Parenthood

Mama’s favorite baby things for the 0-3 month old!

by Courtney on May 1, 2012

My friend just had a baby shower recently and when I went online to view her baby registry I so wanted to sit there and give her my two cents on all the products, telling her what she absolutely needed and what she really didn’t need. I mean, now that I’ve been a mama for 9 months I feel like I could really help a mom-to-be out when it comes to registering. Hey, Babies ‘R Us is an intimidating place! With that, I thought it was finally time to do a blog post on my favorite baby gear. Just call me Oprah, because these are mama’s favorite things for the 0-3 month old…

I seriously think this is one of the greatest baby items out there and if you have a newborn — or a 9 month old — whatever, you need a white noise machine. And not just any white noise machine, you need a travel one that attaches to baby’s stroller and can keep him sleeping while mama is on the go! Annabelle would scream bloody murder when we got in the car as a newborn, but as soon as I got this travel Giraffe she began slipping into nice long naps while we were out and about. It’s amazing. I’d recommend getting one for the crib if baby likes it and one for the car carrier.

Cloud B Gentle Giraffe On The Go Travel Sound Machine with Four Soothing Sounds

When babies are newborns they have a funny little nervous system that can make them suddenly jerk in their sleep causing their arms to flail. This is all they need to wake up and start balling. Of course the times this seems to happen is between 11pm-7am! So you gotta lock those little suckers down in a sleep sac with velcro wings. It’s like baby is in a straight jacket and they’ll hate it, but give them the boobie or a bottle and they’re out like a light for a little longer than if their arms were free and flaily!

HALO SleepSack Micro-Fleece Swaddle, Cream, Small

A mama’s worst nightmare — 3 weeks before returning to work Annabelle decided she only wanted the booby. She was all; piss off, bottles! Taking her to daycare was TOUGH because she wouldn’t eat. Oh the guilt! I tried several bottle Brands and the one that finally got her on the bottle again was Tommee Tippee. Its soft nipple is shaped like a booby, go figure!

Tommee Tippee 3-pack Closer to Nature Bottle 5oz

Babies need a sense of security, like a little blanky or something that smells like mommy when mommy’s not around. I got a little Lovey for Annabelle and slept with it every night for her — especially once we started daycare. Annabelle would whimper when I put her in the swing but as soon as I placed the Lovey next to her and caressed her face with it she’d settle right in and relax. This one is exactly like the one AB has.

Under The Nile Bunny Blanket Friend, Blush

I love these swaddle blankets from Summer Infant. These linen-like blankies are perfect for swaddling or just laying over baby when she naps in the swing. I received TONS of compliments on this particular pink Bugs & Butterflies pattern.

Summer Infant Girls 3-Pack Muslin SwaddleMe – Bugs and Butterflies

How in the heck are you supposed to get a baby to nap during the day? I was desperado to find something that would work. I purchased a small space saving swing but Annabelle was like; that sucks, I’m not sleeping there. So I bit the bullet and purchased a big swing higher off the ground that swung for realzies and the rest is history…lots and lots of swing nappies. This is our swing.

Fisher-Price Luv U Zoo Cradle Swing

When babies are newborns they don’t do anything at all, they just lay there. It’s quite boring actually. But in a couple months they’ll start getting some motor skills going and they’ll enjoy reaching for things. This is when you need to have a baby gym on hand. Just lay baby under the dangling toys and throw a load in the wash, go to the bathroom, read Fifty Shades of Grey, whatever.

Tiny Love Super Deluxe Lights and Music Gymini Activity Gym

Every new parent should have a Bumbo seat. It’s great for babies to be able to have some independence playing on their own, artificially sitting up in this little seat. I started feeding Annabelle her first solids with the help of a Bumbo seat. Make sure to purchase a tray too!

Bumbo Baby Sitter Chair with Play Tray

This is probably stating the obvious, but if you’re nursing, you need a Boppy pillow. A regular couch pillow just won’t do for the long haul. You need baby’s weight to be well distributed across your lap. It also doubles as a great cushion to place behind a newly sitting up baby!

Boppy Pillow with Slipcover, Lots O Dots

If you’re pumping, you must never go a day without a hands free pumping bra. Talk about some of my most used mama items… I don’t know how anyone pumps without one of these.

