Well, I’m on my 4th nursing baby, and decided I’ll be on my 20th before I have a perfect nursing experience with no problems.

I’ve tried cutting out nearly everything in my diet – tomato based products, cheese, extra butter, now even an occassional fast food and cinnamon – in attempts to find out what is putting my poor baby in such misery.

He gets better, then hits another wall – like yesterday. He and I both were in tears, literally. I physically hurt because I’m SO hungry, and he hurts from my milk (or what I’m eating).

This conversation has mainly been on Facebook, but I decided I should share it here for anyone else that might need to read what we’ve been discussing.

Basically, baby boy has been having a really hard time for the past 9 days. Spitting up rarely, but rather swallowing what’s trying to come up his throat most of the time. He’s begun thrashing around while nursing – he wants to nurse, but once latched on he fights it.

He hiccups often, and gets very upset with these. He appears to be in pain when he burps – and these are sometimes ‘wet’ sounding burps. His screams are heartbreaking, and you can see the pain in his eyes. No baby should ever cry like this on a regular basis – this is sign #1 that something isn’t right somewhere, and Mom better start investigating.

Babies at this age should only cry 5 to 10 minutes at the most IMO – if there’s nothing wrong. First thoughts would be to check for a wet/ dirty diaper, ask if the baby is overly tired, and one that I experienced with my last baby  – check their fingers and toes for hairs.

Our last baby cried for ages, death screams. Just as we were about to take him to after hours care the 2nd day of crying, DH happened to notice that he had several of my hairs around 2 of his toes! It was bad, they were so tight, we could hardly get scissors in to clip them. They had dug into his toes, cutting deep into the skin.

I felt horrible! My hair was longer at the time, and I had play time with him – he would be lying on his back on the floor, and I would lean over his face with mine – laughing and smiling together. Apparently, he kicked his feet up while my hair was hanging down, and it got all twisted.

But back to the point – little babies shouldn’t cry much IMO. If they do, something is wrong.

Our dear one seems fine at times, then appears to be dying at others. The doctor said reflux during they day, but feels his night time fussing is colic. Well, a drs. opinion isn’t the end for me, I keep searching for answers until I find one that I know is right.

Sure, the Zantac he gave me would fix a symptom for a short while, but it wouldn’t fix the problem. Thus, my diet went to basically eating bread and water. Even if I’d eat cereal, or toast, he’d scream hours later – until I realized the cinnamon was a common ingredient, so I’m trying to exclude it for a while.

The other day, a FB friend, Melissa, commented that maybe this isn’t reflux, but another issue that I had never heard about. Overactive letdown, or oversupply of milk are just a couple of the names of this condition which I had never heard of before.

The more I’ve read, the more I’m hoping this IS what I have. The symptoms match reflux very closely – and I can say that with each of my children I’ve had way more milk at times than needed.

With my first, even after nursing I would be full, so I began pumping. One day while pumping, I didn’t really pay attention to what I was doing, but pumped until I felt relief. Imagine my shock when the bottle was FULL – and this was an 8 to 10 ounce bottle – on only 1 side!

Nursing with him was frustrating, because I’d either have way too much milk, or would dry up and have nothing. When my supply would get back to normal, he’d empty both sides, but then a few days later I would be overfull again due to him emptying me each feeding. Ughh… endless cycle.

Some symptoms of this are leaking, over abundance of milk, baby choking or gagging during letdown, spraying. The gas and tummy pains are due to the baby only getting foremilk. Think about it, you have tons of milk – like 8 ounces a side for a 2 to 4 ounce feeding.

After 10 or so minutes you switch sides. This means the baby is only getting foremilk on each side, not the fat content of the hindmilk. Well, with this condition, the baby’s tummy can’t handle the lactose/ sugars from all the foremilk – there’s no fat to balance it out – so their stomachs become irriated.

One remedy is block feeding, which is something I have begun the past few days since Melissa brought this to my attention. I nurse the baby on one side for a 2 to 3 hour period. This doesn’t mean continuously, but each time he wants to nurse during that time, I allow him to do so – but on that ONE side.

After that initial letdown, the flow slows down for the baby. This helps them eat without gulping too much air = gas pains. Plus, after the first feeding, they will be getting ‘fatter’ milk – more calories which will satisfy their hunger more. In between times I give him a pacifier – this is when I can tell he’s full by his pulling off and fussing, but still wanting to nurse.

He has been doing better the past two days, so we’ll see how it works out. I added pizza into my menu today, scraping off most of the sauce and cheese though. He’s appeared to be fine from it so far – only a little gassy once.

But it’s been wonderful to be able to hold him or place him in his swing and him be content – not screaming! Believe me, this is extremely stressful on mom!

Oh, one last thought…. In my attempts to cut out trigger foods for reflux, I was so excited to find that my homemade granola recipe would be okay to eat. Let’s just say I’ve had a LOT of granola since the baby was born, only now I have to take out the peanut butter and chocolate chips – replacing them with dried cranberries.

In my state of hunger, this has been WONDERFUL, and I’ve been wolfing it down the past three days. Even with the block feeding, I’ve had lots of milk. Then last night I came across something – oats stimulate your milk supply! I had no idea! So, if any of you need to boost your milk – eat oatmeal or granola – it just might solve your problem (it’s made mine – LOL).

If any of you have any thoughts or comments here, I’d love to have you jump in and share with me and the other readers. I love that I’ve already learned so much (on my 4th baby!!) from some of you I’ve met online the past few months! Thank you for taking the time to share with me, and maybe some other mom can benefit from our discussions too.

