Second Time Around: 4.5 month update

Well here we are at just over 4 months since Jonathan was born. I would love to sit here and say, "Look at us! We are still succeeding!" But sadly, that is not the case.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was having difficulty finding time to pump at work.  Well those difficulties increased and my milk supply dropped even further. I was producing just 8-10 ounces a day :( Jonathan began to fuss and get agitated while nursing just before he turned four months old, around the same time I ran into issues at work.  He would nurse on both sides, then still scream for more. He would drink 3 ounces of a bottle after nursing! I knew he wasn't happy. When we went for his four month well baby visit, I told the doctor about all that was going on and that I thought he was starting to wean.  She encouraged me to keep trying, but told me if I felt it was time to stop, that that's ok too.  That day I cried on the way home from her office. I knew it was time.  I was excited that we had made it to four month, but sad that our special time was ending.  I still had some milk frozen for him to have, but it just wasn't the same.

That weekend was awful! I don't remember having near as much pain when weaning Carson. Of course, my supply never established with him though. I woke up soaked for three nights in a row while weaning, and had pain that I never imagined having. After 4 or 5 days though, it was done. I was pretty much dried up, and Jonathan was happy and content on formula.

I'm glad we got the four months that we did. I know in the long run it will (hopefully) help him be healthier, and lets face it, with the issues we've had so far, he could use a break from the doctor's office! As I've said repeatedly, any breast milk is better than none. So, four months is better than nothing!

Breastfeeding: Second Time Around 3 months?!

     Wow!

     I simply can't believe that I am sitting here writing this post. I never dreamed that I would still be breastfeeding Jonathan at 3 months. I failed so miserably last time that I didn't think it would work this time. Granted, he gets 12 -16 ounces of formula a day at the sitter's but when we are home he gets mommy milk! I've even been courageous enough to breastfeed out in public a few times now!  I love getting to hold my little guy and nurse him to sleep at night. It's special mommy time that I miss since I work.  Speaking of work, pumping while there has become tricky lately but I think I've worked out the kinks we had and now I'm back on track.

     I told you all before that my goal was 6 weeks, then 2 months....now? Well I guess I need a new goal?!  So my new goal is 4 months. That's our next well baby check and I want to talk with our pediatrician before stopping. She and her nurse are super supportive of breastfeeding. They are incredibly encouraging of my choice to breastfeed and supplement. Never once has my pediatrician told me I could only do one or the other or that I should really stop the breastfeeding and only formula feed. She respects my opinion that "any breast milk is better than none" and stands by my choice even though we have had struggles with Jonathan and reflux.  She encouraged me to exclusively breastfeed but understood that I just did not produce enough and had to supplement. She worked with me to get Jonathan's tummy troubles under control and listened to me when I told her he couldn't tolerate when I had milk products.  She's such a difference from our pediatrician we had with Carson. It's amazing how the support of breastfeeding can make or break you.

    So stay tuned for an update in a few weeks!

Pink Daisy Nursing Pad Review

Last month I was lucky enough to make a trip to Cotton Babies retail store in St. Louis. I went in to just "look around" and walked out with $45 worth of stuff, oops!  One purchase I was eager to try out was the Pink Daisy Bamboo Nursing Pads. I was tired of buying a box of nursing pads every few days, and wanted a reusable option. I asked the staff for a recommendation of one and they were happy to help me. (Another reason why I love Cotton Babies!) They recommended the Pink Daisy Bamboo Nursing Pads. They are highly absorbant and super soft!

Here's what one looks like:

    I was so eager to start using this product because at the time I was having a lot of trouble with disposable pads keeping moisture against my skin and causing extremely sore nipples. Within the first few hours of wearing these my breasts felt better! The bamboo velour is heavenly against your skin! I did have to wear a disposable pad behind these to prevent leaking onto my bra. Despite heavy leaking, I never leaked onto the disposable pad. I wore these all day, outside in 90 degree July weather and never felt like my breasts were sweating because of them.  I have handwashed these when away from home and they did take a while to air dry, but were still soft after washing. Machine washing is simple, I just toss them in with my normal laundry and then lay them flat to dry. They could be put in the dryer but I prefer letting them air dry so I don't lose them in the dryer.

Pros:
-Very absorbant
-Soft against your skin
-Extra thin (1/8" thick maybe)
-Large diameter (5")
-Breathable
 -Discreet under clothing

Cons:
-No moisture proof backing to prevent leaks
-Long air-drying time

I have 3 pairs of these and love them! Instead of buying a 60 count box of breast pads every 3-4 days, I'm buying a box of 20 every week or two.

