Hello all!
My family and I went on vacation for a few days and when I came home the
first thing I wanted to do was read all my mail that I had waiting for me!
 Talk about withdrawl!!
Anyway, what a topic Rachel got going!  Hellraising is what I was born to do,
and believe me I've done it a lot lately!  My family is sick and tired of me
and my BF opinions, but that's their prob, right?  Keep on raising Hell,
Rachel!  I have always tried to be diplomatic in the way I phrase things, but
it hasn't always worked out the way I planned.  That's life!  :)
My husband and I got to discussing the IQ differences between BF and FF
babes, and he posed an interesting question.  We know that BM stimulates
brain cell growth in the infant, but how LONG does BM stimulate brain cell
growth?  Does it stimulate growth as long as the child is BF, or does it
start to slack off as the child gets older?  And if it continues for as long
as the child is BF, then what about everyone having a daily glass of BM while
there is a lactating woman in the house?  :)  If growth starts to slack off,
then what age range does this happen?  What is the critical phase of brain
cell growth in the infant?  (i.e. 0-3 mo,  0-6 mo, 0-12 mo, etc..)  Is there
a critical phase of growth, or is it all critical?  We also wondered just how
much smarter we'd be if we had been fortunate enough to be BF as infants.
 (Hubby's mom had pre-eclampsia and was told her milk was bad, and I had
(what I believe to be) severe reflux (from description of what was happening
to me at the time) and my mom was told her milk was killing me.  I almost
died at 6 mo.)  Any ideas out there?  Any research?  Wouldn't it be nice if
all moms to be had this info?
Orange milk...   I was thinking about what happened every time I took my
prenatal vitamins, when I read Roberta's answer to the question!  My milk
turned dark yellow, almost orange, about 1-2 hours after taking my prenatal
vit's.  Smelled fine, tasted fine, just looked funny!  My baby spit up a lot,
and when he did, it came up orange, and I had a lot of fun, (NOT!) trying to
get orange stains out of my clothes!  :)  When I missed a day of vitamin
taking, we had no orange milk!  That and the fact that my pee also turned
technicolor  when I took the vitamins led me to believe that it was the
vitamins playing havoc with the color of my bodily fluids!! ;)
Now, to do a little complaining.  I have to tell you all that I sometimes
feel as if you out there, of whom I've met one and talked to one in person,
are more my family than my family.  I have recieved more support from you
than I have from my own family.  This was so very apparent at my family
reunion this weekend.
As most of you know, I am in training to be an LC.  I have a long way to go,
but have had training from the WIC program and am a Peer Councelor for them,
and am in constant contact with my mentor, Karen Evon, and I get a lot of
valuable info from Lactnet.  My sister, Katie, and I got into a discussion
about the difference between formula and BM.  When I told her the
differences, she then *informed* me (in front of many family members) that I
didn't know what I was talking about.  Formula was just as good, if not
better, than BM!  She said that I was a know-it-all with delusions of
intelligence when it came to the subject of Breastfeeding!!  I asked her how
many children she had (none) and how may children she had breastfed (none)
and where had she gotten all of her info about BF and FF. (Who knows?)  I
asked her when did she become the expert?  Her answer was to call me a
radical liberal BF idiot, then to walk off in a huff!  So much for family!
 What was funny was that a relative I had never met, who was in her 70's,
agreed with what I said!  She said that she had read somewhere that the
formula I was fed 29 years ago wasn't even considered fit for consumption
today!  This lady was great!  Luckily, I kept my head and didn't dignify my
sister with the expletives I would have liked to.  She was the one who ended
up looking like an idiot! :)  My son Ben nurses about 7x a day.  Every time I
left the group to feed him (I'm not shy, believe me,he is too distractable) I
was asked "Are you feeding him again?".  Even my Grandfather told me that Ben
was getting too old to be BF and that I should really work on weaning him!
 His wife, however, told me that I should let Ben wean himself!  (She is my
step-grandmother.  It figures)   My mother kept telling me to let Ben fill up
on table foods instead of nursing him, and that when I did nurse him, I'd
better do it in private so people wouldn't stare! AAARRRGGGHHH!!!  Ben will
be 1 year on the 24th of this month.  I will let him wean himself, thank you
very much!  As a result of my sister's actions (she did some more hurtful
things to me this weekend) I will not be speaking to her unless absolutely
necessary.  However, at this point I don't think it's that big of a loss.
 Maybe she will realize how deeply she hurt my feelings someday and
apologize, but I doubt it.  I have a cousin who has an 18 day old baby who is
BF and FF.  Cousin will be starting baby on cereal this week because the baby
gets fussy in the evenings.  *Happy Hour* I believe is what one of you called
it.  I tried to explain that this was normal, that cereal is not good for
babies this young and told her I was training to be an LC and if she'd like I
could give her some suggestions on how to help with the *happy hour*.  I was
told, "I have three kids, you only have two.  I know more than you."  I
dropped the subject lik a red hot coal!  Sad, huh?  Family.  Ain't they
great?
So, fellow Lactnetters, you are my support, and I consider you all my unseen
family, of sorts!  When I wrote about my difficult times with BF Ben, I
recieved an outpouring of warmth and tenderness that brought tears to my
eyes.  Even my Hubby was moved!  When I have a question, no matter how silly
it may seem, you are alway there to help out and you never judge me for
knowing less than you.  I want you all to know how much I appreciate you and
your caring.  I feel from this group a united sense of warmth and love and
respect for all of us, regardless of  our training or lack thereof.  Thank
you for everything!  Thank you for listening.  Sorry this was so long!
Take Care!
Janet
LC in training, and smarter than her sister thinks!  :D

P.S.  Y'all keep me going sometimes!