PS Mommy Thread-Newborn to 12 months!

[TravelingGal]

DD, I know you''re not advocating guilt. Everyone on these boards knows how helpful you are and how your heart is always in the right place.

I''m probably hypersensitive for moms who are struggling with it because I''ve been there done that. At the time, there weren''t too many moms here and I was feeling pretty bummed (I mean, c''mon, apparently it''s like TWO percent of women who get NO milk...I should have played the lottery that year). I always felt grateful that I got a lot of PS moms who just encouraged me to not stress and go to formula.

Oh, and just a note that interestingly, I never worried about vitamins and nutrients in formula, especially since the ped said that if my milk came in, I should get vitamin D drops as breastmilk is lacking in it. I figured formula had what she needed. However what I DID worry about was that my baby wasn''t getting those secret Einstein/Mensa nutrients that cause breastfed babies to be so much smarter than formula fed ones! I guess since I hope that Amelia is just a happy, a bit of above average person, it was nothing to worry about anyway.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

TGal, I did feel some judgement here when I switched to formula so I know what you are talking about. We all know breast is best but sometimes that is not always possible. Luckily they do make great formulas which provide a wonderful alternative option.

 

[nycbkgirl]

Date: 6/5/2009 2:23:25 PM
Author: MustangGal
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''

).

ditto that. my niece was a formula baby and is the smartest and healthiest kid i know. thats why my choice to not bf wasnt that hard. BFing is the such an amazing thing! and the mothers that do it are heroes in my eyes but if u need to bottle feed ..i wouldnt be scared or worried about it either.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Date: 6/5/2009 4:22:13 PM
Author: nycbkgirl

Date: 6/5/2009 2:23:25 PM

Author: MustangGal

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''

).

ditto that. my niece was a formula baby and is the smartest and healthiest kid i know. thats why my choice to not bf wasnt that hard. BFing is the such an amazing thing! and the mothers that do it are heroes in my eyes but if u need to bottle feed ..i wouldnt be scared or worried about it either.

My daughter rarely is sick (2x in 19 months) and has only had one sick visit at her pedi office. DH was so upset when he found out he was a formula baby. He kept saying "but my dad is a doctor! He should have made her! I could have been smarter!" Haha. There is no one size fits all in parenting. The funny thing is I got judged for BFing and then for giving her formula. Basically someone is ALWAYS going to tell you that you are wrong. Welcome to motherhood!

 

[janinegirly]

My DD has been FF at least partially since the beginning-exculsively at 3 mo's. I really do wish I could have BF, but I had low low supply (pumps and overdosing on fenugreek only produced 2 oz..ALL day). I might have been partly to blame since my milk came in after 4 days and I thought that meant she was starving and the nurses actually encouraged me to give her formula. When it hurt, or nothing was coming out, I was ready to give up..maybe I should have tried longer.

Today, I mainly only feel guilty about not being able to give her something all natural--when I look at the ingredients in the forumula, eek, just so much stuff! But, I do not feel it has any negative affect on intelligence or immunity on its own. I base this on the fact that my DD has got very strong immunity..she has not been sick once (now 8 mo's) and I've been sick 2x, DH 1x and she still never got it. And we had some bitter coldl weather this winter (when she was the most suceptible at 0-6 mo's!). I have cousins who were all FF and all three are at top universities, and not overweight by the way (my DD is also tinsy).

I think alot of the information is hyped. I don't MIND the hype b/c I agree breastfeeding should be encouraged, but please don't tell FF mom's the info as if it's hardline fact. I know, I know, there's significant data that it is better for baby's system (since it's designed for it afterall), but I do not feel formula has a notcieable negative effect, and the intelligence factor particularly is more folklore than anything in my opinion. Now if I have # 2, I will do my best to BF again, but in the meantime, I won't feel worried or concerned.

Also (I mentioned this in another thread sometime ago), I watched an interview with an academic about natural foods and how processed foods were awful. He mentioend that breastfed babies are much much better off ..the interviewer quipped "were you breastfed?" He said "hmm, you know I don't know, but my mother is here." She revealed then and there that he was forumula fed. Embarrassing, but I got some satisfaction out of it. Having said that I really admire you hardworking BF moms, especially those who are determined to make it to 1yr.

