My working/breastfeeding life
At 6:30, my day starts. My daughter and my husband are still sleeping. Outside it is still dark. I lie down next to my little daughter who is about four months old. I caress her gently and she looks for my breast. She finds it and starts to eat. The day breaks most peacefully and joyfully. She drops off to sleep again. I get myself ready for work. She is still asleep. I come to her side and I take her into my arms gently. She gradually wakes up. I wash and dry her and put her clean clothes on. I put on my Pagne Parisien wrap. I have to prepare breakfast now. I try to be with her for a maximum of time. The wrap helps me. I can be with her even while I am doing house keeping. My hands are free even as I am with her all the time.
Just before leaving I breastfeed her again. It's time to go. She is comfortable inside the wrap. No coldness can touch her. She is well protected. As soon as the front door closes behind us, she asks to nurse. She knows she can. The way to the nanny's place takes 20 minutes. She is on my breast all the way. She is filled. I say good bye to my little daughter.
I miss her so much already. In the morning, I pump my breast milk at 10:30 for 10 to 15 minutes. No problem. I think of my daughter. I feel connected with her even though we are physically separated. At 12:00, I go to the nanny's place. I put on the wrap and go out with her. She looks for my breasts. She is hungry. She eats peacefully inside the wrap. I buy my lunch and eat it with my friends. She continues to drink, drink, and sleep.... I feel so happy being with her. In the afternoon, I pump my milk at 14:00 and 17:30. Totally, each day I pump from 220 to 300 mls. At 18:30, I pick up my daughter. I put the wrap on. She immediately looks for my breast. She wants to sleep. She is tired. She drinks and sleeps while I am walking and doing some shopping for tonight. She is calm. Nobody knows that I am breast feeding. The wrap is a nest for her. It's the place where she can be fed and comforted. Warm and full of milk. When I get home, I prepare dinner with her inside the wrap. I breastfeed her but I am free. She is in the wrap safely. My husband does not like the wrap. He thinks it's too much work. He does not want to put it on. It's a shame. He does not understand breastfeeding either. He thought all mothers pump their milk and give it to their babies in a bottle. I laughed at the idea. I have tried to help him understand breastfeeding but haven’t been successful. His efforts go somewhere else. I think breastfed babies are much happier. My baby doesn't cry so much because we can communicate somehow by breast feeding. I can feel what she wants and without thinking about it, I am reacting to it. The wrap helps me too.
I find she is better fed with the wrap because I can do so many things while breast feeding so I have much more time to feed her. She has gained much more weight and she has grown more in length too. I wish I had used the wrap a long time ago. I bought it before her birth but I did not go to the workshop and it was bit difficult for me to master it alone. I still have to learn how to use it better I’m sure, but for a next baby, I will have fewer problems and more confidence in breastfeeding.
S.H. Paris, France. Oct. 2005
Welcome to the anglophone natural parenting community in France
Beyond Breastfeeding.
The ANPA was created in response to a growing demand for an alternative to parenting organisations and “experts” that encourage artificial feeding, artificial nipples, parent-child separation, vaccines and letting babies cry it out alone, commonly know as “sleep training” and other common trends in parenting practices. We have a forum that is for discerning parents. It is for parents whose babies and children’s and consequentially the family’s well being is priority. The parents on our forum believe that being in contact with like-minded parents is part of the network that promotes conscious, educated parenting.
Our parenting choices are based on the golden standard of real milk, the human kind, and our support extends to parents who share the same standards and want to go beyond. We welcome breastfeeding mothers or mothers who have breastfed until their children wean from the the breast naturally. We believe that offering our breasts as sexual objects is a personal choice, and every woman's right. (not to mention fun) but that feeding babies with breasts is not a question of choice, but of making a stand against the power of marketing over ignorance and isolation. If you think you "can't" breastfeed or "couldn't" please see www.allaitementpourtous.com or any qualified IBCLC or an LLL leader.
