The forced poisoning of Abraham Cherrix, the tyranny of modern medicine, and state-sponsored assaults on health freedom
http://www.newstarget.com/019617.html
NewsTarget.com printable article
Originally published July 12 2006
The forced poisoning of Abraham Cherrix, the tyranny of modern medicine, and state-sponsored assaults on health freedom
Across the nation, an increasing number of families are having their lives destroyed by the greed and arrogance of conventional medicine and its toxic cancer treatments. Families are arrested at gunpoint, jailed, prosecuted and separated from their children by Child Protective Services, all due to the demands of arrogant doctors who insist on treating cancer with conventional chemotherapy that’s so toxic, it almost kills the patient before killing the cancer cells.
Conventional medicine is so desperate to push its high-profit services onto patients that it now resorts to kidnapping children and incarcerating parents in order to enforce its “authority” over all health care decisions. But some parents are wising up, and they’re fleeing conventional cancer treatment centers to seek safer, more natural alternative treatments elsewhere. That’s where this story begins.
Another case of “Gunpoint Medicine” fiasco emerged this week as Abraham Cherrix, a 16-year-old Hodgkin’s disease sufferer, decided he didn’t want a second round of chemotherapy. The first round nearly killed him, leaving him so frail and weak that he couldn’t walk. With the support of his parents, Abraham began to educate himself about alternative cancer treatments, telling his oncologist he did not wish to experience any more chemotherapy.
As he explains, “This is my body that I’m supposed to take care of. I should have the right to tell someone what I want to do with this body. I studied. I did research. I came to this conclusion that the chemotherapy was not the route I wanted to take.”
Arrogant doctors insist on poisoning children
But freedom of choice is not allowed by the quack doctors of conventional medicine. As always happens in these cases, the doctor was apparently so enraged by the idea that any patient would not want to submit to his authority that he called the county social services which promptly had the parents arrested and acquired joint custody over the teen. Social services Gestapo members are now in court arguing that the state should force the teen to undergo yet more chemotherapy, as demanded by his doctor.
A judge will now decide Abraham’s fate. If the judge orders him back to chemotherapy, Abraham and his family will then become fugitives merely for making their own informed decisions about which type of cancer treatment they wish to pursue. Armed agents will hunt down the family, and Abraham will be effectively forced to undergo chemotherapy at gunpoint. Hence the term, “Gunpoint Medicine.”
Conventional medicine’s body count
The state, it seems, will used the threat of deadly force to market conventional medicine’s chemotherapy treatments. It is difficult to imagine a more authoritarian and tyrannical system of medicine than what we have today in the United States. Just as the Bush Administration unlawfully detains and tortures prisoners in Guantanamo (which the U.S. Supreme Court has recently ruled as blatantly illegal), the U.S. medical system will also use men with firearms to detain and torture patients with treatments that may kill them. As Abraham explains, “Another round [of chemotherapy] would kill me, literally. No joke about it. The first round of chemo almost killed me in itself. There were some nights I didn’t know if I would make it.”
Conventional medicine is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. Doctors and their drugs kill more Americans each year than died in the entire Vietnam War. FDA-approved pharmaceuticals kill more Americans each month than were killed by terrorists in the 9/11 attacks. Read Death By Medicine to get the statistics.
And yet, despite there remarkable safety lapses, ignorant doctors continue to insist that alternatives are so dangerous that parents who seek them should be charged with negligence!
Cancer industry lies and Hoxsey’s natural cancer treatments
The treatment being sought out by Abraham is the Hoxsey treatment. Widely ridiculed by the American Cancer Society (which has strong ties to chemotherapy drug companies) and the FDA (which routinely promotes Big Pharma and discredits alternatives), the history of Harry Hoxsey and his cancer therapies is a fascinating tour of the oppression, censorship and outright intimidation of conventional medicine when it comes to controlling the medical marketplace.
Hoxsey’s anti-cancer salves, based entirely on botanicals that we now know contain powerful anti-cancer compounds, actually work very well on cancer, as health authorities grudgingly admitted in court proceedings against Hoxsey decades ago. But that didn’t stop them from attacking Hoxsey as a quack, discrediting his work, having him arrested and raiding his cancer treatment clinics on multiple occasions. This is why Hoxsey eventually moved his clinic to Mexico — a country where health freedoms are still respected, unlike in the United States. Read more about Harry Hoxsey and the history of medical oppression in our article, What the American Medical Association hopes you never learn about its true history.
