L A T Y P
U S P O S T!
L A T Y P
U S P O S T!
A regular publication of Platypus Media, an independent publisher of books for families, teachers and parenting professionals.
WELCOME to Platypus Post, an electronic newsletter from Platypus Media. We hope you find that the parenting, teaching, and breastfeeding information we provide here is useful. Feel free to forward the newsletter to friends or colleagues.
DISCOVER THIS ISSUE:
DIA'S DIARY: Guest columnist Gill Rapley, MSc, tells us how babies’ transition from breastmilk to solid foods can be fun and easy!
PLATYPUS MULTI-MEDIA: We sign a deal with British Mark-It Television to carry educational DVD/VHS programs!
SPECIAL OFFER! Buy One of Each of All Our DVDs and get SIX free books!
QUOTE OF THE MONTH... The Oak Ridge Boys
IN THE NEWS: Read here what Mayor Bloomberg wants new moms to do? Or here for what potential the Wall Street Journal sees in breastfeeding? And, Dia’s appearance in the media!
PLATYPUS MEDIA ON THE ROAD: Come see us!
DIA’S DIARY: GUEST COLUMNIST GILL RAPLEY, MSc.
Platypus Media is excited to introduce a new product into the North American Market, the I Can Feed Myself DVD/VHS program, which was researched, written and created by Gill Rapley, MSc. During the day Gill is the Deputy Program Director of the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative, and in her free time she promotes a baby-led approach to introducing solid food!
Between 1978 and 1998 I was a health visitor with, at any one time, a caseload of about 450 families with children under five-years-old. (In the UK, all families have a health visitor assigned to them, to advise on health issues and carry out health surveillance in the pre-school years.) During that time I talked with many mothers who were struggling to manage the transition to solid foods. At that time, of course, the ‘official’ age for the introduction of solids was ‘four to six months’, with both professionals and parents tending to interpret this as the need to start at four months, so that the baby would be taking the longed-for ‘three meals a day’ by six months.
Two key areas of difficulty stood out: Firstly, there were the babies who, at four months, just didn’t seem to want to know about solid foods. Their parents were resorting to tactics ranging from playing games, through holding the baby’s nose, to denying them milk feeds – all in an effort to get them to accept a few spoonfuls of mush. The answer in almost all cases was simply to forget about it for another month or two.
The other challenge presented to me time and time again was that of how to progress, at around seven to eight months, from pureed foods to ‘second stage’ dinners. Here there were three common problems, occurring together or separately: constipation, pickiness over flavours and gagging or choking. For all three problems, letting the baby feed himself with pieces of food – rather than insisting on spoon feeding him with purees containing lumps – appeared to resolve the problem. It seemed to me that these babies were saying so clearly that they were perfectly able, and desperately wanted, to feed themselves.
During this time I also regularly carried out routine developmental checks on babies of six months. The signs of normal development that we wanted to see were clear: The baby should be able to sit alone for short periods, be keen to explore his world, and be good at reaching and grabbing fist-sized objects, at transferring them from hand to hand and at taking them to his mouth. He should also be making some consonant sounds (speech is related to chewing ability). It was clear to me that the parallel development of these abilities was no coincidence – and it was all connected with self-feeding.
During the same period I was training as a voluntary breastfeeding counsellor and developing a healthy respect for the ability of a very young baby to feed himself, right from birth. Why, I wondered, was it considered necessary to subject babies to a passive form of feeding in order to introduce solids, when they themselves were clearly so capable? It struck me that, if only we could get them to six months, there really didn’t seem to be any need for this approach. But some babies needed solids at four months, didn’t they? Or did they?
Whenever I questioned the need for ‘baby food’ I was thought at best odd, and at worst dangerously subversive! Finding myself at odds with the majority of my colleagues (though not, I have to say, with the mothers I visited, many of whom welcomed the chance to experiment with an easier and more logical approach to baby feeding), I left health visiting and pursued a career with the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative, submerging myself in the world of breastfeeding and putting the solids issue on hold.
