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Breastfeeding

Wean Me Gently

June 1, 2011

by Cathy Cardall _______________________________________________________________ I know I look so big to you, Maybe I seem too big for the needs I have. But no matter how big we get, We still have needs that are important to us. I know that our relationship is growing and changing, But I still need you. I need your warmth and closeness, Especially at the end of the day When we snuggle up in bed. Please don’t get too busy for us to nurse. I know you think I can be patient, Or find something to take the place of a nursing; A book, a glass of something, But nothing can take your place when I need you. Sometimes just cuddling with you, Having you near me is enough. I guess I am growing and becoming independent, But please be there. This bond we have is so strong and so important to me, Please don’t break it abruptly. Wean me gently, Because I am your mother, And my heart is tender. _______________________________________________________________ I really needed to read this poem. A fellow breastfeeding mom posted it on a forum that I belong to online. I’ve never met her, but boy am I ever grateful...

Smack in the Middle Kind of Day

January 18, 2011

Today was a tough one… Forgive my brash phrasing, but I feel like I’ve been rode hard and put away wet. From the moment the kids woke up this morning I’ve been “on” without a break and now I’m exhausted. 5:30 am . . . . . Jesse wakes up hungry. I sit up in bed and feed the baby, browsing Facebook and Google Reader on my phone to stay awake. 6:30 . . . . . Put the baby back to bed, try to catch another couple of Zzzz. 7:00 . . . . . Jeremy comes in the room and everyone’s up now. 7 – 9 . . . . . Shower, dress both kids, feed both kids, do my hair and get dressed, re-dress Jesse because he drenched his first outfit in spit-up. Run around the house looking for baby shoes, don’t find any. 9:15 . . . . . Leave the house 15 minutes late, head for our Tuesday playgroup. 9:30 – 11:30ish . . . . . PLAY PLAY PLAY. Well, I wrastled Jesse a bit, tried to keep an eye on Jeremy, tried to carry on several conversations with my friends as they...

Can I Give It Up?

October 9, 2010

I’m addicted. I don’t know if I can break this habit. What will life be like without it? I don’t know if I’m ready to let go. Can I just do it a little longer? Breastfeeding has me hooked. I’ve written before about my nursing junky, but now I’m the one who can’t seem to adjust. Jesse’s growing so fast and developing so well, I really have nothing to complain about. There is no problem with Jesse at all. His doctor was very pleased with him when we saw her for Jesse’s 6-month check-up last week. He’s doing better at sitting up, continues to be very engaging and talks (babbles) nonstop, and he’s been trying to grab the food from our plates for probably two months now. Jason and I have given him small samples of applesauce, mashed carrots, and peas, but not enough at any one time to replace a full meal. Lately we’ve been thinking about really starting him on meals of baby food. I thought, “Absolutely! Jeremy was eating full mashed meals by this age and did great!” Jeremy was also a formula fed baby, so everything was different. By 6-months of age Jeremy was sucking...

Mama Needs Water

September 14, 2010

I woke up at 6:30 this morning with a raging headache brought on by being slightly dehydrated yesterday. When I felt the headache coming on as I made a batch of cupcakes last night, I realized that I had only drank three glasses of liquids all day. A little glass of juice with breakfast, some iced tea when we got home from running errands, and another glass of tea with dinner. To try to combat the headache, I downed a big glass of orange juice before bed, thinking that the sugar would keep my head from hurting too bad while I tried to sleep. Well, it worked all night, but by the time the alarm went off this morning my head was hurting pretty bad and I was a little dizzy as I sat up. The boys and I took it easy this morning watching a couple movies and playing with Jeremy’s new toys from his birthday. I’m feeling mostly better now, but still dragging. I managed to get breakfast and lunch on the table but I haven’t accomplished any laundry or dishes. The cupcakes we made last night were intended to be shared with our friends at the...

