby showers to help the mom-to-be prepare for breastfeeding. in my basket I included a water bottle (to stay hydrated) lots of protein bars (for easy snacks) Mother Love nipple cream, Mother's Milk Tea, Fenugreek pills, and these things called Booby Tubes I found that help with engorgement and mastitis. I also included a flyer for a free babywearing class in the area, and a breastfeeding support group. I wanted to include LLL's paper on breastfeeding after a C-section, but I don't own a printer. So, instead I emailed her that information and stuck in a little index card with her local LLL group's info.

I don't really think she liked it: She's not really big on breastfeeding (she is, after all  electing to have a C-section. It's already been scheduled and she's already hording the baby formula samples the hospital and her OBGYN office gives out). Usually I spend around ten or fifteen dollars on gifts, while this collection cost me almost fifty dollars.

It would be more normal for me to give her a set of baby bottles or pacifiers. But that's why I wanted to give this gift so badly. I want supporting moms to breastfeed be a normal thing in our society, instead of setting up all the booby-traps.  I would have LOVED a gift like this and I felt good giving it. And maybe it will help her to choose to breastfeed, or at least help normalize it in her mind.

11 comments:

  1. I do this too. I try to assume Breastfeeding- and as most moms do breastfeed at least once in the hospital, it's usually a safe assumption.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this idea!! You can come to my baby shower when I have a baby :) I like how you share what is important to you with other people. I am sorry that it didn't seem like this other girl appreciated it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think this is a great gift! (and I am neither pregnant nor have a baby) I would love to get something like this at a baby shower, you put a lot of care and thought into it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, good! I'll make one for both of you then!! I'm glad you liked it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hmm . . . I guess I just always assumed that breastfeeding was the norm!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Maybe it's a good idea to find out if the mom wants to breastfeed before you spend the money--giving it to someone who will really appreciate it and use it.

    I don't give baby bottles and pacifiers, I give clothes, 'cause newborns can go through so many in a day!

    I once gave a digital thermometer to an adoptive mom at her baby shower. She looked at it and half-heartedly said "thanks, I think." I guess she thought her baby would never get sick!

    The other, experienced moms, all said "What a good idea!" Maybe she appreciated it the first time her baby felt a little too warm.

    ReplyDelete
  7. When I have another one, put me down for one too! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. That looks like an amazing gift! If I ever have kids, I think I'd love something like that - it looks like a basket of genuinely useful things that would be much harder for a new, inexperienced mother to assemble herself.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think that's a great idea! I wish I could get something like that in my baby shower! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Iris! Are you having a baby shower sometime soon? Are you pregnant?! I would love to send you something!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. haha not yet, but I'll let you know when I am for sure. I'd love to get some things from that basket :)

    ReplyDelete

FYI...
If, in your comment, you do not use code names as I do in my blog, I will edit your comment before I post it.