Nursing officially ended 15 months 2 weeks

So nursing is over and it was easy.  

Praise Jesus, something about this child was easy.  

Owen has been nursing once every morning since late March. Prior to that it was 2-4 times a day for awhile. 

I have been pregnant since early February, which is when I first started to notice him nursing less and less. Then I went on that trip back in mid-March and couldn't pump much milk but he nursed well when I returned.  After a week of being back, I would attempt an afternoon feeding and he would smile at me, and refuse the breast.  I thought it was funny and fine by me, actually. I was ready for him to be less dependent on my milk. 

Since April, every morning he wakes up in his crib, gets toted into our bed and makes the Baby Sign for "milk" and then he nurses for awhile (5 minutes some mornings, 25 minutes others).  BUT that was it.  He would refuse nursing any other time, even if he ever woke up upset in the middle of the night. He actually did that a few times and preferred the sippy cup with cow's milk to me.  

Then in June he would sometimes ask for "milk" and sometimes not, I suspect my supply was decreasing over time as well.  Anyway, this past Wednesday was his last day.  He just looked up at me and I could tell there just wasn't much left and he was done.  He didn't ask the next day or the next and it's the following Monday now.  

So it's over.  I would be sad if I wasn't pregnant with #2 due this November.  There will be PLENTY of nursing to come.  Nursing has been a very sweet experience and I encourage everyone to stick with it past a year.  

So I'll enjoy my four month break. 

I wanted to make the note to any prospective mom's out there or any mom who nursed for less than 6 months:  IT'S WAY EASIER after 6 months and even easier after 9 months.  I'll say this again but the first three months are incredibly demanding and I think once you get the baby on a nice nap and nurse routine around 5-6 months, it all works out great.  

Second note: if you are a "nursing on demand" mama, none of this may apply to you.  I know plenty of women with 15 month olds who nurse 10+ times a day, and all night: a little bit here and there.  

On demand is DEFINITELY not my thing.  I am not an over-scheduled type A personality but I also knew I didn't and couldn't be available to my baby or child 24-7 with breastmilk. It just didn't fit into my life.  Believe me, it was ENOUGH that he didn't ever take a bottle. 

So if you are like me, YOU CAN nurse past that 6 month marker and get it down to 4-5 times in a 24 hour period, then 3-4 times then 1-2 times.  If you are down to 1-2 times, it might just be first thing in the morning and last thing before bed so it's not like you are at the grocery store nursing...  Owen never nursed before bed after 7 months because I needed Matt to be able to put him to sleep.   Point being, don't object to nursing because your baby will have teeth or because you don't want to nurse your toddler in public--you can make it work for you :) 

Breastfeeding: when is it over? To wean or not wean... wait, what is the question?

So Owen has decided to shake his head and smile every time I offer him breastfeeding except the first wake-up session. He still likes that (saving grace). This has been going on for the last 3 weeks.

Sometimes the little guy will make the sign for milk and point to my zipper (I'm always wearing a down vest-- our house is cold). I open up shop for nursing and he does his little mischievous "no no no" followed by a signature smile. It's like he wanted to make sure the boobs are still there.

I assure you they are still here.

AND so is some extra fat that decided NOT to turn itself into breastmilk. THIS is the most worrisome part about Owen quitting me. The calories I used to burn making breastmilk.... well, I'm going to have to burn them another way.

Say it ain't so!

I was worried at first for other reasons. I mean it's hard to think they are quitting you. After all the dedication to breastfeeding he's going to quit before Mommy's ready. What about the immunity? The comfort? The calorie burning?

GREAT!

So I'm getting ready. I'm glad he's still nursing in the morning but he's totally given up nursing in our chair together, which is hard since I really loved that time so much. Alas, it does mean more freedom for me, which I guess I'm ready for...

SIGH

I blame cow's milk. I knew he would like it more. I mean who doesn't love whole milk? I know you are out there thinking,
"eeewwww...I drink skim milk"
but seriously, have you had a hot chocolate with skim and then with whole milk? Take the challenge. You'll side with me. Whole milk tastes good, especially the organic brands.

Actually, I'm glad he's drinking milk regularly from his sippy cup and we hope the fatty cow's milk will put some mean on this bones. I can look forward to my small A-B cups imminent return! This is exciting because jogging with milk-filled C cups is a drag AND it's double sports bra duty.

I also have felt a little more "free" to drink more alcohol and coffee... which is nice. I mean by no means am I a heavy drinker of either but it's a mental shift.

We've still got morning milk but I think it's going away slow but sure...

Leaving a nursing 12 month old baby for 5 nights

I had a wedding job in New York City a couple of weeks ago (I live in Arizona). It was a very cool wedding-- on a Broadway stage-- see the images here.

