PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[sunkist]

Date: 1/25/2010 11:49:55 AM
Author: dreamer_dachsie

Date: 1/25/2010 3:45:05 AM

Author: sunkist

Ok, I get what you mean, DD. I actually tried doing that around 6 weeks old, but I stopped after a couple days cause I was afraid it would decrease my supply and I was scared to mess with that. I just want to even out the milk supply so it''s not lopsided. No, I haven''t been pumping, but I did just get a hand Medela pump this weekend cause I want to start storing some in case I ever need to be away from the baby (needing a date night soon!). And so maybe hubby could give him a bottle now and then. So instead of decreasing supply on the full side, I want to increase on the small side.


I think maybe I''ll try starting feedings on the small side, offering the other if he''s still hungry and then immediately after pump only on the smaller side. I won''t collect much milk for a while

but hopefully it will increase soon. I hope this hand pump will be able to do the job. If I just pump for an extra 10 min with a hand pump, do you think it will make a difference?


On my fuller side I get 4 oz in like 8 mintues. On the smaller side I only get 2 oz. It''s sooo slow!

Are his poops green by any chance? I only ask because that was why I started single side feeds. Green poops mean too much foremilk so nursing only on one side helps baby get more of the hind milk.

We get all colors. Sometimes they are green. Sometimes, yellow, orange, and sometimes they are so green it looks blue!

 

[fieryred33143]

Sunkist

Definitely sounds like too much foremilk which is normal! That happens to a lot of nursing moms. Robbie and I both went through this (I believe Robbie may still have an oversupply issue). Sounds silly that oversupply would even be an issue

.

 

[lizzard]

I called our LO's doctor to discuss his fussiness/drooling/hands in mouth, etc. and the nurse said it sounds like teething. She suggested giving him Infant Tylenol and a cold wet cloth to suck on. She strongly advised against putting Orajel on his gums because it can numb his throat and cause swallowing issues. Not sure if this applies to the teething tablets, as well.

At what age do babies start to "learn" responses and reactions? Let me clarify, at what age can it become possible to start spoiling a baby? Our LO has a wonderful new habit of screaming and crying the minute we sit down when holding him, but once we stand up, he's as happy as a clam. Do we already have a spoiled brat on our hands?

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 1/25/2010 4:39:05 PM
Author: lizzard
I called our LO''s doctor to discuss his fussiness/drooling/hands in mouth, etc. and the nurse said it sounds like teething. She suggested giving him Infant Tylenol and a cold wet cloth to suck on. She strongly advised against putting Orajel on his gums because it can numb his throat and cause swallowing issues. Not sure if this applies to the teething tablets, as well.

At what age do babies start to ''learn'' responses and reaction. Let me clarify, at what age can it become possible to start spoiling a baby? Our LO has a wonderful new habit of screaming and crying the minute we sit down when holding him, but once we stand up, he''s as happy as a clam. Do we already have a spoiled brat on our hands?

Is he running a temp? I wouldn''t give tylenol unless he is but the cloth thing does work. I would advise against Orajel as well. If you do teething tablets, I would get Hylands because you can crush it up and dissolve in the bottle (plus it''s all natural).

LOL I don''t think a baby is really spoiled, if you want to call it that, until about 6 months when they realize there are consequences/rewards for certain actions. It may just be that he likes the view from up top

. Have you tried standing him up on your lap? The only way I can get Sophia to sit calmly in my lap is if she''s facing out towards everyone. If I have her in the "burp" position, she gets really frustrated. She''s nosey.

 

[Mandarine]

haha lizzard...I think your LO is my boys'' long lost triplet!!!!

They want to be on you, while you''re MOVING. Not so easy when you have two....so I just do what I can!. I do think they can get spoiled...not so much "spoiled" per say but habits are created. Like rocking them to sleep....they did have that habit, but luckily for us it was easy to break out of it. I wouldn''t say that made them spoiled, but it''s what they were used to.

**

Faster nipples helped..........for the last feeing.

On this feeding they ate 2 oz each....but I know they are hungry because they''re still fussy/crying...and they''re not sleepy. They were eating just fine and then boom, one freaks out then the other one follows. I tried and tried but gave up....I guess they''ll eat more at the next feeding...I guarantee from now until then they will be cranky. It''s lovely.

