Breastfeeding Around The World

May 14, 2010
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Mid-Week Links

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In my experience, people have generally been very supportive of breastfeeding in public here in Malaysia. Still we’ve heard stories from different parts of the world of mums being harassed when breastfeeding their babies in public places. Here is a collection of notes about attitudes towards public breastfeeding in different countries around the world. And a round-up of breastfeeding laws in the US.

And good news for working mums. Thanks to a new health care bill that President Obama signed recently, employers in the US are required to provide “a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from co-workers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk”. Only companies with less than 50 employees can claim it’s an undue hardship.

As a mother who is tuned in to her baby’s or child’s needs, and seeks to meet those needs in a prompt and loving manner, it is easy to put yourself last. Here are 10 ways to recharge and once again be the calm, relaxed, and healthy mummy that your children need.

Last Sunday was Mother’s Day for us in Malaysia and many other countries around the world. Two 15-year-olds write about the history of Mother’s Day. Separately, I was interviewed by The Star newspaper in Malaysia for its Mother’s Day spread but the story ended up very much skewed toward homeschooling.

Babies apparently know the difference between good and evil as early as six months. A new study by Yale researchers turns on its head the common belief that human beings are born as ‘blank slates’ and that our morality is shaped by our parents and experiences. They suggest that the difference between good and bad may be hardwired into the brain at birth.

Being a good parent starts with us—the parents! A mother and family therapist talks about her own healing as a parent and how important that was to her adopted son. “By working on making sense of my own early experiences, I was better equipped to help my son make sense of his experiences,” she says.

A father talks candidly about how different parenting styles severed their friendship with another couple. “Parenting methods can lead to determining who you’re most compatible with as a parent,” he says.

Ponijao, Mari, Hattie and Bayar are the four stars of Babies, a movie directed by Thomas Balmes, which follows the four babies from birth until their first birthday. The gorgeous babies are from Namibia, Mongolia, Japan, and the US , and we are shown four very different parenting experiences.


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