While there are a lot of breastfeeding books on bookstore shelves, I recently came across one worth talking about.

It’s called the ABCs of Breastfeeding. This week I spoke with the author Stacey Rubin. There are several things that make this book a little unusual.

Stacey encourages women to be confident in their ability to breastfeed, to set up breastfeeding “allies” (as an example, how to find a truly supportive Doctor), and to use visualization to help you enjoy your early experiences nursing.

You can listen to this interview here or check out the book The ABCs of Breastfeeding.

Would you ever consider giving birth at home, unassisted by a Doctor or Midwife?

While I had 3 of my babies at home, I had a Midwife present. My Midwives were wonderful and I’m so glad I had them there to assist me both during my labors and after the birth. I found their presence deeply comforting. To be fair, my 4th child almost arrived before the Midwife did – only because there was a fire at the entrance to my neighborhood and I waited so long before calling her!

Today on my podcast, I talked with a mother of 6 and author of the book Unassisted Homebirth: An Act of Love. Learn more about why couples might choose unassisted home birth. It may not be an option you choose to pursue, but it may also cause you to question some of your own ideas about birth.

We Moms are good at coming up with every excuse in the book for not exercising, to wit:

• I don’t have the money to join a gym
• I don’t have time to exercise

Well, now we don’t have an excuse. This week I talked with Tracey Mallett, author of Sexy In Six. Tracey is also a busy mom and has perfected a method of “Quick Blast” Exercise sessions that take only – you guessed it – 6 minutes to complete. And they’re done at home without fancy equipment too!

The secret to her method is the use of strength training, which produces faster results – motivating you to stick to the program. Tracey tested out her methods with dozens of moms before releasing the book and found that these women experienced changes in their bodies in 6 weeks. Check out Tracey’s book here: Sexy in Six.

Gas prices are climbing here in the U.S. and Canada too.. of course, they’re not nearly as high as our friends across the pond in England. A friend of a friend came to visit recently and told us that the Brits are paying $11 a gallon for gas. Whew!

For some people, complaining about gas prices has turned into a national pastime. But could there be a silver lining in all this? Is there anything positive about higher gas prices?

Some are forecasting the collapse of North America as we know it if gas prices keep climbing, but interestingly, others are saying there may be several benefits to this happening. For example:

Auto makers will be forced to stop producing antiquated technology.
More people will use mass transit – which will also become more efficient and convenient due to government subsidy.

I guess we’ll see. But even now, statistics show that traffic fatalities have been steadily decreasing since gas prices started their sharp increase in fall of 2007. People are driving less, and they’re slowing down.

And that, my friends, IS good news!

It’s not yet June here in Hotlanta, but I’m already getting too hot to cook. The last thing I want to do is heat up my kitchen these days. Plus, I’m trying to keep the a/c off until at least June!

I was brainstorming the other day of some ways to get dinner on the table without heating up the kitchen, and here are a couple of ideas that I came up with. Maybe these will help keep your kitchen cool too.

• Sandwich Night

Every mom should have a weekly sandwich night, just because it’s not fair to have to cook every night of the week! But another great reason to adopt sandwich night is to avoid heating up the kitchen.

Gather up your family’s favorite sandwich fixin’s and go to town. Get creative. If turkey and cheese is getting boring, how about a “salad” sandwich? This is one of my family’s favorites. We spread cream cheese on the bread, then add sliced tomato, cucumber, lettuce and a sprinkle of herbs and sea salt. Yum!

• Main Dish Salads

What’s nicer on a hot day than a cool, crisp, crunchy salad? In the summertime your body needs the additional water so give it what it’s craving by making a main dish salad.

Add cooled chicken, shrimp, tuna, beans, and hardboiled eggs for additional protein. Experiment with pasta salads too. If you need some help coming up with more ideas for hearty salads, check out this salad cookbook.

Now that the days are getting warmer you might be thinking about planning your summer trip to the beach. The good news is that traveling with a breastfed baby is super easy. Pack a few diapers and toys and go. Here are a few tips on traveling with your little one in tow.

• Nurse during takeoff. If you’re flying to your destination, nurse the baby during takeoff to make him more comfortable. You might want to bring along a baby sling so you can tuck baby in – this will also keep him close if there is any turbulence.

• Stay hydrated. It’s easy to become dehydrated when you’re traveling. Keep that reusable bottle of water close by so you can drink to thirst.

• Take frequent breaks. Baby and mom will be happier if you take frequent nursing breaks. Don’t try to cram too much into one day. Respect baby’s nap schedule. Overtired, overstimulated babies will be unhappy and difficult to nurse and settle down.

