Tag Archives: breastfeeding

Sitting Still Can Be a Finer Thing

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If there is one thing to both love and hate about breastfeeding, it is being forced to stay still.

When your babe is still eating every two to three hours (or in David’s case, every one to two!!), Momma does a lot of sitting around.

While I’ve become quite adept at nursing in front of the computer, sometimes I just need to soak in his sweet scent and smell his head and watch his little eyes as he savors every last drop of milk. Sometimes I just need to remove myself from the glare of the computer screen and I try to read a book, propped up behind the baby’s head on my Boppy.

Sometimes (oftentimes) I use the sitting time to watch backed-up DVRed shows … if Libbie is asleep. But I’ve found the best use of one of those times of sitting or laying down is spending time reading the Word.

Near the beginning of the month, I read about this “Bible reading plan for slackers and shirkers” on (in)courage. Since then, I’ve been able to check off a box most days. If I’m on the computer, I can read a few chapters on Bible Gateway while I nurse. But my favorite new method of quiet time is to read the chapters for the day aloud to myself and David while he merrily sucks away.

So much more sinks in when it is read aloud, whether we’re talking Wordsworth or Dr. Seuss or the Holy Word. It is a beautiful, sacred time for me and my child; and I love that even in his infancy he is hearing truth.

Today, we read and he ate, and I journaled prayers awkwardly while he slept in my arms. It was the sweetest quiet time I think I have ever had.

It’s true what Molly Piper wrote at (in)courage, that “the hardest thing to do is open your Bible.” I am highly distracted, sleep deprived, and have a to-do list a mile long that rarely gets a check mark. Thus I am thankful for my little nursling and the interesting ways God forces us to rest when we need it most. Having a quiet time with my baby is a divine finer thing.

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Medela Nursing Bras – Review and GIVEAWAY!

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The winner is #35, Emily E. Congratulations, Emily! I’ll be emailing you to get your information.

Disclaimer: First, I have to say I am very well-endowed.  So obviously what works for me in terms of nursing bras may not work for everyone. And for the business part: Medela provided me with a bra to test out for review. I did not receive any other compensation for this review/giveaway.

Maybe it’s just that when you’re pregnant you attract other pregnant people like a magnet. You huddle together to confer about your misery, expectations, and excitement. But it seemed that half the Internet had a baby in December right along with me. (Kacie, Tara, Suzanne, Karen, and Jenny all did! And those are just the ones I can come up with in my baby-no-sleep-dazed mind.)

So I hope this giveaway will benefit one of them–or one of you who has recently welcomed a baby or will in the near future!

I don’t think I have ever done this before, but I contacted Medela about doing a review for them because they have the only nursing bra that has ever worked for me. It’s their Seamless Underwire Nursing Bra, which goes up to an H cup, has thick straps for the larger cups, and actually gives me enough support. I have tried many nursing bras; and, as a larger-chested girl, barely felt comfortable enough to leave the house with any of them on.

I was a little worried about wearing underwire right away while nursing, though, as there is some evidence they can cause clogged ducts or restrict the milk coming in. (The lactation consultant at the hospital told me I should not wear one ever–but honestly, they don’t even make many bras that are not underwire big enough for me.)

So Medela sent me the Comfort Nursing Bra. It’s got a sports bra feel, with a racerback cut and thicker straps. Because it is microfiber, it stretches with you. Medela totes it as “the perfect ‘take-to-hospital’ bra.”


I agree with them! It’s a great bra for while you wait for your milk to come in. I wore mine at the hospital and found the hooks easy to unclasp and get back together and the size just right. It is a great nighttime bra, because there are no uncomfortable hooks or tags to bother you.

Unfortunately, this type of bra does not have enough support for me; it’s definitely a “lounge around the house” nursing bra for me. I wouldn’t want to scare anyone in public. Once my milk came in, even the extra-large was not really large enough.

So now that I have thoroughly frightened you with tales of my chest (which Libbie calls David’s Mommy Bottles–how cute is that?), I am delighted to tell you I have one Comfort Nursing Bra to give away to a lucky reader.



To enter, just tell me why you need it. And if you’ve nursed before, what is your favorite nursing bra?

Details:

Best of luck!

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Two Top Tens

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Top Ten Reasons I Can’t Seem to Stop Breastfeeding

10. It’s SO healthy! Such wonderful immune-system boosting nutrients. The perfect, God-created food.

9. The doctors told me so. AAP suggests 1 year minimum of breastfeeding; World Health Organization pushes for 2.

8. Libbie still wants to.

7. Because she pops off and grins at her daddy when she’s nursing.

6. The faces she makes when she’s falling asleep nursing.

5. How would I calm her when she is extremely upset?

4. The more formula I feed her, the emptier my pocketbook is.

3. Even when it hurts, I love the feeling of closeness and nourishing my girl.

2. This.

1. Because I’m a self-righteous hag who wants to make it to a year.

Top Ten Reasons I Want to Stop

10. Plugged ducts hurt.

9. Thrush hurts.

8. Bad latch REALLY hurts.

7. Biting hurts.

6. Constant on-and-off latching hurts and is annoying.

5. She gotten lots of healthy nutrients over the last 10 months.

4. Have I mentioned that the girls are gigantuan?

3. I fear mastitis. And biting.

2. It would be nice not to have to get up 20 minutes earlier so I can feed her before I leave.

1. Did I mention the hurting?

_______

I’ve all but decided to quit unless someone can tell me how on earth you train a 10-month-old to latch correctly, when for at 9 months of her young life she latched fine. I don’t get it. Seriously, help?

