Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Breastfeeding saved babies in 19th century Montreal

McGill and Concordia research points to the influence of cultural infant feeding practices such as how long to breastfeed, what food supplements to introduce, on the health of infants, mothers, and families in Montreal in the 19th century.
"Even though most French and Irish Catholics lived in similar working class conditions, the positive effects of later marriage and longer breastfeeding among Irish Catholics protected their infants and children, while French Canadians' infants were negatively impacted by early weaning."

Breastfeeding saved babies in 19th century Montreal: Breastfeeding saved babies in 19th century Montreal
December 20, 2011
Breastfeeding increased infant survival rates in 19th -Century Montreal in two major ways, according to research from Concordia University and McGill University. Mother's milk protected vulnerable infants from food and water contaminated by fecal bacteria, while breastfeeding postponed the arrival of more siblings and that improved the health of mothers as well as their subsequent children....

Look who's advertising on Facebook... Nestlé.ca

This Nestlé ad offering me up to $100 in FREE mommy perks is popping up regularly on my Facebook home page. The program is nothing new - we see these on Google all the time. It would be interesting to make an app that let you record some sort of negative click on Nestle ads, and the click would be recorded and a note automatically sent to Nestlé. Maybe it could offer up one of several sentences for the user to choose like "Hey Nestlé, I won't be buying your chocolates this Christmas" or "Nestlé, your marketing practices harm babies!" A cumulative total of negative Nestlé hits could be captured on a website somewhere. If only I were a programmer...

An Experiment Comparing Cow's Milk to Human Milk

One woman's description of her blind taste-test comparing human to cow's milk.

"An Experiment Comparing Cow's Milk to Human Milk:

...She asked me to taste the breast milk first. It was light and pleasantly sweet, and had both vanilla and almond hits. The almond-like flavor made me think it was some new kind of almond milk. If so, I planned to buy some on my way home. Both the complex flavor and the light creaminess I felt on my tongue were very pleasing. I hoped it wasn't too packed with calories, because I knew that I would drink this milk regularly...."