Easy Expression Bustier (Medium, Black)

 

One of the most important baby items is a video monitor. When you transition baby girl into her own room you’ll want to see and hear everything all night long, so you’ve gotta have a video monitor. Honestly, I don’t think a monitor without video is good enough. One time AB woke up frantically crying at 11:30pm and if I didn’t have a video to see what she was doing, I wouldn’t have seen that she was projectile vomitting — so scary. Glad I had a video to quickly see what was the matter. This is the monitor I have and I love it.

Philips AVENT Digital Video Baby Monitor

I would’ve thought babies loved going on walks in the stroller because it would just lull them to sleep. Not always the case! Anniebee might fall asleep in the stroller, but as soon as she woke up she wanted OUT! Carrying a Baby Bjorn in the storage rack of my stroller was an absolute must. Plus, babies love the closeness in the beginning and unless you don’t mind your arms falling off from carrying a baby 24/7, you need this.

BABYBJÖRN Baby Carrier Original – Black, Classic

If parents have allergies, chances are your baby is going to have them, too. They say it’s rare for babies to show too many signs of allergies before age 2, but it happens. Annabelle was waking up super congested all the time and we thought she just had a cold all the time. We realized finally that it’s probably not a cold, but allergies instead. So we got a cold air humidifier and we turn it on at night next to her crib and it really helps with her congestion problems. If baby doesn’t have allergies, this is also great for congestion due to colds.

Crane Adorable 2.1 Gallon Cool Mist Humidifier, Penguin Shape

The quick list:

Lots of onesies, burp cloths, bibs for a teething/drooling baby, Huggies diapers are better for girls (in my opinion), Aveeno Baby lotion for dry skin (newborns peel), cooling gel pads for sore nursing nipples, and cotton resusable breast pads for nursing mamas who have sore nips and leaky boobies!

A small note on baby clothes, I usually buy my clothes at Babies R Us or Old Navy, but I realized recently that Kohl’s has all the same brands as Babies R Us, like Carters and stuff, but it’s marked down like 40% off! Why pay more for the same stuff! Just a tip, go to Kohl’s!

Hope this was helpful! Look for the 3-6 month baby/mama must have post next!

Did I miss anything? Add your baby must haves in the comments!

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I need to stop being such a baby about weaning my breastfed baby

by Courtney on April 19, 2012

Today on my train ride home from work we had to stop for an extended period of time because we had “police action” in the actual train car I was in. Some jerk off was listening to his music extremely load — sans head phones. Rap music blaring from a cell phone is off the chain obnoxious. If nothing else, the sound quality just murders a perfectly good Biggie Smalls song circa 1997. On top of that, he was bullying a passenger and he smelled like a big ole pile of skunky pot. The dude needed to go. But when the cop tried to take care of things calmly the guy had to sit there and stand his ground throwing F-bombs all over the place. DAMN IT! As this is going on, I’m just sitting there stirring…boobs cramping. I needed to get home to my baby ASAP! I wanted to say: Hey punk, stop wreaking havoc on my train – my boobs hurt!!               

Weaning is hard on the boobies

This week I cut out my last pumping session of the work day, so I am now officially pump-free. Halle-FREAKING-lujah!! But you know what that means? By the end of the work day my boobs are killlllllen me!

I’m starting the weaning procecss a little more aggressively than I have been doing. I feel like I’ve been slowly weaning, cutting back on nursing/pumping since January, but now I’m trying to get down to just morning/night nursing sessions for a while before I officially stop. Idk, I could stop in a month or maybe slowly phase out the final 2 sessions by 12 months. I just don’t wanna be tied to it forever and ever. Little girlfriend is almost 9 months old and she practically has a full set of teeth (4 top, 4 bottom!) that can sometimes hurt the mama! Originally I had only planned to nurse for 6 months, so I feel good that I’ve gone this long. Anything after 6 months to me is just gravy… icing on the cake.

But gosh dang it, I feel freaking sad about it.

