Angela and Dorea Vierling-Claass

Angela Vierling-Claassen, left, and her wife Dorea Vierling-Claassen successfully co-nursed their baby son – but they don't think they'd do it again.

Did you ever wish, during those bleary nighttime feedings, for an extra set of boobs to shoulder the burden? Dorea Vierling-Claassen got that wish, when her wife, Angela Vierling-Claassen, agreed to co-nurse.

Co-nursing is exactly what it sounds like: two moms breast-feeding their baby, be it biological or adopted. Thanks to the Newman-Golfarb Protocols for Induced Lactation, women who’ve never been pregnant can successfully breast-feed. But are four breasts better than two?

Not necessarily, said Angela, 40, who lives in Cambridge, Mass., with her wife, her 5-year-old daughter Margaret, and her 2-year-old son, Jacob. Among the benefits: she’s certain it enhanced her bond with Jacob, who she was first to breast-feed.

“After he was born, Dorea had to go get stitched up, so I was the first person who nursed Jacob,” Angela recalled. “It was really lovely.”

And, she was able to help with the nighttime nursing, which had been a point of tension with their first child. Angela had carried that baby, and the couple had decided against co-nursing while she was pregnant. Too hard, too many chances for hurt feelings.

“When you’re a new lesbian mom and you’ve got one of you pregnant and one of you not, you’ve already got enough issues to wrestle with,” said Angela.

When Dorea, 34, was carrying Jacob, though, she lobbied hard in favor of co-nursing. “I like a challenge, and here was this opportunity unique to our family situation,” she said.

Save for a few blogs, though, there’s not a lot of resources for women who want to co-nurse. Donna Norris, a registered nurse and lactation consultant in Newton, Mass., has worked with lots of lesbian couples, but has seen only a few that attempt to co-nurse.

“If (the couple) has looked into it all, they’ll see that it’s really hard to do. To induce lactation, you have to start way before the baby’s born, do medication, hormones and pump,” said Norris, who works at Newton Wesley Hospital.  “In the end you get some milk, but you often don’t get a full milk supply.”

Angela did all of the above to induce lactation, including lots and lots of pumping. Adopted moms who nurse have the baby at the breast as often as possible, which stimulates milk production.

“In a two-mom family, we were trying to make sure that we protected my full supply,” said Dorea. “Anytime Angela nursed, I needed to pump. And every time I nursed, she needed to pump.”

Angela also took birth control pills to simulate pregnancy, and domperidone, a gastrointestinal drug with a side effect of milk secretion. She also took blessed thistle and fenugreek, two herbs known to increase milk supply. “I got tired of taking 25 pills a day,” she said.

So after six months of co-nursing, Angela hung up her breast pump for good. “It was very successful, and very hard,” she said, adding that she wouldn’t necessarily recommend co-nursing, and definitely not for couples having their first baby: “That would have felt impossible to me.”

“I’m completely thrilled that we did it, and I felt very good about the way that all three of us navigated it, “ said Angela. “And I was completely thrilled to be done with it.”

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Teen calls cops to report mom having loud sex

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Breast milk shortage hits milk banks

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Your flights are booked, itinerary organized, and every few weeks you sneak a peek at those nearly impossible-to-get tickets to the  Olympics. Then you realize that your new baby, who wasn’t even conceived when you made your plans, needs its own ticket – a ticket that could be just as difficult to get as yours was, and that could cost another small fortune. Some parents were gobsmacked this week to learn that babes-in-arms would be required to have their own tickets for Olympic events.

After a public outcry from moms, dads and parents-to-be, Games organizers said in a statement on Tuesday that they may change their policy, and “will look at what we can do [for parents in this situation] when the remaining tickets go on sale in April.”

It was welcome news to many moms who say that they need to bring their babies to breast-feed, or because they have no other childcare options. Babies in a front-carrier or sling don't exactly take up more room or require their own seat (they can barely hold their heads up, let alone sit down,) although organizers have said the extra ticket is to ensure that Olympic venues don't exceed capacity.

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The Equality and Human rights Commission even told one complainant that she may have a case for “indirect sex discrimination,” the Guardian reported.

