Breastfeeding Tips

I've had two friends ask me about pumping in the last few days so I figured I'd share all of my "wisdom" and let others fill in the blanks. Mind you, I didn't enjoy BFing (the logistics of it - i enjoyed the snuggling with my child part) so I don't know if I'm that helpful.

Hints:
- start pumping earlyish (first few weeks) when your supply is not yet regulated by the baby. This should give you a good stash in the freezer for later one plus will keep your supply up.
- drink tons of water (or any fluid, I guess - I have a friend who swears by Gatorade)
- from the lactation consultant - if you're having a tough few days with a fussy baby (usually around 5-6 weeks because they're having a growth spurt and your supply can't keep up), have a "reset day". Don't do ANYTHING - hang out in your pjs so BFing is easy and super-accessible. Watch a ton of tv and let the baby and your supply match up again. I did this a few times and it totally helped.
- this came from a friend and it's more of a sleeping tip but it is helpful for nursing too. During the day, make sure you feed your baby every three hours (like on the dot). At the beginning, do 15 min on each side each time - so yeah, you have to nurse x 30 min every three hours. You have to wake the baby up from naps to do this. It seems crazy but it did work for us. It taught my daughter that the kitchen was not open 24/7 and she started sleeping much better and with greater regularity (this was pre-hip-brace - after that, all bets for sleep were off). Seriously, tickle his/her feet if you need to keep them nursing for that full 30 min. Definitely worth it. Actually, i think this is worth it for bottlefed babies as well. Everyone needs to learn the kitchen is not open at night (but is open every three hours during the day!).

Supplies:
- a good pump (duh)
- if you don't get a hands-free pump, get a pumping bra. You can actually DO stuff while pumping instead of holding on for dear life.
- a second set of tubing/accessories for pumping at work
- sleep bras or nursing tanks for nighttime feedings (or just general "i don't feel like getting dressed today" feedings). I like the Motherwear sleep bras (but not anything else from there) and tanks from anywhere (Target, etc...).
- nice/supportive nursing bras - you're going to be wearing them for a while so they should fit well. I like Bravado.

Help:
- I didn't find La Leche League to be that helpful. It was more of a social support to continue BFing rather than a place to learn the skills. Since most of my friends BF, i didn't need the social support.
- I went to see a lactation consultant a few times (early on when the baby wasn't latching AT ALL and we were feeding her pumped milk with a syringe like a freaking baby bird and again when she got her hip brace and i needed to learn new positions). All the visits were covered by insurance and it was so helpful to get one-on-one help.
- this post is helpful - http://www.bostonmamas.com/2011/07/14_posts_for_breastfeeding_moms.html
- I went to a BFing support group at the local hospital. I really enjoyed it - your mileage may vary.
- This doesn't have too much to do with BFing but the lovely MJ(G) suggested joining a playgroup when my daughter was a newborn. I'm so glad she did! At the time, I was so confused - I mean, MJ's baby was only six months older than my baby - why did I need to meet more women with babies? But these women have babies who are the exact same age as my daughter (all born in May or June of 2010) and it is so helpful to be in the trenches at the exact same time. Even now, more than a year later, i love meeting with them and watching our kids grow! And in terms of BFing support (and any other support), they are a great cheerleading section.

Ok, that's it for my breastfeeding advice. Please offer your own!

Back again!

Well, it's been a long time since I posted any great names from VA's job (and my former employer). As always, a very impressive list:

Adorabli
Seanteeze
Natural Natrail
Forreal
Summer Rayne
Snow Blank
Wealth

I think I've become numb to silly names because I actually thought "Summer Rayne isn't too bad". OH MAN.

Necessary Items

I had big plans to write about the necessary items for bringing home (and raising) a baby (in honor of two mamas who welcomed babies in the past week). However, I'm mourning one of my favorite (non-baby) items right now and I feel like you all need to know about it.

So here we go...item #1.



The Vidalia Chop Wizard (or as we call it "Choppy"). Good ol' Choppy broke the other day and it is killing us. We love him a lot but we're buying a replacement and tossing him in the garbage asap. Seriously, Choppy is (well, was) amazing...you can quickly cut food (including onions) in nice, evenly-sized pieces. Amazing!

2. The Brazilian Blowout. As someone who has been fighting with frizz and humidity for years, I can't believe how life-changing this process has been. I love not having to use a flat iron for straight/smooth hair.

3. The DVR. One of the moms in playgroup mentioned this the other day. SO TRUE. Do you need further explanation? I don't think so.

4. diapers.com. MJ(G) and CCBL both introduced diapers.com to me. It's seriously awesome. They arrive the next day and there is no shipping charge if I order over $50 (which is easy when you're paying for diapers/wipes). It's not the cheapest for Pampers but avoiding the chaos at the big-box stores is worth it to me.

