Mammary Plush!

found these from a company called "I heart guts" and i LOVE it. why WOULDNT an aspiring lactation consultant want mammary gland plushes? yes i bought two. and yes i am eagerly waiting their arrival :)

Normal Feeding: an article.

LOVE this. thought i would share. this blog is called Best is Breast. but reality...Normal is Breast should be its true title :) (but it doesnt rhyyyyymmmme! :] )

website source:

http://www.drjen4kids.com/soap%20box/normal_%20newborn.htm#.T3Vyk1tLgYv

The Normal Newborn and Why Breastmilk is Not Just Food

What is a normal, term human infant supposed to do?

First of all, a human baby is supposed to be born vaginally. Yes, I know that doesn't always happen, but we're just going to talk ideal, normal for now. We are supposed to be born vaginally because we need good bacteria. Human babies are sterile, without bacteria, at birth. It's no accident that we are born near the anus, an area that has lots of bacteria, most of which are good and necessary for normal gut health and development of the immune system. And the bacteria that are there are mom's bacteria, bacteria that she can provide antibodies against if the bacteria there aren't nice.

Then the baby is born and is supposed to go to mom. Right to her chest. The chest, right in between the breasts is the natural habitat of the newborn baby. (Fun fact: our cardiac output, how much blood we circulate in a given minute, is distributed to places that are important. Lots goes to the kidney every minute, like 10% or so, and 20% goes to your brain. In a new mom, 23% goes to her chest- more than her brain. The body thinks that place is important!)

That chest area gives heat. The baby has been using mom's body for temperature regulation for ages. Why would they stop? With all that blood flow, it's going to be warm. The baby can use mom to get warm. When I was in my residency, we would put a cold baby "under the warmer" which meant a heater thingy next to mom. Now, as I have matured, if a baby is "under the warmer," the kid is under mom. I wouldn't like that. I like the kids on top of mom, snuggled.

Now we have a brand new baby on the warmer. That child is not hungry. Bringing a hungry baby into the world is a bad plan. And really, if they were hungry, can you please explain to me why my kids sucked the life force out of me in those last few weeks of pregnancy? They better have been getting food, or well, that would have been annoying and painful for nothing.

Every species has instinctual behaviors that allow the little ones to grow up to be big ones and keep the species going. Our kids are born into the world needing protection. Protection from disease and from predators. Yes, predators. Our kids don't know they've been born into a loving family in the 21st century- for all they know it's the 2nd century and they are in a cave surrounded by tigers. Our instinctive behaviors as baby humans need to help us stay protected. Babies get both disease protection and tiger protection from being on mom's chest. Presumably, we gave the baby some good bacteria when they arrived through the birth canal. That's the first step in disease protection. The next step is getting colostrum.

A newborn baby on mom's chest will pick their head up, lick their hands, maybe nuzzle mom, lick their hands and start to slide towards the breast. The kids have a preference for contrasts between light and dark, and for circles over other shapes. Think about that...there's a dark circle not too far away.

Mom's sweat smells like amniotic fluid, and that smell is on the child's hands (because there's been no bath yet!) and the baby uses that taste on their hand to follow mom's smell. The secretions coming from the glands on the areola (that dark circle) smell familiar too and help the baby get to the breast to get the colostrum which is going to feed the good bacteria and keep them protected from infection. The kids can attach by themselves. Watch for yourself! And if you just need colostrum to feed bacteria and not yourself, well, there doesn't have to be much. And there isn't because the kids aren't hungry and because Breastmilk is not food!

We're talking normal babies. Breastfeeding is normal. It's what babies are hardwired to do. 2009 or 209, the kids would all do the same thing: try to find the breast. Breastfeeding isn't special sauce, a leg up or a magic potion. It's not "best. " It's normal. Just normal. Designed for the needs of a vulnerable human infant. And nothing else designed to replace it is normal.

Colostrum also activates things in the baby's gut that then goes on to make the thymus grow. The thymus is part of the immune system. Growing your thymus is important. Breastmilk= big thymus, good immune system. Colostrum also has a bunch of something called Secretory Immunoglobulin A (SIgA). SIgA is made in the first few days of life and is infection protection specifically from mom. Cells in mom's gut watch what's coming through and if there's an infectious cell, a special cell in mom's gut called a plasma cell heads to the breast and helps the breast make SIgA in the milk to protect the baby. If mom and baby are together, like on mom's chest, then the baby is protected from what the two of them may be exposed to. Babies should be with mom.

