World Breastfeeding Week!

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It is world breastfeeding week! I have been nursing (not consecutively) for 74 months. I thought I’d write a post about my breastfeeding journey.

During my pregnancy with Harrison, I knew I would breastfeed. I wasn’t committed to a certain time frame, but figured I really wouldn’t want to nurse beyond 6 months. I also didn’t know much about it. One of my sisters breastfed, but I was too young to remember. Another one of my sisters tried so hard to breastfeed both of her children and was never able to produce enough milk despite her best efforts. I had no idea where I would fall in the milk supply spectrum. My milk took forever to come in – like over a week. Harrison was born big and hungry. I never had a huge supply with him either. I had to take prescription medication and herbs to produce enough. I hated breastfeeding for at least the first month. I felt like all he did was nurse. I felt like he was always hungry and had a lot of unsupportive people saying he was hungry. (Don’t ever tell a breastfeeding mom that she is starving her baby – especially if you have never actually breastfed). I was about to call it quits and give him bottles and then all of the sudden it got easier. I still had to take herbs and such to keep my milk going, but it wasn’t terrible. I went back to work when he was 9 weeks old. I was determined to keep going. I do not produce much milk for a pump, so I had to pump while at work and all throughout the evenings and weekends to have enough milk for him.  By the time he was about 5 months old, I was only able to pump enough for one bottle, so he was supplemented with formula. We still nursed on demand evenings and weekends. By the time he was 9 months olds, I couldn’t pump more than an ounce all day long. He was given formula bottles and nursed full time for evenings and weekends. Nursing him was such a great bonding time since we were separated for 9ish hours a day. I really enjoyed those special little snuggles. We kept our nursing relationship going for 14 months. He was only night nursing by that time and it was gentle. I felt like I had to wean him because everyone told me that he was a year old and no longer needed it. I’m so glad I stuck with it because it was worth it in the long run.

We knew that I would likely not return to work after Kadie was born. I knew I would breastfeed her. Somewhere between Harrison being born and Kadie’s pregnancy, I became a research queen, especially with parenting & health topics. I knew that I was comfortable with full term nursing even if my friends and family were not supportive. I knew it was the norm for every area, except USA. I knew I might have milk supply issues and I knew that the first month might be able. I was ready to tackle this. My milk came in within 4 days and she was not given any supplements. We co-slept and bed-shared to make it easier. I still suffered with milk supply issues and had to take the same medications.  She was a fussy baby and literally nursed all of the time. I thought about throwing in the towel again because it was hard to take care of Harrison and nurse her constantly. It took a little longer for it to get easy with her. I think it was around 2 months. We also had thrush during that time frame which was awful. She was also a big baby, but didn’t stay huge. She was petite for her first year. She took longer to night wean – it was closer to one year. At 12 months, she showed no signs of weaning and I was completely comfortable nursing her longer. She actually started nursing more around 15 months and started getting really chubby. Nursing a toddler actually makes having a toddler much easier because nursing is an instant comfort for tantrums, boo-boos, etc. I nursed her until she was 26 months old. I was about 6 months pregnant with Sam and my milk was gone and it was painful. I asked her if she would stop nursing because it hurt and she didn’t mind. She would ask occasionally, but I reminded her that it wasn’t comfortable for me and my milk was gone.

With Sam, I just knew I would breastfeed and he would wean sometime before he started college. My milk was in within 2 days. He was such a tiny baby and gained so quickly and well that I never questioned my milk supply. Around 6 months he stopped gaining well and we realized he had a tongue tie. We weren’t able to get it repaired until he was 7 months.  He started gaining well again after we had his tongue tie repaired. He is 34 months -well he will be in 10 days. He generally nurses to sleep every night and every morning when he wakes. He will still nurse in the middle of the might if he wakes. He will sometimes nurse before a nap – although those are rare lately. He never asks for milk unless he is sick or sleepy. At this point, we are both comfortable with nursing.

I am very thankful for the bond that breastfeeding has given me with my children. I have such fond memories of snuggling my little nurslings. I even have fond memories of nursing the crazy toddlers. It was very difficult for me to nurse two of them, but we made it through the hurdles and it was worth it. I was determined and had good support with my lactation consultant. I would advise any new mom to stick with it for 8 weeks before you quit. It always got easier for me by that point. Supply issues can be a beast, but there are a lot of things you can do to help  (as long as it isn’t due to insufficient glandular tissue). Thrush, mastitis, tongue ties…all of those things suck. With proper support and treatment you can get through most of those and keep on trucking along.