Not only is it frustrating because I know they ARE hungry...but I''m throwing away so much formula

..

Anyway...going to try one more time before throwing those bottles out...

 

[lizzard]

Thanks, Fiery. He doesn't have a temp. I'll give the cloth a try and see if that relieves some of the discomfort before resorting to the meds.

He loooves staring outward, standing on our laps and anything that involves him being right in the midst of the action. I think he feels as though he's missing out on something when we sit down - even if he's facing everyone. Ugh. Oh well.

Mandy - it must be a Libra thing!

Seriously though, it sounds like a growth spurt - esp since our kiddos are the same age and going through most of the same wacky stuff.

 

[Mara]

Q for the breastfeeding Moms...when did you introduce a pacifier to the baby? Similar Q is a bottle.

The LC and classes which are pretty militant say nothing but boob for 4 weeks to minimize the confusion. But I know a fair amt of Moms who have been successful with using paci/boob/bottle interchangeably within the first few weeks (sometimes out of necessity).

Has anyone seen it really be an issue with the ''confusion'' thing? The Moms I know have not said YES it was..and am wondering if it''s more just what the LC''s would prefer or advocate you do vs what might actually happen in a realistic situation. Thx!

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 1/25/2010 5:44:58 PM
Author: Mara
Q for the breastfeeding Moms...when did you introduce a pacifier to the baby? Similar Q is a bottle.

The LC and classes which are pretty militant say nothing but boob for 4 weeks to minimize the confusion. But I know a fair amt of Moms who have been successful with using paci/boob/bottle interchangeably within the first few weeks (sometimes out of necessity).

Has anyone seen it really be an issue with the ''confusion'' thing? The Moms I know have not said YES it was..and am wondering if it''s more just what the LC''s would prefer or advocate you do vs what might actually happen in a realistic situation. Thx!

3 weeks. I didn''t have milk but kept trying with a SNS. The paci was our friend.

 

[fieryred33143]

Date: 1/25/2010 5:44:58 PM
Author: Mara
Q for the breastfeeding Moms...when did you introduce a pacifier to the baby? Similar Q is a bottle.

The LC and classes which are pretty militant say nothing but boob for 4 weeks to minimize the confusion. But I know a fair amt of Moms who have been successful with using paci/boob/bottle interchangeably within the first few weeks (sometimes out of necessity).

Has anyone seen it really be an issue with the ''confusion'' thing? The Moms I know have not said YES it was..and am wondering if it''s more just what the LC''s would prefer or advocate you do vs what might actually happen in a realistic situation. Thx!

No the nipple confusionnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL

I introduced a bottle at 5 days when my nipples felt like they were going to explode and looked like they already did. She had no problem latching back on. I also gave her a bottle around 2 weeks when I was battling baby blues + sleep deprivation and my mom took over nights. Again, no issue with latching.

LCs in general are very anti-bottle/pacifiers before the 4 week mark (some say before the 6 week mark) but you do what you have to do and everyone will survive.

 

[natalina]

Mara- we gave Ellie a paci from day 2 in the hospital because she would NOT stop sucking! The LC actually came in and ok''d it. She said as long as we really stayed committed to BF it should be fine. Then at about 3 weeks I was SO raw that I had to pumpand give her bottles, and it was fine. SHe has never had any issues with confusion at all.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

So I was totally sneaking her a paci around day 5. I had to meet with an LC when she was a week old and she weighed T before and after I nursed. In 15 mins she got an impressive amount of milk so she officially gave me her blessing to give her a pacifier. She said it was only a problem with babies who were weak suckers. She got her first bottle around 10 days. She never had any issues going from bottle to breast or back.

 

[AmberWaves]

So Piper had her first set of shots on Friday, she was fine, four doses of tylenol over the weekend and she was okay. We stopped the tylenol mid-afternoon on Saturday. Saturday she slept from 11pm to 3am to 6am to about 10:30am. Her naps weren''t too bad. Sunday she slept okay as well, with definite fewer naps. Last night she slept from 10:30pm straight through to 5:30am, but had to be with us in bed. Today she''s been fussy and hasn''t had a nap longer than 10 minutes at a time, and she''s had a few of these. Could it be residual vaccine issues?

Mara: I have yet to give Piper a bottle, but I have been giving her a paci for three weeks now (she''ll be nine weeks by week tomorrow, but by number on Sunday) only because she wouldn''t take one earlier!

