Buddha Mommy: the BIG latch on 2012

Mamatography photo from the BIG latch on

On Augueszt 4th, in celebration of world breastfeeding week, Ricky and I attended our first 'BIG Latch On' event and had such a blast (in spite of the chaos and the HEAT). South Florida has a heat that one just never gets used to, its like walking around in a steaming oven. Not to mention that we had our friends Heatherly and Philip from San Diego here, where it is perfect and 70 degrees every single day. Regardless, it is so funny how timing for things just works out. Heatherly and Philip just happen to come into town in time for this event, she just happens to be pregnant and glowing and they couldn't be happier to join us in gathering with a lot of moms to expose a lot of boobs! Its funny because this is the first time since living in SD that I felt a little like the old me. The west-coast me. When I lived in San Diego it was so common to go and get involved doing things bigger than one's self-involved life and a little off the wall in the best of ways. There are many reasons I miss SD but I think that is one of them. I miss having a niche of people that are like-minded and want something more not only for themselves but those around them. I miss doing silly things for betterment and being inspired. Also, having Heatherly and her husband with us made me realize part of why we hold 'Amazing Births and Beyond' so near and dear to our hearts. They are this hub for all things loving and empowering in the world of parenting. Lorie and all the people there are awesome people who are turning their vision into reality and we love being a part of it. They are kinda like our niche.

Buddha baby and I were right up front to the right

almost time!

Great turnout of mommies

So, just for information sake, let me explain what the 'BIG Latch On' is. According to their website, it is:

"Groups of breastfeeding women coming together at registered locations around the world to all latch on their child at a set time. All the breastfeeding women and children are latched on for one minute at the set time and are counted by the witnesses. The numbers are added up and we see if we can beat previous Big Latch On records or maybe even the world record!

The key to the Big Latch On's success is allowing communities to hold their Big Latch On events, empowering them to create an event that relates to the people of their community, while still taking part in a worldwide event."

The point of it all:

Support for communities to identify and grow opportunities to provide ongoing breastfeeding support and promotion.
Raise awareness of breastfeeding support and knowledge available in communities.
Help communities positively support breastfeeding in public places.
Make breastfeeding a normal part of the day-to-day life at a local community level.
Increase support for women who breastfeed - women are supported by their partners, family and the breastfeeding knowledge that is embedded in their communities.
Communitiies have the resources to advocate for coordinated appropriate and accessible breastfeeding support services.

Each event is personalized by those who host it and the common theme is that all the mamas have their nurslings latch on at 10:30am local time and nurse for one minute. When we saw that Lorie was hosting this event we knew (well I knew and Ricky was defintely ready to support me) that it was something we wanted to go to. While most of the people in my life are supportive, I don't have many breastfeeding mamas around and I figured that Lorie would attract my kind of crowd. It totally was. There was baby-wearing galore and oh the Ergos! One mama heard me cooing over her green performance Ergo and stopped to tell me how awesome it is-definitely our kind of crowd.

This is the Performance Ergo-Love it!

Once we walked up it was pretty close to 10:30 so we got set up in the tent and buddha baby was more than ready to do his part! The hostesses and vendors passed out water and gelato smoothie shots (so yummy) and gave away prizes. We all latched and were accounted for and the rest is history.