I just found this list of breastfeeding quotes. I quite like the one about Dads with hairy chests, what do you think?

A newborn baby has only three demands. They are warmth in the arms of its mother, food from her breasts, and security in the knowledge of her presence. Breastfeeding satisfies all three. ~Grantly Dick-Read

While breastfeeding may not seem the right choice for every parent, it is the best choice for every baby. ~Amy Spangler

Breast Feeding should not be attempted by fathers with hairy chests, since they can make the baby sneeze and give it wind. ~Mike Harding, The Armchair Anarchist's Almanac, 1981

My opinion is that anybody offended by breastfeeding is staring too hard. ~David Allen

Nursing does not diminish the beauty of a woman's breasts; it enhances their charm by making them look lived in and happy. ~Robert A. Heinlein

There are three reasons for breast-feeding: the milk is always at the right temperature; it comes in attractive containers; and the cat can't get it. ~Irena Chalmers

A baby nursing at a mother's breast... is an undeniable affirmation of our rootedness in nature. ~David Suzuki

If a multinational company developed a product that was a nutritionally balanced and delicious food, a wonder drug that both prevented and treated disease, cost almost nothing to produce and could be delivered in quantities controlled by the consumers' needs, the very announcement of their find would send their shares rocketing to the top of the stock market. The scientists who developed the product would win prizes and the wealth and influence of everyone involved would increase dramatically. Women have been producing such a miraculous substance, breastmilk, since the beginning of human existence. ~Gabrielle Palmer

Breast milk is better than any udder milk! ~Author Unknown

It is only in the act of nursing that a woman realizes her motherhood in visible and tangible fashion; it is a joy of every moment. ~Honore de Balzac

Breastfeeding is nature's health plan. ~Author Unknown

Mother's milk, time-tested for millions of years, is the best nutrient for babies because it is nature's perfect food. ~Robert S. Mendelsohn

Joy all creatures drink
At nature's bosoms...
~Friedrich von Schiller, "Ode to Joy," 1785, translated from German

The benefits to the mother of immediate breastfeeding are innumerable, not the least of which after the weariness of labor and birth is the emotional gratification, the feeling of strength, the composure, and the sense of fulfillment that comes with the handling and suckling of the baby. ~Ashley Montague

...a little child, born yesterday,
A thing on mother's milk and kisses fed...
~"Hymn to Mercury" (one of the Homeric Hymns), translated from Greek by Percy Bysshe Shelley (Thanks, Sarah)

Breastfeeding is a mother's gift to herself, her baby and the earth. ~Pamela K. Wiggins

Mothers ought to bring up and nurse their own children; for they bring them up with greater affection and with greater anxiety, as loving them from the heart, and so to speak, every inch of them. ~Plutarch

No one could give her such soothing and sensible consolation as this little three-month-old creature when he lay at her breast and she felt the movement of his lips and the snuffling of his tiny nose. ~Leo Tolstoy

Breastfeeding is an unsentimental metaphor for how love works, in a way. You don't decide how much and how deeply to love - you respond to the beloved, and give with joy exactly as much as they want. ~Marni Jackson

People need to understand that when they're deciding between breastmilk and formula, they're not deciding between Coke and Pepsi.... They're choosing between a live, pure substance and a dead substance made with the cheapest oils available. ~Chele Marmet

Breastfeeding is a gift that lasts a lifetime. ~Author Unknown

Ah, the joy of suckling! She lovingly watched the fishlike motions of the toothless mouth and she imagined that with her milk there flowed into her little son her deepest thoughts, concepts, and dreams. ~Milan Kundera

A woman's life isn't worth a plateful of cabbage if she hasn't felt life stir under her heart. Taking a little one to nurse, watching him grow to manhood, that's what love is. ~Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries

A day came - of almost terrified delight and wonder - when the poor widowed girl pressed a child upon her breast.... a little boy, as beautiful as a cherub. What a miracle it was to hear its first cry! How she laughed and wept over it - how love, and hope, and prayer woke again in her bosom as the baby nestled there.... It was her life which the baby drank in from her bosom. ~William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter XXXV

Mother knows breast. ~Author Unknown

Breastmilk: the gift that keeps on giving. ~Author Unknown

When an actress takes off her clothes onscreen but a nursing mother is told to leave, what message do we send about the roles of women? In some ways we're as committed to the old madonna-whore dichotomy as ever. And the madonna stays home, feeding the baby behind the blinds, a vestige of those days when for a lady to venture out was a flagrant act of public exposure. ~Anna Quindlen

i am beautiful as I am. I am the shape that was gifted. My breasts are no longer perky and upright like when I was a teenager. My hips are wider than that of a fashion model's. For this I am glad, for these are the signs of a life lived. ~Cindy Olsen, co-owner of The Body Objective

Not a great title for the article but actually quite a good article. Like the article I blogged about earlier today this one talks about how breastfeeding rates are lower for women from lower income families but this one also contains practical ideas of how the government could actually support breastfeeding mothers. As I said earlier by support I do not mean pressuring mothers to breastfeed or guilting them into it. I mean real support

"They need baby friendly-accredited maternity hospitals, increased breastfeeding help in the community and paid maternity leave - not simply another government campaign extolling the virtues of breastfeeding."

I just found this article on an Australian news site that Mothers from lower income families are 'less likely to breastfeed". I think it is really sad that these mothers are missing out on the support that mothers from higher income families are able to pay for such as lactation consultants etc.

Families with lower incomes would be harder hit by the extra costs of formula and the extra doctors visits etc associated with the increased illness etc caused by formula.

Why is the government not spending more money to help women access services to support breastfeeding.

By support I do not mean pressuring mothers to breastfeed or guilting them into it. I mean real support such as free breastfeeding classes for pregnant mothers, I mean free access to properly trained lactation consultants, I mean educating doctors and child health nurses so that they do not give bad information that compromises a mothers efforts to breastfeed her child. I mean legislation with real teeth that protect mothers from discrimination or harrassment.

I was really lucky, I had some great midwives and a fantastic child health nurse.  I even had access to a free hospital physiotherapist who used her 'laser' to treat sore bleeding nipples.I was strong/confident/educated enough to stand up to a paediatrician who told me to wean and then get some real information from the ABA website.

I really wish all women had access to the same sorts of support that I had (and even with the support I had it wasn't always easy).

Did you get enough support to breastfeed?

What sort of support did you have access to?

What other support do you wish you had been able to access?

Here is a link for an article with pictures of jewelery made from human milk.

Could be an interesting memento. What do you think?