The mother of all pregnancy announcements...

 

Did you guys catch Beyoncé at the VMA Awards on Sunday?? She was performing her usual bad ass self and then at the end, bam! Check out my baby bump ya'll! It was pretty awesome. I guess if you're Beyoncé and Jay-Z, you gotta do everything BIG. Even your pregnancy announcement on stage at an award show that's broadcast world-wide. Congratulations to the happy couple who just finished second on FORBES' annual accounting of the top-earning celebrity couples. That was the best pregnancy announcement ever. And you're gonna love parenthood...and being pregnant!

This is what happens when you have a baby!

 

Everything takes waaaaay longer than it should...le sigh. This morning, I gathered bambina for our walk, who decided to wear her fro today since she would NOT, for some reason, let me comb her curly locks after bath time last night. (She loves bath time by the way!) So she's rockin' her lil' fro today and I throw on her jeans and white sandals and we head out the door for a nice stroll. I sit her in her stroller and I ask her if she wants to wear her sunglasses as it is bright and sunny outside. She has no idea what I am asking her, yet she still eagerly nods "Yes!" So I gently put on her The Princess and the Frog sunglasses that her grandma gave her and hey, she keeps them on! How 'bout that. So we're walking, sunglassed-mommy-and-me, and we make it all the way to Walgreens. It's about a one and a half mile walk, or a usually quick 20 minutes. But when I get there, I am quite hot and exhausted. Then I look at the temperature in the store front read-out and it says it's 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Aaahh, no wonder! Insert me delirious. I go in and purchase the three items I need: orange outdoor extension cord, coconut hair conditioner, and a black tank top (hey, it was on sale). I pay, put my change away, and out the door bambina and I go, back into the 104 degrees. Oh, and she is still wearing her sunglasses.

We barely make it home as I am so hot and tired by now and walking a lot slower, and bambina has fallen asleep. I bring her in the house and let her nap. I'm about to jump in the shower when I think...wait a minute. Doh! I forgot the items I had purchased at Walgreens! Oi vei. So I call them and sure enough, they have my bag there with the stuff I bought. So I take my quick shower, get dressed in a rather cute, I might add, summer outfit, then take bambina out of her play pen, smell her diaper, "You got poopies? No, no poopies? Good," grab my keys and purse, turn on the car to get the air conditioning going (104 degrees, remember?) put her in her car seat, finish strapping her seat belt, then notice my pants and woahhhh...why do I have food all smashed on my gaucho pants? I take a bit of the "food" that's smeared on my pants, smell it, you know, 'cause that's what us mommies do, we SMELL these things. ("Is that chocolate or poop?") and OMG it's poop!! Why didn't you tell me you had poop, I asked you?? Oh, right, you don't talk yet. I take a deep breath and contemplate for a few moments...she can make it to Walgreens and back with a leaking, poopy diaper, right? Oh, sighhhh...so I take her out the car seat again, turn off the car, go back into the house, and give her an entire wardrobe change like she was Cher at her farewell concert. AND, I need a wardrobe change as well, because, remember?? Poop all over cute, summer outfit? FINALLY, we're out the door, AGAIN, turn on car, turn on air conditioner, strap baby in car seat, strap mommy in seat belt, and phew!, back to Walgreens we go to pick up our items that we actually purchased over an hour ago! Arrive at Walgreens which is actually just a five minute drive, turn off car, un-strap baby from car seat again and OMG, you get the picture! A five minute ride takes an hour with a baby! Why, oh why??? Why? You know why...because we love it, and we love our babies, and we love being mommies...yup...pooped gaucho pants and all :-D

Wait, what? A breastfeeding doll?

