Gypsy Child

Ponijao lives in Namibia with her family, including her parents and eight older brothers and sisters. Ponijao’s family is part of the Himba tribe, and lives in a small village with other families.

Mari lives with her mother and father in Shibuya, a busy metropolitan area within Tokyo, at the center of all of the city’s noise and excitement. Mari is an only child and lives a contemporary urban lifestyle.

Born in Mongolia, Bayarjargal, usually called “Bayar” for short, lives with his mother, father, and older brother Delgerjargal (“Degi”) on their small family farm.

Hattie lives in San Francisco, born to very ecological, “green” parents.  Both of Hattie’s parents are equally involved in her day-to-day life, fixing her meals, taking her to play groups, and spending time with her around the house.

What am I talking about?

Why “Babies” of course.

Breastmilk squirted on the babies face to wash the eyes.

A mother licking the babies face then spiting sharply.

A jacuzzi with mother and baby. Baby is not happy.

A river to play in.

A metal bath tub to sit in while a goat drinks from it.

These are all scenes you get to be a part of for a breif hour and 20 minutes.

Some of you might say yuk or gross. I say you need to see the film to understand how it is not gross. In fact is is very amusing.

For me, I would love it to just keep going and going.  I’m looking foward to the DVD with all the extras.

Here’s my take on the above.

Breastmilk has antibiotic properties that helps get rid of infection and also help prevent infection in the first place.

All animals clean their babies by licking them. It is the most natural thing. It is not uncommon in most cultures for a parent to suck out the mucus from an infants nose and spit it out when they are sick. I have been told this from some people I know that lived in Jamaica and other Islands. I know, Yuk you say. But this is normal for them.

My babies bath tub in St John was a metal tub we bought from the hardware store. You see people wash their laundry in them. The tub would sit on the deck and they would bathe outside in the fresh warm air.

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Babies-Loved it, laughed a lot. Soo damn cute with as much depth as you care to give to it. We cared alot and talked about it all day long.

Director Thomas Balmés and producer Alain Chabat – released the Focus Features Film called ‘Babies’.

Balmés and Chabat  worked over  four-years  making of the film.

There is no narration. It leaves it up to you to decide your own thought about what is going on. No conversations either.

There are some songs and dada, mama words.

I am so glad Balmé and Chabat were passionate about this movie. It brought so much joy and laughter to my heart and soul today.

My mother (72) and sister (53) and daughter (15) and son (18) all shared in the joy.

We were all smiling, laughing and I was brought to happy tears.

I believe in Breastfeeding. I also believe in free will: free will to decide what you want to do. There is a lot of wrong information out there about breastfeeding. Grandmothers, neighbors, friends, and most importantly, your doctor are dishing it out. Yes, your doctor is giving out the wrong info. I am not saying everyone is wrong. I am saying some are and it is up to you to seek the right information from reliable sources. Doctors have very little training in breastfeeding.

La Leache League is the best source.

If you want to Formula Feed after you get correct information, then I respect your decision. But I must say, I have heard the most off-the-wall stories as to why they could not breastfeed.

The most common is, “I pumped and only got a small amount of milk so I started to give them formula and they finally slept thru the night.”

Here’s the truth to this. A pump is very inaccurate in telling you how much milk you make. It can never replicate the suckling of a baby on the breast. Babies nurse as often for comfort as much as for food. Formula is hard to digest making a baby sluggish and more likely to sleep.

So I challenge you to read up.

Look for my post coming out soon about the most common misinformation on breastfeeding out there.

I first posted this in Baby Spot

                                                         Mother Love!

St John, Virgin Islands. This was an ongoing site there; A cow nursing a baby pig. It has been going on for as long as I can remember. Not sure which cow started it or why. It is not all the cows, usually you will just see one cow nursing a pig. These are Moses’ cows who lives in the valley, Cows run free so it is common to have to wait for them to cross the road.

St John Law: No Pig Left Behind

Mothering Instinct

I found a very good article at Mothering Magazine called Lactation and the Law by Jake Aryeh Marcus.

She starts out writing, “Most women who breastfeed their children will, at some time or other, find it necessary to nurse their children outside of their homes. For most women who nurse in public places, feeding their children will be no more stressful than nursing at home. Other people often do not notice when someone is breastfeeding near them, and those who do notice are generally indifferent or even supportive. All too often, however, we read stories of women who have been told to use a bathroom to nurse their children, asked to cover themselves and their child with a blanket, or told they must leave a place because they want or need to nurse.”

Then she goes on to inform her readers about how the laws work. She does not give state by state but recommends finding out what your state laws are.

She describes a few cases where women were told to stop nursing or leave; one women and her family were even kicked off a flight by Delta.

She mentions what actions have been taken, from nurse-ins to servers crashing due to amount of e-mails sent.

She urges breastfeeding advocates to write letters, make phone calls, call legislators, seek help from other breastfeeding supporters, hire lawyers, contact the press, or organize nurse-ins.

She ends with “There may be stress and hardship, but there is also community and power, and often, much-needed change”.

To see the entire article, click here.