It seems like its been forever since I’ve been here, and it has been! I have been sad. I have been sad because it seems my daughter is slowly weaning herself off the breast. Weaning off the breast! Which makes writing about it sad. Makes me teary. Some days I’m ready to have my body back, but most days I’m not. I know once she stops I will never breastfeed again and that makes me sad. I’m not ready to be an ex-breastfeeder.

 I guess I shall wait and see.

This was passed to me and so I pass it to you! Support breastfeeding moms anf families by joining in, especially important during this H1N1 scare we are going through, read on to find out when, where and the very important theme this year!

*/JOIN US IN SUPPORTING BREASTFEEDING FAMILIES!/*

*/SUPPORT THE QUINTESSENCE BREASTFEEDING CHALLENGE/*

In 2001, the first Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge was held to

provide support and education for breastfeeding women and their

communities. This first successful event has grown over the years to

become the Quintessence World Breastfeeding Challenge. In 2008,

thousands of participants from nineteen countries took part in the

Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge

Sites vary from one or two women in a home or health unit to hundreds of

participants at a mall or local movie theatre. On the designated day

children taking part are “latched on” at 11am local time as their

mothers raise their hands in support of breastfeeding as they are

counted in. Recognition is given to the largest site and based on birth

rates, winners in various regions are also noted.

In 2009, the Breastfeeding Challenge will be held on October 3 at 11am.

This year should be the biggest yet which will set new records for

numbers of participants and sites. The 2009 theme is /Breastfeeding - a

vital emergency response /recognizing the important role of

breastfeeding in times of emergencies such as earthquakes, tornadoes or

tsunamis. Destruction of housing and services makes food preparation

almost impossible and in such conditions breastfeeding plays a vital

protective role for young children.

For communities where H1N1 is felt to be a threat to young families,

participants can still take part without getting together in groups.

Watch out website for further information on the details. Health

professionals can collect data on individual participants or mothers can

register as individuals as a “site” and be counted in!

Sites for the Challenge can register on the Quintessence Foundation

website at www.babyfriendly.ca and

resources such as registration forms, participants certificates,

educational handouts and more are provided at no cost.. This is a fun

health promotion event which supports women’s informed choices for

feeding their children. Every child who takes part wins as they are

receiving human milk - a gift that lasts a lifetime

Support the Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge - register a site and

encourage others to join in! If you have already registered thank you

for your support and stay tuned for updates.

Sincerely,

Frances Jones

Quintessence Foundation

To mourn the close of summer and celebrate the arrival of autumn, my family went off on a Labour Day weekend adventure in upper New York State quite close to the Alleghany region. We camped, we played and we generally had a hoot of a time, especially at the park.

I am always overjoyed when I see my good behaviours modeled back to me by my daughters, especially when they are breastfeeding behaviours. My eldest daughter was the only one in her preschool class to breastfeed her dolls, and now my youngest is showing her breastfeeding skills!

Let me explain…

During one of our sojourns to the park over the weekend, my 2.5 yr old daughter decided to bring her puppy along. She has been developing a special attachment to this puppy over the past couple of weeks, so it was no surprise she wanted to bring puppy to the park. After playing for quite a while - up the slide, down the slide, on the swing, on the teeter-totter, on the swing - she decided to take a break on the bench with puppy. Within a moment she looked up at me and said “Oh puppy hungry” and proceeded to lift up her shirt and place puppy at her breast in an ever gentle cradle saying “see puppy hungry, I feed puppy”. With tears in my eyes and a “move faster, faster, faster, faster” tone in my voice I frantically grabbed myhusband’s arm and asked “where is the camera? Get a picture, get a picture!” But he is slow to draw and missed the moment. So I grabbed the camera out of his hands and refused to give it back, I couldn’t take the chance of missing yet another moment with those slow reflexes holding the camera. I am a quick-draw and stealth photographer, so it only makes sense that I have the camera. And thank goodness I took the camera, because a few moments later my darling breastfeeding daughter breastfed her puppy again and mommy quickly snatched a few pics for posterity’s sake.

Can I say again how proud I am of my daughters?