“Little Mommy”

This is TOTALLY against what I recommend for mothers – formula – for more than one reason. I can’t believe first of all how much corn syrup is in this stuff!! Did you know that some brands have OVER 43% corn syrup?

Then consider that the FDA is allowing something added, sorry – I don’t remember the name – but it starts with M and has been causing a lot of stir in China. It’s a white powdery substance that can be deadly. But the FDA says it’s alright in formula because it’s in such low doses – what?!?!

But I do realize that there are moms that aren’t able to breastfeed. I’m not talking about the ones that are too lazy or selfish to give it a go, but some moms really don’t have milk! Then there’s also adoptive parents to consider.

I myself have had to use formula for a time with 2 of my 4. When pregnant and nursing, sometimes your milk dries up. This was the case for me, as well as having contractions and those causing bleeding while pregnant.

I didn’t like it at all, that’s just how it worked out for us despite my best efforts to continue nursing. I have since learned that there is a homemade version. It’s tedious, and I’m not sure if I could take that on myself or not.

For anyone interested in the homemade version, I’d recommend visiting www.Mercola.com and search his site for it. There is SO much great info on formula there – things the public doesn’t know about what’s on store shelves.

Anyway, back to formula, for any of you that use it – I’ve got a deal for you! I have some cans of Similac formula here, and am willing to GIVE them away for only the cost of shipping with any purchase of $10 or more from the Baby Products page!!

Please verify that I still have cans left – I have a limited supply! What I have is Similac Advance with iron, where you only add water. This is an 8 oz. can. I also have Similac Isomil Advance Soy, also 8 oz, and you only add water.

I believe I have some Enfamil around here somewhere to, but haven’t got it in front of me yet. You can inquire about this. So, any purchase $10 or more will give you a FREE can of formula, again, only add in shipping charges. You can’t beat that!

“Little Mommy”

** NOTE – This is the DETAILED birth story, so beware, especially any men – you probably don’t care to read! It’s really long too!**

I can’t believe that we’re now a week out from the beginnings of our baby’s birth story! Last Tuesday, April 14th, I called in to my OB’s office to see if I could change my appt. for last Friday. There are two doctors at this practice that I’m not really fond of, mainly because it’s obvious that they aren’t fond of their patients.

I was shocked to hear that my favorite OB in the group wasn’t on vacation like I had been told before, but he was on call that day! To make things better, my OB was on call the next day. Okay, so now I knew that this baby HAD to come between that Tuesday morning and up until 6:59 AM on Thursday – I wanted a doctor I liked.

I googled all sorts of natural inductions, trying some of them during the day, such as massage/ pressure points. My Facebook friends offered their suggestions, and off we went trying to prod our little one along.

Just in case something might work, I straightened up the living room before bedtime, and the kiddos all had a bath. I have no idea what time we finally got to bed, but I wasn’t having contractions – not even one!

I woke up around 12:30 AM or so for my first potty break – no contractions. Alright, I was content that this baby had decided to camp out permanently in my tummy.

I believe the next time I woke up was around 2:15 to 2:30 AM- again, for a potty trip. I remember noticing a few contractions, but nothing to keep me awake or be concerned about. I was back asleep in no time.

3:40 AM - Again, potty break. But this time was different, this time my tummy was hurting. FYI first time moms, you’re tummy will begin to clean itself in preparation for a baby. This is when the contractions got my attention.

I wasn’t sure if it was contractions, or if my stomach was just cramping – but they were strong cramps for sure. I decided to camp out on the couch for a little while, just to be able to pay attention to what was going on. I’ve learned through the many weeks of contractions that I can have tons of contractions while lying in bed, only to have them stop when I move to the couch and become upright.

I was probably on the couch for 15 to 20 minutes when it was clear that these were contractions, and then I realized that they were consistent. I wasn’t sure, but they seemed to be coming every 3 to 5 minutes – though still not too painful, just strong and intense. Yeah, intense is a good word.

(My last visit I was around 3.5 cm, 25% effaced. All of my past pregnancies I was at least 4 cm on my last visit, and each labor – induced or not – were all around 4 hours start to finish. Of course, part of that is due to being 4 to 6 cm when I started – LOL. Anyway, I figured we had at least 2 or 3 hours from here.)

I made my way back to the bedroom, and I guess my stirring around was waking DH up. I didn’t want to wake him up fully, in case it was false labor. It was now about 4:05 AM, and I knew he’d have to be up for work in less than 2 hours, so I just asked where the stopwatch was – if he knew.

It was in the bathroom drawer, but the batteries were dead. Well, now back in the bathroom, my tummy was upset again. Yep, this is it – you normally just don’t go potty that much, especially in the middle of the night. And that normally doesn’t cause contractions to get more intense.

So, 4:11 AM, I’m waking him up telling him I’m pretty sure I’m in labor. My next step is to call the hospital and let them know that I think I’m in labor. I told them contractions were now 2 to 3 minutes apart, and we might be showing up in 30 minutes or so at the earliest if they kept up. They said yes, to come on in.

I wanted to prepare them, since I have fast babies – they would have time to read over my birth plan and maybe alert the doctor (yeah right… they insist on checking to be sure you are in labor before they even call the OB, like I wouldn’t know… I don’t know that they even looked at it at all.)

