Nutrition

When my first daughter was born, I made my dad bring a sandwich to the hospital with actual deli meat. The kind they tell you to avoid when you are pregnant. When we got home from the hospital, my husband and I ordered from Jets (our local favorite). Part of a pizza, a Jet Boat, pop and a salad later, I was finally full. It had been so long since my stomach could actually fit more than a package of M&Ms in it and I was so excited to have food back-I wanted to eat everything in sight.

This is also due in part to the hormones and the breastfeeding as well.

The second time around was no different. The minute I gave birth I began clamoring for food. While hospital food is no good, the second you finally have some room for a meal, you will take it. However, as a nursing mom, I can respect the desire to eat everything in sight, you have to realize that you are still eating for two. While the diet isn’t a strict, it’s important to keep it well balanced.

One of my favorite breakfasts when I was nursing was oatmeal.

While there is no scientific evidence to support the claim, many nursing mothers, including myself, claim that oatmeal can help increase milk supply. Plus, it’s a good nutricious breakfast to start the day. It’s high in iron and oat bran, which are healthy in and of themselves. Women who use oatmeal to boost their supply say any form of oatmeal and even oatmeal cookies do the job.

For more information on this, you can visit Kellymom.com and search for oatmeal.

Underestimation

I underestimated how much a one-year-old takes in apparently. That or her solid food consumption is up. A week after my little one turned one, we still have breastmilk left in the freezer! I’m working on getting her on to whole milk so I’ve been mixing the two, which is making it last even longer than I planned.

I’m so proud of us. I never ever imagined that I would have issues coming from such a rocky start with both of my children. Despite the fact that formula feeding is often faster, easier and can be passed off to someone else, I’m happy for what has come of it for me and my baby. I’m glad I was able to come so far.

She’s growing and developing and thriving and it makes me feel good to know that I gave her that for the first year of her life.

Teach the children

While I am married and work full-time, I am the mom. I am the one they look to for food, bedtime stories and clean diapers. My two-year-old does what mommy does. Mommy never gave her sister a bottle. Mommy always nursed. And sometimes, Mommy pumped. I'd hear from my daughter, "Mom, you pumpin'?" Yes, yes, I am.

So it would seem only natural that my daughter thinks all mommies nurse. Her mommy did. So I'm saddened that people would be so offended by another four-year-old nursing their baby as is written in Four-Year-Old Breastfeeds Her Doll in a Restaurant.

This is exactly what I would want my daughter to do. There is certainly no shame in it. It's her body. That's what it's for! I covered up myself and my baby for other people but I stopped caring. I was feeding my baby. It's natural. The way some people eat at restaurants is not.

Kudos to the moms out there who are examples to their kids in nursing!

The Dry Spell

I think it's finally upon me. The milk has left the building. It only took a few weeks and I think last weeks reappearance, plugged ducts and immense pain were brought upon by a certain monthly guest. Who would've thought?

I'm only still slightly uncomfortable in certain tight fitting clothing. I feel as though I have returned mostly to normal in the size department and my baby is adjusting to the change in her routine.

I miss it a little. Mostly the convenience. Now I get mad when I defrost and warm up a 5-ounce bottle and my little one decides after 2.5 ounces that she's finished and the bottle then becomes trash. I sometimes miss the late night cuddles and getting her back to sleep easily, as now we are trying to teach her middle of the night is not always the best time to eat. And I miss stealing away with her when things get chaotic so she could have a little snack and I could have a little break.

But the time had come and now I'm just me again. It's a little lonely, but a little nice too.

Right heavy

As I've started to wean, it's clear what side my baby preferred, not that I didn't know it already. It's the right side, which is common in right handed women and I am one. However, I wasn't prepared for that side to be so...obviously favored.

It's really common for one side to produce more and therefore be noticeably bigger, but it's not a big deal. It just makes me feel super self-conscious right now. Normally, I would pump or nurse and it wouldn't be quite so apparent, but in this case, while I'm weaning there isn't much I can do.