• Bring along some nursing clothing. Nursing a baby discreetly while sitting poolside can be a bit
  challenging, but thankfully there are some cute nursing swimsuits available to make it easy peasy! Nursing bra tank tops are also awesome for trips since they have a built in bra – great for those hot summer days, or you can use them as a layering piece. Being able to quickly nurse discreetly in public places makes for a much happier trip.

Have fun!

Carrie

I don’t know about you, but when I first started hearing about CFLs (compact fluorescent lightbulbs), I was pretty excited. What’s not to love about a lightbulb that lasts longer, saves energy and money on your electric bill, and claims to be more eco-friendly?

And yet. The first time I broke a bulb, I freaked out a little bit because I knew that the bulbs contained a tiny bit of mercury. Since the bulb broke when all my kids were in the same room with me, I was concerned about them breathing in the dust. I quickly got online to find out the proper way to dispose of the bulb, which ended up being pretty complicated.

I began to wonder, what’s going to happen when billions of these lightbulbs are being used across the U.S. and Canada? Is everyone really going to go to the trouble of disposing of them properly at a waste management facility?

Then I talked with a naturopath, Dr. Aurore Adamkiewicz, who is also very concerned about CFLs (this link is an mp3 download) – not only the environmental implications of tons of these lightbulbs being thrown in the trash and leaking mercury into our water and soil – but also the health effects of fluorescents. You might want to take a listen to our conversation. Aurore recommends another, safer alternative to CFLs that also happen to be more eco-friendly than incandescents, yet do not cause the potential problems that CFLs are linked with.

We women have enough on our plates. Trying to save the planet is just too much to worry about. Right?

Some people in the media would like for us to believe that the choices we make don’t really make much difference, or that since it’s too overwhelming, we shouldn’t bother.

But the truth is, baby stepping your way to greener choices not only soothes your eco conscience, it makes you feel good because it teaches you how to be more self sufficient. Making greener choices also tend to save you money. In order to avoid being overwhelmed and just giving up, Gary Hillery of the GreenPath Company encourages people to make changes slowly, and rely on systems to help you organize and remind yourself. He shares some great suggestions on baby steps to a greener path in this interview (this link is an mp3 recording), and you can even download a free pdf to save to your computer with more ideas.

Cancer. Just saying the word is pretty scary. Everyone knows someone who has died of cancer. And the last thing we moms would ever want to think about is our kids getting cancer.

Instead of being afraid though, we can take action. Every single day we make choices that either increase or decrease our cancer risk. Think of it as putting dollars in a savings account. One dollar, one choice. One buck doesn’t sound like much but those dollars add up over time.

Ditto with our choices. It may not seem like a big deal to put a houseplant next to your desk, or eat an extra serving of veggies with dinner – and yet these are two of the simple everyday choices that can reduce our cancer risk.

I spoke with the author of Avoiding Cancer One Day at a Time (this link is an mp3 recording), who shared other simple tips on decreasing your – and your kids’ – lifetime cancer risk. Listen and learn what you’re already doing right, and what else you can do to be healthier now and in the long term.

It may seem like a little thing, but the right nursing bra can truly make breastfeeding easier and help you avoid certain problems. What do I mean? Here are some examples of how the wrong bra can cause or contribute to breastfeeding challenges.

• Comfort

Generally speaking, nursing bras are made from stretchier, more breathable materials. This is good since a nursing mom’s cup size can change during the day, and she may feel hotter due to changing hormones. In addition, breathable fabrics like cotton and microfiber help wick moisture away which can help prevent thrush (a yeast infection of the breast).

While some women might be able to get away with wearing their regular bras while nursing, it’s not recommended. Why? Because nursing bras allow baby access to the nipple without putting pressure on sensitive breast tissue. Wearing too tight or ill fitting bras can lead to plugged ducts and mastitis. Some women are more sensitive to this than others, and cannot even tolerate an underwire bra while they’re nursing. Thank goodness there are a lot of soft cup nursing bras available even in larger sizes.

• Convenience

When your baby is ready to eat, it can be stressful to fumble around with a bra that can’t be opened easily with one hand. Drop cups that open quickly are much more convenient, especially when you find yourself nursing in public. When you try on nursing bras in the store, be sure you can manage them with one hand before buying. Once you’re home with baby, practice undoing your bra discreetly and latching baby on in front of a mirror. You can get so good at this that noone will know you’re nursing.

Successful breastfeeding doesn’t require a lot of gadgets (one of the advantages of nursing) , but motherhood is short so treat yourself to a well fitting nursing bra to enhance the experience. Here are a few more tips on how to choose a nursing bra.