Back to the story – DH is getting up really quick, and since contractions are only 2 to 3 minutes, I tell him that I don’t think I have time at this point to get a shower. Next thing I know – he’s IN THE SHOWER! Hello! If I don’t have time, he doesn’t have time! (He later told me he thought I meant a shower, dry and fix my hair, etc… No, I meant I didn’t even have time for a shower!)

4:15 AM – I’m sure enough that it’s happening now that I call my parents to wake them. I tell them it would probably be 30 minutes or so before we got ready and left, but if they could be ready to meet us at the hospital to get the kids.

 After that call is made, I begin trying to fix my hair where it won’t look too dirty in pictures, wash my face and begin putting on makeup. Hey, pictures aren’t forgiving!

At one point, I began to think it all stopped – I thought it seemed to be a few minutes without a contraction. Kinda disappointed, but that didn’t last long. Before I knew it, back they were, and now only 1 to 2 minutes apart.

One of my friends, Missi, is all for natural childbirth and homebirths. I remembered reading something she had wrote about standing and rocking through contractions – or dancing with your husband. At the time, I thought it sounded crazy.

Hospitals have you flat on your back to labor. With my first, I was brave and tried the hands and knees positions. Just seconds into my next contraction I discovered that was NOT the position I wanted to be in, and after it was over, I quickly went back to my back. So in my mind, on your back was the way to go, like they do at the hospital.

Well, this time I thought I’d try it Missi’s way. So each time a contraction would come on, I would lean over wherever I was (at the footboard of the bed, or at the bathroom counter) and begin swaying back and forth. To my amazement, it felt wonderful!

So I just kept rocking each time a contraction came. By 4:25 or 4:30 AM, I was rocking an awful lot, and contractions were getting a lot stronger. It was kinda hard to get ready at this point, since I had to keep stopping every minute.

DH was now getting the kids up and dressed, and I was once again going potty. Only this time it was different – it felt like the baby was coming out! I began getting a little frightened at this point, afraid to even sit down since it might come out.

There was so much pressure, that I quickly just dropped my drawers and rushed to the potty. There I was, straddling the toilet – a sight to see. Actually, DH did come to the door and I had to scream him away. But what really scared me was at this point I began bleeding. I’ve never done that, and even having 3 children before, I didn’t realize that you bled BEFORE having a baby.

Let’s just say I was VERY panicked at this point. It felt like the baby was coming out right there, and now I was bleeding. I called L & D to ask them what to do. The nurse was trying to be calm, but that only made me more tense.

She began asking me if the head was right there, to which I finally ended up screaming at her that I didn’t know, I was just hurting real bad and was bleeding. When in pain, and fear on top of that, I’ll scream and not think much of it except that I’m right in doing so.

She could tell that she wasn’t getting anywhere with me, so she kept asking for me to put DH on the phone. Well, considering he wasn’t in the bathroom and I was having contractions almost continally now… well, I wasn’t going to hunt him down.

He came to the door and took the phone from me, at which point it became a little humorous. She asked him if he could see the head, and can you guess what he did??!! He actually got down in the floor and was trying to look! NO!!! (Yep, I’m screaming at him now – ha ha!!)

She’s trying to get him to have my lie on the bed, which I’m yelling back NO to. Yeah, been there – it hurts. He’s beginning to panic at my rocking, wanting me to stop doing that.

Well, I manage to get pants back on and get to the living room before the next contraction. I thought I’d try the lying on my back thing since I was in the middle of the room and had no where to go except the couch.

I threw myself down and back – and yes, I was right, on your back is no fun! And let’s just add this to – thinking you might really have your baby at home isn’t too fun either when you don’t know what you’re doing!

I have mentioned a lot this pregnancy and last that I really would like a home birth, but at that moment, I just wanted to snap my fingers and be somewhere where someone knew what to do.

The nurse had mentioned calling an ambulance, but I knew from my kidney stone that those guys really don’t know much about pregnant women. Plus, I knew this baby was coming NOW, and I didn’t want to have it in the back of an ambulance with strange men with my husband and children behind us in the van.

So, we prepped my clothes and the van (not that it wouldn’t been enough if my water were to break, but it was something), and loaded up. The last time I recall on my clock was 4:41 AM (I’ve been awake an hour now). Of course, we had to sit a minute in the driveway because another contraction came on and I couldn’t even close my door!

I do remember looking back to the kiddos as I was getting in. They were all 3 VERY awake at 4:41 AM in the morning! DD was SO excited, and talked our ears off – asking lots of questions. I wasn’t exactly in the talking mood, I was just trying not to have a baby in front of my children!

For the past 10 mintues or so at that point, I had begun to push against the contractions. While in the bathroom, I would have to stand up on my tiptoes during them. In the van, I was pushing down as hard as I could against the armrest and door – along with pushing up on my feet.

Of course, we came to redlights – but again, a laboring woman cares little for what’s right – so I’m telling DH just to run them. We make it to the interstate ramp, and get behind someone going grandpa speed…. NO!!!

Once on the interstate, we speed around him, and quickly take the fast lane. I guess we went 80 or so with flashers on. I was beginning to calm down a little now, feeling in control of the contractions. They really weren’t so bad pain wise, it was just the intense pressure to push at this point.

I remember once we hit the interchange thinking I was going to have to get DH to pull off on the ramp for me to have the baby. But somehow I managed to get through each contraction, only giving in a couple seconds at a time to push.