It’s understandable, right? I mean, nursing has been one of the most consistent things I’ve done in the last 9 months — more than showering, brushing my teeth, and eating! The only thing I’ve done more than nurse is going to the freaking bathroom!!! It’s weird to not do it like I used to, and to eventually not do it at all. I’ll miss the closeness that nursing brings with Annabelle the most. At her age, she wants independence. She doesn’t want to be curled up to mama in a cradled position. But when I feed her, she’s just as much my little baby now as she was 6-9 months ago. She often falls asleep in my arms and looks so angelic in sleep, that I just sit there and hold her instead of putting her to bed like I should!

As much as I’m relieved to not be pumping at work anymore, I even somehow miss midday pumps. I miss the “me” time while at work. I read the entire Hunger Games trilogy while pumping! I miss bringing home milkies for my baby to take to “school” the next day. I miss it all, even though I’m still nursing about 3 times a day.

Courtney, get over yourself

Essentially, I just need to get over myself. This is way harder on me than I think it’ll be on Annabelle when we finally stop. Some may say I should just keep on going if I feel this way…if I’m not ready. But really, am I ever going to be ready? To me, I guess it kind of means that Annabelle is growing up and soon she won’t be considered a baby anymore. I don’t plan to nurse a toddler, so I might as well get the process going. This way I can wean slowly and still close up the milk shop by one year.

The one silver lining about weaning totally is that I’ll FINALLY get to enjoy more than 1-2 cocktails in a sitting. I can get drunk for the first time in a year and a half! Whahoo! Holy hangover!

Any good weaning tips from mamas out there?

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I’m a proud mama: Watch Annabelle’s first crawl caught on camera!

by Courtney on April 11, 2012

I know I think just about every single thing Annabelle does is the cutest thing that has ever happened in the history of the world… But I think seeing her crawl for the first time might just be the cutest thing E.V.E.R! After weeks of rocking back and forth on her hands and knees and not quite understanding the whole hand placement/knee movement needed for forward motion, it was an emotional moment for me to finally see my Anniebee take her first official “crawl”. And I’m SOO happy it happened on camera, and better yet — at home and not daycare!!! YAY FOR ME!! Boo daycare, mommy wins this round! Ha ha!

I’ve never been in a rush to get Annabelle mobile because I know that means I have to watch her more closely. No more sitting her down in front of her play gym while mommy takes a 15 minute shower and then another 20 minutes to get ready while she stays put in one place. When you have a crawler, those days are over. Not gonna lie though; when I had two of my mommy friends over with their same-aged babies and their little tykes were crawling circles around Annabelle, I kinda wanted my ‘Lil Miss to get a freaking move on! Being the nice, supportive mommies that my friends are, they assured me that a crawler is an accident waiting to happen — think, pinched fingers in drawers, hitting heads on things, etc.  They told me to enjoy my immobile baby while I can. Well that honeymoon didn’t last long! Watch…

I was just so determined to get Annabelle moving at home and not at daycare. Daycare is a great way for babies to get socialized and learn things by mimicking older babies. Annabelle learned how to drink a bottle on her own — no mommy needed; she learned to sit up, clap, and probably talk a lot more because she was listening to the other babies gabbing away. But I was adamant that daycare not take crawling away from me — that was MY milestone to witness first! And on the video, you can hear it in my encouraging voice that I was over the moon excited to see this finally happening.

Everyone says when babies start crawling they literally take off and you can’t get them to sit still after that. We’re not quite there yet. Annabelle is still slow moving and needs to be encouraged, but that’s fine with me. I kind of want to freeze time now because things are moving too fast for me. I want her to stay a baby a little while longer! She was just a born a minute ago, jeez!

The next thing I know she’s going to be freaking walking. And at that point I’m probably just going to have to get pregnant again so I can have another baby since my current baby grew up and left mommy in her dust! *sad face*

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It’s official – I’ve finally lost all of my baby weight! See how I did it…

by Courtney on April 8, 2012

I’m so relieved to say that 8 ½ months after having my baby girl I have officially lost every last bit of my baby weight — all 57 lbs. of it! Yep, I’ve said it a million times by now, but I gained way too much in pregnancy, my bad. So let’s move beyond how ridiculous my weight gain was and focus on how great my weight loss has been m’kay?

