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PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

Hey guys! I have a question about high chairs. We don''t want to get full-sized chairs, and I am debating between two different ones:

The Fisher Price Healthy Care: http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Healthy-Care-Deluxe-Booster/dp/B0000DEW8N/ref=pd_cp_ba_0?pf_rd_p=413863701&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000WUB9QM&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0R0YGHNAW02ARN72QGWC

The Fisher Price Space Saver: http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Space-Saver-High-Chair/dp/B000WUB9QM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1244166087&sr=8-1

I see that Jas has the second one (cute pic!!). I''m unclear on whether the Healthy Care can be used for younger babies and when I''ll start using a high chair. It seems like a pro of the Healthy Care would be that it''s smaller and easier to clean, but it might not work when they''re young. Thanks for any feedback you have!

Neat, I just found the EZ twins nurse pillow yesterday at a consignment baby sale for $6, woohoo!
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Love the pic of your twins!
 
soooo i finally picked a stroller! wooot! i love it ...its really like a stretch limo LOL..it has a steering wheel and all....

http://www.bestbuybaby.com/pegpe20swstm.html

i will post pics of kiddos and stroller in a few :)

MGAL- toooo cute!
 
hi girls. I haven't even come close to pulling myself together yet.
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Writing a birth story? Pshaw. right.
Right now I'm really struggling with ENGORGEMENT (on top of the Section). OMG. I was not prepared for this.

My milk came in today with a vengeance. I have enough milk to feed all of Africa; and Romeo only wants to feed every 3-4 hours or so. He HATES to be woken up...and since he has been a career sleeper so far, we really cannot fight him on this. If I wake him, he's PISSED and doesn't eat, so it's better to just let him sleep his allotted time and then he wakes up happy and hungry. It takes him a long time to latch too. urgh.

So, WHAT DO I DO ABOUT THE ENGORGEMENT?

Right now I've gone from massage and hand-expression in a hot shower, to cold ice packs, and as I type I have cabbage leaves in my nursing bra. What else can I do?
I don't want to pump because I DO NOT WANT MORE MILK. (I will eventually pump-to-freeze, but since I'm not going to give Romy a bottle yet, I'm not worried about building up my freezer supply)

What would Selma Hayek do?

What did you do in the early days to battle engorgement while you were establishing your milk production?

Or do I have this so wrong and I should just be pumping and freezing right now? I just don't want to spend the ZERO free time that I have pumping when I could be sleeping and recovering from the butchering.
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My hat goes off to all mom's who had Cesarean births; especially those of twins and other children. I really cannot believe how battered I feel. I don't know how you do it.
 
mela i am no expert at all on the engorgement, but when i was super engorged, honestly, i pumped and stashed it away. and it''s so early for you, you really want to develop a milk supply right off the bat. if you leave your breasts alone, the milk is not going to keep coming in too often and you''ll be dry before you know it. i know, babies do not liked to be waken up, but if you don''t want to pump, then you would have to wake the little guy up and hope that he nurses, again so he can eat and gain his weight back, and so you can develop your milk supply.
hope you feel better and back to your old self soon. rest up mama!!!
 
MustangGal, so cute!!!

Pandora, I agree with DD. Amelia almost didn''t leave the hospital because of weight loss so I was instructed to feed her every 2.5 hours (from start to start), which meant waking her up. They showed me how to tickle her feet, blow on her belly, and other gentle forms of waking. I really think this helped her sleep her longer stretches of sleep during the night much faster. It''s hard to wake a sleeping baby (and many say to never wake one, but that''s probably for the mom''s sanity more than anyone else''s!) I woke Amelia up all the time when I had to feed her and she is still a champion sleeper.

Speaking of champ sleeper, Mela, sorry to hear about the engorgement. I am not sure if you read about some of the mom''s early experieces with their tots, but I just want to give you a head''s up that nearly all babies are champ sleepers in the first two weeks. It changes! I don''t have any advice to give you on the BFing since that never happened to me, but hopefully the others will give you advice in how to keep up your milk supply since soon enough you will probably wish Romeo would eat less and sleep more!
 
Mela, I forgot - something came into my mind because of your comment on enough milk to feed Africa.

