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I have four children and each have had their own unique feeding experience. With my first I was very unsure about nursing but did it because everything I read talked about how important it was and because my husband was pretty hardcore about it. It was SO HARD. I had every issue imaginable. Bleeding nipples, mastitis multiple times, constant yeast issues, hyper lactation, pain every session, clogged ducts, inverted nipples, etc, etc. I would literally be crying out in pain while I nursed my baby. I didn't enjoy it. It didn't come natural. It was HARD and I would dread when it was time to nurse him again. I made small goals for my nursing timeline and made it 9 months before weaning to formula while also using up the major stash of breastmilk I had saved up as well. My second baby I went into it knowing it'd be hard. And it was. She took ages to eat and was a biter and when she teethed her saliva caused me so many issues. I had all the same struggles as the first time...
My favorite gifts to give to new or expecting mothers are things they may not have known to register for. When people get married, I buy from the registry. But for babies? You legit don't have a clue what you really need until the baby arrives! I especially like to purchase things they will help the new mama be successful with breastfeeding. I've said it many times: breastfeeding ain't easy. And by having some essential items you can better set yourself up for success ( you can also read this post for my tips to help create a successful breastfeeding experience! )
There are many aspects of parenting that are based off of opinion. I may be passionate about Babywise and scheduling but I also know that there are other parents who are passionate about co-sleeping. I love Baby-Led Weaning and other mamas love jarred baby food. We all have opinions. We all have preferences. We can debate things to the death but, really, we can all find good and bad things with all areas of parenting choices. There is only one area of parenting that I can think of where there is really no debate to be had and that's when it comes to breastfeeding. Some moms may not breastfeed and I'm not judging or knocking them for that decision. But even formula feeding moms know that breast milk is what is BEST for a baby. Heck, all the formulas on the market try to out-do each other by saying they are the one that is the "closest thing to breast milk." There is really no debate! I am so, so thankful that I have breastfed my children. It has not been a...
Yesterday I got down to only 10 oz left of breast milk! I made it all in one bottle and Kye got the last breast milk he'll ever taste (at least from my breasts anyways!) I felt a little sad when I defrosted it and gave it to him. I think I didn't mind stopping when I stopped nursing because I knew he'd continue to benefit from having breast milk that I had in the freezer. Now he's just got formula! goodbye Lansinoh bags...hello freezer space! It is a lot easier just making formula bottles than dealing with defrosting the breast milk and it's going to be great to have so much free space in the freezer! But I'd much rather still have some to be feeding him. Part of me wonders if I should have just given it to him once a day instead of twice so it would have lasted longer? But I want him on whole milk at one year old so I would have hated spreading it out then having a bunch left over. It really worked out pretty well! He got breast milk everyday until he was 10 ...
Warning: I am discussing my feelings in this post and am not trying to offend anyone. However, this is my blog and my opinions and I want to be honest about them! When I first was pregnant I wasn't sure about the whole nursing thing. I didn't really know if it'd be for me and thought it was kinda strange to think about my baby sucking on my boobs. As I got further and further along in my pregnancy I started reading every book under the sun and learned all the benefits of breast milk and how important it is for the baby and the mommy. I was still not a mother yet and my main reason for deciding to nurse was that I wanted it to help me lose weight. I thought it'd be a great diet plan for getting rid of the baby weight (so not true though sadly!)! I didn't decide to do it because I thought it was necessarily best for my baby, but because it'd be best for me. As all moms know, we put ourselves FIRST until the day that child is born then it's all about them :...
Who would have ever thought that with my mega milk supply that I'd have to worry about not having enough!!! I have always had WAY too much!!! Well I've been experiencing what the rest of the nursing moms out there typically deal with early on in their babies lives...worry about them getting enough. Everything you read about baby food will tell you that milk should remain their MAIN source of nutrition for the first year of life. Everything you read also says to let the baby decide how much they want to eat. So that's what I've been doing. Once Kye started on solids I nursed him completely THEN offered the food. Some things say to nurse one side, then solids, then the other but since milk is supposed to be the main source of his calories I wanted to give him ALL the milk first. He eats solids second and he chows DOWN. I seriously can only think of maybe three times that I've known for sure that Kye was saying he was full. He will just eat and eat and eat. Here is...
This morning was Kye's 2 month well visit to Dr. Griner's office. It was also the day I've been dreading...shots! We waited for a time when Zach would be able to go because I am very very afraid of needles (worst part of labor? the iv!) and I know the baby can sense that from me so I don't want him to be afraid of them too. When I take Levi and Sadie to the vet I always leave the room so duh I'll do the same with my child! We gave him Tylenol about an hour before his appointment because it's supposed to help. Of course the box said "ask dr." for the dosage so I googled it and we gave him 0.4 ml which ends up being half of what we should have given him based on his weight. Poor thing! He was cuddled up to Daddy before the nurses came in (of course the appointment fell during nap time). We didn't see Dr. Griner this time, we saw Stephanie again and she's super nice. She said with my milk situation that I may want to pump every feeding and...
Everyone knows by now that breastfeeding has been a rocky road for me. Before going to Paris I took more antibiotic for yeast and Kye also took medicine that ended while we were gone. Since he'd still be on medication when we left Zach and I decided to not make a decision as to what to do next until we got home. While in Paris Kye did great with the bottle and drank around 5 oz per feeding, rarely spitting up. While he was eating in the US I was pumping in France and got around 8-10 oz per pump session. A little more than he was eating each time don't you think? I had no pain while on the trip and felt hopeful that my days of nursing weren't yet over. When we got home I was eager to breastfeed and see how it went. Well Kye spit up a TON and I started hurting again! I was very annoyed and started putting two and two together...he spits up more when getting food from the breast AND I pumped waaaay more than he ate each time. Maybe my problem is too much milk! I started...
Before leaving for Paris I researched all I could about pumping milk and being able to bring it home with me. While I still felt guilty leaving Kye , I felt okay about it at the same time because I knew I'd still be giving him nourishment while I was away by being able to bring home all the milk I pumped for him to drink sometime in the future. TSA allows you to carry on more than 3 oz of breast milk so I planned on pumping all I could, storing it in our fridge in our room, then bringing it home in a cooler. I had three coolers ready to go with several freezer packs for each of them. The rule with breast milk is that it is good for 5-7 days in the fridge and 24 hours in a cooler with ice packs. I figured I'd keep it all in the fridge during the trip, then the trip home it'd be in the coolers, then freeze it asap when we got back (it's good for up to 6 months in a deep freezer). Before the trip I mapped out our flight schedule and worked out how often I'd need to ...