 

My husband forwarded me this article by Tessa Blake, Breastfeeding – Our Country's Lactation Intolerance which talks about a new breastfeeding doll, "Breast Milk Baby," that has been selling in Europe and just a month ago, made it's way to the U.S....along with all the controversy. Some people have accused the doll of "sexualizing" children. It sounds like it's part of the on-going debate on women's breasts and how they have been made to be sexual objects by modern society (i.e. men) when ultimately they were created for feeding our babies. But why would anything about a little girl be sexual?? That being said though, and me being a pro-breastfeeding, lactivist mommy, I have to admit that I find this doll, rather, strange. I'm on the fence with this one. It may be part of my overall belief that some toys and accessories out there try to make children grow up too fast. But at the same time, children mimic what their parents do anyway, it's part of learning and developing into grown-up, full-functioning adults. Oh, incidentally, did you know that Barbie was supposedly modeled after a German cartoon prostitute? Who knew.

I do have to say though, that I find it great how there is a whole new, world-wide movement to promote and encourage breastfeeding, and sort of "take back" our breasts and use them for what they were intended to be. Without the shame, without the embarrassment, without the inconvenience, and without being fired from our job. I see a bright future ahead for breastfeeding mamas who will run the world with their Chichi Power! And I do like Tessa's final thought: "I'm all for breasts as a secondary sexual object as long as we don't forget their primary purpose. Or, here's a novel idea: Why can't they be both?"

I *Heart* Breastfeeding!

But you already knew that :-)  This month's issue of Babytalk magazine has a nice, five page article on breastfeeding, and an additional page on finding the right breast pump. In this article is where I discovered The International Breastfeeding Symbol (pictured above) and the website where you can buy merch with the symbol, like tees and onesies, and get tons of valuable information on breastfeeding. Although, I really liked the "Superman" looking t-shirt that was featured in the Babytalk article, but I couldn't find it on the website. The article is very informative and it just makes me so happy to see breastfeeding being promoted more and more these days all around the country. I hope this continues and we can create an even bigger pro-breastfeeding movement for future mommies-to-be, and for the dear sake of the babies! Our children, the future generation, are who ultimately benefit from breastfeeding and I wish everyone could just understand this fundamental truth (Georgia!) and get over their gripe and inhibitions about moms breastfeeding in public or at work or breastfeeding too long and all that nonsense. Let's grow up, people, and quit being such a "baby"...all pun intended. :-D

The milk comes out of where??

I was blog hopping this past week and came across a forum where mommies were posting a list of things they wish someone had told them about going into labor. It was pretty funny and some of those I agreed with too. There are things that happen down there in the land of giving birth that you wonder... what the heck is going on here and why didn't anyone tell me! (I've got stories.) But one that really made me chuckle and was directly related to breastfeeding, and, well, this here Chichi Power blog being about BF, is the one I wanted to write about today... Where is the hole and when does it come in? LOL! Okay, backtrack, so when I was still pregnant with little bambina, I, as you know, had already made the decision to BF since before she was even conceived. But when I was pregnant, I never really noticed my boobs get any bigger or filled with milk. Like the milk never "came in" until way after I gave birth. (Hence my struggles with BF but you already know my sob story.) I would examine my breasts and nipples from time to time (wait, doesn't everyone do this?!) since I was preggers and doing research on all things preggers and BF, and I would look at my nipples an wonder, hmm, where exactly does the milk come out? I thought our nipples were just like baby bottle nipples, and there was a hole in the middle and that's where milk came out. But I looked at mine and didn't quite see a hole. Umm, I think this is it here, but I'm not sure. When I squeeze, nothing comes out. Well, my BF mamas, it turns out that we don't have one single hole in the middle of our nipple, but there are in fact, tons of little holes all around our nipples where the milk comes out. Ohhhhh, that's how it works! Oh, how, um, weird! Right?? But yes, unlike a baby's bottle, a real nipple has more than one hole, or port (duct). It actually may have as many as 5 to 25 holes or pores, usually one for each lobule in the breast. No wonder some babies have such a hard time transitioning from breast to bottle. They're like, yo, dude, this has one single drip when I had a whole bunch of milk coming out before. What gives? 