This website offers a very small selection of documents and testimonies that are available on the forum PLUS a photo gallerie offering a glimpse into our lives as active parents, free, independant of bottles, (except the champagne kind of course) push chairs, cots, painful front packs and lots more of the expensive equipment that we used to think we needed to be happy parents.
Lots of us have had serious breastfeeding problems, so some of us have a lot of experience with the breast pump kind of equipment, that sometimes is necessary to save a compromised breastfeeding process. (its a bit of a paradox, but we consider the breast pump equipment an investment towards future freedom)
On the forum you will find more documents, and testimonies that can be useful to many stages of parenting, from pregnancy and giving birth to child education.
In our forum you will find real support, with attachment parents, backed by research based information. We know we are definitely the minority in our parenting standards. We know that our parenting choices can trigger guilty feelings, hostility or even aggression from parents, organisations or “experts” that don’t have the same values or education so we recognise that support in our choices is vital to our strength and well being as individual parents and families.
Although there are no rules to natural parenting, there are concepts that we all agree on that are mentioned in the ANPA charter.
To be sure the ANPA is for you, you may ask for a downloadable copy of the charter/quesionnaire. If you do agree with our basic philosophie, please fill it in and send it to astharte@gmail.com
The 25€ annual membership is payable by cheque or paypal. A year's membership, gives you access to the forum, the lending library, the open house dates, meetings, brunch dates, and all the information and support that comes with it.
If you have any questions you can contact ANPAinFrance@gmail.com
All the best to you and your family, and welcome among us.
ANPA members
The ANPA was created in response to a growing demand for an alternative to parenting organisations and “experts” that encourage artificial feeding, artificial nipples, parent-child separation, vaccines and letting babies cry it out alone, commonly know as “sleep training” and other common trends in parenting practices. We have a forum that is for discerning parents. It is for parents whose babies and children’s and consequentially the family’s well being is priority. The parents on our forum believe that being in contact with like-minded parents is part of the network that promotes conscious, educated parenting.
Our parenting choices are based on the golden standard of real milk, the human kind, and our support extends to parents who share the same standards and want to go beyond. We welcome breastfeeding mothers or mothers who have breastfed until their children wean from the the breast naturally. We believe that offering our breasts as sexual objects is a personal choice, and every woman's right. (not to mention fun) but that feeding babies with breasts is not a question of choice, but of making a stand against the power of marketing over ignorance and isolation. If you think you "can't" breastfeed or "couldn't" please see www.allaitementpourtous.com or any qualified IBCLC or an LLL leader.
This website offers a very small selection of documents and testimonies that are available on the forum PLUS a photo gallerie offering a glimpse into our lives as active parents, free, independant of bottles, (except the champagne kind of course) push chairs, cots, painful front packs and lots more of the expensive equipment that we used to think we needed to be happy parents.
Lots of us have had serious breastfeeding problems, so some of us have a lot of experience with the breast pump kind of equipment, that sometimes is necessary to save a compromised breastfeeding process. (its a bit of a paradox, but we consider the breast pump equipment an investment towards future freedom)
On the forum you will find more documents, and testimonies that can be useful to many stages of parenting, from pregnancy and giving birth to child education.
In our forum you will find real support, with attachment parents, backed by research based information. We know we are definitely the minority in our parenting standards. We know that our parenting choices can trigger guilty feelings, hostility or even aggression from parents, organisations or “experts” that don’t have the same values or education so we recognise that support in our choices is vital to our strength and well being as individual parents and families.
Although there are no rules to natural parenting, there are concepts that we all agree on that are mentioned in the ANPA charter.
To be sure the ANPA is for you, you may ask for a downloadable copy of the charter/quesionnaire. If you do agree with our basic philosophie, please fill it in and send it to astharte@gmail.com
The 25€ annual membership is payable by cheque or paypal. A year's membership, gives you access to the forum, the lending library, the open house dates, meetings, brunch dates, and all the information and support that comes with it.
If you have any questions you can contact ANPAinFrance@gmail.com
All the best to you and your family, and welcome among us.
ANPA members