(Madonna Litta - public domain) Today’s Mass readings were all about love: God the Father’s love for us, Jesus’s gift of dying on the cross to expiate our sins, and how we should love one another. Mothering and breastfeeding are ways we love our child(ren). Spending lots of time together and breastfeeding are your baby’s love languages (ways he experiences God’s love and your love). Did you know that? One way to combine both of these is ecological breastfeeding.  Ecological breastfeeding is a style of mothering and breastfeeding that encourages a copious milk supply and also space babie ..read more

I received the above “junk mail” postcard many years ago from some company wanting to sell me something. I decided to keep it to use as a decoration for my CNML table when I go to in person conferences or ministry fairs. Kinda pretty for junk mail, don’t you think? Lately a lot of online writers (aka bloggers) have switched over to Substack and require membership fees to read of some of their posts. I do understand why they have done this! They feel their writing is valuable and helps a lot of people and maybe they are even trying to help support their families with their online writing. Som ..read more

(Public domain) Recently there has been a discussion about infant sleep training on the CNML Facebook group, so I thought it would be helpful to provide a post on the topic. First, what is cry it out infant sleep training? It involves purposely letting baby cry it out at night in order to condition baby to sleep for longer and longer periods of time. The goal is to encourage babies to learn to self soothe and be able to get back to sleep without the assistance of a parent. The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine has a new protocol published in 2023 that addresses this topic: Physiologic Infant ..read more

Our online meeting this month was on the topic of following your baby’s natural instincts to help get started with and continue breastfeeding. Christelle Hagen led the meeting and did a wonderful job as usual! I just wanted to touch on just a few key points that she presented. As always our meetings involve so much more than just breastfeeding information! Moms share their personal stories and provide support to each other! Also, questions during the meetings are always welcome! We are made in the image of God. Your baby was designed by the Creator with special instincts or reflexes to help ..read more

(public domain) We just recently celebrated the feast of St. Joseph on March 19. I always remembered the date of his feast day, because I attended St. Joseph Catholic School for elementary school and my school honored him each year. St. Joseph is only mentioned a few times in Scripture: Matthew 1:16-24; 2:13. Luke 1:27. 2:4-43. 3:23. 4:22. John 1:45; 6:42. He is silent in Scripture; there are no quotes from him. However, St. Joseph was a virtuous, holy man and an excellent husband to Mary and foster father to Jesus. Even though during that time period in history the husbands probably di ..read more

(Wikimedia commons - public domain) I think motherhood and breastfeeding are such important and beautiful gifts from God! I have read countless books on these topics and have spent many hours contemplating the vocation of motherhood. Through the practice of ecological breastfeeding, I will have many more wonderful years with children at home due to the spacing of my family. My experience as a mom has truly transformed me. However, there is one “identity” that is even more important than these: the fact that you and I are children of God. Yes, the way we are called to serve God right now is ..read more

(U.S. Breastfeeding Committee) This is a big topic, but I wanted to just mention a few things to encourage you and also to give you some resources to help you in nursing your premature baby. All of my children were born full term, so I can only imagine how overwhelming it is to breastfeed and mother such a tiny baby! I actually was born premature, myself. I only weighed 4 pounds 6 ounces at birth. I want you to know that your breastmilk is especially important for your baby! Breastfeeding and/or expressing your milk for your baby is one of the the best gifts you can give her right now! If ..read more

(U.S. Breastfeeding Committee) Recently I was with a group of moms and the topic of breastfeeding and the return of fertility came up. I was happy for the opportunity to share the good news that breastfeeding does space babies. The other moms mentioned how soon their cycles came back. Most of the moms had  experienced a fairly early return of their cycles. I decided to share when my cycles came back, and the other moms could not believe I didn’t have cycles for so long. We didn’t discuss the topic for too much longer, but I sure felt like an odd duckling.  Maybe you feel this way ..read more

  (U.S. Breastfeeding Committee) Here are two of my favorite time management techniques for moms. I hope you find them helpful! Break Down Jobs into Smaller Tasks When I was a new nursing mom, I regularly attended my town’s local breastfeeding support group. One idea that I have always remembered from my group and continue to use to this day is: break down jobs into smaller, more manageable tasks. This is a great way for a nursing mom to feel like she has accomplished something even if she doesn’t get the “entire job” done in a day. If you are a checklist person, write down the tasks ..read more

(U.S. Breastfeeding Committee) Would you like to minister to nursing moms? If so, then you might like to become a CNML mentor! What is a CNML mentor? A CNML mentor is an experienced nursing mom who wants to help other moms with common breastfeeding concerns. She is not a breastfeeding counselor but a mentor and a friend to a nursing mom. She also prays for her and does her best to show the love of Christ to her. CNML mentors can help moms by holding support group meetings, helping nursing moms one on one, lead book studies, and/or lead ecological breastfeeding classes.  How involved is ..read more