Adventures of a Nursing Mom!

Weaning Process Continued The one thing I really wanted for my...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 20:41:30 -0600

Weaning Process Continued

The one thing I really wanted for my daughter was for her to self-wean. I would have loved for her to be the one to decided when she is ready to be done. She is now 14 months old and I have realized that I will have to wean her if we want to have another baby. We tried taking her down to one time a day before bedtime, but it is just not working :( So here I am doing something I really didn’t want to do: weaning Addy in my time.

I knew this was going to be hard, but I did not expect the emotional toll is is taking on me. I have been decreasing her nighttime nursing time by 2 minutes a night. Tonight she was only allowed to nurse for 12 minutes. When I unlatched her she screamed for what seemed like 15 minutes(it was probably more like 5). While she screamed I was in tears. I feel like I am the meanest mommy ever. I know that guilt comes along with weaning and that most women feel it, but I didn’t know I was gong to feel this bad.

I am trying to savor every last moment! What sucks is that I am not really ready for her to wean. I still really enjoy our bedtime nursing time. It is one of the few times during the day where she will sit still and cuddle. Today I was in tears just pulling her off. This is something I will never get back, this is the end to a huge and wonderful part of our mommy-daughter relationship.

I have 4 days left, that is 28 precious minutes, and I will be savoring every last second. I just have to keep telling myself that she will really enjoy being a big sister if we are blessed with another child.

Nursing Box for a Toddler when the Baby Comes

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 19:18:13 -0600

Nursing Box for a Toddler when the Baby Comes:

This is a great Idea! If Addy ever weans and we have another kid, I am totally doing this for her.

Guess I am still not used to this 5:30 wake up…

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 06:26:33 -0600

Guess I am still not used to this 5:30 wake up…

The Weaning Process

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:08:00 -0600

The Weaning Process:

So my pediatrician told me a while ago that we didn’t need to feed Addy at night, and that is why I started to try the no-cry sleep solution. Well we had actually gotten her to stop nursing at night around the middle of August. It took a month and a half of fairly sleepless nights to get to that point. Addy was only waking up twice a night, and only nursing in the morning. To some of you this probably sounds awful, but to me it was the best sleep I had gotten in months! We were doing so well, until I got West Nile Virus, and Addy decided that she wanted to nurse at night again at the same time. Now WN gave me such serious headaches that I was taking ibuprofen around the clock and it still didn’t get rid of them fully. So Addy ended up back in bed with us and nursing through he night again. Ugh I had worked so hard to end the cycle an here we were again. After a week of doing this she was back in her old routine again!

So here we are, she is nearly 14 months old, and I decided that the no-cry method was going to take too long. So last Sunday I cut her off cold turkey from night and morning feedings. She cried for a long time the first and second nights, then she didn’t expect it anymore. I had tried this in the past, but she would cry for 3 hours straight, night after night. This time it worked! She has also started sleeping better too! There have been a couple nights where she only woke up once. The only thing I need to get used to is the 5:30 wake up. Since we are not nursing in the morning I can no longer use my boob a snooze button.

The first day I was severely engorged, but refused to pump, so the next day was much better. I have also been really nauseous all day and especially in the morning. At first I could have sworn I was pregnant again, but kept testing negative. Turns out that weaning can mimic morning sickness, due to the hormonal changes. Not sure how long the is going to last, but hopefully is passes fast! This is a link to the livestrong site, and what they say about side effects of weaning. I am just glad I am not going crazy!

Cloth Diapering! Finally I have gotten around to posting about...

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 14:19:45 -0600

Cloth Diapering!

Finally I have gotten around to posting about cloth diapers! It feels like we never used disposables. I have been cloth diapering for almost 6 months, and I am completely hooked. I don’t think I will ever go back to disposables for so many reasons, which I will state at the end.

I read a lot about getting into a good wash routine, and I feel like I have. This is what I do:

After a diaper change I pull out the insert and wrap it in the diaper with the wipes then I toss everything into the wet sack
If she pooped I first toss the insert and wipes into the wet sack, then I spray the poo into the toilet with my handy sprayer, wring out the diaper, and toss it in the wet sack
I wash the diapers every other night after I get Addy down. I literally grab the wet sac by the handle and push all of the dirty diapers into the washing machine without touching any nasties.
We have an LG washer and I wash everything on Normal Hot/Cold, Second to top soil level, Pre-Wash, and Extra rinse. I used the Rocking Green Hard detergent (I think I am going to go for unscented next time though, not a huge fan)
Once the wash is done I hang all of the diapers on lines in our laundry room and all of the inserts and wipes go in the dryer on med-high for 40 minutes with a dry beach towel
In the morning, I stuff the diapers while we eat breakfast

It seems like a lot, but it is actually REALLY easy.

