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* 1. What is your name, address, phone number and email address?

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* 2. Are you currently a nursing mom who has nursed a baby for at least one year or have you nursed a baby for at least one year in the past?

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* 3. Do you have personal experience practicing ecological breastfeeding?

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* 4. Describe your vocation as a mother and to family life.  How do you put mothering first?

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* 5. Please provide one reference letter from a non-family member. Some possibilities: 1) a fellow Catholic mom in a ministry you are part of or a playgroup/homeschool group, 2) a priest, 3) a long time friend.  Please have the person writing the letter email it to catholicbreastfeeding@yahoo.com.  If you know the name of the person, please type it here. Thank you! 

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* 6. Do you agree with the following principles of CNML?

God the Creator has a plan for all men, women and children and this plan applies to every area of our lives. The Catholic Church's authoritative teaching helps us to know this plan. God's plan includes conception, childbirth and the nurturing of babies.

Breastfeeding is the natural continuation of the childbearing cycle which begins with conception, pregnancy and childbirth. As such, it forms an important part of God's plan for mothers and babies.

Breast milk is the best nourishment for babies, and the act of breastfeeding provides the best nurturing environment for both mothers and babies.

Breastfeeding is a special way in which a mother makes a sincere gift of herself to her baby. Breastfeeding is also a special way in which mothers are called to serve life in one of its most vulnerable stages. In the breastfeeding Madonna, Catholic mothers have a special exemplar.

Ecological breastfeeding - the form of mothering which tends to delay the return of fertility after the birth of a baby - benefits the nursing child and enhances the mother's health and well-being. Its natural child spacing effect is a moral and healthy form of natural birth regulation and should be supported and encouraged by families, society and the Church.

Children deserve to be raised to appreciate the equality and complementarity of men and women in the context of lifelong marriage. Fathers offer essential spiritual and emotional support to their breastfeeding wives, and they provide for and protect the nursing couple. These early acts of service lay the groundwork for fathers' unique and irreplaceable role in their children's lives.

Women have a right to be truthfully informed about the benefits of breastfeeding for themselves as well as for their babies. Families, parishes, communities, governments and society have a responsibility to protect and strengthen cultural support for breastfeeding practices.

Children need their mothers' presence, especially in the first three years of life. With or without breastfeeding, motherhood is an important and valuable way in which women live in accordance with their nature as persons created in God's image.

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* 7. Do you agree with the CNML Faith Statement?

Statement of Faith of the Catholic Nursing Mothers League, Inc.:

· The Catholic Nursing Mothers League acknowledges that the Catholic Church was founded by Christ, and the League assents to all that the Church authentically teaches through the Magisterium.
· The teachings of the Roman Pontiffs and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are accepted by CNML as authoritative.
· In particular, the Catholic Nursing Mothers League assents to the following specific teachings that bear on our work as supporters of breastfeeding mothers:
1. We respect the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. We oppose all forms of abortion, both surgical and via abortafacient devices and drugs.
2. We believe that marriage is between one man and one woman and that children are the supreme gift of marriage. We believe that married couples are called to be generous in the service of life and to exercise responsible parenthood.
3. We reject all unnatural forms of birth control, and we reject as contrary to God’s plan all means of seeking conception in which technological interventions are substituted for the marriage act. We accept the morality of natural means of birth regulation for couples with a serious reason to space their children.

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* 8. Do you agree to read the below disclaimer at each CNML function and to provide it at the top of your sign in sheet for each CNML function?

Disclaimer of the Catholic Nursing Mothers League
The Catholic Nursing Mothers League (CNML) does not train or accredit breastfeeding counselors or insure its group leaders. Any info obtained through a CNML leader or group should be verified with a health care provider or other appropriate licensed professional and does not constitute medical, legal or professional advice. CNML is not responsible or liable for any info shared in a group or in any communication with its group leader. The role of a CNML leader is to share personal experience and resources she has found helpful in her personal experience and to facilitate the sharing of info, experiences and support by mothers attending the group.
(If you have a breastfeeding credential, add this as the next paragraph of the disclaimer in addition to more detailed info about your particular credential and insurance:) Sometimes a CNML group will be facilitated or led by an individual who holds a professional credential related to health care or breastfeeding (MD, RN, CNM, CPM, IBCLC, certified breastfeeding counselor, certified childbirth educator, etc). If she offers any info or support that is within the scope of her credential, she does so on her own authority and under the coverage of her own liability or malpractice insurance. CNML does not endorse any specific credential, and individuals attending CNML meetings or communicating with CNML leaders rely on the professional advice offered entirely at their own risk.

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* 9. Do you agree to follow the CNML leader and mom to mom mentor policy?

CNML Leader and Mom to Mom Mentor Policy
CNML leaders may share 1) personal breastfeeding experiences, 2) info they have obtained about breastfeeding from a reliable source (if they are able to identify the source on request), and 3) experiences other mothers have shared with them, in the course of leading CNML meetings and communicating directly with mothers (and others).

Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should CNML leaders give medical advice, including but not limited to, advice about the safety of particular drugs while nursing (prescription or non-prescription), herbs, supplements or other substances, advice about whether a baby's weight gain is sufficient, or whether a baby should receive supplemental formula. Any advice that could affect a baby or a mother's health should be referred to an appropriate health care provider. The same policy applies to legal or other types of professional advice.

A CNML leader may share info (not give advice) in the following ways, using these verbal or written formulations:

1) personal experience - if you have personal experience with a breastfeeding question or concern, share your experience prefaced by "in my own experience, I found that..."

2) info you have read - if you have read or heard info you feel would be helpful ( from a reliable source), share it prefaced by "my information is that..." and be able to state where you found the info. You may consider having a breastfeeding book handy in case you want to read info from it when a question comes up. Some possibilities: The Baby Book (updated and revised edition 2013) by The Sears family; Sheila Kippley's three breastfeeding books: Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood, Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing, and The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor; Getting Started with Breastfeeding: For Catholic Mothers by Gina Peterson)

3) Info you have learned from other mothers sharing their experiences - if you have encountered other mothers who have dealt with the same issue, share it prefaced with "I know some other mothers who have found that..." Or "many mothers find..." Be careful not to share confidential info. If you are sharing another mother's experience, be careful to protect her identity and privacy. Share in a generic way, as in "I once knew a mother who found that..."

NEVER give advice, i.e. never tell a mother "you should do X" or " You should not do X." CNML leaders are only authorized to share info they have read or heard from reliable sources (if they can identify the source) and personal experience or the experiences of other mothers shared with them.
Questions related to weight gain, formula supplementation, medications, or possible health problems of baby or mother - even if they seem trivial - should ALWAYS be referred to a health care provider. Questions related to divorce, custody, or other legal matters should always be referred to a lawyer. Questions related to postpartum depression or other mental health issues can be shared and discussed in the manner described above but should also be referred to a health provider or mental health provider.
If CNML leaders limit their sharing to personal experience, info obtained from reliable (and Identifiable) sources, and the experiences of other mothers they have known (while protecting confidentiality and privacy), they should not exceed the limits of CNML as a Catholic ministry/support group which does not accredit and insure breastfeeding counselors.

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* 10. If you are a credentialed professional, you will need to draft your own disclaimer form describing your scope of practice and stating whether or not you are insured. In the CNML forum, you may act within the scope of your credential as long as you are doing so on a volunteer basis (not using CNML for profit-making purposes) and as long as you made the full CNML disclaimer, as well as your individual informed disclosure document available to all who are in contact with you through CNML.  Do you agree?

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