Bye Bye Breastfeeding

So, it has come to an end - my bouncing little cherub of 7 and a half months is coming off the boob. I feel liberated but a bit sad that I may never breastfeed again - it's such a beautiful feeling to produce your baby's milk and satisfy their demands with your body. Their sounds of indulgent gulping throughout, and contented cooing after they've finished a feed - all produced by you. I loved how easy it was (after the first week's soreness hurdle) to feed my baby and not need to sterilise bottles and buy powder and have water ready at a time when Elias needed feeding the most often. Milk on tap, portable, warm and forever ready beat night-time formula prep and also gave me an extra hand free to pick up my coffee (it's OK during a feed!), browse online, stroke baby or fend off a toddler. Oh, and it gave me massive boobs for a while, which is such a change!

Although he's forever developing, I feel as though Elias has entered a new phase of mobility, exploration, and communication that ties in well with a severence of our special bond. I too, am entering a new phase of independence and freedom, allbeit due to my own disorganisation of not expressing milk or leaving my baby for too long. Most mothers balance breastfeeding well with normal life, my response was to just involve my baby with everything I did and everywhere I went, thanks largely to babywearing - but now I want to burst free and go out dancing, drinking, stay out late, largely because I can - but mainly because I miss it. (err I haven't yet but want to! On the hunt for a babysitter ;)

Gosh this sounds dramatic and life-changing but it's a just a new phase of so many others: he's commando crawling, loves holding our hands and going for a little walk, leading the weaning and I had almost forgotten how messy that gets! His night-time sleep is always interrupted by a need for 2 bottles which is frustrating and tells me he needs to eat more during the day, but this is part of our journey to make him a strong little boy and I'm happy knowing that I started it the best way I could.

Now, to wait for les boobs to settle and go underwear shopping!

Formula Won

It's been a week since we've introduced Formula milk to baby Leon.

I bought a big tub of SMA and a few bottles and it's going well so far. I bought the SMA Blue extra hungry tub and a couple of mini 250ml cartons again (great for when you're out for more than 2 hours and he needs a feed - or for my mum to feed him- as it's so easy, just snip and pout into a sterilsed bottle)  - but I have noticed that Leon is not eating the puréed carrots and very much else that I'm trying to give him and he loved it two weeks ago!

He's having 8flz oz + 8spoons of powder in a bottle 4 times a day and still some breastmilk in the morning and afternoon. He's sleeping well - sometimes through the night (8.30pm - 6amish) though when he wakes I'll sometimes feed him myself. 2 day-time naps and lots of play and stimulation - he seems happy, so I'm happy :D

Amazing how quickly we're going through nappies - especially with the new formula milk and carrot purée his poos are a lot more interesting! Will buy another tub of SMA but think that I'll try the yellow one this time which is more similar to breast-milk. Though perhaps I'll stick with the blue heavier milk for evening feeds....?

Teething troubles and hot potato

20 weeks / almost 5 months! : Little L is now teething. His first little tooth has popped up on his lower gum and it's so lovely to feel it with my finger. He's not a happy bunny though. The sun and heat are already causing him bother - he hates it!! Coupled with the new tooth though makes him rather fragile.

I've found the following help:

Frozen dummy - dummy in the freezer for a few minutes then he can chew on that
Sophie the Giraffe  - Loves to chew on that.
Frozen cloth - muslin cloth drenched in water, wring it out then place in freezer for half hour or so. Originally for him to chew on - but he doesn't chew it so I use it to keep him cool. Pat him with cloth from time to time to cool down.
Cold flannel - just to wipe all over his face and body, feet etc.
Bottle of cooled down boiled water - as he gets thirsty. used to give him a couple of teaspoons as per my granny's advice, but now i take a bottle out with me. Even though they say breastmilk contains water and is enough - sometimes he's just thirsty so don't want to feed him again. Or I just put a few drops on his lips.
Cool purée - I've started giving him some carrot purée and make a batch then freeze in ice cube trays. I take out 1 or 2 blocks when frozen in a little tupperware in the morning and by afternoon when we're out and about I can give him some of that in between feeds. It also cools him down.

At night he gets so warm he only sleeps with a sheet. I don't want him to get a fever and don't want to resort to Calpol for the discomfort. I read that sometimes he's scared as he doesn't know what is going on with the tooth - rather than it being really painful - and often distraction is the key! So playing a lot with Little L is also a great way to get him through this tough time! How long will it go on for? Poor thing

Formula

Little Leon is 4 months old and still waking up once or twice during the night (sleep@9pm, feeds sometimes@12.30am and 3.30am). I'm exclusively breastfeeding, loving it, and don't mind the night-time feeds at all. However, envisioning a good nights sleep, we thought "perhaps let's combine formula milk for the evening feeds and maybe he'll stay asleep longer..."



