When Mama Gets Sick

By Monica Cravotta  |  Published: Monday, December 14, 2009

Standard prescription: “Get some rest.”

HA!

When nursing, and especially if you’re still nursing in the middle of the night, this may feel impossible and like a cruel joke when someone suggests it. Yes, it’s unfortunate that we can’t knock ourselves out for 9 hours with that glorious nighttime sniffling sneezing coughing aching stuffy head fever so you can rest shot of cherry Nyquil.  Holy Moses that sounds so fantastic to me right now.

But let’s focus on what IS possible. Here’s a few breastfeeding-safe tips (safe for baby, safe for milk supply) I collected from Austin AP Mamas:

• Zicam q-tips- saline solution that helps everything drain out.
• Mucinex for the congestion; ibuprofen for the fever and sore throat.
• Steam bath before bed
• Comprehensive, reliable list of safe over-the-counter and herbal remedies: http://www.kellymom.com/health/meds/cold-remedy.html
• My personal favorite:  Lots and lots of Vitamin C through food and supplements.  I prefer Emergen-C packets over swallowing horse pills.
• And a recent wild card addition: Practicing Gratitude

Yes! I am grateful for this silly common cold reminding me to slow down.  I am grateful for my ability to heal myself.  I am grateful for life and for perspective.

As I write about this tonight in my stuffy state, I can’t stop thinking about Austin’s beloved Mama and Artist, Andrea Burden, who recently tragically lost her life less than 48 hours after she told a friend she wasn’t feeling well but thought she just had “the bug that’s going around.” Her headache turned out to be fatal bacterial meningitis.

One of my favorite Andrea paintings - so sweetly capturing the beauty and soul of Mother-Daughter Love

She was such a beautiful soul who has left behind hundreds of grieving friends and many family members including a partner and two precious daughters ages 2 and 12.

Her memorial service in Austin yesterday was profoundly lovely with endless outpouring of love and honor of her Spirit — her enchanting, mystical radiance, her loving nature and the way she infused her daughters with magical fairy-like love and adoration. She was referred to as Austin’s Fairy Queen.

Hearing her older daughter speak broke my heart into 100 pieces.

She said, “God needed a new angel and picked my mom because she already was one.”

Indeed she was. I am so blessed to have part of her angelic creative hand in my site to infuse me with a bit of her precious sparkle dust whenever I write. Thank you Andrea. I’m forever grateful and inspired by the beauty you created.

Posted in Andrea Burden, AP & Self Care, Breastfeeding | 1 Comment

Making a Children’s Album to Benefit The Mother’s Milk Bank

By Monica Cravotta  |  Published: Tuesday, November 17, 2009

String's Attached White Album show Nutty Brown Cafe 06

When I was pregnant with my first daughter in 2006 my husband and I were building our house, along with our recording studio in the backyard. During my pregnancy, I sang backup for the String’s Attached White Album show and befriended two other singers also singing in the show who happened to be due with their first babies the same week as me — Libby Kirkpatrick and Sarah Sharp.  We were quite a sight to behold on stage together!

A few months after all of our babies were born, I began cooking up an idea for the three of us to record a children’s music album together in our studio.  They both agreed that it sounded like fun and the seed was planted.

Over the next nearly three years with many stops and starts, more babies born, six more amazing women invited to participate, and Sara Hickman agreeing to produce the album — my little idea to record an album with a few friends has grown into something much bigger and is coming to life. I’m proud and scared and occasionally overwhelmed and find myself repeating my favorite mantra daily, “I can, I will, I am.” It’s one thing to dream up something and sell others on the idea, and another thing altogether to actually do it, to generate and regenerate momentum, and ensure everyone involved feels good about their choice to be a part of it. (more…)

Posted in Breastfeeding, Music | 2 Comments

When does AP go too far? Watch the movie Away We Go

By Monica Cravotta  |  Published: Monday, October 26, 2009

Away We Go Trailer

So I actually really enjoyed this movie despite its AP bashing. I particularly liked the main characters played by John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph and the 100% Alexi Murdoch soundtrack.

It was one of those movies that technically should be in the chic flick category and therefore begrudgingly watched by my husband.  But  Away We Go offered just the right combination of quirkiness and adult humor to have my husband totally on board. In fact, he picked it out.

In the movie, a 30-something couple, pregnant with their first child, decides to travel around the U.S. to find the best place to settle down as parents. This multi-city setting choice for the script worked well aesthetically, providing a lot of great contrast for the scenes. It also served as a convenient way to couch the real journey taking place for the couple which was not so much an exploration of different cities, but of different types of parenting styles and parenting experiences.

(more…)

Posted in Breastfeeding, Co-Sleeping, Empathetic Parenting | 7 Comments

Please join me in normalizing public breastfeeding in the U.S.

By Monica Cravotta  |  Published: Sunday, October 18, 2009

Boob on Mamas!

Wow.  Who would have thought that the mostly-meek me, and the particularly soft post-baby me, would develop a burning desire to fist pump on the subject of breastfeeding.

And that following this growling punch in the sky, I would then kick-start my Attachment Mama site with the subject. Life takes such unexpected turns.

You might look at the sweet, fairy tale feminine photo of me with my girls in the banner design and expect the first story title to be more like:   “Breastfeeding is Magic.”   It is!  It’s pure magic, love, and nutrition all wrapped up in one skin-to-skin connection between mother and child.

Holding that view, it was particularly disturbing to me to be attacked by another woman in Austin for nursing one of my sweet angels in public. The incident created the impetus for me to get moving on this web site that I’d been dreaming up for months and to write about breastfeeding in a marching sort of way. (more…)

Posted in Breastfeeding | 8 Comments

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