La Leche League of Greater Athens - Holiday Social

Holiday Social - Thursday, December 3, 2009

10 a.m.

St. Stephen's Church

Timothy Rd., Athens

Come for our annual Holiday Social! Bring a snack to share while we chat about ways to manage (and enjoy) the Holidays with babies and kids.

As always, there will be time for any questions or concerns the group may have.

Happy Holidays!

La Leche League of Greater Athens - Fall Family Picnic

La Leche League of Greater Athens invites you & your family to our

Fall Family Picnic!

Bring a dish to share & a blanket to sit on, and enjoy a nice evening with friends!

We'll plan to start dinner shortly after 6:00 pm, as the evenings are getting shorter everyday.

See you there!

*no rain date

La Leche League of Greater Athens - Series Meetings This Week

AM & PM Series Meetings - Tomorrow - Thursday, September 17, 2009

Join us this month as we highlight the awesome qualities of breast milk. As always, we will address any questions or concerns the group may have.

Infants, babies, & toddlers are welcome!

photo:sara wise photography

La Leche League of Greater Athens - Toddler Meeting

Toddler Meeting

“Anger Strategies”

Thursday, September 3, 2009 - 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m.

Join us this month where we'll discuss strategies for managing angry mama feelings in constructive ways... both for our own sake, and for the sake of modeling healthy emotional behavior for our children.

References from: Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves by Naomi Aldort,

Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline by Becky Bailey, and

The Explosive Child by Ross Greene.

It's never too soon to attend a Toddler Meeting - Babies, toddlers, and pre-schoolers are welcome!

Dr. Jack Newman - Comes to Athens!

Traditional and Modern Strategies

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Center for Continuing Education University of Georgia

Athens, GA

Conference Information & Registration: Dr. Newman Presents

Sponsored by the Community Breastfeeding Coalition & Northeast Health District

Dr. Jack Newman Website

Mark your calendar, this is something you don't want to miss!

World Breastfeeding Week

World Breastfeeding Week 2009

1-7 August 2009

Breastfeeding: A Vital Emergency Response
Are you ready?

OBJECTIVES of WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK 2009

• To draw attention to the vital role that breastfeeding plays in emergencies worldwide.

• To stress the need for active protection and support of breastfeeding before and during emergencies.

• To inform mothers, breastfeeding advocates, communities, health professionals, governments, aid agencies, donors, and the media on how they can actively support breastfeeding before and during an emergency.

• To mobilize action and nurture networking and collaboration between those with breastfeeding skills and those involved in emergency response.

RATIONALE

• Children are the most vulnerable in emergencies – child mortality can soar from 2 to 70 times higher than average due to diarrhea, respiratory illness and malnutrition.

• Breastfeeding is a life saving intervention and protection is greatest for the youngest infants. Even in non-emergency settings, non-breastfed babies under 2 months of age are six times more likely to die.

• Emergencies can happen anywhere in the world. Emergencies destroy what is ‘normal,’ leaving caregivers struggling to cope and infants vulnerable to disease and death.

• During emergencies, mothers need active support to continue or re-establish breastfeeding.

• Emergency preparedness is vital. Supporting breastfeeding in non-emergency settings will strengthen mothers’ capacity to cope in an emergency.

La Leche League of Greater Athens - Series Meetings Next Week

Questions?

Expecting your first baby, soon?

Do you feel ready to breastfeed for the first time?

Do you have questions about breastfeeding your new baby?

Have you heard conflicting advice about breastfeeding?

Would you like to talk to experienced breastfeeding mothers?

Would you like to hear what's normal and what-to-expect?

Are you feeling a little apprehensive about breastfeeding for the first time?

Are you wondering if your feelings are normal?

Are you wondering how to manage breastfeeding right after birth?

Are you wondering how to manage breastfeeding when you get home; alone, or around visitors?

Do you have some of these questions? We answer these questions, plus many more, at every LLL Meeting, each month of the year! So, please come to this month's Series Meeting (Thursday, July 16) to have your questions answered - it's never too early or too late!

La Leche League of Greater Athens is an on-going support group of women who breastfeed their babies, facilitated by accredited LLL Leaders. All women are encouraged to attend - bring a friend!

AM Breastfeeding Support Series Meeting:
3rd Thursday of each Month
St. Stephen's Anglican Church
Timothy Road, Athens, GA
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon

PM Breastfeeding Support Series Meeting
3rd Thursday of each Month
2 Story Coffee House
1620 S. Lumpkin St.
Athens, GA 30601
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

See you there!

Athens Maternity & Baby Fair

Look for La Leche League of Greater Athens at this year's Maternity & Baby Fair! We'll have an exhibit booth there - so stop by and say hello!

