10 Month Update

Well! I can't believe we're in the double digits now for how many months old Burkley is. His birthday will be just around the corner. Bittersweet. I wanted to do a 10-month update on all the things in Burkley's life. :)


1. Food
Babyled Weaning/Solids has been so much fun. And so incredibly easy. Just give him what we eat and let him do his thing. One night we had pasta tossed with veggies and it was too funny-- he apparently did not want any pasta. He picked out each piece of tomato and green pepper to eat and would toss the pasta off his tray. Apparently he was feeling low-carb that evening.

We are still only giving him food one or two times a day because back when he was eating three meals, his nursing dropped dramatically. But, he is back on track and doing fine with eating and nursing in a healthy balanced way.

Here he is eating some Mexican with us-- guacomole, rice, and beans.

 2. Mobility
He loves cruising around in his walker. He is a pro- he pretty much runs in that thing. He likes to tour the house and examine whatever strikes his curiosity. He also loves "running"  around in that thing outside in the parking lot next to our house. It's somewhat comical to me to see him in this thing because he seems so independent when walking in it.

And today (!!!) he just started crawling!!! Finally. (Well, it seemed like a long wait to us.) :)

3. Play
He's so funny when he plays. He's very "only child" in this regard-- he can entertain himself for a very long time. He enjoys playing with things that aren't toys, like this cardboard box and a ball of foil. He also likes to play with MegaBloks and whatever else is in his path. One of his long-time favorite toys is this string that has wooden blocks strung onto it to make it look like a dog. Here is DJing with it as his microphone. :)  

 4. Elimination Communication
Man, are we having fun with this!! We recently got him some skivvies on Etsy. They are absolutely ADORABLE. They hold one pee, so if we have a miss, no big deal, and they don't soak through to his clothes. They are easier to take off and on than his diapers and they help with his mobility because they aren't quite as bulky.

Man. Are. They. Cute.

He's doing really well though- he pretty much goes potty on the toilet every time we give him the "pottytunity" and he also does more or less all of his poops on the toilet too. We do still have misses when we're out and about, but on occasion he will go in public toilets and in the homes of our friends and family. Now that's he's crawling, I wonder how that will change things.

 5. Cosleeping
Burkley still sleeps in our bed every night and in our bed for all of his naps. We love having him with us and it makes my life SOOOO easy for his night nursings. However, I think it might be time to transition him to his crib for naps because a few times I've seen him on the video monitor almost rolling off the bed and/or crawling off. Sometimes I come up and he's just sitting there playing with something in the bed. Our bed is low to the ground, so it's not a HUGE deal if he falls, but obviously I'd prefer him to not fall. Also, because he's a whopping 20 pounds now and nearing 30 inches, things are getting a little tight in our full-size bed at night. So, we are thinking about bringing in his crib mattress to put on the floor by the bed. But, we'll see. No action is being taken on that for now.

And of course, he is still our sweetie pie mellow baby. He just loves hanging out with us whatever we're doing. He helps me "cook," helps Daddy with "yardwork,"and smiles and waves at everyone he sees. He's got four teeth now, two on top, two on bottom and his smile is all the cuter with those little buggers. We just love him to bits and can't believe how big he seems lately and how much he just keeps getting funnier, sweeter, cuter, and generally more awesome with each passing day. :)

My Thoughts on Birth: 10 Months Later

Welcome to the First Carnival of Birth Reflections

This post was written for inclusion in the Carnival of Birth Reflections hosted by Patti at Jazzy Mama and Zoie at TouchstoneZ. Participants are writing posts that reflect on how birth has transformed them into who they are today. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

***

It's interesting how our feelings change as time passes. Before I had a baby, I was told that one day I'd forget the pain of labor and delivery and thus one day want to have another child.