My friend went through the same issue. Insane amounts of milk and massive engorgement (she still remembers the time I saw her BF her baby and say "Holy Sh*t! Your boob is bigger than your baby's head!!!") She had the lactation consultation come in and tell her she had to pump/express some milk BEFORE she put her baby on. She told her imagine you had a huge full waterballoon and started sucking on the open end - how fast that water would come out and how difficult it would be to get a rhythm going. Her milk was letting down too fast for the baby and she could not get the baby to latch on well. So maybe this will help, but I will let the other BF experts tell me if this advice isn't helpful.

ETA, I do think Puffy is right...I went to several weeks of a BFing support group and I think pumping might be the way to go, otherwise your body can think you aren't using the milk. Take it from someone who tried her very best for TWO MONTHS with no luck. Don't mess with that wonderful milk supply...if you got it, pump it. Your body will make more - not using it will only make you more uncomfortable and slow down production).

As for wanting to rest...yeah, I really feel for you. I had to feed through a SNS which took 30-45 minutes, sometimes an hour. Then I had to pump for 10 minutes on each side per lactation consultants order's to try and build supply. 20 minutes I could have been sleeping - time that felt so precious since after a feed I only had an hour, 1.5 max to sleep until the next round. But I did it anyway and felt absolutely miserable for 5 weeks.

Hang in there Mela. These first few weeks are the hardest, but I promise it does get easier. Momma boot camp, baby, and you're gonna pass with flying colors. We all do.
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Date: 6/4/2009 6:52:49 PM
Author: Pandora II
Hi All,

Well the BF seems to be improving - I seem to have a lot more today and yesterday suddenly, and I have found it easier to express a decent amount (in a shortish amount of time) as well. Hooray!

However, I do think it''s one of the most miserable bits of the early days - feeling that you can''t feed your child is really good at making you feel like a complete failure! It''s been the only thing to completely reduce me to tears and a neurotic mess!

We went to see DH''s grandparents and mother yesterday, Daisy screamed for the first hour of the drive, then slept 30 minutes and then screamed for 20 minutes and today she was much improved and we had a few 15 minute sessions during the 5 hour journey so she seems to be getting the idea that car journeys mean car seats and that is that.

She was really well behaved with all the relatives - DH''s mother couldn''t believe how quiet she was at night... she was sleeping with me, but instead of crying she just kicks me a bit until I wake up and feed her. Not that I actually sleep properly when she''s in bed with me. I will be very relieved when she finally settles in her cot at night and it would be nice if she could do the 4-5 hour stretches that she does in the day at night as well instead of the 1-2 hours she currently does.

We got home just in time to grab our polling cards and go down to vote for the European elections - apparently Daisy was the youngest person at the polling station today... horribly early start to politics for the poor child, although with us as parents she''ll be out canvassing before she''s out of her pram - I''m standing down next year, but DH is going to run instead (babies always look good in campaign leaflets
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You''re doing a great job Pandora! I feel your pain! I was one of the few that never had milk come in and I still tried...I am sure my girl was only sucking in air!

She will thrive! It''s hard for me to read these posts where the new moms are struggling because I''ve so been there and I just want you to know you gals are really doing great. I know I needed to hear it in the early days where I''d come onto to PS in the wee hours of the morning so I wouldn''t feel so alone and sad.

Plus it sounds like you''re keeping your sense of humor up!
 
Welcome mela! I know all too well about the section recovery
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...try to relax and let family help as much as possible. Sorry about the milk ...im sure u can gets lots of info from our team of experts....plzzz show more pics when ur up to it ;)
 
jas
Logan and Jackson are such charmers.
What handsome young men they are becoming
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Mustang
Adorable family pic!
 
Mela, ditto to what Puffy said! I have only have engorged breasts a few times and I now wish I had more of a back stock. Just even if you pump for 2-3 minutes, you will get some to freeze and also relieve some discomfort. Your posts make me smile every time, by the way! First the Africa comment, then referring to Selma. Hehe.

Pandora, I feel you, I really do. I still get the feelings of failure and Alila is getting MORE than enough to eat! Just hang in there and feel good that it's improving!
 
Date: 6/4/2009 9:50:17 PM
Author: fabienne
I didn''t realize how many twins we had on PS. You ladies are so blessed!

Sorry to hear about your situation Neat, that is beyond frustrating and definitely stressful. I''ll keep you and your family in my thoughts.