I have been stressed about leaving Owen for approximately the past 3 months. Basically when I booked the job, I was naive and thought, "oh at 12 months, I can go anywhere and we'll just bring Owen anyway." We learned between that time and the time I booked my plane ticket that traveling with an infant, is challenging at best and probably not a great idea when he wasn't sleeping through the night (at the time we booked the ticket, he was still waking 2-3 times, now he sleeps uninterrupted).

I think every Mother should run this drill:

GO AWAY overnight as soon as you can.

Even if your baby is nursing.

They will survive.

Even if it's just for one night.

You can do it.

It's great mental exercise for yourself, and really lets you know that your baby will be fine without you. I'm not saying it wasn't hard. Getting on a plane was the hardest part but I firmly believe had I not done this now it would've been YEARS before I left him for the fear that he would not be okay without me or that something would happen and the baby would NEED me. I know that sounds irrational even as I write it but in my head it was a real fear that needed to be addressed.

We all have to face our fears at some point.

I know for a fact that many mothers wait YEARS to leave their children and the less you leave them, the harder it is.

Obviously, you want to leave your baby with family or a close friend whom knows the schedule and your baby. Luckily, I have the best husband on earth whom cares for our son all the time for 12-hour stretches while I shoot weddings on Saturdays, which is also great. If you cannot go overnight YET, mentally or for whatever excuse you make, then, go do something ALL DAY, really, it will be fine. Now, there is no way in hell I could've left this child when he was 3 months, 6 months or even 7 months for an overnight period. He simply didn't drink from a bottle and wouldn't get enough liquids without me present to nurse. Dehydration was a big concern during that stage, but around 9-12 months he started really drinking well from the sippy cup (NEVER breastmilk --- he wouldn't touch it outside of a breast -- only formula in a sippy cup).

Bottom line is I DID IT. It WAS NOT easy for several reasons:
1) my milk supply ran really low while I was gone... since I only breastfeed and never pump, my breasts don't make a lot of milk without the baby around and don't respond well to pumping. For example, I was only getting an ounce or so each time I would pump, twice a day, which worried me since I am fairly dedicated to nursing until the baby quits it himself. It made me think I would lose my supply before I got back, which makes one anxious to get back.
2) 5 nights is too long at 12 months, or at least it was for me. I think 3 nights would've been perfect, but by day 4 I was ready to be home.
3) I was going such a long distance it made it extra stressful since if something happened, it would be 12 hours home and I couldn't leave until AFTER the wedding.

On the other hand, it WAS easy for these reasons
1) I was working, so I had a purpose and didn't have much free "mommy" time to think about the baby
2) I knew Matt was taking care of Owen very well and they were getting some great quality time together.
3) Owen was sleeping through the night every night and drinking plenty of cow's milk (we started 2 weeks before the trip) and very hydrated.
4) I left him overnight for about 40 hours to go to a conference 2 hours away. See blog post on that topic here.

When I returned home, my milk supply came back to normal and the baby nursed on his normal schedule. All was well. I did it and now I can't wait to plan a trip with my husband in the fall sometime when Owen will be 18 months. I'm sure it will be equally as hard to leave then, but now I know he'll be fine and that makes all the difference in the world... a little confidence goes a long way. It's so exciting to think of the places we can go as a family but even more excited to get away with Matt.

I am a firm believer that once you have children you have to really actively nurture your marriage. A strong marriage will provide a good example for your children throughout their life and it makes for a happy household. Scheduling a babysitter for some "couple time" is a MUST. Getting away together for dates, playtime and overnight trips if you can. Start small, dream big.

Today Matt and I went on our first mountain bike ride together (something we used to do 3-4 times a week in the summers) in 18 months. It was REALLY fun. I look forward to laying on a beach somewhere with him knowing our child is fine at home.

BABY SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT

Alert the Media! Owen, my little night waker, slept through the night TWICE this week. This is a miracle. 

Let me preface this story with this thought.  Every single night I think to myself, "self, tonight could be the night that Owen sleeps through the night."  This has been my last thought before bed since, um, maybe July 2008. 

Here's how it went down: 

me: **OMG, it's 4AM and Owen hasn't nursed or stirred yet**

(rustle, flip over, try not to think about a my baby not breathing in his crib)

me: **AHH that thought is too horrible, must wake up husband**

me: "Matt, Owen is still asleep" 

Matt: ereughhh? 

me: "and it's 4AM"

Matt: "that's great honey"

me: "should I check on him?"

Matt: "not if you want to keep sleeping"

me: "okay" 

 -- five minutes of forcing my eyes shut later--

me:**thinking thoughts of baby not breathing in crib...