 

[nycbkgirl]

Here are some pictures of the twinkies ...

 

[nycbkgirl]

.

 

[nycbkgirl]

And, last one...

 

[janinegirly]

nyc: love the pics, thanks for sharing! I love twin shots--especially newborn ones--b/c one always looks annoyed to have the other in its face.hahah. I mean i know that''s not what''s going on, but the expressions are just so priceless!! cuties!

 

[nycbkgirl]

Here''s the new Peg Perego Duette stroller...

 

[Dreamer_D]

NYC That is a great stroller and what HILARIOUS pictures! Love it!

janine You know, even though I think BFing is great for mom and child, I totally agree about the hype about BFing. The hype about everything parenting related is just OTT in my opinion and pretty silly

Tacori I remember all the troubles you had with BFing, your commitment was impressive! I am finding it relatively easy at this point (knock wood), which I am thankful for. The time commitment is a bit of a killer, but it seems no matter what you do there is a hassel involved in looking after a baby

Be is BFing or making a bottle or pumping. I like BFing because for me it is the simplest solution to feeding the kiddo. I know I would forget formula when I went out... I routinely forget wipes or spit cloths or someting as it is!

TGal Well its good that my intentions are clear, even if my thoughts aren''t

 

[Courtneylub]

Date: 6/5/2009 3:33:41 PM
Author: Tacori E-ring
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!

Ditto!! I was determined to it, but only if I could! I kept telling myself that I would try for a good 2 weeks, but honestly if it didn''t improve after those first few days, I would''ve quit. It just so HAPPENED to get easier every day so I kept up with it. There is nothing wrong with formula feeding only. I''m not even sure how much longer I will BF! I''ll stop when I feel ready to. We''ve even started doing one formula feeding a day to get her used to it and also so I can pump for back stock.

Pandora, I use the hospital grade electric pump and it''s great. I did use a manual hand pump the other day and was pleasantly surprised at how efficient it was. I pumped a couple of ounces in just a couple of minutes. I got the Medela one.

Mela, I forgot to tell you how precious that picture is!

Mgal, I commented on your pic the day you posted it but PS must''ve been hungry and eaten it. That is the cutest pic I think I''ve ever seen!

Dreamer, when Hunter sleeps through the night, do you still have to wake up and pump?

NYC, those pictures are just priceless! They are adorable and the stroller is nice!

 

[nycbkgirl]

Thanks janine! Yeh jon just was content after eating while jackie was hungry so they didn''t enjoy eachother''s company lol. The faces are too funny

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 6/5/2009 5:19:52 PM
Author: Courtneylub

Dreamer, when Hunter sleeps through the night, do you still have to wake up and pump?

I don''t know if I will need to in the future... I never pump at all right now (can''t be bothered) and have no supply issues. Because I alternate breasts it is about 12 hours between feeds on one side in each 24 hour period and I have no supply issues (i.e., L at 7pm, R at 3am, L again at 7am). We''ll see how it goes! Historically women didn''t have pumps and their kids must have slept through the night, so I suppose the body adjusts.

How old is Alila? I noticed that BFing got downright EASY around 12 weeks... before that it was just steadily easier each day/week. Now that Hunter is stronger I just pull him to me and he sits in my lap to nurse. Much simpler.

 

[Blenheim]

dh has an interview!!! next week. woooohoooo. his mom and sis volunteered to come and babysit so i can go to work, even though i''d be fine taking a family support day. but apparently now they''re going to come regardless.

DD - i like my medela pis.

mela - good to hear from you!! and i''m also glad to see that you still have your sense of humor. hugs. in the early days i''d hand express to take the edge off. i was a bit reluctant bc full breasts send the message to your body that you''re only feeding one baby and not a continent, but it really worked out fine.

nyc - lol. love the pics! jon is turning into such a chunky baby -

. so cute. and congrats on finding a stroller.