I had so many breastfeeding issues with my daughter so I was hoping to be so much wiser this time around. Well, I''m not ready to give up on breastfeeding just yet but I hate that it doesn''t come natural to me like it does to others. Logan already lost a lot of weight in the hospital and so I''m nervous about trying to get him back on track. I drove myself crazy (near breakdown) trying to keep my daughter breast only so I promised myself I''d be more relaxed about formula/breastmilk this time around. I find myself wanting to rely heavily on formula. With my daughter, I pumped like a madwoman to avoid formula but so far, I am just not motivated to pump.

I could go on and on but I''m tired so I guess I''ll finish venting/sharing my experiences thus far when I have a little more energy.

Last thing--based on DD''s post about eating and being hydrated, I am definitely going to try to improve in that area. Its one thing to read it on paper/books that it makes a difference, but if you hear it from a ''real'' person, it makes the advice seem more solid.
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Fabienne, it doesn''t come naturally to any women! That''s a myth! My milk took a week to come in and I had to supplement with formula for one day, after that I used pumped BM to supplement, but then went breats only. In some ways you just ahve to force yourself to TRUST your body and the amount of milk that you produce. Count the wet and poopy diapers and if they are enough then you are giving your baby enough milk. I think this trust is hard because a lot of the guidlines about feeding talk in oz. because formula was the norm for so long. Also, something to remember is that pumping is not the same as their little mouths in terms of stimulating milk production, so you want to have your baby latched as much as possible. My middie recommended nursing for about 10 minutes then feeding Hunter about 2oz. formula then pumping for 10 minutes. Always pumped after BFing so that Hunter got to associate nursing with food and also so that my breasts got as much baby-suck stimulation as possible.

Also, this worked really well for me: take two caplets of feungreek and blessed thistle 3x per day. This was my midwives prescription, and these are safe and natural supplements that really do bring in your milk! Keep it up for a few days and you will be drowning in the stuff.

If it means a lot to you, you can do it, just keep persisting!

(but if it doen''t work out don''t beat yourself eaither, your calmness is most important of all! Relax, it will all work out).
 
Mela hang in there! The early weeks suck big time! Let people help you and know IT WILL GET BETTER I PROMISE!! That mantra will get your through. \

I am not sure I would recommend pumping for engorgement, since it can make your produce more milk. You won''t dry up as long as you BF every 2-3 hours, and the full breasts send a message to the brain to produce a little bit less. BUT, at his age Romeo should be nursing every 2-3 hours, so I do think you should wake him to feed. Puffy is right that you should express some milk before you feed though. Latching onto an engorged breast is really hard. You don''t need to use a pump, just squirt it out into the sink or shower until the breast feels a little soften. He will probably latch easier and also fuss less when he isn''t trying to nurse on a fire hose spraying into his mouth!
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But all newborns are really hard to feed. They are just so little!

The whole freezer stash thing is interesting, but I wonder if it is more common in the US where people go back to work so soon? None of my friends here in Canada pumped and stored milk until they went back to work. And unless you have a deep freezer you can only store milk in the regular freezer for one month. I stored some from that week where I was pumping to increase my supply and never used it!

Breast feeding is hard enough without worrying about pumping as well IMHO. It isn''t necessary at all unless you want a family member to take over a feeding. But for me it was more annoying to pump all the time than it was to just do all the feedings myself. To each their own. And I hate cleaning bottles. Most of my friends who BF found that their babies took a bottle until 3 mo then started refusing it, so I just never bothered with the bottle. By the time I go back to work, Hunter can drink from a sippy cup! If you worry about keeping up your supply, better to nurse Romeo more often than to pump anyways. You have to be awake for either one, so best to just nurse.
 
Mela, please pop some in the post to the UK!

Gosh, it seems that none of us can win with this bf malarky!

I did read all sorts of stuff about bottle/boob confusion etc, but Daisy quite happily switches from one to the other although has a definite preference for breast-milk over formula and boob over bottle. Also she''ll drift off to sleep when I feed her, whereas she''s still wide awake after a bottle.

Expressing and bottle feeding is great when you get really sore nipples - spending 5 hours trying to feed a baby with zero milk is an ideal way to get these - and you can''t face the thought of potentially getting them clamped down on again when they latch on badly! It''s also great when I can get DH to give her a bottle and I get some extra sleep!
 
Date: 6/5/2009 9:09:51 AM
Author: Pandora II
Mela, please pop some in the post to the UK!

Gosh, it seems that none of us can win with this bf malarky!

