By Nicole Fowles
Glad You Asked
A new collaboration between the Delaware County District Library and the Delaware Public Health District is bringing breastfeeding classes to the library each month this spring.
Beginning this Thursday, March 2, the DPHD will present a breastfeeding class at the Delaware Main Library at 5:30 p.m. Additional opportunities will take place at the Ostrander Branch Library on Tuesday, April 11, and the Orange Branch Library on Monday, May 8 – both beginning at 5:30 p.m.
The classes will be led by a Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Peer Helper. This means a mother selected by WIC will help other nursing parents meet their goals for feeding their babies. Not only are new mothers and mothers-to-be welcome, but so are their partners or other members of their support system.
Peer helpers are trained to provide tips for how to breastfeed comfortably and discreetly, even in public. They have experience and recommendations for ways to stay close to your baby through breastfeeding after returning to work or school. They will also offer tools for getting a good start with nursing, increasing milk production, and addressing questions and concerns.
These programs are provided free to the public thanks to the Delaware Public Health District. Registration is not required.
For additional support beyond the classes, DPHD has resources available at www.delawarehealth.org/lactationcare. Some other resources provided to Delaware County residents through DPHD include prenatal lactation classes and consults, post-partum consults, and assistance with pumps, milk supply, latch issues, and more.
If you are a parent at home with a child and you find yourself with time to read (sleep first, then read!), these historical fiction titles that just landed on our shelves in February may interest you.
• “That Summer in Berlin” by Lecia Cornwall. Meet Viviane Alden, a young British woman who travels to Berlin in 1936 under the guise of working as a photographer at the Olympics. Her true goal? To find evidence that Germany is rearming in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. The high-stakes setting has extra layers of artifice for Viviane to parse since any country hosting the Olympics tries to put its best foot forward.
• “Marmee” by Sarah Miller. A heartwarming, leisurely-paced reimagining of the classic novel “Little Women,” from the perspective of the titular March family matriarch. This adaptation provides a deeper understanding of the complexities of Margaret March’s existence beyond the supporting role she played in the stories of her daughters Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy.
• “In the Shadow of a Queen” by Heather B. Moore. Princess Louise (one of Queen Victoria’s younger daughters) is a strong-willed young woman with artistic and feminist inclinations who serves as her domineering mother’s unofficial secretary until the possibility of marriage to a Scottish peer divides her family and forces her to decide what she really wants out of life.
• “Miss Del Río” by Bárbara Louise Mujica. The dramatic, rags-to-riches story of Hollywood icon Dolores del Río, beginning with her days as an orphan in northern Mexico before the 1910 Revolution. Keep your eyes open for appearances by Marlene Dietrich, Orson Welles, and Frida Kahlo.
• “The Color Line” by Igiaba Scego. The remarkable story of Lafanu Brown, an Afro-Chippewa woman who moves to Italy in the middle of the 19th century to escape American racism and pursue her dreams of being an artist. It is told through the eyes of a modern-day Italian art curator of Somali origin who grows attached to Lafanu’s art and story, seeing reflections of her own experience and that of her family.
• “One Woman’s War” by Christine Wells. The wartime activities of Victoire Bennett, a British Naval Intelligence officer who some believe inspired James Bond mainstay Miss Moneypenny. Discover engagingly written characters including Victoire, a survival-driven Austrian double agent, and Ian Fleming himself. Fans of Kate Quinn’s “The Alice Network” and Ariel Lawhon’s “Code Name Helene” will add this to their to-read list.