Oh, another thing I learned, was that when you have sore nipples from BF, yes, you can use that purple cream Lansinoh (which was my "breast friend" when I was first starting out oooh weeee!) but you can also just squeeze out some breast milk and rub it on your nipples and that will self heal the sore nipples. Who knew? Our bodies, ladies. Like I've said before, our bodies are amazing, aren't they!? As far as poor, weaned baby, luckily, there are some baby bottles that are at least close to the real thing. Like the Tommee Tipee for instance. Or the Mimijumi bottles. And, well, that concludes the TMI post. Sorry if this was breast and nipple TMI but I'm like that sometimes. I have very few inhibitions. If you've birthed a baby, you know how that kind of goes out the door... whether you want it to or not! 

Their "teddy" as friend and foil...

Hey mommas! How are ya'll doing?? I've been doing pretty good myself. So far so good in this circus act of a toddler-raising madhouse. I came across this good article on dinner time for toddlers, Getting Toddlers to Sit at the Table for Dinner, and the whole "family dinner" thing. Learned something new: kids don't fully understand the whole "manners" thing until around age 5 (that's also a very psychologically crucial I mean crucial time for kids and foreshadowing adulthood, but that's a whole other blog post in itself...stay tuned). So how 'bout that. I can relax a bit on that one I guess. I'm sure she'll start to catch-on to the set of common "rules," but I won't expect her to understand too much until she's older. We as adults have plenty of time be "well-mannered adults," don't you think? Let babies be babies already! The article talks about how it's okay to let toddlers bring toys along to the dinner table, or I guess to any place where they are forced to do "adult things." The toy, or teddy as is given in the example in the article, becomes their friend or foil. So cute. I'm not mad at that.

And speaking of eating, wanted to share this quick, easy and healthy purée you can make for baby in a cinch. It's a fruit purée of avocado and banana...yes, avocado is a fruit. And both are mild enough to be first foods. Avocados are packed with nutrients that are great for baby's brain development. Avocados as well as bananas are often called one of nature's perfect foods because they are said to contain everything a person needs to survive. Avocados are a wonderful "good fat" food for baby's brain and physical development, try an avocado as baby's first food instead of refined cereals. That is also true for us adults. I read somewhere recently that avocados are actually a lot less fatty for us than people think, and can help us maintain or even loose weight. Because they have the right amount of fats and protein and can fill you up fast with the good stuff. Like is the rule of thumb, anything green is mm mm good for you! As far as bananas, well, first-off they are so easy to feed because what baby doesn't love bananas, right?! One of the most important nutritional components of bananas is that they contain potassium and fiber. Bananas are also high in Vitamin B6, Vitamin C (which helps with iron absorption in foods, if you're concerned about that, so pair them up with lentils or other iron-rich foods) and Vitamin B2. So what I like to do, is take a ripe organic avocado, a ripe organic banana—and if you can't always go organic, no worries with these two as they both don't fall into the "Dirty Dozen." This means they are the least contaminated by pesticides and that has to do with the fact that they have a thick peel protecting them. So you can take the avocado and banana and mash them together in a bowl with a fork and add a little bit of breast milk (under 12 months) or whole milk (11+ months), depending on what stage your baby's in, and viola! So so yummy, I can almost guarantee your baby will eat it up and say "mmmm!" And remember to always have plenty of water available when feeding solids so baby doesn't get dehydrated or constipated. Insert: one unhappy bambino/a. Oh, and don't forget the teddy bear! "Baby appétit!" :-D

Heeeey, I'm a mommy, check out my curves!