Despite my hefferness at the end of my pregnancy, I totally thought I was going to bounce back into pre-preg shape in like 3-6 months. Hey, I’m an athletic girl; I should be able to do that no problem, right? Well, not unless I’m Jessica Alba and getting paid for the skinnies. For me, it’s been a much slower process, and totally because I wasn’t putting forth the effort to lose the weight. I’d exercise, but my diet was whatever sounded good. Essentially, I didn’t care WTF I ate, I just ate it and enjoyed every last bite. It was easy to not care about my food intake because I was breastfeeding and losing weight in my sleep due to all the calories BFing burns, so I just got complacent. Not to go all Dr. Phil on you, but I think I was even sort of hiding behind the flab. I figured no one found me remotely attractive during that phase of my life, so why even bother?

This was me at 7 weeks postpartum.

After childbirth, once I felt physically able to exercise at about 4 weeks, I started. But it was sporadic. I did get into a pretty good groove eventually and the weight loss really started to kick in, but then I went back to work and my exercise routine came to a screaming halt. And my weight loss slowed significantly. By January I had totally plateaued with 10 lbs left to get to my pre-pregnancy weight. Still, I struggled with motivation. I started thinking about my friend’s wedding in May and how I’d like to get back to my old self by then, so I decided to just bite the bullet and join Weight Watchers Online.

The weight melts off like butter on a hot knife

I’ve done Weight Watchers online before and I know it works. I lost 13 lbs for my wedding over a period of 6-9 months, so I figured why not give it a shot again. This program is the closest thing to a regular eating plan than all the other “diets” out there. WW is more of a lifestyle change than anything. You can still have pizza, Mexican food, movie popcorn, etc. — but all in moderation. And one of the great things Weight Watchers does is motivate you to work out. The more exercise you get, the more points you earn back in a day to EAT! Yay for more food!! The program has changed since I originally did it, too. The new WW Points Plus now gives fruits and veggies zero points, so I can eat all the grapes, apples, and bananas I want and it doesn’t add to my point total. So whereas I used to eat junk food when I was hungry, I now reach for fruit to fill the void. Once you start this program, you definitely learn what foods and drinks to avoid and what you need to have on hand at all times. Alcohol is one of those things that you want to limit. A glass of wine or a beer is 4 points – UGH! But I’d rather eat my points than drink them, so I cut out alcohol Monday-Thursday. Not that I drank much, but I had gotten into a habit of having maybe a glass of wine a night — not anymore. Now it’s a weekend treat.

One thing I recently discovered since getting an iPhone is how EASY the Weight Watchers app is to use. I find that I’m much better at tracking my daily points on my phone than when I wait until I’m in front of a computer and log on to the website. I can get lazy and forget to log stuff and that’s when you fall off track, so if you’re doing WW download that app!

Another thing I started doing was no longer eating after dinner, usually around 7pm. I used to snack around 9:30-10pm when I’d get hungry, or have a huge glass of chocolate milk (my guilty pleasure!), and then I’d go to bed. But now I just drink water the rest of the night and go to bed. If my body gets hungry during the night it’ll have to eat stored fats vs. the junk food I consumed at 10:30pm. I notice that I feel lighter on my feet every morning because of this.

I wore this dress the weekend I conceived Annabelle!! (Yes, I remember when it was!)

I’ve made a commitment to exercise. I make it a point to go to the gym 3 days per week. I discovered this high impact Tai Bo class on Fridays at my gym and it’s become my exercise obsession! It’s super freaking hard, but fun. The music is so awesome and just gets you in the mood to MOVE. For one full hour of high intensity working out, I earn back 9 points – HELLZ YA! On Saturday I run 3 miles and lift weights, and on Monday I do the bike for 45 minutes and lift weights. That’s my routine, and it’s working.

I’ve been on Weight Watchers for 5 weeks and I’ve officially lost the final 10 lbs of baby weight. Thank the lord! I feel more a sense of relief than anything, like I don’t have that monkey on my back anymore. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and enjoy life. It’s not even hard, it’s so easy. You just have to be ready for the lifestyle changes and willing to cut back on the junk and wine! If you need help losing those tough pounds, you should join Weight Watchers, too!

