CLOSED: Anniversary Giveaway--Felt Midwife Play Set from Mama's Felt Cafe and One Month Supply of Oatmeal Butterscotch Lactation Cookies from Mommy's Milkin Cookies ($83 Value, Cookies US Only)

It's so hard to believe that a whole 12 months has passed since I open my Etsy shop last February. This has been an amazing creative journey that has taken me places I haven't expected. My felt tamales and enchiladas are in a Children's Museum in New Hampshire. My Mama's Milk Carton has been in the presence of  midwifery great Ina May Gaskin. I've shipped items as far as Australia, Spain, Nova Scotia, Sweden and all over the United States and have Facebook fans from 19 countries around the world. 

To celebrate this Etsyversary, I wanted to giveaway my most cherished item, the one closest to my heart. Enter this oatmeal and chocolate colored Midwife Play Set. You can read all about the pieces of this midwife kit HERE. 

This makes the perfect gift for the midwife, doula or birth junkie in your life or a great way to introduce new siblings to the tools of a midwife. I also donate a portion of the sale of this set to Citizens For Midwifery. 

To sweeten the deal (and stay on an oatmeal theme), Katie of Mommy's Milkin Cookies is providing a one month supply (3 dozen) of her scrumptious Oatmeal Butterscotch Lactation Cookies. These yummy treats contain 6 galactagogues known for boosting milk supply and are delicious even if you aren't lactating. I recently sent a couple dozen as a gift to a girlhood friend who is pumping for her micro preemie NICU twins. If you are interested in ordering some of Katie's cookies, you can contact her on Facebook or at MommysMilkinCookies (at) gmail.com. Thanks, Katie!

You can also save 20% off an order at the Mama's Felt Cafe Etsy Shop with coupon code ANNIVERSARY at check-out in the month of February. 

To enter the giveaway, just use this handy, dandy Rafflecopter entry form. Contest will run from February 8th to midnight, February 15, 2012, EST. Winner will be notified by email and must respond within 48 hours or a different winner will be selected.


 NOTE: Due to their perishable nature, the lactation cookies will be shipped in the US only. The Midwife set is available to international entrants. If the winner selected is  a US resident, they will win both prizes. If the winner is outside the United States, they will receive the Midwife set and a small set of FELT "lactation" cookies hand sewn by me. A second winner in the US will then be chosen to receive the Mommy's Milkin Cookies prize. If you have any questions, please email me: Mama(at)mamasfeltcafe.com. 

Thank you so much to everyone who has lent their support to Mama's Felt Cafe. I wouldn't be here without you!


Happy Winning!

~Brittany

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mama's Milk, Ina May, Birth Matters, Oh My!

This set of a Mama's Milk carton and bottle cozy will soon be in the presence of midwifery greatness. They are heading out to Health Foundations Birth Center, just in time for a special fundraiser to benefit Mama Latte, a non-profit organization that collects and distributes donor breast milk in Minnesota and throughout the Midwest. 

The special guest at this fundraiser is Ina May Gaskin, a world renown midwife and author. Her books include Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding and her most recent, Birth Matters. I still remember the much loved copy of Spiritual Midwifery sitting on my mother's bookshelf for many years, it's hippy-dippy blue cover unmistakable. The stories in Guide to Childbirth helped me prepare for the birth of my own son. Ina May's work is an inspiration and I'm thrilled that my items will even been in the same room with her, displayed at this milky event.  

For further reading about Ina May Gaskin, please visit: http://www.inamay.com/

For tickets to the fundraiser dinner in St Paul, Minnesota November 14, 2011 please see: http://healthfoundations-birthmatters.eventbrite.com/

and for more information about the fabulous Health Foundations Birth Center, please visit: http://www.health-foundations.com/

~Brittany

World Milksharing Week~On Surrogacy, Milk Sharing, and Raising a Village

As the first ever World Milk Sharing Week comes to a close, I wanted to share this story of one mom's experience with milk sharing. I'll warn you to grab a tissue now. Not only is this woman a milk donor, she is also a surrogate mother, twice over. What an extraordinary, selfless gift to give another person! Thank you, Lisa, for sharing your words and your journey to inspire others. 

***

Here is my milk-sharing story, it's mainly one of a donor, but I have a little recipient that was carried close to my heart as well.  <3

This story begins as a milk donor to a milk bank, when after the birth of my first surrogate daughter in July of 2008- I was a gestational surrogate to gay dads.  I had nursed my own son for two years, and a friend's child who had died due to necrotizing enterocolitis shortly before I gave birth. Basically, the gut gets tears and becomes infected- his was severe and he needed breast milk. His mom's milk had dried up before they found out about his illness, and they never could afford milkbank milk.  After Josh's son's death, I thought I would try pumping and donating, in the hopes that it might help some other baby.