...Starting with my breastfeeding chichis ehhhh. LOL! So I was talking to a crew member recently during the filming of my new writing project, and in between takes, a group of us four women on the set got into a discussion about having babies and the body that comes with it. This young woman was talking about a seminar or something she attended, on the feminist tip, that was talking about this whole notion we as women have, of making the fact that we've had a baby completely "disappear." Like we are not even mothers, in a weird way, you know? Like this whole idea of getting your body back the way it was "before the baby." Getting back to your weight "before the baby." Doing things as they were "before the baby." But, why? We had a baby, we went through all this work to have a baby and be a mom, why not embrace every aspect of it? Let's celebrate! Reclaim from the world, yes, I had a baby! Here, look at my new body... doesn't it look fabulous!? But this woman was saying that it's a media and social conditioning. I mean just look at how hounded celebrity women are after they have a baby. Did she get back to her weight before the baby? Does she look as beautiful as she did before the baby?? Did she did she??? And how fast????

Look, I'm all for looking great and being healthy. So I did think about my own situation after giving birth to my first and you know what, honestly, I've never had this thought about getting back to my weight "before the baby." Looking like I did "before the baby." No. I was so amazed at what my body was capable of doing, that I was so happy and proud of my body after I gave birth. I lost the extra 29 pounds I had gained within 3 weeks after I gave birth because of breastfeeding (well, okay, I cheated, the baby and placenta alone are like what, 10 to 15 pounds, ha ha). And although I still needed, and could still use some work getting into shape, the way I see it in my mind, is that I want to get back in shape, but that means look the best and be the healthiest I can be, with my new body. With my body as a mom now (but don't worry, I promise to never wear "mom jeans"). Whatever that wants to be, then so be it, because dammit I'm feeling gooood! Heeeey, I'm a mommy, check out my curves! Go ahead, look, keep looking, I know you wanna look, one more time, okay stop now, I'm married.

Anyway, all that to say that I came across this Q&A with Marisol Godinez-Braining who is a food coach, personal trainer and chef (and a mommy). In this article she gives good and healthy advice on What's the Fastest Way to Get Back In Shape After Giving Birth? And I know, I know, there's that question again "how fast did she loose the weight after the baby??" Forget all that, I would say, let's just go at our own pace. Whatever feels good to us and our doctor recommends which knows our history, which Marisol does mention. You can learn more about her and the company she founded www.DiosaFitness.com where she helps create awareness through healthy eating, cooking and exercise by "transforming lives, rebuilding new bodies." Eh, eh, you see, we have new bodies. After the baby bodies. And damn are they sexy... milk and purée stains and all!

Storage this!!

 

OMG, I so needed this like a year ago! LOL. It's a handy The First Years Milk Storage Organizer. For when you freeze your breastmilk. Sad story of the week: so I had the very last two, two I say, Medela plastic freezer bags (I promise I don't work for Medela, I just love their breastfeeding products so much!) with 5 ounces each of my breastmilk that I was saving for my girl. Well, I decided it was time to give her those last two bags ever in her life, so they didn't go bad. (Frozen breastmilk can only last 6 months in the freezer.) Well, I thawed one out and fed it to her in the evening, and she made this fuchi face and gave it back to me. I smelled it and sure enough, it was bad. Oh no! And the other one was bad too! Boo hoo hoo! It was devastating. Oh, sigh. That's how it is with breastmilk though. It's so natural that you never know, sometimes they do go bad in the freezer or fridge. I had that happen a few times throughout this past year.

But oh well, I have a baby, I don't cry over spilled milk anymore! And regarding this handy caddy for freezer milk storage, I'll buy it for the next one I guess....I hope ;-)  Because for now, I am done done done with breastfeeding! Hurray! So storage this, suckers! Hey, I made it 13 months breastfeeding okay, I can have my moment. Actually, I am finally having my moment. As you know, I've had such a hard time letting go of breastfeeding. I soooo wish I could keep doing it for another year. But the reality is, that my body is done. Over it. Enough already. Finito. And it has now been around 5 days I think that I have not breastfeed my girl AT ALL. Not even once, not even at night. It was hard at times to resist the temptation when she would pat on my chest because she wanted to nurse. And she would cry and pout, and I would take around 10 seconds to really think about this. Stop. Breathe. I can do this. Then I would just pick her up and take her to her toys or her books and we would play together and she quickly forgot about "mama." I just had to do it. It was time. And for the first time today, I'm feeling really good about it. The other night I was at a wrap party for a writing project that just finished shooting, and as I was about to take my first sip of my house margarita on the rocks with salt, mm mm, a friend of mine asked "Are you still breastfeeding?" And I stopped for a few seconds then realized, "No. No, I am not breastfeeding anymore." Wait a minute!! I did it! I gave it my absolute best for the past 13 months and I now finally let go. Cheers! Gulp. Gimme anotha'! I have a slight ray of light coming in through my soul that is slowly making my body feel free. A whisper that wants to scream...so long suckers!!! 

