Michelle Tant

Mothers milk is the gold standard in infant nutrition. It provides absolutely everything a child needs in order to survive and thrive. It is food and drink. It continually adapts in order to pass on mothers antibodies and immunities. We know that it literally saves lives, reduces chances of illnesses such as gastroenteritis, ear infections and more. There is evidence to suggest that colostrum actually lines and seals the babies immature gut to help prevent infections. We know that it also reduces the incidence of obesity. We know that in mothers that it reduces the risk of ovarian and breast cancer, diabetes and helps you to lose weight as an added bonus. These things are just the tip of the iceberg. We know that artificial milk, or breastmilk substitute does not even come close. Try as they might, the manufacturers cannot perfectly imitate mothers milk. It is unable to support the babies immature immune system in the same way that mothers milk can. However we (breastfeeding ...

There has been a call from Lesley Backhouse, chair of The Breastfeeding Network to scrap the slogan. No its not a backtrack on policy, its an attempt to shift the balance towards breastfeeding being the normal and usual way to feed a baby, rather than formula being the norm and breastfeeding being something slightly out of reach and unusually exceptional. "We've got to knock breastfeeding off this pedestal," said Lesley Backhouse. "It implies something special, whereas breastfeeding is the physiological norm, and suggests that formula is the standard way to feed babies. "Breastfeeding is the only case where the biological norm is expressed as the exception rather than the rule,". Of course breastfeeding IS exceptional, ie its amazing properties, its extraordinary ability to sustain and improve life, to improve life prospects even in terms of surviving childhood, reducing obesity and common childhood illnesses, right up to reducing pre-menopausal bre...

This year has felt like one attack after another on breastfeeding. There's been the ongoing Facebook debacle; photos of breastfeeding being removed while Playboys pages are continued to be allowed to flaunt more flesh than a whole convention of breastfeeding mothers. Then there was the ridiculous opinion piece in the British Medical Journal which many newspapers, including The Daily Fail regurgitated as fact, further undermining the benefits of breastfeeding. Just this week I saw a short piece in Practical Parenting magazine about the Chinese developing GM cows to produce human milk! One sentence says the milk will have more nutritional content in it, though its unclear whether it means than breastmilk or than formula milk. And now this. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/campaigners-livid-as-whitehall-axes-breastfeeding-week-2287445.html Our beloved government in its wisdom has cut national support for National Breastfeeding ...

Today I am thankful. I have literally held my breath since September, the date 11th February hanging heavily over my head. The day we find out. I didn't realise that I've been walking round with a constriction around my chest, watching, waiting. Seeing symptoms where I now know there to be none. Because that is what worry does to you. That is what being a mother does to you. And I'm not generally a paranoid type. So I heard with my own ears. Saw with my own eyes that he is fine. My beautiful boy, the little boy that people keep saying to me 'has something about him' is in possession of a beautifully healthy heart. As if I didn't know... Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.9

That's how this whole thing with Reuben feels right now. An eclectic mix of the two. He had an ENT appt yesterday (Ear, Nose & Throat) in Eastbourne hospital. He was seen by the consultant rather than the registrar due to his severe speech delay and after checking his ear drums again, he said he wants to schedule grommets surgery straight away, can we come in next week. He said that though Reuben can hear generally, its muffled, so not much clarity and this is likely to be having an effect on his speech development. The window of real opportunity for speech development is 0-5 years and he said that as his speech is so affected he doesn't want to delay at all. But here's the kicker. We are whizzing through some surgery stuff and heart issues are mentioned and I asked would it be ok... consultant looks at his notes... there's nothing there about Reubens heart. So he then says obviously he can't do the surgery without a go ahead from the consultant anes...

I felt inspired (thanks @BabyMakingMama )to blog about this today. You may or may not know that I have three children. Two boys and a girl, 5, 3 and 6 months respectively. With my eldest son, Jayden, I followed the traditional method of weaning onto solids religiously. I bought a couple of puree books, I recommend Annabel Karmel as her recipes taste delicious if you are going down that route incidentally, and set about introducing my son to the delights of non-mummy-milk foods. I started with baby rice which is pretty tasteless really, mixed up with breastmilk; just an introduction to new texture I suppose. Then on to a new taste every few days, eg a few days of pureed carrots, then apple, then parsnip/squashes, then apple AND carrot, then mashed potato... gradually increasing the lumpiness until FINALLY I dared to give him a piece of food to hold himself. And the fear in the room was palpable. I was literally terrified that he would choke, but he didnt and we all lived to tell the tal...

It says on BBC news website today that our dear Prime Minister wants to know how happy we all are. My first instinct to that was to question whether he cares at all, then I thought I'd read it to give him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps his election promises stood for something after all. Perhaps he really does care about the state of the family. He starts well... "He said the government's "most urgent priority is to get the economy moving, to create jobs, to spread opportunity for everyone". "Without a job that pays a decent wage it is hard for people to look after their families in the way that they want, whether that's taking the children on holiday or making your home a more comfortable place. "Without money in your pocket it is difficult to do so many of the things that we enjoy." But he said the government also had to focus on the long-term and he said "the country would be better off if we thought about well-being as...

I don't want to appear too simplistic about this but I do believe that for the vast majority of normal people, health is as much a state of mind as body. The difference between men and women when they get a cold is a case in point. We playfully suggest that he has 'man-flu' and no I'm not about to go on an anti-male diatribe, but seriously guys... man up! LOL Of course when I say normal people, I mean people with normal health. I don't mean people with physical illnesses which need medical treatment etc. For goodness sake if you are sick, get help. I am a normal (and thankful daily) healthy person. Buy at times, like these days, I feel unhealthy. my new daughter is 6 months old, I have a 5 and 3 year old and I need to be functioning at a higher level than I am currently in order to enjoy life more. My bones ache, I feel lethargic and I'm tired and cranky. But I barely exercise (discounting. the schoolrun) I eat rubbish (not literally LOL) and on top ...