Gift Ideas for a Breastfeeding Mom

For this topic, I think there are two different categories of breastfeeding mothers.  Those expecting  or recently given birth to their first baby and everyone else who is breastfeeding.  The new breastfeeding mom has a longer gift list in my opinion.  And here it is:

Lanolin cream

Disposable breast pads or cloth breast pads

Breastfeeding tank tops or camis

Breastfeeding bra 1-2, plus sleep bra
Burp cloths or cloth diapers for leaky babies and leaky breast.
A sling or wrap 

Breast shells  (These are different from breast shields.  Shells help the nipple to be in the easiest shape for latch, they are essential for new mom’s with flat or inverted nipples.  Mom wears them for about 30 minutes before feeding.  They can also help protect sore nipples from rubbing on clothes).

A waterproof crib pad (for under mom while she sleeps/leaks)

Breast pump (which one depends on how often mom will be pumping)

Milkies milk-saver  may be invaluable to mom’s who leak while baby is nursing

Breastfeeding shirts and dresses are nice (but not necessary) and great gifts!  Especially for moms who have been nursing a while.  So are breastfeeding pj's.

And maybe it is just me, but I think thinks for a good soak in bathtub are always great gifts for a mom!

Planes Trains and Automobiles while Breastfeeding

Well, with four babies and family out of town, I have done plenty of road trips while breastfeeding.  And around the Holidays especially.  I would say that it is easier than traveling with a newly potty trained child.  And the hardest road trip we ever took is when I had both a breastfeeding baby and a newly potty trained two year old.  That day a 6 hour drive took 9 hours.  I think my husband would say it is easier to travel with a breastfeeding baby than a 8mo pregnant wife, which we did last April.  Mostly because not only did we stop every two to three hours for bathroom breaks, but I had to stop and walk around and I could only drive for two hours before my feet fell asleep and started having Braxton-Hicks contractions.  As a passenger I could put my feet up to keep my feet from falling asleep.  And emptying my bladder stopped the contractions.

Three weeks old at a funeral

Anyway, back to road trips with a breastfeeding baby.  Jujube, my third baby took the earliest road trip.  Jujube was born in Texas, and when he was three weeks old we had to drive to Minnesota for my grandmother’s funeral.  I refused to fly with a baby that little and I wanted to go to the funeral.  Jujube was a champion traveler.  Many babies sleep better and longer when the car is moving at highway speeds, and Jujube did great.  He did have big sisters in the back of the car to help him with his pacifier.  Basically, we expected to need a 30 minute stop approximately every three hours.  So if it had been 3 hours since the last stop and it was going to be more than 30 minutes between cities we would wake him up.  But if the next place to stop was 15 minutes away we would keep going.  Sometimes he would have to wait, and possibly cry for 10-15 minutes but certainly no extreme amounts of time.  I generally nursed him in the car if we were just getting gas and in the restaurant if we were eating.  All meals were coordinated with feeding times.

You could also give baby an expressed bottle of breastmilk instead of stopping.  Electric breast pumps can have car adapters and I think bottle warmers do too.  So, you could either bring milk with you in a cooler and use the bottle warmer to warm it up, or pump immediately before giving baby the bottle.  Since I have always had the ability to stop and nurse the baby, I didn’t mess with this.  Just getting the milk ready for baby would take almost as long as getting to a place to nurse.

The final option would be for mom to sit next to baby in the car and do contortions to enable baby to breastfeed while buckled in the car seat.  I tried this once.  Since I am only 5’2”, I could not confortably lean over and get Miss Froggie latched correctly.  I have heard that some people are able to do this just fine.  But it didn’t work for me.  This may not even be safe.  I haven't really looked into it.

I actually think flying with a baby is more difficult.  The reason I wouldn’t fly with Jujube at 3 weeks old was because of his immune system and exposure the unknown viruses and bacteria on the plane before he had his 2 month shots.  I did fly with my first and second right after the two month shots.  The hardest thing about flying is that you want to nurse the baby while the plan is taking off and landing, which for Miss Froggie, meant I had to make sure she was hungry at takeoff time.  She would NOT nurse when she wasn’t hungry. ( Jujube was more laid back and I so He didn’t have to be as hungry to nurse.)  And, the airplane has rules about when you can stand and change diapers.  You can hold baby anytime, but you can’t put them in a sling during takeoff and landing.  But to me, flying with a breastfeeding baby is much easier than flying with a toddler.