Now the fun part — shopping! All my clothes, even pre-preg, are baggy on me now which is annoying. But it’s a good problem to have!

The next thing I need to do is figure out how to tone my tummy. I may have lost the baby weight, but my stomach still shows the signs of being stretched to the max and back again. It’s nice and soft to the touch. Sexy! This is the next challenge on my to-do list!

Have you had success losing the baby weight? If so, share what you did in the comments section!

 

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The iPhone is my new Annabelle.

by Courtney on April 4, 2012

Move over Annabelle, I’ve got a new baby: the iPhone 4S.

Ok, so I’m just kidding about that — my new iPhone has not replaced my baby girl, Annabelle. My brother actually told me that with a straight face (well, over text), and then he said this phone would change my life. Pfft, phone! This is hardly a phone — it’s like a mini computer that just so happens to call people. My old Blackberry was a phone that moonlighted as an internet occasionally, but it sucked a fatty and had the worst camera phone.

Herein lies the main reason I wanted an iPhone: the camera. I’ve heard the iPhone camera is pretty much as good as any little point and shoot digital camera, and I’m taking pictures of Annabelle like the paparazzi, so I need a good camera phone. For 8 whole months I’ve taken grainy, crappy little pics of my baby girl with no flash on my CrapBerry and I’d had enough. So my husband got me a super nice Nikon 1 camera for Christmas, but I hate to say it; it’s too dang complicated and I don’t know how to use it. When it comes to technology, I enjoy the K.I.S.S. method — Keep It Simple Stupid.

The iPhone couldn’t be more simple and user friendly to use. I love that pretty much all mobile technologies out there are catered to this phone – especially Apps. I didn’t think I was an App girl, but one App I couldn’t wait to get my sticky fingers on was Instagram, which is only made for iPhones and Droids. Whether you’re taking every day pics or super cool vacation photos, Instagram allows you to give it a really cool hue so that it looks all artsy, like you used a photo enhancing program like Photoshop. And so now I kind of look like a little photographer when I post daily pics of my baby girl and my dog on Facebook. Love it.

I thought I’d do a little picture spam post of my favorite Instagram pics I’ve taken so far. FYI, I was not paid by iPhone or Instagram to do this post, but I totally should have been since I’m positive I’ve just sent legions of new customers to the nearest cell phone store to pick up their baby iPhones!

P.S. I realize that iPhones are nothing new and probably half the population owns one now, but it’s new to me so I had to share. Plus, this was just an excuse to post cute pics of my ‘lil buba!

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Trying to figure out this whole “feeding solid food to a baby” business

by Courtney on March 26, 2012

I feel like I’m falling behind in the feeding solid food to my baby department. Sort of like I’m the last mommy on the track running in the solid food race. Am I feeding her enough? Am I feeding her the right foods at the right stage? Is my fear of Annabelle choking on lumpy food causing me to hold her back from trying more things? Probably not. Not sure anymore. And YES are the answers to my own questions. And when I hear about other moms feeding their babies homemade soups and tofu at 8 months I’m sitting there thinking: MAMA MIA! Somebody tell me how I’m supposed to keep this baby on track with all the other super eating babies and their super proactive mommies!

When Annabelle was 4 months old our pediatrician gave me the green light to start her on solids. Some mommies in my mom’s group seemed super eager to get their babies started on this next phase, but not me. I wasn’t looking for another thing to add to my plate. I already felt like nursing every 3 hours was enough to make time for each day, and now I had to remember to incorporate solids in the middle of all that! But anyway, I started buying a few Gerber baby food jars at the grocery store and Little Miss was like, totally disgusted with it.

…That was until I got the Baby Bullet and fed her fresh, homemade avocados for the first time. Suddenly, Annabelle was thrilled to pieces over this yummy, creamy green substance being spoon-fed into her mouth. She was kicking her legs, literally making an “MMMMM” sound and opening her mouth for the spoon with pure glee! It was so freaking cute! From there, I’ve made apples, bananas, sweet potatoes, pears, peas, carrots, blueberries and oatmeal, squash and banana combo, zucchini, and asparagus. I’ve also fed her cottage cheese, which scares me somewhat because of the chunkiness of the food. But I know I need to get over that if I ever want her to eat real food!