But don't worry, I'll still be around updating you on all the latest and greatest on breastfeeding and on the toddler years, which I am currently on. And I will be rooting for you on your breastfeeding journey and waiting by the sidelines with water bottles for you! You can do this I believe in you!! Don't give up because one day, you will miss this wonderful bonding with your bambina/o, trust me on this one! Oh, and operation wean baby from the bottle: epic fail. Haven't been able to do it, but I am working on it diligently. As you know, when I set my mind to do something, I do it. So, hey, chica, give me that bottle! 

Hey, it's World Breastfeeding Week!!

Who knew!? Yeay for us breastfeeding moms! August 1-7 is World Breastfeeding Week. Find out more at: worldbreastfeedingweek.org

Okay, I lied...

 

I am still breastfeeding! Don't judge me. You caught me red-handed, or shall I say, with my chichi out. But I'm not pumping, so that was all true. I said to that Medela pump, I said, so loooong sucker!! But I did breastfedd her last night because she woke up and I just can't resist her little, tiny voice saying "mama?" But I did resist her wanting to nurse this afternoon and just diverted her attention to something else. Like, hey, s-o-l-i-d-s, hey, there's a concept. Today's menu so far was french toast, minus the syrup of course, since I don't give her sugar or salt. Then some brown rice with fava beans later in the day and some cream of wheat later on. Oh, and some banana of course. She loves banana! She says "mmmm anana" which basically means she wants to eat. That amazing little growing mind, I tell ya. But yeah, I need to seriously work on the sleep re-training so she's not getting up at night. And I'm also working hard on trying to wean her from the bottle. That's more important to me right now than weaning her from breastfeeding. I'm gonna give her six months, and hopefully it will work. It took me a minute to get her to use her sippy cup period. But now she's a pro at it to drink water from. But I started to put milk in her sippy cup and even though it's the same exact milk she drinks from her bottle, she takes a sip and makes this "ew what the heck is this" face, then puts it down and doesn't take another sip. But everyday, I'm going to continue giving her that milk in a sippy cup, until she gets used to it and hopefully completely forgets about bottles...and my breasts.

From what I read, at 12 months is your next window of opportunity with toddlers to re-train them to new schedules and habits. Because if you wait too long, once they reach the age of 2, it's much much harder to re-train since they are set in their ways. So I've got my work cut out for me for the next few months to get this bambina on track. Wish me luck!  

Remnants of the golden years...

Or golden months. Or liquid gold. The best year of her life, and mine. This here is where my breast pump used to sit during the last few months. And now, bambina is 1 year old! As you remember, I had made the commitment to breastfeed for at least a year. Well, I'm proud to say that I did it! I made it! The last several weeks I made it to the finish line on my knees followed by down on my hands. Reaching for air. Woman down. But I crossed that finish line using my Chichi Power. So now, I should be happy, right? My boobs are free from captivity, this is what I wanted, right? Right?? So why was I so...sad. And having such a hard time letting go. All these months of tears and pain and dying for this year to be over so I could be done with this. But on July 2, the day after her birthday, I was still breastfeeding her and did not want to stop. It's been a very emotional time for me since.

