Thoughts on The Day

Almost 12 hours later and I am still buzzing.

It was amazing. I was truly overwhelmed by the whole experience. I honestly don't think that I have even finished absorbing everything that happened today, but I'll do my best to write it out here.

About two weeks ago, I had the bright idea to sign up Cork City as part of the 2010 Quintessential Breastfeeding Challenge.

What with Ireland having the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe (we are however, top of the charts when it comes to the production of powdered infant formula!) and with many Irish mothers citing "being uncomfortable feeding in public" as reason not to breastfeed, this seemed like a great chance to:

a) show the country that public nursing is not "obscene," nor is it comparable with "pissing in the street," as one noted Irish Late night talk host and early morning radio presenter once suggested. and

b) create a supportive atmosphere for breastfeeding mothers to come and meet other breastfeeding mothers.

Well, the entire thing took on a life of it's own and over the course of the last week I have been inundated with calls from the media. We have been featured in every major newspaper, approached by two television networks and I was even interviewed on the radio (where one listener later texted in to say that my feeding the snot queen was "vulgar.")

One of the main questions people asked was, "How many mums to you expect to turn out on the day?"

Media Answer: "We have about 50 - 60 confirmed and are waiting on further numbers!"

Honest Answer: " There's a good chance it will just be me, my neighbor and a creepy looking man in a dirty trenchcoat taking "unofficial" photos for his non existent website."

I could never in a million years have predicted what really happened.

At 9:30, people started arriving. I figured that when things died down, I'd get the chance to sit and have a coffee, maybe grab a bite to eat.

They never died down. The line kept growing and we quickly ran out of sign up sheets and had to start writing on the backs of the old ones.

When 11:00am rolled around, we had 97 mothers, 106 nursing children, their older siblings and a strong showing of supportive husbands, partners and family members.

We spilled out of our allocated area and took over the entire upstairs section of the food court.

There were nursing mothers everywhere.

It was beautiful.

There was no shame, no worry, no desperate shushing of a child in the hopes that they would wait until you got home or found the "Nursing Room/change room/wheelchair toilet" which is generally a lonely place with a bad smell.

There was no looking around to make sure no one was watching before you latched your child on for a feed.

There was no apologizing to companions as you popped on a hungry child as if you were doing something wildly inappropriate and they were being extremely gracious for overlooking your public indecency.

There were just mothers and babies, families out for a good day. People mingled and chatted as though they'd known each other for years and the children played and slept and nursed and did all the other things that children do.

At one point, I was standing chatting away to another mother when the tiny one ran up crying as she'd taken a tumble and wanted a cuddle. Without missing a beat and without any awkward pauses, I whisked up my 28lb, 15 month old toddler, latched her on and continued on chatting as though nothing out of the usual had happened.

It was amazing.

It wasn't about "bottle bashing" and it wasn't about berating non nursing mothers for the choices that they've made.

Instead, it was about showing the country that nursing is normal. That the primary function of breasts is to feed children and that there is nothing wrong with making it an accepted part of public life.

Today we had almost one hundred women feeding their babies simulataneously in a shopping center in the heart of Cork City as though there was absolutely nothing odd about it. And guess what?

There wasn't.

Thank You

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to the 97 women, over 100 children and all of the proud papas who filled the mezzanine area of Mahon Point to bursting this morning at 11:00am. We more then surpassed our goals! To put it in perspective, last year in Ireland, around 75,000 babies were born. Of these, 41,250 were latched on after birth, 21,000 were still nursing at 4 months and 938 were still being exclusively breastfed at 6 months. To get 97 breastfeeding mothers and their children to simulataneously nurse in a shopping center in Cork City with ten days notice (a number which is equal to 10% of the babies who are exclusively feeding at 6 month) is nothing short of AMAZING!!!!! I am so proud of us all. It was incredible, it was beautiful, it was Natural. Most of all, IT WAS NOT OBSCENE!!!!! To the many, many mums who turned up on the day and to everyone rooting for us at home, to everyone who travelled from as far afield as Dublin and Galway and those from up the road, to the mothers of newborns, wobblers, toddlers and school age kids who came out and nursed their babies because it's the normal thing to do, Thank you. From the bottom of my heart (and boobs;D) I thank you.

Irish Women aim to Set Breastfeeding Record!!!

I have organized "AN EVENT" (Please note the use of capslock to portray importance of said event.)

As part of World Breastfeeding Week (is it just me or does this week seem to happen fairly often?) I have signed up Cork City as a location for the 2010 Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge.

As I have been holed away at the computer and thus dodging my motherly duties for the better part of the last three hours, I'm simply going to have to do some cutting and pasting of my oh so fancy press release to fill you in on the details.