NO NO push those thoughts away... think of fun dreams and sleeping... WAIT, my breasts hurt, Why do my....** 

WAAA? 

me:**crap, my breasts are engorging, great, now I will get a breast infection.... la la la, go to sleep... hold on, I can't get a breast infection NOW after 11 months of nursing... oh no, oh no, continue thinking all types of completely irrational thoughts... 

I get up and get the breast pump, my arch enemy. Pump for 4 minutes, release pressure... 

Matt: "ereerhhh/??"

me: "I had to pump or I was going to get a breast infection" 

Matt: "go back to sleep, honey" 

me: "okay"

Then by some miracle, I fell back asleep and Owen slept until 6:40AM.  That's right 7:40-6:40 BABY!  

NOW WE ARE TALKING and it only took 11.5 months.  I can sense my beauty sleep is just around the corner.... only time will tell.  I wonder if you can guess what my last thought will be before bed tonight? 

Nursing at 11 months-- a look back

Yes, I'm still nursing.  Owen has only had one cold in his life and never been really sick.  I think a lot of this has to do with the breast milk. Here is my little reflection of this past year of nursing.  Many reflections are coming as Owen will be ONE YEAR OLD March 1st!! 

I think pretty much every woman wonders what it would be like to nurse a baby.  I mean you are endowed with breasts and they certainly serve a sexual function as a young woman (like it or not) but as I thought further about my body beloved parts, I always wondered what it would be like to nurse a baby.

I'll give you my *real* opinion, as I always do. 

At first, like with anything "baby" it's difficult.  It hurt.  No two ways about it. My poor nipples were not used to someone suckling them for hours each day.  My best friend was the little purple tube of 100% pure Lanolin, by Lansinoh.  In 5-10 days life was back to normal, eerrr not really. 

So as many women can attest, these new breasts you develop during pregnancy are not the ones you are used to. They are bigger, heavier and produce MILK!  They seem to require many return trips to the local Target for a cheap bra-- in ONE size larger, AGAIN!  

0-3 months -- it's a lot of work. Your breast milk is still not stable and very much working on supply and demand and then the occasional pumping might throw off your demand and POOF you are left with too much milk.  It's all tricky during this part, including getting the baby to actually latch on and shaping your breast like the babies mouth, trying to find your breast half asleep in the middle of the night.  Just hang in there. 

3-6 months -- still lots of nursing going on since baby probably doesn't eat anything else besides breast milk, but since s/he can drink more at one sitting (larger stomachs) you might be nursing less frequently (but likely still at night). Baby is doing great with latching on well and helps himself a lot of the time. Better head control makes it much easier during these months. 

6-9 months -- for me, it began to get A LOT easier here, I could skip a feeding session here and there and nothing bad (READ leaking or full breasts) would occur.  Owen was loving *real* food and ate like a champ.  He could also find the nipple himself so it was so much easier to latch on anywhere. Solid foods took the stress off of nursing for sure.  I began to nurse him only at night and it all seemed much easier and way less public.

9-12 months -- he drinks religiously every morning first thing. It's our sweet time together.  He STILL enjoyed one dairy bar midnight snack although we are finally ready to cut that out... this week is our trial. I'll keep you posted.  Owen now nurses 2-3 times a day, if I'm around.  If I'm working or away from him, he'll wait and/or drink formula at home (hates breastmilk in a sippy cup, and never did take a bottle).  He usually still gets in at least the AM feeding and the afternoon/evening feeding, plus once at 2AM so we are down to 4 times a day, MAX, which seems like NOTHING compared to the 12-14 when they are newborns.  

I truly enjoy our nursing sessions.  Honestly it's one of the only times I still get to look right at him without him wiggling out of my sight.  There is something very sweet about it, especially at this age. Owen knows I'm comforting him and providing him milk and he and I enjoy this time together. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm going to miss the night nursing sessions because it's our sweet time together just mama and baby.  

I have a sneaky suspicion that Owen will give up nursing soon. He's starting to seem less and less interested and my milk supply is definitely less but only time will tell.  I'm going to continue nursing as long as possible through this next year. 

Baby doesn't drink~ !

Q: I'm wondering out there... who else's baby is self-weaning to 2-3 nursing sessions (if you can call it a session) a day and still pretty much refuses the bottle?

A: Owen Wyatt Clark, my baby.

I mean, there was this promising week or two where Owen pounded formula from the sippy cup as if he was a new college student discovering beer. He'd drink it in the stroller, in the car, in the bath, you know, whenever mama wasn't home. Now, he's picky about it all. He doesn't like breast milk in any other container besides breasts so finally one day we stopped trying to feed him my breast milk and went directly to formula and poof he finally drank something... (PS of course, he only likes Earth's Best Organic $32.00 a can formula, he literally won't even touch the other brands even if they are Organic).

