Pssssst... who wants to see our bags?

Ok, I've been wanting to post this since last night... our bags!

They're not 100% finished -- I still need to add the local resources like our wonderful lactation consultants and there are a few companies who have told me they are in the process of sending us items -- but I doubt they'll ever be 100% done...  why?  Because I'd always like to be adding more sponsors and items!

Anyway, what's in them?  Here you go:


**A large tote bag with our logo (approximately 16x12x4")
**A 27 oz stainless steel water bottle with our logo
**A pair of 100% merino wool nursing pads
**A hot/cold compress filled with rice, flax seeds and lavender
**A copy of Mothering Magazine (issue 154, Breast is Best)
**A large folder of information with:

• Tips and tricks for dealing with sore nipples, engorgement, clogged ducts and mastitis
• A "Breastfed Baby" placard for the hospital
• Three handy quick reference cards for milk storage and how to know the baby is getting enough
• Nutrition 
• Pumping tips (including information on GetPumped, another local nonprofit)
• Laws regarding both workplace pumping and breastfeeding in public (in Florida)
• When to start solids
• Local resources like group meetings, LLL info and lactation consultants... online websites... great books to read...
• A gift certificate for a nursing cover (for those mommas who don't feel comfortable nursing in public without one)
• ... and more!

**An informative latch dvd
**Nipple cream from MotherLove
**Full-sized Nursing Tea from Weleda
**Lanolin sample from Lansinoh
**Sample of either Classic or Hard Rock soap from Rockin Green
**Free shipping from Milk Nursingwear (with a $75 purchase)
**Free shipping from Expressiva (first purchase only)
**Coupons for free classes from Gymboree's Play and Music centers plus 20% off coupons 
**Informational brochures from Bravado, My Brest Friend, Moby Wrap, Bye Bye with Baby, Eco Diaper Service, MotherLove, Weleda and Ameda 

Wow and that's just the beginning!  I can't wait to see who else is interested in joining our project...  Let me know what you all think!  :)


Oh, and by the way, we ARE selling some of these items to help raise funds for more bags.  The Stainless Steel Water Bottles are $12, the tote bags are $3, the wool nursing pads are $7.50 and the hot/cold compresses are $6.50 each or two for $12....   These are the current prices (if you let me know during the preorder time, you'll get the discounted price) :). 

Nursing in public stories...

Ok, readers, confession time...

I've never had a bad experience nursing in public.

My daughter is just over 7 months old and I've nursed everywhere one could possibly imagine.  Restaurants, malls, parks, festivals, grocery stores, my car (when a convenient bench and air conditioning was not to be found), various places at Disney and Universal Studios.... and I've never had a negative reaction.  Oh sure, some people might have rolled their eyes but I don't pay attention to people enough to really notice... and no, I don't use a cover.  To be fair, I tried... but I guess I don't have the manual dexterity necessary to cover myself and nurse a baby at the same time.  I think I used one twice before it just made me AND my daughter hot and angry...  plus, I have a feeling that a nursing cover just screams "I AM BREASTFEEDING A BABY, HAVE A LOOK" .  Scroll down to a previous post I made about nursing at Harry Potter at IOA and you'll see that nursing in public can be incredibly discreet... I doubt many people even knew what I was doing.

Anyway, the ONLY reactions I've ever experience have been positive.  Once, at a Boston Coffee House a guy came up to me and started talking about how his wife is 38 weeks pregnant with their first child and how she was planning a birth at one of our local birth centers.  He mentioned how nice it was to see someone nursing in public and raising awareness.  An older woman at a bbq joint let me know how wonderful it was to see younger women nursing in public -- she had a great statement that I won't be able to get quite right... something about how our country is a sad mix of puritans and cowboys.  One of the funniest NIP stories I have happened when I was nursing my daughter at a mall playground while my preschooler played.  A little girl, about 18 months, walked over to me, stood close by and stared at me.  When her mom came over, she laughed and said that she had just weaned her daughter.... we made jokes that she was 'standing in line'... I mean, heck, hers work... I'll just have some at that tap!

So, ladies (and gentlemen, too, if you want to share your wife/girlfriend/friend's story)... do you have some nursing in public stories?  Funny, good, bad, sad, whatever... share!

Proof that you really can nurse anywhere...

Hey all!  I just got from a really fantastic trip to Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure and I had to come on here and tell everyone about it.  Most of you don't know a ton about me, but I'm a huge Harry Potter fan.  Humungo.  I was one of those people who waited in line for hours to be the first one to purchase a new book.  Anyway, I've been waiting to go see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter until the kids were back in school and the weather wasn't 110 degrees outside...  and it was awesome.  Everything I could have imagined and more!

 Why is this important?  Well, I went today and I brought my seven-month-old nursling along with me and my husband took this picture...

That's me nursing Kate (with a couple of glasses of Butterbeer next to me) at Hogsmeade Station, next to the Hogwarts' Express.

And it proved one thing -- yes, Virginia, you really can nurse anywhere ;)