I have not (yet) traveled by train with a breastfeeding baby.  I have traveled with a three year old by train overnight once, and may be traveling with all four kids this summer.  There are many reasons why a train is less convenient than other means of transportation.  But I think trains may be the most kid friendly means of transportation.  On a train, you can eat, sleep, and toilet and move about whenever you want to. So arriving on time has nothing to do with when the kids needed to eat or use the bathroom.

Yeast Culturing

Well, we had a great Thanksgiving.  We spent time with my parents, went to Great Wolf Lodge, ate a great meal, had friends over on Saturday and had no school for almost a week.  My schedule was completely off, but the house does not look half bad and most of the Christmas decorations are up.  I do not yet have the croup post for you.  And I do not have any videos, I got lucky and neither boy was sick the next night.  During the last week the baby got his six month shots, which included rotavirus.  That night he threw up all over me at Olive Garden.  Yuck!  And that is why the diaper bag should have a change of clothes for mom in addition to baby.  He only threw up once on Monday, so I think it was maybe a reaction to the rotavirus vaccine, but there really is no way to tell.  He had had a respiratory virus and little kids especially can vomit with a respiratory virus.  He had no fever and was acting happy the whole week. He even enjoyed sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving.

So now, it’s Monday.  School is back in.  Hubby is at work and I need to get back in the groove.  Saturday I started the San Francisco Sourdough yeast starter from Cultures for Health.  I had gotten it earlier, but I was pretty sure life would be too crazy over Thanksgiving to keep it alive.  Since I barely got on the computer to check on the blog, I think I made the right choice.  In the video on Cultures for Health, they advise to throw away part of your yeast culture with the third feeding so that you don’t have too much.  I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  I was afraid I would mess up what I had left and not have back up.  I thought, I’ll just split it into too, and have an active one, a frozen one, and a fridge one that I feed once a week.  This is still my plan, but I am beginning to understand why I should have thrown some away.  Or why I might need to soon…I may run out of flour.  I took out 1 ¼ cups of the starter to make sourdough focaccia bread from Jeanne’s recipe at SimpleMath Bakery.  We will see how strong the starter is.  If it rises well, then I will make a loaf of sourdough bread.  And then do the whole fridge and freezer thing so I have back up when I kill my starter.

Stress Free Holiday Breastfeeding

OK, when I first saw the topic of Breastfeeding and Holiday challenges I thought I would have nothing to write about.  But when I thought about it I came up with several challenges:

1.      Traveling by car or plane

2.      Disrupted schedule from travel, activities, or obligations

3.      Nursing with many more people present than usual

4.      Alcohol and breastfeeding

5.      Dealing with the family’s opinions related to breastfeeding

Together these could feel overwhelming.  The week after Thanksgiving the breastfeeding blog hop is focusing on road trips while breastfeeding.   I’m a little worried about this being after Thanksgiving and how many people will be traveling before Turkey day.  I’m thinking about posting that topic early next week.  If you want me to get this done next week leave me a comment.  I wrote about alcohol and breastfeeding here.  So today I will give some ideas about disrupted schedules, extra people, and the family’s opinion.

Depending on your baby and your family these three issues could feel like nothing or being causing plenty of anxiety.   I am going to assume that if they feel like nothing, you already have it covered and don’t need any tips J  Maybe you can list your own tips in the comments section.

It seems like the holidays are so busy for all of us.  From getting the house clean and ready for the holidays, extra cooking, parties, buying or making presents, and travel it can be hard to keep the usual routine.  All of us do better with routine, but especially little ones who do not understand why all of a sudden everything is different.  Some babies (like some adults) don’t mind and go with the flow easily.  Others have a very difficult time tolerating it.  

If your baby (or toddler) does not do changes in routine well, keep this in mind when creating your holiday schedule.  Yes, you may need to sit down and look at how many things you want to do and how they stack up against the usual routine.  Decide how much you and baby can handle.  Discuss it with those who will be making plans for you, like your husband or extended family.  Maybe this year the whole family does less or at different times.  Or do less cooking or more cooking ahead of time.  ListPlanit’s Holiday ePlanner may be a good resource for making these plans. That is what I am using this year.  Keep in mind that many older babies can get busy and forget to nurse just like we do.  They typically make up for it during the night.  Making up for feedings at night works great for me, but might not for you.  So plan accordingly.