However, for me, that's not entirely true.
I didn't blissfully forget the pain because the birth experience I had was truly amazing.
Immediately after giving birth, I wanted to do it again.
The next day, I was still on the birth high and wanted to do it again.
The next month, once I was fully healed and my preemie reached his due date, and we finally had breastfeeding going well on our own, I wanted to do it again.
It wasn't until Burkley was about five months old that I thought, "Okay, I don't need to have another baby RIGHT NOW. I kind of like it just me and him."

So for me, what changed is that I went from wanting to have that amazing experience AGAIN to maybe being up for waiting awhile...not because of the birth itself, but because I'm loving my time with Burkley so much that I'm not ready for another baby to interrupt that. In fact, in the childbirth classes my husband and I are teaching to a couple we are dear friends with, I often mention how much I want to push out a baby again!

But, some things in my experience I look back on with different views than I had immediately following the birth.

1. Episiotomy
While I was interested in having a drug-free, natural birth for many reasons, near the top of my list was avoiding an episiotomy.  However, because Burkley was premature and things were getting scary near the end of his delivery, I had a tiny pressure-episiotomy to get him out a little faster. While it was happening, I was somewhat devastated. This was the one thing I was trying to avoid! But now, 10 months later, I look on that back with an "Eh, no big deal" attitude. It was so small and I healed so quickly that it was really not that big of a deal.

2. NICU
The NICU sucks. The nurses and neonatalogists we worked with were phenomenal. There is not one thing I could think of that they could have done differently to make our stay more enjoyable. However, I still would have preferred having my baby HOME with me, where he belonged sooner than later. 10 months later, I look back on that time and realize how much that really impacted me. At the time, I just went with it, did what I needed to do, and was thankful we were only there for a week. But now, 10 months later, I realize all that I missed out on by having a premature baby. No immediate skin-to-sin contact, no immediate breastfeeding, no snuggles and newborn cuddles without seeing my baby's face hooked up to zillions of wires and having to lay untouched for certain amounts of time under the lights and for whatever reasons they gave us. IT. SUCKED.

3. Hemorrhaging
This was one thing I was not prepared for in my Bradley classes or my research. My hemorrhaging was not bad, by any means, but I didn't realize, even until teaching the classes we're teaching now, that it is standard protocol for nurses to give you pitocin after your birth to stop hemorrhaging. Would have been nice to have been asked. 

4. Home Birth?
Even while pregnant, I knew I would love to have a homebirth, but thought maybe for my first birth, I should go ahead and go to the hospital. Plus, midway through my pregnancy, we moved and I didn't have time to find a good midwife to do a homebirth, so I just put that idea in the back of my head. Now that I've had 10 months to think about it, I know that for sure that is what I will attempt next time. I do have a slight worry about my next baby coming early again and how that could be scary, but, Lord willing, there wouldn't be need for anything beyond what an ambulance could provide for my baby if he or she needed to be whisked away to the hospital. Plus, a big part of me wonders if what Burkley REALLY needed was some skin-to-skin time with his mommy to get his breathing and other issues on track. I do feel robbed of the experience of having my baby laid directly on me after his birth and the cuddling, breastfeeding, and bonding that was "supposed" to occur, and I feel that while I could have had that in the hospital, had he not been premature, I for sure will get to do that at home.


So, there you have it: my reflections of my birth experience 10 months after the fact. I still look back on that day fondly and look forward to getting to do it again.

 Additionally, having gone through birth has changed my passions and interests in life. I now thrive on researching new topics including pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, natural parenting and more-- things that never seemed to interest me much before. I get joy from helping new moms in the ways that I was helped and I love being able to help them have a wonderful experience with it all. I hate the walls that motherhood can create, but there is something greater than those walls: I love the community motherhood creates. I never knew I would enjoy talking to other moms about simply being a mom. 

***

Visit Jazzy Mama and TouchstoneZ to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Birth Reflections!




Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• In the Middle - A Progression Through Four Birth Experiences Amy at Peace 4 Parents shares her birth experiences and the central focus that holds them together.
• A Birth Story-The Post Where I Finally Let Go Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama finally frees herself of all of the negativity she held onto regarding the way in which her daughter came earthside.
• From Hospital to Home Birth Kerry at City Kids Homeschooling explains how it took three pregnancies to realize that birth is a natural, empowering life event to be celebrated at home.
• Preparing for Joyful Birth-Making Peace with my Soul Shana at Tales of Minor Interest prepares to birth her second child with joy after a traumatic first birth experience.
• Reflections Rosemary at Rosmarinus Officinalis reflects on the planned cesarean birth of her breech daughter.
• The Top Five Utterances of my HBAC Leah @ Zen and the Art of Cloth Diaper Maintenance comments on how an HBAC brings many new expierences and phrases.
• Labor Phases: Latent, Sleep, Transitional, Hell CatholicMommy shares the surprises of her birth story.
• The Birth of My first Child - Our Miracle Baby Darcel @ The Mahogany Way Birth Cafe shares her story of the traumatic birth of her first child. Darcel still feels guilt over the birth and is looking for ways to heal.
• My Thoughts on Birth: 10 Months Later Adrienne at Mommying My Way compares how she feels about her son's birth now that he's ten months old with how she felt right after he was born, and how that impacts how she relates to other new moms.
• Jasmine's Birth, My Rebirth Patti at Jazzy Mama discovered that the birth of her third daughter would change her entire view of her Life.
• Birth Reflection: It Only Takes A Second Zoie at TouchstoneZ reflects on her third homebirth-the birth of her second living child

Poem

Baby

Baby, baby, so soft, so sweet
Across my lap you lay, asleep.
I stroke your hair, and rub your skin,
You've no idea the love I'm in.

Baby, baby, my sweet precious son,
Rocking you when the day is done,
Is one thing I know I'll forever miss
When you grow up and out of this bliss.

Baby, my baby, you'll always bring
Light to my eyes, cause my heart to sing.
Hearing you breathe quickens my heart,
Your nose, your eyes, a work of art.

Blessed be the One who's given you to me
My baby, oh baby, you'll always be.
Forever I'll know the smell of your skin,
The scent that I love when I breathe you in.

The touch of your face, smooth as silk,
The smile you give after cuddles and milk,
The sound of your laugh, the wet of your tears,
You are my baby, no matter the years.

I know one day you'll be a man,
But until then, just take my hand,
And together we'll share the world and we'll see
Our love will forever bind you to me.

There's nothing like a sleeping baby. :)

on his changing table...

at a friend's house...

in bed...

on a train...

on a plane...

in the car...

snuggled in close

sleeping with his mama... :)

Wordless Wednesday: Blue-eyed Boy

Man, for a boy, he sure is pretty! ;)

WIC: My Concerns

I have been on WIC for a couple of months now. I have some reflections on my experience thus far that I'd like to share.

I certainly do not want to be one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
I do not say what I'm about to say in a way that is bashing a government run program because that is not how I operate. I am, however, wanting to share some ways I think the program could be improved and also say that maybe one day I will work toward improving this- and actually use that darn Masters in Local Government that I've got. Additionally, WIC qualifies different people for different things, so these reflections are based on what my family was approved to get.

My issues with WIC are as follows:

1. Produce
We are allotted $10 of produce per month. TEN DOLLARS. I don't think I need to elaborate here as we all know how much produce costs. If the goal of WIC to supplement families' budgets to provide for healthy menu options, I'm going to need a bit more than $10 and less of...well...see number 2.

2. 20+ jars of baby food PER WEEK.
Woah!! No thank you. I do not even use these coupons. I do not use baby food and I certainly don't need over 20 jars every week. Nor do I need...

3. 2 Gallons of Milk (least expensive brand)
Okay, again, I don't mean to be all high-nosed and "too good for WIC" here, but...I guess maybe I am. Now granted, if I was truly needy, I wouldn't be complaining about what kind of milk I got. But, for many years my husband and I have chosen to not drink the "least expensive brand" or any brand of milk that has gone through extensive processing and come from cows that have been given hormones and other poor treatment. No offense to anyone who drinks regular store brand milk-- there are different priorities for every family and this is one that is important to us. The same goes for the...