I did read all sorts of stuff about bottle/boob confusion etc, but Daisy quite happily switches from one to the other although has a definite preference for breast-milk over formula and boob over bottle. Also she'll drift off to sleep when I feed her, whereas she's still wide awake after a bottle.

Expressing and bottle feeding is great when you get really sore nipples - spending 5 hours trying to feed a baby with zero milk is an ideal way to get these - and you can't face the thought of potentially getting them clamped down on again when they latch on badly! It's also great when I can get DH to give her a bottle and I get some extra sleep!
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From what I read, most babies will do the switcheroo up until about 3 mo and then will show a preference for whatever is the most common method. I wonder if you really use bottles all the time will a baby not show a preference? It is a real issue for many BFing moms, when their kid suddenlt won't take a bottle at all. I keep saying to myself,' I better start him on bottles again!" and then don't.

Can anyone recommend a good brand of electric pump? I think maybe I should go buy one soon...
 
Date: 6/5/2009 7:25:22 AM
Author: dreamer_dachsie
Mela
The whole freezer stash thing is interesting, but I wonder if it is more common in the US where people go back to work so soon? None of my friends here in Canada pumped and stored milk until they went back to work. And unless you have a deep freezer you can only store milk in the regular freezer for one month. I stored some from that week where I was pumping to increase my supply and never used it!

Breast feeding is hard enough without worrying about pumping as well IMHO. It isn''t necessary at all unless you want a family member to take over a feeding. But for me it was more annoying to pump all the time than it was to just do all the feedings myself. To each their own. And I hate cleaning bottles. Most of my friends who BF found that their babies took a bottle until 3 mo then started refusing it, so I just never bothered with the bottle. By the time I go back to work, Hunter can drink from a sippy cup! If you worry about keeping up your supply, better to nurse Romeo more often than to pump anyways. You have to be awake for either one, so best to just nurse.
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Dreamer - I''m in the same boat as you in terms of freezing. It''s so not a priority for us. The main thing I want to do is establish my milk production in tandem with what Romeo needs/wants. I don''t want to create too much milk (via pumping) nor do I want to stay engorged and risk a) any infection/blocked ducts etc; or b) decreased milk supply.

I''m going to pump a bit before the next feed to relief the Pam-Anderson''ess, feed Romy, and then see where I''m at. I can always pump a bit more after he feeds if I feel too ''full'' still.

___

OMG Pandora I''m so sorry to hear about your supply. This is all such a crap-shoot. Urgh. Thank GOD they are so darn cute...it''s hard to feel terrible for long. I''ve had quite a few cries too. Hang in there my cycle-baby buddy.

To lighten the mood, this is a nice post-partum photo.

Romeo&Mum.jpg
 
Mela there is no harm in pumping a *bit* to relieve the engorgement! I promise that the engorgement will go away soon b/c Romeo will want MUCH more milk very soon-so you will need that extra you've got, your body will regulate itself, and the engorgement will mostly go away. And DD is SO RIGHT about the pre-feeding pump. It really might make the feedings with Romeo much more successful right now.

You just want to avoid doing a whole pumping session in between feeds-but by all means if you are uncomfy pump a bit!

As for bottles my babies never had a problem with them and still don't. My friend who introduced a bottle at about 4 months had a heck of a time getting her LO to take it. So really...I think it's a crapshoot but if you BF mostly and do a bottle once in awhile it will let you get some more sleep (if you have DH say take the 10pm feeding-bliss!) and I doubt the baby will prefer the bottle...it's just not comfy and warm like a boob is!
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FWIW even though my boys get both they vastly prefer the breast.


DD I am very happy with my Medela pump...the one thing is that there is now a model that allows you to remove the pump itself from the bulky bag (I can remove mine too but it isn't made to be removed so no cover over the back=loud!) and it has a nice little case for just the pump which is reaaaaally nice for travelling. It's such a PITA to carry the whole huge handbag thing if you need to bring it somewhere.

But as far as functioning well mine works like a charm and doesn't take long to do a full pump at all.
 
Romeo is soo cute!

Sorry about the c-section, I had one too, and getting out of bed was torture for the first week! By 3 weeks PP I was taking Kyle walking around the block, so just keep at it and it''ll get better!