Breastfeeding Gurus

August 14, 2010

Yesterday I woke up with my left breast being swollen bigger than it’s ever been (bigger even than the week after birth and my milk came in *like whoa*). I latched on my boy and was surprised by some searing pain as he fed ravenously for the first time in 8 hours. When he let go I noticed a little white bump on my nipple and since he deflated the left side some I could feel a big hard painful lump in the underside. I mashed around softly and could feel that lump taking up at least a third of my breast and going all the way back to my chest wall. Commence 6 am freakout! I dealt with double mastitis early after Jeremy was born almost four years ago and I really particularly didn’t want to have to go through that again. Anyway, Jesse went back to sleep as he always does after gorging himself on his early morning pre-breakfast. I began scouring the Breastfeeding sub-forum on Coastie Chicks to find some answers. It was so bad that I couldn’t even rest my left arm against my body. I had to hold it out to the side a little...

Jesse’s Game

August 5, 2010

We’re playing a little game this week. It’s called “Starving Baby”. Usually Jesse will eat for a solid 10-15 minutes, unlatch, and we’ll pop him into his swing or highchair to hang out while I do stuff. Every now and then though, he’ll fall asleep but continue dream-feeding for a while. Normally I relish in the 30 minutes to an hour that it sometimes takes to feed my boy; sometimes I fall asleep too and we take a little nap together. Nice! However, we just moved into a new house. About 75% of what we own is still in boxes throughout the house. I haven’t gotten to do much unpacking because my sweet little baby has decided that he is absolutely starving yet very sleepy. He is convinced that he is starving every hour or two and then falls asleep and dream-feeds each time I nurse him. Basically that means I’m sitting on my butt on my couch for half the day. Another quarter of the day is spent cooking and attempting to keep my half-boxed kitchen clean. And the last quarter of the day is spent sleeping and bathing and occasionally leaving the house. Dear Jesse, I really...

Nursing Junky

May 10, 2010

The other day I volunteered to take a home-cooked meal over to a new mom. I was running late and needed to hurry out of the house. As it would happen, Jesse had been napping soundly but woke up hungry right when I had to leave. I didn’t have time to nurse him, much less pump a bottle for Jason to give him. I figured one formula feeding wouldn’t hurt him, we keep a small can of powder on-hand for emergencies. I mixed up a bottle and headed out. When I got back almost an hour later, Jesse was calm but had eaten less than an ounce of the formula bottle. Jason, on the other hand, looked a bit frazzled. Apparently Jesse hated the formula so much that he fussed angrily and spat it all over Jason’s face. I sat down to nurse the boy and he was ravenous. With one hand he even gripped the front of my shirt as if trying to make sure I didn’t leave again. After he was finished he gave me a huge, lopsided, sleepy grin. My son is such a nursing junky.

What is 5 oz. Worth to You?

April 26, 2010

Disclaimer: I promise, one day soon I will stop talking about breastfeeding nonstop. There are still a few things that are new and amazing to me that I just have to talk about. Once I get through the new-ness, I’ll move on to other topics. Just hang in there with me. Thanks! The other day I finally picked up a breast pump. I didn’t see much need for one until now because I didn’t want to introduce an artificial nipple with a bottle to Jesse until we had really gotten the hang of breastfeeding. When I had engorgement issues I simply manually expressed just enough milk to relieve the discomfort and got on with things. Well, I think we’re pretty good at doing our thing now and I really want Jason to be able to share in the experience of feeding our son. Anyhow, on my first session I only got a couple of ounces. Jesse sucked that down in no time and I still fed him afterward. Not exactly what I was looking for, but I was not discouraged. Today gave me another perfect opportunity. Jesse ate twice in a very short period of time. He fell asleep...

Positive Breastfeeding Relationship

April 16, 2010

Breastfeeding is back! A resurgence in popularity has been mounting for the past few years and I’ve boarded the train. Jeremy was formula fed. I had intended to breastfeed him when he was born 3 1/2 years ago but due to a few circumstances he was given formula in the hospital and, though we tried, we weren’t able to overcome the nipple confusion in order to breastfeed. Lesson Learned #1: Make sure you are not so heavily medicated during or after childbirth that you are not aware of what’s going on with your baby. I had such a strong epidural (which slipped in my back and turned into a full spinal block like they do for c-sections) and I was completely numb from the chest down for the entire birth and for six hours following. They gave me some medicine to help me sleep off the exhaustion and medication. Lesson Learned #2: Inform the nurses that you want to breastfeed your baby immediately following birth and that they should give him no bottles at all. While I was sleeping off my overly-strong epidural the pediatric nurses gave Jeremy bottle after bottle of formula. They said that he needed to...

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