The U.S. is the single most oppressive health regime in the world, where prescription drugs are sold at the highest prices in the world under a monopoly-controlled drug racket enforced by the FDA. Highly corrupt regulators and non-profit disease organizations routinely attack alternative treatments, even as most of their own members are on the take from pharmaceutical companies. The degree of corruption and fraud in U.S. medicine is unprecedented in industrialized nations.
The FDA, for its part, routinely engages in tactics of oppression and tyranny. It once ordered the destruction of recipe books about stevia, a natural herbal sweetener. The FDA has also organized and conducted multiple armed, SWAT-style raids against health clinics, vitamin shops and even a pet food store. Once, the FDA raided a church and confiscated literally tons of church literature that helped people with mental health issues. Senior citizens returning from Canada were also detained and searched for legal drugs that they purchased at discounts across the Canadian border. Again and again, the FDA and the quack promoters of conventional medicine resort to the use of firearms (or the threat of using them) to enforce our modern system of monopoly medicine. It is exactly as if conventional medicine had declared war on the American people.
Some of the more recent examples of Gunpoint Medicine in the U.S. include:
Seattle mother arrested for “kidnapping” her own baby to seek alternative treatments - When a Seattle mom rescued her baby from surgeons who were about to perform a highly invasive kidney procedure on the infant, she was hunted down, arrested at gunpoint, thrown in jail and had her baby stolen from her by Child Protective Services.
State-sponsored medical terrorism: Texas authorities arrest parents, kidnap their teenage daughter, and force her through chemotherapy against her will - When parents of 13-year-old Katie Wernecke decided to refuse radiation treatment on their daughter, they were charged with neglect and had all their children kidnapped by Child Protective Services. A judge ordered the girl to undergo toxic conventional treatments before “releasing her” to her own parents.
As more parents are becoming educated about the dangers of chemotherapy and radiation (treatments that do absolutely nothing to address the underlying causes of cancer, by the way), they are increasingly seeking safer, more natural treatments across the United States and other countries. Cures for cancer do exist, and in fact they are quite numerous and well documented outside the corrupt, tyrannical system of American medicine. But in America, health authorities refuse to acknowledge their existence, and they continue to incarcerate anyone who dares to refuse Big Pharma’s toxic chemicals.
Remember: The cancer industry is a billion-dollar commercial enterprise. Cancer is so profitable to drug companies, clinics, oncologists and hospitals that acknowledging a cure for cancer would be devastating to the U.S. economy. With twenty cents of every dollar spent by our government now going to cover health care costs, our nation has, indeed, become economically invested in the continuation of disease. Cancer is too profitable to prevent or cure, which is why the quack promoters of the cancer industry don’t teach prevention or cures! They refuse to even acknowledge the ability of simple nutrients like vitamin D to slash rates of some cancers by an astounding fifty percent!
Parents: How to protect yourself from conventional medicine’s tyranny
It is now clear that that only way for parents to exercise their health freedom and choose the treatments they believe are best suited for their children is to avoid taking your children to conventional medical doctors and seek naturopathic physicians instead.
Why? Because just one doctor, enraged at the parents’ critical thinking about the failures of conventional medicine, can call Child Protective Services and have any parent charged with neglect so that their children are stolen from them by the state. It only takes one phone call from an arrogant doctor, and your entire family can be labeled fugitives.
The solution, then, is to avoid conventional doctors in the first place and seek primary care from naturopathic physicians who understand both conventional and alternative treatments. It’s not only good for your health freedom, it’s good for your health, as naturopaths actually understand nutrition and the role of the patient in the healing process (conventional MDs receive no formal education in nutrition at all). Plus, no naturopath would ever invoke neglect laws to have your children stolen from you by the state.
When will the tyranny end?
In the case of Abraham Cherrix, a judge now has the opportunity to establish a health freedom precedent and rule that parents should be able to seek alternative treatments for their children. A decision is expected within days.
Should the judge order Abraham back to the toxic chemotherapy treatments, it will just be business as usual in the United States of America, where no freedom ever gets in the way of commercial interests. The U.S. is increasingly positioned as the most intolerant nation in the world. We don’t tolerate other forms of government, other religions, or even other systems of medicine. And if you don’t wave the American flag, support the invasion of other nations and take your daily medications in this country, you’re either labeled a traitor or a fugitive; and if you have children, they will be stolen from you by the state.