And the tigers. What about them? Define "tiger" however you want. But if you are baby with no skills in self-protection, staying with mom, having a grasp reflex, and a startle reflex that helps you grab onto your mom, especially if she's hairy, makes sense. Babies know the difference between a bassinette and a human chest. When infants are separated from their mothers, they have a "despair- withdrawal" response. The despair part comes when they alone, separated. The kids are vocally expressing their desire not to be tiger food. When they are picked up, they stop crying. They are protected, warm and safe. If that despair cry is not answered, they withdraw. They get cold, have massive amounts of stress hormones released, drop their heart rate and get quiet. That's not a good baby. That's one who, well, is beyond despair. Normal babies want to be held, all the time.

And when do tigers hunt? At night. It makes no sense at all for our kids to sleep at night. They may be eaten. There's nothing really all that great about kids sleeping through the night. They should wake up and find their body guard. Daytime, well, not so many threats. They sleep better during the day. (Think about our response to our tigers-- sleep problems are a huge part of stress, depression, anxiety).

I go on and on about sleep on this site, so maybe I'll gloss over it here. But everybody sleeps with their kids- whether they choose to or not and whether they admit to it or not. It's silly of us as healthcare providers to say "don't sleep with your baby" because we all do it. Sometimes accidentally. Sometimes intentionally. The kids are snuggly, it feels right and you are tired. So, normal babies breastfeed, stay at the breast, want to be held and sleep better when they are with their parents. Seems normal to me. But there is a difference between a normal baby and one that isn't. Safe sleep means that we are sober, in bed and not a couch or a recliner, breastfeeding, not smoking...being normal. If the circumstances are not normal, then sleeping with the baby is not safe.

That chest -to -chest contact is also brain development. Our kids had as many brain cells as they were ever going to have at 28 weeks of gestation. It's a jungle of waiting -to-be- connected cells. What we do as humans is create too much and then get rid of what we aren't using. We have like 8 nipples, a tail and webbed hands in the womb. If all goes well, we don't have those at birth. Create too much- get rid of what you aren't using. So, as you are snuggling, your child is hooking up happy brain cells and hopefully getting rid of the "eeeek" brain cells. Breastfeeding, skin-to-skin, is brain wiring. Not food.

Why go on and on about this? Because more and more mothers are choosing to breastfeed. But most women don't believe that the body that created that beautiful baby is capable of feeding that same child and we are supplementing more and more with infant formulas designed to be food. Why don't we trust our bodies post-partum? I don't know. But I hear over and over that the formula is because "I am just not satisfying him." Of course you are. Babies don't need to "eat" all the time- they need to be with you all the time- that's the ultimate satisfaction.

A baby at the breast is getting their immune system developed, activating their thymus, staying warm, feeling safe from predators, having normal sleep patterns and wiring their brain, and (oh by the way) getting some food in the process. They are not "hungry" --they are obeying instinct. The instinct that allows us to survive and make more of us.

Wonders of Breastmilk! Part 1.

forgive me for being so offline; my girl has some colicky issues (i truly believe she needed her "4th trimester") and its been hard to get online to update!

so i jumped on to specifically post about something awesome.

the wonders of breastmilk.

i have long since heard and believed breastmilk is liquid gold.

not only does it protect your baby against SO many diseases, but when you get sick, your antibodies to the illness are passed to your baby, thus preventing them from getting sick, even with their weaker immune systems, they are still kept healthy!

while i hate to say Breastfeeding "reduces" risks, because i moreso believe NOT breastfeeding INCREASES risks, ill use the term reduce for the sake of this article.