*I have no relationship with the manufacturer of this product or the retailer I made my purchase from. I received no compensation for this post. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Breastfeeding and Working

     As some of you already know, I work full time. Since I work 40 hours a week, it interferes with nursing Jonathan. We haven't given up our breastfeeding though. Making it as long as we have is a HUGE accomplishment for me this time around. I was determined to keep it up as long as I can after returning to work. I've now been back to work for a month, and we are still breastfeeding! Granted, Jonathan does get some formula, and that's okay. Really.  He's been supplemented from the beginning so it's only slightly different now that I am working.  I have low production, so when I'm away from him the milk I have left for him to have from a bottle just isn't enough. I've tried Fenugreek and power pumping, but not had any luck increasing my supply.

     How do we make it work? Easy. I use my trusty companion, my Medela Pump-in-Style Advanced.  Actually, I'm on my second pump. The first one was older and quit working very well, so a couple weeks ago I took advantage of my secondary insurance coverage and got a new pump. WOW, what a difference there is! This one works much better.  How to I find time to pump during my busy client schedule? Well since I work for a health department and we are very pro-breastfeeding here, my coworkers are very understanding about when I need to take 10-15 minutes for myself. It's a law in Illinois that employers must provide you with time and a private space to express breastmilk for your infant if you are breastfeeding. Luckily, my office has a door so I can close it and hang my little "knock please" sign so that people don't just walk in while I'm getting milk for my baby.  I generally nurse Jonathan right before I get ready for work, then pump twice a day at work. When I get home at night, we resume nursing on demand. While I'm at work he will get my pumped milk as well as supplemented with formula. It works for us.

It's not always easy and I don't always have time to pump right when I need to, but I make the best of it. I'm so thankful for an understanding employer and coworkers. I'm thrilled to be able to be breastfeeding Jonathan still, and will continue to breastfeed him and work full time as long as I can. Like I've said before, any breastmilk is better than none, and I'm not afraid of formula.

Natural Parenting...well, sort of

     When we became parents for the first time, 5 years ago at the age of 24, I had no clue what "natural parenting" was. I used disposable diapers, fed my baby formula (breastfeeding failed), hugged him all the time, bought organic milk when he started on whole milk, etc.  We did what worked for us and what we could afford. My husband started college a week after baby was born, so money and family time were tight.

 

     This time around, we are older (29 & 30), and in a better place financially and emotionally.  We are making conscious decisions to help our children thrive. I didn't even realize we were "natural parenting" because we are just doing what comes naturally to us and makes sense as parents, until I was in on a Facebook chat a couple weeks ago. Here's what we do that makes us "natural parents", sort of.

 

    When I was pregnant my friend, Marie-Etta, (She's a super sweet gal with an adorable little boy), sparked my interest in using cloth diapers.  All it took was a conversation one evening and I was hooked. She made me realize how easy it could be and that I could handle it. By the next week I had purchased my first cloth diapers! Why did I choose cloth?  Well, why wouldn't you chose cloth?!? It just makes sense. It saves the environment, saves money, and is gentle on baby's bottom. Plus, cloth covered baby booty is adorable :) We only use cloth diapers in the evening and on weekends when I'm not working since my babysitter isn't comfortable with cloth, but hey, any amount of cloth we use means less disposables in the landfill!

     Marie-Etta also got me hooked on the Ergobaby baby carrier....Can I just say that I love babywearing! I love to carry my kiddos around, so being able to do so in a comfortable, ergonomically friendly carrier, is a big help with this! It brings the baby close to me so I can attend to his needs while still giving his brother attention and meeting the needs of our family (cooking, cleaning, etc.).

   
    We feed our boys wholesome foods as much as possible. Additionally, I breastfeed Jonathan. I tried so hard to breastfeed Carson, but it just didn't work for us. This time around, I'm much more successful. I'm breastfeeding him, with the encouragement and support of my husband.  While Jonathan isn't exclusively breastfed, he is primarily breastfed and only gets around 3 bottles of formula a day while I'm at work. Even when we give him a bottle, we are talking to him, loving him. When he switches to solids, I will be making a lot of his baby food.  As a family we try to eat fresh foods. It doesn't always work out that way, but most of the time at least our fruits and vegetables are fresh. We don't eat a lot of "junk" or candy. I plan to keep it this way with Jonathan, just as it is with his big brother.