I would say the fact that I’m making fresh, homemade baby food is definitely a plus. But I feel sort of stuck in the “first foods” area. I need to start combining foods, making things thicker, and introducing some crunchy treats like teething crackers. I fed her Cheerios the other day and I ate half of each one and sucked on the other half so it would be soft and moist before putting it in her mouth! Too much? I have this real fear of Annabelle choking and me forgetting what I learned in CPR class when the pressure is on!

Now we’re at a point where Annabelle should be eating 3 solid meals a day and this is where I feel like I’m really falling behind. At daycare, I give them 2 solids to feed her during the day but I’m lucky if I can feed her a solid in the evening before it’s too late and she’s sleepy and just wants to nurse and go to bed. On the weekends when we’re on the go, I may only get one solid meal in her for the whole day! And then I have my husband in my ear saying he thinks we should be feeding her more – placing the seed of doubt – and then he says he thinks maybe it’s time to wean breastfeeding so she’ll eat more solids. I’m not sure if he realizes that milk – breast milk or formula – is still the primary food source for babies up until 1 year old. (At least I think that’s true!)

When solid foods don’t agree with your baby

Another complicated matter is recognizing when foods aren’t settling well with your baby. I introduced zucchini and asparagus last week and Annabelle has literally been pooping green EVERY SINGLE DIAPER for one week. Her poor bottom is red and raw from so much action down there and I feel so sorry for her. Other than Butt Paste to ease the pain and clear up the rash (not working yet!), how do I get the poop factory to slow down? I can’t take another poopy diaper!! Part of me wants to cut out all solids for a week to clear out her system but I’m not sure if that’s the right thing to do either!

Ahhhh, this whole introduction of solid food in a baby’s diet is not all that easy and it’s not black and white. Everyone does it differently and at different paces. I just hope I’m not screwing up my baby’s chances at a successful life of eating solid foods in the future!

Any tips on what foods to offer a baby at 8 months, or how to end the endless pooping, or what clears up a raw butt the fastest? HELP!

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Big weekend: My baby has been “saved” (Halleluiah!) and I got older with diamonds!

by Courtney on March 22, 2012

The time for Annabelle to have her first “come to Jesus moment” came this past weekend with her christening, which is the Catholic people’s fancy word for baptism. To help us celebrate, my parents flew all the way from Indiana to Cali and my brother-in-law and nephew popped over from Minnesota. No big deal, just a baby promising her life to God and getting her little head soaked with a pitcher of water. It was kind of nice because the other baby never showed up (maybe she wasn’t ready for the commitment?), so it was just Annabelle and my family for the little ceremony. Annabelle seemed to enjoy the process, attempting to eat the burning candle my husband was holding way too close to her for comfort, and she didn’t even cry when the priest poured water all over her head. She just hung in there like a good little girl. And boy did she look CUTE in her little white flower dress, tights, cardigan, and matching eyelet shoes and hat! I need more excuses to put her in dresses.

Annabelle’s christening fell on the same weekend as my birthday, so it was cool that my parents could be here for my own little milestone — turning a year older. Remember when I droned on and on about turning 30 on this blog a while back? Well, can you believe I just turned 32!? Sick, that sounds so old and boring! Where has the time gone? It was a pretty laid back weekend with not much planned with my parents, but we did make a trip into San Francisco for my b-day. No sightseeing excursions this time though — I was getting some new BLINGEDY BLING!

Yep, it turns out that one of the only good things about getting really fat when you’re pregnant is that there’s a chance your wedding/engagement rings won’t ever fit again and you need to get new ones. I haven’t worn my ring in a year, having taken it off when I was 6 months pregnant for fear it would permanently turn my finger purple from being too tight. For months I’ve been rocking a $6 Old Navy wedding ring that’s tarnished like a mo-fo so, Jeff and I decided it was time to upgrade me. (I reminded him that this was also my “push present”, so I deserved this!) My friend hooked us up by getting us on the list at the Gift Center in the city which is a place that people with business licenses go to purchase jewelry at wholesale prices. So we got to pick out something super awesome and not pay the overhead costs you get on jewelry in retail shops. Yay! I found something super freaking sparkly and way blingier than my original rings, so I’m thrilled! I’d post a pic on the blog but I don’t need any stalkers coming for my rings! :)