But should parents really be bringing a baby to the Olympics in the first place? Long security lines, crowded stadiums and the need to take public transport to many Olympic events are just some of the obstacles -- and germ fests -- that parents and their babies will face this summer.

Plus, London in July and August isn’t exactly like Beijing and Athens, homes of the last two Olympics. Summer in England can be downright chilly, never mind the rain. It's enough to persuade any parent to find a reliable sitter.

Would you take your baby to the Olympics? Tell us in the comments section below.

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Sesame Street via YouTube.com

In a Sesame Street from 1977, Buffy St. Claire explains breastfeeding to Big Bird.

Sesame Street, brought to you by the letter “B.” As in, breast-feeding.

That’s the hope of a petition “Bring Breastfeeding Back to Sesame Street,”  which was started by moms on the website care2.com who say they “want breast-feeding normalized again.”

The petition, which currently has more than 9,700 signatures, points to the good old days on the Street in the 70's and 80's when “nursing was tastefully shown on the show.”

Guest star Buffy St. Marie breast-fed in a 1977 episode, explaining to Big Bird: “I’m feeding the baby. See? He’s drinking milk from my breast.” To which Big Bird answers: "That's a funny way to feed a baby." And St. Marie responds: "Lots of mothers feed their babies this way. Not all mothers, but lots of mothers do." Street regular Sonia Marzano (aka Maria) was also shown nursing her own daughter on the show. 

Petitioners say they are not asking the show to remove bottle feeding. They just want both ways represented.

If we normalize breastfeeding in our community, especially with our children, we can help raise a generation of breastfeeders which will support our economy, make for healthier children and lessen the risk of breast cancer for many nursing mamas!  

In response to the breast-feeding brouhaha, Sesame Workshop, creators of Sesame Street, responded with this statement via email:

Sesame Street is a research-based educational program for preschoolers. Each new season is designed to teach a specific curriculum; this year’s curriculum is science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).  Sesame Street does not have a mandate against breastfeeding, and the show never made a switch to portray bottle-feeding only.  We have depicted breastfeeding in the past, and would include it again in the future if it was a natural part of the storyline.

 

What do you think? Should Sesame Street feature breast-feeding? 

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Nursing moms descended on hundreds of Target stores around the country this week, but they weren't looking for after-Christmas deals. Nope, they came for a nurse-in: a public gathering of moms breast-feeding their babies, in support of a woman's right to nurse in public (known in some circles by the handy acronym, NIP).

Why was Target the target? Texas mom Michelle Hickman says she was hassled by several different Target employees last month when she tried to breast-feed her baby inside a Webster, Texas store. She says she was sitting in a quiet corner, using a blanket to cover up, but apparently that wasn't enough for the employees she encountered or the clueless customer service representative who allegedly told her on the phone that laws protecting women's right to breast-feed don't apply inside Target stores. (Newsflash: they do! 45 states have laws allowing women to breast-feed in public.) She complained on her Facebook page, her complaints picked up steam with the breast-feeding mom community, and a nurse-in was planned for Dec. 28. Moms from all over took part, including some TODAY Moms readers.

Related: NASCAR driver sees woman breast-feeding, freaks out on Twitter

NBC Chicago

The milk bar is open! Moms participate in a nurse-in at a Chicago-area Target.

"It was a great experience," Springfield, Va. mom Gwen Arredondo reported on our Facebook page. "Every employee I encountered was kind and gentle. I nursed my son as we returned some items and while checking out. The manager told our group that nursing mamas are welcome in her store and she encouraged the group." Later that day, for good measure, Arredondo said she nursed at Kohl's -- and had a good experience there, too.

