Let's take a moment to introduce ourselves..

Sarah - posted on 09/01/2010

Hello, everyone! My name is Sarah, and I am the mother of a wide-eyed, 5 month old baby girl. Clara just loves life, and I've never met a happier baby. My husband and I have been married for 6 years but have known each other for going on 13 years (or something like that). Although I cannot say that my daughter has be exclusively breastfeed, 99.9% of the time she receives her meal directly from me, and I am in awe of the entire process. It is just miraculous; the bond is something I didn't even imagine. Both my husband and I are relaxed, albeit well informed, parents allowing our little one to develop at her own pace, which has been surprisingly fast. Clara does go to sleep in her crib at the beginning of the night but ends up with us (or just me if Jack chooses the couch) by the end of the night. I do not judge parents who choose to formula feed, although I do try to offer support to those who are struggling with breastfeeding. Both Clara and I were off to a rough start, and, had it not been for the knowledgeable support of this community or my family, we would have switched ages ago. Thank you.

I am currently working on my MA degree in English Literature. I will probably end up teaching although writing is what I love the most. Balancing school work and my daughter will prove to be, to say the least, a learned skill that is going to be mastered by the end of all of this (hopefully by next year). Then I'll have to get a job--no putting it off to continue my education.

Kim - posted on 09/01/2010

Hi everyone!

What a neat idea for a post! I'm a 42 year old momma to the love of my life - 22 month old Kennedy.

Like many of you, I'm a lactivist and totally support those of you that are intactivists(!!). Our basic lifestyle: vegetarian/vegan, co-sleeping, cloth diapering, and selectively vaccinating. I'm also exploring the ideas of Waldorf education for my daughter.

As a working mom, I have had quite a relationship with my Medela (LOL!), but have maintained a nurse-on-demand relationship with my daughter for her lifetime.

As nite (and occasional morning) nursings are about all that's requested now, I am considering encouraging weaning and trying for a 2nd child before time runs out!

I am not truly a single mom, but let's say my relationship status is "ITS COMPLICATED"! LOL!

I am extremely proud of the person that my daughter has become. I'd like to think that my "free from societal constraints" approach to parenting has had something to do what that!

Casey - posted on 08/31/2010

Nice to meet everyone!

We are a lot like most of you...

Cloth diapers, EC & early potty training, exclusive & tandem BF, selective vaccines, attachment & conscious parenting, nature loving, California people.



I am a SAHM (barely scraping by these days) and feel like that is the best thing for my kids. We have 2- Cash 33 months & Kena 16.5 months. I still nurse both, and can definitely call myself a lactivist! Never a drop of formula (or jarred baby food for that matter) used in our home. The first solid they tried was spinach, no grains or dairy until long past 1. We bed-shared when they were babies & practice attachment parenting. I managed to use EC w/ our 1st & he's been out of his cloth diapers since he was 18 months, but we're still working on staying dry thru naps & nighttime. Our 2nd is starting her early potty training now too. A "pull-up" free weekend is in our near future!



Our kids are articulate & smart & love to be outside. Definitely my best accomplishment! Couldn't have dreamed of more amazing kids. They are teaching me constantly.

That's us in a nut shell.

Gloria - posted on 08/30/2010

hello my name is gloria and i live in southern california, los angeles area. my husband and i been married for 3 yrs, but together for 8 yrs in total. i'm a mom of 3 wonderful children. my oldest son is 16 and in his last yr of high school. my daughter is 9 and she's a heart of gold. my youngest son is 15 months old and loves his blankie. we're still nursing and he shows no interest in weaning right now. we still nurse about 3-5 times a day, mostly during the night. we've been co-sleeping since he was 4 months old.

i've breastfed all my kids, but youngest has been the longest. never had much education and support back then and regret it, the education part of it. i'm super passionate about breastfeeding! every time i hear someone is going to give it a shot i get excited and start to giving them all kind of info.

i also love love wearing my toddler. he loves it too, especially when he's fussy and all he wants is some mommy time, it's great for both of us!



nice to "meet" you all.

fb email - geemcee@ymail.com.

Celeste - posted on 08/30/2010

Hello! My name is Celeste and I'm 34. I have 3 kids-an 8 year old daughter and 3 year old twin boys. My first daughter weaned at 17 months. One of my twin boys just weaned a few months ago and the other one nurses once a day.