State-sponsored medical terrorism is alive and well in America today, a place that was once called, “The land of the free” but is now ruled by corporations in the key areas of pharmaceuticals, chemicals and weapons.
It all makes me wonder: With all the talk about “freedom” today, didn’t anybody stop to think about the freedoms we desperately need right here at home? The true enemies of freedom, it seems, have medical degrees. They don’t wield weapons of mass destruction delivered by rockets, they wield chemical weapons delivered by injection. The day we stand up and declare our freedom from the scourge of conventional medicine and all its oppressive, authoritarian tactics will be a day of genuine freedom for Americans. Until then, we can fight all the wars in the world and yet still be enslaved by a system of medicine at home that absolutely refuses to acknowledge the existence of anything beyond what it controls and profits from.
Want to make a difference? Visit the Life Extension Foundation’s Legislative Action Center to find out how you can support health freedom and help stop tyranny in medicine.
Abraham’s website, which is still a bit sparse, is found at www.AbrahamsJourney.com.
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It also has mama and daddy shirts!
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Natural Weaning
Natural Weaning
by Norma Jane Bumgarner
The Child under Three
Because of the good results, both for their children and for themselves, parents are becoming more comfortable with allowing nursing to take its course and waiting for weaning to occur on its own. Some people choose such an approach because it makes the most sense to them, as did the mother who writes, “She hasn’t shown any signs of weaning, and I’m not going to push it. Why put a strain into a so-far carefree experience? I believe it should end as it started – naturally.” Others, like one mother of six, have more practical reasons. “She’ll have to wean herself,” she says. “I don’t have the time to worry about it, and it doesn’t matter.” For these reasons and others, more children these days have the good fortune to be born into families in which they do not have to give up nursing in anyone’s time but their own.
A few children, of course, come to a spontaneous finish to their nursing before their second birthday. For the few who leave behind this part of their babyhood very early it will be in some other behavior that parents will likely see signs of their immaturity for some time yet. They will continue to need babying, but they will need it in other ways.
One mother, disappointed when her fourteen-month-old weaned, realizes now that weaning came from her approach to breastfeeding, not an active weaning campaign. She emphasized solids, offered other food before nursing once her child was eating solids, and did not nurse her child just for comfort. As this mother found out, children who start taking other foods and liquids before four to six months may come to depend upon these foods for most of their nourishment in the second half of their first year, a time when most nurslings still thrive for the most part on mother’s milk. Often, though not always, children who take in a great deal of food and liquid other than mother’s milk at six to twelve months tend to lose interest in nursing sooner than they might have otherwise. Often they will wean from the breast and cling to other comfort objects.
Some children seem less interested in nursing and become easily distracted sometime between nine and fourteen months of age. Many advisors suggest that you take advantage of your child’s decreased interest, if in fact her interest does show a decrease, to initiate weaning. If you don’t want to nurse a toddler, this may be the least traumatic weaning time there will be for at least two or three years. But if you expect to find it easier to care for your child if she continues nursing, do not hesitate to remind her to nurse a few times daily until she outgrows this phase. If you do not want to wean, the time around nine months, a little later sometimes, may be a sort of danger time in which you may want to make sure your nursing relationship is not interrupted or disturbed.
Most children nurse without a pause through the months before and after their first birthdays, and a very few will wean in spite of efforts to the contrary, but you can nearly eliminate the possibility that your child might wean prematurely just by offering the breast a few times a day during those weeks or months.
Most youngsters around their first birthday still enjoy receiving a nice tummy full of milk when they nurse, and if other forms of feeding and sucking take the place of feedings at the breast, there will be, as a direct result, less of the milk that so many of these children look for. This is an effective way to encourage weaning, whether that is what mother has in mind or not. For many children such a pattern constitutes a satisfactory parent-initiated weaning. Also, if bottles and pacifiers are handy to offer children, mothers are likely to make use of them to put off a feeding while finishing this or that project they are working on. This also will lead to an earlier weaning, whether intended or not.
The way to achieve a natural weaning, if that is your objective, is to feed and care for your infant without contrived interferences. Nurse on demand from birth. Forget about other foods until your child shows he is ready for them. Then feed your child sensibly. Eating foods other than your milk in the first year is usually more for fun than for nourishment. Except in very hot weather, a baby who nurses often but has begun to ask for other foods does not need any more liquids besides your milk than he mooches from your cup or glass. Quenching his thirst with water or juice in a sippy cup can result in less interest in nursing. An excellent way to avoid overfeeding or over-watering your baby is to make tasty foods available and attractive, but let her feed herself, in her own way, and in her own time.
