nursing musings

I'm officially done nursing Asher.

I expected to be more upset over the end of this special part of our relationship, but I'm really not.  I think that's sign #1 that is was the right time.  I also expected that Asher would be more upset, but honestly he never batted an eye.  That was sign #2.

I was ready.  He was ready.  It was time.

For the past few weeks I have been getting less and less milk at each pumping session.  I think my body knew it was time to shut down production as well.  When Asher was born my goal was to nurse him through the first year - and I did.  I'm really proud and grateful that that was possible.

We had a little hiccup when Asher's milk protein allergy showed its ugly face around the 5 month mark.  Fortunately we were able to work through that and move on without having to stop nursing altogether.  Breastfeeding was the best choice for us and I'm really happy that it worked so seamlessly for 12 whole months.    

For those of you who are soon-to-be wean-ers {that one was for you, Ashlie - I'm still laughing about Brandon's comment...} let me give you some of the nitty gritty.

I was really concerned about reliving the engorgement discomfort that I had in the first few days after Asher was born.  That was awful and avoiding it was priority #1.  It turns out that the easiest way to steer clear of getting that oh-so-full feeling is to go s-l-o-w-l-y.  I dropped one nursing or pumping session a week until I was down to just nursing Asher first thing in the morning.  Once that week was up, I simply offered him milk in a cup that morning and didn't nurse or pump.  Later that day I pumped to relieve the build up, but that was it.  I haven't pumped since and feel great.

Like the epidural, I had a lot of fear leading up to it and nothing but smooth sailing during and afterward.

I'm a little sad that this special time with Asher is over, but mostly I'm thrilled to have my body back!  Woo hoo!

Good bye pump - don't let the door hit you on the way to the back of my closet.  :o)

the yeast of my problems

I went to see my doctor today about the little issue that I mentioned last week.  As it turns out I have one nasty infection caused by some yeast that my nipples, A's mouth, my pumping equipment, and A's bottle nipples have all been sharing.

I know, Asher, I was surprised too.

Asher hasn't shown any symptoms of thrush {the baby version of a mouth yeast infection} so apparently I've taken the brunt of the punishment.

As has become typical for my family, my symptoms are completely strange.  Most people have lots of burning pain with this type of infection and I have none.  Or, according to my OB, I have the pain, but also super hero amounts of pain tolerance.  I like that idea -- Super Mommy!  :o)

The only pain I had was from the cracks that bled everytime suction of any kind was applied.  To hopefully speed along the healing of this problem, my OB sent me to a compounding pharmacy to pick up some "magical" nipple ointment.  Let's pray it works! 

In addition to some antibotics to clear up the yeast from my end of things, Asher needs to go on some as well to clear up anything that he is harboring.  Plus I need to boil all of my pumping equipment and bottle nipples daily until the course of antibiotics are over, then replace the whole shabang when this thing is over.

It's not as bad as it sounds Mr A...don't worry.

Thanks everyone for all of your advice and ideas.  We won't be giving up breastfeeding any time soon!  Yay!

lady stuff ahead -- grandfathers be warned

I usually try to keep this blog light-hearted, but real, and above all family friendly.  I know that many of my relatives use it as a way to check in on the three of us Asher and I want them to feel comfortable and have fun seeing what the little bugger is up to.

Every now and then, however, I need to abandon those goals and use this blog solely for its other main purpose -- delving into the experience and knowledge of other moms for personal gain growth!

Most of the time all of these goals flow seamlessly together.  Unfortunately, this time I need to venture into an uncomfortable realm that smacks smartly of TMI.

Sorry everyone.  Particularly those with a Y chromosome.

For the brave of heart, read on!  And please help, if you can!

As everyone and their sister knows by now, I've been breastfeeding Asher since he was born.  We had a great start, then hit some rocky ground when his milk protein allergy manifested itself a few months back.  After I cleaned all of the dairy out of my diet his symptoms disappeared and we seemed to be right back on track!

{Mom, I can't believe you're sharing this with the whole world.  I'll never be able to show my face in Bugs class again.  How humiliating.}

Then, just a week or so ago, I started getting some really serious cracks in my nipples.  The kind that cause bleeding and lots of *ouches* from the mama bear.  It certainly wasn't fun, but I could endure it and started using copious amounts of lanolin ointment after each pumping or nursing session.

Until this morning.

This morning I started pumping, yelped slightly in pain, and looked down to see gushing blood.  I mean Old Faithful type gushing that filled the pumping cup and attached bottled.  I've never seen such red milk.  Yuck and double yuck.

{Still with me?  Thanks.}

Obviously, I can't feed that to Asher and dumped it down the sink.  I was left with about 2 ounces of usable milk from the other side and had to supplement the rest of his bottle with formula.

So, here are my questions:

1) Is there anything I can do to help heal these cracks?  I'll take medical advice or old wives tales at this point.  No remedy is too far out there.

2) Will blood in the milk hurt a baby?  I'm afraid to even let him nurse at this point -- what if it bleeds like that again?