Then, in 2001/2, two things happened close together: I needed to choose a topic for the research dissertation of the Masters degree I had decided to do in my spare time – and the World Health Organization decided that babies didn’t need solids until six months. Suddenly I had the chance to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem!
My research was a very small study of just seven babies who, at four months, were being exclusively breastfed. Their parents were asked to give them the chance to handle and explore food whenever anyone else was eating. They were encouraged to think of these sessions as opportunities for play and discovery rather anything connected with hunger; they were to continue breastfeeding on demand, with no attempt actively to feed the baby any other foods. They were asked to offer their baby a range of flavours and textures, in a variety of sizes and shapes, and to observe what they did. They also video-taped a play/eating session every two weeks. They kept this up until the baby was nine months old.
To cut a long story short, all the babies started to become seriously interested in food from around six to six and a half months. By eight months, all were purposefully feeding themselves and enjoying a wide range of flavours and textures. They had also begun to show preferences for certain foods although, interestingly, there was very little they disliked. Most of all, the parents were thrilled with their progress and at how easy and fun it had been.
Since I have begun to give presentations about what, in the UK, has become known as ‘baby-led weaning’ (the first solids being the very beginning of the process of weaning a baby off the breast), I have discovered just how many parents are ahead of the game on this issue. Those ‘in the know’ typically have three or more children and they found this way of helping their baby to progress to eating solid foods either by accident, or because they didn’t have time ‘for all that messing about [with purees]’. What is poignantly sad is that these parents, who have dared to use logic and intuition, have tended to keep their discovery to themselves – for fear of being thought odd, ‘naughty’, or just plain lazy!
The DVD was the result of demand from these mothers and others who had heard my talks. They all said that it was seeing video clips of babies feeding themselves that was what convinced them that a baby-led approach was possible and acceptable– and that babies would enjoy it. Fortuitously, just when I was wondering how to set about making a visual presentation of the material, Robert Copeland of Mark-It Television approached me to suggest that we work together. My reach has been primarily in the UK to date and I am very excited that Platypus Media is now introducing this product into the US market! I think this VHS/DVD has real potential to change the eating habits and influence health and wellbeing throughout the western world.
Gill Rapley, April 2007
Gill has appeared on the BBC discussing baby-led weaning approach, and the Independent recently published an article about her work. Her I Can Feed Myself! A Baby-Led Approach to Introducing Solid Foods program is available for purchase in North America exclusively through Platypus Media.
ORDER THE DVD/VHS PROGRAM HERE
Gill
can be reached on:
gill.rapley@blueyonder.co.uk
We at Platypus Media are thrilled to announce that we have signed a deal with British Mark-It Television to carry six of their educational DVD/VHS programs exclusively here in the US!
Mark It Television is a UK-based company with 16 years’ experience in producing a wide range of evidence-based training programs for universities, hospitals and corporate clients. The programs Platypus Media will carry focus on breastfeeding and attachment parenting, and amongst them are; Gill Rapley’s I Can Feed Myself and the very popular teaching tool; Breastfeeding: Infant Cues, which was filmed at a WIC program in Texas.
Info on mark-it Television here!
SPECIAL OFFER: Buy Six DVDs and Get SIX Free Books—SAVE 35%
Buy ONE COPY OF EACH OF ALL SIX DVDs
The Benefits of Bedsharing
Breastfeeding: When Babies Fail To Latch
Breastfeeding: Infant Cues - A Feeding Guide (DVD/VHS in Spanish and English)
I Can Feed Myself! A Baby-Led Approach to Introducing Solid Foods
Breastfeeding: The Essentials
Breastfeeding: A Guide to Successful Positioning (Also available in Spanish)
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"The nearest thing to heaven is a child."
From the song, "Thank God for Kids"
Written by Eddy Raven and performed by The Oak Ridge Boys
Lyrics here
BREASTFEEDING AND PARENTING ISSUES IN THE NEWS:
TO NEW MOMS:
NURSE FOR 6 MONTHS!