I picked up two HiPP formula milk cartons from Waitrose to try it out, envisioning the feeding to be done by his father (who's bottle-fed him expressed milk in the past) but no, it was up to me. And it was horrible. Maybe I'm too emotional, but I felt like an awful mother giving him formula when I could breastfeed there and then. It felt wrong and I was sad :(

It made no difference to his sleeping - he didn't settle as well as usual (even had to resort to trusty hairdryer) and awoke at 3.30am for a feed much to my delight as my hard-rock boobs were really uncomfortable and had leaked all over the sheets! Will wait a bit longer me-thinks, though I'm sure it will always be hard to make the transition. Will defo get hubby to feed him though.

Top 10 Breastfeeding apps

Breastfeeding is a time for bonding with your baby and providing him with what he needs- and I enjoy our moments of closeness- but sometimes you feel like multitasking- or playing a game...!

My Top apps while breastfeeding:
1. Scrabble- fun, challenging and improves vocabulary
2. Blogpress - blog when it comes to you and laptop is too far away...
3. Hippo mouse- for when laptop is close enough to see screen but you want to type, scroll and control from iPhone
4. Facebook + Twitter(Echofon) - keep informed
5. Style.com- if only for Look of the Day
6. Flixster- to watch upcoming film trailers
7. Countries quiz game - fun and educational!
8. Impossible - challenging to get all acheivements
9. Rightmove- to look up dream properties
10. Fuzzle- simple but addictive game


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:A305,Richmond,United Kingdom

Breastfeeding and Drugs

Breastfeeding is brill and I want to carry on for a couple of months or so - but I still like the odd glass of red with a hearty meal and a good natter over a cappuccino. I liked this website that tells you the facts on social drugs and their effect on breast milk.

For example
CAFFEINE : "Unlike alcohol and nicotine, the effects of caffeine on breast milk are at their highest after 1 hour of drinking the tea, eating the chocolate, and so on. So you may be able to time your caffeine hits so that you have them just before a breastfeed. And it can help to drink lots of water so that you stay hydrated and the effects are diluted."
Great! I now make sure that I have my coffees just before or during feeding

ALCOHOL : "The general rule of thumb is 2 hours for every standard drink [for the alcohol to wear off], but again that will depend on your weight, if you have been drinking on a full or empty stomach, and if you have had any water in between drinks."

The site also lists the facts for Nicotine, Marijuana, Methamphetamine, Heroin and Methadone!

Breastfeeding

I've really enjoyed breastfeeding the past few months. Only now am I starting to feel tired due to the night-time feeds and sometimes feel as though I have the baby permanently attached to me as he's still feeding every 3 hours. The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months before introducing solids, but our parents' generation introduced them at 4 months... I'll see when he's ready but for now I've started to give him little 'tastes' of other foods as suggested by the Mexican ladies. Up until now he's mainly tried a few drops to the tongue of mexican beans.

French feminist Elisabeth Badinter suggests that breastfeeding is a form of oppression and prevents women from going out and doing what they want to as they need to be constantly with their babe - but has she not heard of expressing? I know what she means though... and I think that the NHS ram it down out throats a bit too much equating Breastfeeding=Good Mother=Good Woman that women go to extreme lengths to do what is deemed best. A local mother is expressing her milk every 2 hours to feed her son as he didn't take to the breast. While I admire her persistence, I believe that she needs to take care of herself as well and not feel bad for not BF. Those that it comes easy to are lucky and I am happy to be one of them. It's just very convenient not to have to wash up bottles and be able to 'whip em out' whenever you need to.

Then there's the bonding :)

For the past few days, Little Leon has started to pause halfway through a feed on one breast then moves his head up and smiles at me! I saw that my mum has written the same thing in my baby album "as if to say Thank You mummy!" and I totally see it now. I thought she may have confused it for a gas smile, but it's a proper huge smile. He's doing it during most feeds now and it's so sweet. I was considering moving on to formula soon as I'm getting a bit tired of BF, but now I've swung right back onto the BF branch. It's lovely!

The only thing I'm not sure about is that I didn't realise how my breast would change to these soft boobs that seem to belong now to my baby... Will they ever become perky again!