Now I said I would never go back, but I did switch back when Addy got the Stomach Flu and the cloth diapers just couldn’t contain the poo. So she was in disposables for a week and I am so glad we are back in cloth now.

As for brand, there are a ton out there and each of them fit differently. My stash includes 14 FuzziBunz(Right) and 7 BumGenius(Left). I love the FB because they are slim fitting and she seems to be able to move more easily in them. The BG are great for going out, nap time, and overnight, since they hold way more pee. I change Addy every hour and a half to two hours during the day when she is in FB, but a BG can last almost 3 hours. The BG are a lot bigger, but the excellent part about them is that they come in velcro, so it makes changing her really easy, especially when you are out an about. I wish they made perfect fit inserts for the BG, and I have considered making my own, because the one size insert really adds a lot of bulk and makes clothing fit snug.

I made my own cloth wipes out left over flannel scraps I had. They are basically just two pieces of flannel sewed together with a connected zigzag stich. I did buy 10 Swaddlebees wipes that are wooly on one side and velvety on the other. They are great for poopy diapers! It is so much easier using cloth wipes when you are cloth diapering, because they get thrown in the wet sack with the diaper, so you don’t have to think about throwing anything away. I had to use disposable wipes during the Stomach Flu and they seemed so thin I thought I was constantly touching poo! The cloth wipes are really thick, so I never touch anything!

As for daycare, ours loves that we cloth diaper. The only thing is that I have to send her with the BG, because they have a hard time keeping up with the leaks from the FB.

So since we have started cloth diapering, Addy has gotten NO diaper rash!!!! When we were using disposable she was getting it at least once a week. We sprinkle baby powder on her bum with every diaper change and her skin stays smooth and soft!

Here are the reasons I will stick with cloth:

No more poop blowouts! (The only time was when she had the flu)
So much cheaper than disposables. (We spent about $200 up front for our stash, and were spending $60 per month on disposables)
No more diaper rash
No chemicals
No more smelly diaper trash
Way less waste!
Water bill only went up by about $6 a month
Addy seems way more comfy in the cloth diapers

Saw this on a lactation consultant page on Facebook today....

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:32:21 -0600

Saw this on a lactation consultant page on Facebook today. AWESOME!

12 and 13 months!

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 09:24:46 -0600

I can’t believe that it has been a whole year since I was sitting in a group meeting panicking about loosing a very important file, while my group members worried the stress my send me into labor. Sure enough you came the next day! This past year has been the best of my life! You have brought so much joy and happiness into our small family. It is amazing to think about how much you have changed in the past year.

These past two months have been full of more change and development. You started WALKING on the day before your 1st birthday!!!! It was really cool. Once your Daddy got home you just started walking all over the living room. Grammy was very excited to get to see it too. Not only did you start walking, by you also started standing up in the middle of the floor at the same time. It took you a couple of weeks to get the hang of it, then you just took off right before Christmas!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family in San Antonio. Daddy made an amazing turkey and everyone loved it! It was so fun to see you play with your cousins over the week. We went back down for Christmas too, and you had even more fun with them, since you could walk. We took a cousin picture and you were SO happy to be included with the big kids.

Your first birthday party was so much fun, we made it 50’s themed. You love rock and roll music so we played it during the party and had 50’s diner food for lunch. You loved your cake and ate quite a bit of it. I made you a poodle skirt and sewed a sequin “A” on a white onesie, and you also wore black leggings. It was sooo cute!

I was determined to get a picture of you with Santa, but it just didn’t happen. You were just not having any of it. We tried twice and the second time we just took a family picture him. He brought you a baby doll for Christmas! You are starting to understand how to play with it, but are still more interested in other toys. You love the Radio Flyer bike Grammy and Papa got you for your Birthday, and you have figured out how to use the cymbals in the band in a box we got you. You LOVE the ball pit that we got you for your birthday. It was a last minute addition to your gifts because you loved playing in Brayden’s so much.