Unless you are in a situation where you absolutely cannot nurse your baby, a pacifier is no help to you or to your baby. It is mostly a nuisance that, unlike your breast, is always getting dirty or lost. There is no need for bottles, either. Both pacifiers and bottles tend to become mother substitutes and are not satisfactory replacements for the full embrace of nursing.
Without the distraction and confusion brought on by pacifiers, bottles, and too much other food too soon, your child can nurse and wean in his own time and have a chance to outgrow his baby needs so completely that he can leave them behind, whether that be in his second year, or fourth, or whenever.
Not all children give up nursing gradually. Some children seem to reach a new plateau in maturity all at once and turn their backs on this or that baby behavior seemingly overnight. One mother writes of her two- year-old:
He had always nursed to sleep, but one afternoon he got two new trucks and was afraid his brother would take them while he was asleep. When I sat down to nurse him he pushed me away, took a truck in each hand, and plopped down on the bed. He never nursed to sleep after that, though he did not wean from other nursings for several months.
It is very common for little people to toilet-train themselves all at once. A few children also wean this way, especially when they are not nursing very often anyway. Surprisingly, the events that can bring on weaning in a child who is ready may be the same ones that may cause an increase in nursing at an earlier stage. A new baby, a move to a new home, or lots of company, often threatening to very little people, may at other times be so exciting and pleasant to your older child that he will drop nursing to have more time to devote to the happy new circumstances. If your child is weaning quickly just because that is her way of doing things, and if your breasts do not become overfull, then let the matter rest and go on to other ways of being with your child.
After Three
Most of my experience is with children who weaned between three and four, but clinical observations’ and research suggest that a completely child-led weaning is unlikely to take place before the child turns four.’ Mothers in East Bhutan, where nursing well into childhood is socially acceptable, say that self-weaning usually occurs between three and five years.’ In any case, weaning may come dramatically enough that your child will brag about it as one little girl did, telling her grandmother, “I’m going to be a big sister when I’m almost four – and now I’m weaned!” Or it may be so gradual that no one will know for sure when it happened.
For most children in this age range weaning is a slow, unpatterned change in behavior, so unpredictable that it is not always even headed in the same direction. At times, maybe even for long periods, your child will nurse frequently and intensely. When conditions change, either around your child or as a result of his own growth, he will begin to prefer other things over nursing – playing, eating, sleeping, or even cuddling with you sometimes. Then things may change again for him so that he needs to be at your breast almost as often as before.
As the weeks go on, though, there will be movement, whether you notice it or not, away from many periods of frequent nursing toward more periods of less nursing. In some children this movement is regular and swift. In others it is so erratic and unpredictable that it is easy to understand how people come to believe some children would never wean without urging. Some children even wean from one breast long before the other.
Such is the unpredictable course of an uncoerced weaning. At some age, very young or “shockingly old,” your child will not find nursing so absolutely essential to her well-being. And you may even miss it, as did a mother in India, who found herself unable to answer her e-mail messages as soon as she had gotten used to:
You know how things get with a busy four-year-old around the place! Sadly he’s stopped automatically latching on when he sees me sit down at the computer, and pulls me off to play instead!
Your child may be distracted from nursing by anything and everything. You can see that, though he may have some months to go yet, he is on his way toward a time when he will no longer need you in this exact way.
Is child-led weaning completely child-led? Yes and no, depending on your definition. You will probably respond, and appropriately so, to your child’s increasing distractibility as he matures. He may pull you to your favorite nursing spot, sit you down, latch on, and then instantly abandon you to chase his sister or watch a TV commercial. When this has happened several times, you will very naturally and with hardly a thought respond less quickly to his requests to nurse, at least when he seems to be asking rather superficially, and when the world around the two of you is busy and interesting. In this way, even without planning it, you play your part in his weaning. You are following his cues and your own common sense.
You will probably come to a time when you yourself are impatient with nursing. If you have been enjoying loving your child this way, you may be puzzled at the change in your feelings. No doubt your impatience will flare at times and subside at others, depending on what is going on in the rest of your life. Some of what you may be feeling, though, is part of natural weaning and an indication that you are gradually outgrowing the relationship. You too are growing toward being ready when the time for weaning comes.
