Mayor Bloomberg is saying "no" to formula: by amy

I first want to say that today is Sunday, August 5, 2012, and my son walked his first real steps by himself!  The smile on his face said it all-- he looked so happy and proud of himself as he walked into my arms.  It also must be (hopefully) coincidental that today his behavior is just completely OFF.  We learned he has a temper (must come from his father, heh), is chock full of energy and right now, as I write this, is screaming in his crib.  Husband and I already went in twice, and we drew the line.  It's now CIO time.  I forgot how awful this felt.  Also not looking forward to cleaning the dried snot off of his face tomorrow morning...10 minutes and counting...

OK so what am I really writing about tonight?  This article.

 

Mayor Bloomberg is implementing a program in NYC hospitals (which is voluntary, btw) whereby hospitals keep formula out of sight from new mothers to help encourage them to breastfeed.  If mothers insist on formula, the nurses need to 1) sign out the locked up formula, and 2) give a speech to the new mom about why breast is best.  Kinda like when you're at Bloomingdales and the lady asks if you'd like a free cup of Nespresso coffee, and you have to stand there and listen to her schpeel about why Nespresso kicks Keurig's ass (this is jean, it really does!).  Imagine that, but add raging post-labor hormones, exhaustion, frustration and perhaps humiliation to the picture.  Sounds lovely, doesn't it?

[btw, 15 minutes, and the baby is finally sleeping.  *PHEW*]

I gotta give it to Mayor Bloomberg-- he's just looking out for the greater welfare of his fellow New Yorkers.  First, he targeted the obese New Yorkers by cutting down the soda in-take, and now (of all people), he's targeting new mothers and NYC's newborns.

As many of you ummas know, when you go to the pediatrician, your OBGYN and the hospital, they all offer free gift bags, often in forms of baby-stuff-organizers which also include coupons and free samples of formula.  Free baby food?  Sure!  Yes, all of my doctors, nurses (and my mom, who is a labor and delivery nurse), the posters on the walls of the offices and hospitals, my instructor in my childbirthing class, and all hundreds of books and online articles that I read reminded me that "breast is best."  I had full intention to breastfeed, but I also heard about how difficult it could be and how some women had little to zero supply, so I managed my expectations.  It took some time for my milk to come in, and hence, took some time for Logan to latch on.  During our 2nd night at the hospital, Logan was SCREAMING while hardly anything came out of my breast-- just a few precious drops of colostrum.  He was also tearing up my girls (literally) so he would cry out of frustration and I would cry out of pain.  Poor husband felt so helpless watching the two of us.  That night, we asked the nurse to give him just a little bit of formula since nothing seemed to appease him.  I was so scared he would get nipple confusion but after just a few sucks of formula, he was happily dozing off, and we felt it was the best decision at the time.  As we were discharged, the nurse offered us a big pack of formula which we accepted, and we were on our way home.

Conveniently, Hurricane Irene hit during our first night home with Logan.  I breastfed Logan in the dark with candles.  We woke up to feed him about every 2 hours.  I didn't dread coming to him when he cried/woke up-- I dreaded his mouth attempting to latch on to my already torn up girls.  My milk clearly hadn't come in yet, he wasn't latching on, and my girls were torn up and bleeding.  So, I decided to attempt to nurse him for as long as I could take it (and he could drink the colostrum which was the good stuff), and then the husband would "top him off" with a few CCs of formula via a plastic syringe (given to us by the pediatrician at the hospital) to avoid nipple confusion.  While the husband fed him, I pumped to try to stimulate my milk production.  At the next feeding, I would attempt to nurse, then we would feed him whatever I pumped from the last feeding and a few CCs of formula.  At one point, my girls were REALLY torn and needed a break in between feedings to heal, so then I would just pump, and the husband would just feed whatever I pumped.  Once my milk came in and Logan properly latched on (no more torn girls!), my mom realized it was still a pretty low supply (I was no dairy queen like Jean!), so she encouraged me to supplement just a little with formula.  Then at one point, I exclusively nursed for awhile, alternating sides.  As Logan got bigger, I started supplementing again b/c I would nurse for a total of 90-120 minutes per session before he seemed to really stop.   I felt like my body never had time to fully replenish the supply.  I took lots of supplement to try to boost my supply, but in the end, I was just thankful that I was able to offer Logan some breast milk on a daily basis.

