Working Mother

I did some reflecting this weekend, in between trying to comfort a fussy, teething baby, about how I've chosen to mother my child. I'm pleased to say that I haven't had to compromise much of what I wanted for my daughter.

Originally, while I was still pregnant, I new I wanted to breastfeed my daughter as long as I possibly could. I went into her birth knowing I would, but still bought a few cans of formula "as a back-up". I tried her on formula twice in the first few weeks. Since then, she has been exclusively been breastfed or drinking expressed breastmilk during daycare. My first goal was 3 months - and it came and went, then 6. My next goal is 9 months. I broke up my goals to give me some short-term milestones to reach and to congratulate myself with. My ultimate goal is 1 year at which time I'll wean her onto cow's milk during the day and probably nursing at night and for comfort for a few more months after that (or as long as my supply lasts).

I really have no desire to nurse her into toddlerhood (although I applaud women who do), it's just really not my thing. Pumping has been very hard and very demanding and I really do look forward to hanging up my pump horns. I savor the times when I nurse Natalie, although she's more than often fussy and squirmy, which makes it hard to have that magical bonding time. We rarely have a quiet, peaceful nursing session. Through it all, though, I know I'm giving my best for my child and I haven't had to compromise my wishes and desires for her.

The same is true now with baby food. My daycare provider really started me on this one. She makes all her own baby food. I figured if I was putting forth the effort to breastfeed her because it was so much better for her, then why would I want nothing less for her once she started whole food? Again, making her food is demanding of my time, but I can see already the rewards. Natalie is learning what food actually tastes like instead of eating jarred food that tastes nothing like the real thing (everyone remember that horrid game of "guess the baby food" played at baby showers?). I'm hoping that this will help her gain healthy eating habits and have her eating a wider range of foods into toddlerhood and beyond.

I realized the demand these things take on my time this weekend. When I wasn't comforting a fussy baby I was pumping (because she wasn't eating well) or making baby food to freeze when I really wanted to just sit down and read a book. I'm exhausted, but my baby has a full belly - my milk and wholesome food in the freezer and she's HAPPY.

So... I am able be a working mother AND still be able to provide for my daughter without compromising. Are there other things I could do like cloth diapering, etc...? Sure... but I'm exhausted. I've made my list of my absolutes and I have to make peace that these things will be enough.

Prunes - It's What's for Dinner

Strike

Nati is going through a nursing AND a bottle strike right now. Yesterday at daycare she took 2-1/2 ounces in 9-1/2 hours (wow.. am I really away from my baby that long?!!!). She's bearly nursing at home and although she's still waking up 3 (ack!) times at night, she's not nursing as much as being comforted.

We temporarily stopped solids over the weekend in an attempt to help her with some horrifically painful gas she was having. I'm not sure if the two are related or not.

It seems like taking the solids out didn't help with the gas much, so I'm taking a closer look at my diet (which hasn't changed much at all lately). We're doing probiotics, but it's not helping much either.

Poor thing is just miserable.


06/19/08 - Update. Nati's doing MUCH better, but still pretty gassy. She's eating off and on. Yesterday she drank 16 ounces, today only 8. I'm not going to worry too much about it. I ended up giving her some sweet potatoes last night and she DOVE into them. She had been missing them a lot. She ate up very happily and her gas was no better or worse. Who know? MAYBE I'll have her figured out by the time she's a teenager. LOL

Test Bottle #1

Well, after research today, we're going to try the Mam ULTIvent Bottle. It's BPA free, vented and it has very high reviews from breastfeeding moms on various sites I've looked at.



Mam Bottles

The one thing I'm concerned about is the flat nipple. One gal mentioned that her LC didn't care for the flat nipple. Here is her quote:

"The only reason I haven't given these bottles 5 stars is because my Dr. (a breastfeeding medicine specialist) took one look at the nipple and declared that it was detrimental to my attempts to reestablish BF. (I had stopped nursing for medical reasons and had been pumping and giving my daughter expressed breastmilk in these bottles.) She said the reason is that the flat shape of the nipple teaches the baby to keep their tongue further back in the mouth, which can later cause damage to mom's nipple when BF."

I'll have to see if Dr. Punger can weigh in on this one.

I did give Nati a "test suck" on just the nipple and she latched on to it no problem and took a couple of sucks. Mike is going to test it out with her tonight for one feed so we can see how it works before we unleash it upon our daycare provider.

That child is phased by nothing... except when it comes to sleep.

Eating Cereal

Well, we're finally starting to feel better. Nati is still getting up every 2 hours at night, and I still have a sinus infection, but I feel somewhat, sort of human for the first time in 2-1/2 weeks.

At the urging of my mother and husband, I decided to give Natalie some rice cereal in the evenings to try to get her to sleep better. I had set in my mind that I was going to wait until she was 6 months, but after weeks of no sleep, I was willing to try anything.

Tonight is the third night I've given it to her, and I have to say, she LOVES it. (and this cereal was given to her AFTER I had already nursed her with a really good feeding! She acts like she hadn't been fed in hours, but she had just eaten, really well!) I'm going to stick with the cereal only at night for quite some time, and not introduce anything else for a few more months. I just don't think her system is ready for it.

But, I have to admit, she looks SO cute with the cereal all over her face!