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

Hello again

Well, as usual, I drop off the face of the blogging planet during the summer. I'll update my readers on what has been happening in our little world.

We are officially a homeschooling family!
I felt confirmation in this decision many, many months ago and now it is official. I registered Harrison through a church school, Aaron Academy, bought 2nd grade curriculum and we are about to start day 5. The first 3 days were amazing. Day 4 was really rough. I know there are going to be plenty of those days. Those days are part of the reason we felt this was the right decision for our family. We went with the curriculum, My Father's World, which is a Charlotte Mason, classical, and unit study approach. It also incorporates Biblical worldview and international focus. It really seemed like the perfect fit for us. Initially, I was going to go the eclectic approach, and at some point I may. Honestly, I just really need the lesson plans. I'm not the most structured person, so having everything in a lesson plan is perfect. I just look through everything the weekend prior, gather supplies, and teach it. Harrison is really loving the U.S. History aspect and absolutely loves the timeline. He may end up being a history buff.

I didn't choose a box set for Kadie, mainly because of cost. She is pre-k, and I feel pretty strongly that preschoolers should be playing more than anything. I decided we would take a very laid back approach to learning all of the letters, both uppercase and lowercase. We will also learn more about numbers. She already knows her shapes and colors, but we will reinforce them. I'm very likely going to incorporate The Scaredy Cat Reading System during the second half of the year, if she is ready. If not, we will wait for kindergarten. She loves all of it. She loves writing her name, practicing letters, coloring, cutting...the list goes on. She is an eager student. She can handle anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours.

I really need to get my butt in gear and get Sam's busy boxes made. He is a wild man/mess during school. He just likes to get into stuff, so I really need activity boxes for him. Spam me with ideas. I'm open for anything.

I can already tell that the laid back approach of home education is perfect for us. I haven't stressed about the kids getting in bed, or how much sleep Harrison is missing because he can't go to sleep at night. I don't feel rushed to get everything done in the hours that Harrison is gone to school, because I don't have to worry about picking him up anymore. Our kids naturally sleep to 8:30-9:00, so we will probably start schooling within an hour of wake time and focusing on math during Sam's nap.

Kadie is taking ballet!
The twirly girl's dream of become a ballerina is finally coming true. She is going to start in September. It is a combo class of ballet and tap that lasts for 45 minutes. We bought her shoes and leotard today, and she has been twirling and pointing all over the house. I'm so excited for her and I cannot wait to see her on the stage in her first performance. It makes my heart happy.

On a different note, Harrison is upset that he isn't taking karate. He had mentioned it earlier in the year, and his occupational therapist suggested some type of martial arts for core strength. I'm currently in research mode, and now that his play therapy is almost over, his schedule will probably allow for it. It was just too much while he was in school, boyscouts, church, and two types of therapy, but now it is a real possibility. I'd love to get him into a homeschool robotics league, but I think I need to be mindful of our commitments.

I'm about halfway through Stephen Ministry training!
Training has really been a blessing to me. I'm learning so much about myself and interacting with others. What I'm learning is really applicable in our home. I'm still a little nervous about my first care relationship assignment, but I know that God has got this under control. One of the biggest things I've learned is how I'm just really not assertive. Ever. I'm really working hard on it. It has been uncomfortable, but therapeutic. I'm praying I can continue this growth without going right back where I started.

Sam will be 2 soon!
He turns 2 in October. I simply cannot believe it. He is still nursing and it varies how much. Some days it is only once and other days, he wants to nurse every time I hold him. I foresee him nursing until he is at least 2. If he is still nursing in the spring, I will evaluate how I'm feeling about it and consider weaning him. He is finally becoming verbal. He speaks a precious and hard to understand toddlerese. He will repeat most things that you ask him to say. There are certain letter sounds that he won't attempt. He also is leery about too many syllables. I can't help but wonder if there might be a speech delay, but I'm fairly certain I could just be paranoid. He talks to us quite a bit now...we just have to figure out what he is saying. He is a tornado. I've never seen a toddler so wild, inquisitive, and full of life.

Chris started back to work/school last week. It is crazy how when school starts, we fall right back into busy time. He still works the same schedule at church, but has a pretty big project he is working on for his other business, Starving Lion Media. It is either "feast or famine" so to speak with our free time.

Well, I'm going to end because it is almost 1:30 am and I do require some sleep.  Perhaps I will blog again soon. Until next time....