 

[mela lu]

Sounds like all the BF''ers are getting good advice here. FWIW, I did one boob per feeding until he was about 4 months old. I wanted to make sure he was getting the hindmilk. I knew he wasnt when his poops were green. Hang in there everyone!

I introduced the paci at 5 weeks old and the bottle a little later, only becuase we didnt need to before that. I give babies more credit; nipple confusion is not THAT common! They know the difference - those little hawks!

Cello - welcome to the other side!! I hope we can help support you through this difficult adjustment period.

Today is Mela Lu (our dog) 4th birthday! I love that little furball!
Oh, and while rolling around playing on the floor today, Romeo found his sippy cup, layed back and drank. It was a FIRST!

 

[snlee]

D had a jaundice scare and was in the hospital. Because of the jaundice and weight loss, a bottle was introduced to him when he was just 4 days old. At around a month old, we gave him a bottle each day to make sure he got used to it and so I could build up a frozen stash of BM in preparation of doing back to work. We never had any issues with BFing. We introduced the paci around 10 days but he didn't use it much until 2 or 3 weeks.

 

[so cal girl]

Regarding nipple confusion: I asked for a pacifier at the hospital, because little E just seemed so upset, and I knew about the whole "suck to soothe" reflex, and they basically refused to give one to me. Next time I will be bringing one with me. We started them pretty much the day we got home, and he has never had any trouble with nipple confusion. He got a bottle here and there starting at about 5 weeks, but probably only once or twice a week. I wanted him to get used to them before I went back to work. But my sister has twins, and she both bottle feeds and breast feeds since day one, and they never had any nipple confusion. I think that LCs putting so many stipulations on breastfeeding just makes people more anxious, and may make it harder for some than it needs to be.

E had his four month appointment today. Everything went okay, but I don''t like that my doctor gives me such vague answers on things. Example: I ask her how much I should be giving him per feeding, and she says however much he takes. I ask how much sleep he should be getting a day, and she says as much as he wants. WTF?! I''m looking for actual answers! I guess I don''t feel like I got a lot out of the appointment, except for his measurements, and a cranky baby from some shots. He is currently 26 inches and 14lbs 15oz. 90th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight. Tall and skinny, just like his father

 

[Mandarine]

Well...
They won''t eat...again.
They''re both crying and each ate 2 oz only...again. That''s two feedings in a row

They''re both upset...I''ll call the pedi tomorrow. This just doesn''t seem normal. How do they go from eating 5oz at every feeding to fighting to get 2oz in??
I''m scared of what tonight will bring....will they be making up for all the formula they didn''t drink today?? or is there really something wrong with them?

 

[Dreamer_D]

Sunkist Good baby poops are mustard orange or browny orange. That means they are getting lots of high fat hind milk. When they are green or sometimes even green and frothy, it means that they are getting too much high sugar fore milk. In and of itself it isn''t an issue, babies can grow and thrive on foremilk as long as the mom has ample supply, like you do. But too much fore milk can lead to gassiness and digestive pain, and can cause baby to want to nurse more often because he is hungry more often. Hunter had all of these issues which is why I started single sided feedings around a month old. He would nurse on one side and drain it at each feeding, alternating boobs at each feed. His poops turned orange and he was less fussy as soon as I started doing this. No issues with supply. Just something to consider if you are noticing some of the negatives I mentioned! It shouldn''t hurt your supply as long as you are nursing on demand. Fiery''s block method is more extreme and over time could affect supply, it is only for women who are over-producers.

Mandarine Babies are strange little beasties sometimes. I hope the doc can give you a suggestion. But I also think they will get over whatever it is. I have found that when I am stressing about something hunter is doing feeding wise, he feels my stress and it makes it worse. Of course

. Babies can really pick up on stress in our bodies when we hold them I guess. Not saying that is what is going on for you, but I am sure everything will be ok with your boys. They may be growing or something?

 

[Dreamer_D]

Mandarine How old are your boys, adjusting for being a little early? Hunter sort of went bonkers around 3-4 months.

 

[Pandora II]

Daisy''s new cousin: William Montagu was born yesterday at 4.10pm weighing 7lbs 9oz. I haven''t heard all the details from my brother but apparently the baby never engaged and my SIL never got past 7 cm, so ended up with a c-section.