In time – how much time no one can say – your child will abandon all but a very few favorite nursing times, usually the times when he is falling asleep or first waking up in the morning. When you are down to these few times, your milk production will dwindle. Then some children who have especially liked the milk will quit nursing in favor of a breakfast or bedtime snack. Others continue to enjoy one or more of these special nursing times for a long time yet, dropping them slowly until a few days, then a few weeks, go by with no request to nurse.
Every spontaneous weaning is unique, however, so it is impossible to guarantee anything about it except that it will happen.
Resuming Nursing after Weaning
For most children before age three or so, weaning, spontaneous or mother-initiated, is all but final when two or three weeks have passed without your child’s tugging your blouse. After this amount of time most of these little ones do not ask again, or if they do, they find they have forgotten how to suckle. “Is it broken?” one little guy asked when he could not remember after a year just how to go about nursing.
Once in a while someone suggests that your milk may become “poison” or “spoiled” if your child does not nurse for some certain amount of time. This is an old wives’ tale, one that is heard in many parts of the world. In rural Zimbabwe, for instance, mothers are told that if milk remains in the breast for a whole day, it will hurt the child.’ But you can be assured that milk doesn’t spoil in the breasts any more than blood does in the veins. Your child can nurse safely after any interval.
Occasionally a child will ask to nurse again after you have regarded her as totally weaned, but most forget how. A mother who was sad because her body just would not cooperate with her son’s need to nurse during her pregnancy wrote:
I still have regrets because I see many LLL moms nursing their two-and-a-half-year-old sons, and I know that if I hadn’t gotten pregnant I’d be nursing my son too. I think it would help because he doesn’t talk, and it would be a great way to stay connected to him. He has tried to nurse since the new baby was born two months ago, but he doesn’t remember how. I let him try whenever he wants (it’s not very often).
The most likely circumstance for such requests is when you have a new baby, but also once in a while when a child discovers that mom is pregnant. Or your child may be upset about something, as in this situation recalled by the mother of a now grown daughter:
It was a disastrous time ending up with a breast abscess and an angry weaning at about two-and-a-half. She missed nursing so much though that we gradually started up again, nursed through a pregnancy and tandem nursed. She finally weaned by contract a couple months after her sixth birthday.
There is no reason that you can’t allow your child to try nursing again, even though you have probably told all the relatives he is weaned. Chances are that he is weaned. A request to nurse from a child who has not nursed for a while is usually a request for reassurance and acceptance. You may not be able to discover any explanation for your child’s desire to return to nursing other than the mysterious workings of his growing little mind. It feels good to a little child to know that if he ever did need you again that way, you would be there for him with open arms. One mother says of her weaned twins that they both had to try nursing several times when the new baby came, but gave it up after a few tries. It is much easier for a little person to wean himself if he knows that his decision does not have to be final.
One mother had nothing but positive feelings when her child wanted to nurse again a few times after over a year without asking for the breast: “I never realized just how important and memorable those nursing days were to her and that she would actually remember at all. This was her ’thank you’ for the loving patience and time I took when it was needed.” A brief return to the mostly outgrown way of loving can be a chance for mother and little one together to enjoy a bit of reminiscing.
Another mother writes of a child who resumed nursing – sort of:
When our daughter was about eleven months, [her two-year-old brother] started to become very interested in what nursing was. He shocked me one day by pretending to nurse on one breast while his sister was at the other. I didn’t try to discourage him because by now I had read a little about tandem nursing and I hoped if he was to start nursing again after two years that it would help our relationship. I had already noticed the difference between my two children’s behavior that I attribute to our nursing relationship. My son is a very energetic boy who likes to tell me “No!” as often as possible while my daughter is helpful and calm most of the time.
Now that she is fifteen months and he is two-and-a-half years old, he still continues to pretend but doesn’t actually latch on. He even tells Baby, as he calls his sister, that it is time to nurse and he directs her to the breast he chooses. I am kind of sad that I didn’t nurse him as long as I have nursed his sister but it is wonderful that he has joined our breastfeeding relationship.