Breastmilk, whether expressed or directly breastfed, reduces the risk of many a mallady.

the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC) says this on their website:

• Breast-fed children are more resistant to disease and infection early in life than formula-fed children
  
  
• Breast-fed children are less likely to contract a number of diseases later in life, including juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, and cancer before the age of 15
  
  
• Mothers who breastfeed are less likely to develop osteoporosis later in life, are able to lose weight gained during pregnancy more easily and have a lower risk of breast, uterine and ovarian cancer

But there is SO much more. if you go deeper youll find there are more benefits than just those they named. in my studies, one of my training modules states this:

Human milk reduces the risk of developing the following medical conditions in infants and children:

• Non-specific gastroenteritis
• Severe lower respiratory tract infections
• Atopic dermatitis
• Asthma (young children)
• Childhood overweight and obesity. Longer breastfeeding duration lowers the odd of the child being overweight ²¹. Additionally, breastfed infants regulate their food intake according to caloric needs.
• Necrotizing entercolitis (NEC)
• Lymphoma, leukemia, and Hodgkins
• Type 1 and 2 diabetes
• Acute otitis media
• Late-onset sepsis in preterm infants
• Urinary tract infection
• Reduces morbidity and mortality rates ²²
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Exclusive breastfeeding offers stronger protective effects ¹⁸
• Additionally, human milk enhances visual acuity

HOW INCREDIBLE. of course, im sure ive talked a little about this before.

but today i wanted to bring up another point. this isnt a study i read, and honestly i have not come to the read about this in any coursework on lactation, so i dont know any sources or sites other than personal accounts of friends or that ive read online. ive read in many a place from many a mother that some mothers use expressed breastmilk on minor injuries from cuts and scrapes, burns and sores. One friend of mine told me recently she used breastmilk on her sons blocked tear duct, and it healed! another told me that she would regularly use her breastmilk on bug bites, and it was used during a camping trip by her family to treat minor wounds. Google can tell you lots of stories about this phenomenom. while i havent heard medical professionals back this to me specifically, i thought i would try it out on my own.

During pregnancy with my son in 2008 i developed a rash under my arms that appeared to be acne like in nature. i had it for so long i cant remember how long it took after he was born before it began to clear up. clearly it was some sort of reaction of sorts. when i became pregnant with my daughter, it came back almost immediately. WITH A VENGEANCE. knowing it would stay for awhile i consulted my doctor who prescribed me antibiotics for this rash, what he guessed to be a staph infection.

it didnt work.

so i tried a few body washes with salicylic acid to combat the reash. no luck.

so then, i decided. Lets.Try.Breastmilk.

i was fully pumping until just recently, so i would use about .25 an ounce and slather it on the sores. i did this about three or four times.

these photos are a couple weeks apart.

here is the before.

the photo does not do it justice. both underarms were inflamed and the blotches were large and red. they would come to a small head of pus. quite nasty if you ask me.

here is the after :)

i reached out to my breastfeeding group for some personal accounts of breastmilk healing :)

ill update with their accounts soon.

of course i would be doing myself and you a disservice if i didnt say that these are merely personal accounts of regular ole womens, and you should consult your doctor before trying anything heal-like and medicine-y.

(word vomit)

:)

later breastfeeders.

only quick update

colic has me busy.

but White Noise = awesome.

i found an app on the tablet for white noise, and another for my phone called Clean Noise that is GREAT. and it has helped a ton. she is having trouble eating, she gets restless and pulls off and gets very squirmy...i think its the gas. got some more simethicone. hope it helps!

i hope today finds you well!

success! (and some about colic)

my girl has been 100% on the breast for 3 days now! (okay, save for one feeding from my sister by bottle while i was out of the house.)

however my girl has, for the last few weeks, been really upset and havign fits of crying.

could it be just normal crying? maybe, but my son didnt have it and it doesnt seem like this could possibly be normal.

for the last week no dairy.

starting tomorrow, NO caffeine, not even the recommended amount.

after that, if it doesnt work...i dunno what ill do.

im weird about colic.

ive always believed that colic isnt crying for NO reason, its crying for an UNKNOWN reason.

and im on a mission.

maybe its something i eat. maybe she wants to be held a certain way. or hear a certain noise. or ride in the car. or be swaddled a different way. or be sang to. or take a bath. or she is too hot. or maybe too cold.

i dont know.

im no doctor.

im no expert.

im just her mum.

and im so sad to see her so sad. matter o fact, it makes me so upset, i just cant believe there is NOTHING i can do. i HAVE to try.

:(

what worked for you and your little one?

tonight the only thing that got her to sleep was the car ride. and even then, once i hit a red light she'd jump awake and be sad panda. but after an hour of driving anda 1/4 of a tank of gas, i came home and fed her and she has been sleeping long enough for me to blog! so we'll see!