Mama Tested, Mama Approved

I scribbled frantically through last Thursday's LLL meeting to capture the great ideas and recipes that were shared… and here’s the list! Please let me know if I didn’t faithfully record your recipe and I’ll be happy to edit. ☺
Meal Ideas
Baked Oatmeal -
3 c rolled oats (not instant, if gluten free- make sure they are certified)
1/2 c brown sugar
2 t cinnamon
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 T flax meal (optional)
1 c milk (or soymilk, water)
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup dried fruit
I used a 4 quart round crockpot. You're baking this, but no need to vent the lid of the crock; keep all the moisture in. I really wanted this to take 6 hours on low so I could see if it could be done overnight. It took 4 3/4 on low for me, so unless you hardly sleep do it during the day so you can keep an eye on it!
Mix all the ingredients in the crockpot. I dumped in all the dry stuff, then added the melted butter and milk. Stir well with a spoon -- make sure the baking powder gets dispersed evenly.
Cover and cook on low for 3-5 hours, checking every so often. This is done with the edges are brown and beginning to crust, and the center is set. An inserted knife should come out clean.
Let it sit in the cooling crockpot for at least an hour before attempting to cut. The longer you let it sit, the more set and brownie-like the pieces will be.
OR bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes, until set.

Curry Chicken
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs (mine were frozen solid)
1 onion, sliced
6 garlic cloves, chopped
4 T butter
15 cardamom pods
2 t curry
1/2 t cayenne pepper
2 t garam masala
1/2 t ground ginger
1 can coconut milk
1 can (6oz) tomato paste
2 T lemon juice
1 c plain yogurt (to add at end)
large bunch of chopped fresh spinach
Use a 5 qt or larger crock pot. Put chicken in crockpot, add onion, garlic and all of the dry spices. Plop in the butter and tomato paste. Add lemon juice and coconut milk. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4. The chicken should shred easily with 2 forks when fully cooked. Add fresh spinach and let cook until just wilted. Stir in plain yogurt 15 minutes before serving. Discard cardamom pods. Salt to taste, serve with white or brown basmiti rice.

Quesadillas – Top a whole grain tortilla with cheese, black beans, chopped zucchini, grape tomatoes, avocado. Top with another tortilla and heat in a lightly buttered skillet. Serve with salsa.

Fish Tacos – heat talipia in skillet, season with salt and pepper. Wrap in tortilla, taco style, and top with cheese and your favorite tex-mex toppings.

Salmon – remove skin. Toss in sesame/soy sauce. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, pan fry. Turn fish and finish in oven.

Salmon - Place a ring of wadded-up aluminum foil in a deep skillet. Place a dinner plate on the foil, then add water to the skillet. The water should not reach the level of the plate. Drizzle salmon and plate with olive oil, then top fish with lemon slices and dill. Steam for 5-10 minutes.

Fish - cook in foil packets in the toaster oven. It seems to work better to use more small packets than one large. Add onions, lemons and tomatoes if you want.

Cabbage – cut in thirds and slice thinly (almost like small noodles) then sautee in olive oil and salt. Even the 4 year old approved!

Raw Cabbage Slaw - Toss thinly sliced cabbage and carrots with a drizzle of honey, vinegar, diced dried apricots and raisins. Let sit in the fridge overnight, then enjoy.

Black Bean Burgers – especially with walnuts and mushrooms...

Quiche – 3 eggs, 1/2 cup milk or half-&-half, cheese and veggies. A crust is optional... bake until done. Moms especially seem to like steamed spinach. ;)

Quiche - Brown rice layered with egg and cheese in a baking dish. Add diced asparagus, diced mushrooms and spinach with feta cheese. This is a great use for leftover rice.

Veggie Sloppy Joes - green lentils, onion, celery, catsup, balsamic vinegar, water in a crock pot. The veggies keep a great texture!

Snack Ideas
smoothies

cheese chunks

cheese-and-crackers

any kind of fruit, dried or fresh

veggie sticks

granola and yogurt

mac-n-cheese-wieners and broccoli (just a spoonful of mac-n-cheese helps the broccoli go down!)

walnuts, raisins, apricots, occasional chocolate chips for trail mix

muffins

sliced french loaf with yogurt and raisins, peanut butter

eggs - scrambled, sandwich, yummy with cheese

Favorite Recipe Sources
Whole Foods for the Whole Family
Feeding the Whole Family
How it all Vegan
How to Cook Everything
Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Cookbook
Dr. Sear's Family Nutrition Book
allrecipes.com
Betty Crocker Cookbook
Nourishing Traditions

Our Favorite Recipes

Today's meeting was a big success. We were pleasantly surprised to have such a great turn out on this rainy morn. Melanie and Kate chose to lead a discussion on planning meals and snacks for the family. It can be a challenge at times to keep it interesting with 3 meals and probably 2 snacks a day; feeding ourselves and our yungins something delicious and nutritious is a grand task. I am so glad to have had this discussion as I wanted us all to have a recipe share months ago, and I failed to write this post as I had promised. Well, better late than never ; )

Thanks to Emily for coming to the meeting with not one, but two recipes in hand with copies for all!! I plan to try the oatmeal bake very soon, and maybe next time we can get you to bring your famous spanakopita recipe. Mmmmmm Many of us have enjoyed it at a couple previous LLL picnics. It was great to have a couple new faces join us, and one mama brought a favorite vegan cookbook, How it All Vegan. I enjoyed looking through it, and I will be putting that one on hold at the library. I don't know about the rest of you, but after todays meeting I found myself super hungry!

