We are so jazzed to learn that Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah will host a FREE screening of the documentary film “The Business of Being Born”, 6 to 8 PM Wed. April 4, 2012.

The award-winning film will be followed by a discussion with local health professionals. (Fingers-crossed that among the childbirth issues discussed will be the lack of local OBs who will do VBACs)

The screening will be at University Hall, Room 156, Armstrong Campus, 11935 Abercorn St., Savannah.

“The Business of Being Born”  is about the implications of the medicalization of childbirth and the ways in which many women are turning away from invasive medical models of delivery. It examines modern models of child delivery in America and what some women are doing to take back their rights to birth.

This event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Center for Public Health Media and Research , the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health & the Armstrong Master of Public Health program. Contact Leigh Rich at leigh.rich@armstrong.edu  for more information.

Here’s a snippet from my column this week in the Savannah Morning News:

“We’ve all heard the sad-but-true accounts of nursing mothers in restaurants, shops, parks, even churches, being told — presumably by people not aware of the benefits of breast-feeding — that they cannot feed their babies there.

It’s beyond frustrating.

Which is why moms are organizing a Georgia Statewide Nurse-In. At courthouses and state buildings across the state, women will protest the stigma associated with public breast-feeding by nursing their babies. The Savannah Nurse In will be 10 a.m.-2 p.m. March 5 at City Hall.

Fueled by their personal stories of fielding rude remarks while nursing in public, moms organized this grassroots effort in support of a state bill in the works to better protect breast-feeding moms and their babies.”

Read the entire column here.

For more details about the March 5 Savannah Nurse-In, click here.  Or email bfgeorgia@gmail.com. To sign the Nurse-In petition, click here.

Attention expectant & new parents. Check up the upcoming Baby Basics by Beth classes at Just for Baby & More in Savannah to learn everything you need to know before you bring your newborn home as well as an upcoming Infant & Child CPR Class.

Baby Basics Classes are:
10 AM-Noon Sat. Feb. 4 2012
or
10 AM-Noon Sat. April 14 2012

This class is taught by Beth Palmer, a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, and it will cover basic newborn care from head to toe. She will go over feeding, bathing, skincare, sleeping, and everything else in between. She will also focus on nursing. The class is $15 person or $25 per couple.

Infant & Child CPR Class
1-3 PM Sat. Feb. 4
or
10 AM-Noon Sat April 7
This class is taught by CE Consults and is American Heart Association Approved. The class is $30 per person.

If you are interested in attending, please email casey@justforbaby.net  or call 912-355-4455.

“Like” Just for Baby & More on Facebook here to stay connected and informed about deals and special events like this.

Just for Baby & More has friendly and knowledgeable staff who would love to show you our variety of products and help you find the perfect items for your family; Sunday Closed. 912.355.4455. Located at 7701 Waters Ave., Savannah, 31406, http://www.justforbaby.net/start.php  Just for Baby & More is a SouthernMamas.com advertiser.

Check out these two classes happening at Just for Baby & More, Savannah

Cloth Diapering Basics
Saturday January 28th
10am-12pm
or
Saturday March 10th
10am-12pm
Come learn cloth diapering 101! Kelli Brown will teach the class and she is sure to load you up on all the information for you to make an informed decision if cloth diapering is right for your family! She will teach you how to cloth diaper and how to take care of your diapers!
This class is FREE but you need to RSVP: casey@justforbaby.net or 912-355-4455

Breastfeeding Basics
Saturday January 28th
1pm -3pm
or
Saturday March 24th
10am – 12pm
Come learn the basics of breastfeeding. This class is taught by Lactation Consultant Sarah Brunson MS, RLS, IBCL. Sarah will share the information about breastfeeding techniques including; positioning, what to expect from yourself and your baby and she will be prepared to answer all of your questions!
$10 per person/ $15 per couple
If you are interested in joining, please email casey@justforbaby.net  or call (912) 355-4455

“Like” Just for Baby & More on Facebook here to stay connected and informed about deals and special events like this.

Just for Baby & More has friendly and knowledgeable staff who would love to show you our variety of products and help you find the perfect items for your family; Sunday Closed. 912.355.4455. Located at 7701 Waters Ave., Savannah, 31406, http://www.justforbaby.net/start.php 

Telfair BirthPlace at St. Joseph’s/Candler now offers online birth classes and tours.

So you can take birth classes while at your home, or wherever you are, online.

Find everything you need to know about giving birth, how the Telfair BirthPlace at St. Joseph’s/Candler works and more at www.sjchs.org/TelfairBirthPlace .