This weekend we were at the beach with some family and I was wearing a bathing suit. I knew it was visually obvious that I was a little bit....lopsided...but my husband assured me no one was looking....there.

Okay right, engorgement plus lopsided boobs plus a bathing suit....everyone is looking.

But since then, I've decided to take a new approach. I can't do anything about it. Babies changed my hips, babies changed my tummy, heck babies even changed my thighs. While exercise and diet have helped bring those things in line, it took time. And this will take time too. Pretty soon, I'll be back to even sizes again and missing the days that uneven boobs was my biggest worry.

I thought the end was in sight

I finished nursing the week after Father's Day. I felt great. Not overly engorge. Not leaking. I thought I had weaned well enough to get past the uncomfortable phase and on to the celebration of my one-year goal.

Apparently not.

This past Saturday I was camping and woke up a little sore. Shortly thereafter my little peanut hit me on accident and I thought I was going to scream. Ouch the pain. I checked and I was a little engorged but mostly just suffering from a bunch of plugged ducts. It was like marbles inside my breast. It hurt so bad.

Being that we were camping, there wasn't much I could do but hope I didn't get an infection. I didn't have my pump so I tried the next best thing--nursing. Too bad my baby thinks that is so last week. I had to grin and bear it.

As a result I have come up with some tips.

-No tight fitting clothing-I know you are all eager to jump back into regular bras, tight fitting tank tops and bathing suits, but maybe give those nursing bras a few extra weeks. Wait until you have gone back down to size before trying to squeeze into anything. The tightness doesn't help!

-Hot showers-This will relieve some of the pain and encourage some of the excess milk to leak off. Though the steady stream of water can be a little painful if you are covered in plugged ducts.

-Don't throw away all of your breast pads-Keep some around (I gave away the disposables but kept all of the washable ones) because the over engorgement can lead to leaking.

-Don't pump a lot-I'm trying not to pump at all unless it gets really bad. Why? Well, pumping to stimulate your body to produce more milk.

So far, that's what I have learned from this experience. I hope it helps you as you start to wean.

Neglected

My daughter was less than two years old when her sister was born. Suddenly, she was from queen of the castle to sharing the title and that was not easy. Neither was having mommy home, but not being able to play every second of the day.

Besides being tired, recovering and a little overwhelmed with a baby, I had a toddler running loose in my house! And just about every 45 minutes I was strapped to the chair with a hungry baby. Whatever was I to do?!?!

Not to worry, my toddler was not scarred. She was not damaged. She may have been a little bored but we worked it out.

I knew the transition would be tough. And having mommy home and stuck to a baby would be even tougher. So, we figured out ways to have fun around the nursing schedule. First of all, I put her little table near the chair I was feeding in. While nursing, I would color, help with stickers and read. We read books. We put together board puzzles. We watched movies and television shows. She wasn't deprived of attention. But I have a very independent little girl on my hands, so maybe she is a rare case.

In the time I wasn't nursing, we made the most of the moments. We went on walks. I put the baby in a Moby wrap and pushed the toddler in her swing. We painted with pudding. We danced. We played in her water table and I watched her splash in her pool. We played Legos. We kicked a ball back and forth.

And in her own way, she knew that mommy had something else to do. She knew when the baby was eating and she would ask "you gonna pump?" when I would get out my pump bag. She never bothered me or nagged, and even though I felt guilty, I knew it was important. I mean, she got that time with me, shouldn't her little sister? Me and the baby needed time to get to know one each other without a layer of skin and some internal organs separating us. We needed to have time to learn how the other worked. Just because she had an older sister didn't mean she didn't deserve all of her mom too! God knows there are already way fewer pictures of her, should there be less time as well?

I had to drop the guilt and realize that at not-even-two, my toddler didn't know any better. She was okay with giving up some of her mom for her new sister. And the relationship between me and the youngest is better for it.