I wasn’t trying to push, or wanting to, but the urge was really getting strong now. We made it to the exit, again having to run a redlight. This had to be done carefully, since there were more people there. And what in the world would we see, but a roadworker SLOWLY walking across the traffic lane just minutes before 5 AM!

He got out of the way, then we had no more problems until a transfer truck pulled out in front of us just before we reached the ER entrance. BTW – I dying at this point, fighting off contractions and pushing, though the pain still managable since my water was still intact.

We pull up to the ER right just a few mintues before 5 AM, and my parents come out – my dad with a wheelchair. I’m having a contraction, so it takes a minute to get out. My parents begin asking what they need to do, and I can’t think, so I just tell them to wait there at the hospital.

The nurse begins pushing me, but really, I could’ve walked quicker! She was taking her sweet little time – HELLO!! I’m having a baby – NOW!

I ask if she can walk faster, to which she replies – no, she can’t in case she were to fall or something. So I come back with ”well can he push me?” (DH). Nope again. Well, we had to comply – we didn’t know where to go!

I remember having a contraction just after this, and I had to put my feet down to stop and push against it again. I didn’t think that one would ever end, nor did they – DH and the nurse kept telling me to put my feet up so we could get to the room. They needed to let me get through that contraction without having a baby in the hall!

Well, there wasn’t a foot rest on the chair, and I knew I couldn’t hold my feet up. Thankfully, another nurse met us in the hallway and I switched to her chair. At the time, I was thinking that she might not want to give me her chair, but looking back, she was probably a labor nurse coming to meet me anyway.

The funniest thing of all was when we went to get on the elevator. There was an eldery black gentleman getting off, and his reaction when he realized I was in labor was hilarious!! His eyes bulged out, he jumped and hopped out of the way. I believe he exclaimed something, but wouldn’t have a clue what – it was just really funny.

We got to labor and delivery, and nurses came pouring in the room after us. I felt bad, all the noise I was making in the hallways, but couldn’t really help it (nor really cared at that time). The nurse said something about getting on the bed so they could check me.

Umm.. not exactly what I wanted to hear – that hurts when you’re in labor! Well, there really wasn’t any need to be concerned. Another contraction came on and I lunged onto the bed, kicking my legs and nurses tried to get my pants off.

The next thing I remember them saying was that my water was right there and was what I was feeling. The nurse pushed the baby monitor against my stomach – but didn’t have time to buckle it on. This was 5:07 AM.

The next contraction came on, and despite knowing that you aren’t supposed to push until they say (in case you’re not fully dilated and would tear), I couldn’t help but push – even without the doc there. They began calling for someone to get the resident on call in there.

I didn’t tell them I pushed, until they said I could push on the next one – then I told them I had pushed on the last one. Here it came, and of course, I was pushing again, but it seemed something was lodged. All I knew was it was the water sack.

I thought it was stuck, but DH told me later it wasn’t - he kept looking and seeing it get bigger, even bigger than the baby’s head at the end.

The doc came in, and I’m able to whisper in pain “It hurts, pop it”. The head nurse hands over some metal thing as the doc is gloving up and they are putting her smock thing on. I’m still pushing. She pops it, and next thing I know they are saying something about suctioning.

“It’s head is out?”, I’m asking. Wow – I never even knew it! I kinda felt jipped, not hearing ‘here comes the head’. I guess when the water sac was popped, either his head was right there or got flushed out. Either way, it was relief when she popped it.

I heard something about the cord being around his neck (it was around his neck twice), and the shoulders. DH thinks she pulled the baby out from there, but it was so fast – who knows. 5:10 AM our baby boy was born! It took a minute for me to realize that no one had told me what the gender was, and I had to ask!

In hindsight, I realized that this was the first birth I ‘missed’. I was able to see each child be born with a mirror before, but didn’t really have time to think about it this time. Start to finish – 2:30 AM to 5:10 AM. In hospital room, less than 5 minutes.

I laugh that God must’ve known He had to help me have a natural birth, making it that quick so I couldn’t give in to meds. Really, it was all very managable. The last 3 to 5 minutes were rough, with the water coming out and stretching to the max. That was mainly a very tight, burning feeling.

The cord only was attached for 5 to 8 minutes probably. They said that something was detached and it wouldn’t pump blood to the baby anymore, but instead pull blood out of him. I really don’t think they knew what they were talking about, but they kept arguing and insisting, so DH told me just to trust them and let them cut it.

Since they were saying something about me still bleeding and being concerned about that, I agreed. Plus they said the cord had a knot in it, so I wasn’t sure if much blood could even get to him. In the emergency rush they made us feel we were in, the doc cut the cord – something DH has always gotten to do.

I realized this later, and feel bad for DH. I think he was disappointed, but he doesn’t like to think or dwell on things that he can’t change or fix. (Very unlike me, why do I think I can change things in the past?)

I was able to have him placed skin to skin on my stomach right away, and wonder if him being elevated like that was part of the reason they said the cord would pull tight and draw away blood?

We also forgot to snap a picture with the doc, actually, I don’t even recall her saying goodbye… Really, it was complete chaos!

After he was born, the nurses were great about leaving us alone. It was wonderful to be in a quiet room, no wires or machines hooked up, able to hold and nurse the baby for as long as I wanted. They came in occassionally to check him temp, and just as I thought – he was perfect!

My last baby had his temp drop, but they wouldn’t put him skin to skin – this time we did and it was great! I called my parents back, and they brought our children to meet their new brother around 5:45 AM. The reaction was so sweet! DD’s face was all lit up.