Related links:
More adoptive moms learn to breast-feed babies
Dairy Queen? What’s your breast-feeding nickname?
Beyond the breast-feeding wars: A supplementer speaks out

Alabama mom Hannah Ellis said she put on make-up and nice jewelry just to make sure she'd look respectable at her first ever nurse-in. Like Arredondo, she and her baby had a great experience. "I stood in front of Target's nursing bra display (OK, couldn't help it -- humor got the best of me), picked my son out of the cart and popped him neatly under my Hooter Hider," she wrote on the TODAY Moms Facebook page. "After feeding for a minute or so, I got more confident. I decided to walk past the dressing room...the employee working there was busy and didn't even notice me. I browsed through racks of clothing around the dressing room. Women shoppers browsed around me...no one said a thing or looked twice. Feeling encouraged, I decided to really put my Target to the test. I headed toward the front of the store and the main aisle in front of all the check out counters. I browsed displays, still nursing my son under my Hooter Hider. 'Good morning,' I said to a Target employee as I passed her, nursing. 'Good morning,' she replied. 'Have a great day!'"

Target executives, for their part, hopped on the public breast-feeding train. They issued a statement reiterating their support for moms who want to feed their babies while they shop. (They're no dummies -- more potential customers!)

"We continually educate our team members in stores across the country on store policies to ensure all guests have a great experience," Target wrote in a company statement. "Target has been in touch with the [Webster, Texas] store to ensure all team members are aware of our breastfeeding policy. Target is proud to support all mothers who breastfeed year-round."

But not everyone is down with NIP. On the TODAY Moms page a fierce debate raged after some commenters declared public breast-feeding to be "gross." (Real mature, guys!) But the issue isn't black-and-white. Some moms say they totally support breast-feeding, and think women should be allowed to nurse in public -- but they don't think a "nurse in" is the answer.

"To be honest I really don't care how you chose to feed your baby, that is your business not mine, but you make it my business when you and your buddies go do a sit-in," complained Monica La Fuente Ramirez. "Now I have to avoid the store because I don't want to see a bunch of women breast-feeding their babies all at once, please this is a store not a mommy play group."

As Nesie Spencer wrote, "Breastfeeding is natural. Yes that's fine. But I think making all this noise is a bit too much. I think there is only such a huge 'scandal' about it because people keep talking about it. It's like 'look at me, look at me.'"

Still other moms wondered why all the big fuss about a little baby nursing. "It's a shame that women are judging each other on here," said Hillary Prickett. "It's hard for me to believe people are offended. I see more boob on TV than I ever do [from breast-feeding moms] in public. Be discreet and everyone else get over it. Babies need to be fed. However and whenever is mom's choice and her right."

What do you think? Do you nurse in public, or support other women's right to do so? Would you ever go to a nurse-in?

NBC Chicago reports on the local Target nurse-in.

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After years of hoping, planning and waiting, Anne Schaeffer finally held her adopted son in her arms – and breast-fed him.

Courtesy Anne Schaeffer

Anne Schaeffer with her son Robbie, who she adopted, and breast-fed, as an infant.

Once upon a time, adoptive breast-feeding, or induced lactation, was rare. And while it’s still not the norm, a growing number of adoptive mothers are nursing their young babies. They do it for the health benefits of breast milk for babies, but also for the emotional benefits for both mother and child.

“It’s impossible for me to know what our bond would be like if I hadn’t done it, but I could not feel closer to my son,” said Schaeffer, whose son is now 11 months. “He’s got a really wonderful, very secure attachment to me. I don’t know how much (breast-feeding) played into it, but it sure didn’t hurt.”

It wasn’t easy. Schaeffer and her husband were pretty beaten up, mentally and physically, after four in-vitro fertilization cycles and four miscarriages. Shortly after they decided to adopt, Schaeffer’s mother told her about an NPR segment she’d heard about induced lactation.  

“It was such a relief, such a consolation that I would be able to have some sort of physical bonding,” said Schaeffer.

She contacted Julie Bouchet-Horwitz, an Irvington, N.Y.-based nurse practitioner and lactation consultant who breast-fed her adopted daughter 16 years ago. She coached Schaeffer throughout the process, using the Newman-Goldfarb Protocols for Induced Lactation, a guide developed in 1999 by a Canadian pediatrician and a woman becoming a mom through gestational surrogacy.

To make breast milk, women take birth control pills continuously for several months, tricking the body into thinking it’s pregnant. The guide also suggests domperidone, a gastrointestinal drug with a side effect of milk secretion – even in men.