Well, after A- my surro-daughter- was born, I did pump and donate, but I hadn't heard of milk sharing yet.  I had a falling out with her fathers, and I am convinced that the act of pumping- the hormones, the "forced down time", and the act of helping someone else- really helped me deal with that letdown of our relationship, and normalized my hormones at a much healthier pace than had I not pumped.  I had cross-nursed other friends' children when my son was young, just out of convenience for all of us, and my son Kenny had been cross-nursed by other women.  It seemed natural and right.  For six months, into the beginning of 2009, I pumped and donated to Mother's Milkbank of Ohio.  After weaning, I went on with my life, and eventually pursued a second surrogacy.

In summer 2010, I met J and H, another set of gay dads. After getting to know each other, we matched and decided to pursue surrogacy together.  J and H wanted a traditional surrogate, and I wanted to do a traditional surrogacy, to avoid all the hormones and risks of an IVF pregnancy.  I had already decided I was going to pump again, because it had been such an overall good in my life previously, and this time I was educated in the problems around milk banks, and the milk sharing that was going on (what a big difference just a few years makes!).  H and J hesitatingly brought up nursing.  They wanted the best for their child, and knew that breast is best- or normal, as I remind them.  Without thinking about it, I immediately said yes.  It seemed like a great way to ease pumping problems, by nursing first and getting a good start on supply. The possibility of closure was a draw, as well as knowing that I would be pumping for a definite person, not just a pool or stranger.

Fast forward to the summer of 2011, when we were nearing the end of our pregnancy, and preparing for the Big Day.  My friend T had recently given birth to surrogate twins, and had milk stashed from after the twins went home with their parents.  She and the parents had not wanted to ship, because of the cost, so she simply pumped until they left, then weaned.  Her stock was available, and she agreed to send it to us, so that H and J's baby could have milk until I had a stash to ship to them, should they so choose.  After E's birth, I nursed her until she went home with her dads, and they went home and waited for me to ship some as soon as I could.  That was in July of this year.  Since then, we have been pumping and shipping, with one "courier" delivery when my family and I drove to visit the new family in late August.

Also in August, my sister committed suicide because of the extreme financial difficulty she and her husband have gone through.  Pumping this time around has served a similar purpose in my life by giving me something to work for, and concentrate on, instead of my own pain.  The added boost of oxytocin- the "love" hormone, and the need to take time for myself have also helped my affect lately.

My extra milk has gone to a local mom who does not produce enough milk, and a batch is being delivered this weekend to another mom further in state that needs it.  All in all, I've been blessed to have created two new families via surrogacy, two other families via egg donation in the past, and helped to feed even more children for varying amounts of time.  At the same time, all of them have helped me through some of my darker hours, given me purpose when I needed it, and helped me to get back on my feet emotionally.  Pumping, donating, milk sharing, and cross nursing not only help the recipient of the precious liquid of life, but also greatly benefits the giver of this substance, in ways that we can't even think of until we are in that position.  Thank you, Human Milk 4 Human Babies, for educating and facilitating this connection of people and sustainability of economies.  Thank you, recipients of all kinds, for allowing us donors to be a part of your child's life.  As cliche as it sounds, it really does take a village to raise a child, and it takes families of all kinds to raise a village.  <3

Happy Milk Sharing!


~Brittany

Wordless Wednesday--Breastfeeding Photo Shoot

This photo of me nursing my then 13 month old was taken last August by Nevada Heirloom Photography.  Each year, the state of Nevada puts out a calendar of nursing mothers to help promote and support breastfeeding. These calendars are sent to OB offices, hospitals, WIC offices and similar places. A local lactation consultant group had arranged the photo shoot, which was a great success. I submitted my photo for the calendar, which didn't make it in, but my son and I are on the state breastfeeding website.

This year, a photo shoot was planned but could not accommodate moms who had participated last year. Since there were several mothers who were still nursing, myself included, I wanted to organize another photo shoot. I enlisted the photography skills of friends Kristin and Yuliya  and sent Facebook invites to all the local lactating women I knew. Here are some of the photos of my family and a few from the other mamas who were kind enough to participate. Thanks so much to Yuliya (you can see more of her photography at She Suggests) and Kristin (view her Flickr stream here) for all their hard picture-taking work!

His smile melts my heart

My Little Family


Thanks to the other mama's for sharing their photos, too!

Cristina and Cillian

Danna and Leili

Helen, Mila and Sara

Melinda and Kaelyn

Cali and Richelle

Heather and Isaiah

~Brittany

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I’m celebrating World Breastfeeding Week with Natural Parents Network!

You can, too — link up your breastfeeding posts from August 1-7 in the linky below, and enjoy reading, commenting on, and sharing the posts collected here and on Natural Parents Network.

(Visit NPN for the code to place on your blog.)

