Masochistic Mommy

If you thought I’d stop at a trilogy – you were sadly mistaken, my friend. Alas, the bookstores and libraries of the world are shamelessly marinating in books that, by no stretch of the imagination, can be deemed to spit on the name of breastfeeding. It’s my mission to expose them one-by-one, even if it means writing these posts into old age. A few disclaimers before we begin: This post will be depressing at times. It will stretch the boundaries of belief. It will contain swearing. It will showcase jaw-dropping evidence of ass-hattery. It will make you fear for humanity and want to live with wolves. On that note, let’s begin! You’re the Daddy: The ultimate guide to being a new dad for blokes . Stephen Giles This book is written for dads, by a dad. Women are not the target here. Yet dads have an important role to play in facilitating breastfeeding, which makes this book even more insidious with its anti-breastfeeding mansplaining marathon. Before I leap into the bog of despair, I conced...

I’ll be the first to admit it, breastmilk is low in iron (0.2–0.5 mg/L low to be precise). I’ll even concede that over the initial months of life, breastfed babies deplete their iron stores. In recent years, this fact has roused a smorgasbord of media outcry, spewing forth headlines such as: “ Six months of breastmilk alone is too long and could harm babies ” and “ Call for U-turn on when to wean ”. It has been a lactivist’s worst nightmare: apparently, evidence surfaced that was unavailable when the WHO made its 6 months exclusive breastfeeding recommendation – and this new evidence wasn’t good. It suggested that breastfed babies had a greater chance of iron deficiency anaemia, “known to be linked to irreversible adverse mental, motor or psychosocial outcomes” ( The Guardian 2011 ). Image stock photos of babies with pale complexions, sunken eyes and dry nails decorated the pages of news sites and blogs around the internet and beyond. Formula feeders lapped it up, hailing it as “go...

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Did you know that if you follow the standard, “What I need for my baby” list for the next 21 years, then your child could cost you over $200,000 (that’s $9,500 per year, or $800 per month), even without being privately educated. The marketing clout of the baby industry has got a lot to answer for. The reality is that most of the items we are told we should buy for our babies are unnecessary . This timeline will expose the common (and not-so-common) culprits. If you’re new to starting a family, it will hopefully give you the advantage that many second-time parents enjoy. Jump to... Pregnancy 1 Week Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Month 8 Month 11 12 Months 18 Months 2 Years 3 Years Pregnancy: Maternity clothes: There’s no reason why you cannot wear your normal clothes instead of purchasing ‘maternity wear’ often at inflated prices. Items such as wrap-around dresses, smock tops, tunic tops, dresses ...