4. 2 dozen eggs per week (least expensive brand)

The list could go on and I also want to say that because we are also on food stamps, I will be quitting the WIC program next month. I truly believe that for this season of our lives, God is providing for our food needs through our government. I know it won't be like this forever and I am certainly not one to take advantage of great programs that help the truly needy. But, we do not need both programs. With the food stamps, we can afford to feed our family quality, safe, healthy food. The WIC program, though only meant to supplement a family's food needs, does not, in my opinion, support what I view as a healthy diet for my family.

One thing I greatly appreciate about WIC, however, is their support for breastfeeding. Our local WIC office is plastered with signs advocating breastfeeding and the coupons you get for a breastfed baby, though a waste of paper, are downright adorable. I get a chuckle every time I see the type-written coupon that reads "Breastmilk: $0. Mom's priceless gift." :)

Okay, enough ranting about that. It's been on my mind for awhile and I'm not sure how the program should be changed, but I do think giving more of a produce allowance and less coupons for the other stuff is one step that should be taken. I'll be thinking on this...

But for now, I leave you with a few pictures. :)

Hello, my name is Adrienne, and I am addicted to the Internet.

Yes, it's true.
Admitting it is the first step.
I've been well aware of this addiction since sometime in mid-college.

But, lately I've been really trying to work on it. I have established a rule and for the most part, for the past three weeks or so, it's been going really well. My rule is this: when Burkley is awake, the laptop stays closed. When he was born, my addiction grew and grew because I would use it to keep me awake and entertained during his nighttime feedings and when rocking him to sleep. It gets rather boring sitting there in the dark rocking an adorable baby, and I soon discovered that page turning distracted him and woke him up, so books were not an option. Instead, blog reading became my vice. After a few weeks of blog reading, I started this here blog of my own. I had blogged before, but now I had a new topic on which to blog: my little bundle. And thus was born my addiction to all things blog.

I am also on Facebook A. LOT. and that is because, well, I have time to be on it a lot, and it's easy to click around one handed while nursing/rocking the little one. Plus, it's a super fun place for me to share my pics.

I wanted to take a moment here, on this blog, to give a shout out to some of my favorite blogs. Of course, you could just look to the sidebar there on the right and see the blogs I follow most closely, but there are a few that deserve a little bit of special recognition. So, here we go! In no particular order...

Jazzy Mama - Patty over at Jazzy Mama is the person I think of as my bloggy-mentor-mama. She has four kiddos and is quite different from me in many ways, but quite alike in many others. She's "been there done that" with her older kiddos, but also has a little one who is just a few months ahead of Burkley, so I love reading about her adventures. She's also super encouraging to me all the time in the comments she leaves for me. :) I also really appreciate her honesty and often wish I could write as honestly as she does without worrying about what people will think.

Just Another Day - Melissa is my long-lost bloggy friend whom I've never met, but talk about often. I think my mom even knows her by name. lol. She and I found each other somehow and follow each other often. Her little man is just a week or two younger than Burkley and it's fun to keep tabs on how Mason is doing. He's completely adorable and Melissa is a really funny writer. I know we'd be great friends if we ever met, and I consider her a friend even though we haven't.

Hobo Mama - Lauren over at Hobo Mama is my bloggy hero. I have learned SO much from her blogs and would probably slightly hyperventilate if I ever met her. If it weren't for her blog, I never would have mastered side-lying nursing! Her blog topics have helped shape many of my parenting ideals and spurred on many great conversations between my husband and I. She's pretty famous, so maybe you already follow her, but if not, you better head over and check her out.

A New Thing - This is my mom's blog!! And it's pretty darn rad. It's all about the ABC date nights she and my dad do. Check it out, you'll enjoy it, I promise!

