things I forgot from yesterday, opening session

I forgot to mention that Maya Wrap also has a new sling with a padded shoulder, which looks really comfortable to me. I don't like a fully padded sling, but a padded shoulder can be very comfortable. It also sits much more easily on the shoulder than the shoulder cap, it's more intuitive to put on, I think it will make slings easier to "get" for a lot of moms.

I can tell that I am truly sling obsessed. I laid awake last night thinking about how many of my personal slings I'd like to sell (three cotton Zolos, two Maya Wraps, perhaps my two MamaBabys) and what I'd like to replace them with (a stretch cotton Zolowear, a padded shoulder MayaWrap and maybe a Maya mei tai). I feel like I should try the Maya mei tai because I think our group should sell them along with the slings, and if I like it better, I might sell my Kozy. Of course, my Kozy hasn't been used much, since Niels went on a sling strike shortly after I got it. See? Obsessed.

This morning I attended the opening general session, "From Head to Toe: Breastfeeding Makes a Difference." The speaker was Ros Escott, an IBCLC from Australia who is the Regional Administrator of the Australian Office for the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners. The first thing she said was that she wanted to change the title to, "Artificially babies are different from Head to Toe." I need to continue to remind myself to use that language, that breastfeeding is the norm and that babies fed artificial milk are the ones who are different. She listed ways in which breastfed and artificially fed babies differ in each system of the body. It was really interesting. One thing that stuck out at me was the fact that breastfed babies tend to be taller, and in particular, they tend to have longer legs rather than a longer torso. I always tell people that Niels didn't get his height from me, in particular his long legs, but maybe he did!

Since I am signed up for continuing education credits I tried to take thorough notes from the session, but there was just so much information! Luckily, when you get the CE credits they give you a syllabus for all the CE sessions, so the studies that Escott cited in her talk are listed there, so I can read more about the studies that interest me.

My next CE session is the luncheon. The title is, "Human Milk: It's More Than Just Food." I am looking forward to it!