Along with the online birth classes, you can take a video tour of the Telfair BirthPlace & get familiar with their rooms. And when the new parents head home, they can go back to the Telfair BirthPlace site and get nearly every baby question answered in the online “Oh, Baby’s Home” book.

Other features:

• Information about Telfair BirthPlace lactation services.

• Contact Telfair BirthPlace First Steps program that provides ongoing help to new families.

• Learn about Telfair BirthPlace Special Care neonatal nursery.

Too often breastfeeding turns out to be the surprise challenge for new moms.

Nursing is easier with support and supplies from Savannah-area lactation consultant Pamela Holland of Babies, Breastfeeding and Beyond LLC.

Call for an initial in-home consult to help with any problems you may be experiencing with your baby or for a pre-natal visit for breastfeeding concerns before your baby is born.  

Breastfeeding, even including the price of consultation is a more affordable and healthier alternative to formula. Formula costs at least $1,650 per year, more than ten times the cost of one consultation.

As a board-certified Lactation Consultant who has worked with moms and babies of Southeast Georgia in the public  health sector for the past 20 years, Pamela Holland can help you feel confident in your ability to learn how to nurture and feed your baby. 

Pamela Holland started her private practice because she felt that women were being too hard on themselves when they did not achieve the kind of breastfeeding success that “the books” recommended.  Breastfeeding is a natural process, but it may not always be easy.  Rather than take a cookie cutter approach, Pamela Holland believes each mom and baby are unique and must have a personal plan of care that is customized to meet their specific needs. After all, Caesarean delivery, multiple births, and proximity of extended family are just a few of the challenges that are typical in today’s newborn delivery.

If you are having any issues with breastfeeding or have had a previous experience that was less than you had hoped for,  call Babies, Breastfeeding and Beyond at 912-306-4619.

Lactation Consultant Pamela Holland, Babies, Breastfeeding and Beyond LLC, 912-306-4619. Babies, Breastfeeding and Beyond is a SouthernMamas.com advertiser.

Interested in birthing in the privacy, safety, and familiarity of your own home? Want a waterbirth in your living room? Curious about natural alternatives during pregnancy? Want to be empowered by your birth rather than afraid of it?

Then check out our local homebirth certified nurse midwife (the only one in Georgia south of Macon actually), GeorgAnna Wiley at Savannah Midwifery. Call or email for a free, no-obligation consultation. Enjoy your birth!

www.savannahmidwife.net/

GeorgAnna Wiley is qualified to provide care for healthy, low-risk women and their babies during pregnancy, birth, after the birth and to help with women’s health needs from annual exams to menopause and everything in between.

Services offered include:

Prenatal Care

-certified HypnoBirthing® instructor

-a holistic model of care from a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM)

-herbal and natural remedies, massage, exercises, and alternative therapies used when desired

Homebirths with GeorgAnna Wiley and Nicole Lavallee, CPM

-give birth in the comfort of your own home, attended by skilled midwives

-offering waterbirths (and they supply the heated tub)

-breastfeeding support

For more information, please visit the homebirth page by clicking here 

Doula Services

-Intrapartum (during birth at a hospital, birthing center, or your home) or postpartum (after birth) doula services in your home. Postpartum includes breastfeeding support, help with sibling adjustment, newborn care help, housekeeping, cooking, nurturing the new mama, etc…. especially helpful after a c-section or if you have little help at home.

Extras: GeorgAnna can even help with a variety of baby slings and cloth diapers, as well as breastfeeding support.

Feel free to contact Savannah Midwifery with questions about any services above.

 State licensed and nationally certified nurse midwife (CNM) practicing in the Savannah area: GeorgAnna Wiley at Savannah Midwifery visit her on the web at www.savannahmidwife.net or call (912) 344-5066 or email birth@savannahmidwife.net Savannah Midwifery is a SouthernMamas.com advertiser.

There are many things to learn about as you prepare for your new baby’s arrival. If you are planning to nurse or trying to nurse your baby – here’s a FREE lactation class that is a great way to get ready.

Just For Baby & More @ 7701 Waters Ave will be hosting the free class for moms-to-be to gather information about nursing 6:30-8 PM Tues. March 23. Cate Glyn-Jones, a lactation consultant from Candler Hospital, will be teaching the class. Refreshments will be provided.

The first 15 registrants will receive a $15 gift card to the store. Please call (912) 355-4455 or email casey@justforbaby.net to register.

FREE Lactation Class, 6:30-8 PM Tues. March 23 @ Just For Baby & More, 7701 Waters Ave.

The good news is I still write a Sunday column “Hart to Heart” for the Savannah Morning News Accent section.