Here we go with APNO

40$ for this little thing that I hear is magical.

I wish I could post a picture of the scabbed crack I've got.
Trying this all purpose rx ointment.
Ill keep ya posted!

Milkscreen

i LOVE these.

im not much of a drinker, but i AM one of those women who wont have a sip of booze because of my milk.

once i discovered these, i was able to enjoy a glass of wine, and know i could test my milk later.

just put a drop or so of milk on the strip and the color coding will tell you if your milk is safe! (its like a breast mood strip! haha!).

i found these at target (9.99 for 5 WORTH IT) and online. i wouldnt be surprised if there are other stores too.

as always, drink responsibly, not only breastfeeding-wise, but also when it comes to vehicle safety. keep the number to a cab in your phone, and know your limits!

be safe friends!

Adiri Natural Nursers

i used these with my son who was tongue tied. these worked for him and he felt they were breast like.

im putting off using them with my daughter, because she needs to master her tongue movements first.

but i LOVE these and have 8 of them :)

i recommend them for sure!

very durable material and very booby like!

they unscrew on the bottom and really prevented a lot of gas with son, in my opinion anyway :)

homemade nursing pads

very simple concept:

flannel and fleece. 3 layers flannel to catch the onslaught of milk, and one layer fleece to protect your clothes from the leak.

cut in circles and sew.

first off, it seemed to do GREAT until a very forceful letdown, and then i had to change it, but it did spare my clothes!

im planning on making some extra strength night time ones (likely 5 flannel and 1 fleece).

:) i think it would be cool to use some old plaid flannel jams. but i didnt have any. my sis had yellow...which means i shouldnt have trouble spotting them from afar!

check em out.

Galactagogues Day Something...

its been almost a week or so.

ive not been able to be super consistent with pumping (mainly because at night i keep turning off my alarms without my own knowledge....yet i wake up to her slightly smacking on her hands...weird).

sometimes my 2.5 hourly output is about 4-5 oumces, sometimes its 3-3.5. Shes not eating as much, which is weird. shes kind of colicky (ill explain my thoughts on colic later) and i think she misses the breast! the left one still has the scab and it hurts like heck, but i do put her on the right when she wants to comfort suck and she does pretty good. sometimes she gets choppy and gnaws and i have to tell her no. i feel like if she were at the breast, there would be cluster feeding. im hoping once the nips heal and i get her back on, it helps!

i have noticed that my appetite has been pretty nonexistent lately.

ive cut out dairy so my breakfasts are oatmeal and slash or fruit.

lunch is whatever i happen to find, and then i usually have a large dinner.

but its more thirst. i have drinks all the time. juice and water and whatever is around. i love quenching thirst. i had forgotten how breastfeeding makes you parched!

thats all for now.

we also just got our new medela calma so ill update with the calma review and the breastflow review in a little bit.

Galactagogues Day 2

just a quick update:

today i took 4 capsules Blessed Thistle (i figured better to get baby back on breast asap :) )

and 9 capsules of fenugreek.

light aroma of maple.

(i also added an 8 oz cup of Mothers Milk Tea and a bowl of oatmeal to my diet today.)

the results?

same output all day ( 1oz and 2oz on the left and right respectively), one session was even a little less.

but the last one, that i expressed just now, was a little over 2 in the right anda little under 2 in the left = roughly 4 oz. :) improvements!

more later!

A quote...if you're feelin defeated....

He is able who thinks he is able.
~Buddha 

Galactagogues Day 1

I started today and decided to only use fenugreek for the first few days before introducing blessed thistle. I took the recommended 3capsules 3x today. (Beware, larger capsules with the powerful maple smell :)

Do I notice a difference? No. But I didn't expect to immediately. Baby steps!
More tomorrow!

WubbaNubs.

ill be honest.

i love pacifiers. i do. i am a firm believer that babies are born into a very scary place, and sucking has been their comfort in the womb, and its the only comfort they get to bring with them when they enter. they eat by suckling, and they comfort the same. i know of course bringing them in too early can be detrimental for nursing, so i dont condone their use until breastfeeding is established, or in my personal decision, for M to help her with her suck training (she refused my finger). I bought her Gumdrops and Soothies to work on her tongue training, and a friend of mine sent a WubbaNub to me. it was a precious little elephant with a soothie sewn into it.