 

[fabienne]

Beautiful Mela! How good it is to see you here. Congrats on the birth of Romeo but sorry about the c-section. I don''t have any advice re engorgement but I definitely know what you are going through with the c-section, and I already knew I was having one. I can''t imagine what its like to have an unexpected one. Be well and get as much help and rest as you can. You sound like you''re doing well with the bf..thank goodness for that! Thank you sharing the pic of you and Romeo.

TGal...which SNS did you use? I used Lact-Aid (I think thats how its spelled). It was time consuming and mentally draining. In the end, I felt most "normal" when I pumped and fed DD in a bottle.

Dreamer...thanks for the encouragement. I took the fenugreek and the blessed thistle as well last time. I wanted to take a medication (can''t remember the name right now) that had milk production as a side effect but isn''t availbale here in the US. That is where DH drew the line so I never got to take it. I want to trust my body because I''m having more success than I did with DD...but would be devastated if I went to check DS''s weight next week and it isn''t where it should be.

I''m going to have to sit back and review all my options and see what route I want to take... I thought I''d be more gung ho about pumping like I was last time, but the hardest step for me is actually walking over to the rocking chair to hook up. Its so good to be able to talk to people who know what I''m going through, it helps and I appreciate it. Thanks!

Pandora...oh the sore nipples are a killer. I really just wanted to pump to give my nipples time to heal but then I figured that Logan would be hooked on the bottle by then so I figured I''d better not....I think they''re getting better though because his latch seems to be improving. Not perfect, but at least I can hear swallowing. One thing though, I can only use my pump on the absolute lowest setting because of the sore nipples I''m guessing. Two years ago, I used it on the highest setting no problem. I''m hoping that once my nipples heal, I''ll be able to use it on high again so I can try to start storing for work.

Have you seen how fast the formula comes out of those nipples in the hospital? My husband says that those nipples flow faster than my daughter''s nipples....I think its all a conspiracy to get the babes hooked on bottles.

I have the Medela Pump in Style Advanced, which I am pretty satisfied with.

nycbkgirl--I love the pics of your twinkies! How precious! That stroller is pretty cool.....but I am

at the price. I had no clue strollers could cost so much!

I haven''t gotten many good pics yet of Logan but I do have one that I like. As soon as I figure out how to resize it, I will post it.

 

[mela lu]

Thanks so much to everyone for their words. I''m so sorry that I''m so self-centered right now...I just haven''t found time to post (haven''t even written my birth story yet

) and I''m heading into the weekend with lots of visitors. Cringe. I''ll catch up later with you all.

So Romeo is a lazy guy, slept through his BATH

which we were hoping would wake him up. He did, finally, in his own sweet time and then took a full feeding. I trust that he is getting enough because he''s happy and has tons of wet and poopy diapers. The midwives are adament that I feed every 3 hrs - which Romeo is VERY opposed to. They want me to even manually feed him with a syringe if he won''t wake up for his 3 hr feed. I''m torn (like Natalie Umbruglia) about this. Part of me thinks he''ll work it out in a few days once he ''wakes up and smells the coffee'' and we should just trust and let a sleeping dog lie. But the Middies are on my back....

I feel good and still have my positive outlook, so its okay overall.

NYC - great pics!!
Congrats CTD and Fabienne on the births of your babes. I''m in a cloud and don''t think I even congratulated you both. Bad Mela. Bad.

K, neeeeeeeeeeed sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

 

[nycbkgirl]

Thanks everyone!

Yeh jon is really holdin his own in the chunky dept lol! We are loving all the chins and folds

The stroller is really a limo type stroller lol...I looked at almost all the twin strollers and I decided on this one bc I can''t do side by side(living in nyc is not easy lol)...and this one just offered so many options and rides soooo smooth..so I had to indulge...and of course I love everything european made

Mela- be self centered!...its all about u now...concentrate on healing and getting better bc section recovery is tough...again no bf advice but hang in there ..ur a trooper

 

[Courtneylub]

Date: 6/5/2009 6:42:31 PM
Author: mela lu
Thanks so much to everyone for their words. I''m so sorry that I''m so self-centered right now...I just haven''t found time to post (haven''t even written my birth story yet

) and I''m heading into the weekend with lots of visitors. Cringe. I''ll catch up later with you all.