February 11, 2007
By SUSAN EDELMAN and CARL CAMPANILE
-- Now that he has weaned New Yorkers off smoking and trans fats, Mayor Bloomberg is launching a multimillion-dollar good-parenting campaign that includes a push to put more newborns to the breast. The city Health Department is spending more than $2 million in city-run hospitals to encourage moms to breast-feed.
"We don't yet have any hospitals in New York City that meet national 'baby-friendly' standards," Bloomberg's health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Frieden, said at a parenting conference last week.
"That means getting formula out of the nursery. It means putting the baby on the breast immediately after birth. It means that every person who interacts with that mother and child is supportive and encouraging of breast-feeding." …
"Any breast-feeding is good, and the more the better," said Deborah Kaplan, chief of the Health Department's Bureau of Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health. "We know that some women can't breast-feed that long or don't want to," Kaplan said. "In the end, it's the mom's decision. It's her life and her choice."
Baby-formula companies have long plied hospitals with goody bags for new parents, filled with free samples and bottles. But that will come to an end, Kaplan said.
Kaplan said public hospitals will now give new parents freebies like ice packs to keep pumped breast milk fresh.
The city is also beefing up two other programs, one in which a health worker checks on new moms once and another in which nurses visit low-income families every two weeks for two years
Read Full Article here
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PRODUCT NICHE GROWS
January 10, 2007
By Katherine Rosman
-- Breast-feeding traditionally has been associated with maternal bonding, immunities and nutrition. But, for some companies, it is all about business plans, market share and product placement…
Ten years ago, there was one double electric portable breast pump on the market in the U.S. Today there are more than 20. Target Corp. recently expanded the number of breast-feeding-related products it sells. Last winter, Babies "R" Us began testing a pump-rental program in about a dozen stores around the U.S. Evenflo Co.'s breast-pump sales jumped 29 percent between 2004 and 2006, after rising just 1 percent bump between 2002 and 2004…
Helping new moms can have a lasting impact on a company's bottom line. Mothers who find a product that eases the difficulties of caring for an infant are brand-loyal to products aimed at older children, marketers say. "It's all about customer acquisition," says Andrew Moreno, retail manager for Hollister Inc., which manufactures Ameda breast pumps. More companies are realizing that mothers are a potent buying force, and many marketers think the consumer base will only expand…
Johanna Myers McChesney, co-founder and chief executive of Isis Maternity, a three-store chain in the Boston area that sells goods and services for new and expectant parents, says many new mothers are educated, professionally successful and well into their 30s. "They treat this like any other major endeavor in their lives," says Ms. McChesney, "and they require all the latest accessories and support services to do it right."
The financial prospects are drawing unlikely entrepreneurs. Andrew Zenoff, a 41-year-old childless bachelor in San Francisco, invented the "My Brest Friend" nursing pillow in 1994. Seeing a friend's sister struggle to get her baby to latch on, Mr. Zenoff sensed a market opportunity. His pillows can now be bought at Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Walmart.com and Amazon.com Inc. "I never thought, 'I'm going to be the guy who invents the best breast-feeding pillow,'" he says.
Since then, Mr. Zenoff has launched DayOne, a breast-feeding support center and store where mothers can meet with lactation consultants, mingle with other postpartum women and purchase pumps, clothes and other supplies. He has since opened another DayOne store in northern California -- and plans to roll out 42 more in the next five years…
Read full article here
********************
…Or does it?
In response to an article on cosleeping in the Washington Times on March 4 Platypus Media President Dia Michels wrote, and had published, a letter to the editor. In the original article John Rosemond declared that cosleeping is a dangerous shortcut for moms and dads to take in order to aid nighttime parenting. He claims, “The fact is that children who co-sleep fail to learn how to put themselves to sleep, just as children who use pacifiers fail to learn how to comfort themselves”. He doesn’t stop there however, but claims that cosleeping makes it impossible to establish boundaries. According to John, “co-sleeping and discipline problems in other areas go hand in hand (although co-sleeping parents are often in denial about said discipline problems)”.
As the publisher of Sleeping with Your Baby: A Parent’s Guide to Cosleeping by Jim McKenna, Ph.D., and avid supporters of safe bedsharing, Platypus Media obviously felt that Rosemond exemplified the typical misconceptions regarding cosleeping that are so widespread in America.