Domperidone isn’t FDA-approved, and Reglan, a similar drug available in the U.S., has been shown to cause depression. There are also herbs that can help with milk production, but most women who go the medication route take domperidone; Schaeffer ordered hers from a pharmacy in New Zealand.   

As the adoption day nears, adoptive moms come off the birth control pill and continue domperidone to produce milk. Nipple stimulation – the kind that comes from a baby nursing, or a breast pump – triggers oxytocin, the hormone that causes the milk “let-down” effect.

Courtesy Jane Anne Wilder

Jane Anne Wilder, breast-feeding her adopted newborn.

It’s even possible for women to produce milk without drugs. Jane Anne Wilder, an actress from the Seattle area, adopted 17 years ago. Her doctor told her she could go on hormones to prepare for breast-feeding, but she was leery. “If the adoption had fallen through, I was going to be devastated enough. So I wanted to start when the adoption was solid.”

Wilder was at the hospital when her baby was born. She used a supplemental nursing system, a device used by both adoptive and biological moms. Formula or breast milk goes in a little bottle, which is fed to the baby through tiny tubes taped to the mother’s nipple. Baby doesn’t know the difference, and the sucking causes mom to make more milk.

Within three days, Wilder was “honest to God lactating,” although she never made enough milk to breast-feed without supplementing. Few adoptive moms, whether they take drugs or not, will make enough milk to breast-feed exclusively. But Wilder kept at it for the bonding.

“This wasn’t my biological child, so I wanted to take every opportunity to bond with this baby that I could possibly get,” said Wilder. Plus, she added, “I had cleavage for the first time.”

More great stories from TODAY Moms:

20 kids and counting! Michelle Duggar is pregnant again
Sure, turn off ESPN. But you still have to talk about the Penn State scandal.
Breast milk shortage hits milk banks

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Think France's First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy (shown here carrying her new-born daughter Giulia) has given herself a breast-feeding nickname?

French president Nicolas Sarkozy recently made a parenting faux pas by describing breast-feeding (which is how wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is feeding their newborn daughter Giulia) as both "a joy and a kind of slavery."

Not the finest choice of words for sure, and so not cool for a man (not to mention a world leader) to say.

But, there is something about being chained to a baby while breast-feeding that rings honest and true.

This makes us think of the funny nicknames we sometimes give ourselves while breast-feeding. Among TODAY Moms editors, we have an assortment: There's Dairy Queen and The Milk Truck and Bessie the Cow.

We asked TODAY Moms Facebook fans to weigh in on Sarcozy's description and to share their own nicknames for themselves. While some disagreed, many moms think the French prez was spot on.

Lien Hai Dinh wrote:

 I wouldn't call it slavery, although the term doesn't offend me. More like constantly on demand but happy to be so!

Judy Ann Wigginton commented:

I'm gonna have to say he is kinda right. If it was from a woman would it be different? I only BF'd for a few weeks due to some other issues but during that time I was the Milk Bar...

 Andrea Blanco wrote:

I think it's normal to feel that way at times (irrespective of nursing) and will give the president the benefit of the doubt and hope he was sympathizing with how needed mothers are and how much we do and that what he was trying to say got lost in translation. What is wrong is this societal/cultural expectation that, with a newborn, you aren't going to be constantly in demand or 'chained' to your baby as others have expressed. I am just Mama...both because I have working mammary glands and because I am lucky enough to have 2 gorgeous boys who call me so.

Connie Jones posts:

It is the most natural thing in the world and I'm sure he meant no harm. The PC police need to move along. 

 And here's our Top 10 favorite nicknames and the good-humored TODAY Moms who shared them:.