Logan's pediatrician encouraged me to exclusively breastfeed but was totally OK (and encouraging) when I decided to stick with supplementing.  I think Mayor Bloomberg's proposal is great.   NYU Langone Medical Center, which has already restricted access to formula, has seen its breast-feeding rate increase from 39% to 68% by doing so.  But, while every mom is different and needs encouragement along the way, no mom should feel guilty if she chooses to give formula to her baby.  Circumstances will arise when formula is a necessity, and I don't think hospitals should give moms a hard time if they request formula.  I wonder what the lecture sounds like.  Probably something like, "Breast feeding is great b/c of XYZ and provides XYZ for your baby.  Are you sure you want you and your child to miss out on this?  Please sign here indicating that you DON'T want to give your baby what's best for her.  Don't say we didn't tell you so..."

I'm sure they phrase it a little bit better. :)

Anyway, what are your thoughts on this program?

tailoring your nursing pad : by jean

ever since i had miles, i've been using lansinoh's disposable nursing pads.  for the longest time, it didn't make sense to get a reusable one since i would usually leak a good amount (especially when it was closer to my pump time),  and if you've been following our blog, you know i am THE dairy queen!

i only pump twice a day now.  i get about 12 oz. each time i pump,  so that's about 24 oz. per day-- not bad coming from pumping over 40 oz. daily!!  i think my body is finally starting to slow down so i'm not leaking as much and my boobs don't get as full as they used to.  there have been days when i would wake up and my nursing pad is completely dry.  i was feeling a little guilty about not being so green so i ordered a pack of TL Care 6 Pack Organic Cotton Pads.  the cotton felt nice but the problem was that they were completely flat.  the lansinoh nursing pad had a bit of a curve which was great because you didn't see any lumpy-ness when wearing it under your bra.  these reusable ones were not the case.  after much pondering, i decided to tailor my nursing pads. 

i cut two small triangles off of each side of the pad and sewed them back together.  you should sew them like straight lines going across-- not sure what the proper sewing terminology is.  now you have a pad that has a nice curve so it doesn't give your boobs lumps when you wear it.  voila!

the life of a dairy queen : by jean

my mom told me when i got pregnant that i would not have to worry about having enough milk, but that i would most likely have too much.  it must be genetic because she was right.  i had so much milk from early on!  however, miles never latched on well so his doctor encouraged me to bottle feed him since he needed to gain weight his first weeks at home.  

i was a bit bummed.  i wanted to be able to nurse him like how most moms do.  why wouldn't he take my boob!  i tried going to a lactation consultant, used nipple shields...in the end he just ate so well with the bottle that i didn't want to irritate him.  

so began the life of a dairy queen.  at first, i was pumping as much as miles was feeding.  6-8 pumps a day for about 20 minutes each.  it was tiring but that's what i was told, that i had to pump as if i was nursing so my milk would come in and regulate.  i tried to pass time by either texting with amy, playing games on my phone, or going on kellymom.com to get ALL the information about breastfeeding etc.

this is how my pump life as evolved.

month 1: 6-8 pumps/day; ~4oz/pump;  total ~32oz 20 minutes

month 2: 5-6pumps/day; ~8oz/pump;  total ~40oz  20 minutes

month 3: 4 pumps/day; ~9oz/pump; total ~40+oz   15 minutes

month 4: 3 pumps/day; ~12oz/pump; total ~36+oz 15 minutes

my average after the 1st month has been about 40oz/day.  this is why amy started calling me a dairy queen.  you would think, once you pump less your amount decreases right?  that's what they say...but not me!  my total amount either stayed the same or i had more!  the most i ever pumped out that i have written out is 46oz a day, the most i ever pumped out in one pump session was 16.5oz.  i had to change out the bottles that i was pumping into because it started to overflow.  oye.

a few times when i was switching to lesser pumps a day, i got clogged ducts.  how do you know?  there is a tender spot that hurts when you touch and its rock hard.  i found the best way to relieve these clogged ducts was to massage really well when you are taking a hot shower, as well as massaging as your are pumping. 

pumping only 3 times a day has given me so much more freedom.  the first few months when i was pumping more frequently, it was so hard to go anywhere!  even if i was going out for a walk with miles, i think about what time i would need to be back, and once i'm back if i can distract miles for 15 minutes or if he would have to be fed or be taking a nap.  soo many things to figure out!  