Just Announced--World Milk Sharing Week: September 24-30, 2011

Design by Dani Arnold-McKenny

You may be familiar with World Breastfeeding Week ( August 1-7, 2011), which started in 1991 to celebrate, support, and raise awareness for breastfeeding.

 Now, the Facebook based milk-sharing group Human Milk 4 Human Babies, announced today that World Milk Sharing Week will be celebrated this year September 24-30. You can read more about HM4HB founder Emma in my post here. For more information, please see this press release: 

Global Facebook milksharing network launches WORLD MILKSHARING WEEK 2011

Human Milk 4 Human Babies Global Network is ecstatic to announce the launch of the inaugural World Milksharing Week, to be held September 24 – 30, 2011, at hundreds of locations around the globe.

The incredible sense of community that is created among donor and recipient families who partake in milksharing is to be celebrated. Dani Arnold-McKenney, who has been an administrator of the milksharing Facebook page in southwestern Ontario, Canada, since the global network started last October, says, "it's a myth that we are all about anonymous milk drops in parking lots. Our donors and recipients support each other and learn from each other. We've had milk recipients rebuild their own milk supplies and turn around and become donors. I have seen milksharing friendships grow watched bonds of motherhood bloom between mothers who didn't know each other a mere few weeks before."

Emma Kwasnica, founder of Human Milk 4 Human Babies Global Network, says "Breast milk is not a scarce commodity, it's a free-flowing resource. With the advance of social media, women who are willing to share their breastmilk can now easily connect with families who need milk for their children. We at HM4HB are thrilled to see women and families asserting their autonomy to do what is healthy, normal and ecological. Families are making informed choices to share breastmilk and babies everywhere are thriving as a result."

World Milksharing Week is to be held annually during the last week of September. There are a vast number of events your community can organise: hosting online discussions, a picnic in the park, an informational gathering at your work place, or a celebration at a favourite milksharing-supportive locale. 

Individuals and groups who wish to host an event this year can register at www.worldmilksharingweek.org. All who encourage milksharing and who support donor and recipient families are invited to participate.

HM4HB has a presence in 54 countries around the world. There are 130 Facebook community pages and over 20,000 community page members. These virtual communities are run by 300 hardworking, multicultural administrators who lovingly and graciously volunteer their time to keep HM4HB continually focused on its mission, vision and values. 

~Brittany

Emma and the (Mama's) Milk of Human Kindness

Six months ago today, Emma Kwasnica started a milky revolution. Using Facebook as a platform to connect mothers with extra breast milk to families in need of donor milk, Emma created the Human Milk 4 Human Babies Global Network. This network is now run by more than 280 volunteer administrators, overseeing 130  Facebook pages, representing more than 50 countries.  

I made this Mama's Milk carton and breastfeeding symbol cookie as a thank you to Emma. Her tireless dedication to ensuring that all babies have access to mama's milk, even if that milk comes from anther mother, has changed lives and helped families all over the world. 

For more information about the Human Milk 4 Human Babies Global Network, please visit: http://www.hm4hb.net/

You can also find HM4HB on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hm4hb

To find your local HM4HB chapter, check out: http://www.hm4hb.net/communities.html

For my local Nevada friends, you can find the HM4HB page for Nevada here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Human-Milk-4-Human-Babies-Nevada/132930400109157

For a heart warming story of milk sharing, please read about baby Joshua: http://www.drmomma.org/2010/12/joshuas-story-why-i-chose-another.html  

To make your own Mama's Milk carton, the tutorial can be found here: http://www.mamasfeltcafe.com/2011/02/how-to-make-mamas-milk-carton-for-your.html 

~Brittany

Not So Wordless Wednesday--Mama's Milk and Bodily Integrity

Last week, March 28- April 2, was Genital Integrity Awareness Week. On March 30, 1997, female circumcision was made illegal in the United States. Unfortunately, almost a decade and a half later, American boys are still not protected from genital cutting, despite this gender inequality being unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. I spent the week sewing 7 sets of my Mama's Milk Cartons and Activism Cookies. These sets are going to be at the Peaceful Parenting booth at the Child & Baby Expo of Iowa on April 9th. I hope these toys will raise a bit of awareness for expo goers and others. I feel very strongly that everyone should have a right to their whole, intact body from birth. 

For more information on genital integrity, please check out these links:

http://www.drmomma.org

http://www.thewholenetwork.org

http://www.intactamerica.org

http://www.savingpenises.org

 http://www.nocirc.org

http://www.mgmbill.org

For more information on breastfeeding and circumcision, please see: 

http://www.cirp.org/library/birth/

http://www.circumstitions.com/Nursing.html

http://www.bmj.com/content/326/7404/0.6/reply#34057

http://www.drmomma.org/2009/12/effects-of-circumcision-on.html

~Brittany