You have started saying more words like “Ba” for bath, “na” for nap, and “yeah.” Mostly you are still just babbling, but I know you know what you are saying, and soon we will too. You nod your head when we say yes and shake it where we say no. You are also starting to answer questions this way too, which it really cool. I can ask you if you are done and you will shake your head yes or no. You point with your whole hand at things that you want. When you want us to follow you, you will say “Ga” and stare at us until we do. It has been so much fun watching your communication skills develop.

Sleep is still something you have a hard time with. You will wake up about 3 times a night on average and want to nurse. I have started the process of stopping our middle of the night nursing sessions. This is going to be a long arduous process, but we really want you to have a brother or sister soon and if you keep nursing the way you do, it will never happen!

We took our first long car ride up to Lubbock for New Years and you did really well. We put a bunch of movies on the iPad and you actually watched them. You loved Horton Hears A Who and The Muppets. You got sick while we were there and proceeded to pass it to everyone!

You still eat just about everything, and your favorite is still black beans. One thing that is great is that when you get hungry you go into the kitchen and wait for me to get you something. You only want to nurse when you are sleepy. When it is time for a meal you will try to climb into your highchair.

You love music! You dance whenever you hear music playing. When Sesame Street comes on in the morning you get excited when you hear the theme music. You pretty much love all music.

The only other big change is that your hair is now long enough for a pony tail! It looks so cute sticking straight up on your head. Your little personality shines through more and more each day. I am the luckiest Mama in the whole world to have you as my daughter.

Boy how I love being this baby girl’s Mama!

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 22:10:52 -0600

Boy how I love being this baby girl’s Mama!

Cloth Diaper Chaffing, HELP!!!

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:53:02 -0600

My daughter has been slimming down now that she is really active. Her diapers started leaking, and now she has some chaff marks on her legs. I can’t tell wether it is because the diapers are too loose or too tight. Also, what can I do about the marks? Will they go away on their own? We use fuzzibunz and bumgenius, and have never had any problems until yesterday. Any advice?

11 Months Old!!

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 19:10:57 -0500

Sorry for the long absence, our family has been very busy with well family. I have also been knee deep in my job search. But I had to make it back eventually, so please bear with the next 10 posts that are pretty much just catching up. This is essentially my baby book so the posts are necessary.

So my sweet baby girl is 11 months old!! I can’t believe we are one month away form 1! You have just blossomed over the past two months. I feel like you are growing and doing new things daily. You love to eat! You eat EVERYTHING, but your favorites are black beans, anything spicy, eggs, chicken and avocado, all fruit (but only from a spoon), mac & cheese, PB&J, and the muffins I made for you. It is so much fun to sit down to dinner and see you explore new food every day. I made creamy avocado enchiladas two nights ago and you couldn’t get enough of the stuffing. It also helps that you have you first two teeth now! They just popped up in the past two weeks!

You still love to nurse. My attempts at get you you to nurse only 3-4 times a day have failed miserably. I guess that second baby can wait. I don’t really mind too much though since it is the only time you will cuddle with me. You are constantly moving around the house. I love to watch you explore every day. Grammy and Papa got you a walking toy and you push that thing around the house until you get stuck, then look at me like “aren’t you going to move my walker?”

You started to say Mama about a month ago and have said Dada once, but seem unwilling to say it any more. You an waived for the first time to you Grandma Lupita, and I think you made her cry a little. I think the most fun thing you have started to do is clap though. You clap when you are happy, sad, or just having a good time.

You love music. I started to play different Pandora stations all the time and I think you favorite is oldies rock. I even made you some shakers out of old spice jars and a sprinkles and you will shake them to the rhythm of the music. You will even dance a little to some music. It is just the cutest thing!

We took you out to College Station for your very first Fighting Texas Aggie Tailgate! Even though you are very small and didn’t really understand how awesome it is there, it was still fun to take you to the place we met and experience that with you. You even got to take a nap in the new MSC!

As far as toys go, you mastered the light up stacking toy a couple weeks ago. One day you were determined to figure it out and you did. It was so cool to see you try and try then get it. You love your walking push toy, but you favorite part of it is the barn door that says “Peek-A-Boo” when you open it. You are figuring out how to get all of the doors to open on your Busy Poppin’ Pals pop up toy. I think you have almost figured out how to turn the key one.