M LOVES it. she can hold onto it every so often with her uncoordinated little hands and arms.

its not as easily lost.

and she has a focal point close to her face.

it gives me more mass area to hold while tongue training.

im grateful for this.

:)

check out this website; your litte one will love it!

http://www.wubbanub.com/home.html

Medela Car Adapter

SAY WHAT?! I can pump IN THE CAR! WITHOUT BATTERIES! this is AWESOME!

i got this locally for about 22$ at Babies R Us. ive seen them cheaper online, but BRUs was the only place who carried them locally. it has helped already, and ive only had it less than a week!

i remember years ago when nursing my son (makes me sound old....) i would have to use the batteries in my evenflo pump and the suction wasnt NEARLy as good as it was with the wall adapter. but the car adapter works just fine and plugs right in to the lighter port!

love this. im SO grateful this exists, making breastfeeding and breastmilkfeeding our babies easier :) thanks Medela!

Our Latest Endeavor: Breastflow Bottles

these bottles are cool looking, to say the least!

they have a patented nipple that has a purple nipple stopper inside. it works like a breast in the way the babies have to use their tongue in the same rolling motion to move that purple stopper around for the milk to come in. there are small holes in both the nipple and the stopper to allow milk transfer, but its not much. so far M is still using the sucking mechanism, but i can tell she does use her tongue as well.

i bought these online from Target 3 for 12.99 plus shipping.

they normally offer them at babies r us, but our local one isnt very well stocked on some items.

i like them so far, and will keep using them for awhile. its nice because the base of the nipple is large, so i can press the base against her chin and emulate a deep latch just like a breast :)

i read reviews of people that said it was hard to clean or it leaked....

ive had no problems cleaning them; it takes just a little bit longer...only an extra 20 seconds really. and i havent had a leak once!

just my thoughts!

happy breastfeeding!

Haberman / Medela SpecialNeeds Feeder

just thought id post a picture of M using the Haberman, or as its now called the Medela "Special Needs Feeder". :)

you can find information on their website.

here is a quick link:

http://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/products/576/specialneeds-feeder

they describe it like this:

"The SpecialNeeds Feeder is designed for babies with facial or oral problems that hamper their ability to maintain adequate suction for feeding. The specially designed valve and silicone feeder adjust milk flow to suit baby’s needs."

Here are my thoughts:

I know this feeder bottle is recommended for those with Cleft Lip/Palate or both and i do recommend it! it can also be used for babies with poor suck habits. it is definitely in part responsible for her getting her tongue working in the right way for milk transfer i think, and it also helped her with her suck suck swallow breathe reflex. the "slow" line was still a bit fast for her, but a lot of bottles have been so far so i dont discount the works of this bottle.

i liked that it didnt just fall into her mouth when she drank. the way it works is this: you turn it upside down and squeeze the top chamber which forces out air and allows milk into the top chamber. this only needs to be done in the beginning of the feeding; baby's suction brings milk down during the feed. It has 3 lines, short medium and long. Short for slower flow, medium for medium flow and long for fast. you match up the Line you want directly under baby's nose and that determines flow!

Good Luck Mommas!

No new is No news. Last LC appt (for now)

until i meet the new one that my baby girls insurance covers :) Im going to miss those ladies quite a bit. they are SO wonderful.

anyhow, my last appt with her was anticlimactic. i learned that M is 9#11oz (birthweight was 8#6oz, went down to 7#13 oz before discharge and so she has gained nearly 2 lbs in less than 28 days of life! excellent job M!

we discussed my recent issue with supply. might have downregulated a bit too much. ill be taking Blessed Thistle and Fenugreek if the supply doesnt straighten out. the dosage for fenugreek is typically 3 capsules 3x a day,

and BT is about 2-3 capsules 3x a day.

im going to hold of on the BT for now though because clearly my body is very sensitive to supply :)

i pumped at 230. got 3oz total.

at the appt my girl only took in .5 oz.

i got home around 630 and managed to pump a little shy of 5 ounces.

so in 4 hours i made 5 oz.

its odd to think that just last week i was pumping out 5 oz EACH BREAST in a 2 hour sitting! what a strange phenomenon the human body is! and how intense is it that it can change so much!?

im grateful though. i know things can change for the better or worse in a short period of time and so im not too worried.