On October 2, 2010, breastfeeding women and children at sites around the globe will compete to set the record for the most children breastfeeding at one time.

Why this challenge? Breastfeeding has many well-documented benefits including better health for both mothers and babies. However, many women fail to meet their own breastfeeding goals and wean their children prematurely, well before meeting recommended guidelines. Two of the biggest hurdles for mothers continue to be lack of support and marginalization by the community.

Ireland has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the world, if not the lowest of all. The Quintessence Breastfeeding challenge is a great way to show support for breastfeeding mothers and to reinforce the message that not only is breastfeeding the best way of feeding a child, it is the NORMAL way of feeding a child.

The Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge began in 2001 in British Columbia Canada with 856 children at 26 sites. By 2008, there were 7632 children in nineteen countries at over 300 sites with a total of over 20,000 supporters.In 2009 even though the H1N1 pandemic coincided with the Challenge,there were 4,766 children at 246 sites in 21 countries. We hope for even greater support in 2010!

This event takes place as part of the celebration of World Breastfeeding Week. The theme for World Breastfeeding Week is Breastfeeding – just 10 steps referring to a WHO/UNICEF document which outlines in ten steps, key ways in which health care facilities and communities can support women to achieve their breastfeeding goals. One key step is welcoming mothers to breastfeed anytime!

The Breastfeeding Challenge is sponsored by the Quintessence Foundation, a non-profit group providing education to parents and professionals about breastfeeding.
The Cork area challenge is set for Saturday, October 2nd at 11:00 am in Mahon Point.

Check out (and Like!!!! Please, please like it and pass it along to your friends!) my hastily made facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=breastway&init=quick&sid=0.6764741685255888#!/group.php?gid=155336247828160&v=wall

New Look, Same great Taste...

In case you haven't noticed, I've been having more then a little trouble keeping up with my blog of late. It started waaaaaaay back in the spring of the year when I was nominated and then subsequently shortlisted for, an "Irish Blog Award."

It continued on through the summer when one by one, bloggers I'd grown to love packed it in and said goodbye to the blogging world.

I thought a lot about packing it in myself. I mean really, there's only so much I can say about teething and night wakings and all the other joys that go with raising a toddler and having said it all before with the snot queen, it really isn't so much of a shock when it comes to the tiny one (who incidently is cutting all four of her molars -
simultanaeously.)

But I'm not ready to say good bye.

I'm not ready to throw in the blogging towel.

Instead, I'm having a re-vamp. Doing a bit of the old Trinny and Susannah if you will. Taking a new path, but still heading in the same old, mother and child friendly direction.

So stay tuned, because there's life in the old girl yet...

Dear Moon...

Dear Moon, Whatever crazy tide/water/magic no sleeping effect you have on my daughter, could you please turn it off now? As much fun as surfing the internet is at 2:45am with a 14month old, I really would like some sleep... Thank you. x

What are the odds?

My weighing scales are broken.

I'm not sure exactly what the problem is, maybe a loose connection? A low battery perhaps? Whatever, the end result is the same in that it keeps insisting that I am 9 pounds heavier then I actually am.

This wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that my measuring tape is off as well! I don't know how this one happened. Probably someone accidentally put it in the wash and shrank it and then panicked when they realized what had happened and so put it back in my sewing box exactly as they'd found it. No matter, the end result is the same. The numbers are now so close together that it is saying my measurements are a full inch BIGGER then what they should be.

It probably got put in the same load that shrank my pants last week and had me standing on the scales in the first place...

Dear Volcano...

Dear Icelandic Volcano,

YOU SUCK!

I didn't ask for much you know, just a few puffs of ash, maybe a little ominous rumbling, whatever... Just enough to close Irish airspace for a few days. But Noooooooooo.... Stupid volcano, you had to remain calm and settled and cool as a flippin' cucumber while my lovely, wonderful mom who I've gotten to spend the last five weeks with, got on a plane and flew back to Canada.

WTF?!?!?

A few months ago, we couldn't PAY you to turn it off! My in laws got a week's extension on their holidays because of you! Oooh look at me! I'm a volcano! Fire and ash spewing everywhere! Spew, spew, spew, all day long. That's what I do! Irish airspace? HA! No one's getting in or out of there until I say so!

Everyday, the papers and tv's were full of you! You were everywhere!!! You couldn't spit without hitting yet another report of how you'd affected someone else's life/holiday/business.

Now though? When I really needed you?

Not a whisper.

Not even enough heat to toast a marshmallow.

You let me down Volcano.

And no, there's nothing you can do to make it up to me.

All I wanted was one more day (week, month, a year would have been lovely...)with my mom, but you couldn't even manage that.

Stupid volcano.

Your (disappointed) friend,

Maria x