i feel incredibly blessed that i am able to give miles breastmilk even though he never really latched on.  back in the day, they didn't have pumps or any milk storage system so all this liquid gold would go to waste!  but not now!

since i produce more than how much miles consumes each day, my freezer is packed with frozen breastmilk.  early on, i realized that i needed to start cycling out my frozen milk since it was starting to take over my freezer.  so everyday, i put in the freezer 2-3 6oz milk bags and take out the oldest 2 frozen bags each day to mix into miles's bottles.  below are pictures of my freezer.  each ziploc bag contains about 14-6oz bags.  on the bottom near where the ice cubes are my oldest bags that i take out each day.  on the side door are the ones i'm currently freezing. i really like the lansinoh milk storage bags.  they are very space efficient.  currently there's about 8 bags in there with another bag about to form on the side door plus about 10 that i took out of the bags that i currently use. that's roughly about 130 milk bags, that's about 780 oz of breastmilk!  that kind of sounds gross and amazing.  it all came out of me!  ah!

14-6oz bags per ziploc bag. currently about 8 bags in there.

newest milk that i freeze on the side and then eventually put in ziploc bags

don't get me wrong, i'm not trying to show off...ok maybe a little.  only because its just ridiculous how much comes out!  but even though  i've had tons of milk, i never got to have that joy with nursing.  nursing was such a traumatizing experience for the both of us.  i really wanted to nurse.  it would make it so much easier than constantly pumping, making bottles, cleaning parts etc etc.  i even went to a lactation specialist at his doctor's office.  she said miles was a "lazy sucker" (lol)!  in order to get him to latch on properly, it would take some work...but that he CAN do it.  she suggested trying the nipple shield.  the nipple shield worked sometimes, but other times because so much milk was coming out miles would literally choke since he couldn't control the flow.  so he's freaking out, breastmilk is spilling everywhere...it was not fun.

so there i was, just milking away like a human cow.  on the days when miles wasn't having a particularly good day, or the weather wasn't good and we've been stuck at home, pumping made me feel very defeated.  i wasn't depressed, but very much defeated.  here i was using a machine to squeeze out breastmilk because my son wouldn't take my boob.  what would i do if pumps weren't around?!  i felt like a robot, constantly having to plug myself onto it.

i've been doing this for so long now that i'm immune to it all.  i have embraced being a diary queen.  i still don't like doing it, but these are the sacrifices we all have to make. right?

the big question now is...when do i stop?  i seem to have about a month's supply of frozen milk.  a part of me is thinking maybe end of this month when miles is 6 months?  maybe a birthday present to myself?  stay tuned!  

the things they don't talk about : by amy

warning: parts of this entry may be TMI for some readers.  read at your own risk.

There are a lot of things about pregnancy and birth that people just don't seem to talk about.  You only find out that these things are quite common after you start going through them yourself.  For example, I think at least 50% of women at my church have had at least one miscarriage.  Not just one, but AT LEAST one.  Turns out, trying to have a baby can be harder than it sounds from health class.  Yes, you can mechanically get the job done up front (or...wherever), but there is a timing element and then so many stages to go through before you're actually clinically pregnant.  

 
My OBGYN's office didn't even let me book an appointment until I was at least 4 weeks along b/c many times, the case can be a "chemical pregnancy," which is when you have a very early miscarriage.  You could have a positive pregnancy test b/c the test was able to detect the hormone levels that occurred when you conceived, but in reality, you've already miscarried.  I'm thankful that conception and delivering went pretty much according to plan for me.   

Another thing no one told me about was the recovery process.

The day I came home from the hospital, I put frozen dumplings on my swollen feet

I knew it took an extra few weeks to recover from a C-section which seemed obvious.  I had a vaginal birth and figured it would take maybe 2-3 weeks to heal since there was no major surgery involved.  I also walked out of the hospital gaining more than I did when I first walked in to give birth (and I gained nearly 40 pounds throughout my pregnancy)!  Due to the epidural/IVs, I had a LOT of fluid to lose, which meant lots of bathroom breaks (btw, do your kegels!!  Or you'll be hitting the head every hour!), but the act of sitting down was oh-so-painful!  I didn't know I was going to have to wear an ice pack down THERE with a super-thick-diaper-like-pad held in place with stretchy, mesh panties everyday.  I don't think I wore regular underwear for the first month.  I didn't know going to the bathroom would require a 4-step process: rinse, dab, spray antiseptic, replace hazel witch pads.  What the hell were hazel witch pads??  They sounded evil (but they're not.  They actually feel quite nice :)).  I didn't know that I'd probably have to sit on a donut most of the time (I had a 1st degree tear) and be sitting in a warm sitz bath over the toilet every night.  Why didn't anyone tell me these things??  Well, now YOU know.  This is what happens when something the size of a watermelon comes out of something the size of a lemon.