So this is his nursing "schedule" HA HA. As if, he's never subscribed to a solid nursing schedule, it's alwyas different everyday but there are some patterns...

6AM nurses first thing when he wakes up, generally for a good amount of time 10-12 minutes per side
occasionally will nurse after his first nap, 10:30-11AM, if I'm home and only for 5 minutes, ten if I'm lucky.
he's beginning to give up his post-second nap nursing too! Today he only nursed for maybe 2 minutes per side, MAYBE.
Then sometimes he nurses before bed, sometimes not... he just refuses most of the time...
midnight, good solid nursing 10-15 minutes then back to bed.

Sooo as you can see, he drinks nothing. His diapers are mostly wet, though, so I'm trying not to worry. Matt and I try to offer the sippy cup OFTEN mostly we get about 4 extra ounces in him a day. What works best for this is to always have the milk out and available for him, so he can think it's "his idea." That reminds me of a cat I had once, who would only cuddle up next to you if she thought it was HER idea.

Juice, you say? Tried it, doesn't like it but we continue to offer it. Interestingly enough, he does like prune juice. He especially likes prune juice from the mini-cans.

I was planning on nursing till Owen quit and I gotta tell you, I'm thinking he's closer than I'd like. I mean, who does he think he is? Quitting me. HA! Plus, who is going to comfort him at mightnight when he's screaming about how much his teeth hurt... waaaa waaaa... enter boobs, silence, shhhh shhh.

PS if you can believe it, we are winding down January here and Owen will be 11 months on Feb. 1!! One more month to his 1st birthday. THAT is crazy talk. But I'm here to tell you it didn't go by fast. Last March seems like a decade ago, if you ask me.

Bath time with Mommy - nursing in the bath

Daddy is in charge of baths (and dinner) so sometimes Mommy has to take a bath with Owen. I say WITH Owen, because somehow, somewhere along the way Matt and I got addicted to taking a bath with the baby. I realize that if we ever had another child we probably wouldn't get to enjoy this sweet luxury.

If you haven't tried it, you should.

Initially it seems like a hassle to get undressed just to sit in 5 inches of water with your baby for 15 minutes but it's worth it. Owen has been getting in the tub with either Matt or myself almost every night since he was 6 weeks. He loves it and he plays with his ducks, cups, washcloths, and laughs when we make his toys talk to him. I think (speaking as a former swim instructor) that it's also helping him learn about swim positions, water in the face, laying on his back, and much more that will help him avoid a fear of water.

I've discovered that Owen will nurse in the tub really well and it separates nursing from bed-time and allows him to go to bed drowsy but awake. It is pretty comforting as the Mommy, too. A warm skin-to-skin quiet time for us. I look down at him and I know he won't always want to nurse in the bath and that makes me love those little moments even more. In fact, I'm already starting to miss nursing and I'm planning on continuing into his first year...

to pump or not to pump: hand vs. electric and the joys of breast pumps

Sorry for my lack of posts... I'm opening a studio in the next few weeks and life is crazy with my business.

Okay, so you're pregnant and you are thinking about breastfeeding, you know you want to and yet you're hoping for some freedom. Freedom that comes in the form of a bottle (if your child will take one). This bottle freedom (if you are not doing formula) comes along with something called a 'breast pump.' You are thinking, "I'll just pump... and when I want to drink 3 margaritas, I'll 'pump and dump'"-- ahh motherhood--so simple in theory. So simple while you are still pregnant and getting lots of sleep.

This 'pumping' term is so casually thrown around amongst the breastfeeding mommies it must be super simple, and fun! You are thinking, "Maybe I can read a book and pump at the same time... I'll get so much reading done. How long could it really take? I'm going to be doing the best thing for my baby..." Oh these thoughts have entered your brain.

REALITY check.

Pumping does have it's advantages...ahem, one advantage: your breast milk can be delivered by another vessel other than yourself (unless you are me and your child WILL NOT accept said vessel). Hooray! You can go out and ride your bike and do lots of fun things. BUT WAIT! You forgot, when your child is drinking from his/her bottle, and you are out doing things, like, for example, work...your boobs say "UM, I need to be emptied." Thus the breast pump to the rescue. The joys of holding those satellite dishes to your breast, thinking about your little baby and expressing milk, all the while hearing the delightful noise...KERRR-sssshh, KEERrr---shhhh, Kerrr-shhhhh. What no one told you about pumping those jugs, you are about to read... the ugly side of breast pumping....