I don''t have much BF advice, I had a really hard time with it, Kyle never latched properly and blistered both nipples before I left the hospital. I pumped for a while, and ended us stopping around 5 weeks. It''s not near as easy as people make it sound! My mom even tried to help get him on (she BF all 5 of us with no problem), and even she got frustrated and gave him a bottle.
 
Dreamer, you can store BM in a regular freezer for 3-4 months. I''m storing it for when I go back to work and for the weekend trip DH and I are taking in August. Even a date night away would require 1 or 2 feedings, so a back stock would help.

Re nipple confusion: Alila doesn''t mind going back and forth at all. What''s strange is she prefers a full breast, not a softer. So when I''m nice and full, she feeds really well. Also, this is not come easy at first for us. I also supplemented formula the first 4 days. What I should''ve been doing was pumping after attempting to BF her like Dreamer said. After my milk came in, I had to use a nipple shield for a couple of weeks. Especially when the breasts were softer.
 
Date: 6/5/2009 11:41:53 AM
Author: Courtneylub
Dreamer, you can store BM in a regular freezer for 3-4 months. I''m storing it for when I go back to work and for the weekend trip DH and I are taking in August. Even a date night away would require 1 or 2 feedings, so a back stock would help.
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That''s interesting... Health Canada recommends only one month, but they are probably being over zealous! My freezer sucks so I don''t know if I would trust it. I plan to BF for about 18mo to 2 years to I will need a stash eventually! Once Alila starts sleeping longer, which won''t be long, you won''t need to feed her at all for date night. Hunter goes to bed around 7pm and doesn''t wake until after midnight, so we can go out if we want without worrying about a feed. The day will come soon for you too! Hang in there!

NF Thanks for the pump recommendation. That seems to be a brand I hear about all the time. I think we''ll get one soon and see what happens.

Mela You sound like you have a good head about the whole thing. Just try to relax and enjoy your baby and everything will be fine. Call your middie too if you ever have questions! I spent much more time talking to mine PP than I did when preggo.
 
Well this morning Hunter woke at 6am
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Yesterday was NOT a good nap day, he only had 4 30-45 minutes naps! I was so tired at the end of the day without any breaks! So he was so worn out he wanted to go to bed at 6:30 so we let him. He fed at 12:30 and then didn''t wake until 6am. I thought about putting him down again but then I thought that he slept 12 hours and that was enough. So I got up. Painful!!! I hate mornings
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Today he seems to be napping better so maybe tonight he will last until 7:30.

DH has been snoring so much laterly it is making me mental! The baby isn''t keeping me up at night, HE IS!!
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I don't know if you have Tommie Tippee in the USA or Canada? I bought their 'Closer to Nature' bottles that are boob shaped, and also their pump and sterilising kits - you just wash everything in hot soapy water, rinse, stick it in the box and bung it in the microwave for 3 minutes so it's quick and hassle free.

I must admit that I am being extravagent (or rather DH is) and I'm using boxes of liquid formula rather than the powder, so that makes things much easier. Daisy is now down to only one bottle of formula a day, so I'm hoping the stash will last a good long time!

I'm sorry that everyone seems to have struggled at the beginning, but I admit to feeling a bit relieved that it's not just me!

Love the photo Mela. Romeo looks so teeny tiny!

I'm so sad I didn't get to see Daisy when she was first born - DH told me yesterday that I was either completely delirious or unconscious for the first two hours, I have absolutely no memory from when I left the operating theatre until they moved me to ICU... weird when you realise that hours are just missing from your life and yet you think you were totally there all the time.

The midwives came to see me today - Daisy is now back to her birth weight so they're happy with that, although I do have to take her to the hospital in 6 weeks to see the neonatalogists because she lost so much at the beginning. She also went to sleep in her cot last night - hooray! Seems that putting the mattress at a slant has really made a big difference, plus putting her on her side and not her back. She refuses to be swaddled and so wakes herself up with her arms when she's on her back.

It's funny how easy you think some things will be until the baby arrives and you realise that you are dealing with an opinionated and manipulative force rather than a cutesy doll! I never imagined the battle that swaddling a baby's arms could be - another call for octo-arms!

ETA: On the pumps, are you all using hand or electric? Is there a massive difference in what you can produce?
 
MELA- Just popping in to say ROMY (love that nn) is so beautiful, and you are glowing as well!
 
