The Milky Way is an eye-opening documentary about breastfeeding and an expose’ of the pervasive formula marketing in America. The U.S. has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world; the simple act of nursing a baby elicits a broad range of reactions, especially when done in public. We show how women can reclaim their birthright and return the nursing mother to her natural and crucial role in our society. We seek to bring back the community of mothers and change the way women support each other. More than a [Read more…]
The Milky Way: Witness the Nature of Nurture
Our Birth and Lactation Story
by Bethany
I had planned to have a drug-free water birth at The Birth Cottage, a freestanding birth center in Milford New Hampshire. I had watched documentaries such as “The Business of Being Born,” “Gentle Birth Choices,” and “Orgasmic Birth,” and therefore was very well-informed of what goes on in many hospital settings. I didn’t trust hospitals and knew I wanted my baby to be born in a safe environment where the baby would remain with me and not be separated after birth, and where I wasn’t at risk of having unnecessary surgery. I had taken childbirth classes in the Bradley Method to prepare for a drug-free birth, during which we read about the many possible dangers to the baby of drugs during labor. I had interviewed and chosen a doula to provide labor support. I even chose to go to a birth center in New Hampshire, rather than having a home birth in Massachusetts where I live, because the laws regarding midwifery are different in New Hampshire and I knew that should I need to transfer to a medical facility, a New Hampshire midwife would get a lot more respect at a New Hampshire hospital than a Mass. midwife at a Mass. hospital. Midwives are actually licensed by the state of New Hampshire, and therefore are acknowledged providers there. [Read more…]
