Five Ways to Support a New Mother

This post is inspired by World Breastfeeding Week, hosted annually by The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) from August 1 - 7.  The WBW theme for this year focuses on peer support for breastfeeding women, especially in the community, among family, and from health care providers.  According to WABA, peer support is the best way to ensure that women who are having difficulties, or who have returned to work, continue to nurse their babies. 

I want to share five ways anyone can support a new mother, and although these tips are especially helpful for breastfeeding mothers, they are also helpful to women who are bottle feeding (pumping or formula).  

  

Because breastfeeding can be difficult to maintain after a woman returns to the workplace, I also include specific information on how coworkers can assist their lactating colleagues on the job.  Several women have told me how lack of time to pump at work led them to end breastfeeding sooner than they otherwise would have.  This situation creates a spiral of less nursing because missed pumping sessions reduce supply, which leads to more use of formula, which leads to less nursing, etc.  

Our efforts to support lactating women are important in all areas of our lives: in the family, at home, in our neighborhoods, at the workplace, in public, and at worship.  I hope you are able to put these simple suggestions to good use supporting a new mother and her baby.

Five Simple Ways to Help a New Mother

1. Bring her a meal.  This is especially helpful during those early days at home when baby is very hungry and mother needs to heal from the birth.  A lactating mother needs a hearty healthy meal and plenty of snacks to keep her milk flowing, her energy up, and to promote healing.  If she has other children, she will benefit from the rest instead of preparing a meal for them.  While many women are fortunate that a family member can help out during this time, some mothers do not have any help, and most family members return to their own homes after a week or two.  

If you are supporting a lactating coworker, You can offer to bring her some takeout for lunch, or to pick up a dinner for her to take home to her family.  This is especially helpful when she first returns to work and her whole family is adjusting to their new schedule.

You can even organize a crew of volunteers to bring meals to a family with a new baby by contacting the new mother’s friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers.  Care Calendars makes this easy; all you have to do is set up a schedule and then send an e-mail to those who might want to help.  They sign up and the information is sent to the new mother and the calendar coordinator.  You could even arrange this before the baby is born!

2.  Offer to watch the baby or her older children.  New mothers need their rest, and even though everyone will tell her to sleep when the baby is sleeping, she may not be able to, especially if she has other children.  Keeping the baby or other children occupied for just an hour can let the new mom take a much needed rest without interruption.

You can help a coworker by watching her desk or phone and assuring anyone who tries to find her while she is pumping that she will return soon.  Also, before she returns from maternity leave, you can ask others to help you clean the refrigerator in the break room so the pumped milk can be stored in a sanitary place (you know how yucky a workplace fridge can get sometimes).

3.  Run an errand or help with a house chore.  We all know how difficult it can be to get to the store with a newborn, especially if that baby does not like the car seat.  Offer to pick up items while you are running your own errands, or ask if she needs something to help with breastfeeding, her post-partum bleeding, or her personal hygiene.  Same for a coworker; running errands after work might mean the baby will have to wait to nurse, which is not helpful to either the mother or child if they have been separated all day.

Laundry can pile up with a newborn around, so if you are visiting the new family, offer to help place something in the wash or fold things that are already dry.  Maybe the floor could use a sweep or the sink a wipe down. 

4.  Listen.  Sometimes, mothers need to share what is happening to them, or ask questions about how they are feeling.  She may want to gush about the baby, talk about how her life has changed, or simply have a conversation with an adult (instead of a baby or children) about something entirely different.  Indulge her; she will remember your kindness later.

Your coworker may have questions about readjusting to work life with a baby, how to handle a situation with her baby’s caregiver, or a work project that was completed during her maternity leave.  Returning to work while caring for a young baby can be distracting, to say the least; your offer to listen or chat can help tremendously.

5.  Pray.  This is an easy one, especially if you are already in the habit of praying for those who are healing or going through a major change in their lives.  There is much to pray for: healing, health, rest, learning to breastfeed, smooth nights, energy to complete daily tasks, patience, and so much more.

What are your ideas for supporting a new mother?  I am fortunate to have benefitted from the kindness of others in all of these ways, especially after the birth of my second child.  In fact, the help of friends was crucial to my breastfeeding success the second time.  You can read my stories about how I handled breastfeeding difficulties here and here.