Another solution is to use a pumped bottle of breast milk for a feeding or two.  Family members are likely to really want to help you feed baby and having a few pumped bottles of breast milk will give you a lot of flexibility. 

Now, as far as nursing in public or in front of more people goes, think about your comfort level.  Do you have a nursing cover? If not check out Nicki’s Diapers.  She has some great ones starting at $15. 
 
I personally have never been one to leave the room and nurse all alone, but nursing could be an excuse to escape from the chaos if you want.  I have nursing bras and shirts and a nursing cover so I can nurse easily without making a scene.  With my first baby I practiced latching in front of a mirror so I could learn to latch with minimal display of skin.  

Another idea is a sling or wrap baby carrier.  With some practice you can nurse while up and about and  having the use of at least one hand.  Very important during the holiday busyness.  Many stores carry baby carriers. I’ve seen a Moby wrap at Target. Nicki’s Diapers also has an assortment of baby carriers.  Personally I have a Moby wrap and a ring sling.  I don’t usually have to use a nursing cover when using one of these, because they help keep things covered.

So, planning and nursing gear solves most Holiday problems, but not the family’s opinions.  There is a whole variety of different issues here, from not being supportive of breastfeeding in general, to thinking your baby is too old to breastfeed.  Some people will state their opinions and others will just give you looks.  I am definitely not an expert on this area, but I think making sure that you and your husband are on the same page helps.  Talking to each other about the kinds of things that may come up ahead of time may help you to feel supported during the holidays.  You may want to think about how to nicely explain your position.  Finally, remember, you are the parent.  Decide with your spouse what is best for your family and relax.  You don’t have to defend or prove yourself.

What are your tips??

Can I breastfeed and have a glass of wine?

So, the holidays are fast approaching and with them many situations where breastfeeding moms will have to decide whether to have an alcoholic beverage or not.  The last thing any of us want to do is hurt our babies.  But does not mean you have to wean just because you want to have a few drinks this holiday season?   I am not suggesting that you SHOULD drink.  But if you want to here are some guidelines and my disclaimer.

The standard guideline is 1-2 servings of wine or beer a day with no more than 4 servings a week. A serving is12 oz of 5% beer, or 5 oz of 11% wine, or 1.5 oz of 40% liquor (80 proof).  And then you have to wait a while.  I can get all medial and technical on you, but basically after drinking you should wait until you do not feel any effects of the alcohol before breastfeeding.   Which means that some mom’s will be able to return to nursing sooner than others.  Pumping and dumping does not remove the milk with alcohol.  Only your body and time can remove the alcohol from the milk.  But the great news is that you don’t have to dump milk just because you over drank.  Now, if you get too uncomfortable, you may have to pump and dump.  But otherwise, just wait until the alcohol’s effects wear off before returning to nursing.

The younger baby is the more careful you have to be.  Less than 16% of what you drink will be preset in your milk even at peak levels, but before three months old, baby’s liver may not be mature enough to process even that small amount of alcohol. The other reason is that younger babies nurse more frequently, giving your body less time to eliminate the alcohol before the next feeding.

If you know you are going to have an holiday party and you are leaving baby with the babysitter then pump before you leave so that 1) baby has milk an 2) so you are comfortable during the party. After the party you don’t have to pump when you get home to get rid of the alcohol milk.  You only have to wait until your body has processed the alcohol to resume nursing.    Here is a calculator so you can see how low it will take you to have zero alcohol in your milk.

For more usual situations, you can have a glass of wine or a beer with dinner if it will be a couple hours before baby nurses again.  Four glasses a week is probably still a good guideline (some experts say two) because we don’t have studies to show exactly how much is safe.  There have been a few studies that show chronic or excessive drinking can cause complications like poor weight gain and developmental delay.

So, here are some more resources for you to look at

http://www.infantrisk.com/content/alcohol-and-breastfeeding
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/129/3/e827.full
http://www.breastfeedingbasics.org/cgi-bin/deliver.cgi/content/Drugs/alcohol.html
http://www.lalecheleague.org/faq/alcohol.html