Breastfeeding & Weaning

When we nurse our babies, we have the satisfaction of providing nourishment from our own bodies. This can feed our souls as much as it feeds our babies’ hunger. Weaning means physical separation, a first step toward launching our children—with all the joy and sadness that entails.

Latest Rituals

Ritual & Prayers for Breastfeeding Mothers

This ritual guides you through the moment you choose to stop breastfeeding, packing up your breast pump and for your new relationship with your baby/child.

babies, breastfeeding, motherhood, mothers, weaning

Close-up of an adult hand gently holding a babys hand, both resting on a soft, fluffy surface. Black and white.

Shadayim: A Blessing and Ritual of/for Breast Self Examination

A complete ritual for monthly exams for all people with breasts

feminism, health care, Shekhinah

Blessing for Concluding Breastfeeding

“my body has been a source of sustenance and nourishment for my little one”

blessing, breastfeeding, weaning

woman shown from afar sitting under tree with red leaves breastfeeding a baby. The woman is white with soft blond wavy hair.

Olam Hazeh

Poem on parenting new baby struggling to feed

breastfeeding, illness

Adult hand gently holding a babys hand, both resting on a soft, patterned blanket.

Prayer for a Pumping Parent

“Blessings of the breasts and the womb. / So that you may nurse, and be satisfied”

breastfeeding

Weaning Ritual

A weaning ritual to allow child to transition to next phase of independence

weaning

What is a Mikveh? An Introduction to the Jewish Ritual Bath

What is a Mikveh? An introduction to Jewish ritual bath.

abortion, adoption, anniversary, breastfeeding, cancer, conception, covenant, engagement, get, gomel, loss of a child, miscarriage, name change, sex, stillbirth

Illustration of a mikvah pool with tiled walls and stairs leading into the water. Text reads The Mikvah.

Blessing for Breastfeeding

A breastfeeding blessing based on “Asher Yatzar,” which honors the body’s miraculous workings, but with an emphasis on the feminine aspects of the Divine

breastfeeding

Anointing with Breast Milk

Excerpted from an original babynaming ceremony in which the baby is welcomed into the covenant by anointing her with breast milk

covenant

Encountering the Divine Presence

The author realizes that in a religion imbued with the idea of making ordinary moments sacred through blessing, there was no blessing for the moment of her first period. She explores how that moment would have been different had it been blessed.