Each of my three children has taken a bottle as part of their full-time feeding strategy. Not every mother can breastfeed or breastfeed exclusively. There are plenty of breastfeeding advocates who will tell you otherwise, but as with just about everything in this life, there are exceptions to the mantra, "If you just tried harder..."

A mother on a mission can do amazing things, especially when working with an equally passionate parent support advocate. Nancy Mohrbacher, a La Leche League Leader in Chicago, Illinois, USA, said it was a mother in her group who gave birth to an idea that has become the Mothers' Milk Bank of the Western Great Lakes--one of a number of milk banks sprouting up around the world to serve mothers who are unable to breastfeed exclusively but no longer want to settle for formula.

When a woman makes the choice to breastfeed, she usually doesn't anticipate that it won't work. After all, we are told that almost everyone can breastfeed--and this is true: Lactation is a robust biological process that almost always works. But though there are only a few medical conditions in which breastfeeding may be limited, there are many medical circumstances that can present lactation and feeding challenges.

For so many women, breastfeeding was the turning point for our journey into Attachment Parenting. And one organization that many of us have to thank for our introduction to both breastfeeding and Attachment Parenting--even in the case of Attachment Parenting International's cofounders--is La Leche League Interntaional.

When I was little, I had a favorite doll. She was big enough for me to cuddle in my arms, was plump with silvery curly hair and had a round face. She looked like a cherub, and I loved her. I brought her with me everywhere I went. I changed her diapers, I wrapped her in warm blankets, I washed her face and I fed her bottles. I never learned about nursing.

Public breastfeeding can infuriate us, scare us, make us feel ashamed or empower us. For one Chicago mom, it empowered her to take action and create an organization that would focus on advocating for breastfeeding at a larger level in her city (located in Illinois, USA). She wanted not only to help raise awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding but to ensure that mothers feel comfortable feeding wherever and whenever their babies are hungry.

I was born and raised in New York City, USA, one of three girls. My father was a physician, my mother is a teacher but spent much of my childhood as a stay-at-home mother. As a child, I always knew that when I grew up, I wanted to be a mother.

The recent controversies generated by depictions of Attachment Parenting in the Western mdia and elsewhere have revealed a fairly astounding degree of misinformation about infant and child development. Most especially, the media's fetishist focus on "extreme breastfeeding" has revealed the tremendously wide chasm that exists between official medical recommendations about breastfeeding and the actual reality and perception of the practice on the ground.

“I totally support breastfeeding, but what’s so hard about covering up to breastfeed in public?”

That’s great that you support breastfeeding. I actually would love to get to the stage when we stop calling it breastfeeding, and just call it feeding. That’s all it is. You’re not feeding a breast, you’re feeding a baby. It’s babyfeeding. Should women have to cover their babies to feed them in public? That sounds a little silly, doesn’t it?

But to answer your question, there are several reasons why moms might not cover up in public: ...

A cool new breastfeeding source.

I returned to university to pursue a second degree this past January. I am now into my second semester as a mom of two school-age kids and a student in my own right. While there are some other, ahem, mature students in my classes, on average I am much older than my classmates. Like, decades older. Like, old enough to be their mother older.

[VIDEO] Parents can easily implement the different steps to create the right environment for homework.

"Today, my mother-in-law arrives.

"My husband’s mother visits every four to five months. Her soft blouses predictably sport cheerful, butterfly designs. She enjoys drinking a cold Stella beer and walking barefoot in the backyard of our south Florida home. Her beautiful, white hair shines in the sun. She loves to read to our two-year-old boy Taber. He calls her “Nana.”

In celebration of Attachment Parenting International’s 20^th Anniversary, the “Featuring API Leaders” series honors the unique paths that inspired parents to pursue API Leadership:

"Labor should only be induced for medical reasons—not for convenience or scheduling concerns. Baby will let you know when she’s ready to emerge. Until then, here are 40 reasons to go at least the full 40 weeks of pregnancy..."

While up in Washington, DC, USA, visiting my aunt and my grandma, one morning my my husband and I were able to walk down the street with our youngest for a quick cup of coffee and to walk our Corgi. The quick cup of coffee turned into a fascinating hour-long conversation with a former congressional candidate for the area. She was also a mother to three school-aged children and was very committed to being an active mom.

I suppose when I think about it, I have always had a fairly healthy level of confidence even if it was a more superficial sense. I had your basic "Yeah sure...I'm okay" level of appreciation for myself and for my body and never thought I was any less or more than average. In a way, it was good because I was happy with myself, but the problem was that I never strived, in anything, to be more than average. I didn't have the type of confidence that drives a person to accomplish more.

Midwifery has a crucial part to play in saving the lives of millions of women and children who die during and around the time of pregnancy, according to a major new series published. The Series, produced by an international group of academics, clinicians, professional midwives, policymakers and advocates for women and children, is the most critical, wide-reaching examination of midwifery ever conducted, the experts say. It shows the scale of the positive impact that can be achieved when effective, high-quality midwifery is available to all women and their babies.