1) You can do nothing else while pumping (at least I can't -- but I did see this shirt thing you can get to hold both pumps in place it looks BAD, real bad). In fact, you actually pump more milk per minute if you sit there and stare at a photo of your baby or think cute thoughts about your baby. If for one second you take your hand off the little dish that goes up against your breast, you lose suction and it doesn't work. JOY. So get used to it, time spent just sitting there watching your breasts eject milk.

2) If you pump, your breasts make more milk. This is basic, enough, right? Your breasts work on supply and demand and so when you pump them, they think they need to replenish the supply. Best to pump the same time every day so they don't get confused or if you are away from your baby pump on his/her schedule. If you begin to pump helter skelter, you future will include leaking. So pump your breasts only as much as your baby drinks (go by time) or else, you'll end up with too much milk with no place to go...

3) if you aren't in the habit of pumping, there won't be a lot of extra milk. Again, supply and demand. This is really only after your milk supply and nursing rhythm is established. Ex: at 2 months I could pump 8 oz like a champ pretty much anytime. But I never pump much now so when I do finally sit down to the chore, I get an ounce...unless it's Owen's nursing time. So, establish one time a day when you pump regularly so you will produce for that session. If you are like me and don't have any luck, then begin to pump at the same time every day and eventully your breasts will get the idea. They are smarter than you think!

4) hand pump (AKA manual) v. electric (Medela pump n' style) -**side note, there is NOTHING stylish about breast pumping, nice try Medela**- so they both work, but manual pump is to mail like pony express is to FedEX. I don't know if I wrote that correctly, I'm not a writer for standardized tests but trust me, just go for the type you plug in. Too expensive? Your local hospital will rent you one monthly or you can buy a used one from a friend and get all new hoses and satellite dishes, and collection bottles or bags. Funny thing is, the milk doesn't go through those hoses, so if all you are sharing the electric motor, then it's perfectly sanitary.

5) pump if your supply is low. This is one other advantage not mentioned above. You can pump to increase your supply when you are just starting to nurse, if you are having problems. This includes sitting there holding the satellite dishes to your breasts while they suck your nipple into their plasticy-shell and tell your body "produce milk." (side note, you can do this even if you haven't had a baby, mothers of adopted babies have had success actually getting their milk supply to come in when they were never pregnant). CRAZY, I KNOW!!

6) double pumping is not necessary and will increase your supply like crazy. I single side nurse, so I single side pump. I've had to pump one breast and then the other but didn't find the need for double pumping. If I was a 9-5 working girl, I guess it would come in handy. Chime in here, working girls.

I never ever pump (like once a week or so) and I can't still wanted to fork out the dough for the electric pump. I can't stand the manual pump... it's just so odd, it takes longer for your milk to let down and frankly it hurts as little. I think your breasts are like, "What-chyou-talkin'-bout-willis?"

So in short, if you want your freedom, and believe me YOU DO, get a breast pump, suffer through those boring pumping sessions and do it early. If your baby is a good nurser and having no problems, start with that bottle a day no later than two weeks. They will not get confused with one bottle a day. If you are nursing 12 times a day, they will always prefer the breast to bottle and you'll be happy you did it. If you have a little stubborn baby, like Owen, you run the risk of missing the window of opportunity of accepting a bottle. I'd say most people will agree, if they don't take it by 6 weeks, they will most likely never take it. My boy is 7 months and thinks pacifiers, bottle nipples and sippy cups are chew toys. At first he would just scream if we tried to bottle feed him (4 weeks- 4 months) and now he just chews the nipple and moves on to another toy. We have had success with VERY watered down rice cereal and spooing that down his throat when I've had to be away for work for the day.

All the doctors in the world will tell you, "oh a hungry baby will eventually take a bottle and No baby will starve itself." Owen has stamina like you can't believe. He'll hold out ALL DAY until I get home. We frankly I didn't want to put any care-giver (namely my husband) through a 24 hour fight ending in the baby "giving up" and sucking down a bottle from pure exhaustion and hunger. That didn't sound real humane to me.

Last thought... no one ever told men to hook a machine (manual or electric) to their 'male parts'....no, no, they don't have to look down only to hear "the pump sound." But this, ladies, is one of the many, many joys of being a woman. Suck it up. no pun intended.

Teething & Breastfeeding | AAP and Breastfeeding

Owen grew his two first bottom teeth at exactly 4 months. Cutting teeth doesn't seem to bother our boy. One day Matt looked at his gums and said, "hey, honey, our boys is growing teeth." Everyone gives me this horrified look when I tell them I'm still breastfeeding and my boy has teeth. I'll admit, the thought had me a bit worried too. It was simple though, and once again, nature and instinct ruled. When the boy bit me, and he definitely tried out his chompers on my nipple, I simple over-dramatized the "ouch" and he just stopped. I think he did it about 3-4 times the first week they came in and I could tell he was just trying it out and not being spiteful.

