Stephanie had her baby Saturday night! His name is Frederick, but is choosing to use the moniker ‘Fritz.’ He is, of course, adorable and very photogenic. I can’t wait to meet him! Congrats to Steph & Joe! Great work.
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life and puppies 
Brilliantly exciting… good for them! BTW– is your dashboard working? Mine won’t show me my hits.
Hmm. It was working earlier, but looking mighty weird. I’ll check again.
Thanks to Althouse for this rather interesting article.
Congratulations to Stephanie. I’m still enjoying having the bun IN the oven.
I know! On both counts (one being breastfeeding and two being Althouse’s nuttiness). I wasn’t breastfed and Ben used to blame my allergies on that. I think he was at least half kidding. Anyway, I just think peeps should do what they do and back off of everyone else. Esp when it sounds like the science isn’t exactly all there. It seems like it’s one of those things that just SOUNDS like it should be the healthier, better way to go…But, in truth, formula might not be so bad afterall.
Anyway, re: Althouse! Holy crap. Does anyone else here ever read the Althouse blog? She’s a law prof at Madison (I had her 4 times — LOVED her and so did my much-missed friend Jess) and often mentioned in the NYT, among other places. She’s insanely bright but also a bit of a nut. I guess those two often go together. In any event, it appears that she is engaged to one of her long-time commenters. It seems they met for the first time in January. Sara, did you see the “blogging heads” video or something where she talks about it? She says the January meeting went terribly and she thought that would be that. But then they met again in February and knew they were going to get married.
Wow, congrats to all the mommies!
Kate, I saw that article and was likewise intrigued. Mostly because if I do have kids of my own, I’m not overly excited about breastfeeding and everything that goes with it (especially after going back to work), but I do feel huge pressure to breastfeed, partick in this here city of Madison. And, some peeps aren’t able to breastfeed for one reason or another – are their children necessarily going to be less smart and less healthy? I was very interested.
Have you seen the rest of the Althouse news? Wow, it got crazy over there all of a sudden – first meeting after years of corresponding! love! engagement! wedding plans! No wonder the blog sort of waned a little bit.
My pharmacist husband has noted that today’s formulas are extremely jam-packed with lots of good stuff (in ways that formulas didn’t used to be) – I wonder how much of the research is 10 years old and such.
I didn’t see the bloggingheads – I’m paranoid about watching video at work, and then forget when I get home. It’s just odd for someone who seemed to so resolutely enjoy solitude at 50. I had her twice in law school – I think I’d appreciate her more now, after reading some of her very interesting thoughts.
Well, there you have it. Formula does not equal poison.
It’s really weird to see because she’s pretty much giddy. And it’s just weird to hear her talking about love and kissing and public displays of affection. I’m more accustomed to hearing talk of the commerce clause and pendent party jurisdiction.
BTW, where is Rose? And Kristin? Any everyone? Sara, you were absent for awhile to. And where’s Sarayu? Geesh, I miss you guys. Work has been so busy I feel like this and facebook are my only social outlets. That’s a sad statement, I realize. Am embarrassed I put it out there. Oh well.
Don’t be sorry! You’re completely right, of course. I remember in the 80s when there was the big campaign against Nestle because of just that issue. And now I eat Lean Cuisines and feel a tinge of guilt still.
I really just don’t like people getting all judgey about other people. That probably is completely hypocritical because I know I judge all the time. I just want peeps to do what they do and back off of telling others what to do. Either way.
I’m here! I’ve been out of touch.
Congrats on all of the babies out there.
Also–my mom is a lactation consultant so I’m not quite so “formula is just as good” bc it’s really just not (I just don’t think it’s possible that any type of powder made by someone could be just as good as the real thing. Kind of like cheese).
That being said—any amount of breastfeeding is better than none. If 2 weeks is what you can handle, then so be it. I think there are some people who like to pit women against each other on this issue are just wrong. The problem is not with individual decisions (breast or bottle), but with the fact that our culture over the last 50 years or so has actually frowned upon breastfeeding (making it dirty, weird, inappropriate). (now in some places this has gone the other way—you’re bad if you don’t breastfeed). Also, there are companies who make the formula (like Nestle) who have been campaigning in third world countries for years telling women that formula is better. Well in some places, they don’t even have access to clean water (to mix with the formula) and don’t have money to pay for formula, but because they’ve been brainwashed to think that formula is better, they actually stop breasfeeding (which is free) and mix unsafe water with the formula thinking that this is will be healthier. Those are really the more important issues. Sorry for the soap box comment!