The day of her birthday party, I had put away my breast pump which lived on my kitchen table, so I could make room for the festivities. And I just quickly unplugged it and put it away in one of our rooms without much thought since my intention wasn't to actually "pack it up," but just put it away for that day then bring it back the next day to continue my milk machine factory. But then, the next day came along, and the next day, and the next after that, and I never looked back. I went in there a few days later to clean up the room and looked at my poor breast pump sloppily placed on the floor and I thought "I am not ready for you yet." Then I left the room and closed the door. I wasn't ready as in, I wasn't ready to decide whether I would keep pumping or put it away for good. What the heck was wrong with me? Not ready to stop pumping! I hated pumping! I used to say a few weeks back, "when I pack up my pump for good I am going to say, I'm gonna miss you pump...NOOOOT!" Yet still, I was having a hard time letting go. I had all these "pump accessories" all over the kitchen, like bottles, cleaners, all this plastic and yellow Medela stuff asking me, "ummm, are you done here? Can we go now?" And, I was also still breastfeeding my girl, just not bottling it anymore. Even though there was a significant decrease in my breastmilk, I no longer felt the let-down or felt fullness, I continued to let her nurse. She noticed the decrease too and would stop and pat my breast and nod her head which to her meant "yes mommy, yes I want more milk. Please give me more milk", followed by frustration and tears "why won't you give me more milk, mommy, why!!" Okay, maybe in her mind it wasn't that dramatic, but that's exactly how it felt in my heart. So I continued to let her nurse whenever she wanted, hoping she would find something there.

It wasn't until one night that I had a big meltdown with my husband and broke down in tears and told him what I was feeling. That I was having such a hard time letting go of breastfeeding, that I felt I could do more, that breast milk has so many benefits so I wanted to keep doing it but at the same time my body was so exhausted and I wasn't producing nearly enough milk anymore and I had already struggled with low milk supply all along. I felt so silly crying to him about that, but he didn't think it was silly and was so supportive, just like he always is, and just heard me out. And it helped. The next morning, I woke up feeling a lot better and empowered. I went into the kitchen in the morning and saw all the breast pump accessories I still had out, and I said to myself, you know what, I'm ready. It's time. I can put this away now and be okay with it, and with myself. So I went back into that room, and I gently and carefully and lovingly "packed" my breast pump away and placed it in a nice storage place for, hopefully, later. Then I went in the kitchen and gently and carefully put away all the accessories and finally cleared up my kitchen counter. My work here is done, and I did my absolute best.

At 11 months, I started weaning my daughter into organic, no hormone whole milk. At the time, we were at a New York Whole Foods Market when I fed her 2 ounces of that milk for the first time ever in her life. She drank it up like nothing, didn't even notice the difference. But about 20 minutes later, she completely blew up her diaper, ha ha! I had to go into a crowded bathroom with a long line of ladies giving me the side eye because her diaper was very pungent, but not like the smell of roses, and she had to have a complete wardrobe change, AND, I went through all my wipees so I had to reach over for paper towels. Then I had to leave the dirty diaper in the trash can of that bathroom as I left that bathroom with head down in shame. Eh, whatever. Everybody poops. But over the next few weeks, it was fine. She adjusted just fine to the whole milk and is now all she drinks, along with the homemade baby food I make her. Well, that and the occasional nursing. I have continued to breastfeed her but now, it's down to just one time at night and today, I haven't breastfed her at all and I think this may be it. I think I am finally done and ready to let go. As much as I love to breastfeed her and comfort her and feel how happy and safe she is when she's nursing. How she holds my body with her little hand while she's doing it and kicks up her feet with joy then looks up at me with loving eyes when she's done and just stares at me, we both have to, "grow up" I guess, and move on. Move on to other levels of closeness that are needed as she goes into her toddler stage. I have done what I promised her I would do, and I never ever, ever ever, break the promises I make. Now I must stay strong, and take care of myself and my body, so that I can be strong for her, and take care of her. I'm sure I will continue to write down and reflect on my feelings towards breastfeeding. This has become such a passion for me and I want to continue to educate women about it so that more future babies will benefit from this amazing gift that God has given us as women and as mothers.