I think I've gotten a little more "crunchier" with my twin boys, which was completely surprising to me. I thought that I would be supplementing with bottles, and that I would be using disposable diapers, I'd have my boys on a schedule like most MOT's told me I HAD to have. Well, turned out that after our issues got worked out (one of my twins had nipple confusion, and took 6 weeks for him to finally latch on) that they refused all bottles. I also ended up using cloth on them because it was cheaper instead of disposables. Never forced any kind of schedule, and it worked for us. We also coslept for a little bit as well, which is another thing I thought I couldn't do with twins.

I also consider myself a Lactivist, and love helping moms who want to breastfeed, and fully support NIP.

Erin - posted on 08/30/2010

Hey there ladies~! My name is Erin and I live on Salt Spring Island off of the coast of BC, Canada. My youngest daughter was born on April 10th so is now 4.5 months old and like my other 3 children before her is EBF. I am 44 yrs old and have a 22 yr old son, 17 yr old daughter and a 15 yr old son... so, yes there is a BIG gap between the kids. I'm re-married and our new daughter is the first child for my husband Brooke. Our daughter was born at home, no drugs and it was amazingly beautiful~! Our midwife believes that I'm healthier now than when I was in my 20's and we have decided to leave ourselves open for having one more child IF we get pregnant again otherwise Morgan will essentially grow up as an only child considering that the oldest 2 have already moved out and my youngest son will grad by the time she turns 3. I figure at this point, in for a penny, in for a pound. If it happens, great, but considering my age now it would definitely be the LAST one... if not, that's fine too.. we're just happy with life and being together.
I am a certified yoga instructor and make homemade organic soap which I sell through a website (www.OrganicPlanetSoap.ca) Morgan is in cloth diapers most of the time, but disposables when we travel or are out and about. She has already started on some solids (organic and homemade ONLY... just like the rest of the crew was raised on) but without any regularity, just when she gets really insistant at the table. It's sooooo easy to make homemade baby food. Steam the vegetable/fruit, puree in the food processor/blender, spoon into ice cube trays to freeze and then pop them out into a freezer bag to keep. Pull out a cube at a time to thaw and mix with breast milk and organic cereal (we use brown rice, barley or oatmeal)
I'm also a lactivist and intactivist (LOVE those terms Jennifer!)... the intactivist part was by no means easy back in 1988 when my son was born. It was quite the shocker when I refused to allow them to circumcise my son. My thoughts being that if the child was born a girl we would not cut off any parts of her so WHY would I even consider cutting any parts off of a boy child??? I won in the end (pun intended)
I'm also on FB and the WTE site as Erin Williams
Nice to hear your stories ladies. Be well and be happy. Peace & Love, Exo

Heather - posted on 08/30/2010

I will be in southern California, Buena Park, the second week of October to visit my family. I currently live in TN, 35 year old mom of 2 kiddos, 13 months my daughter, and my son is almost 3! I was born and raised in CA!

My son weaned himself at 11 months, my baby girl is still nursing, and she's 13 months old. She nurses 3 to 5 times a day and eats some baby food and we are working on her eating real food!

We are too hippies, basically. We want our children to learn about things themselves. We don't want to preach anything to them, it's up to them to make up their own minds and find their way in this world. I don't feel it's right for children to believe that God is the only way, because to us, he's not. Yes, I pray sometimes, but that's only when I am really worried about something, or I pray for others. Hey, it never hurts to do that. I grew up in a household where my parents felt the same way, we didn't go to church until we were older and we sometimes went with friends.

I spent 4 months, in 2006, living in a hotel room with my husband in India. We even got to see the Taj Mahal!!! We only spent a little time in Frankfurt, Germany, in the airport, lol.

My facebook account is under mysticbutterfly37 if you ever want to chat! I love new friends! Just tell me that your from circle of moms!