Mela, sorry about the engorgement pain. I know it''s HORRIBLE! Sounds like you are doing all the right things. I found that pumping/nursing every 2-3 hours and ice packs in between helped a lot. I don''t think the pain lasted longer than 2 days. Hang in there! Know that it''ll pass soon!

Dreamer, I have the Medela Pump In Style Advanced Pump (Metro Bag) and I''m happy with it. The bag is not so great though. It''s bulky and uncomfortable but I like that you can remove the pump and use another bag if you want.
 
Ladies, as you are finding out, just do what you can to survive. I know this will ring a bit hollow for those of you who are in the thick of it, but seriously, forget all that stuff you''ve read and just do it. Survive.

The first few weeks (or longer!) of motherhood are steeped in sleep deprivation, feels of inadequacy and guilt. You want to do everything right and what''s best for the baby, often forgetting what is best for yourself. To me, what rings true about raising a kid is that an unhappy mom doesn''t do much to make a happy baby.

Everyone (including myself) has ideas when they start motherhood. Philosophies. Blah. Blah. Blah. Natural birth is good, right? Because drugs are bad for the baby. And how many of us (again, including myself) had the epidural only to find that it was a godsend and the baby ended up fine? C-sections? Terrible - they can inhibit milk supply. Well, it my case, I had no milk -ever. In Mela''s case, she has enough to feed Africa. Mine''s been formula fed and only has a slight twitch. Awesome.

Survive, survive, survive. If it means getting the kid on a bottle at some point so someone can do the feeding and you can get sleep, great. You''re not a bad mom. In fact, you''re a smart mom. Mine preferred the bottle very quickly even though I attempted to BF for two months (with SNS). Lili struggled to ever get J on a bottle (and I think she started early enough.)

As NF said, it will do no harm to pump "a bit" if you are engorged. I heard this too from my BF support group to other moms. Even though it may be "best" to nurse, since you do have to be awake anyway, sometimes you won''t have a baby who is going to cooperate. If that''s the case, give yourself some relief!

DD, I know you are a proponent of BFing (these days, who isn''t), but you have to realize there is a percentage (albeit small) of women who CANNOT produce enough milk. You can trust your body all you want, but it isn''t going to happen (so I guess your footnote to Fabienne saying if it doesn''t happen, it''s OK is a good one). I drank enough water to fill an olympic pool. Mother''s milk tea. Fenugreek (bottles of it). Twice a week at a BFing support group with a LC. Using a SNS for weeks then pumping for 10 minutes each breast after BFing as you did. And on top of that, I got a prescription for Reglan when it seemed nothing was working. 2 MONTHS of this insanity and with a huge sigh of guilt, I gave in.

I wish I could have spared myself the guilt and feelings of inadequacy. It seemed like everyone else was managing fine. There was always advice from all sorts of sources and encouragement that "Breast was best." When I finally did give in, a huge burden was lifted off me and I got to actually enjoy watching my daughter thrive instead of trying to wring every last drop from my poor worthless boobs.

Fabienne, if you are not motivated, you''re not motivated. If you can find the motivation, great. If not, go to the formula and know you are plenty wise. An entire generation did fine on just being formula fed.

I wish I could say don''t feel guilty if you fall short, but that must just be a mother''s love. How sad that with all the pro BFing education going on these days my own mother told me she feels guilty that she didn''t know better and didn''t breast feed me 36 years ago.
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I''m like, uh, mom, is my twitch that bad?
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Date: 6/5/2009 11:57:56 AM
Author: dreamer_dachsie
Well this morning Hunter woke at 6am
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Yesterday was NOT a good nap day, he only had 4 30-45 minutes naps! I was so tired at the end of the day without any breaks! So he was so worn out he wanted to go to bed at 6:30 so we let him. He fed at 12:30 and then didn''t wake until 6am. I thought about putting him down again but then I thought that he slept 12 hours and that was enough. So I got up. Painful!!! I hate mornings
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Today he seems to be napping better so maybe tonight he will last until 7:30.

DH has been snoring so much laterly it is making me mental! The baby isn''t keeping me up at night, HE IS!!
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DD, I highly recommend doing to your DH what you did with your DS.

Stop co-sleeping with him.
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Mela- priceless pic!

DD- I hear ya!...I hate mornings and my lo''s are just not sleeping! I try eveyrthing sometimes...I wanna get a swing but then im scared that they will get used to the swinging and only want that..eh.

