Natural Pregnancy Project

Not long ago Selma Hayek went to Africa with the program Nightline.  She was there to get some publicity for her ongoing work to decrease the level of tetanus in that country.

Selma is a still breastfeeding mom and the topic of breastfeeding came up with some doctors in a local village health center.  The world health organization would like mothers to breastfeed their babies for the first 2 years. However, in Africa ~ where food is scarce and you would think mothers would breastfeed because it’s food they available most mothers quit breastfeeding after only a few months.

There is a taboo in the culture. It is believed to be wrong to have sex with a breastfeeding mother. So new mothers are pressured by their husbands to quit breastfeeding early so they can resume their sexual relationship.

While Selma was there, a baby became hungry and there was no food for it to eat, and its mother was not longer nursing it, so she did. She very casually pulled the baby to her breast and it began to nurse promptly and strongly.

You could see the satisfaction, both on the face of the baby as well as on Selma’s.

When the incident was over there were a few different feelings Selma talked about having. She mentioned feeling a little guilty for giving her baby’s milk away to a strange baby ~ which I imagine is not a very odd thing to feel. However, she will make as much milk as her baby needs, and I bet she could have fed quite a few more of those African babies as well.

The other thing she talked about was pride. She told Cynthia McFadden who was the correspondent with her on the trip that her great  grandmother had come across a mother and a screaming newborn in the streets of Mexico. Her grandmother had stopped to see if she could help and the new mother told her that her milk had dried up and she had no way to feed her starving baby.

At that point Selma’s great grandmother did just as Selma had that day and nursed the baby. The woman was so grateful that her baby did not starve. Selma was feeling pretty proud that she had walked in the footsteps of this grandmother who it appeared she greatly admired.

Well I may be a bit late to the party here, as it seems this video went completely viral yesterday and I didn’t hear about it until last night on Nightline ~ but here it is. Selma Hayek breastfeeding an African baby.

All I can say is Amen to Selma. If every person in this world had her generosity of spirit a lot of our problems would be solved.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday warned women not to use or purchase Mommy’s Bliss Nipple Cream, marketed by MOM Enterprises Inc. of San Rafael, California.

The cream, promoted to nursing mothers to help soothe dry or cracked nipples, contains ingredients that may cause respiratory distress, vomiting and diarrhea in infants, the agency said.

The potentially harmful ingredients in the cream are chlorphenesin and phenoxyethanol.

“FDA is particularly concerned that nursing infants are being unwittingly exposed by their mothers to this product with dangerous side effects,” said Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Additionally, these two ingredients may interact with one another to further compound and increase the risk of respiratory depression in nursing infants.”

The company has stopped selling the cream. The FDA said consumers should stop using the cream and consult a doctor if they experience problems or believe that their infant may have experienced problems due to the product.

Mothers whose children may have suffered adverse effects because of this product should contact the FDA’s MedWatch at 800-332-1088.

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This is why I use 100% organic creams on my little one. For nipple cream I recommend Lansinoh. It is 100% lanolin and is completely safe for both mom and baby. It’s important to keep in mind, everything you put on your skin or your baby’s skin gets into their system. Make sure you look at the ingredients on your diaper rash cream as well as any body wash or shampoo you are using on your baby. I recommend the Earth Mama Angel Baby line of products for safe natural products to use on my baby.

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This is an amazing story and a true testament to the power of the breast.
A chinese policewoman is helping earthquake victims in a very personal way. Not only is she nursing her own new baby, but 7 others as well.

She is nursing the children of 3 mothers who are now homeless due to the earthquake and too traumatized to nurse.

She is also nursing 5 orphans.  The orphans were put in an orphanage after losing their parents, however, the orphanage has no powdered milk to make formula.

This woman is a hero. It is amazing to see just what a woman’s body can do when it needs to.  It’s makes me pretty sad, to hear so many women say “I don’t have enough milk” when it is fairly obvious the body can make more than enough milk for one baby, this woman is feeding 8.

If you want you can read the whole article about the cop who breastfed 8 babies.

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