I definitely get the "are you still breastfeeding?" question often. I can remember the days when I thought women who breastfeed for a year (or more) were crazed stay-at-home mothers who would never let their kids watch TV, have a girlfriend, or eat non-organic foods. It's not about that, people. There are significant recent studies regarding breastfeeding. The AAP, American Academy of Pediatrics revised their statement about breastfeeding in 2005. Read full article here. You might be surprised to hear that it includes the following: **note I'm pulling this directly out of the above referenced AAP articles.

• Exclusive breastfeeding for approximately the first six months and support for breastfeeding for the first year and beyond as long as mutually desired by mother and child.
• Mother and infant should sleep in proximity to each other to facilitate breastfeeding;
• Pediatricians should counsel adoptive mothers on the benefits of induced lactation through hormonal therapy or mechanical stimulation.
• Healthy infants should be placed and remain in direct skin-to-skin contact with their mothers immediately after delivery until the first feeding is accomplished.The alert, healthy newborn infant is capable of latching on to a breast without specific assistance within the first hour after birth. Dry the infant, assign Apgar scores, and perform the initial physical assessment while the infant is with the mother. The mother is an optimal heat source for the infant. Delay weighing, measuring, bathing, needle-sticks, and eye prophylaxis until after the first feeding is completed. Infants affected by maternal medications may require assistance for effective latch-on.Except under unusual circumstances, the newborn infant should remain with the mother throughout the recovery period. (I believe most hospitals take the infant away for Apgar immediately and return the infant in a swaddled blanket; however, remaining skin-to-skin and all above mentioned procedures are the standard of care for most midwives). I found this quite interesting!
  
• There is no upper limit to the duration of breastfeeding and no evidence of psychologic or developmental harm from breastfeeding into the third year of life or longer.
  
• Infants weaned before 12 months of age should not receive cow's milk but should receive iron-fortified infant formula. I am certainly not sold on the cow's milk for a 1 year old. I will do more research in that dept.

I think we've made some strides in the breastfeeding arena. It seems almost everyone I know breastfeed their baby at least for the first few months. However, that is when society begins to turn their nose up (including my uninformed self). We should be CHEERING to hear that woman and baby have made it to 1 year, 2 years or as long as mutually desired by mother and child. Benefits to the baby are numerous including less ear infections, less risk of obesity, bacterial meningitis, allergies and many more...so if you meet a woman who is breastfeeding into her child's first year and beyond, smile at them, and congratulate them on a job well done.

I enjoy our breastfeeding sessions as does Owen. Now that he's six months, Owen is eating solids... and this boy loves to eat. I am making his baby food with some great advice from a great book, a review is in order.

Nursing Clothes; dressing the part.. how to find something cute to wear

um, okay, so you thought dressing for pregnancy was hard? HA! At least for pregnant gals you can roll into Target and pick up a half dozen outfits for $100.00 or even drop $175.00 on fabulous designer pregnancy jeans. Nursing? Now that's a real problem. Let me count the ways...

1) trying to access your breasts in the middle of the night with a squawking newborn after you woke up wondering why in god's name did you sign up for this?
2) trying to access your breasts 12 + times a day-- period.
3) trying to cover your fat gut while access your breasts 12+ times a day...with 10+ visitors a day.
4) having much larger than normal breasts that seem to take up too much room in your cute t-shirts that used to fit fine, which when and if you find one that still fits, you pull it up to nurse, your entire belly shows...beautiful!!
5) attempting to wear a dress because dresses are cool and comfy in summer time-- but seriously you have to pull the whole thing off to access those breasts I was talking about...

You see where I'm going with this? It's hard and let's face it, historically nursing clothes have been, in a word, matronly.

So I struggled through the first 4 months with renewed optimism that I could simply find the things in my closet AKA my *REAL* clothes that fit and wear them nursing. Sounds reasonable, right? I even drew inspiration from my lovely and very accomplished nursing friends who wear regular clothes. I never see their nipples, so why should it be a problem for me?

Despite my enthusiasm for re-discovering clothing that hadn't fit in months, I had the brilliant idea to supplement with a few nursing tank tops and voila all my outfits would be magically turned into ready-to-flop-a-boob-at-any-moment-outfits! Right? Wrong. How many ways can you wear two nursing tank tops? Let me answer that. Many, many, many, ways but eventually, you just want to wear something else... like something that doesn't include the need to wear pants (dreaded waist-ridden garments that dig into your still pooching belly).

I swear if I try on my real jeans ONE MORE time and they don't fit, I'm going to freak.

