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Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Friday, November 2, 2012
Edward Scissorhands
So, both of my kids have facial abrasions/lacerations at this particular time. Good thing there’s no professional photos scheduled any time soon. Oh wait, I just remembered. Boofy has school picture re-takes next Friday. Why is she getting re-takes you might think? WELL, that’s because in her original school picture, she has a sour cream and onion potato chip green thing on her tooth. Her front tooth. She fell off a swing or something like that earlier this week and scraped her face. Nice!
So now I need to decide for her 3rd grade photos, do I go with green thing on her front tooth pic OR facial abrasion pic? Decisions, decisions……
What’s Wix-c’s deal? Oh, he went all Edward Scissorhands style to his face and has not one, but TWO cuts on his nose. I have to cut his nails like every two days. Yikes.
Cast of Characters
Just for documentation purposes for this blog - my husband is "Brodon", my daughter is "Boofy" and my son is "Wix-c". And now you know.
Contact dermatitis
I HATE contact dermatitis. Hate is a strong word, but it’s true. I hate it. My poor baby boy has it on his tummy and it’s awful. We switched his diaper brand and that's when it started. We switched back to the old brand but because the rash is right where the diaper rubs on his abdomen, it is still bad. I have a plan though. I bought like five different ointments, creams, lotions, cleansers BUT I tried them all instead of trying them individually for results. I decided I will try a certain method for one week before moving on to a new one. So here's my one week C&C (consistent and consecutive) plan:
Week one: thin layer of Cetaphil cleanser on his dry skin, layer of hydrocortisone 1%, Desitin diaper rash cream on the top to seal in the rest (this was his ped’s recommendation) We need to do this at every diaper change – so I am hoping this will help his poor irritated skin!
Week one: thin layer of Cetaphil cleanser on his dry skin, layer of hydrocortisone 1%, Desitin diaper rash cream on the top to seal in the rest (this was his ped’s recommendation) We need to do this at every diaper change – so I am hoping this will help his poor irritated skin!
Breastfeeding and Working
My baby boy is now 6 months old and I can't believe I have already been back at work for FOUR months. Which means I have been pumping for four months. I am using the breast pump I had when I had my daughter who is 8. It's an old pump! There's a stupid plug thing that keeps popping out so I duct taped it and it seems to hold for now. I cannot WAIT to purchase a brand new breast pump FREE OF CHARGE come January 1, 2013 - thanks to health care reform!
Anyway, I thought I would share my tips for being successful at breastfeeding while working full-time.
My disclaimer is my baby is an excellent nurser and I am incredibly lucky I am able to produce enough milk for him.
1. Must have an excellent support system - my husband is very supportive of breastfeeding and of course, he can't help but also look at the financial aspect. Formula ain't cheap.
2. Must have a good breast pump. I pump twice at work and I get about 9-12 ounces total. My baby eats 2 - 3 five or six ounce bottles a day when I am at work, so I barely keep up with him. I am maybe two or three days ahead of him.
3. Have a decent freezer stash of breast milk. I have maybe 15 ounces frozen, in a deep freeze so it will last six months.
4. Make things easy for yourself - with my first baby, I thought I needed to do this elaborate sterilizing method every single night and move the milk she drank into special bottles, etc. I must have spent over an hour each week night doing my sterilizing routine. NOW, what I do is pump directly into the bottles my baby drinks out of. (I am lucky he isn't picky!) I use the microwave sterilizing bags and the dishwasher. I sterilize my pump parts after every use (even though it's not really necessary) and let it dry on my desk at work.
5. Remember that once you are back to work, it's very normal to have drop in supply. It happens for a couple of reasons:
Anyway, I thought I would share my tips for being successful at breastfeeding while working full-time.
My disclaimer is my baby is an excellent nurser and I am incredibly lucky I am able to produce enough milk for him.
1. Must have an excellent support system - my husband is very supportive of breastfeeding and of course, he can't help but also look at the financial aspect. Formula ain't cheap.
2. Must have a good breast pump. I pump twice at work and I get about 9-12 ounces total. My baby eats 2 - 3 five or six ounce bottles a day when I am at work, so I barely keep up with him. I am maybe two or three days ahead of him.
3. Have a decent freezer stash of breast milk. I have maybe 15 ounces frozen, in a deep freeze so it will last six months.
4. Make things easy for yourself - with my first baby, I thought I needed to do this elaborate sterilizing method every single night and move the milk she drank into special bottles, etc. I must have spent over an hour each week night doing my sterilizing routine. NOW, what I do is pump directly into the bottles my baby drinks out of. (I am lucky he isn't picky!) I use the microwave sterilizing bags and the dishwasher. I sterilize my pump parts after every use (even though it's not really necessary) and let it dry on my desk at work.
5. Remember that once you are back to work, it's very normal to have drop in supply. It happens for a couple of reasons:
a. Since you aren’t around your baby, your breasts aren’t being stimulated as much as when you are with him/her
b. A pump doesn’t work as efficiently as your baby does at extracting milk
This might be obvious but make sure your breasts are getting completely emptied (as much as you can tell) each time you pump. I press the horns against my chest and I always get more milk streaming out when I do. Sometimes it even triggers another let down. I get 2 -3 let downs when I pump.
I just read somewhere that when you seem empty pump a few more minutes after to signal to your body to make more milk.
6. I nurse my baby "on demand" at home and at night. Since I co-sleep with him, it's very easy for me to nurse at night. I am a very light sleeper and hyper-aware, so co-sleeping works for me.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Why I started this blog....
I started this blog because I have several friends who told me I should start a blog AND I hope to be able to help other moms. I have advice about breastfeeding, parenting, etc., that I would like to share and keep as a record for myself to refer back to sometimes!
I have an 8 year old daughter and a 6 month old son. I have been married for 10 years and we've been together for 15 years. I research things like MAD when I want to know something. It drives my husband crazy, but I freak out if I can't do my research.
I have an 8 year old daughter and a 6 month old son. I have been married for 10 years and we've been together for 15 years. I research things like MAD when I want to know something. It drives my husband crazy, but I freak out if I can't do my research.
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