    We co-sleep (Gasp!) with our baby. I know that there are people who say this is a big "no-no". We do it responsibly, and we did with Carson too. Carson was in our bed until he was almost 4....yeah it was a long 4 years!  Now, he has to have daddy lay with him every night to fall asleep in his own bed. Jonathan has a little co-sleeper that is structured, so he can't be rolled onto. He sleeps in between us at least half the night. We don't have a strict bed time for him and he doesn't cry it out. We hold him until he goes to sleep.

  
     While we aren't over the top "natural parents", we are responsibly and consciously raising our boys. We may not do all the things that natural or attachment parenting includes, but we do what works for us. What was natural and sensible to the health, well-being, and happiness of our children.

Second Time Around

   Remember my earlier post  where I said I may not breastfeed the new baby? Last time I failed my son. I didn't produce enough milk. This coupled with numerous complications we both had just ruined it for us from the start. It left me very discouraged to try it again. I felt like I couldn't do it and was a failure, so not to even try.

   A couple of weeks before JP was born, I decided to give it my best shot. "Breast is best" and I wanted him to get all the help he could. Even more so when he was born almost 3 weeks early.

   I'm happy to report that we have been successfully breastfeeding for 6 weeks! Yes, we supplement and he gets bottles when I am away (sometimes that's formula, sometimes breast milk), but from 6pm-6am, we nurse or he gets pumped milk. This is an improvement from last time around when we made it just 10 days, so I'm happy. My theory was that any breastmilk was better than none. With me returning to work this week, it will be interesting to see how long we can keep this up.

   My point of this post is that every pregnancy, every baby, is different. Just because something didn't work once, doesn't mean it won't work again. I almost didn't even try this time, but now, I am happier than ever that I did. Knowing that I can keep my baby happy and healthy makes me feel like I am helping my son succeed.

   My first goal was to make it a month, then six weeks and we did that. My next goal is to make it to 2 months, then we will make a new goal :)

Why I may not breastfeed Baby J

When Carson was born 4 & 1/2 years ago, I was determined I was breastfeeding him.  I knew what the benefits were, I knew how to do it, heck I even taught new moms how to do it at work.

He was born and was a champ at breastfeeding from the get go.  It hurt like h*&$  but I knew it was best for him.  His first feeding was 35 minutes of good breastfeeding.  He went to the nursery for his bath while I passed out from the meds I had been given.  The next feeding went well too, but every hour he was wanting to breastfeed.  I would feed him and he would seem unsatisfied.

By day 2 of life, he was already very jaundiced and not getting much from me because my milk had not come in yet.  The decision was made to supplement him with formula to help flush out the bilirubin.  I would breastfeed for 20-30 minutes, but then he would down an entire 2 ounce bottle!  The kid was a pig! We came home and continued breastfeeding and supplementing.  I would pump after feedings(getting maybe an ounce or so) and use that to supplement the next feeding.  We breastfed every 60-90 minutes, meaning I got no sleep and was falling asleep with him at my breast.  We continued this until day 4 when he was back in the hospital for a day for the jaundice.  He still breastfed, but now was taking 2-3 ounces after breastfeeding.  Still, it was ok with me because he was at least getting some of my milk.

Just shy of 2 weeks after he was born, everything came to a screeching halt for us.  I was admitted to the hospital and put on IV antibiotics and pain medications that didn't allow me to breastfeed . He was home with my parents, while I was in the hospital "pumping and dumping" my breastmilk. This set us back quite a bit.  I came home after 2 1/2 days in the hospital and tried to resume our breastfeeding.  We did so for about a week longer, then decided to just switch entirely to formula.  Carson was happier with a full tummy on formula, and I was happy knowing he got the colostrum that was so important early on.

This time around, I'm unsure about what I'm going to do. Ideally I would like to pump and bottle feed baby #2.  Hopefully I produce enough to be successful at this. But in my mind, I still think about just going with formula from the get go this time. I know lots of people would have a fit that I'm saying or even thinking this.  You know what though? It's ok if I don't breastfeed. Lots of babies are formula fed everyday and grow up to be just as smart and healthy as breastfed babies.  My breasts will thank me for the decreased pain, my body will appreciate the little bit of more sleep I will get, and my baby will still be just as happy with formula as breastmilk.