Oh, and I cannot leave out one of my most inspiring people...Cynthia Lair. She is the author of Feeding the Whole Family, one of the titles that Melanie mentioned today. Her quirky little video blog can be found here:

http://www.cookusinterruptus.com/

Here is my contribution to the recipe exchange. If you would all leave a comment to this post and share your favorite "old stand-bys," perhaps anything/everything you think of as just ho-hum because you make it so regularly, we will all find that the things one person thinks of as the usual boring meal, everyone else will see as a new and great food idea.

Christina

Spinach Tortilla Pie

This is great warm or room temp, so something good to take to a pot-luck. It is a snap to prepare. Total time about 30 minutes.

6 tortillas (I like the Ezekiel sprouted grain tortillas) the original recipe called for corn, but in the 100 times I have made this, I have yet to get around trying it with them :)

1 - ten ounce package frozen chopped spinach - prepared according to package directions

aprox. 6 ounces good quality feta cheese - crumbled (our fave is Split Creek Farms through Locally Grown)

1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes when in season - when they are not, I use about 3/4 can of diced

3/4 can pinto beans

olive oil

Preheat oven to 375. Brush olive oil onto both sided of tortillas, and fan them out into a round pie pan so that they overlap to make a "crust." Bake for about 8 minutes. Spoon the spinach evenly over the tortillas followed by the tomatoes, feta, and beans. You can top with a small drizzle of olive oil. If you desire, you can season with salt and pepper. Bake about 15 minutes until tortillas are crispy, but be careful not to overcook. Enjoy now or later when cool. It really is delicious, and although I have a mental block against making it at times because it is just our old tortilla pie recipe, whenever we do, I always declare how tasty it is, and my husband and I proceed to inhale large servings and nibble through any left sitting on the stove, polishing it off by night's end.

Bon Appetit

Breastfeeding In The Park

Thanks to everyone who came out to visit LLL at the Breastfeeding In The Park event last weekend.  We were fortunate the rain held off until after we packed up and ended the event!  We met several LLL moms in the crowd.  It was great chatting with each of you, seeing your children and supporting breastfeeding together!

May LLL Activities

Looking forward to see you at an LLL meeting this month!  Here is a quick review of what's coming up!

Saturday, May 16, 10am - 2pm - Breastfeeding in The Park at Memorial Park.  Come out and support Georgia Breastfeeding Month!  LLL will have a table.  Please stop by and see us!

Thursday, May 21, 10am - Daytime Series Meeting.  Bring your questions.  Babies welcome!

Thursday, May 21, 7pm - Nighttime Series Meeting.  Need more help, ideas or support?  Do two meetings in one day!

La Leche League of Greater Athens - Series Meetings This Week

La Leche League of Greater Athens - Breastfeeding Series Meetings

AM & PM Breastfeeding Series Meetings This Week!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon

St. Stephen's Anglican Church

Athens, GA 30606

7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

2 Story Coffee House - Tree Room

1680 S. Lumpkin St.

Athens, GA 30605

www.twostorycoffeehouse.com

"Nutrition & Whole Foods"

Questions? Contact any LLL Leader listed on this page.

See you there!

La Leche League of Greater Athens - Family Picnic

La Leche League of Greater Athens Spring Family Picnic

La Leche League of Greater Athens - March AM Series Meeting

Thank you, everyone, who attended this morning's AM Series Meeting! We had a great turnout today, with many moms and their babies/toddlers.

The topic was "The Empowering Art of Breastfeeding," so we discussed how breastfeeding has helped us feel empowered. It was a very positive discussion!

To ensure that everyone's questions were answered, we also discussed what's normal and expected breastfeeding behavior for a newborn, etc.

As always, if you have any questions, relating to this topic or any breastfeeding/parenting issue, please ask! (Leader contact information is listed to the right of this blog page.)

For more information about La Leche League International: www.llli.org

An Awesome Quote

"When we trust the makers of baby formula more than we do our own ability to nourish our babies, we lose a chance to claim an aspect of our power as women. Thinking that baby formula is as good as breast milk is believing that thirty years of technology is superior to three million years of nature's evolution. Countless women have regained trust in their bodies through nursing their children, even if they weren't sure at first that they could do it. It is an act of female power, and I think of it as feminism in its purest form."