For more Top Ten Tuesday, visit OhAmanda.com.

Nearly Nine Months

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Libbie-Loo,

You’ve been whiny and fussy and not napping the last two days. Maybe because you miss Daddy, but likely it’s because one of your teeth is coming in, one that is supposed to hurt a lot. You keep waking up hurting, and it makes my heart hurt for you. So when we got home today, I scooped you right to my breast, purse still attached to my arm.

You hungrily buried yourself in my chest, busied yourself with eating while half-asleep. I sat, staring, stroking your face with my finger, and you gently laid your hand on mine.

That tiny hand. Little bitty fingers I love to kiss. You hold my heart in that hand.

We moved to let you nurse on the other side, and the magic was gone. More awake, you did your normal routine of pulling my hair, my lips, my face. Reaching for me with those same sweet little fingers that had been so calm just minutes before.

But still, when you look at me a little cross-eyed, I can see the newborn baby I held in my arms nearly nine months ago. The froggy-legged infant I spent hours with on the couch, just holding and loving.

You don’t like to cuddle much anymore, so this sleepy afternoon feast was a rare treat. I love it all the more for that.

7 Posts for the Price of 1

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Is it Quick Takes Friday, or Write Your Random Thoughts in a List Day?

No? Oh well.

1

I am fed up with pumping. It only took six months. I am tired of feeling frustrated because I can pump for half an hour and only get 3 ounces of milk. I am tired of shutting and locking my door and having people come and knock and yelling at them to go away. I am tired of spending so much of my working day leaning awkwardly against my desk.

I’m thinking that starting tomorrow I am going to pump once a day and supplement whatever else she needs while she is at daycare with formula.

There’s a whole other post here: Yes, I am totally pro-breastfeeding; but no, I don’t think it should drive you insane; no, they didn’t give formula back in the Olde Times, but they didn’t have pumps and there were not working moms and there were also wet nurses. Hrm. Anyway, that’s that.

2

It’s hard for me when I write several posts that I think are good, quality writing and I get no or maybe one or two comments. Why? Blogging builds up narcissism in its own way, where I think my writing is so very good and I don’t understand why it doesn’t provoke more people to tell me so. I read many blogs that I don’t comment on. There is SO MUCH quality writing out there. This is not something which should measure my self-worth.

And yet, it made me really happy when Robin commented on this post like she did.

3

YUMMMMM. Following Southern Living on Twitter makes me really, really hungry.

And Megs is coming over tomorrow night and cooking me Pioneer Woman crispy yogurt chicken. Love.

4

I’ve been kind of avoiding this subject somewhat, but not a single person has come to see our house yet. Not one.

I am struggling because I want to trust God completely on this. He has a super plan for us and led us to a job where I think Mr. V will be really, really happy. So certainly He will provide a way for us all to be there together. Eventually.

It’s difficult to be in that transitional stage and not know when you’re moving on.

5

I am so in love with this little girl. Last night I refused to make dinner, needing to snuggle her instead. This morning, I had a very hard time leaving her at daycare. I forgot to fill out the form they make me do every day because I was just distressed.

She’s such a sweetie.

6

I ate all my carrots and now I am only have celery to snack on. BLEGH. The carrots were so good, big old fat ones I bought at the farmer’s market as part of my Eat Whole Foods plan.

7

And now I am going home. I will be driving the speed limit all the way home as I managed to leave my purse at home this morning (?? so strange!). Let the snuggling and eating of leftovers commence.

Dear Male Readers–Especially My Dad–And People I Work With, Please Don’t Read This

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I wasn’t really going to write this post, until I read Stephanie’s post today at Adventures in Babywearing. And then I thought, hey, maybe someone would relate and say, “I am SO glad someone else on earth feels that way!”

I struggle each day with liking my body.

I’m sure that’s not news to anyone, nor is it specific to me. But the way I feel about my body has taken on new spectrums since I had Libbie.

‘Cause when you look like this:

… and suddenly deflate when the baby exits, your body takes on a whole new shape. Add breastfeeding to that, and you’re not sure you recognize yourself anymore.

My biggest struggle is with my breasts. There, I said it. Every day, I hate them.

I was a DD to begin with. Then I got pregnant. And they grew. And then I started nursing. And they grew.