I, for one, am unbelievably offended. How could you possibly make fun of people who play video games? I mean, where is the humor in that?
Hee hee.
Ok, I lied. I do have a few other outlets, but I like seeing friendly names on here and thought I’d play a pity card.
Who’s headed to the smartest event of the season this weekend? The Wisconsin Film Festival! We have tickets to 10 movies!! Anyone wanna start a pool on how many of those we actually make it to?
Also, why is the “possibly related post” link to Lisa Bonet’s baby? Is that the only other story out there in wordpress land that has something to do with babies?
How old is Lisa Bonet? Actually, I think I am going to click on that link now.
Kate, I think you just signed yourself up for cocktails – FB can’t be your only social outlet. The next step is world of warcraft, I believe.
I am kind of baffled about the use of formula in certain areas of the world. It’s expensive, and there is the clean water issue. What’s the argument, that breast milk isn’t full of all the good stuff because of poor nutrition or something? Still seems better than mixing formula with bad water. And of course there’s the issue of trying to stretch the formula because it is so expensive, so the baby winds up drinking way too much water.
PS to any gamers reading – I kid because I love. No offense meant.
Is the chicken movie playing? Are you seeing the one with the lady murderer?
Yes and no. The lady murderer one was sold out by the time I got tickets (which was only a few days after they went on sale and delayed because of my LA trip). BUT, Sundance is going to show it later this month so I am ALL over that. I can’t wait to see who plays Doyle.
Anyway, good thing I checked into Lisa Bonet because I discovered this shocking news! And Bonet is 40, btw.
I’m here, I’m here! Sorry I’ve been mia. Ok, now that I’m caught up here’s my two cents, I think I was breast fed and I still have pretty bad allergies. I remember the Nestle scandal as well. If I remmeber correctly, the other twisted thing about it, was they gave free formula to a lot of the women for a certain period of time, and soon the women’s breast milk dried up and they had to start buying formula. i concur that people should make whatever decision they need to make for them and their baby. Everyone else, shut it. Tee hee.
Lisa Bonet and a baby? What? Real Housewives? Hmm, never seen it.
Yay! Wisco film festival!!! Although, 10 movies in one weekend is CRAZY! 🙂
So my first question is, if she gets divorced, will she still be a countess?
And second, what is Lisa Bonet up to these days?
I know a little bit about the Nestle thing from my ventures in international health and in one class I had, exactly what Sarayu describes above was presented, alongside the fact that apparently families fleeing the Yugoslav crisis (which wasn’t even that long ago, and wasn’t exactly in the ‘third world’) turned down/left behind family food parcels in favor of carrying formula (which ended up being very sad of course because the family missed out on necessary nutrition and as there was no good way to clean water while fleeing, the babies were also in trouble). In response to Sara H’s query about what the argument for pushing formula in less developed countries was (I apologize if this was a rhetorical question that I am taking literally), I don’t think there was really a nutritional argument/justification for this, I think it was more a way to unload excess formula that had been produced and was no longer selling as well (as breastfeeding regained popularity) in other (i.e., the US and Western Europe) markets.
The pre- and perinatal health clinics on the collective farm I stayed on in Turkmenistan were full of Nestle merchandise (clocks and mugs and posters), which surprised me because there was so little of this (brand-name stuff, or even just stuff, now that I think about it) elsewhere (meaning outside the clinics) in the country and also because so few ‘outsiders’ seemed to have been there before me (e.g., people insisted I had to be from Africa because I have curly hair I remember). But despite this, breastfeeding was common practice and the nurses encouraged new mothers to breastfeed, which was good as the water there was pretty questionable and also the collective farms are so cut off from the cities, I don’t know how a family could have consistently maintained a supply of formula and diluting and/or making fake medicines was such common practice, I shudder to think of what would have really made it to the belly of a formula-dependent infant there.
