Monday, February 12, 2007

New Alliance Advocates for Maternal/Foetal and Breastfeeding Health and Safety Issues, Particularly With Regards to the Safety of Medications

CNW Group: "New Alliance Advocates for Maternal/Foetal and Breastfeeding Health and Safety Issues, Particularly With Regards to the Safety of Medications

TORONTO, Feb. 12 /CNW Telbec/ - A new Alliance of health professionals,
academia, patients, health care policy experts and industry individuals has
been formed to address issues related to the use of medications during
pregnancy. The Canadian Alliance for Safe and Effective Medications in
Pregnancy and Breastfeeding (CaseMed-Pregnancy) intends to advocate for
maternal/foetal and breastfeeding health and safety issues, particularly with
regards to the safety of medications.
Founding members of CaseMed-Pregnancy are: Anne Tomalin, CanReg Inc.,
Dr. Gideon Koren, Motherisk, Dr. Donald Davis, Society of Obstetricians and
Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC), Merc�des Benegbi, Thalidomide Victims
Association of Canada (TVAC) and Carole Boyer, Duchesnay Inc."
MIKE TO NEW MOMS: NURSE FOR 6 MONTHS
New York Post
February 11, 2007 -- Now that he has weaned New Yorkers off smoking and trans fats, Mayor Bloomberg is launching a multimillion-dollar good-parenting campaign that includes a push to put more newborns to the breast.
The city Health Department is spending more than $2 million in city-run hospitals to encourage moms to breast-feed.
"We don't yet have any hospitals in New York City that meet national 'baby-friendly' standards," Bloomberg's health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Frieden, said at a parenting conference last week....

Thursday, February 01, 2007

The best headline I've seen in a while...

I mean, are these guys for real?! Ms. Laycock is looking for a pro-bono lawyer. -- Ed.

"National Pork Board Threatens to Sue Lactivist Blogger
By Summer Minor
February 01, 2007

The National Pork Board has threatened to sue a breastmilk promoting mom over her spin off use of the Pork Board's trademark phrase "the other white meat". Jennifer Laycock, editor of Search Engine Guide, and founder of The Lactivist a site that aims to promote breastfeeding, stated that she recently received a letter threatening legal action over one of the humorous shirts that she sells from her blog.

The shirt in question reads "The Other White Milk", which Laycock says "I was comparing breastmilk which just happens to be white with the milk of a variety of other animals (cows? goats?) that happen to produce white milk and that often gets fed to infants INSTEAD of breast milk." She feels that this legal threat is ridiculous, and others agree...."

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

insidetoronto.com

City asked to educate public on breast-feeding rights

insidetoronto.com
SUSAN O'NEILL
Jan. 23, 2007
"Toronto Public Health (TPH) is recommending a new policy designed to educate the public about the rights of breast-feeding mothers who are entitled to nurse their babies anytime, anywhere...."
Warning on smoke, alcohol
By ARWEN HANN - The Press | Wednesday, 24 January 2007
press.co.nz

More education is needed to encourage women to stop smoking and drinking during and immediately after pregnancy, Otago University researchers say.
The study found that while women were more likely to give up alcohol while they were pregnant they would often return to drinking once the baby had been born even if they were breastfeeding.
Women were less likely to give up smoking even while pregnant.
Co-author Sherly Parackal said more educated women with higher incomes were more likely to keep drinking while pregnant while women from lower socio-economic groups were more likely to smoke.
"We found that 66 per cent of women were still smoking, perhaps because it is harder to give up than alcohol," she said.
"We also found that women returned to drinking while they were breastfeeding even though there is still a risk. I think more education needs to be done on these things."....



Editor's note - the full article is here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/3937952a6530.html
This article doesn't define the risks of breastfeeding and alcohol use (or smoking and breastfeeding risks) and it apears to say the risk of pregnancy and drinking and breastfeeding and drinking are the same for the baby. I've contacted the study author to see if she can provide more details on her research regarding breastfeeding and alcohol consumtpion and risk. -- Jodine

Monday, January 15, 2007

Shannon Henry - Banking on Milk - washingtonpost.com

Shannon Henry - Banking on Milk - washingtonpost.com: "Banking on MilkOptions Are Growing for Women Who Can't Breast-FeedBy Shannon HenrySpecial to The Washington Post
Tuesday, January 16, 2007; Page HE01
Topaz Weis, 44, and Christie Allen, 27, two mothers in Burlington, Vt., met each other when Weis was looking for supplemental breast milk to feed her baby, and Allen had an oversupply to offer. Weis even gave Allen a key to her house so she could place the precious white bags directly in the freezer."...

This article addresses Human Milk Banking Association of North America milk banks, private internet arrangements, and for-profit companies set up to market and distribute human milk.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Update: The Latest on Massachusetts Formula Bag Ban Efforts: "Mothering Magazine News Bulletins December 2006

As Mothering reported in December of 2005, Massachusetts made national headlines when it%u2019s Public Health Council voted to ban formula sample bags from maternity hospitals, becoming the first state in the country to do so. The decision was then reversed by Governor Romney, who also fired three members of the Public Health Council just before a repeat vote." ...
Update: The Latest on Massachusetts Formula Bag Ban Efforts: "Mothering Magazine News Bulletins December 2006

As Mothering reported in December of 2005, Massachusetts made national headlines when it%u2019s Public Health Council voted to ban formula sample bags from maternity hospitals, becoming the first state in the country to do so. The decision was then reversed by Governor Romney, who also fired three members of the Public Health Council just before a repeat vote." ...