The comment was made that ‘someone’ wanted it to be a girl, like a baby patter-in, but they were happy with their brother.

Well, aside from one nurse insisting on giving me a shot of something (starts with M) for bleeding which I really didn’t think I needed, the rest of my care went pretty good. DH was okay with that, not wanting me to bleed too much, and was willing to chance the drugs.

Overall, I’m amazed at how I can go from start to finish in LESS than 3 hours!! I knew it would be a night baby, and was surprised it was a boy. Mainly because his pregnancy was so high and caused little to no pain/ pressure on my pelvic floor or legs. But he was all in front, so that did have me somewhat thinking it was a boy.

We opened the envelope on Saturday once we remembered it, and the sonogram tech was right “It’s A Boy!”. We are so glad he is, and have been loving every minute we’ve had to love and kiss on him!

Thanks for reading his story, and we’d love to hear a comment from you! I’m very curious at who all of my visitors are – I can see numbers, but that still leaves you a stranger. So please, could you drop a quick comment, maybe even letting us know how you found us? Thanks so much!

“Little Mommy”

PS – It’s true, natural labor DOES give you a much quicker recovery time. This was my 1st all natural. I’ve had two inductions (pictocin and water breaking), and my 2nd child was a natural start with some pain meds in my IV about 45 minutes before she was born. I’m not sure that they helped with pain, but sure made me dizzy!

As long as you focus on contractions, know that they are doing something and shouldn’t be fought against (unless you are in the van!!), you can easily work through them. Your body knows what to do if you listen to it.

I was pretty much on my own this time. I had nurses at the end, but really don’t know much of what they were saying, I was doing what I knew my body needed me to. I didn’t even tear this time!

In case you missed it, he was 7 lbs. and 6 oz., 20 inches long. Okay, NOW I’m saying goodnight – it’s taken about an hour to type this all up!

To my dear son, I love you more than words can describe, and have so loved stroking your head, having your hold my fingers, and kissing your precious little self time and time again! You are a true blessing from God – HIS creation – and we’re so blessed that HE decided to create you for our family! We Love You!

Yep, I made it not even 3 whole days before resorting to a pacifier – something we were able to keep from getting addicted to on our last 2 babies. Well, they really didn’t even like them, so that helped.

Our first baby was such a happy baby, and a baby with a paci. It seemed that when we took it from him soon after his 2nd b’day, he became a lot more moody and fussy, never going back 100% to that perfectly happy child. So thus, we weren’t too fond of ever using a pacifier again. UNTIL…. Friday night…. I managed to find an old one stashed away in the kitchen….

I’m not sure if it was the spaghetti sauce (I tried not to use too much), or the Caesar salad w/ croutons (garlic?) – but we had one fussy baby from 10 PM until nearly 4 AM. We did get a little sleep in the middle of all that, but not hardly any until 1 or 1:30.

He did take the paci for a little while, then got upset all over again. I’m not sure if he was really hungry, but I was bone dry. (Note to self – be sure to drink LOTS more water, especially in the afternoons and evenings.)

The next night, same thing, only not as long. Okay, I had kept myself from salad with our steak, and DH held off of the garlic salt on the meat… So, maybe it’s not the food?

Last night, I decided to try putting him down for the night earlier. We’re not the earliest to bed/ earliest to rise family normally – our bedtime for the kids is 9 or 9:30.

It hit me that maybe he’s just over stimulated by that late at night. I can see it, and you could too if you were around the older three for more than 15 minutes. They’re not bad, they just have fun = are a tad bit excitable.

So, this has put feeding the baby around 9 or 10 PM for the last ‘awake’ time , but the problem being is that he doesn’t want to go to sleep then!

He’s tired, but still needs to have something in his mouth. I’m okay with feedings every two hours, he needs them, but I have to draw the line at being a human pacifier 20 hours a day.

Overall, last night was better. When he did wake up, I simply fed him in our dark bedroom, just one side, then would put him back down. I think it was 10 when he went down for good, and this was MUCH better than the previous nights!

We’re really glad that uncle and aunt brought over some paci’s in his gift bag! He’s starting to get the hang of them, and will take them for 15 or 20 minutes IF he’s not too tired. We’re not using them until they are completely necessary, but we have had those moments.

On another note, I am SO not following the feeding ‘schedule’ they suggest – it just doesn’t work with us. The baby is a little jaundice, so he’s especially sleepy today. I’m feeding him when he’s awake, but then he’s asleep 5 minutes later again (and not eating).

Breastfed boy babies are more likely to become jaundice for some reason, oh, and add Caucasian to that. All three of my boys have been this way. You just have to get them to nurse as much as you can, and hope the sun shines in the window enough to strip them down and let ‘em soak! We did have sun today, so we turned up the heat and stripped him down to his diaper.

He’s getting in his 8 or more feedings a day, just in his own time. I personally like it when he has 2 or 3 maybe 1.5 hrs apart, cause then he’ll go 4 or 5. I’m able to get some things done, take a nap, or spend time with the other ones during these long stretches.

Okay , this is about as much one-handed typing I can do for now,

“Little Mommy”

As quickly as this pregnancy has gone by, this past week has seemed like eternity… all because I thought last week was week 24, and it wasn’t until a few days ago.

I was scheduled for my sugar test on Friday, but it hit me on Wednesday that the glucose drink is either orange or red. I remember after doing it last go round, I itched like crazy for hours! Something about food dye doesn’t work with me anymore – but I guess that’s really how God made it.