You are now able to stand for a very long time, and you will shake toys all around while standing as well. Last week, you took three steps in a row toward me! but you haven’t shown a lot of interest since then. I have a feeling you are just going to take off in a couple weeks.

Last weekend you got to spend some quality alone time with Grammy and Papa. It was the first time we left you somewhere other than daycare! You have so much fun playing with them and you even started to play Peek-A-Boo with Papa! You would lift a blanket in from of your face and pull it down really fast!

Yesterday was your first Halloween! We went Trick-Or-Treating with Erica, Brian, and Brayden. You went as a Panda Bear. I pieced together your costume using a long sleeve black onesie with black leggings, then I pulled a white onesie over the leggings and rolled it down under your arms. The ears came from D.C. when we visited in May. You looked so adorable! When we finished you sat and pulled all of your candy out of ou little box and ate a DumDum. It actually turned into a pretty cool sensory exercise since the wrappers all made different noises and you could shake the boxes.

I look forward to see what the last month of your first year has in store for us! You are my beautiful sweet baby girl and I love you!

Great Resource for Parents with a Constipated Baby

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 19:13:30 -0500

Great Resource for Parents with a Constipated Baby:

Apparently breastfed babies are more prone to constipation when solids are introduced in their diets, since breastmilk is easily digested. Addy has not had a bowl movement in a couple days and I just want her to feel better! This site explains which foods are harder to digest, and it seemed to be everything I was giving her! I feel so bad that I didn’t think about this while choosing new foods for her to eat. Today I even chugged a big glass of prune juice, which then almost came back up, because the doc said it would get to my milk and help her. I just feel so bad for her:(. Tomorrow I am going to try and get her to eat a bunch of foods on the good list and stay away from carbs and dairy, hopefully that will help.

I think my supply has been low during the day, which has led to...

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:32:16 -0500

I think my supply has been low during the day, which has led to frequent night nursing sessions. So today I am going to make some lactation cookies!

Traditions

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 19:14:30 -0500

We had Adelai’s 9 month check-up today. She measured in at 22 lbs (92%) and 27.75 inches long (87%). She is right on track developmentally and ahead of the curve on some things. After she got her two shots I thought I wasn’t going to have to nurse her this time, but after about a minute she was rooting like crazy.

Anyways, I remember when I was little, when we got sick my mom would always take us to get a milk shake after we went to the doctor. I always loved this tradition, and plan to do it with my children when they are older. In fact I have been sick with a 100+ fever for the past two days and all I wanted was a milkshake. Luckily I have the best hubby in the world, who stopped on the way home to get me one.

I made Addy some Whole Wheat Peach Mango Breastmilk Pancakes...

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 08:35:10 -0500

I made Addy some Whole Wheat Peach Mango Breastmilk Pancakes today! They taste really good, but I can’t really taste the fruit. I will try different ratios next time. Here is my recipe:

1 cup Aunt Jemima Whole Wheat Pancake Mix
4 oz of jarred baby food fruit
1 egg
Add BM till it reaches a good consistency

Cook on griddle at 325

The BM may be over-powering the fruit since it is so sweet, I will post if the next batch turns out better.

I picked up new vitamins at the store yesterday, and when I went...

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 11:13:27 -0500

I picked up new vitamins at the store yesterday, and when I went to give them to her I realized they didn’t have iron in them! Is it just me or is this really misleading? I now have to go spend another $8 on the ones with iron. They need to change the label for the ones with iron.

For all breastfeeding mammas, make sure you check the label before you buy these!

Nine Months Old!!

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 10:25:44 -0500

Wow! I can’t believe you are nine months old! This month has gone by so fast it is hard to remember everything that has been going on. You are crawling at what seems like the speed of light now and getting into everything. We were going to try to not say “no” to you, but that has pretty much flown out the window. It is pretty much the only way to keep you from doing dangerous things. You are starting to understand what we mean when we say it to. Hopefully this will not lead to you saying “no” back to us in the future, but that is a risk I am willing to take.

