Welcome to the What to Due? Preparing for Baby #2 Giveaway! Hosted by Spit Up is the New Black I've teamed up with Ashley over at Spit Up is the New Black to celebrate the welcoming of baby #2! She's hand selected products for, and in preparation of, a second child, and has partnered with over a dozen amazing companies to offer one lucky reader over $1,700 worth of baby essentials! #DueWithBaby2 Prize Suite: Sarah Wells “Maddy” Breast Pump Bag Britax B-Agile Britax B-Safe $100 Gymboree Gift Card Naturepedic Organic Cotton Ultra 252 Seamless crib mattress guzzie+Guss G+G 401 Rock Boppy Custom Fit Total Body … [Read more...]
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Disclaimer: The information in this post is for educational purposes only. I am not a doctor. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. None of the opinions are meant to diagnose or treat any disease or illness. You should always consult your healthcare provider.
Tips For When You Need to Use a Nipple Shield
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I wish I knew back then what I know now about these amazing little nursing shields - this simple item saved our breastfeeding relationship! But first, a little history... My first baby was less than a day old and still hadn’t nursed for more than a few minutes. Since she was a large baby and I was overweight, she was having her blood sugar checked every couple of hours. It had dropped so the nurses said they recommended giving her a bottle. She sucked it down. It was a horrible moment to me to think I was failing my baby so quickly. It just seemed like she wasn’t able to get attached. The lactation consultant and nurses tried helping me … [Read more...]
Breast vs. Bottle Feeding
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We know that breast is best -- but do we know why? If you compare breast vs. bottle feeding, which one comes out on top? Let's take a look at the two to see the pros and cons. Breast vs. Bottle Feeding - Which is Best and Why? Convenience: In terms of convenience, breast will always come out on top -- for the mom, anyway. For a caregiver, they will need to heat up a bottle, whether it's full of breast milk or formula. However, anyone can give a baby a bottle. Cost: Breast milk is free! However, if you're not hand-expressing your milk, you will have to pay for a pump, plus the bottles and storage containers, and possibly even the breast … [Read more...]
Breastfeeding Sling: Conveniece for the Busy Mom
For most new moms there comes a time when snuggling all day with your newborn is not only unreasonable, but can also come off as unproductive. For most women this is around the one week mark. For me it's day three. Day three is the day when I want to get back in the swing of things. Sure you're still a wreck "down there," have uncontrollable milk production, and still have no idea where a shower fits in. But underneath all that "Oh, wow I have a little baby now!" attitude is the desire to get back to normal. Lucky for us breastfeeding and baby-wearing go hand-in-hand. Enter: the breastfeeding slings and other carriers! There are several … [Read more...]
Breastfeeding Awareness – Parenting Tips
Last week I shared why it's important for us to provide our children (even our teens) with the type of training that normalizes breastfeeding - you can read that post here. We want to prepare them to be comfortable with breastfeeding and breastfeeders. But I promised you some tips for how to do this, so here are breastfeeding awareness parenting tips - feel free to share with others so we can continue to normalize this beautiful aspect of mothering. Breastfeeding Awareness Parenting Tips Expose your children to breastfeeding mamas. Don’t shy away from them, and don't be embarrassed to be close by when a mom is nursing her baby. My … [Read more...]
Stages of Weaning: Introducing Solid Food
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So you realize that your baby isn't a newborn any longer and you feel as if they are ready to take the next step in feeding--solids. There are several stages of weaning and while the introduction of solid food doesn't mean you will no longer be nursing, it is the first step towards your child gaining nutrition from sources other than Mommy's milk. If you've never gone through this stage before, you might be unsure of how to begin or what to do. There is a vast amount of information out there when it comes to this topic. Everyone seems to have an opinion or advice and it can certainly become overwhelming. Well-meaning friends and families … [Read more...]
Weaning My Baby and the Guilt I Felt
In January, Hubby and I found out we were expecting our fourth blessing. A complete surprise! We weren't even living in the same state at the time while building our new home. Because of my past preterm labor issues, I knew I was now looking at weaning my baby. And processing the guilt I felt. I nursed Fletcher for 27 months. At first glance, it seems positively silly for me to feel guilty for nursing only 27 months. But weaning brought up so many past emotions from past nursing experiences that I hadn't been ready to face previously. I nursed Henry, my first, for 15 months. I nursed my second, Maxwell, for 14 months. I nursed Fletcher … [Read more...]
Breastfeeding Awareness – Working with Young Adults
When I was birthing and nursing my youngest two, my husband was a pastor for young adults, just attending college or beginning their careers. As a mentor to the young women, I saw it as part of my calling to model natural parenting and to help cultivate "breastfeeding awareness" with them. So several of the girls were with us in the birthing room, and I never went away to nurse our babies. I was always discreet, but I also made it a point for breastfeeding to be a "normal" part of our family life, in which many of the young people we mentored became welcome regulars. I laughed one afternoon at a church praise team practice when a young man … [Read more...]
Ethics and Breastfeeding: A Match Made in Heaven?
When I first put those two words together, "ethics and breastfeeding", my brain felt as if it were moving through sludge. Have you ever contemplated something and, perhaps due to lack of sleep, boredom or just sheer mental exhaustion, cannot seem to fathom its meaning? This could be as simple as trying to define the word "the". Go ahead and try, you will get stumped too. Ethics and Breastfeeding - Defined But, really folks, these two words are quite entangled and not always for the better. Let's start by defining each word. Thank you Google for being my dictionary this evening: Ethics is defined as "moral principles that govern a … [Read more...]
When Feeding Expressed Breast Milk Wasn’t the Plan
Some moms give birth and are excited to begin pumping and feeding expressed breast milk to their little ones. Others, however, find themselves unexpectedly pumping and giving their milk by tube, cup, bottle or via a supplemental nursing system. This can be a confusing and, possibly, disappointing time for someone who expected to be breastfeeding. For those of you who were thrust into pumping, here are some tips to help you be successful in giving this liquid gold to your little one. Pumping Expressed Breast Milk Many moms are confused by the seemingly unending row of breast pumps in the store: Which one is right for you? Should you … [Read more...]