Three things

1. I am pretty sure I witnessed a miracle at work yesterday. So that's always nice.

2. A friend of mine is having twins in a week (or ONE WEEK!!!! as she describes it). I keep wanting to share some of my "lessons learned" with her but i am too freaking lazy to send an email. I'm hoping to write them here ASAP and then get your input as well!

3. I already bitched to CCBL and she wrote a whole blog entry about it here but here's my story - I am hosting playgroup today. A woman called me and said "hey, my child is sick and I just got yelled at by another friend for having a playdate earlier this week but I'm going to bring him to your house if you don't mind". WHY YES, I do mind. If my child gets sick, she can't go to daycare. If she can't go to daycare, one of her parents must stay home. I don't know about you but i like using my vacation time for PLANNED VACATIONS and not for staying home with a sick child.

I think there is a fine line between the runny nose that all children have all winter long and being actively sick.

Oh and here is a fourth item - I flew alone with the baby (toddler) this week. WOW. It was tough. I don't know how AMW does it with two children!

CSA, week #1

Mike has been interested in local and healthier eating lately (after watching "Food Incorporated" and reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma"). Without having to do any of the grunt work, I've been able to reap the benefits. We were already drinking organic, hormone-free milk and Mike now buys cage-free (humanely-raised) eggs. He also bought a beef share a month or so ago so we have plenty of frozen meat in the fridge.

Today was the first day of our CSA fruit/veggie haul. We didn't have the greatest experience last year so I was hesitant but excited to try this new CSA. What a bounty!

- red beets
- dark green leaf lettuce
- spinach
- Hakurei turnips
- bok choy
- snap peas
- pea tendrils
- scallions (or green onions, depending on what you call them!)

Here's our cooking/eating plan - please offer any suggestions!

- we roasted the beets, green onions and turnips
- lettuce is ready for salads
- we wilted the spinach with some salt and olive oil (deelish)
- snap peas are pretty much eaten already
- bok choy is chopped and ready for a stir fry tomorrow
- NO IDEA about the pea tendrils. Not a clue. Help, please!

Of course, I had prepped dinner prior to this evening's pick-up. So with all that organic, local, healthy food, what did we eat tonight?



That's right - processed crap. Yum!

Easy

I'm putting together a Shutterfly book for my daughter's first year (hoping to make this an annual tradition - I already did one for her gestation and birth) so Mike and I were looking at photos from last summer.

And even though the photo subject was (and is) adorable, I definitely felt a little sad looking at her (and us). We just all looked so miserable! For myself, it was a combination of new-mom-ness plus post-partum depression. For her, it was normal newborn behavior plus reflux plus that first terrible (and ineffective) hip brace. For Mike, it was trying to keep it together for his crying ladies while also going to work every day!

And we got through that year and we survived and some might even say we thrived. But would I say it was easy? Ummm, no. And would I say I had an easy baby? Ummm, no (at least not after she got the Pavlik brace). I reread some of my old blog posts and I had forgotten how sad it was that we could only snuggle for one hour per day. Luckily it wasn't for a long period (she was waened to 12 hours/day after a few months) but it was rough at the time to maximize our bathtime/snuggling/breastfeeding in those short sixty minutes.


A few comments and segues into reflux:
- once we got a different kind of brace, everything changed! What I thought was crankiness due to reflux was apparently just discomfort from the brace. She became such a happy baby!
- since she continued with the reflux, the pediatrician dubbed her a "happy spitter". As the person who did the laundry, I disagree with the term "spitter"! This was not spit!
- the puking (and even all spit up) stopped magically when she started walking. It was such a distinct line - one day, crawling and spitting up everywhere (i needed to bring a burpcloth for a 5 min errand into CVS) and then walking and NOTHING. No puke, no spitup, nothing. Amazing.

And most importantly...just because they are fussy and not easy, it doesn't mean they aren't cute!

A few thoughts

1. I wish my daughter would eat more. If you have ideas for finger foods for toddlers, I'd appreciate the suggestion.
2. I wish I would eat less.
3. My baby is now a one-year-old. What happened? How did this happen? Ahhh, she's lovely and so much fun. I wish I could freeze time...but I've been saying that since she was six months old and then each month gets better!
4. I see no one is going to teach me how to clip my hair like Kate Middleton's. Excuse me, Princess Catherine.
5. I'm newly obsessed with creating an emergency kit in our home. I just found out that my brother and my father both have kits and they also have secondary meeting places in case they can't go to their homes. My brother also suggested the alterate meeting spot to his employer so they now have business-card-sized maps and important emergency numbers. Good idea, little brother!

That's all for now!