For a child who is apparently weaned to actually resume nursing for a while, sometimes for no reason that you can perceive, might make you feel panicky, especially if you are very happy for your child to relate to you in a different way. Yet it will be helpful to your child for you to go along with him if you can. Just as we adults sometimes make a mistake in deciding to wean our children too soon, occasionally very small growing people make mistakes in deciding to wean themselves too soon. There is a reason, no doubt, whether we can see it with our adult eyes or not, that your child needs to nurse again for a while.
Although it may seem like it at first, you and your child are not going back to the beginning of the weaning process. After a few days of adjustment your child is not likely to nurse any more than do other children his age. He is not returning to babyhood, but picking up a behavior that is appropriate for his age. He will nurse and wean also in > way appropriate to his age – maybe in the next few days, or maybe some months hence.
Weaning need not be any more dramatic and final than toilet- training. We are not surprised when a child who is supposedly toilet- trained forgets and “backslides” for a while. It should be no more disconcerting that a weaned child would remember and backslide when he needs to. In a household with a new baby, being welcome at mother’s breast, if he feels the need, can be quite a help in overcoming a child’s feeling of displacement. There is no harm done by stepping back to baby things for a while – probably considerable good in the long run.
Spontaneous Weaning in Children over Four
We commonly hear that most younger children do not ask to nurse again after they are weaned because they forget about nursing. This may be true, though I am not sure. It is certain, however, that children over four (or even over three sometimes) do not forget. As I have said, many of them will remember nursing as long as they live. So it should not be surprising that children over four are notorious for going about weaning in an irregular way. Many seem to give a lot of consideration to weaning. One little girl, asked when she would wean, thought about it and then replied, “Oh, probably I will try when I’m five, ’cause you can’t come to school – can you?!”
Children usually wean at a time that is easy for them, when their lives are otherwise stable. From their behavior it is often evident that they are making quite a rational choice for so young a person. Some children tell their parents that they are weaning because they themselves decided to do so, and it is easy to see from watching other children that this is the case with them as well. In some children the process that leads to weaning is not readily apparent; but this is probably not because it is so much different for them, but because they are children who keep their own counsel about it.
In the months that follow a decision to wean (or at least what appears to be such a decision) many children encounter rough spots that cause them to reconsider. These times can worry you if you have regarded the child as weaned. But you have not lost all the progress you have made toward weaning. A child this age who goes weeks or months without nursing is definitely working on growing up. When she asks to nurse again after such a long time you can be sure that she has just come to a time in her life which she can handle better if she can still nurse a bit. Once she works her way past it, she will get back to the business of weaning.
Many mothers are quite hesitant to say that their over-fours are weaned, even after months without nursing. So often it seems that the minute mother pronounces her child weaned, he needs to nurse again.
Needless to say, spontaneous weaning with older nurslings can be gradual indeed!
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References
1 Behler, E, and Ingstad, B. The struggle of weaning: Factors determining breastfeeding duration in East Bhutan. Social Science and Medicine 1996; 43(12):1809.
2 Cosminsky, S., Mhloyi, M, and Ewbank, D. Child feeding practices in a rural area of Zimbabwe. Social Science and Medicine April 1993; 36(7):944.
3 Lawrence, R. A. and Lawrence, R. M. Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical Profession. 5th edition. St. Louis: The C. V. Mosby Company, 1994; 345.
4 Sugarman, M. and Kendall-Tackett, K. A. Weaning ages in a sample of American women who practice extended breastfeeding. Clinical Pediatrics 1995; 34(12):646.
Reprinted from Mothering Your Nursing Toddler (Revised Edition) with the kind permission of the author and La Leche League International © 2000.
Is Your Baby On A Nursing Strike?
Is Your Baby On A Nursing Strike?
by Alisa Ikeda
Babies are notorious for fooling their moms into thinking they’re weaning. Beginning at around three to five months or later, some babies abruptly refuse to nurse. Known as a “nursing strike,” periods during which babies stop breastfeeding for several days can be caused by any number of factors, all temporary and surmountable:
A cold or stuffy nose, which inhibits breathing while nursing
An ear infection, which causes pressure or pain while sucking and swallowing
Discomfort from teething, a cold sore, or an infection (such as thrush)
A fever or a heat wave that makes bodily closeness less appealing
Fear that Mom may yell as she did last time he tested those new chompers on her
A newfound preference for bottles (if your child is given frequent bottles, he may like the faster milk flow, have nipple confusion, or be reacting to a reduction in Mother’s milk supply)
Overuse of a pacifier, which may meet some of his sucking needs but leave him uninterested in the breast
A major disruption in routine, such as moving or your returning to work after a maternity leave
An unusually long separation from Mom (a business trip or a weekend away)
Reduced milk supply - if you’ve been stressed out, your supply may be reduced
A change in the taste of Mom’s milk, caused by the resumption of your periods, spicy or unusual foods, a vitamin or drug, or a new pregnancy
A new deodorant, soap, or perfume applied on or near the breasts
Strong let-down - the milk may be letting down too quickly for Baby’s liking, which may make him frustrated and refuse to latch on
Poor nursing habits - at around four months, when a baby begins to realize life is happening around him while he nurses, he may be squirmy or position himself awkwardly at the breast
Too much to do - busy six- to nine-month-olds are easily distracted and often opt to “snack” at the breast over settling down for a full meal
And sometimes for no perceptible reason at all!