Linking with: Breastfeeding Support & Tips, Catholic Bloggers Link up Blitz, The Better Mom, Motivational Monday

Notice: This blog may contain advertising links to venders I have an affiliate relationship with.  This means that if you click on one of these links, a window to that vender’s website will open.  If you shop for products on the vender’s site and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission on what you buy, even if you purchase items during a later visit.  I appreciate your support of this blog.  You can read more about how I choose my affiliate relationships here.

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A Great Post on How to Read and Enjoy a Poem

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I am still devoting most of my writing time to finishing the revision of my poetry manuscript (hence my continued lack of posts), but today I ran across a very interesting post that I thought anyone interested in poetry might appreciate.  As one of my readers, I am hoping you are interested in poetry; I realize it is a bit much to ask you to be as enthusiastic about it as I am.  In the spirit of promoting a wider audience for poetry, I share the following.

Ann Kroeker posted one of her poems in support of a friend who is participating in a poetry dare: a crash course in poetry appreciation over at the poetry site Tweetspeak.  While reading about the poetry dare (what a great idea!), I found this post written by Tania Runyan about how to read a poem.  She suggests starting with advice from former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins: Hold it up to the Light.  Runyan then proceeds to show you how, using a short poem full of images.

If you are not sure you “get poetry,” go read Runyan’s post.  It will help you “get it,” I promise!  And, it will fire you up to share poetry with others.  Seriously, if it doesn’t, you could always check back here for my upcoming posts about teaching poetry to my children.

In the spirit of sharing poetry, you can read excerpts from my poetry chapbook Entre la claridad, here.  Go ahead and try the Collins/Runyan reading method outlined in the link above on my poems.  I dare you.

If you only started reading this blog in the past year, here is a little information: Entre la claridad is a short book of poetry, written by me, mostly in English, with some Spanish phrases to more accurately reflect the dialog of South Texas.  The title can be translated as “Moving into Clarity.”  

You can purchase the book directly from the publisher, Mouthfeel Press.  (FCC notice: I do not receive income from book purchases, but I greatly appreciate your interest in my writing.)

Also, please update your subscription to this blog if you have been using Google Reader and have not done so already.  You can subscribe to this blog via e-mail using the form in the upper right sidebar, or via bloglovin’ by clicking on the button in the upper left sidebar.  Or, simply subscribe using any other feed reader.  Thank you for your readership.   

As of today, I am still seeing blog posts in my dashboard at Blogger; lately (like the past month) these notices have been coming and going, so I have moved all of my subscriptions to bloglovin’.  More on that in another post. 

In 2014, I am linking with: Funniest Post  

In 2013 I linked with: Catholic Bloggers Link up Blitz, Motivational Monday, The Better Mom

Notice: This blog may contain advertising links to venders I have an affiliate relationship with.  This means that if you click on one of these links, a window to that vender’s website will open.  If you shop for products on the vender’s site and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission on what you buy, even if you purchase items during a later visit.  I appreciate your support of this blog.  You can read more about how I choose my affiliate relationships here.

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Got Cantaloupe? What to Do During an Outbreak

Yesterday, I learned about another outbreak of bacterial illness caused by contaminated cantaloupes.  Chances are, if you live in the Midwest, you have heard about it; cantaloupes from Southern Indiana are the problem this time.  If you haven’t heard about this outbreak, here is a news article that lists the states where people have fallen ill.  In this article from the organization Food Safety News, you can see the same information as a graphic, and note that they have posted at least one update at the top of the article (I plan to check this article and website again for updates).

Cantaloupe by Brunhilde Reinig

My children love cantaloupe.  One of the reasons I am writing this post is because we bought a cantaloupe a week ago that is still sitting in my refrigerator.  The kids have asked me to cut it a couple of times, but I was waiting until we had finished eating other fruits.  As soon as I saw a news article about cantaloupes causing illness, I remembered our cantaloupe, and I sprang into action.  I’d like to share how I handle news about food illness outbreaks, particularly foods we have already bought.

Of course, the easiest thing to do is throw out any suspect food that might cause illness.  You absolutely should do this if you aren’t sure whether your cantaloupe is a problem.  Be especially cautious if you or anyone in your family is pregnant, breastfeeding, or immune suppressed (due to chronic illness, a serious infection, certain medications, youth, or age).  My family is in good health and I hate to waste food; also I’m curious about how food gets contaminated, so I always research before I take action about a food borne illness.  Here is how I do it.