I started my evening classes last night - second one tonight... was really nice to have 3 hours sans the bear! The others on the course all seem nice - the girl I sat next to last night is an air hostess from Hungary who has scheduled her flights so she gets into London on Mondays and flies out on Wednesdays so she can do the course each week. She''s also expecting her first baby in August.

I left D with DH at his office, so I spent the afternoon round the corner at the National Gallery. They''re very baby friendly thank goodness... I put D in a front out carry in the mei tai and took her to see some paintings. She''s not the quietest of kids at the best of times, but she definitely enjoyed herself enthusiastically greeting pictures of dour looking cardinals with shouts of "Dada!"

- then in the room full of Madonnas con Bambinos she spotted the one of Jesus breastfeeding and demanded the same...

Mara - Daisy had bottles from the first week onwards as I couldn''t EBF until the 6th week. I also tried giving her a paci from week 1 onwards but she''s never taken it.

Almost all my friends have used bottles from the outset whether they were breastmilk or formula. The ONLY friend who had any problems was one who introduced a bottle at 4 months for the first time... baby refused to take it and has continued to ever since. I''m not actually convinced that ''nipple confusion'' actually exists!

I would definitely give a bottle within the first 3 weeks.

 

[Mandarine]

*Serenity now, serenity now*....

Long night. The little boogers woke up at 1 am then 5, then 6...then up for the day at 7. Guess what they wanted to do? EAT!. I gave them 4 oz each at 1am but then only 2 oz later when they woke up. They were still hungry so they fussed for a few minutes (not long at all)...oh well, calories go in during the day!.

This morning Alex ate 4 oz and Lucas 2.5. I''m going to write down everything they eat today to see how much they''re eating total.

Could it be that they are just NOT really that hungry when I try to feed them (every 3 hours)?. They act like they are, but then they change their minds

DD They are 3.5 months...adjusted would be 2.5 months since they were a month early.

I''m such an idiot/bad mom...I forgot to run the dishwasher last night...so this morning I made their bottles with dirty nipples

I didn''t know they were dirty, until after the fact when I went to take the "clean" bottles out and realized everything was dirty. How bad is that??? I hope they don''t get sick or anything. Could they?

Bad, bad mandarine!!!

 

[vizsla]

mara- i wouldn''t worry about introducing a paci "early" - the hospital will use one when they circ your son - so i would give them the paci you want the LO to get used to. and for bf moms the kind of paci you use can greatly effect the suck/tongue position of your LO. i have loads of experience in this dept as my little guy had a lazy latch. what i''m trying to say is that some pacis encourage a good suck/BF tongue position - the soothie is excellent if your little one will take it and the best for newborns - our lactation consultant actually had us use this paci to "teach" c how to suck correctly at the breast.. stay away from the mams or any "flat" pacis - also stay away from the born free or the slanted tipped paci. if the baby pulls of your boob and your nipple looks like a tube of lipstick, his/her latch is incorrect and can cause problems later on and these pacis teach the baby that lazy latch. we also like the gerber pacifiers... basically any pacis that have that long "nipple".

 

[vizsla]

also re:colors of poo... green poos speckled poo, dark green poos can also signal an allergy or intolerance. our LO had green poos that slowly turned dark dark green... turned out he had a milk soy protein intolerance and it was actually blood. if your LO seems extra fussy, crying after eating etc it might be something to take into consideration. granted only 20% of babies have this intolerance, but the earlier it''s caught the sooner it clears and the more serenity for the parents

 

[anchor31]

Mara - I was asking about this just last week. My little guy was going to sleep on his own just fine for two weeks, then he started going to sleep later and later until he wouldn''t go to sleep at all at night, the only thing that would soothe him is the breast. By the time he was 3 weeks, I was beyond exhausted. So I gave him a paci. It''s been a week now, and although he doesn''t always go to sleep easily, at least he''s not crying all night. He also started taking the bottle from DH for his last feed of the day. There''s been no nipple confusion whatsoever. I think we have to remember that what''s written in the books is all very good, but our babies don''t all fit the same mold. My mom told me a story from her collegue, who''s DIL had a daughter less than a year ago. At about 5 months, the little girl just wouldn''t stop crying... Both grandmothers suggested to the mom that she started giving her cereal, but she insisted to wait until 6 months. Well, when 6 months arrived and she started giving her cereal, she stopped crying... She was just hungry. I think at some point we have to forget what the books say and go with what our baby needs.