In regards to breastfeeding in the US and/or Israel (as in the article) or any place with a safe water supply (and in a family that has the means/education to make the stuff full-strength), I don’t know enough about nutrition to comment on the nutrition but as a child of a woman who has been seriously depressed for as long as I can remember, I think happy people do a better job with parenting than sad people (and surely parenting brings enough stress without being ridiculed for choosing whichever option fits the family best)?
The larger point though it that I just LOVE articles like this: articles that question beliefs that lead the writer to explore the data and reopen questions…more please Kate! I would love to hear the opinion of the medical community on this blog (Dr. Heather, for example!) though, as I think the democracy of public health decisions and messages can be a bit tricky [e.g., I remember Germans boasting to me about how Germany doesn’t put fluoride in their water “because they are a democracy”, whereas in the US this wasn’t voted on, it was just ‘done’ (but I like my teeth so much better than the average German’s!)]. Should health messages be designed to benefit the majority? Or the most vulnerable? But then if they are, will other people (and eventually all people) disregard them? Are we naïve to think US health policy is really just for the US (e.g., the Rotavirus debacle from a while back)…
Ok, surely I’m way past my character limit.
Figured out where the Lisa Bonet link was–she had a child at age 20?! I had no idea, I feel so out of touch!
with both Lisa, and popular culture.
You and Lisa really have fallen out of touch. Remember when you were so close? Maybe you can be facebook friends.
I hope she doesn’t read this! I’d hate for her to block me!!
Keyes, that was an incredibly brilliant comment and now I can’t concentrate on my dumb brief because I’m thinking about the US’s health policy impact on the rest of the world.
And also am recovering from boot camp.
I concur re: Keyes’ comment. Brilliant.
And you, Ms. Lloyd, are a boot camp superstar. Amazing.
Do they yell at you a lot?
Kate, good thing you keep blogging – look what fascinating comment threads you get going! I learned so much today!
And not to turn away from the very interesting and thoughtful topics and comments above, but to be frivolous for a moment – have we seen that the Project Runway lawsuit has been settled? Sounds like PR should be coming to Lifetime this summer. Excellent. And Xtina is a guest judge?
Gosh, I take 1 little nap yesterday and look what I missed? Geez. Not to mention dale was telling me not to go on-line because of that worm.
RE: breastfeeding. i saw that article in the atlantic, and really appreciated it. Breastfeeding is healthier, but it isn’t like formula is evil. and, it seems really hard to breastfeed once you return to work, at least if you have a job that is not at a computer. although, it’s probably just as hard at a computer. nevermind. a colleague of mine just stopped breastfeeding (at about 10 months) and she said she was spending about an hour each day pumping (3x20min). this stressed me out because i am already at work for 10-12 hours, and i hear that daycares aren’t so interested in keeping your baby until 8 at night. i agree with the not judging. one nice thing about breastfeeding is that it burns something like 800-1200 calories a day.
RE: public health. i don’t think i know as much as heather, especially about international health (although we were not able to make chocolate chip cookies with nestle as a kid). but, i did get a masters in population health (which is almost the same things as public health) and i am glad that it is finally useful. one interesting thing we learned is that much of the drop in mortality/increase in life expectancy comes not from scientific discovery, like penicillin, but from mandated things, like sewage, seatbelts, speed limits, maybe vaccines. but, my current pet peeve (well, in the last few years) is the ban on transfats. There really is not great evidence that they are much worse for you than other fats. To my knowledge, there are no randomized, controlled studies that show they are more harmful than other fats. The observational studies they have show that if you eat a diet high in trans-fat you are 1.3 times more likely to die from a heart attack. There are also not randomized, controlled studies on smoking. However, the observational studies suggest that if you smoke, you are 20-30 times as likely to die. anyway, transfats probably aren’t good for us, but it seems like we should be putting health care dollars elsewhere. i also must confess i ate a twinkie the other day.
RE: The countess and lisa. Crazy about the countess. Good question about whether she’d be stripped of her title. Was diana stripped? i don’t think so. Also, i am a frickin member of baby center, and all they ever send me are articles on how i need to eat more fruits and omega-3s. why don’t they send me good stuff like this?