In a letter to the Washington Times editor Platypus Media President Dia Michels tried to explain the other, underrepresented, side of the cosleeping coin:
Published March 7, 2007, Washington Times
Letter to the editor:
COSLEEPING HAS ENORMOUS BENEFITS!
Dear Editor:
In “Co-sleeping evolves into future nightmare” [March 4, 2007], Mr. Rosemond states that allowing children to sleep with their parents leads to intractable sleep problems and advises strongly against the practice.
I beg to differ. As publisher of the upcoming book, Sleeping With Your Baby: A Parent’s Guide to Cosleeping, by James J. McKenna, Ph.D. [Platypus Media, May 15, 2007], we have studied the subject thoroughly. In fact, Dr. McKenna was the first scientist to undertake sleep laboratory physiological studies of both mothers and infants. Human children are dependent physiologically, socially and psychologically on the presence of the caregiver. Mr. Rosemond should know this. Most of the world does, which is why fully 95%, of the world sleeps with their children. Even Dr. Richard Ferber, the pediatrician who wrote the book on the importance of solitary infant sleep, has retracted his advice against bedsharing.
What Mr. Rosemond fails to understand is that independence and autonomy have nothing to do with forcing children to learn how to sleep by themselves. Research has clearly shown that children who routinely sleep with their parents become more independent socially and psychologically, are able to be alone better by themselves, and have greater abilities to interrelate and be empathetic.
Dia L. Michels
Publisher, Platypus Media
Washington, DC
Dia can be reached at Dia@PlatypusMedia.com
Let’s make it a habit of writing letters to editors that publish only one side of the breastfeeding or cosleeping argument!
Platypus Media products now available in more, exciting outlets!
BUY OUR BOOKS AND HELP A CHARITY OF YOUR CHOICE:
We are really happy to let you know the feel-good site www.giveline.com now offers Platypus literature. This means you can help save the world whilst buying our books! Giveline is a unique concept where every purchase you make through them they donate between 7 and 33 percent of the product sale to a charity of your choice, with an average of as much as 16 percent! It is a way of being socially responsible at the same time as you shop.
Stop by their site www.giveline.com and browse the Platypus Media books and choose what charity to give to, maybe a breastfeeding one?
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FOR OUR CUSTOMERS ABROAD:
Embrace is a homely attachment parenting site run by Anitra Carr, Ph.D. The site offers quality information and products for women and families everywhere, and has just started offering our Sleeping with Your Baby: A Parents Guide to Cosleeping by Jim McKenna. It means great savings in postage for our customers in that region of the world!
Contact info:
Email: info@embrace.net.nzThe Life Center in Israel, run by Shoshanna Hayman (who translated If My Mom Were A Platypus into Hebrew) has started to distribute a range of Platypus Media books. The Life Center has been promoting attachment parenting in Israel for over 15 years and stands for “a healthy society based on a healthy family unit”. We are excited that they will distribute Sleeping With Your Baby: A Parents Guide to this market.
Contact info:
Email: haymans@zahav.net.ilINFACT Canada, one of world’s largest and most active non-governmental breastfeeding organizations, will be carrying our Sleeping With Your Baby: A Parents Guide To Cosleeping. Another way of promoting healthy infants! INFACT Canada is also the Canadian member of the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action.
Contact Info:
Email: info@infactcanada.ca101 THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT SCIENCE IN BRAILLE:
The acquisitions committee at the Library of Congress has selected our 101 Things Everyone Should Know About Science book to be produced in Braille! Only a few books a year get this chance, and once produced the book will be distributed to the various Braille libraries throughout the states.
CHILDREN'S BOOK COUNCIL SHOWCASE:
101 Things Everyone Should Know About Science will be featured in the Children's Book Council (CBC) Showcase for July and August. The CBC is a non-profit organization that strives to make books an integral part of the American educational system. For July and August the CBC Showcase features fiction and nonfiction titles that explore the worlds of math and science through literature.