Answer to my prayers?

Two fold.
1) Get online and order some nursing wear.
2) lose the gut

I mean surely there HAS to be a company out there that services the poor slobs like myself who are trying to give their kid free nourishment while running a photography business. In my hours of pouring over the world wide web I found two decent sites. count them, ONE-TWO. Luckily both were pretty good and I like what I got.

Items I think EVERY nursing mother should own
1) 2 great nursing night gowns
2) 2-4 great nursing tank tops (seriously, they do turn those cardigans into an outfit)
3) a couple nursing dresses. They make these. *hooray* They are wonderful in the summer
4) a few interesting, cute nursing tops... for those times when you HAVE to be in public and you would prefer not to get pulled for indecent exposure.
5) last but NOT least. An arsenal of AWESOME nursing bras. You'll need one larger one to wear at night (these boobs are too heavy to go bare), and a few others. My favorite one is a strapless nursing bra by La Leche League. It allows me some freedom to wear some fun summer tank tops and dresses. Thank you, La Leche League.

Solution #1 Expresssiva and Boob, which I got at Baby Center.com
(I also like my Target nursing tank top for $14.95. I have two Glamour Mom tank tops and well, there are all sorts of internal structure issues that are annoying, but I still wear them).
Solution #2: hit the gym: HARD. Matt and I have been going to the gym first thing in the mornings and Owen enjoys the "nursery" and kids club. I was freaked out at first that he would contract some horrible flu virus, but hey, it's summer. I'm playing the odds.

Make your own nursing necklace!

Hi everyone!

Sorry I've been out of the picture a bit - but, like you all, I've been more than happy to enjoy Cameron's stories (and gorgeous photos).

Thought I'd finally chime in and suggest a fun craft project: nursing necklaces.



My friend Catherine and I made these as display items to inspire other moms for the first Breastfeeding in the Park event here in Athens, Georgia (Catherine made those beauties with the sea shells).

More than one mom asked me what a nursing necklace is. It's simply something to occupy busy (or pinching!) hands and roving eyes when you would like nursing sessions to be a little more focused (ie: nursing in public with a clothes-tearing octopus baby!). Obviously, you can use any sturdy necklace you already own, but it's a great project for moms (and friends of moms, and moms of moms!) who are crafty.

Here's the instruction sheet we had at the event. Go to it!

Swimming during Pregnancy, Birth, and make the Olympic Team?

If anyone thinks I exercised a lot during pregnancy, how about training for the Olympics? My new hero, Dara Torres, did swimming workouts during her pregnancy and will attempt to make the Olympic team, AGAIN but this time with a 3 1/2 month old. Oh yeah, and Torres is 40 years old. Please, if you want to feel inspired, read this article. Just for your information when I was 7 years old I could swim 25 meters in 20 seconds allowing me to be make the "B" meet. My best friend, Kathleen, could swim it in 19 seconds. Dara Torres does 50 meters in 24:63 seconds. Thanks to Karla, my sister-in-law, for sending me this article.

In my "Mommy exercise news," which seems to pale in comparison, I completed my first mountain bike ride yesterday: 1 hour 45 minutes. YEE HAW! It was the inaugural ride on my custom made Coconico bike, which is pink, thank you very much. It felt great to feel the cool Flagstaff mountain air rushing through my lungs again. I was smiling the whole time. Owen slept at home while Mommy got to stretch her lungs, I mean legs. I can feel the residual fat melting away. On a weigh loss note... I'm down to somewhere around 145-147 pounds. I don't have a scale but occasionally stop by the midwifery to weigh myself (it's 3 blocks away). I have lost approximately 33 pounds in 8 weeks! I assure you I haven't done anything special to accomplish this. I have been walking about one hour a day maybe 3-4 times a week. My "usual" weight is about 135lbs, so I've got 10 pounds to go (I was 140 when I got pregnant, which is WHY I got pregnant but we won't get into that). I can't say I'm chomping at the bit to get back to teaching spinning (indoor cycling) but perhaps in July I'll be ready to put the mic back on. It depends on if Owen can handle the nursery and if it fits with his schedule.

Bottle update: Owen is still fighting it but I have another short wedding on Saturday (my last until June 6). I just got a Playtex drop in style, so we'll try that one today. I've spent a small fortune on bottles.