So, I called them to see what the alternatives were, and the next two days were filled with searches for either a clear glucose drink, or the 3 day special diet/ followed by special breakfast the morning of the sugar test that people used to do a long time before the drinks.

No one locally could help us, and I know they found a clear drink in Maine. WOW – can you believe that here is a group of doctors that are supposed to be looking out for your best interest/ health AS WELL AS your baby’s, and they don’t even bother to provide the safest method of testing available!

Same for prenatal vitamins – I am on one (the only one the pharmacist could find) that doesn’t contain any food coloring, but it still has artificial flavoring. The medical world is so oblivious to little things in our food supply that are slowly beginning to affect Americans.

As someone with an immune disorder/ nervous system disorder, mainly dysautonomia, I am extremely sensitive to smells, noises, additives, etc… And I know there are tons of others in the same boat as I am.

So for now, they’re waiting for this clear drink to arrive at their office, and then I’ll reschedule my visit. This is fine with me, since I see no need for such frequent visits. The baby has really grown – my belly finally starting to show and movements can be seen just by looking at my belly sometimes. This is SO fun!!

I’m keeping a close watch on the ticker, and can hardly believe I’ll soon be under the 100 days left mark!

And Christmas being only 4 days away, I’m really getting tempted to open the ‘mystery’ envelope that day and see ‘who’ we’re expecting…. The other part of me makes me want to prove to myself that I can wait and have that self control! At least I’m the only one that knows where the envelope is, so hubby can’t peek before me – ha!!

DD just turned 3 last week, and is really starting to pay more attention to her newest sibling (since it’s growing where she can really see it now). She’ll give it hugs and kisses, even tickles, and talks so sweetly to my belly.

Oldest son really doesn’t pay much attention, but will let me hold his hand on my tummy for maybe 15 seconds. I think he finally really did feel it move the other day. Little son feels the baby the most, since he’s always so close to me (still the baby). He seemed to notice it moving the other morning, as he was cuddled up next to me in my bed – drifting off to sleep. All of a sudden the baby moved, and then he jerked – did he feel it?

I have come across some really interesting links on formula, and why it should be avoided. I’ll try and get these up soon. It’s very scary that additives KNOWN to have killed children in China are being ALLOWED in infant formula here. They say it’s only a small amount, but they really don’t know how much is safe/ not safe.

Plus there’s the fact that the baby is taking this in MANY times a day – 8 to 12 in the beginning. Even before I came across this info the other day, I did know that formula is mainly made up of corn syrup – 43%!!! This is a cheap filler, definitely NOT in the best interest of the child! No wonder children are having more and more sugar issues today.

Not to mention how drs. push soy products, but research has shown that boys drinking soy are exposed to WAY more estrogen than they were created to take.

The more I’m finding out about food, drinks, even the cups and plates we use with our children – we’re slowing being poisoned to death and most of America has no clue.

I’ll check in again after Christmas, and in the meantime – Here’s wishing you a very Merry Christmas!!

Oh – I almost forgot!! Regarding baby names, we no longer have an issue with the name “Newt” for a boy. You see, our daughter received a boy baby doll (that’s the one she liked at Dollar General) for her birthday.

When we asked her what his name was, older brother said he thought his name should be Newt. She quickly agreed, and ‘Baby Newt’ is now an official baby doll in our family. She also received a smaller boy doll from my parents, which is named Daniel. (Daddy actually has had this name on his list before)

She’s quick to point out “but he doesn’t like lions though…”, referring to the Bible story about Daniel and the lions. They really pay attention don’t they!

‘Little Mommy’

We’re officially over halfway through this now I can safely say! (I am NOT going to 42 weeks – at least not of my own free will!)

We’ve enjoyed this Thanksgiving Week – especially having Daddy home Thursday, 1/2 Friday, then all weekend! I enjoyed a little extra sleep – thank you SO much Dad! I didn’t know my body was capable of sleeping until 10 anymore. Alright, it wasn’t consistent – I could hear screaming children every once in a while, and I was up some during the night with our oldest. Seems he picked up a cold from some cousins and was choking in his sleep.

We did finally get our For Sale sign up in the yard, and I was able to tackle a pile of papers in our room – shredding and filing a couple years worth of stuff. We also got the house all decorated for Christmas.

Alright, Monday’s were supposed to be on feedings, so I’ll continue with our last baby now.

He was 2 or 3 weeks old when he first started getting fussy -really fussy. I’m not positive, but around 4 to 6 weeks, the dr. put him on Zantac for reflux. His older brother had it for sure, and quite possibly big sister.

I wasn’t going heavy on all the foods they say to avoid – garlic, chocolate, caffeine, onions…. so what in the world was going on?? Finally, I stumbled on a website that mentioned dairy being a trigger for reflux!

Thankfully, within a couple of weeks of withdrawing myself from cow’s milk and other dairy products, he was able to come off of the medicine. I didn’t want my newborn on meds – especially ones that would affect his digestive system long term.

He was probably 10 months old before he could tolerate me eating dairy more than 2 or 3 times a week. To this day, he still can’t handle cow’s milk – so we’ve bought goat’s milk in the dairy section at Wal-Mart for over a year.

THUS, part of the reason we were buying this land – to raise our own goats for milk. Can you believe that goat’s milk is over $3.30 a quart!! That’s almost $14 a gallon! I must admit, it IS better for us, and easier for human’s to digest.