5 Ways to Protect Your Family During a Food Illness Outbreak

No. 1: Pay attention to food news.

In order to protect your family, you need to know about the outbreak to begin with.  I try to get a little bit of news every day, and I use different news sources.  This ensures I get a wider variety of news, as well as makes it easier to get news on a daily basis.  I listen to National Public Radio in the car most days.  Sometimes, I watch local or national news while I make dinner.  Other times, I read the headlines on yahoo after I log off from my e-mail.  We subscribe to our city newspaper on Sundays, so I try to read through the paper when I have time during the week.  I learned about this particular cantaloupe illness, as well the one last year, from the yahoo headlines before I saw television news coverage.

No. 2: Research food related news further.

Once I learn about a food borne illness, I look for on-line articles and watch the news to get more information.  During this process, I usually learn about other food illnesses.  For example, both last year and this year, I learned about previous infectious outbreaks caused by cantaloupes that I had not heard about because they were smaller in scope.  Seeking good information is key.  In particular, I want to know where the food was grown and where people who are ill acquired the food.  See the links above for information on the current outbreak.

No. 3: Seek information on the food you have bought.

Once I learn which growers, suppliers, or people are affected, I check the stickers on my produce for information on origin.  If there is no sticker, not enough information, or we have recently eaten the food, I call the store where I bought it and speak to the produce manager.  I called last year and this year about the cantaloupes and each time, I was told the exact origin of the fruit I bought.  I had to wait while they confirmed the information, but I was happy to do so in order to have an accurate answer.  Fortunately, our cantaloupes were not infected.

No. 4: Wash your produce very well.

For protection against any outbreaks you may not know about, and to remove dirt, germs, and pesticide residue, always wash your produce well.  All of your produce should be washed, even if you intend to peel it.  This is particularly important for cantaloupes: their bumpy ridged rind is the perfect place for dirt and bacteria to hang out.  The rough skin on a cantaloupe can pick up and hold germs from any number of sources: irrigation water, agricultural animal run-off, wild animal feces, farm worker’s hands, and washing equipment.  Any bacteria on the rind can move through the fruit along with your cutting knife.

I use a vegetable brush to wash all of my produce.  Recently I have been washing just with water.  In the past, I used water with a few drops of dish soap, but after I switched to natural dish soap (hence no preservatives), the mixture got cloudy and I no longer trusted it.  A few days ago, my friend Karri shared a recipe for produce wash that uses water, apple cider vinegar, and lemon juice.  I have heard about using ACV as a produce wash before, so you can bet I’ll be mixing up this new wash tomorrow and scrubbing my cantaloupe with it a couple of times.

No. 5: Cultivate a healthy immune response in your gut.

For protection against any illness, food borne or infectious, keep your gut flora (beneficial bacteria) flourishing.  Eat yogurt, kefir, and fermented foods daily.  Supplement with pro-biotics, especially during and after illness, while taking antibiotics, and when your stomach is upset.  Other foods that have anti-bacterial properties include oregano, garlic, ginger, and thyme.  Use these often in your cooking to help your immune system battle bacterial illnesses.

How do you handle news of food borne illness?  Will you be eating cantaloupe?  Share your thoughts in the comments.

Amy at Raising Arrows hosts a weekly Welcome Home Link up focused on homemaking and related topics; you will find this post linked there this week. 

The many bloggers at The Better Mom host the Better Mom Mondays Link up for posts on “the topics of mothering, marriage, homemaking, discipleship, recipes, organization and more,” so I have also linked there.

Sarah at Nature’s Nurture hosts a weekly Tiny Tip Tuesday Link up for posts “pertaining to anything natural, frugal, sustainable, or homemade.”

I have linked up at Crafolic’s monthly Tea with Saint Anne Link up, which is for posts helpful to Catholic families.

  

Megan at Sorta Crunchy shares hosting duty for the weekly Your Green Resource Link up with three other blogs.  This link up is for green living: recycling, repurposing, do-it-yourself, organic gardening, and recipes using whole foods.

Ann Kroeker hosts a weekly Food on Fridays Link up, so I have also connected there, where you will find many links somehow (either casually or directly) related to food and recipes.