You can view our title, along with others at www.cbcbooks.org/cbcmagazine/showcase/
WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK:
La Leche League (LLL) in the USA World Breastfeeding Week Celebrations encompasses five months of events and activities to raise breastfeeding awareness and to fundraise to support breastfeeding in the USA. Platypus Media has become a Silver Sponsor of the 2007 event. Last year over $100,000 was raised in WBWC by over 400 local La Leche League Groups across the USA. World Breastfeeding Week is a great time to put the spotlight on breastfeeding and Platypus Media is happy to be a part of it this year too and will be donating twenty $10 gift certificates to individuals who raise funds during World Breastfeeding Week!
For more Info check out: http://www.lllusa.org/wbw/
NEW CATALOG:
Our new 2007/2008 attachment parenting, and maternal and child healthcare catalog (with all our new DVDs) is now out; to view a PDF online CLICK HERE!
If you prefer a paper copy of our current catalog please send your mailing address to Info@PlatypusMedia.com with "catalog request" in the subject line!
October
4-7, 2007
American
Association of Birth Centers
Anchorage,
AK
Platypus Media president and founder, Dia Michels, has been given the honor of presenting at this year's American Association of Birth Centers' Annual Birth Institute "Believe in Birth ~ Trust the Evidence" to be held October 5-6, 2007 in Anchorage, Alaska. The event, held in conjunction with the AABC Annual Meeting, will offer educational sessions on the clinical and administrative issues related to normal birth.
The
Program Committee has asked Dia to present the Closing Session "If
Your Mom were a Platypus: What we can learn by studying Mama
Mammals" on Saturday, October 6, 2007 from 4:15 - 5:15 PM. They
said her lively presentations would be the best way to end their
event!
For more information, call Kate Bauer at (215) 234-8068 or email her at katebauer@birthcenters.org.The conference website is http://www.birthcenters.org/annmtg/index.php
***
November
2-4
La
Leche League of Missouri
Columbia,
MO
The Missouri annual LLL conference has the Celebrating the Power of Breastfeeding theme and Dia will be presenting a keynote address, some breakout sessions, and a pajama party for the kids!
For more information, email Dotti Savoy at dottisavoy@earthlink.net
***
February
14-18, 2008
American
Association for the Advancement of Science
Boston,
MA
At the AAAS annual meeting science and technology professionals-from across disciplines and around the world-gather to discuss new research, emerging trends, and exciting new possibilities. The 2008 Theme in Boston is Science and Technology from a Global Perspective. Platypus Media/Science, Naturally! will have a booth promoting our cool children science books.
For more information, call AAAS at (202) 326-6450 or email at aaasmeeting@aaas.org. The meeting’s website is http://www.aaas.org/meetings/
***
March
27-30, 2008
National
Science Teachers' Association
Boston,
MA
The NSTA conference is open to all science educators, as presenters or attendees. The conference draws 16,000-20,000 attendees and may feature as many as 1,500 sessions and 1,100 exhibits. Platypus Media will be leading hands-on science activities at their booth at this show! Come to Boston and see all the wonderful resources available for classroom use.
For more information, visit www.nsta.org
***
July
23-27, 2008
International
Lactation Consultant Association
Las
Vegas, NV
The ILCA Annual Conferences provides rich learning environments for lactation professionals and others who assist mothers and babies with breastfeeding. It offers current and aspiring lactation consultants information on cutting-edge lactation practices and research to equip you in giving optimal breastfeeding care and support to mothers and babies.
For more information, visit www.ilca.org or call (919) 861-5577
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Do you have parenting or breastfeeding questions or comments? Subjects you'd like to see addressed in future issues? Write to us at PlatypusPost@PlatypusMedia.com.
ABOUT PLATYPUS MEDIA
Platypus Media is an independent publisher dedicated to creating and distributing materials about family life. Our goal is to create books and products that parents love, children enjoy, teachers appreciate, and parenting professionals value in their work.
Contact
us at:
Platypus
Media
627
A Street, NE
Washington,
DC 20002
Toll-free
1-877-PLATYPS (1-877-752-8977)
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/ Fax: 202-546-2356