Well, I guess I’m really supposed to be sharing on his nursing experience. This did tie in, because I’d be in tears when it came feeding time – knowing that my milk would cause him so much pain (just not understanding why at the time).

With him, I took a VERY relaxed approach. I feed him when he wanted to eat – no schedules! I’ve learned to despise the nurses at the hospital that insist on coming to your room in the middle of the night – waking you up – to wake the baby up to eat…. what??!!

Why in the world would I want to teach a newborn to wake up and expect to eat all through the night. As long as they are gaining, wetting, and pooping like they’re supposed to – I just really don’t think it’ll hurt going 5 or 6 hours during the night. They’ll eat when they’re hungry!

And eat he did! Instead of weighing less than birthweight at his first checkup a few days after birth, he was already gaining. And at his 1 month visit, he’d gone from 7 lbs. 6 oz. to 12 lbs! And almost 14 lbs. at 6 weeks!

It was so much more relaxing feeding him when he wanted to eat. All the pressure was off of me. My children never did well on schedules, and it drove me insane trying to keep one. We did have basic schedules, and I learned he did have his own ‘loose’ eating schedule (only when it wasn’t convenient for me – ha!).

But we could go to the dr. and him be late for eating – and it was okay! Sure, there were times I’d have to feed in when we were out – but with it being the 3rd, I was more relaxed about nursing away from home anyway. (Though this go round I’ll be looking into nursing covers -there are really some neat ones out there that I’ll share with you when I get there!)

I did have to take pain meds in the beginning with him. I had a blocked duct and had tremendous pain on that side since he couldn’t nurse it and the pump wouldn’t work either. The meds weren’t my first choice, but I was very close to a bad infection and in so… much pain – I had to take them. Thankfully, they helped and within a day or two I was able to pump enough down for him to take back over.

I didn’t pump with him like I tried to with my others, or at least not as much. I found that if I pumped and nursed, I would over compensate and have tons of milk. Then, since he wouldn’t nurse it all, I would dry up and not have enough.

So between letting him he when he wanted, how much he wanted, and not pumping – my body didn’t seem to have all the ups and downs of nursing. And figuring out the milk being the cause of reflux in my babies – well, that was a huge blessing!

There might’ve been times that he’d eat every two hours, but then he’d go 4 before eating again. In the end, it always worked out.

So, any nursing mothers out there with fussy, screaming, colicky babies – seriously, consider coming off ALL dairy for two weeks and see if it doesn’t help! I was used to drinking SO much skim milk, that it was a huge adjustment for me – I even had headaches. I joked that I should never try anything really addictive if I was having such horrible withdrawals from milk. (It really was bad!)

A friend shared that this was likely from the hormones given to the cows – which then goes into their milk supply. Makes sense doesn’t it! They have extra hormones to stimulate more milk, which causes mastisis in many cases (yep, that hurts!) – leading to giving them antibiotics for that. Followed by the pasteurzation and homogenization process which strip the good bacteria and alter the make up of the milk…. I could see why my babies couldn’t handle me drinking it.

Plus, it makes sense too when seeing how so many babies are having reflux now – something that wasn’t that bad 30 or 40 years ago (before man got involved with God’s design!).

What will I do this next baby? Based on the results from the first 3, I’ll follow my last plan – nurse on demand. It didn’t spoil him – it kept him happy and me less stressed!

“Little Mommy”

Picking up today with my series on breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding, I’ll share my experiences with my second born – my daughter.

From the beginning, I knew she would have a different routine than my first. I believe I fed her every 2 1/2 hours… She was born at 7 lbs., and her weight gain was good – until around 3 months old.

People think I’m crazy, but I believe there IS a difference in the RX prenatals and the OTC prenatals. When she was around 3 months old, I switched from the RX to the Walmart brand vitamins. Within a week or two I’d say her weight gain slowed very quickly.

Now, I can’t blame it 100%, because today at almost 3 years old, she’s still a TINY girl – only weighing 26 lbs. or so. BUT, I still think that did change things. I noticed the layer of fat in the bottles I’d pump was almost non-existent after changing vitamins. I’m not someone with a high fat diet, so maybe there was something in them that I missed in a cheaper vitamin?

One thing I forgot to mention about Baby #1 was he seemed to have a milk problem. When he would nurse lying down, I noticed milk would come out of his nose! Turns out, that it took us until he was almost 10 months old to realize he had reflux – poor baby!!

All this time his Daddy wanted us to teach him to cry to sleep – but it never worked. He cried and screamed forever and it was heart breaking. Not as heartbreaking as when we discovered he had reflux, and all the time he was crying at bedtime – he was in pain!

Zantac was a part of his life for the next 2 years, despite my gut about it.

Well, with baby #2, she really had more ‘signs’ of reflux, but didn’t ever seem as fussy or a screaming baby like #1. But after each nursing, she’d throw up most of what she’d eaten – projectile vomiting. They told me to feed her less each feeding, that maybe she was getting too much.

Huh??? Last baby I wasn’t feeding enough, and now they’re telling me I’m feeding too much. Needless to say, I was pretty confused and frustrated. I did try shorter feedings with her, but it didn’t help – plus we were back to more frequent nursings again (since she was eating less at each one).

Probably around 3 or 4 months, I noticed she was getting a lot of red, rough patches on her legs – really bad. Okay, I thought, what’s different all of a sudden? That was easy – I had just discovered my latest craving/ satisfaction was honey buns.