Parenting God's Children - This blog is by one of my close friends and I love it because reading it helps me to learn new things about her. While she and I talk about all things parenting quite often, when I read her posts, I learn new things about how she feels and thinks and it's quite enjoyable to me. Plus, she's funny. :)

There are many other blogs I love and that deserve a special shout-out, but you can find them over there on the sidebar. These bloggers have become my "friends" through late night newborn feedings and many daily rocking sessions with my baby. It's enjoyable to find like-minded mamas who like to talk about their lives. It's a great time-passer and it keeps me occupied, for sure. I will admit that with my new "no computer when baby's awake" rule, I've fallen a little behind with my blog reading, but I still appreciate that they're always there when I need them! :) Hope you like them too.

For Pete's sake, he's so cute!

Vacation Reflections

Wow!! We just took our first family vacation. We went to visit my husband's brother and sis-in-law in Albuquerque, New Mexico. What a great time we had!

I really appreciated the travel tips I got on my blog post before the trip, as well as on the Natural Parents Network Facebook page, and from some friends who emailed me. Now, I have some tips and experiences to share with everyone else!


1. Sling, sling, sling.
I saw on a few other blogs that people recommended slinging when traveling more than using a stroller. However, we still brought our stroller, because I just couldn't imagine carrying Burkley around all the time. The stroller turned out to be a great asset in the airports and train stations, as we threw several of our bags on/in it, but Burkley pretty much only rode in the stroller once-- when we walked the dog at a park. Everywhere else, he rode in the sling. It was too cumbersome to stroll him in and out of all the little shops, narrow sidewalks, mountainsides, and stairways. If I had to do it again, I probably would not bring the stroller. I should have listened to those bloggers.

In Santa Fe

On the Metra in Chicago

2. Cloth Diapering while Traveling
We had lots of traveling on the first and last legs of our trip--two days on either end. To get to Albuquerque, we took an Amtrak to Chicago, the Metra train up to the suburbs, and then a plane to New Mexico. Then, we did all that again on the way home. For the first part of the trip, we opted for disposables. I didn't want to have to carry packed, dirty diapers with me for two days before arriving in Albuquerque.  We had some cute ones (plaid, stripes, etc.) that my sister-in-law gave me at my baby shower way back before Burkley was born that he just now fits into, so we just used those. When we got to Albuquerque, we started using the cloth dipes. Thanks to my friend who lent me her pail liner, we had a functioning GIANT wet bag to put all of our dipes & wipes in while we were at my hubby's brother's house. From here on out, we cloth diapered as usual, and we stuck with cloth for the return trip home. And, as an added bonus, my in-laws let us do a couple loads of laundry, so we didn't have to travel with dirty dipes on the way home. And man, that Southwestern sun sure can bleach a diaper clean!!

Albuquerque

3. Elimination Communication
This was the most challenging part of our routine to maintain while on vacation. We were just so busy every day and going out and about that we'd have so many misses and it would be hard to get back on track. But, by about day four of the trip, we were at least back on track with catching #1 after naps and in the morning, and we'd even catch a few #2's-- which are normally easiest for us. So, I feel like for a few days there we had a setback in our EC routine, but we got back on track pretty well-- until we had to leave and had two straight days of traveling. We had no catches again until we got back home this morning. I also have to admit that I felt a little weird doing EC while out and about. We did it at the family's house where we stayed, and I offered it once to Burkley when we were at the Botanical Gardens, but it's hard out in public to take off his clothes and dipe and leave it all on the changing table to go into a stall. And I don't want to lay him on the floor of a public bathroom to undress him, so I feel kind of stuck in places like that. I also didn't even attempt the plane or train bathrooms, though I've read of bloggers who do that just fine, I can barely fit in those bathrooms, so I didn't even try taking him in them.

Saying "cheese" for the camera. Ham!

 

 

4. Stranger Anxiety
Ha! What's that? Burkley was the biggest ham on this trip. Everywhere we went, we had people commenting on how social, silly, and flirty he is. It's true. He gives "bedroom eyes" to everyone, reaches out to wave at passersby (or reflections, or a garbage can, whatever), laughs and smiles at anyone who so much looks his way, and brings delight to people all over! I keep being told I should make some money off of this charmer. No worries there about him being social with people in new surroundings.

