The World Breastfeeding Week website offers a variety of materials in multiple languages. If you work with or know expectant mothers who need materials translated, this site is an excellent resource.

Thanks to Medela for the following:

Celebrate World Breastfeeding Week with Medela, August 1st-7th.  To help you continue your breastfeeding journey successfully, Medela is hosting two free live chats with breastfeeding experts on Tuesday, August 3 at 11:00 a.m. EST AND Thursday, August 5 at 4 p.m. EST via a toll-free number.

(8/3): Maria Lennon is a Clinical Education Specialist with Medela. Maria has been with Medela for 10 years, is a Certified Nurse-Midwife, and has been a board-certified as a Lactation Consultant since 1985.  Maria is the mother of four breastfed daughters who are now grown and having babies themselves.

(8/5): Cindy Wagner, MS, RD, IBCLC works with Medela as a Sales Consultant and is a Board Certified Lactation Consultant.   She speaks locally on various breastfeeding topics, including workplace lactation and breastpumps.  She is the mother of three sons, all of whom were breastfed, and the grandmother of three breastfed grandchildren.

(8/3 and 8/5): Julie Hamilton hails from Nashville, Tenn., and, in addition to recently earning her certificate in lactation counseling, is a mother of three breastfed children, including 23-month-old twins who are still nursing. As Mrs. Nashville, Julie works to spread the message of breastfeeding preparedness and is dedicated to helping moms and babies have breastfeeding success.

If you’re interested in joining this live chat, please email medela@mommavens.com with the subject line “MMM Live Chat” by August 2nd. Include your name and any questions you’d like to have answered during the call. We will provide dial-in information closer to the live chat date.

Do you have a pregnant or breastfeeding friend who’d appreciate advice from an experienced mom?  Invite her to join the call, too! We welcome any and all breastfeeding questions. Our goal is to help you (and your friends!) successfully breastfeed.  We look forward to seeing you there!


The Bloomer Bonus program is our way of not only linking our Bloomers with excellent local services and products, but by offering them exclusive pricing and specials for being a Baby Bloomers client. As our program grows, we will be adding a list to our website to inform current and prospective Bloomers of our local friends and partners as well as those providing a bonus to our clients. Additionally, we will introduce you to the services or products that they provide through our blog and Facebook links. Be sure to keep up with us to find out what our newest Bloomer Bonuses are!

Have a favorite local baby service or product you would like us to include in our Bloomer Bonuses? Let us know and we will do our best to add them to our growing list of friends!

In addition to crib recalls, read about this weekend’s recall of children’s health products including: Tylenol, Zyrtec, Motrin, and Benadryl.

To learn more about what to do if you have these products in your home, read McNeil’s FAQs and/or see their list of specific products included in the recall. See the article below, found on the parents.com website for additional information:

DATE: April 30, 2010

CATEGORY: Health & Safety

COMPANY/BRAND: McNeil Consumer Healthcare

THE DANGER: McNeil Consumer Healthcare is initiating this voluntary recall because some of these products may not meet required quality standards. Some of the products included in the recall may contain a higher concentration of active ingredient than is specified; others may contain inactive ingredients that may not meet internal testing requirements; and others may contain tiny particles. While the potential for serious medical events is remote, the company advises consumers who have purchased these recalled products to discontinue use.

SOLD AT: Drug stores, grocery stores, and other retailers nationwide.

WHAT TO DO: Consumers can contact the company at 1-888-222-6036 and also at www.mcneilproductrecall.com. Parents and caregivers who are not sure about alternative pediatric health treatment options should talk to their doctor or pharmacist and are reminded to never give drug products to infants and children that are not intended for those age groups as this could result in serious harm.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://www.mcneilproductrecall.com/page.jhtml?id=/include/new_recall.in

If you think you want to try pumping, but you aren’t ready to invest just yet (electric pumps can cost upwards of $250) you can investigate renting a hospital grade electric pump. Contact your local hospital, or talk to your pediatrician or OB/GYN (midwife, doula, etc.) to find out the best places to find a rental pump. Stores such as Babies R Us also offer new mothers rental pumps.  Again, a lactation consultant would also be an excellent resource. If you do choose to rent a pump, always be sure to find out how the parts are sterilized once they are returned, and what the recommended cleaning method is in between uses.

Ready to win a breast pump?! Enter to win a Purely Yours Ultra Double Electric Breast Pump by Ameda, and be sure to look at their products and resources available online.

Here are some excellent resources for tips on breastfeeding once you have returned to work:

Breastfeeding at Work from Breastfeed.com

Breastfeeding Basics from Ameda

Working and Breastfeeding: Making it Work By Nancy Mohrbacher, IBCLC, Lactation Consultant, Ameda Breastfeeding Products, Co-author of Breastfeeding Made Simple and The Breastfeeding Answer Book

20 Tips for Working and Breastfeeding by Dr. Sears

La Leche League: Breastfeeding and Your Legal Rights

La Leche League Articles about breastfeeding (at work, when traveling, in school, etc.)

La Leche League Links

One easy way to determine how safe our cleaning and personal care products are is to use the Environmental Working Group’s Healthy Home Checklist. By downloading and printing out this checklist, you can easily check your house for common toxic chemicals and subsequently choose safer alternatives.

While sorting out the safe from the toxic may seem like an easy task (just check the label for that warning!), there are probably unsafe ingredients lurking in products you would have never considered to be unsafe. For example, do you have antibacterial soaps, plastic teethers or air fresheners in your home? These are just some of the seemingly harmless products that most consumers would never think twice about questioning.

Think about the following: The AMA recommends against using antibacterial products; they can hinder your body’s natural defense mechanisms, and ingredients such as triclosan (a popular alternative to alcohol based antibacterials) can actually leave a residue on your hands.  Additionally, antibacterial soaps have been found to be no more effective than proper hand washing with regular soap and water alone. Despite their popularity on baby registries everywhere, soft plastic teethers and rubber duckies can contain phthalates, which have been found to disrupt the endocrine system, leading to a variety of problems. Air fresheners and other products (think shampoo, perfume, body lotion, and anything else scented with “fragrance“) contain ingredients that don’t need to be disclosed to consumers. A legal loophole allows companies to hide  toxic chemicals in fragrance that may consist of hundreds of chemicals that studies show may linked to a variety of health problems.

Is it scary to think that there are ingredients in our homes that we don’t know about and would not want around if we did? Yes. As parents do we need to become alarmists and start to panic? Of course not. Simply become educated. One of the best things any consumer can be is educated. Take baby steps and begin by learning what is in your home, and what you can reasonably replace. Download and print the EWG checklist, take a deep breath, and take your first baby step.

Have questions about living green with baby? Contact Lyndsy or Christine for more information. We are adding How to Grow Your Family Green to our list of services and packages. We would be happy to share our knowledge with you!

While you wait for your first newsletter, take advantage of these promotional codes:

1) “babies” will get you a 3 piece Udder Covers gift set for only $5.00 (a $37.00 value)

2) “family2010″ will make your individual nursing cover free!

The codes are valid once per transaction, so you can order more than once if you want to get one for yourself and one for a friend! Remember that you will be charged for S&H no matter which code you choose.

Happy Shopping!

The Cuddlecloth is made here in Palm Beach County, and comes in two sizes.  In addition to making the Cuddlecloth, Mary also makes a Cuddlepet which is used in the same way as the Cuddlecloth when bathing your pet.