As someone with lactivist tendencies Frank and I did take little K to the Lactation Bar mentioned in this earlier blog entry. I went initially without the desire to taste other people's breast milk but once there found the lure of comparing my milk to others strong.

I tasted the last two milks on the sampling menu for the evening. They were called "Straight up with a Twist" and "Truth Serum #9". 3mm of milk in each little plastic shot glass. You were invited to look at it, spot the differences, sniff and then drink all at a very cozy bar which Jess played bartender at.

When prompted by Jess, the fellow beside me said he came to taste BM because his mother did not BF him and he always felt somewhat "incomplete" about it. I found that very interesting.

The first milk, Straight Up with a Twist was not too unlike mine but mine is sweeter with more body. Wow, I feel like I am writing about a wine!.  The donor walked up as we tasted it - so that was neat.

The second milk Truth Serum #9 almost made me gag on the aftertaste. I found it very strong with a bit of a bite. Jess told us afterwards the donor of that milk was vegetarian - illustrating how diet affects the flavour of milk.

I have to say I don't like the taste of my milk and liked the milk I tasted even less - maybe the pasteurization affects the taste?

Now, I know most of my friends reading this are going to say are you nuts? No one at the event was promoting the notion adults should be drinking breast milk on a regular basis. The event was to explore the taboos around something that is 100% natural - Mother's milk and artist choose to do it by having a lactation bar.

Really why are humans the ONLY species the drink milk past the developmental stage usually marked by the loss of the "milk" teeth (primary teeth)? Why do we have such low and abysmal rates of BFing? Why do we think it is ok to give our children milk from another mammal - the cow, or the goat? Why not HUMAN milk right from the tap? Why is extended breastfeeding (which should not even be called that, the natural course is to let a child self-wean) frowned upon? Its what those breasts were made for!

I fully recognize some mother's can not BF for medicinal reasons, or can not produce enough milk, etc and this is not meant as a slight against them. When you try your hardest and it does not work of course other options should be available.

However, when your milk factory is working just fine I have to ask myself why when the Canadian Pediatric Society, Dietitians of Canada, Health Canada and the World Health Organization recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, and continuing with complementary foods for up to two years and beyond it is consider nuts to breastfeed your child to two and beyond?

Signed,

Tash
A proud lactivist who is still nursing her two year old!

More information:
Article in the Toronto Star on the event.
Blog entry from one of the donors.
Statement of the Joint Working Group: Canadian Pediatric Society, Dietitians of Canada and Health Canada
WHO - Exclusive Breastfeeding

American Idol:

$63 million people voted to crown some Hicks guy the latest American Idol last night. More people than voted in the last US Presidential election. More than a third of the American people think their vote counts as much or more for "American Idol" than it does for the presidency, according to a recent poll by Pursuant, Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based polling firm.

Ummm have a view at the US debt clock. A typical US families share of the American debt is right now $133,136.00USD. Read about the cost of the war on terror since 9/11.

And try to figure out why more Americans would vote for an singing idol versus President?

I simply do not get it.

Babies watching TV:

43% of kids under two watching TV. 33% of children under 6 living in a home where the TV is on most of the time. 

The Kaiser Family Foundation reported that 33 percent of children under age 6 have televisions in their bedrooms; 30 percent eat with the TV on and 83 percent stare at some type of screen -- a computer, video game or other device -- in a typical day.

I simply do not get it.

Anyone care to explain?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 1.5 million infants die around the world every year because they are not breastfed. Where water is unsafe a bottle-fed child is up to 25 times more likely to die as a result of diarrhoea than a breastfed child. That is why a marketing code was introduced in 1981 to regulate the marketing of breastmilk substitutes. Companies continue to violate its provisions. Find out how Baby Milk Action works to stop them and how you can help.   more »

Sex offender registries are in invitation to vigilante justice and foster a climate of fear, suspicion, paranoia and hate. To tackle the problem of sex offenders, we should be focusing on, tougher jail sentences, intense counseling and treatment to rehabilitate. If an offender can not be rehabilitated they should not be released from prison. Sex offender registries should remain an investigative tool for the police, and the police should have the discretion to issue public warnings about individual sex offenders. This is where the authority should remain, not online, not with vigilantes, but with the police.   more »

When you pass away, your electricity is freed from your human body and passes into it's surrounding enviroment.   more »