So Romeo is a lazy guy, slept through his BATH

which we were hoping would wake him up. He did, finally, in his own sweet time and then took a full feeding. I trust that he is getting enough because he''s happy and has tons of wet and poopy diapers. The midwives are adament that I feed every 3 hrs - which Romeo is VERY opposed to. They want me to even manually feed him with a syringe if he won''t wake up for his 3 hr feed. I''m torn (like Natalie Umbruglia) about this. Part of me thinks he''ll work it out in a few days once he ''wakes up and smells the coffee'' and we should just trust and let a sleeping dog lie. But the Middies are on my back....

I feel good and still have my positive outlook, so its okay overall.

NYC - great pics!!
Congrats CTD and Fabienne on the births of your babes. I''m in a cloud and don''t think I even congratulated you both. Bad Mela. Bad.

K, neeeeeeeeeeed sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

LOL

My pedi told me to wake her every 3 hours, but just for the first 2 weeks. After that, just feed on demand.

 

[Mrs]

hi ladies! sorry I''ve been somewhat absent. lots going on here...

neat, I hope the job for DH come through! so sorry you''re dealing with that uncertainty. I hope your trip is going well.

jas, your boys are soooo cute! yay for cheerios!!

nyc, congrats on the new stroller! your twins are too cute! those pics remind me of pics we have of me and my twin bro when we were infants.

Fabienne, congrats on your new LO! sorry BFing isn''t going as well as you''d like.

blen, congrats on adding eggs (and brownies) back into your diet and good luck with dairy! I hope your DH''s interview goes well!!

courtney, sorry to hear that jumping jacks make you pee! that''s no fun! Glad you were able to go get a pedi the other day though! I haven''t done that since before S was born and miss it dearly!!

Mgal, what a great pic!

Pandora, I''m glad BFing is going better and that D is back to birth weight and slept in her cot!! Sorry to hear you can''t remember when she was first born. my memories of that time are very hazy as well... My pump is electric and I''m able to express 6 oz every morning and a little less at other times in the day. I''ve never used a hand pump so I can''t say how they compare but I would imagine that electric might be more efficient and certainly would require less work.

Mela, Romy is so adorable! That''s funny that he slept through his bath! Sorry to hear about the engorgement! Mine were crazy big at first as well - I just kept feeding her as needed and expressed a bit in the shower or into the sink when I needed to relieve the pain or soften it so the latch was better. I didn''t try pumping until she was a few weeks old and had no trouble pumping a ton when I did start. I hope whatever you decide to do works for you since I know there''s one right answer. Sorry your recovering is so rough too. My recovery wasn''t fun either. Tough it out and you''ll see that things DO get easier. Keep hanging in there!! I''m glad you''re staying positive and funny! (love the Natalie Umbruglia shout out!)

TGal and Tacori, great posts! You''re both such fantastic supporters of all moms here and you both express yourselves so well. We''re lucky to have you here - thanks!

DD, I''m so impressed that you''re planning to BF for so long! Also wanted to say that you too are such a great support to folks here and I feel fortunate to have you as a regular contributor! Like Snlee, I have the Medela Pump in style advanced that has the removable motor and I think it''s great. Like Neat said, it''s good to be able to just take the motor with me when I want to pump in another room and it''ll be good for when I go back to work in a week. I so feel for you on the morning front - S gets up really early too and it''s just really painful sometimes.

Hi everyone else!

This week has been kinda rough since one of our cats died very unexpectedly. It was really sad. He was only 8 years old and we weren''t ready to lose him... I took his brother to the vet yesterday to get checked out and Sage was a terror the whole time we were there. The poor cat was already worked up and she just made the whole experience worse. In fact, she behaved worse than the cat did! She had terrible gas yesterday and hardly napped at all and just cried and cried. I felt so bad for her and I wish I knew why she was so gassy. She didn''t sleep well either. But today she has been really wonderful. We went out to lunch and then visited my office for a while and she was awake but didn''t cry the whole time. When we got home I fed her and tried to get her to nap in her crib but she stayed wide awake. So then I tried her swing, and that didn''t work either. Finally I put her in the co-sleeper in my room which is much darker than her room and let her CIO and she passed out in less than a minute. Silly girl, I wish she could get herself to sleep during the day in her crib. She has no trouble with that at night... oh well.