1. All-Night Buffet (from Becky Wilson)
2. Meals on Wheels (from Brittney Miller)
3. Breastaurant (from Jamee Kizzar)
4. On Tap (from Maria Mahala)
5. Milk Jugs (from Freedom Hunter)
6. Fast Food (from Azlina Ahmad)
7. Boobs-to-go (from Leslie Lewis, who adds that if she was bouncing around, the name was Milk Shake.)
8. Jersey (as in Jersey cow, says Carol Chard Stanley)
9. The Big Gulp (as in the drink from 7-11, says Nicole Chapadeau Reuter)
10. Squirt (from Alexii Nikki Collins)

     

    Brittney Miller (aka Meals on Wheels from above) added:

When I went back to work I said that I felt like I had gone from a free range cow with her calf in a field to being stuck in a tiny pen (cubicle) hooked up to a milk machine (pump). I didn't like it, and yes, it did feel like slavery. That said, I'm glad I did it.

Do you have a breast-feeding nickname? Share it in our comments.

Related links:

Breast-milk shortage hits milk banks

Babies with knives? Co-sleeping ad angers some parents 

Chickenpox lollipops: Some moms are sending in mail

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

Got milk? Human milk banks are experiencing an unprecedented breast-milk shortage, forcing them to turn away babies in need.

There are 10 nonprofit banks in the U.S. and one in Vancouver. Usually they can help each other out when supplies run low, but not now. “For the last four months, everyone has been struggling to find enough milk,” says Pauline Sakamoto, executive director of the Mothers’ Milk Bank in San Jose, Calif. 

Donors are willing, but demand is growing faster than supply. The total supply increases 8 percent to 10 percent every year, Sakamoto says, but “the demand has just outpaced our ability to collect the milk. It’s mainstream medicine now.”

One reason, says Kim Updegrove, executive director of the Mothers’ Milk Bank in Austin, Texas, is that “scientific research has shown irrefutably over the last few years that human milk-only feeding to these babies is critical.”

Babies (or rather, their parents) need a doctor’s prescription to obtain donor milk from the banks. The banks’ top priorities are the tiniest preemies in neonatal intensive care units as well as infants who’ve had surgery.

About half of those preemies’ moms can pump enough milk for them, Updegrove says. But pumping for a preemie in the NICU is really hard, especially for first-time moms. The stress of the NICU alone “is enough to decrease significantly the supply of milk," she said. "Instead of having the very lovely and cuddly baby to hold in your arms, you instead have this child whom you’re probably not able to touch at this point.”

Just last year,  the banks had enough milk to supply babies who weren’t even in the hospital, such as infants whose mothers had a double mastectomy or the full-term babies who couldn't keep formula down but whose mothers couldn't breastfeed, says Sakamoto, herself a former donor. “I can’t serve them anymore. And as a nurse and as a mom, I can’t handle that.”

Related stories on TODAY Moms:
Beyond the breast-feeding wars
Go mama! Woman gives birth 7 hours after finishing marathon
Is breast-feeding on demand a crime?
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Most donors are women who have more than enough milk to feed their own babies, Updegrove says. Occasionally, women who’ve lost a baby donate, she says. “Breast milk comes in whether you have an infant or not. They do it in honor of their deceased child.”

You don’t have to live near a milk bank to donate. Once you are screened — the main reason women are excluded from donating is if they’re taking certain medications — a milk bank will send a cooler, which you can pack up and ship back overnight at the bank’s expense. For more information about donating, go to the milk banking association’s website.

Many informal milk-sharing website have sprung up in recent years, but both Updergrove and Sakamoto urge women to consider donating to the nonprofit milk banks instead, because they prioritize the highest-need cases. For a healthy full-term infant, Updergrove points out, an extra 200 ounces of milk represents only about eight meals. For that struggling preemie, it means so much more, she said: “You could save a lot of lives by donating your milk to the milk bank.”

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To the average observer, I am a breast-feeding mother of a three month old infant. But the truth is more complex. I was once the embodiment of a La Leche League wet (pun intended) dream. Now, I am a part-time formula user. Yes -- I am one of the secret supplementers.

When my first son was born, I was a newly minted stay-at-home mom. I’d left my job in corporate litigation to go in-house.  My son took to the breast. And took to it. And took to it. As a new and clueless parent, I generally made the assumption that if the kid was crying, he was hungry. If we go by hours, I’m pretty sure that more than half of my little baby’s life was spent with my breast in his mouth. I never pumped: after all, why should I? I was with this guy all the time. If he and I were dating, it would have been labeled a dysfunctional relationship. I took him into breast-feeding “support” groups and the other attendees marveled as my boy rocked the scale.