--- Christiane Northrup M.D.

photo by Sara Wise Photography

La Leche League of Greater Athens - March PM Meeting

The March PM Meeting was very nice! We met at 2 Story Coffee House (Five Points) in their cozy Tree Room. (thank-you 2 Story for this generous free space!) While sipping delicious coffees (nice perk to meeting at a coffee shop!) we chatted about many topics; adjusting to a new baby in the family (with older siblings), newborn fussiness (could it be dairy-related?), breastfeeding different age babies/kids - pros/cons, and some random topics like diapering, slings, and stroller choices.

Welcome to the newest group member - little Miss Scarlett Moon, she's absolutely precious!

Thursday morning is the AM Series Meeting, we'll post a summary soon. ;-)

La Leche League of Greater Athens - March PM Meeting

La Leche League of Greater Athens - PM Series Meeting

"The Empowering Art of Breastfeeding"

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

2 Story Coffee House
The Tree Room
Five Points, Athens

Join us Tuesday evening for a casual discussion about how breastfeeding is an empowering experience. Babies and non-separating toddlers are welcome!

La Leche League of Greater Athens - March Toddler Meeting

This month's Toddler Meeting focused on Weaning. Several moms came, with their babies/toddlers; a few were new to the Group, and all had good questions and comments to share.

We discussed starting solids (first step in the weaning process), nighttime nursing/weaning, thrush, etc.

Everyone's questions were answered, and all had a great time.

The next Greater Athens LLL Meeting is Tuesday, March 17, 7:00 p.m. at 2 Story Coffee House, Five Points.


Did You Know?

The American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends that "Breastfeeding should be continued for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child.." And, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF recommend that babies be breastfed for at least two years.

Just as babies do, toddlers receive health benefits from breastfeeding. Your milk continues to provide immunities and vitamins, and can help protect your toddler from illness and allergies. If your toddler does get sick, nursing will help comfort him. In fact, a toddler with an upset stomach may be able to tolerate nothing but human milk.

photo by Sara Wise Photography

La Leche of Greater Athens - March '09 Newsletter

La Leche League of Greater Athens - February AM Meeting

Lights, Camera . . . Action!

Oscar Night at the AM LLL Meeting!

LLL members and visitors made their way down the red carpet to give their "mommy" acceptance speeches and to share all things Oscar. Each mother was presented with an Oscar as supermom and each had an opportunity to share who has been significant in their motherhood journey in their acceptance speech. Of course it's not the Oscars with out all the food, drinks, beautiful gowns, etc. Meeting participants were able to share questions and concerns about the baby and the family. We talked about solids, reflux issues, weaning, nutrition and much more.

Everyone had a great time!

Maya Wrap Sale

A huge Thank You to everyone who took advantage of our Maya Wrap Sale! Nearly all of our Wraps were sold!

It's great to know that several more babies are enjoying the comfort and warmth of being wrapped around their moms, dads, grandmas, and caregivers!

Thank you, Athens!

La Leche League of Greater Athens PM Meeting @ 2 Story Coffee House

February's PM Meeting at 2 Story Coffee House was great fun! Many of us came to enjoy the nice atmosphere of this adorable little coffee shop at Five Points. Each of us ordered our favorite beverage (and dessert), then got settled in the comfy Tree Room for our meeting.

We talked about a number of interesting breastfeeding & parenting topics related to those who attended that evening. It was a great discussion!

Thanks, 2 Story, for letting us reserve this space for our PM Meeting!

Plan to meet us for the March PM Meeting at 2 Story Coffee House, 7:00 p.m., Five Points.

La Leche League of Georgia - Annual Breastfeeding & Parenting Conference 2009

Early-Bird Registration Ends Soon!

Register NOW to Receive the Early-Bird Savings - $15 off the Two-Day Conference Registration Fee!

New LLL of Greater Athens Group Information

LLL of Greater Athens Group News!


NEW PM Meeting Location -- 2 Story Coffee House, 1680 S. Lumpkin St., Five-Points, Athens

Come see us at our new PM Meeting location, Tuesday, February 17, 7:00 p.m.

We've reserved the Tree Room for our meeting; it's the first room with glass doors downstairs, look for our sign on the doors. Free parking in front and behind the coffee house.

Babies and non-separating toddlers/preschoolers are welcome!

Meeting topic: "Lights, Camera, Action! Enjoying and adjusting to our breastfed baby"

All questions are encouraged and welcomed.

La Leche League of Georgia - Annual Breastfeeding and Parenting Conference 2009

To view all the fun and exciting information about this year's event, go to www.georgiaparentingconference.com.

Maya Wraps on Sale!

La Leche League of Greater Athens - Maya Wraps on Sale

La Leche League of Greater Athens - January Newsletter

La Leche League of Greater Athens - January '09 Newsletter