I''m sending good vibrations to all of you struggling with feeding your LOs! BFing is going well for us right now but I know we''ll have our fair share of struggles when I go back to work a week from Monday. I''m totally freaked out about how I''m going to make pumping work... She''s still not really on a feeding schedule - I just feed her whenever I think she''s hungry which ends up being every 2 or 3 hours but I''m gonna try to feed her every 3 hours during the day next week to see how that goes since the day care providers are gonna need to know when to feed her. The two other women at work with babies have weaned their LOs off the breast from 8 to 3 when they get formula which seems smart to me but I''d like to try to keep her on breast milk only for the next few months... we''ll see how it goes.

Anyway, I''m gonna go nap with her while I can!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Mrs

 

[Courtneylub]

Date: 6/5/2009 5:54:02 PM
Author: dreamer_dachsie

Date: 6/5/2009 5:19:52 PM
Author: Courtneylub

Dreamer, when Hunter sleeps through the night, do you still have to wake up and pump?

I don''t know if I will need to in the future... I never pump at all right now (can''t be bothered) and have no supply issues. Because I alternate breasts it is about 12 hours between feeds on one side in each 24 hour period and I have no supply issues (i.e., L at 7pm, R at 3am, L again at 7am). We''ll see how it goes! Historically women didn''t have pumps and their kids must have slept through the night, so I suppose the body adjusts.

How old is Alila? I noticed that BFing got downright EASY around 12 weeks... before that it was just steadily easier each day/week. Now that Hunter is stronger I just pull him to me and he sits in my lap to nurse. Much simpler.

That makes perfect sense. Cavewomen didn''t have pumps!

Alila is 5 weeks , 2 days.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 6/5/2009 7:10:02 PM
Author: Courtneylub

Date: 6/5/2009 5:54:02 PM
Author: dreamer_dachsie

Date: 6/5/2009 5:19:52 PM
Author: Courtneylub

Dreamer, when Hunter sleeps through the night, do you still have to wake up and pump?

I don''t know if I will need to in the future... I never pump at all right now (can''t be bothered) and have no supply issues. Because I alternate breasts it is about 12 hours between feeds on one side in each 24 hour period and I have no supply issues (i.e., L at 7pm, R at 3am, L again at 7am). We''ll see how it goes! Historically women didn''t have pumps and their kids must have slept through the night, so I suppose the body adjusts.

How old is Alila? I noticed that BFing got downright EASY around 12 weeks... before that it was just steadily easier each day/week. Now that Hunter is stronger I just pull him to me and he sits in my lap to nurse. Much simpler.

That makes perfect sense. Cavewomen didn''t have pumps!

Alila is 5 weeks , 2 days.

Oh she is still so little!! I forgot! Obviously, if BFing is causing too much stress than it is best to let is go, but I can assure you that it will get steadily easier. For me the big leap forward was when he started getting some neck control and body control and could start helping out with positioning, which as I said was around 10 weeks or so.

When are you going back to work? I feel for all your moms who have to go back when your babies are so little, it just makes everything that much harder, and BFing especially.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 6/5/2009 5:57:53 PM
Author: fabienne

Dreamer...thanks for the encouragement. I took the fenugreek and the blessed thistle as well last time. I wanted to take a medication (can''t remember the name right now) that had milk production as a side effect but isn''t availbale here in the US. That is where DH drew the line so I never got to take it. I want to trust my body because I''m having more success than I did with DD...but would be devastated if I went to check DS''s weight next week and it isn''t where it should be.

