Category Archives: breastfeeding

12 Reasons to welcome kids in church + tips for how to actually do it! | Sacraparental.com

12 Reasons to Welcome Kids in Church + Tips for Actually Doing It

Sure, kids don’t belong everywhere. They’re not a symphony orchestra’s target audience (except when they are). The tense whispers of snooker commentators suggest that toddlers wouldn’t be welcome at tournament finals. But babies and children are legally entitled to be all sorts of places that aren’t always built with them in mind, including, say, courthouses […]

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How the Maps are Wrong (and Why It’s a Problem)

With friends and family scattered all over the globe, I’d love to have a huge map of the world in our house. When we move to Thailand later this year, it’ll be a priority purchase. The only reason we don’t have one already is my West Wing addiction. What a marvellous show. I rewatched all […]

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Lactation Cookies: 3 Reasons and 12 Recipes to Make Some for a New Parent

They do NOT contain breastmilk. I’m a fan of science, as you know, so I’ve been reluctant to write about lactation cookies, even though it’s a cool topic. The problem is that there is a very strange lack of scientific research on many aspects of breastfeeding. We’re left to self-evaluate traditional knowledge which could either be […]

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The Sacrament of Breastfeeding #6: Mastitis and the Trinity

Welcome! This is a reworking of an earlier post, from March 2013 (just so I’m not soliciting undue sympathy: I’m fine now!).  Being a woman equals being in community. The same might feel true for men (I hope it does), but I can’t write that blog post, being in possession, as I am, of two […]

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The Sacrament of Breastfeeding #5: Bible Blokes and Cultural Capital

Nah, don’t worry, I’m not going to launch into a breastfeeding campaign using biblical texts to convince you of anything. I just thought this was a nice point made by someone on the Dulce de Leche blog. Peter writes in his first New Testament letter: Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, […]

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The Sacrament of Breastfeeding #4: Mary and Jesus

We don’t know for sure that Mary was a breastfeeding mother, but it seems a reasonable inference. In a time before formula and modern medical care, she would have had few other options, and if she or someone else hadn’t breastfed Jesus he would almost certainly have died in infancy, from malnourishment or water-borne disease, […]

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The Smug Hobby of Parent-Bashing

Being smug is such a treat. Not only do you get the warm glow of being right but if you add a smidge of righteous into the mix it goes all scrumptious. What fun to sneer at people and tell them how wrong they are! Smugness is shiveringly satisfying, but it’s also a cheap thrill, and I’d love […]

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Bon Voyage: 7 Secrets to Happy Flying with Babies and Toddlers

If you’re planning to fly with littlies soon, let me be the first to say ‘Bon voyage!’ You’re in for a treat. For one thing, you get to visit friends and family (or fabulous wonders) in far-flung places, so that’s awesome. For another, you are doing it without being stuck below-decks for three months on […]

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The Sacrament of Breastfeeding #3: Delicious!

Breastfeeding is a team sport. One of the delights of breastfeeding a toddler is how our communication about feeding has developed. SBJ has gone from saying ‘Brr!’ to ‘Bee!’ to ‘Feed!’ Now we’re in the land of full-ish sentences, though the syntax is often, shall we say, idiosyncratic. Tonight, here was our conversation: Me: Honey, […]

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