The ‘rents are gone now and although it’s nice to have some peaceful normalcy back in my house with all the company cleared out, I do miss being “mothered” by my mom a bit. I’m so busy mothering Annabelle that it’s nice to have someone mother me sometimes. And I don’t mean that in a negative way, like she was telling me what to do all the time. I mean, bless my mom’s heart, she’ll wait on me hand and foot just to make my life as a new mom easier. She made my bed, folded my laundry, straightened up the house, cooked my favorite meals, etc. Who wouldn’t love that? She told Annabelle that I was her Annabelle, which was sweet. She hasn’t forgotten about me even with a cute as a button grandbaby to dot on. *warm fuzzies* Thanks, mom, love you!

What a great weekend!

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Torn on when to wean my breastfed baby (soon, never?)

by Courtney on March 1, 2012

This is NOT me & Annabelle, by the way!

As the decision on when to wean my 7 month old baby Annabelle from the boobie weighs heavy on my mind, I now understand why some women breastfeed their babies well into their teenage years. Hey, it’s tough to break that amazing bond you’ve developed with your baby since day one. Being your baby’s sole source of nourishment as they look up at you lovingly, and getting to cuddle with your little munchkin like no one else does has been a very special experience for me and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. To think I wanted to throw in the towel two weeks in because it was so painful in the early days!

But the reality is; I can’t nurse Annabelle forever. And I know many people choose to nurse a full year or more, but I had originally just planned on 6 months. Then it became 8-10 months. And I can see myself extending it longer after 10 months! I just personally don’t see myself going a full year and truth be told, I’m starting to want my body back. And here in lies the feeling of being torn. Do I decide to wean Annabelle for my own reasons, or do I let her wean herself when she’s ready and just keep going without an end plan in mind?

I hear a lot of moms say their little ones just weaned themselves, losing interest in nursing once they started eating solids. I wish Annabelle was one of these babies! But nope, she’s not. She still motor boats my chest when I’m holding her. If I have any exposed skin on my neck and shoulders she’ll practically give me a hicky trying to get milk from her mama! She just loves nursing! How can I turn that happy little face and thirsty girl away? I’d rather she turn away on her own so I don’t have to decide for her. I think this means I need to really ramp up her solids. I was slow to get AB into solids because she didn’t express interest and seemed disgusted when I put anything in her mouth with a spoon in the beginning.  But I know if I want her to wean from nursing I need to step that up.

Why wean if breastfeeding is still going well?

Some of you who chose to nurse longer may be wondering why I’m even thinking about stopping now if all is going well. Believe me, as I type that sentence out I’m asking myself the same question. But I do have a few reasons.

I’d really like to get my body back, for one. I really need to get to the gym through the week to make some positive steps towards getting in shape, but I feel like I can’t work out on my lunch break at work because I’m already away from my desk pumping twice a day. That’s another thing; I’m only working in the office 3 days per week and I’m getting busier and busier with my workload. Pumping is becoming a drag to fit into my busy days. I’ve noticed little by little that my milk supply isn’t what it used to be, and it can be frustrating at times to nurse her for 20 minutes and then have to give her a bottle on top of that to fill her up. I hate feeling inadequate to provide for my baby. Have I mentioned that Annabelle has 5 teeth and 2 coming in – that’s 7! Occasionally when she’s bored at the end of a nursing session she’ll clamp those teeth down on mommy and I’m starting to fear an impending bite. It’s only a matter of time before a real one comes. She always does it with a smile though, which is of course very sweet and cute, and it also makes it difficult for mommy to get upset with her!

I feel like all I’m doing right now is trying to convince myself that I have reasons to wean. I guess we all have our reasons and it’s really a mama’s decision when it’s time. In the end, weaning will probably be way harder on me than it will be for Annabelle. I never imagined I’d feel this way about breastfeeding. It’s funny how becoming a mother totally changes your perspective on things.

Any tips from breastfeeding moms on the best method to weaning?

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