Ok, I know it''s a fluke, 4-weeks-old babies don''t STTN, but Jacob did last night. I was steeling myself for a rough night because I had the hardest time putting him to sleep and he had a total meltdown when I changed his diaper at his 11PM feeding (he probably was overtired), but then when he finally went to sleep at 12:30AM, he slept until 6:45AM. I''m really happy I got to sleep for 6 hours straight (it had been a while!), but I have to admit I was a bit freaked out when I woke up at 6:30 and saw the time... I got up to check if he was breathing (and probably woke him up).

I know I complain about them a lot, but I have to say this... My IL''s have to be the weirdest (to be polite) people in the world. They dropped by for a (thankfully) quick visit on Sunday and MIL said Jacob had my black hair. Um, I don''t have black hair, and neither does Jacob.

Then, after I fed Jacob he fell asleep so I put him down in his crib away from the noise (for some reason they always talk very loudly), and FIL went into his room and started talking to him (very loudly of course). Stepping out of the bathroom I see this and go to tell FIL to let Jacob sleep, but I''m too late and he wakes up and starts crying... FIL turns to me and says Jacon has colics. Um, no he doesn''t have colics, he''s pissed because you woke him up, jacka$$.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Mandarine They''ll be fine, I am sure! It is totally possible they are not hungry when you feed them. As I said, babies are wierd. LOL! Since they woke at night to feed they are obviously ok, just playing with your mind a little

At that age Hunter ate every 2 hours or so, but I was feeding on demand. It is really hard to know sometimes what is Hunger and what is tired/bored/gassy/playing/baby craziness I find. And at their age they are changing a lot, their little will and personalities are starting to appear. Maybe they are not hungry. If they refuse a bottle you can always just offer again in 20 or 30 minutes. That''s what I would do with BFing, I don''t see why it would be different with bottles feeding.

 

[Mara]

thanks ladies for the paci/bottle advice. it is basically what i thought..and i just don''t want to be all militant about ''boob only'' if there''s no real REASON, so we''ll do whatever works best and like fiery said, hopefully all survive hehe. greg attended the BF class with me and was like BOOB ONLY BOOB ONLY after that (men!) but i keep running across moms who made all 3 types work just fine within the first month so i''d prefer the flexibility.

viz...i marked that i don''t want the baby given a paci without my agreement so the nurses won''t give him anything but boob unless i specify. i will bring our paci just in case.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 1/26/2010 1:37:31 PM
Author: Mara
thanks ladies for the paci/bottle advice. it is basically what i thought..and i just don''t want to be all militant about ''boob only'' if there''s no real REASON, so we''ll do whatever works best and like fiery said, hopefully all survive hehe. greg attended the BF class with me and was like BOOB ONLY BOOB ONLY after that (men!) but i keep running across moms who made all 3 types work just fine within the first month so i''d prefer the flexibility.

viz...i marked that i don''t want the baby given a paci without my agreement so the nurses won''t give him anything but boob unless i specify. i will bring our paci just in case.

Mara, TGuy was like that too because he so believed that breast was best and anything else was a poor substitute. The best thing that could have happened for us is that I was not able to produce milk. Still, I tried for 2 damn months, but in the meantime, right from the hospital we started with finger feeding through SNS. So he was able to help feeding her from day one without the use of a bottle, which meant right away he realized how EXHAUSTING it was. Imagine holding your finger in the baby''s mouth and your arm crooked and still for 45-minutes to an hour. He got it real quick that men should not be demanding that women deal with all the feedings, period.