I feel like maybe Diana took “Princess” as her first name? Well ok, probably not, but even so, this is surely something to think about (for both the Countess and anyone else that may be interested in having a title).
I would also like more details on boot camp Kate.
Thanks for the reading and commenting on my post. Heather brings up such a great point about how health things get recommended, sometimes without proven benefit, I guess with the justification that they don’t do harm. But actually it is absolutely harmful to spend money promoting things that may not matter when there is not money for other things. Also there’s the risk (particularly in the US) that people get so overwhelmed with recommendations (esp re nutrition and parenting), that they just shut it all off/give up.
I am so hungry for a Twinke now.
Had to come back because I just saw that the Project Runway suit settlement made the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal, but I already knew about it thanks to this blog! Well done.
Speaking of (well done things, like meat), I’m with you Sarayu-the actions of your vegan friend were totally out of order. Ironically, this kind of behavior has the opposite effect of what was likely intended (i.e., your cult recruitment). Crazy!
A riot on organic, indeed! In addition to the breastfeeding, Madtown also makes me feel that organic is must-have all the time, and I just have to disagree. I enjoy cheese popcorn. And I can go to Woodman’s and get organic frozen blueberries, but they are from China. Now how does that make real sense?
Too bad about the ham shame – that is out of order! I have a strict vegetarian friend who encourages me to make vegetarian meals, but on the other hand, if I’m telling her that I made pork shoulder stew last night, she’ll say that it sounds good. It’s much appreciated and makes it so much easier to have meals with her.
Wow, there is so much here I’m not sure I’ll be able to address it all properly. So I’ll just choose a couple things. Sarayu’s story about the ham sandwich struck a particular chord and reminded me of a vegan friend I used to work with. She has since started eating all meat again (like pretty much everyone else I know who were either vegans or vegetarians) thank god, because I just couldn’t take her wrinkling her nose at my hamburger one more time! Ugh. Kate and I have had this conversation several times. I respect your food choices, but the minute you become elitist about it, you lose me.
Breastfeeding. I have to say that I personally think it’s best if you can do it even for a short time, for both health reasons and for the baby to bond with the mother (and vice versa). But, in the end, it’s up to the mother, of course. I’ve never subscribed to Ben’s allergy theory though, because my sister has THE worst allergies and was totally breastfed. I think it was Rose who said that it fell out of favor or fashion or whatever in America because it was made to seem dirty or inappropriate.
I hope we can continue to work against the stigma, whether we are (or become) breastfeeders or not, so that the choice is just that, an individual choice based on circumstances, health, lifestyle etc. Go Salma Hayek. 🙂
Anyway, that’s it for now I think. Was so fun to catch up and read all of this today. I’m not really sure if the Countess will stay a countess, but I always thought Countess LuAnn had the weirdest ring to it anyway. Penguin publishes her book about class, so if anyone in interested, I’ll snag you a copy. 😉
Oh my God, I am totally interested!
This is maybe the best thread ever, too. And I think Heather’s transfat point is a good one and really the same point as the breastfeeding article. I think we do a lot of assuming things are bad or good without real evidence to back it up. And maybe they really are bad or good, but maybe we got to this stage in evolution without all being breastfed or banning twinkies. Obviously, though, we have probably come up with some very trustworthy items like seat belts and helmets. And it seems that lots of vaccines, despite what Jenny McCarthy may believe, are pretty good too.
As for veganism, I TRY to respect it, but honestly I have a really hard time with it. To me, it seems very much like a glorified, socially-acceptable eating disorder. And at least in part because of that, I think I-won’t-mention-her-name but it begins with a ‘C”s actions were totally out of line. If she didn’t want to pay for it, she shouldn’t have offered to do so and then done so. And I love that someone who will support Starbucks (not that they’re as awful as I used to think, but it’s hardly where I’d brag about spending my money) hates the idea of supporting the ‘meat industry.’ Lord. It’s just too, too much.
As for LuAnn, I just don’t know what to say. She was his fifth wife or something, wasn’t she? Are there tons of these Countess De Lesseps out there? I feel like she must be SO PISSED. More about the possibility of losing the title than the actual divorce.