I''m going to have to sit back and review all my options and see what route I want to take... I thought I''d be more gung ho about pumping like I was last time, but the hardest step for me is actually walking over to the rocking chair to hook up. Its so good to be able to talk to people who know what I''m going through, it helps and I appreciate it. Thanks!

How are his poopy and pee diapers? Is he having lots? That is a really good indicator. BTW, TGal mentioned it but not sure you saw: there is a prescription medication you can take and I think it is available in the US (I guess if she took it??) that can bring milk in.

I admire your commitment, but it is such a fine line to walk between being committed to something and allowing it to take over your life and cause you too much distress. I hope that BFing works out for you this time, but I also hope that you aren''t too hard on yourself!

I totally hear you on the weight thing... Hunter lost 13oz in the week after he was born and it was just so upsetting to me

I felt like an utter failure (get it, utter

). I can laugh now, but it was terrible. My milk just took a long long time to come in. He gained 6oz in one day when we supplemented so the poor little guy was so dehydrated. Luckily, my milk came in about 2 days later. But I had a midwife and she said she would do anything necessary to help get my milk in, and that meant a lot to me because it was important to me. She came every day to my house that week to check on Hunter! I was so lucky to have that support.

 

[Blenheim]

Date: 6/5/2009 7:02:15 PM
Author: Mrs
I'm sending good vibrations to all of you struggling with feeding your LOs! BFing is going well for us right now but I know we'll have our fair share of struggles when I go back to work a week from Monday. I'm totally freaked out about how I'm going to make pumping work... She's still not really on a feeding schedule - I just feed her whenever I think she's hungry which ends up being every 2 or 3 hours but I'm gonna try to feed her every 3 hours during the day next week to see how that goes since the day care providers are gonna need to know when to feed her. The two other women at work with babies have weaned their LOs off the breast from 8 to 3 when they get formula which seems smart to me but I'd like to try to keep her on breast milk only for the next few months... we'll see how it goes.

Thanks Mrs! Will your day care providers feed on demand, or do they have to work on a schedule? In case it helps you to see how someone else does it, my typical weekday is:

Wake up, nurse George - about 6 am. Shower, dress, pack lunch, make myself breakfast and eat, then pump at about 7 am. Clean pump stuff and leave house. Pump again at 10-11, then around 2. (This varies some depending on meetings, etc.) Get home around 5-5:30. DH feeds George pumped milk on demand while I'm gone. I nurse him right when I get home, and then on demand for the rest of the evening and night.

I was worried about how it was going to work but I'm definitely making enough milk still (actually pumping a few oz more each day than he'll eat while I'm gone, so we're just freezing the excess for now), he's eating fine while I'm gone, but still prefers me to a bottle when I'm here. We haven't had to use any formula yet, which is great because we'd like for him to only have breastmilk for the first 6 months.

I'm really sorry about your cat. And that sounds like an incredibly stressful vet visit.


Mela - I LOVE the pics that you posted. Just adorable! My middies really wanted George to eat at least every 3 hours too - unfortunately, it's best to keep waking them up if they want to keep sleeping to make sure that they're getting enough.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 6/5/2009 6:42:31 PM
Author: mela lu
Thanks so much to everyone for their words. I'm so sorry that I'm so self-centered right now...I just haven't found time to post (haven't even written my birth story yet

) and I'm heading into the weekend with lots of visitors. Cringe. I'll catch up later with you all.

So Romeo is a lazy guy, slept through his BATH

which we were hoping would wake him up. He did, finally, in his own sweet time and then took a full feeding. I trust that he is getting enough because he's happy and has tons of wet and poopy diapers. The midwives are adament that I feed every 3 hrs - which Romeo is VERY opposed to. They want me to even manually feed him with a syringe if he won't wake up for his 3 hr feed. I'm torn (like Natalie Umbruglia) about this. Part of me thinks he'll work it out in a few days once he 'wakes up and smells the coffee' and we should just trust and let a sleeping dog lie. But the Middies are on my back....

I feel good and still have my positive outlook, so its okay overall.

NYC - great pics!!
Congrats CTD and Fabienne on the births of your babes. I'm in a cloud and don't think I even congratulated you both. Bad Mela. Bad.