Lastly, the baby blues, aka post-partum depression (PPD): 

I thought I'd be the last person on earth to get PPD.  I'm usually a pretty upbeat and happy person-- Jean almost didn't want to be my friend b/c I supposedly smiled too much (yes, she really thought that!).  But after a day or two of being home from the hospital, I started to feel...depressed.  Burdened.  Sad.  I would cry for no real reason at all.  Sometimes the mere fleeting thought of my husband having to go to work the next day instantaneously brought tears to my eyes, leading to uncontrollable sobbing.  Nursing was excruciatingly painful the first couple of weeks while Logan learned to latch.  When my milk supply didn't seem to satisfy Logan, I felt like I wasn't meant to be a mother.  Everything just felt like it was too much for me to deal with.  I didn't want to see friends-- only my husband.  I didn't want him to return to work and leave me home alone for 10 hours with this "thing" that I was now responsible for.  Even my favorite foods and hobbies didn't interest me anymore.  All I wanted to do was sleep and veg, neither of which I had time to do.  It didn't make things better when my husband would say things like, "Don't tell me YOU have post-partum depression..."  So then, I didn't want to talk about it because he would look at me with that "oh my God, you're not DEPRESSED, are you??" look on his face.  I would tell myself, "I sort of miss my pre-baby life.  Gosh, I must be really that selfish.  I'm a horrible mother for feeling this way.  I should be overjoyed and experiencing an amazing, loving bond with my baby like everyone else.  What's wrong with me?"

So in order to get me out of my rut, I started tagging along with my husband when he went to class in NYC.  We ate at the Wholefoods and I walked around the neighborhood, got cupcakes at Billy's, or hung out at the Starbucks until my husband finished.  Nursing in public was a bit of a struggle but I eventually got the hang of it.  I looked forward to these days every week because we were (mostly) together as a family.   I felt a bit like my old self again wandering the streets, window shopping and munching on treats while wearing the baby in the carrier.

After about 2 months, the clouds finally broke for good.  My confidence as a mother grew and I started to experience that loving bond that people talked about.  Our 6am nursing session became one of my favorite times of the day.  I think my case of the baby blues was generally mild-- I never felt a desire to hurt my baby or myself.  When I shared my feelings with other veteran moms, I had realized that lots of moms experienced some type of baby blues, but no one seemed to talk much about it.  Meanwhile, here I am thinking, "Well no one else is talking about it, so I guess I'm the odd ball."

Well, I admit I still am generally a bit odd, but who isn't??  :-)

boob sweat: by jean

yes, i said it. boob sweat.
i've never really had this problem until now.

the past few days have been a bit humid here on the east coast, and i'm scared of what's to come this summer.  at home, i stay away from wearing those lovely nursing pads as much as possible but in public, i stuff my bra with them because i know i will leak at some point.  it will soon get way too hot to wear pads under a bra, so for now i found a decent solution: get a lace bra with no padding (no, i'm not trying to be sexy).  i have one from the Gap, something similar to this below:

Rose lace convertible wireless bralette $29.99

i put my lansinoh nursing pad in the bra since this doesn't have any padding.  that way, there's at least a little less fabric! it makes me feel lighter than wearing my regular bra or a nursing bra and stuffing the nursing pads on top of that.

i also love my american apparel's interlock bra.

American Apparel interlock bra $10.00

i've had this since my pre-pregnancy days.  it's almost like wearing a thin tank/bra.  since its thin and not too tight, it expands with you as you "fill up" on breast milk without making you feel too suffocated.  if you are in need of more support, this is probably not the best solution but it will definitely be a lot cooler and lighter, which means minimal boob sweat!

for all the nursing/pumping ummas out there: how do YOU stay cool during the summer?