He gets himself in this position frequently, but then just sits back down.

5. Crawling
Um, yeah, NOPE!  This kid is STILL not mobile. He does pull up on things, sort of, and will climb and "crawl" all over anyone whose lap he's in, but he won't crawl around on his own. We joke and say that what he lacks in gross motor skills, he makes up for in social skills. ;)

 6. Toys
I knew I didn't have to bring many toys since Burkley is more enthralled with things that are not toys than things that are his toys (normal baby behavior), but man, we hardly even pulled out any of the toys we brought! He played with his set of blocks, but was otherwise more interested in little toss pillows my sister-in-law made, egg cartons, magazines, tables and cabinets, etc. I did make him a couple of toys before we left, and here he is on the plane playing with a fabric "B" I made him that had buttons and ribbons ("tags") sewn on-- he enjoyed this...a little bit.



Overall, he was a trooper. He didn't fuss on the plane or train at all and was in general his usual happy, mellow self. Breastfeeding, baby-led weaning, and cosleeping went on as normal. The only issue we had was his darn second top tooth. It finally poked through this morning, the day we came home. He was a bit fussy at night due to it and he has a killer diaper rash, worse than I've ever seen him have, today as well.

A few things I'm glad I had on this trip were the video monitor (sleeping in a new place made him a little curious and he has started rolling in his sleep more than ever before), Cheerios (made for a great distraction when waiting at restaurants and riding in the car), giant wet bag (as explained earlier), and most importantly, a flexible schedule and easygoing family members who were totally fine with waiting for naps to end and taking breaks for feedings.

We had such a fabulous trip!

You Support Me, I Support You

I'm always thinking about this kind of thing and I've even blogged about it a few times, so at the risk of being redundant, here is another post on motherly support.

My blog is a place where I share what I like to do in my mothering. I've found some great ways to save money and "mommy" in ways that go with my gut. When I share what works for us, it should not be interpreted that doing things differently is wrong, because guess what? There is no WRONG or RIGHT way to parent, as long as your child is healthy and happy. Of course, being healthy and happy are sometimes relative terms, but if you believe your child is healthy and happy and YOU are healthy and happy with the way things run in your family, then you're doing it RIGHT!

I don't mean this to be a "everyone is right in her own way" type of post, because I am not one to be so pluralistic about everything in life. It is my personal belief that there IS a right way to parent-- when we're talking about raising our kids, teaching them right vs. wrong, shaping their character, etc., and I get my ideals for those matters from the Bible. However, the Bible doesn't say anything about whether or not to cosleep, breastfeed, use cloth diapers, vaccinate our children, or to let our children cry-it-out. Those are decisions we moms have to make on our own, following our intuition and our guts.

However, if you are not happy or at peace with the way you've chosen to do things, perhaps that choice is/was wrong for your family. Perhaps you chose to listen to what someone else told you to do over what you knew was going to be the right choice for your family. In that case, I urge you to not feel guilty when looking back on those times. We all do things we wish we could change sometimes. But, if those original decisions were made based on what we thought would be best for our children at the time, then do not let the guilt of past decisions weigh you down. Stand up, brush off, and move forward.

For the vast majority of decisions made when our children are in infancy, it is more about us as parents than it is about the baby. Cloth diapering and babyled weaning are two ways that I save a LOT of money. I don't know if Burkley really cares one way or the other and I don't know if when he's an older child, you'll be able tell the difference between him and a child who wore disposable diapers and ate baby food. But, those choices make my life easier and save us some money, so we do it. Breastfeeding and cosleeping are other such examples. They make our lives easier, we get good sleep, and feeding my baby is free. Again, these are choices that make my life easier. Sure, they are certainly not hurting my child and I do believe that he is secure, healthy, and happy because we do those things, but I don't think that your child is insecure nor unhappy just because you may not do those things.