K, neeeeeeeeeeed sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Mela listen to your midwives and wake little poopy pants every 3 hours. Hunter slept a lot in those early days and it wasn't because he was happy tired, it was because he was exhausted from the labour and I didn't wake him often enough and it ended up he lost too much weight. Newborns are sleepy, but they shouldn't be lethargic, so I would do what you need to do to feed him at least every 3 hours. At that age they will often eat even more frequently! After a couple days you won't need to do it anymore.

I haven't written my birth story in its entirety yet either

Keep meaning too and then get sidetracked. Oh well! I guess it will be a little "reconstructed" but no one will know!

Pandora You know, I don't remember the first 30 minutes after H's birth either! I was so high on the endorphins it is a blurr! Can't even remember looking at him the first time... strange!

Mrs Thanks for your kind words! So sweet. You sound like a wonderful patient mama. Poor little Sage. Re: feedings at daycare. Can you not just ask them to feed her when she wakes like an EASY schedule (Eat Activity Sleep)? Can't they feed her on demand? ETA So sorry about your cat!!! Losing a pet is terrible

Blen Yippee for the interview! Is this in the town you are thinking of moving to? If he gets a job will you be a SAHM?

 

[Blenheim]

Mela, I just thought of another thing. George took a little prodding to eat at first - he just wasnt interested otherwise. For a couple of days I had to hand express onto a spoon, spoon feed him milk, and within half a spoon to a spoon he''d perk on up and actually want to eat. It''s a pain to manually feed them with a spoon (and probably with a syringe) but if he''s too sleepy to realize that he needs to eat it can do the trick.

Fabienne - I''m really sorry that you''re having such a hard time of it. The pee/poop diapers are a good indicator. I think that our ped also allows parents to drop by and weigh their kids if they want to make sure that they''re gaining appropriately between visits - you could always ask yours. Good luck making a decision that''s best for both of you. I can really understand not wanting it to overtake your life, if it ends up being as difficult as with your first.

 

[Blenheim]

DD - Apparently the two of us are cross-posting, haha. It is the small town that I mentioned earlier, and I''ll be a SAHM (at least for a while!) if he gets the job and we choose to move. We also went to college in a pretty small town away from any larger cities, and dealt. But living in a college town, there''s always something going on and speakers coming in and various things to do. But there''s nothing in this small town that drives that kind of activity, and as for the house... we''re talking living 6 miles from a town of... drumroll... 1300. So teeny tiny. But beautiful and peaceful. I''m starting to mentally check out at work - I''m doing good work but just not there emotionally - and in so many ways I just want to move there and be closer to family and be a SAHM. But it''s just such a change.

 

[Courtneylub]

Dreamer, BFing is going pretty smoothly now and I don''t plan to weene anytime soon, but we''ll see. After seeing Blen''s great schedule, I think I could do it when I return to work (in 7 weeks).

 

[nycbkgirl]

MRS- sooo sorry about your cat

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 6/5/2009 8:23:56 PM
Author: Blenheim
DD - Apparently the two of us are cross-posting, haha. It is the small town that I mentioned earlier, and I''ll be a SAHM (at least for a while!) if he gets the job and we choose to move. We also went to college in a pretty small town away from any larger cities, and dealt. But living in a college town, there''s always something going on and speakers coming in and various things to do. But there''s nothing in this small town that drives that kind of activity, and as for the house... we''re talking living 6 miles from a town of... drumroll... 1300. So teeny tiny. But beautiful and peaceful. I''m starting to mentally check out at work - I''m doing good work but just not there emotionally - and in so many ways I just want to move there and be closer to family and be a SAHM. But it''s just such a change.

You know, I am a SAHM right now, and like you, have a career that is important to me and that I identify with... while I love being home with hunter in many ways, I think in the loooooong term it wouldn''t be right for me. A year home will be about my max, I think, and that''s even with me keeping one foot in the work the whole time. Just something to think about when you are considering your own life change -- being home full time may not appeal in the longer term. Or maybe you are more domestic than me

That isn''t hard.