Nursing strikes can be trying to say the least. Mothers feel understandably anxious, rejected, and panicky about whether their babies are starving themselves. It’s easy to jump to the conclusion that a baby who doesn’t want to nurse is weaning himself. But if the refusal to nurse is sudden, it’s not a sign of readiness to wean. A baby who is itching to wean will almost always do so gradually, over a period of weeks, months, or even years. And it is highly unlikely that a baby under a year old will self-wean.
If your baby is on strike, now is a good time to reaffirm your commitment to breastfeeding. With patience and support, you can overcome the setback within five or six days: Offer the breast frequently and give your baby lots of skin-to-skin contact. If you suspect strong letdown is the culprit, try expressing some milk before feeding; Visit the pediatrician to rule out any medical causes (such as an ear infection or thrush); Express your milk by hand or pump as often as your baby had been nursing, which will help prevent plugged ducts or engorgement, and will provide your baby with the milk he needs; Don’t be tempted to supplement (baby won’t starve himself-really!) and do keep him nourished by offering expressed milk in a cup, a spoon, or an eyedropper (if you must use a bottle as a last resort, opt for a slow-flow nipple); Relax-it’ll help maintain or build up your milk supply and calm your baby; Try nursing when your baby is sleepy and in an environment free from distraction (a quiet, dimly lit room); Vary your nursing position; Try nursing in a rocking chair or while walking around, as the movement may be soothing to your baby; And see your lactation consultant or contact La Leche League for advice and support.
Keep in mind that your nursing relationship will evolve over the months. It’s natural for babies to have hungry phases and less hungry phases just as you do. And breastfeeding patterns change as babies move into various developmental stages (remember back when your now grinning, kicking, busybody of a nurser barely opened an eye when at the breast?).
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For Further Reading: Bumgarner, Norma Jane. Mothering Your Nursing Toddler - Revised Edition. La Leche League International, 2000.
Alisa Ikeda is a writer and mother of two in Marin County, California. Visit her website at www.alisaikeda.com.
Tandem Nursing: The Challenges and the Rewards
Tandem Nursing: The Challenges and the Rewards
by Tamra Orr
Nursing a baby is one of motherhood’s greatest joys, but as most moms would agree, it requires dedication and encouragement. Tandem nursing (breastfeeding siblings) needs these elements many times over. It requires devotion and support on a daily, sometimes even an hourly, basis. While its rewards are wonderful, it can be one of the toughest parenting decisions a mother will ever make.
Nursing two is often tiring and stressful - especially when the children want to nurse at the same time. “As soon as I would sit down to nurse my newborn, my toddler would come running for my other breast,” sighs a mother of four. “On the good days, it was cute, but on the bad days it was exasperating.” Many toddlers want to nurse simultaneously for emotional reassurance while others do it simply because a newborn’s frequent feedings remind them of it so often. Still others show a marked increase in their interest because after months of a diminished, even meager milk supply, mother has an abundance. Whatever the reason, it takes a great deal of understanding and patience on the mother’s part.
Despite the sincere reasons behind tandem nursing, many dedicated mothers find themselves feeling overwhelmed. “Nursing two was one of the hardest things I have done as a mother,” admits one mom. “It was also one of the most rewarding,” she adds. But this mom just took it in stride: “I tandem nursed three different times and didn’t find it, in and of itself, overwhelming. I think having two young children is always overwhelming; nursing at least provides one more tool to satisfy their needs. And if the older one is nursing, you certainly know where she is!” Breastfeeding siblings brings closeness and joy.