Tgal- AMEN. Love ur philosophy! And I agree...it is what it is and we just deal and raise our kids.
 
Wonderful post Tgal!! I felt soo horrible when Kyle wouldn''t take my breast. My mom gave me a hard time. My grandmother gave me a lecture. The books made me feel like a bad mother. In the end, a huge weight was lifted off my back when I stopped trying and gave in to the formula. I simply told my mom and grandmother that I tried as long as I could, and we made the decision to stop and switch to formula. Kyle is happy and healthy. Babies are raised on formula all the time and turn out just fine (DH was a formula baby, MIL "didn''t want to BF"
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Date: 6/5/2009 12:16:05 PM
Author: TravelingGal
DD, I know you are a proponent of BFing (these days, who isn''t), but you have to realize there is a percentage (albeit small) of women who CANNOT produce enough milk. You can trust your body all you want, but it isn''t going to happen (so I guess your footnote to Fabienne saying if it doesn''t happen, it''s OK is a good one). I drank enough water to fill an olympic pool. Mother''s milk tea. Fenugreek (bottles of it). Twice a week at a BFing support group with a LC. Using a SNS for weeks then pumping for 10 minutes each breast after BFing as you did. And on top of that, I got a prescription for Reglan when it seemed nothing was working. 2 MONTHS of this insanity and with a huge sigh of guilt, I gave in.

I wish I could have spared myself the guilt and feelings of inadequacy. It seemed like everyone else was managing fine. There was always advice from all sorts of sources and encouragement that ''Breast was best.'' When I finally did give in, a huge burden was lifted off me and I got to actually enjoy watching my daughter thrive instead of trying to wring every last drop from my poor worthless boobs.
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Well I certainly don''t advocate guilt for anyone about anything... except letting your diamond get dirty
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That is inexcusable.

No matter what choice you make there is anxiety and guilt. When you formula feed, there is anxiety about the nutrients and vitimins... when you BF there is anxiety about whether or not your child is getting enough! My recent comments about "trusting" one''s body were aimed at women who seem to have clear signs that their bodies are producing lots of milk -- either from engorgement or from lots of weight gain -- and in those types of situations, a little faith and hope can dispel a lot of worry.

Hopefully, no one is taking my support to mean, "You keep going or I willl judge you!" I don''t mean it that way at all and I think every mother has to make choices that work for her and her family.
 
Date: 6/5/2009 12:17:35 PM
Author: TravelingGal

Date: 6/5/2009 11:57:56 AM
Author: dreamer_dachsie
Well this morning Hunter woke at 6am
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Yesterday was NOT a good nap day, he only had 4 30-45 minutes naps! I was so tired at the end of the day without any breaks! So he was so worn out he wanted to go to bed at 6:30 so we let him. He fed at 12:30 and then didn''t wake until 6am. I thought about putting him down again but then I thought that he slept 12 hours and that was enough. So I got up. Painful!!! I hate mornings
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Today he seems to be napping better so maybe tonight he will last until 7:30.

DH has been snoring so much laterly it is making me mental! The baby isn''t keeping me up at night, HE IS!!
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DD, I highly recommend doing to your DH what you did with your DS.

Stop co-sleeping with him.
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LOL! I think my DH would cry about that more than our DS does... although it has crossed my mind!
 
I am not keeping up with this thread but I wanted to stress that BFing was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life! I am stubborn so I stayed with it until my daughter self-weened at 6.5 months. I had latch issues, pain, CHRONIC clogs...the best thing I did for engorgement was feed her on one boob for a few minutes and then switch and let her go to town on the opposite. I know it isn''t the usual advice but it really helped me. Otherwise the one side would get so full and painful. Freezing milk is good for a few different things. It is great that dad can feed baby if mom needs a little extra sleep. There got to a point that DD wanted to nurse every hour! I could not physically keep up. I was too sore. Plus I am glad we introduced a bottle b/c I wanted that option. She NEVER had nipple confusion. There WILL be a time when you might want to leave your baby for longer than 2-3 hours. I guess it is like an insurance policy. You can keep it in the freezer for *3-6 months* and a deep freeze for *6-12 months*. It is also great to add to RC when baby is 4+ months instead of using water. Over all remember your body WILL adjust. I had a TON of milk in the first month too and it leveled off for sure. Though I would get engorged much more than my friends (based on their experiences). Good luck!
 
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