3) Should I just give up breastfeeding entirely?  I mean, let's be reasonable.  He got a great 6 months in, but as far as I can tell my milk {under normal dietary circumstances} hurts his body and, apparently, kills mine as well.  I've worked hard at this, but am about to throw in the towel.  I don't want to give up, but it's all starting to become too much.

Encouragment or reality checks are both welcome.

By the way, little mister got a tooth in and is working on a second one.  I haven't felt any bites, though, so I don't think any of this is his fault.  It's extremely hard to get a photo of baby teeth.  See the little white on the bottom right?...

Now for a cute photo to purge our systems of my TMI.  

Grandpas welcome back tomorrow.

schedule update

Last week I shared with you all the new schedule that Asher has been on in an attempt to keep him sleeping through the night.  While it worked well, it was also ridiculous.

I mean, seriously, I was trying to feed him every 2-3 hours when he really hasn't needed to eat that often since he was several weeks old.  He ate it, but then, he's an extremely laid back guy and would probably eat anytime I gave him a seat at the table.

When we first started on this schedule he wasn't able to eat 8 ounces at a time.  That was a few weeks ago, so I decided to try it again and see if his belly could handle a little more at a time.  Babies change so quickly -- it was worth a shot!

As it turns out, he did great with more ounces per feeding!

For the past 3 days, we've adapted a new schedule that he really likes.  I know I love it!

These times are all approximate and can vary by 1/2 an hour or so.  I don't want to be a dictator, but Asher seems to love knowing what to expect throughout the day.  Sometimes we get around to a nap a little late and he complains loudly {right, Helen?!}.  That's my motivation to keep as close to the schedule as I can {within reason}.

So, for those of you who are interested, here we go:

7am - wake up
7:15 - nurse until satisfied
8:15 - ice cube sized Bananas
8:45 - nap
10:30 - 8oz
12:30pm - nap
2:30 - 8oz
3:00 - ice cube sized Sweet Potatoes
4:00 - short nap
6:15 - bath
6:30 - 8oz
7pm - bed for the night

I'll let you know how it goes!

something about buying the cow if the milk's free...

Have you all heard this story?

I came across it last week and my first reaction was, "oh my." Followed quickly by "oh, yuck!"

I'm sure it caught my eye because of my close relationship to this particular experience these days. For those of you who aren't as in tuned to all things baby let me fill you in.

A certain chef in New York City recently launched a new offering on his restaurant's menu:

Breastmilk Cheese

I wish I was kidding.

Apparently when his wife had their daughter 11 weeks ago they decided to use her milk for more than baby feedings and turned some into cheese.

What the what??

Now maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought it took quite a bit of milk to make cheese. How much does this lady have?!

Just when I stopped gagging over the implications of the breastmilk cheese {and gelato aspirations that they have} I heard about this story.

The bizarre hits just keep on coming.

This little news gem is about a woman who was charged with assaulting a police officer by squirting her breastmilk in their face.

Um...that's crazy! Can't we all agree to just keep our milk between us and the babies? No other adults need to be involved!

Brings a whole new meaning to Asher's cute little onesie, doesn't it?

unexpected mommy skills

Before Asher was born there were a few skills I assumed would come with the territory. You know...diapering, burping, breastfeeding, baby bathing, etc.

What I didn't realize is that there are a whole host of bonus skills that come with having a baby which no one tells you about!

7 weeks into this adventure I have become amazingly proficient at typing with one hand. This post, for instance, would have taken me an hour to type out during Asher's first week, but now I'm a speedy 10 words per minute.

It's good to know that if I ever lose an arm in a freak accident my career in the typing pool won't be in jeopardy.

I'm also rapidly becoming ambidextrous. To most of the world my being left-handed is a shock worthy of the nightly news. Well, Brian Williams can look away from the Tele-Prompter because I am officially using my right hand more than my left these days.

The other night Asher was crying up a storm (as soon as dinner was ready, of course) and I finally got him to sleep in my left arm. I was sure that laying him down or passing him off to Drew would result in an instantaneous wake up, so I did the only thing I could and ate with my right hand.

Ever try to eat with your non-dominant hand? It's not pretty. I was trying to shovel peas into my mouth using a giant spoon like some unfortunate stroke victim. So many peas fell to the floor I almost asked Drew to get out Asher's splat mat.

A few more meals and I should be cruising, though. Ambidexterity is a really cool skill!

What unexpected Mommy skills did you acquire? I can't wait to see what comes next!

Asher goes for his first set of shots today -- I'm really not looking forward to this. Wish us luck!

Hopefully I'll see this face again soon!

knockers for nutrition

As anyone who reads this blog knows, I had a baby a little over a month ago.

What you might not know is that I'm also breastfeeding and have a little to say about it! Before Asher was born I had lots of ideas {and fears} about what breastfeeding would be like. It's both what I expected and tremendously different than what I expected at the same time. While I was pregnant, I really appreciated other moms who wrote about their experiences on blogs, so I want to do the same.