The reasons women choose to tandem nurse vary from mother to mother, but they tend to focus on three overlapping ideals.
An easier transition
“Bringing a baby into a family makes changes for everyone,” says a mother of three, “and it can be especially difficult for older siblings, who may feel jealous or insecure. By continuing to nurse my toddler,” she adds, “I could help her feel close and loved.” Another mother of four who tandem nursed for two years agrees: “By nursing my 18-month-old son, I felt connected to him and his new sister. There was no feeling of pushing him out of the nest.” Young children can find a new baby threatening, and typically will struggle with sharing mama, her love, and her time. By maintaining the close nursing relationship, the toddler will likely feel more nurtured and comforted as he adapts to his new sibling.
Closeness of siblings
“I chose to tandem nurse,” explains one mother, “because of the bond I knew it would create between my children. I would watch their eyes looking at each other and their fingers touching. It was beautiful.” A mother who nursed her newborn and her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter remembers, “I was overwhelmed by the beauty of those two faces gazing up at me with such peace and pleasure. My toddler would reach out and stroke my son, and it brought tears to my eyes. How could sharing something like this not bond them together?”
No abrupt or premature weaning
Perhaps the most compelling reason women choose to tandem nurse is to avoid having to wean a child before he/she is ready. Any mother who has nursed past one year has already learned to recognize the need in her child to keep breastfeeding and probably is aware of the psychological damages an unwanted, premature weaning can cause. Ending an active nursing relationship just before the arrival of a new baby can be particularly stressful or upsetting to a child. As one mother explains, “I felt I just had not given my son a good enough start when his sister came along. He still needed that special time with me.” Another echoes her feelings. “My daughter had a hard time accepting her new brother. I just couldn’t imagine adding to her struggle by taking away one of the things that brought her the most comfort and security. It seemed heartless.”
Making Tandem Nursing Work
1. Always position the baby first, and then let your (more flexible) toddler arrange him - or herself around the baby.
2. Make sure the baby gets the chance to nurse on the fuller side first. Your toddler needs this special time of closeness, but unlike your infant, is not depending solely on breastmilk for nutrition.
3. Use pillows under your arms and/or behind your back to make it more comfortable as you nurse and cuddle two.
4. Don’t attempt to tandem nurse without strongly considering a family bed arrangement. Leaving your warm bed to feed one is hard enough; two would be exhausting. Utilizing co-sleeping will greatly increase your opportunity to rest and sleep - not to mention all its other benefits!
5. Attend La Leche League meetings for empathy and ideas.
6. Find a friend who has either tandem nursed or appreciates the reasons you have chosen to do it. You need her voice on the phone on the rough days!
7. Enlist you spouse’s or partner’s support as much as possible. You need someone close to you to both love and support you, plus lessen the other demands on you so you are free to nurse. Be sure to communicate clearly how you are feeling and specifically what you need.
8. Get as much rest as possible to help renew body and spirit. Doze while you are nursing, and cat nap whenever you can. Drink lots of fluids and eat healthy foods. You are providing calories and nutrition for three!
9. If simultaneous nursings are stressful for you, look for other things to do with your toddler while the baby is being fed. Try reading a book, watching a movie, coloring, sharing a snack, or any other activity that keeps you close without involving nursing.
10. Most important, hang in there! “It can be hard,” acknowledges one mom, “but you will never regret your decision.” Another admits, “Some days were really tough for me, and I got tired of having a child at my breast every five minutes. Just when I thought I had had it, though, I would take a deep breath and gaze into two pairs of gentle eyes and be reminded of why I have made all of my parenting decisions - because these are the most precious creatures in the world to me, and I want them to have the best possible start they can have in life. Tandem nursing is one step in that journey, one I would never have wanted to miss.”
Tandem nursing is indeed much like many other aspects of parenting - harder, more stressful, and more tiring than you could ever have expected. But like the others, it is part of providing your children with the best you are capable of giving them. Breastfeeding siblings brings closeness and joy to both you and your children, and it’s worth every moment - the difficult and the blissful. They will pass down the nurturing legacy for generations to come.
Tamra Orr and her husband, Joseph, are the parents of Jasmine, Nicole, Caspian, and Coryn. Tamra is the author of A Parent’s Guide to Homeschooling and After Homeschool: Fifteen Homeschoolers Out in the Real World. She is a full-time freelance writer living in the Pacific Northwest. Her family unschools together and all teach each other something new every day.