Project Runway is back!?!?!?!? Oh, thanks to the powers that be (NBC?)! I’m still not thrilled about it being on Lifetime, but I’ll deal. They really need to get going because the series they filmed must have been, what? One or two fashion week cycles ago?
Oh, we publish Jenny McCarthy also. She freaks my freak. And so does Jim Carrey now, although I do enjoy him in some things so much. But they just flip me out now. Not necessarily because the vaccine thing, but, you know. Anyway, if anyone wants a copy of Mother Warriors, let me know. Ha.
That ham story is hilarious. i think it’s awesome that she had to buy you that sandwich, and that she carried the receipt around with her. i mean, it’s terrible to judge you for it, but i think you won this one, in the end. put it in your screenplay.
i was just talking about breastfeeding with my mom, who is very into it (i was breastfed until about 3 because she thought my older brother’s ear infxns were because she only breastfed for 9 months) but in general is not too judgemental (although even she has said some things about breastfeeding). anyway, she did confirm rose’s (and heather’s? and others?) theory that breastfeeding did become something gross or socially undesirable. She said that her mother didn’t breastfeed because only poor women (like my dad’s mother) breastfed. now it’s swung the other way.
unfortunately, the twinkie i had was not as good as i remember them being. but, i am contemplating trying the hostess cupcake again. yum.
I may just have to take your advice on that. The screenplay is a perfect venue for my irritation with the whole thing. I think the part that bugged me the most was that she literally stole hundreds of these stupid $5 gift cards from Starbucks, but had the nerve to let me know just how much it “cost” her and her beliefs. Ugh. Vomit.
And Kate, I totally agree. It does seem like a socially acceptable eating disorder. Particularly when it’s take to this degree. Who stops eating with people because they might order meat? I don’t care if you are vegan but when you make your world smaller and smaller, stop eating out, stop being social, you are micro-managing your world based on food. There’s no way that’s healthy. As Lacey put it, when I told her the story, “Who makes what you eat more important than people?”
As for Jenny McCarty, I don’t know what to say. Why do people have to get so fanatical? I imagine having an autistic child would be enormously challenging. Regardless, I’m pretty confident it’s a good thing we were vaccinated. Although, I think my dad was really mad that my mother let me get the polio vaccine because it leaves an ugly scar. I think it’s funny he was so worried about a scar.
Ah, the hostess cupcakes, those were always my favorite. There was just something about that chocolate icing on chocolate cake with that yummy (Kate, don’t be grossed out) whipped cream inside that was so delicious. Mmmm.
The cupcakes were my favorite, too. I have a feeling, though, if I ate one now, the chocolate wouldn’t be quite as good as I remember.
I’m sure you guys aren’t thinking this, but when I said “maybe vaccines,” I didn’t mean to suggest that vaccines aren’t a wonderful public health accomplishment. I just couldn’t remember if mandating them lead to a big drop in mortality. You would think it would, but we all know what’s wrong with making assumptions. Vaccines are great. I feel for Jenny McCarthy, because if my child has autism I’ll want to know why and blame something, but it’s so weird to see her on talk shows when she seems to be given equal clout with pediatricians and scientists and stuff. i’m sure you guys weren’t thinking i was against vaccines.
my mission for today, in addition to doing my taxes, is to eat a hostess cupcake.
all you guys are awesome. what an interesting blog. I was not breastfed and grew up eating twinkies and hostess cupcakes! And am still here to tell the tale.
So the NYT has an actual story on Althouse’s love story???
I just read it. He looks very nice.
I know! Sorry. I’ve been distracted trying to write a new (boring) post. Must read the Althouse article now.
I’m so late to this party but here are my thoughts for what it’s worth (1) Breastfeeding seems to be a constant job. If your kid eats every 2 -3 hours, and takes 30 minutes, then you burp him, change a diaper and now you’ve got 1 to 2 hours until the next time. Round the clock. So I can see the appeal of formula in that respect. Plus, people have told me formula fed babies sleep longer (dream!); and (2) Joe and I fed Fritz a bottle of formula one day a couple weeks ago when he seemed still hungry and we had been given a free sample. I read the label afterwards and the first ingredient was corn syrup. I still feel guilty! It’s like a no – win situation. But seriously, plenty of people grow up on formula healthy and smart and just dandy.