Heather

Sarah - posted on 08/29/2010

Hey everyone, my name is Sarah & I'm 26 years old. I live in East Texas with my husband of 3 years & our 11 month old son, Ethan. I can't believe my baby boy is going to be a year old in 3 weeks! I am a formula feeding mom, but I joined this group so I could learn as much about BF as possible. I wanted to BF my son so badly, but unfortunately I had a rough time with it due to lack of support/education. I got *some* help with BF, but definitely not enough & I ended up stopping way sooner than I wanted to. Even though I'm a FF mom, I am all for BF & will definitely nurse my next child as long as possible. :)

I have a degree in Health & Kinesiology & worked for almost 2 years in a hospital in the Occupational Therapy department. After having my son, I decided to become a SAHM, and I am so happy with my decision. :) Eventually I might go back to school to become a teacher, but I'm not sure right now! Just taking it one day at a time & not trying to rush life! I enjoy spending time with my family & friends, surfing the internet, scrapbooking, making my own cards for baby showers, birthdays, etc., playing piano, playing softball & watching my Texas Rangers baseball team. :)

Jennifer - posted on 08/29/2010

i'm jennifer, i'm 22 and live in the good ol american midwest (wisconsin). i am going to school for registered nursing. eventually i will be a certified nurse midwife, and possibly lactation consultant.



my husband and i have been married a year and a half. we conceived our son about 6 days after our wedding (woohoo honeymoon baby!) and he is now 9 months old.



breastfeeding was a very rough start with us. latching issues got the best of me, and we resigned to exclusive pumping :( i am more passionate about breastfeeding now, and all the trouble my son and i had play a very big role in why i may become a lactation consultant. exclusive pumping has been a rough road, but we are sticking it out until Holden is 12 months. i'd like to go longer but pumping is really taking its toll on me so i'm working on getting a good stash in the freezer that will hopefully last until Holden is at least 15 months. if we were actually nursing, it would be at least 2 years but i like the idea of self weaning.



everyone i know calls me the hippie momma (but i listen to metal music and am passionate about body modification)...i also tend to be AP, though we don't co sleep. i am a babywearing ADDICT, and we cloth diaper. i have been a vegetarian for 11 years, my husband eats meat but only on occasion. we plan on raising our son to eat meat but only organic and it will not be a staple in his diet.



i'm a bit of a feminist and i am most definitely a lactivist, and intactivist :)

Kim - posted on 08/29/2010

Hi I'm not sure how much longer I'll be here but thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Kim A SAHM to two sweet and adorable little girls. Claire just turned 4 on friday!! and will be starting JK this year. And Addi (Addison) is 21 months. I nursed Claire until 19 months when I was two months pregnant with my second. She "self weaned" with a little encouragement from me as I was eating nothing but bread and water (morning sickness) and my supply was nonexistant, so I didn't offer but didn't refuse. My second still asks for it once and a while at 21 months but I think we might be done soon, so its a little bitter sweet. I too live in Ontario Canada.

Marie - posted on 08/29/2010

Hiii!! :)
I'm Marie and live in Canada, Ontario. I'm 22 years old and have 4 amazing children. Willow - 5 TOMORROW! (omg :'( )Nicholas - 3 and twin baby boys Kasey and Benjamin - almost 19 months. I am a stay at home Mom and love every second (okay, there have been a few seconds that weren't so fun) :P
I exclusively BF all my children, only making it to the 6 month mark with my first 2. With the twins one self weaned a few months ago, and my other..well, he's BF'ing as I type. :D I go crazy over breastfeeding, whenever a friend of mine gets pregnant for their first time...i'm slobbering all over them with the up's of BF'ing!
When the twins start grade 1 (and i finally have the days to myself) I'm going to school for nursing. I would really love to become a midwife or work in the NICU just to be around and occasionally cuddle babies!! I also LOVE being pregnant (even when I'm past due NINE days) and love pregnant woman..(hope I'm not creeping anyone out, LOL) In the future I'd love to get pregnant with another set of twins, there's nothing like feeling 2 bodies moving around inside of you.
One thing I'd really like to do before I get pregnant with my own is gift someone who isn't able with a child. Like one of my close friends for instance. She and her husband have been chosen so many times, and at the end of pregnancy the Mother decides she can't give the baby up. Imagine :(
I also selectively vaccinate and do my homework beforehand. I consider myself very lucky, I never imagined my life taking these turns, and I couldn't imagine waking up every morning to my children's smiling faces, kisses, and "I love you's" My daughter comes up to me almost every day and says "Mom, I made a new song" I say.."What song is this?" she says "I love my mom so muuuch.....I love my Nama (grandma) so muuuch....IIII loooove myyy moooom sooo muuuuuuch!!" AAAWWWWW!!!!!