 

[vizsla]

mara - i *would* bring one for the circumcision - the sucking soothes them and from what you will see, it looks awful......AWFUL. that was one of the hardest things we ''willingly'' did to charlie (aside from the tongue clipping). seriously, if your husband is anything like mine, seeing their little peter all red will bring tears to his eyes.

ok, general observation, but i''ve noticed that LCs at the hospital or at BF classes are *really* forceful about BF when they don''t need to be. the best thing for your baby is what you think is best. i saw no less than 4 LC at the hospital and another 2 during my BF class and they all made me feel like an awful mom when i wanted (and NEEDED) to use a nipple shield, when i *had* to give c formula b/c he couldn''t latch, or when i had to give him a paci to ''teach'' him how to latch properly. i can''t stress enough that if BF doesn''t just work, it makes all the difference to find a LC who is on your side and who supports you instead of making you feel like you are doing anything ''wrong''. that''s such phooey! how you BF isn''t wrong, using formula to supplement isn''t wrong, giving a paci isn''t wrong.

mandy - i told my husband about you rocking your boys for 45mins just so they take a 20min nap... and asked if it sounded familiar... we both laughed... thank gawd i''m not the only one.

i have a hilarious mom confession for friday.......

oh, julia kay taylor finished my mommy ring.... i''ll post in the colored forum.

 

[Mandarine]

DD Thanks! I think you are right and the little jerks boogers, are just playing with my mind!.

They just ate 5 oz each, no fighting!. Today I'm letting them do whatever they want (at the scheduled time because otherwise I will loose my mind!). I'm writing down how much they're eating just so I can see how much they are getting in a full 24 hours.

They are smiling and playing and taking naps (as good of naps as they have ever taken, which are not great, but they haven't gotten worse!)....so I don't think something is really bothering them.

Greenish poo
Viz, my Dr had said yellowish or greenish was fine (with formula). Their poo is always the same color (greenish/yellowish with specks). Should I be concerned? It hasn't changed.

Paci
I don't know why nobody gave them any at the hospital...and I didn't think to ask, they were happily sleeping most of the time. They've never loved the pacis, and I sorta of wish they did so I could soothe them without feeding them at night. Trying to look at the positive that I won't have to break that habit!...hehe. The LC I was seeing said it was fine since they were also drinking pumped BM and formula from a bottle...so if they were already dealing with different nipples



ETA: Viz: can't wait for your confession!. I guess I should have waited until Friday to tell you guys about me feeding them with dirty nipples today! hehe

 

[phoenixgirl]

Nipple Confusion -- I wouldn't worry about it. I noticed that when we gave Claire the cheapy bottles that came with premixed formula that they gave us in the hospital, she would bite/clamp on my nipple, but she's fine when we give her a more nipple-shaped, slow-flow bottles. We gave her a pacifier at 6 days and a bottle at 4.

Speaking of confusion, so I pumped about 1.5 hours after Claire ate this morning, figuring I had 1.5 more to go. Then Claire seemed hungry right after that, so we attempted BFing, but she seemed dissatisfied/still hungry. So I attempted to give her the 2 ounces I had just pumped, which she fought when I was holding her next to my boob, but when I put her down in her swing or on the boppy, she was fine. So who knows when she'll want to eat again now. We're both confused! But at least I know she'll take a bottle, which is good news since she starts daycare next week.

Speaking of work and daycare, I'm trying to get everything in place. We're taking Claire over on Thursday to meet everyone and to drop off her things. What else do you think I'll need for her each day? Here's my list so far (they provide diapers):

*three 4 oz. bottles of defrosted milk
*two freezer bags plus an extra bottle
*an extra outfit
*a pacifier
*a pacifier case
*a sleepsack
*unopened diaper cream
*pictures of Mom and Dad to put in her crib

I think they said not to bother bringing toys unless there's something that's her favorite.

I'd been making 4 oz. bottles, but I'm realizing that if Claire is around 12 pounds, that is a little short, so now I'm aiming for 4.3-4.5 ounces. But it will take a while to get through the old bottles first. I figure I should use that now and freeze bigger quantities with what I get at work so that the freezer stash bottles aren't too small for her if/when we need them.

A coworker with a 5.5 month old says her milk is drying up, which is my fear

. I'd like to avoid formula if at all possible, but we'll see. I got permission to pump in the clinic, which is better than what they told my coworker (they said to use the staff room, but I share my free period with a man . . . hello, people), but with H1N1 still going around ("the swine" as the kids call it), I'm not sure I want to hang out and handle something Claire's going to consume in there. Oh well. I can use my classroom before and after school and during lunch (I just can't use it when I'm free because other classes meet in there).