The bad news is they are cutting my column back from once a week to every other week. Very depressing and confidence-shattering. But that’s the state of print journalism today – budget cuts and lay offs.

I will continue to use this Web site to promote my columns when they run on the first and third Sunday of each month. Feel free to share story ideas and comments on what you’d like my column to focus on in the future. I get mixed messages on whether readers want more personal stories or more issue-oriented stories. My last two columns have offered a little of each.

Last week, I shared the humorous birth story of our precious new daughter, Francie, who arrived as an early Christmas gift for our family and a 40th birthday gift for me. You can read the column here. (The photo posted above is of Francie looking a little perplexed by her big brother as he tries to explain fingers and hands to her.)

This Sunday’s topic is a bit more controversial: breast feeding in public. I, personally, am often too shy to breast feed in public,  but support mothers who do 100 percent. You can read the column here. It’s about a breast feeding feud prompted by Facebook banning some breast-feeding photos on the basis of being obscene. Do you think breast-feeding photos are obscene? Please share your opinion in the comment section below.

Having trouble breastfeeding?
Find out more about breastfeeding by attending a meeting of La Leche League of Savannah on the first Tuesday of every month at 6:30 pm. The next meeting is Jan. 6.
Meetings are now being held @ The Family Health and Birth Center, 1692 Chatham Parkway, Savannah.
La Leche League of Savannah is a breastfeeding support group for new and expectant mothers. La Leche League Leaders of Savannah are also available by phone or email for anyone who needs more information.
Call 912.897.9261 or click here

You’ve taken all the baby-prep classes offered at your local hospital. You’ve read every baby book.

But you still worry you’re going to make the same sleeping/feeding mistakes as you did with your other babies or that you’re simply not prepared to enjoy the first months of your baby’s life without feeling tired and overwhelmed.

The same Atlanta pediatric nurses behind MomsOnCall.com and the online toddler seminar we promoted a few months ago are now offering an online infant-care training class that covers topics like:

• Getting your baby to sleep ALL NIGHT
• The real story on feeding your baby
• Establishing a schedule that fits your family
• Specific soothing techniques that work immediately
• Practical advice from moms who have been there

The online class is designed to help with specifics on how to care for a 0-3 month old baby and address the immediate concerns of getting on a great schedule, soothing a fussy baby and getting baby to sleep.

Click here for info.

Baby weight.

How do you lose it? Why is there so much of it? And why do other moms seem to banish their baby bellies immediately after giving birth?

Maybe their secret is Belly Bandits, an abdominal compression binder to help flatten the belly and redefine the waistline post-baby. The wrap also helps decrease bloating caused by water retention, give support to legs and back, improve posture and reduce back and shoulder pain associated with breastfeeding. Check out the wraps here.

Belly Bandit is giving away a $50 Belly Bandit Couture to a lucky SouthernMamas subscriber. See the giveaway wrap here. Even if you aren’t pregnant or a recent new mom, these tummy wraps make fun shower and baby gifts.

To be eligible to win, email us your name and your secret to losing baby weight (or your gameplan on how you will lose it.) Deadline is 9 pm Thurs. Sept. 18. Send email to anne@southernmamas.com. We’ll pick a name at random and announce the winner here Friday. The winner can select her size of Belly Bandit.

You have to be a SouthernMamas subscriber to participate. Subscribing is free. Click here to do so.

Love & Blessings.com knows gift baskets.

Theirs are beautiful, artfully-packaged treasures full of products from companies committed to quality organic ingredients, hip style and making it easier on mothers overall.

Love & Blessings.com has created a $70 mama/baby bathtime bonding basket just for a lucky SouthernMama. Whether you just gave birth, are expecting or desire a unique and special gift for someone who is.

All the goodies are delightfully wrapped in a natural willow baby bassinette basket that the new mom can use later to hold diapers or other baby essentials. The giveaway basket includes:

Little Twig’s Body Milk: Unscented – all-over moisturizer especially formulated for little ones with extra sensitive skin. Certified organic.

Bumble Bee Bath Mitt: Makes bathtime sudsy fun. In terrycloth from Little Twig.

Little Twig’s Baby Wash: Unscented – extra mild, organic botanical formula makes for purely clean skin and soft hair. Contains Aloe Vera, Vitamin E and jojoba. Certified organic.

Earth Mama Angel Baby Postpartum Recovery tea: astringent herbs help tone the uterus while other herbs nourish, calm and balance brand new moms. 100 percent organic herbs rich in iron, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus. $100 percent organic.