Victoria - posted on 08/29/2010

Hello! I am Victoria and I am 21. My son Liam is 6.5 months old. His dad is my current boyfriend of 2 years and we live in Maine.

I breast feed, co-sleep, cloth diaper. I have been working full time since he was 6 weeks old but my last day of work was August 27. So I will be home with him and nannying two other children.

Heather - posted on 08/29/2010

I'm Heather. I'm 35 and a mom to Jordan - 11 (nursed for 4 months), Katiana - 6 (nursed for 16 months), Alyce - 3 (nursed for 16 months), and Christiano - 18 months (still nursing, I'm ready to wean, he's not, we're going by what he's ready for LOL).

We live in Iowa. We're a bilingual household. My husband only speaks Spanish at home and I only speak English, immersing the kids in both languages at once.

What else, I'm a SAHM and have been since I was put on bedrest with my 6 year old. I'm a blogger, a digital scrapbooker, and support my husband in his quest to open his own restaurant.

I'm an attachment parenting mom who co-sleeps and wears my well, toddler at this point.

I plan on eventually, when all my children are in school, studying holistic medicine.

Djrianna - posted on 08/29/2010

Hi, I'm Djrianna. I'm 32 and married to a wonderful man who was a good friend for many years. We've been married a little over a year and have our first child, our 4 month old munchkin. I'm totally into breastfeeding and plan to EBF until he is one and then slowly introduce solids. I plan on baby-led weaning, and I'm hoping he won't wean until after he's two. I am seriously against vaccines and genital mutilation (i.e. circumcision male or female). I did have to compromise and am giving my son three vaccines, but on a selective schedule. I cloth diaper, co-sleep, and even left my job to stay home with my angel. I was a school teacher and am thoroughly disappointed with education in the states. I'm hoping to home-school, but we'll see how it goes. Needless to say my son is intact, and I'm trying to help spread the word about breastfeeding, selective or no vaccines, and intactivism.

We live in Florida and I want out. I'm trying to move us up to DC where there's a little more culture, I'd prefer to move to Europe though. I am also currently studying to become a postpartum doula, so that I can help support women and their new babies.

Ashleigh - posted on 08/26/2010

Hello! I'm Ashleigh.I live in the U.S.A. in Kentucky.I'm 27 years old and I've been married to my High School Sweetheart for 10 years.We've been together for almost 12 years.We have 4 beautiful boys.Nathaniel is 9,Lukas is 7,Levi is 2 1/2 and Noah is 7 months.I have EBF all of them upto a year and added solids then and continued BFing.Thats a little different with Noah,he DEMANDS food.His brothers have it and he expects it too.So hes on some baby food,some I make myself,and he loves gerber wagon wheels and arrowroot cookies.
I don't think formula should be used except for a true medical reason. I am a semi-tandem nurser with the two youngest.Levi weaned 2 months before Noah was born and has recently decided he wants to nurse again a couple times a day for a few minutes at a time.I have gotten some flack from family for this.However ,I feel like I am giving my son what he needs at this time.My breasts were his nourishment and comfort for 22 months,why shouldn't they be now?
I am for vaccinations,but i feel that we need to use discretion.Not all babies and children are the same so why do they give babies of all shapes and sizes the same amount of a vaccine.A baby born premature gets the same vaccine as a full term baby.I don't think that safe.I think we need to be VERY informed before we let someone inject a drug into our children. I am for the last year been very unsatisfied with our county's school system and am Now looking into Homeschooling.I have several good friends that have homeschooled for many years and i think this is what might be right for us.I'm a SAHM and a CubScout leader.OUr 2 oldest boys are Scouts.My husband works 2nd shift and isn't home much,so I sometimes feel like a single parents(with the benifits of someone else working to pay the bills)
We really enjoy camping and doing activities as a family.Our family is what matters most to us.Thats all I can think of at the moments and I have a baby yelling 'Dada' at me,lol. If you want to know anything else let me know!