Coutesy: Jordana Horn

Baby G, 3-month-old daughter of Jordana Horn, had both breast milk and formula. And doesn't she look happy?

Fast-forward eight years. In the interim, I had another son, I divorced and remarried, and now, this summer, had a daughter. I am a journalist with daily deadlines.  When pregnant and asked if I was going to breastfeed, I said, “Of course,” and received a pleased smile from my obstetrician.

So after giving birth, seeing my family, saying hi to my sister who had just gone into labor down the hall – no kidding – I felt kind of tired. It was a big day. And when the nurses asked me whether I wanted to get up that night to feed the baby, I said, you know something? Let’s wait till morning and give her a bottle of (gasp!) formula when she’s hungry.

See, this is where you’re supposed to react with shock and horror. Because we all know “breast is best.” Because we all know that any bottle might seduce your young kid’s mouth away from your breast. Because we all know that formula is terrible, terrible! I, of course, was raised entirely on formula back in the day and ended up being a healthy productive member of society with two degrees from an Ivy League institution, but let’s go back to talking about how formula is the nectar of the devil.

Actually, let’s not. I’m convinced that those initial bottles helped teach my baby that plastic nipples could be just as good as mine – a good thing for when I had to go back to work. And while I pumped like a maniac, when my supply dipped due to vagaries of my professional and personal schedule, I supplemented my breast-feeding with formula.

Why do people think this is anathema? Breast-feeding advocates will tell you that supplementing can damage your supply of breastmilk. But if I’m not at home all the time with my child – or if I am at home, but am busy with my other children – isn’t it best to give my child some formula as opposed to none? Why is breast-feeding versus formula feeding put to parents as an all-or-nothing choice? And why are we made to feel ashamed for giving anything less than 100percent  to our children?

Lactation consultant Heather Kelly knows breast-feeding is best – but also feels that the choice of “either/or”  posed to new mothers is a false dichotomy. It’s a misconception, she told me, that every mother can make enough breastmilk for their baby. Most women can, but some women can’t due to scant breast tissue, breast surgery, medical complications, etc.

“We also have a very, very polarized view of breast-feeding in our culture; that is to say, you are either fully or exclusively breastfeeding  and offering no formula at all, or you are a complete failure, “ Kelly said.

"The truth is, formula can co-exist with breastfeeding, as long as the mother's supply is properly maintained and managed,” she added.

“If you are a mother with no nursing problems, a good supply, and a desire to get a break from breast-feeding, it is not as healthy a choice to bring in formula as it is to pump your own breastmilk and give it to the baby in a bottle,” Kelly said.  “This is simply a medical fact.”

But you know something? For this mom (and baby), it’s not the end of the world either.

Jordana Horn is a TODAY Moms contributor, lawyer, journalist, writer and mother of three. Sometimes, she even sleeps.

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New moms don't get the breast-feeding support they need from hospitals, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control.

Less than 4 percent of U.S. hospitals do everything they should to help mothers breast-feed, and only 14 percent of hospitals have a written, model breast-feeding policy.

Only one-third of hospitals practice rooming in, where mothers and babies stay together so that they have frequent chances to breast-feed. And nearly 80 percent of hospitals give formula to healthy breast-feeding infants when it’s not medically necessary, the report finds.

Hospitals should do better, health officials say -- especially given the health benefits of breast-feeding.

“Those first few hours and days that a mom and her baby spend learning to breast-feed are critical," said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H.  "Hospitals need to better support breast-feeding, as this is one of the most important things a mother can do for her newborn.  Breast-feeding helps babies grow up healthy and reduces health care costs.”

The report data comes from a national survey of maternity care that the CDC conducts every two years.

So what does it take for hospitals to be deemed “baby-friendly” and follow practices that increase the rates of breast-feeding? The CDC has a list of steps that include:

• Encouraging mothers to room in, staying with their baby 24 hours a day.
• Not giving healthy, breast-feeding infants any other food or drink, unless there’s a medical need for it.
• Connecting moms with support groups and other resources, especially the week after they leave the hospital.
• Stopping the distribution of formula samples and give-aways to breast-feeding mothers.