You have finally started to eat solids! Your favorite foods right now are peanut butter sandwiches, pasta, and yogurt melts. You also love feeding the dogs from your high-chair. I think we need to start feeding them less, because they are being fed three times a day by you. If we let them outside while you eat, you just stare at the door until we let them back in. You love the dogs so much!

Nine months and still breastfeeding! I am thinking that you are going to nurse for a while. It is still your main source of nutrition. You also use nursing for comfort when you take a tough spill. I love playing with you while we nurse. I am trying to teach you how to high five right now and that seems to be the best time to do it.

We started giving you a sippy cup last month, but now you have it figured out. You love to lay on pillows on the floor and drink juice while we read books. Daddy calls this your “Juice Time.”

I am not 100% sure that you know what you are doing, but when you are upset and whining you say “Err Mama.” It is the sweetest thing, but this is the only time you say it. Every day when Daddy gets home from work you crawl over to him and reach up for him, it just melts his heart. I have been working with you on waving hello and goodbye, as well as blowing kisses, but you don’t seem very interested. You are a pretty serious kid and I really love that about you.

You are very active and do not like sitting in one place for too long. Thankfully you have figured out how to sit down from a standing position without falling. This allows me to not have to constantly follow you around the room with a pillow.

Now to talk about sleep…you don’t seem to want to sleep through the night consistently. Maybe 2-3 days a week I can get you to sleep from 7:30-11 then 11:45-5, but most of the time you wake up about 3 times at night and stay awake for about 45 minutes each time. You are no longer nursing at night though. The only time I let you nurse is at 5. I am crossing my fingers that you will sleep through the night by your 1st birthday.

You love making music, which generally means you are banging your toys on different surfaces to see how they sound. The air conditioner vent has become your latest attraction, because you love the sound it makes when you run your fingers down it. We will listen to music during the day and you love to hear me drum on the tub with all of your toys.

I took you to ToysRUs for the first time and made the mistake of handing you some sensory balls to see if you liked them. Well you loved them and refused to give them back to me. In fact you cried when I took them away to get you in your carseat. We ended up buying them and now they are one of your favorite toys. You also still love your stacking toys.

I didn’t think much had happened this month until I sat down to write this. You are always changing and amazing me with the things you can do. I look forward to seeing you grow and explore more and more. You are the light of my life sweet girl!

Survive pumping at work with the Milk it Kit

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 10:24:08 -0500

themomsandthecity:

When I returned to work after my oldest was born, I felt fortunate that I was often able to slip home or bring her with me to breastfeed because, I’ll be honest, pumping at work made me a little nervous. I could barely use a breast pump at home, let alone in my office.

http://bit.ly/QtMiCA

This is such a cool idea. You could welcome new moms back with this waiting for them in the lactation room! Every new pumping mom needs encouragement!

galactoblogue: Gee, I’m sure the US will be putting out a...

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 12:44:00 -0500

galactoblogue:

Gee, I’m sure the US will be putting out a breastfeeding stamp of its own soon! Not.

Still, these are epic. Enjoy.

Cool

Finally eating food!!

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 12:26:00 -0500

My child refused to eat anything off of a spoon, so we decided to wait until she was older to try her with solids again. We started at 8 and a half months giving her puffs, and she seemed to like them and it helped her develop her pointer-thumb dexterity. We then gave her a pineapple core to expand her tastes and she chewed on that thing for a while. After this we decided we could give her pretty much anything, so we tried the feared peanut butter, and she LOVED it! Well it didn’t take long and now she will pretty much eat anything we put in front of her. Here is what I have given her so far:

Peas
Carrots
Strawberries
Steamed Apple chunks
Peach chunks
Whole Grain Pasta (I think this is her favorite, because it is sticky and she can keep it in her hands better)
Butternut squash purée mixed with pasta
Peanut butter sandwich
Ritz crackers
Cheerios

It is so much fun to watch her explore food on her own. She is already so fiercely independent. I guess this is why she still refuses to be fed with a spoon. I will miss nursing her as much, but it is a lot of fun to watch her grow and explore.

Bedtime Math Problems

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 20:20:56 -0500

Bedtime Math Problems:

This woman reads her children a story every night, then follows it up with a math problem. I can’t wait to do this with Addy when she is a wee bit older. She posts the problems to this site, with different versions for different age groups. I want to instill the same love I have for math in Addy, and this gives me a great tool to do that with!