It all started in the hospital.

Before the birth, I took a breastfeeding information class. In that class they recommended that babies remain on their mother's chest and start nursing within an hour of being born. This was my goal! I talked to my doctor about it and she agreed to play it this way with me, even though it wasn't how they normally did things.

Then reality intervened.

Asher got stuck on my pubic bone and I ended up pushing for 3 hours after being up all night in labor. When he finally emerged he was having some trouble breathing, so they wisked him right over to the warmer. To be honest, after going through the whole birth process I was pretty out of it and didn't even think twice about my birth plan. I was way more concerned with him being ok than anything else.

Once he was given the all-clear we had some limited bonding time, but then we got transferred to recovery and, well, things got busy. It was definitely over an hour before I first got to nurse him, but you know what...things are ok! Missing that initial time didn't hurt his ability to breastfeed AT ALL.

I do have some advice for new moms who are trying to learn how to breastfeed in the hospital.

1) make sure your bed is very upright. The more you can make it "like a chair" the better. It's hard to position a newborn when you're leaning back at all.

2) also make sure you have plenty of pillows or blankets to prop the baby up. Trying to lean over your baby will just make your back sore.

3) definitely ask to see the lactation consultant! They are super flattered to be summoned and have lots of great advice!!

Things started out well in the hospital for us. Asher seemed to be getting the hang of things and we were all set to keep breastfeeding at home.

Unfortunately, the timing worked out such that our arrival home {away from the nurses and lactation consultants} coincided perfectly with the arrival of my milk! This sounds like a good thing. Well, it is and it isn't.

Not having milk can be a big problem - just not my problem. I was extremely engorged and sore. It was like having really huge implants. Poor Ash couldn't get latched on properly and when he did was, well, overwhelmed, with so much milk that he started choking.

We struggled for awhile and he got hungrier and hungrier. Even been around a hungry newborn? It's not fun.

In fact, it's torture. Here was my brand new baby who was starving and I couldn't figure out how to feed him. All of the books say to avoid bottles for the first few weeks, so I was afraid to go that route.

What I ended up doing was calling the lactation consultant who promptly told me to forget the books, pump some milk and give him a bottle. Praise God! That worked perfectly and Asher was thrilled.

I still have some engorgement at certain times of day, but for the most part things have regulated and we don't have any lingering latch problems.

I've also continued pumping once a day {for 10 minutes only} to have milk in the freezer and give Asher 1 bottle a day. He is amazing at going back and forth from breast to bottle. Yay! It's great to know that I can go out and leave Drew with a bottle.

One of my big fears while I was pregnant was that breastfeeding would be painful. Let me say plainly that it's not! There was a little tenderness at first, but Lanolin is awesome and the girls have been happy ever since the first week was over!

Overall I'm so glad that I started down this path. Being able to provide all of the food my baby needs is amazing. Plus, since it takes 500+ calories a day to make milk it's like having a baby liposuction machine on me 8 times a day. Goodbye baby weight!

This turned into a really long post {and took me 2 days in 10 minute increments to write...hello newborn} but if anyone has any questions send them along! Breastfeeding is extremely demanding, but also hugely rewarding. My goal is to last a year...stay tuned. :o)

knockers for the greater good

**I want to preface this post by saying that you'll see a familiar word spelled strangely here. That's not out of any shame on my part, but completely to keep the weirdos out there from Google-ing said word and finding this blog. **

Last night was my bre@stfeeding information class.

I don't know about you, but what I've heard from other people about lactation consultants is that they are {typically} pretty mean. We're talking hard nosed ladies who won't hesitate to smear the guilt and condemnation thick like zinc oxide on any woman who doesn't (or can't) feed her baby au natural.

For 18 months.

While working full-time.

Theseare the ladies who make Stalin look like a tender hearted puppy lover.

Look, I'm not saying it's true, this is just what I've been told.

Needless to say, I went into the class with a tiny grain of fear.

I plan to bre@stfeed, but what if she grills me on the specifics? What if I don't hold the dolls correctly? What if I admit that the whole idea makes me a little squeamish?

CAN SHE DECLARE ME UNFIT?

Oh gosh. This is stressful.

Panic attacks aside...the class went really well!

Despite all of these prejudices other people {kindly} gave me, I decided to calm the heck down and save judgment for myself. I'm really happy to say that I found our instructor to be super nice and informative!

Of course her main objective was to encourage bre@stfeeding...that's why I was there in the first place anyway. I didn't need any convincing, just some practical tips and we got lots of those.

Although I do have to say that some of the handouts we received were pretty hilarious. It honestly looked like some of the hand-drawn bre@sts and babies came from someone's "blind sketch" turn during a game of Cranium.

That aside, I'm actually looking forward to the visit from a lactation consultant after the bean is born. I know that I'm prepared mentally now, but physically could be another matter entirely.

Now if I can only find some decent nursing bras without losing my mind or the baby's college fund, we'll be all set.