Sleep update: Owen is now sleeping 3-4 hour stretches at night. Yippie. Ex: down at 7:45, up at 11:45PM, down at 12:00 up at 3:30, down at 3:50 up at 6:30. He did wake at 1AM but Matt put him back down quickly and quietly. I accomplished this by focusing on Owen taking a full feeding on a single breast each nursing and having quality daytime naps. For nursing: 12-18 minutes each time. I have always done single side nursing to avoid the extra lactose (can make for colicky babies) that is found in the 'fore milk*,' but hadn't been watching the clock or him closely enough. Now I try to offer the breast to him until he's at least reached 10 minutes and usually he'll go for an extra 2-8 minutes. This affords him the 'hind' milk, which is rich in fat, proteins and apparently stuff that makes them sleepy. I also focus on nursing when he awakes from a nap during the day and conclude the session with playtime, so that he's more tired when he goes down for a nap, thus he naps longer.

* if you didn't know, one of the most amazing things about breast milk is that it's composition not only changes as the baby gets older, (ie: milk for a 6 week old baby is totally different than milk for a 3 month old baby) it changes as the baby is nursing. First comes the fore milk, which is mostly water, next up is the richer creamy hind milk, which has more protein and fat. If you find your baby gets hungry quickly, you might focus on single side nursing with some burping or diaper changing to keep him alert. You can witness this phenomenon by expressing some milk. If you cannot see the difference with your own eyes during expression, try refrigerating it and you'll see the hind milk separate and rise to the top. Note how much time it took to express that milk and you might have a guideline about how long your baby should nurse. Take into consideration how the pump relates to your baby's suck.

Baby won't take a Bottle

So Owen is a funny little guy. He takes the bottle sometimes (by this I mean 4 times in his life so far) and other times rejects it in a major way (by 'other' times I mean approximately 12-16 rejections). Obviously, as a wedding photographer, I will have to go back to work eventually for ALL DAY. I think it's a good thing that this is inevitable because hopefully it will make him a more flexible baby. We try at least once a day to give him the bottle. I've read up on this, of course, and it seems there are many suggestions including these that I've tried

1) have Dad feed him while Mom is outside house
2) have Mom feed him with shirt up
3) wait until baby is really hungry to try
4) use Avent nipple or try different brands of nipples and bottles
5) use soft cups (laps up like a kitten) * haven't tried
6) do a feeding when baby is calm and relaxed
7) have an experienced bottle feeder feed baby
8) feed baby in a calm familiar environment (ie: favorite nursing chair)
9) make sure to try bottle feeds at various times of day

All in all, I wish I had started with this on week 3 or so because Owen had such a great latch and zero nursing problems. It probably would've been helpful to get him switch hitting early on. The Sears book said not to worry, get him to take a bottle once 2 weeks before going back to work and he'll adjust when Mom's away. What about peace of mind, Sears? Then in the Sleep Lady book it says give baby a bottle every day even if you plan on breastfeeding all the time just in case you have to leave baby for some emergency like surgery (makes sense to me). In another book it says to start as early as 2-3 weeks or you'll have problems because they come to prefer one or the other.

We'll see how it goes this weekend, I'll keep you posted.

I have a short 3 hour work engagement this Saturday from 11-2PM so we'll see how it goes. I don't REALLY go back to full days until June and even then it's only once a week.

Any help/comments in this department would be appreciated. I've already consulted with my pediatrician, midwives, La Leche League

Burp him-- ER, just thump it...

oh man, he's so cute when he sleeps on his side

catching an afternoon nap together

Moby wrap. I LOVE IT

Dr. Evil ?

the bear suit! Good for cold weather-- Owen loves it. Dad just had to put him in this... Matt loves it, actually

Kay I sware to post something worthy of mommy bloggers nation-wide soon. Kudos to Mary Jessica for doing so...

In the adventures of Owen-landia, I discovered something quite valuable (thanks to Amy Spangler) of Amy's Babies--Amy is the mother of a friend (Adam) from high school. She is the AUTHORITY on breastfeeding and that is an understatement. She actually wrote a great breastfeeding resource book, check out those links. Anywhoo Owen was having what I thought to be fussy/colicky episodes around his pooping and gaseous times-- also known to Matt and I as the alien cries. Boy was I wrong, the little guy doesn't mind pooping at all. He was fussing because he had gas bubbles in his stomach that I wasn't releasing because I wasn't being "aggressive" enough with my burping. Soooo ladies, mommies, grandma's, etc... cup that hand over that baby's back and thump that little dude firmly. Amy recommended I do this prior to nursing, mid-nursing and of course the popular after-nursing. Anyway, like magic, his fussing went away during nursing and I got a few more smiles and happy baby vibes. In any case, I am cutting out dairy (just to test it for 14 days) because Matt has a dairy sensitivity and I don't want my little guy to be in pain because of cow's milk. It's worth a try, plus if you know me, dairy is a main staple for me so I should probably shed some weight pronto. I mean no Dairy Queen for 2 weeks?? Unheard of--- now of all the things I sacrificed for this baby... this is the ringer.