LC was a little concerned that when i fed her with the bottle she began sucking instead of compressing, even though we're using a breastflow bottle (more on those in a later post).

we'll get the hang of it girl.

i know i get frustrated.

but even though it feels neverending and like ive been battling these issues forever, its only been a month.

we got this :)

Undersupply Diaries; WHAT?!

yeah. how quickly things can change.

i had gotten M back on the breast for a few days and it seemed to be going very well! i wasnt feeling full so i knew she was getting enough.

Husband and i decided to take a family trip to a cabin in the mountains!

i brought my pump just in case, but no expressed frozen milk. why would i need it? i was feeding at the breast! we were an hour from home, with no cell signal. that whole day i was feeling very tender at the nips, and i had some scabbing on the left side due to friction so i decided to pump the left and nurse on the right in block nursing fashion.

first pumping on the left i got 4 ounces easily. 2 hours later i nursed on the right, she fell asleep but i thought she had gotten enough. another 2 ish hours later i began to pump on the left. i got 1 oz. i decided to pump the right side at the next feeding to see how much i was getting. i pumped 2 oz. 3 oz in 4 hours? HOW?! i had JUST gotten through a massive oversupply! i didnt skimp, or diet, or go beyond the 2-3 hour block nursing recommendation. and we were back on the breast!

my breasts were very empty feeling, and even my husband mentioned they looked like they did before i was pregnant.

this continued throughout the night.

this was Friday night.

Saturday i drove into town to get M some milk from our freezer and called an LC working at the hospital. (when im an LC i think i may have weekend hours. it took forever to get ahold of an LC on weekend!)

i made an appt for Monday (today) and the LC thought maybe the nip pain was thrush or something like that. ill get that checked. as for the supply. she isnt sure WHY my supply dropped. there wasnt any stress or anything. I mean after all we were relaxing in a cabin in the woods away from everything and everyone :)

she "prescribed" lots of skin to skin time (difficult with sore breasts!)

its now monday, and i still am not getting more trhan 1 oz in the left and 1.5-2 on the right in a 2 hour period. i started fenugreek today, 3capsules 3x a day and ill keep that up for about 10 days to start i think. M is drinking about 3-4 oz a feeding now so i just need to get back there and ill be fine!

who knows, at the rate my breasts are going, ill be oversupply again in a split second. sigh.

i wish truly that i could have my baby, painfree at the fully efficient breast.

Oversupply Diaries:

i broke myself.

i pushed the pumping too far.

and i paid for it.

oversupply. something i never thought id have nor be sad to have.

but it hurts.

i had JUST started getting M to latch and nurse, and the Overactive LetDown combined with too much Foremilk and not enough Hindmilk in her feedings...it overwhelmed her. she would cry and sputter and spit. she was getting gassy and fussy. and i couldnt pinpoint it. until i googled. and then i realized the problem. the search results all said the same thing: Block Feeding. i didnt like that answer. especially since M was refusing the breast and in what looked like physical pain when we'd nurse. i didnt want her hating the breast.

i called LC; she said the same thing.

the fact that i was pumping and there was NO information online about how to modify the "block nursing" and correlate it to pumping was not helping.

Block Nursing, for those that dont know, is retraining your milk makers. you feed off of one breast for a block of time starting usually around 2 hours. you nurse your baby as much as they want in that two hours on the left breast, and then at the next 2 hour block of time you feed off of the right breast.

the concept terrified me. i was engorged. nipples achy. and my baby wouldnt latch. sok i improvised. maybe not the best idea. i pumped, every 2 hours switching which breast and i relieved only 3-4 ounces each time. i was pumping off about 4 ounces each breast every 2 hours. this started on Monday. I did it all night, setting my alarms every 2 hours. it HURT. ice packs on my boobs all the time i waited for the sweet release of the breast pump.