None of my old tops fit. In fact, I still wear some maternity things on top because I think the nursing breasts balance out the baby belly that was there! (Don’t tell Clinton and Stacy.)

I hate that I have headlights like a Ford that even these covers cannot hide. I hate that I feel unbalanced, that my only button-down shirt is huge in the waist because otherwise it gaps, and that shirts that are completely modest somehow become cleavage city on me.

But then, these breasts are nourishing my daughter. Boosting her immune system. I love breastfeeding, I love the sweet time with her, her little gulps, her smiles afterward. They’re not just a part of my body anymore–they have a PURPOSE.

And so every day, I tell myself it’s OK. Some day I will stop nursing and they’ll go back to normal (of course, I fear this will be the same time I decide to get pregnant again, and the cycle will continue). I am so blessed that nursing has been super easy for us.

The Girls have done me well. Which is why I feel bad about hating them. A daily struggle.

Have you made peace with The Girls? Your stretch marks? Please tell me.

I Think This Officially Makes Me a Mommy Blogger

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9/27/09: Welcome Carnival of Breastfeeding Readers! Thanks for taking the time to read my story here. This was originally published 2/19/09; please see postscript at the bottom for more of our story.

This post is going to be mind-numbingly honest, so I hope you’re OK with that.

I’d always hoped to breastfeed. Before I got pregnant, though, my standard thought was that if it didn’t work for me, I would be OK with it. But after Libbie was conceived and as her due date grew closer, I became more and more apprehensive about it. I wanted so badly for her to get that nutrition, to have the closeness of nursing, to not have to PAY for formula. I told many people it would just HAVE to work, because we could afford either diapers or formula.

And I was so blessed to never have any problems with it. After a midnight session with two nurses helping me, I was able to get her to latch on properly. She didn’t have any formula in the hospital. She hasn’t had one drop of formula yet. I’ve just not had any supply issues. When I came back to work I was pumping twice as much as she was eating.

And then, last week happened. I was sick and took two decongestants without thinking about it. Libbie was three months old and that is the time of a major growth spurt. I had started taking birth control pills two weeks earlier. And all of a sudden, I wasn’t pumping as much as she was eating.

I spent most of last week and the beginning of this week at work crying in my office, trying to get out more–using an electric pump, a hand pump, hand expressing, pumping every half an hour. I’ve wasted so much time I needed to be working and frustrated myself beyond belief. I quit the Pill. I ate oatmeal. But mostly, I felt deeply depressed and angry with myself.

On Tuesday, I had the privilege of talking this through with a good friend and with my husband. I was absolutely torn up at the idea of giving Libbie any formula at all. And I had to ask myself, WHY?

The resounding answer in my heart was pride.

I wanted to be able to tell people that I breastfed exclusively for six months. That she’d never had a drop of formula because that is the way God intended it to be. That I was the Queen of Crunchy, an exclusively breastfeeding, cloth-diapering mama.

And that is not a good reason at all. My mind kept coming back to darling MckMama‘s “About Me” on her blog:

I used to think I was defined by my cloth diapering, babywearing, organic eating, acrylic painting, woods dwelling, fast talking, vaccination delaying, color obsessing, amateur gardening, baby food making, photograph taking, faraway traveling, baby making, tattoo designing, non-circumcising, lakeside living, small government believing, pro-life advocating, television abandoning, extended breastfeeding, German speaking, deep thinking, former art teaching and baby cosleeping ways.

Now, although I may choose to still do those things, I will simply be MckMama, a sinner saved by the King’s grace, wife to my Prince, mother of Many Small Children.

Pride has no place in the life of a King’s daughter. Which is why I’m mellowing out. Accepted that I might have to supplement a little bit. No one ever tells you how difficult pumping is; that you don’t get as much as the baby get out by herself; that it takes up so much time you’re consumed by guilt; that you will feel very much like a farm animal locked away in your office.

I feel like a giant weight has been lifted from me. No longer crushed by pride, I can just be me. A mama, doing the best I can do, loving my little girl insanely.

Postscript: Thankfully, I was able to go back to pumping what she needed after a month of supplementing and maintained that for another four months. So grateful to be able to provide her with God’s perfect food–mother’s milk!

Carnival of Breastfeeding Posts [Topic: Working and Breastfeeding]:
Breastfeeding at My Family Daycare
A Job Where Everyone Breastfeeds
Sorry, Facilities Guy
Taking Your Working Boobs to Work
Working and Breastfeeding a Toddler
Working and Pumping
Breastfeeding and Working Is Possible, and You Can Make It Work
Do You Really Need a Pump?
What about Breastfeeding When I Go Back to Work?
Breastfeeding and Working in the UK
Tips for Breastfeeding and Working
My Breast Pump and I Didn’t Get Along
Ask an LC: What About Pumping?
The 5 Biggest Mistakes a Working and Pumping Mom Makes
Beating the Employment Booby Trap
This is a Breastfeeding Office
Nursing Mothers Need Workplace Support

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