Moms, if you delivered a baby in a hospital, chances are this news isn’t surprising. What’s the worst advice you got about breast-feeding in the hospital? Did you have to fend off nurses offering formula? Or were you fortunate to be in a facility where either a friendly nurse or lactation consultant helped you with breast-feeding?

Related story: Is breast-feeding on demand a crime? Spanish case sparks outrage

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Attachment parents, activate. We’re betting this story is going to bug you as much as the “F-word” (Ferberizing) does.

Authorities in Spain recently removed a 15-month old girl from her mother. The cause for separation: “Chaotic” breast-feeding, aka nursing on demand.

An official report from Madrid’s social services department criticized “the mother’s habit of breast-feeding on demand and letting the child sleep in bed with her,” according to a story in the UK’s Guardian newspaper.

"She uses breast-feeding as a pacifier and a toy, offering her breast any time the girl cries and letting her take it anywhere, no matter the time and context," says an edited version of the report produced by supporters of the 21-year-old mother, known as Habiba.

Authorities argue that there is more to the case, and say other, serious issues led to taking Alma away from her mother. As the Guardian reports:

Social services sources said Habiba was suffering psychological problems, was aggressive, hurled objects at other young mothers, would go weeks without bathing her child, left the baby on its own in potentially dangerous situations and took her out without proper clothes on. She also had a violent relationship with the child's father, who had been sent to jail for attacking her but whom she still wanted to live with. She had recently turned down a bed at a center for victims of domestic violence.

The case has generated plenty of attention, and spurred an international campaign – including Spanish pediatricians and moms' groups in Britain and the U.S. -- to reunite mother and child. 

"Habiba's attitude regarding her daughter, possibly even without her being aware of it, do follow the current recommendations on infant feeding," María Carmen Alonso, head of neonatology at Madrid's Doce de Octubre hospital, told the Guardian. Groups such as the World Health Organization and Unicef recommend breast-feeding on demand – exclusively for the first six months and supplemented by other foods up to the age of two or more.

"This baby must be returned to her mother as a matter of urgency and should be able to suckle whenever she wants to," British natural childcare activist Shelia Kitzinger said.

Activists celebrated on Wednesday upon hearing reports that Habiba and baby Alma have, in fact, been reunited. "Tears of joy!" wrote Kristin King on a Facebook page supporting Habiba and Alma, which boasts more than 9,000 fans. Some supporters, however, worried about whether Habiba would be able to resume breast-feeding after a weeks-long separation. Others noted that while this battle may be won, breast-feeding on demand still doesn't have universal acceptance.

We asked TODAY Moms contributor Mayim Bialik, who is a certified lactation educator, to weigh in on the issue, something she has plenty of experience with. Here's what she says:

“I nursed both of my sons until 2 on demand, and while it is exhausting at times, it is rewarding, convenient, and beneficial to mother and baby. Nursing on demand is not a hardship; rather, it is a communication to your child that their need to nurse is valuable and meaningful, and it allows for more flexibility and integration with the outside world, since you never need to regulate and schedule nursing. The notion that breast-feeding on demand is chaotic, troublesome, or abnormal is simply untrue.”

What do you think about Alma and Habiba’s case? Do you think breast-feeding on demand is healthy? Or do you think it’s chaotic? Or maybe a bit of both?

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Lauren Feeney of PBS’ The Daily Need posted an interesting article last Friday about a new ad campaign sponsored by the New York State Department of Health that seeks to promote breast-feeding as way of losing weight. Of course, the allure of a slimmer figure is only one of a long list of benefits of breast-feeding, but the ad’s approach is a testament to the lengths the pediatric community has had to go to try to put a positive image on a natural practice that is still largely stigmatized in our contemporary culture.

Moms, what are your thoughts about this ad? As breast-feeders, did you encounter any scrutiny? What benefits did you enjoy. What would you recommend to mothers-to-be considering it now? Watch the video and share your thoughts in the comment section.

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