A fellow La Leche League member came up to me at our last meeting and said “I have a fun fashiony sewing for charity project I’d like your help with”. And proceeded to connect three of my many current favorite things – sewing, breastfeeding activism and bags! Apparantly there’s a movement afoot locally to sew diaper bags (presumably then filled with breastfeeding-friendly contents) and give them to hospitals to encourage new mothers to NOT take the diaper bag the formula company provides. I admit, I took the bag. I stacked those cans of formula on the shelf because my mother told me to, just in case. I thought about it, when my daughter was about two weeks old, cluster feeding for the third hour one night, upset there was no more milk. But I took the bag because someone gave me a ‘present’ and I wanted mine, too.
But I never opened them. I used the bag for a year until it fell apart.
But what if we could offer moms a choice – here’s this ugly genera-bag in black nylon with Enfamil on it, or this beautiful, unique, one-of-a-kind diaper bag that some mama made for you, filled with things like Lansinoh, nursing pads, a La Leche League leader’s phone number or two, some of those gel packs for soreness, maybe even a few breastfeeding leaflets or a nursing necklace. Heck, we might even include a handmade nursing cover/nursing cover poncho! Heck, I’d take one look at that pretty bag and take that in a second! I do think it needs a water bottle pocket (but just a single, since nursing mamas don’t need to carry bottles).
Anyway I think it’s a marvelous idea. And think of all the mamas who sew who might sew a bag out of their donated fabric. I’d sew a couple if someone sent me some extra fabric, too!