I know this seems small, but I also got permission to make unlimited copies. Apparently while I was on leave they instituted a really small cap on copies -- if you have 100 students, you can make 20 copies per student each month (and double-sided counts as 2 copies). So if you have a 5 page short story to read or daily quizzes, what are you supposed to do? I know times are hard and we should cut back as much as we can, but some of us (like those of us preparing remedial students for the state writing test or teaching three sections of AP literature or running the school newspaper -- oh wait, I'm all of those in one!) have to make more copies than, say, the art teacher. I will be conscientious about the copies I make, but I really don't think I could do my job well sticking to the 20 copies per month. There's no way to proof the newspaper without making tons of copies. And it's really not fair to the kids because I'm sure teachers are doing more of, "Take out a sheet of paper." Our kids aren't rich and the school system nickles and dimes them to death as it is (they actually make the students pay $5 each year for paper as it is, and $8 to take science, etc. and this is public school). So I'm glad to have that anxiety relieved; next week will be hard enough as it is.

I'm heading out to BRU to get more bottles and pump parts. I'm thinking I'll bring 3 sets of pump parts to work each day, throw them dirty in a plastic bag, and run them in the dishwasher each night with Claire's daycare bottles. Finding time to pump will be hard enough; I can't worry about the cleanup at work too.

I ordered permanent bottle labels (the daycare recommended masking tape to label her bottles, which seemed like it would be the bane of my existence to remove and replace those every day). Her name will be on there permanently, and then we got little premade stickers with the date for further ease.

My SIL gave me my nephew's daycare bottles, but that was 5 years ago before everything was BPA free, plus his name is on everything in permanent marker. Is there any conscientious way to dispose of those?

Re green poop/single side feeding: I tried this when Claire's poops were first green, but it was also when she wasn't gaining enough weight, and it didn't seem to help in the latter department so my problem may not have been oversupply. I returned to feeding on both sides. Originally she fed for 20 minutes per side, then 15, then 10 (20 minutes total), but at that point I noticed that her poops start getting green again, so I switched to @12 minutes on the first side and 8 on the second, and that cleared it up.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 1/26/2010 1:52:50 PM
Author: vizsla
mara - i *would* bring one for the circumcision - the sucking soothes them and from what you will see, it looks awful......AWFUL. that was one of the hardest things we ''willingly'' did to charlie (aside from the tongue clipping). seriously, if your husband is anything like mine, seeing their little peter all red will bring tears to his eyes.

ok, general observation, but i''ve noticed that LCs at the hospital or at BF classes are *really* forceful about BF when they don''t need to be. the best thing for your baby is what you think is best. i saw no less than 4 LC at the hospital and another 2 during my BF class and they all made me feel like an awful mom when i wanted (and NEEDED) to use a nipple shield, when i *had* to give c formula b/c he couldn''t latch, or when i had to give him a paci to ''teach'' him how to latch properly. i can''t stress enough that if BF doesn''t just work, it makes all the difference to find a LC who is on your side and who supports you instead of making you feel like you are doing anything ''wrong''. that''s such phooey! how you BF isn''t wrong, using formula to supplement isn''t wrong, giving a paci isn''t wrong.

That''s been my general experience as well, although I did have one very nice LC.

I am not a fan of hardcore lactivists. I certainly believe breast milk IS best, but formula is fine too. However, with the LC and another two nurses I met (I went to a lactation support group led by nurses), I kept at it for two months when it was very evident that by 3 weeks I was a lost cause. They kept telling me to squeeze out whatever because it was good for immunity. I don''t think that''s untrue, but the stress and sadness of it all kept me extremely exhausted and bummed for several weeks. My schedule went something like this: Feed using a SNS for 45min-1hr. Clean SNS, 3 minutes. Pump 10 minutes each breast - total 20 minutes. Try to catch 1 hr of shut eye, but it only usually ended up being 30-45min. Repeat.

It''s hard to give up when you are in the middle of it. I know. And I was even more frustrated because I know I would have kept at it, but my body "failed" me. My life turned around when I started using bottles (which was at 5 weeks or so, I''m guessing) and when I gave up trying to get milk (2 month mark). The bottle was faster, she was happier and I got more sleep. My daughter thrived on formula and only has a few twitches to show for it.

I do think formula fed babies do seem to get fatter though! Amelia didn''t have that issue because I generally stuck to a schedule when feeding her. But I have a lot of friends who gave their kid the bottle when got fussy. These babies were MASSIVE. I wonder if feeding on demand by breast yields the same results? Or maybe that''s just my harebrained theory.