Tuesday Morning my breasts, both of them, were SO engorged! i tried to nurse M, but it was NOT going to happen. i felt like there was NO progress.

i kept up the same schedule. 2 hours left, 2 hours right. it wasnt the consistent release that block nursing would provide, but i hoped it would help lower supply enough to nurse comfortably. i began to pump out the foremilk, and then change bottles after about .5 ounces. i noticed the milk fuller and creamier, thank goodness. M was staying fuller longer with those bottles and i felt slightly better. i kept the pumping schedule through the night and was relieved when i awoke this morning, Wednesday, with relief in my breasts! It wasnt completely resolved, and i fed M a bottle right off the bat since i was full and needed to pump. but 2 hours later i was able to nurse her on the other side! she pulled off and refused after a little while, but i put her back on when she was hungry again. it seems to work! i FEEL like she isnt eating a full 3 ounces like she normally does, but i know babies are MUCH MORE effective suckling than a pump and can remove milk more efficiently. she seemed full and content and when she wasnt, id plop her back on.

only downside? my nips are SORE and the repeated latching on the same side does NOT help.

but i feel confident! i think this is going to help.

im glad too because i was getting SO STRESSED. thinking that it was just one thing after another and feeling SO defeated. :(

but, seeing my girl HAPPY and FULL on MY MILK?! priceless. it hurts something fierce, but i can overcome this. they're just boobs right? :) more on that later.

even the formula peeps know its true

i went t the store to grab some extra breast pads and milkbags and they happen to be on the same aisle as the formula. i got curious. i wanted to see the packaging and see if they were pressuring women to formula feed with marketing. i was very pleased to see that some of the major formula companies did not claim that formula was "as good as breastmilk" and even stated on the packaging that breastmilk was best. they did mention the formula was designed to be modeled after breastmilk, but it wasnt so misleading. now all mothers who read packaging can know breast IS best!

i was sad to see that one major company did not follow suit, at least in the three types i saw on the shelving. hopefully Similac decides to put something on their packaging stating the health benefits of breastmilk as well...

author unknown

found this on a fb post. loved it!

Now that I've opened my eyes to see the world in which we live,
l realize now the love you have was only for you to give.
l am happy that your nourishment for me is easy for us both
I'll take as much as you can give to aid me in my growth,
but now that my tummy is so full, l'm going to get some rest.
hoping you will do the same as you take me from your breast.
Thank you Mom and you too Dad for bringing me to life.
l will do my best to give you love, free from livings strife.

love, baby.

how perfect! :)

Tongue Tie Diaries: More success amongst failures.

today M nursed almost exclusively for one feeding. what im pretty sure is an overactive or forceful letdown hindered a fully exclusive feeding.

im making about 6 ounces a sessiona nd she only eats about 2.5 so it comes out hard and fast and it was too much. she coughed, spit and sputtered and cried befre giving up. :( but she DID IT! now to fix the overactive boobies ive got. what a great complaint to have! its not her anymore its me. and im so able to fix me!

also...i finally ventured out of the house with my new Medela Pump in Style. first time being out for more than 3 hours and pumping elsewhere and i accidentaly left my supplies for the pump in a bag at my parents, 30 mins away. it was getting late so i figured id run to the store to get extra parts. i paid 25$ for a medela kit. come to find out the flanges were ONE SIZED and ONEPIECE so i couldnt use my own 30mm breastshields with the connectors :( i tried to use the stupid standard 24mm and my poor nips cried out. my hub had to go travel to the family house and bring back my supplies! good man!!

the medela has worked well to draw out more milk. im glad for it. i have to give back the other one soon and was worried about supply and such. now im left trying to figure out how to make less for the girl! ill be calling the LC FIRST thing on monday to get it figured out.

im SO thankful!

Tongue Tie Diaries: more success!

she ate from BOTH sides today!

not more than 1.5 oz id say. but she did it! it helps that my let down is a bit more forceful and like that of a bottle!

speaking of, i ordered 3 of the Breastflow bottles to try out...still waiting on them to be delivered.

we need something slower. M is clearing out a 2.5 oz bottle in the haberman in less than 10 minutes! shes gotten good at suck suck swallow breathe, but i want her to do it on the boobie!

its such a pain to pump.

on the other hand, ive got quite the supply now and have even reached out to an adoptive mom to donate some milk to her when her son comes home!

hoping for more success.

success at the breast?!

we spent a few more good minutes today at the breast.

she fell asleep after a few.

but she took some!

no more than an ounce maybe. but still!

also...very little discomfort on my nips! thank god for lanolin and nipple butter!