I quit eating these every day, and her rash cleared up! I didn’t have 100% knowledge in this area yet, but was just starting to realize how processed foods affected me. I paid attention, and noticed they made me itch too…. But I wasn’t sure at the time what was in them exactly that bothered me.
(More on that with baby #3)

When she was 5 or 6 months old, I became pregnant again, and she began weaning herself – not wanting to nurse anymore. I began cramping and spotting, and that alone was stressful – without even taking into consideration that my ‘baby’ was weaning much earlier than I wanted her to.

I had a new OB that go round, and he was very adament about weaning her immediately. I knew that many moms nursed while pregnant, and was frustrated that most OB’s seem so against it. She was still a baby!

I HAD to really buckle down on it though, cause the bleeding would pick up after nursing her. Sadly though, our baby went to be with the Lord just before reaching 7 weeks gestation age. We were blessed to be able to see it one Thursday, it’s heart beating – before I miscarried on that Saturday.

We grieved, I experienced the hardest thing I could ever imagine. I’ll touch on this subject another time, since I know there are mothers out there going through this too – and needing comfort.

Now I was left with an empty womb, barely a milk supply left, and a baby that refused to even try to nurse – I was devasted.

My only consolation was that maybe her weight gain would improve on formula, but that never happened either. I wish I could say how we figured that one out and fixed it – but she’s still tiny, and I’ve just accepted (long before the drs.) that God designed her to have a tiny, lightweight frame.

My lessons learned with #2? No processed bread foods – these caused eczema in a nursing baby. Reflux in two children now, but since she never seemed fussy about it, she was never on Zantac.

Next Monday, with baby #3 I finally seemed to feel like “I have it!”.

Little Mommy

Picking up on the discussion from last week, I’ll briefly cover my main points. I’ve tried 3 different methods of nursing with 3 different children, being most satisfied overall with my last.

This week I’ll cover my first baby. He was a healthy 7 lb. 12 oz. baby. When we took him in for his 1 month visit, he weighed 7 lb. 13 oz. – not good.

If you recall, I mentioned following a baby book someone had given me – a book that outlined the ‘ideal’ schedule for a baby. This time frame had feedings scheduled every 3 hours. That ‘might‘ work for some babies, but it didn’t for mine – at least not as a newborn.

Seeing him day in, day out – I didn’t realize how skinny he was. It’s so hard to look at those first pictures – especially from 3 to 4 weeks old. He would cry, and my husband would say he was hungry, but ‘the book said’ they’d learn and do well on this schedule.

He had a latching problem as well, and I had to wear shields for MONTHS on end. I’m thinking he was over 6 months (?) old before I got sick of that and wanted him to nurse himself. It took a lot of work, but he soon got the hang of it.

Back to those first few weeks, the dr. told me at his 1 mo. appt. that he had to be fed EVERY 2 hours – around the clock!! Not fun at all! Plus, we had to take him in for weighings quite frequently – to be sure he was gaining weight.

Looking back, I can see that they were also concerned that there might’ve been a health concern. Some diseases/ conditions have a main symptom of low weight gain. I remember sitting at the hospital in the lactation consultant’s office – having them ‘have’ to watch me feed him. Quite embarrassing indeed!!

They would try and help me read his cues – when he was finished on one side, ready for the other. Baby #1 was a SLOW eater, it would take AT LEAST 45 or 1 hour for each feeding. So, you can imagine how tired I was – him eating for almost an hour, then having to feed him again in another hour – 24 hours a day….

So, what did I learn from baby #1?? Forget the 3 hour schedule – more frequent is better. Maybe every two hours wouldn’t have been my 1st choice – but that was a result of not feeding him often enough from the start.

Sometimes you just can’t follow the books perfectly!

By 9 months old, I was pregnant with baby #2 – so around 10.5 months my nursing slowly ended. I began spotting and cramping, so the OB had me wean #1. At the time, I didn’t have any concerns about formula – I just hated he had to be on it for another 1 1/2 months until old enough for milk. Not even mentioning the costs!!

Next Monday, I’ll share my lessons with baby #2. Until then….

“Little Mommy”

This has never been a thought in my mind – choosing between these two options. Breast milk is the best milk – as it’s said. But when you start REALLY comparing the two, I mean getting nitty gritty, believe me that you’ll be appalled at what is in formula!

I know there are some moms that truly are unable to nurse, and I feel their pain. By no means should they be made to feel guilty for something out of their control. There are herbal options to consider for some, that will increase their milk supply.

My first two babies nursing were a constant roller coaster – either I’d have too much or too little milk. The first go round I had been given some books, which suggested the best method of feeding was to enforce a schedule – every three hours. I didn’t derive from that – and my poor baby didn’t gain but 1 OUNCE the first month. I can hardly look at those first pictures – he was so tiny, and I couldn’t see it at the time.

I ended up having to feed him every 2 hours – and thankfully he quickly began to gain weight. With my second, I still tried to stay on a time frame, just not every 3 hours – closer together. She spit up a LOT though, seeming to lose more than she ate at times. After a few months, her weight gain slowed down greatly.

With my last – I did everything different, and ended up with a baby that was on the 95%+ for the first 8 to 12 months. He was the FATTEST baby you ever saw, and there were benefits to the feeding arrangement I had with him.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be discussing what worked, what didn’t, what caused weight loss, what kept a happier baby, and physical reactions related to breast milk/ food sensitivities. We’ll cover baby formula, discovering some things you might not have realized. Hope you join us – and share the word!

Oh, and no, still not feeling the baby move….

Little Mommy