The Baby Bonding Audiobook on CD: 50 Ways to Connect with Your Infant by Victoria Loveland-Coen: Opens the heart
and sets an atmosphere conducive to bonding by providing simple, fun and intimate activities to do with your baby. These are the very same activities child development experts agree help create strong infant attachment.

Here’s how to win this fantastic giveaway.

Love & Blessings was born out of a desire to share with other new moms what its founder, Victoria Loveland-Coen, came to understand shortly after giving birth. What did she have? A boy? Girl? Quadruplets?

To find the answer, visit loveandblessings.com and hit the “about” section. Email us your name and the correct answer by 11 pm Thurs. Email it to anne@southernmamas.com. We’ll pick a name at random and announce it Friday on www.southernmamas.com.

Remember you have to be a SouthernMamas subscriber to participate. It’s free to subscribe. Click here to do so.

Looking for perfect Mother’s Day gifts? Check out our newest sponsor, Love & Blessings.com.

The online boutique has unique gifts for mama and baby. SouthernMamas readers receive five percent off all products! Just enter the code SOMAMA at the checkout and the five percent will automatically apply.

The folks @ Love & Blessings.com are pros at putting special gift baskets together, for moms, new moms, expectant moms. You can create your own gift basket or select one that Love & Blessings already has set up and filled with all their goodies.

Love & Blessings is also the site to hit when looking for fun gifts for new moms. Think Bebe Au Lait nursing covers (pictured here) to make breastfeeding a little less eye-catching; organic cotton baby clothes; organic baby lotions and body washes; books and CDs.

Enjoy and don’t forget to plug in that discount code.

You believe in gentle discipline, not spanking.

You believe in co-sleeping or sleeping near your baby, not letting babies “cry it out.”

And you definitely prefer “wearing your baby,” not going the stroller route.

If that describes you and you’re looking for new friends with similar parenting styles to yours, then check out a local attachment parenting group. It’s open to all like-minded parents including pregnant, new birth or adoptive, says member and Southern Mamas fan Laura Langlois Zurro. Click here for more info.

For other social moms groups in our area, click here.

Looking for a helpful gift for a new parent?

Check out the Itzbeen Baby Care Timer, which helps parents know how long it’s been since the last nursing, diaper change or naptime.
The Itzbeen was invented by a new mom and dad who found themselves sleep-deprived and in need of help to remember EVERYTHING, including when their baby last ate.

The Itzbeen has four timers that help you clock the time since the last feeding, medication time etc. It also has a nightlight to help mom find her way around the nursery at night without waking baby. There’s even a nursing reminder switch to remember from which side the baby fed.

It’s enough to make you wonder how those of us without such a gotta-have gadget ever managed.

Itzbeen is available for $24.99 in our Southern Mamas Picks boutique, powered by Amazon. Click here. Browse our other recommendations for books for children and parents, toys and baby gear. You’re still shopping through Amazon and you’ll see the same functionality, such as your Amazon wishlist, if you already are an Amazon shopper.

Here’s a reason to avoid liquid infant formula packaged in cans and opt instead for powdered formula, liquid formula not packaged in cans, or exclusive breastfeeding:
The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy and research organization, says in a new report that liquid formula from the nation’s top baby formula makers is sold in cans lined with bisphenol-A, or BPA. BPA is a hormone-mimicking chemical that has been found to cause hyperactivity, sexual development abnormalities and pediatric brain cancer in laboratory animals.

According to media reports, formula makers acknowledge the presence of BPA, but say it is not harmful. The Food and Drug Administration agrees.

Concerns were raised earlier this year about BPA in plastic, shatterproof baby bottles and sippy cups. For suggestions on safer bottles and cups, click here.

“Eight steps to increase fertility” (MSNBC)

“Teens take bullying to the Internet, study finds” (Reuters)

“Safe toy shopping tips” (San Francisco Chronicle)

“YouTube bans breastfeeding video” (Seattle Post Intelligencer)

“Autistic children have more gray matter in brains” (U.S. News & World Report)

“Clinton unveils autism plan” (Associated Press)

“‘Endocrine disruptor’ won’t be on labels” (USAToday)

“Everywhere chemicals in plastics alarm parents” (USAToday)

“Does breastfeeding make breasts sag? (WebMD)

“No Peanuts and Cracker Jack: Kids with food allergies get a rare chance to see a ballgame” (Washington Post)

“Need help parenting? Just hire a coach” (Los Angeles Times)

“Killing the consumer” (Newsweek)

“Play yards recalled after baby’s death” (Associated Press)

“Judge orders extra break time for breastfeeding medical student” (Boston Globe)

“Vaccine compound is harmless, study finds, as autism debate rages” (New York Times)

“Baby, what’s in a name?” (Contra Costa Times)