There are online forums on which parents get all up in arms and in defensive argumentative mode about these topics and others. I wish we would save the debates and discussions for when our children are no longer babies, but older, when issues like talking back, disrespecting elders, lying, cheating, and others are part of our parenting. In the meantime, while it's fun, comforting, and often helpful for us moms to find parents who are like-minded with whom we can discuss our similar parenting styles, it should not be something that divides us. If you choose to give your child a bottle, I do not assume you think I am doing something wrong by breastfeeding. If I breastfeed, I hope you don't assume I think you're doing something wrong by bottle-feeding. If you and your child are healthy and happy, I DO NOT CARE what you choose to do. I also think is especially prevalent on online forums where people are not afraid to say what they think or feel because no one knows who they are. I have friends who parent differently than me and they have never given me grief over decisions I've made, regardless of whether or not they've made the same decisions for their families.

On the flipside, while community is wonderful, I feel like it can sometimes put us in a box with blinders on. When all we choose to surround ourselves with are people who are like-minded, how will we ever learn to respect other ways of doing things? I can tend to forget that there are people who choose to do things differently because I am mostly only in communication with people who parent in the same ways as me. The support of those parents is great, but it can also be alienating-- I can often be alienated from the reality of other parenting styles. Again, I do not think of those other decisions as wrong, I just sometimes forget they are out there! So, although community is great, we have to be careful not to seclude ourselves from people with whom we differ.

Additionally, I think it's important to keep our eyes on the bigger picture. Infancy is such a small time in our children's lives. We have to remember that we are raising future adults- future wives, husbands, and parents. We are not just raising an infant or toddler. There are many other things out there that are much more important to the job of mothering than diapers, naps, and feedings. While those things tend to consume us when our kids are little, keeping an eye on the big picture is of highest importance. This time is fleeting.

I support you as a mother in making the wisest decisions for your family.
All I ask is for the same in return.

(I hope you all understand that he was playing "peekaboo" with the orange one- not the yellow!)

World Breastfeeding Week- Bumps in the Road

While our breastfeeding had an interesting start, for the most part, things have been easy peasy for us.
I've been blessed to never have (yet) dealt with painful, cracked nipples, thrush, supply issues, or any of the other things that can deter moms from sticking with breastfeeding for the long haul. I am very thankful for this as I know those challenges can be real, frustrating, and heartbreaking for some moms out there.

However, as Burkley has gotten older, especially this last month or so, we've hit a few bumps in the road for the first time.

Solids
As I previously explained,  starting solids slowed down our nursing journey in ways with which I was not comfortable (figuratively and literally!) When he was eating so much food, he was not getting as much milk as his little body needed at the young age of 9 months old. So, we slowed down the food and naturally, the nursing increased. (This was kind of a bummer to our EC journey though because now his poop is back to being a lot more runny).

Rejecting one side
Burkley has always preferred one side over the other, but sometimes it gets really bad and he will go almost all day without nursing from the side he dislikes...without getting in some strange position that requires a lot of balance and twisting on my part! Imagine football hold with a baby is who almost 30 inches long and 20 pounds. I have to stand since he's so long he hits the back of the couch/bed/whatever I'm sitting on and he wraps around the back of my body so that my other arm has to bend backwards to hold him...yes, it's quite the contortionist act!

Teeth
When he is getting a new tooth, he likes to bite! Thankfully I know it's only temporary and generally passes in a day or two. I know it's a sign of teething and when he bites, I just take him off and try again later. He needs to learn that biting means no milkies! I've learned that screaming out in pain only makes him laugh. :)

So, that's where we're at with breastfeeding right now. I'm thankful we're still going strong and do not plan on stopping anytime soon. I love knowing that he has been growing well and staying healthy with milk from his mommy!

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I’m celebrating World Breastfeeding Week with Natural Parents Network!
You can, too — link up your breastfeeding posts from August 1-7 in the linky below, and enjoy reading, commenting on, and sharing the posts collected here and on Natural Parents Network.

(Visit NPN for the code to place on your blog.)