Sunday, August 29, 2010

Breastfeeding

We went to the zoo this weekend. It was nice! The weather was perfect.
I saw a monkey breastfeeding and thought it was so sweet.
I began to think about why it is not acceptable for humans to feed their young in front of each other.

I mostly felt uncomfortable nursing my own in front of other people because of how awkward it made them feel. I just never felt comfortable to nurse in public. I nursed in front of my inner family, and that was pretty much it.

When I was in the hospital I was really self conscious about breastfeeding with both of my kiddo's. A few people I know couldn't stand even being around someone who is nursing. I was trying to nurse my babies under the covers while anyone visited. If I had to do it all over again; I'd just ask them to leave if they didn't feel comfortable.

Especially with having c-section's, Mica's cyst under his tongue, his frenotomy, Isaak not latching right and both not gaining enough weight.  I kind of needed to see what I was doing! I did get smart with Isaak my second child, and said, "No visitors on the first day." That was so great! No one watched me try and nurse, no one saw me throw up from the anesthesia, I could feel my legs and walk before I had visitors outside my inner family.

When I saw this monkey nursing, I thought, "That is really special!" A bond between a mother and child can be made stronger just by nursing.

Note that the mother doesn't care who in the heck is watching. I'm sure the people watching didn't care either.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Making Your Own Baby Food Just Got Easier: NEW Make It Easy System by Infantino!

Jolly Mom has a great giveaway going on now! One reader will win a variety of Make it Easy products from Infantino!

I think this is great for any new mom!

My cousin is pregnant. I'd love to give her this set!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Weaned

Isaak's been weaned for about a month now. Every once in awhile he still asks for, "Bottles?" That's what I've always called nursing.
I just tell him, "Isaak Mommy's bottles are all gone. I now just have breasts. There's no milk in them anymore."
He looks sad.

    Monday, August 9, 2010

    Has Your Child Ever Attempted to Breastfeed a Doll or Stuffed Animal?

    Surprisingly to many this is not odd behavior. My sister pretended to breastfeed her dolls, and my youngest son has done the same with his stuffed animals a few times.

    This is just your child's idea of role playing. They make fake bottles for dolls and FurReal Stuffed animals. They make play food and dishes. These are all a form of role play.

    I think that as long as your child doesn't take it too far, this role play is natural process. Like anything, if they get obsessive about nursing their dolls or stuffed animals talk to their doctor if it worries you.

    Potty Training Tips

    The wonderful world of potty training. I know a lot of mom's get stressed about potty training. I never really did unless my young one's would regress because they didn't feel good.
    I don't have all the answers, but here's a few tips that worked for us:
    Like anything I personally believe that baby's and kid's give us signs when they are ready for something. 

    Examples: 
    1. When my boy's started throwing their binky's out of their crib, I took it as a sign that they didn't need their binky's any more. 
    2. If my boy's would of started climbing out of their crib, I would of moved them to a big boy bed. 
    3. When my boy's wouldn't hold still when getting a diaper change, or took their diaper's off; I took it as a sign that they were ready to begin to understand what potty training is all about. 
    If I would of gone past this point, I would of felt like I was training them to go in a diaper and not in the toilet.

    Argument between disposable and cloth diapers:

    I admit that cloth diapers are better then disposable ones. They are an alert to being wet. Disposable diapers hold the wet in. I didn't take my own advice, and used disposable ones. Much of it was knowledge for me. I didn't know what I do now. Cloth diapers are expensive, but you save in the long run because you are reusing them. My sister used cloth, and her youngest son felt when he was wet long before my youngest son did. 

    There is the whole environmental argument that disposables take up landfills and don't decompose. There are disposable environment diapers, but they are expensive. It takes just as much water to make a disposable diaper as it does to clean a cloth one. 

    Infertility rates, cancer and diaper rash went up when people started using more disposable diapers. You can read about that here.

    Naked is best!

    I trained both of my kids earlier then most. They responded in a positive fashion. For us it's easiest to let them run around naked. They HATE peeing on themselves!

    Both of our boy's learned to pee standing up fairly early. They do not aim. They just get up on a stool, hold onto the open lid, lean over and pee. Since they are naked on the bottom half they both went on their own at 2 years old.

    Types of potty's:

    We have a padded seat that fits onto a toilet. It took our 4 year old forever to wean from this padded seat. Then we used it for our youngest. Bad idea! Try and just use the actual toilet. They get addicted to what's comfortable, and won't go in public (unless they have their seat).

    My sister told me to put my kid's on the toilet sideways for number 2. This is narrow, so they don't feel like they are going to fall in. They'll also go in public this way. Plus if you have a boy, their penis points down if they're on sideways.

    If you are on the go have an empty ice cream bucket with a lid in the trunk, and a padded seat. This is when a padded seat is useful. Just put the padded seat on the bucket. When they are done going out in the middle of no where, you can cover up their stool or pee with the lid to the ice cream bucket.

    Treats, rewards, stickers or just praise?

    We gave our oldest stickers and praise. We gave our youngest just praise. They get excited when you get excited. To me praising is the BEST! Tell them how proud you are of them, give them high 5's, clap and give hugs. Then they aren't let down when the stickers or prizes stop coming.

    To read more about early on potty training go here!

    I love the mom's view at this site. Everything she says I understand. Again, I wish I would of read this her site earlier on!

    Is there such a thing as training too early? It does take longer. It's a process. Not every kid trains in a day or two. I can say this: Back in the day when more mom's stayed at home, and nothing but cloth diapers were used kids trained earlier and were successful. There is something to that.

    Saturday, August 7, 2010

    Guest Writer

    My dear friend Felicia from Go Graham Go! is due to have a baby soon. She asked me to be a guest writer for her blog.
    I wrote a post about Breastfeeding Awareness Month. Please go there to check it out!

      Tuesday, August 3, 2010

      Happy Breastfeeding Awareness Month!

      I'm not going to post to much about Breastfeeding Awareness Month because I keep a blog about this subject year around!

      If you know someone that's about to have a baby just simply talk to them about the perks of breastfeeding.

      Some perks that stood out to me the most are:

      It helps fight sickness, ear infections and allergies.
      It helps with childhood obesity.
      It helps with bonding.

      If done more then two years it helps fight breast cancer.
      In the beginning it helps mom lose weight.