That night, right before I had the meltdown with my husband, I was actually researching how to become a lactation consultant. There, I said it, I put it out in the universe. Not something I will be able to manage right this moment, but it's something I see myself possibly revisiting down the line. I will definitely keep you posted. For now, I will continue to update this blog and use it as a sort of memoir to all my breastfeeding experiences after about six months into this, when I became so exhausted and worn out that I could not get myself to write a single word about the subject. But now, and I should be happy about this, I'm still working on being happy about this, but now, I should be happy that my chichis have been freed from captivity and I can put on a thick shirt and cover them up completely. No babies allowed. But although my body belongs to me again, and only me, I give you all my heart and my love, bambina. That I will never "pack up" and put away. It's you and me, por vida... And yes, I cried throughout this entire blog post. 

The first lady knows what's up

Hey mommies, so have you been hearing all the movement from Michelle Obama to promote and help make breastfeeding easier for women? Check out this article I came across regarding a new law that would allow tax breaks for breastfeeding moms. As tax season is upon is, this is good news! Read the article here.

Comments Needed on Reasonable Break Time for Nursing Mothers Law

A friend of mine and new mommy who is also using her "chichi power" sent this link to me. The U.S. Department of Labor is requesting information from the public, in particular from breastfeeding moms. That means YOU! :-D  The notice is "a request for information from the public regarding the recent amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that requires employers to provide reasonable break time and a place for nursing mothers to express breast milk for one year after their child's birth." 

So when you get moment, do go on that site and add your comments from your experience as a breastfeeding mom, on what you believe are reasonable break times for working breastfeeding moms. And pass on the link to others. Thanks!

Brown rice con breast milk

Hi mamas! It's been a minute, I know. Been a little crazed lately. I'm a new mom, you understand. So it's just about the end of the first month of solids and so far so good. I see this time as my baby learning how to eat food with a spoon, instead of just breast milk through a bottle or breast. That to say that giving her solids is still not quite helping with having enough milk pumped and bottled for her. I'm still having an issue with that, because she's still just as hungry even after I give her solids. And my milk supply is still low, and it even started to decrease by about one ounce when I pump sometimes...arggh! I really hope I can keep up and continue to have enough milk because I want to stick to my promise of breastfeeding her for one year. Only five more months to go yipee. I can do this!! Who's with me?? :-D
The last you heard, she was not feeling the squash, oh no sirree. She was also not feeling the carrots and I was having a hard time getting her to eat at all during that week. But, along came the fab moms over at SocialMoms.com and viola! I got a great, über simple recipe from Mommypants! for brown rice cereal. I tried it, and oh my goodness my baby loved it! I mean, I kinda knew that cereal was a no brainer, most all babies love baby cereal or rice cereal. But I was really trying to get her to eat her vegetables first, before I introduced the easy stuff, like cereal or fruit. It got to be a challenge to get her to eat though, and after six months, babies need more than just breast milk, because breast milk alone is no longer substantial for their growing bodies. So I made this brown rice cereal for her, and mixed in a little breast milk to purée it with and it worked. She has been eating pretty good now and today was the first day she had the full three meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner, woo hoo! I would say she ate about 1 1/2 tablespoons total today.

I've been giving her nothing but the brown rice cereal for over 10 days now and it seems to be working. Two things I noticed:

1) The switching new foods every 3 or 4 days I think is too soon. This eating solids with a spoon thing is so new and foreign to babies who've been nothing but breastfeed for the past six months, that I think the baby needs time to get used to the foods. I don't think it helps to keep switching it up on them so soon. When I continued to just give her the brown rice cereal for almost two weeks now, it really helped to get her accustomed to it and she knows what to expect now.

2) I noticed she actually preferred the food with a little more texture and not so finely puréed. Some of the food I made came out too runny or liquidy, and she really didn't like that. But when I loosely smashed the brown rice cereal with a fork, instead of putting it in a food processor, she really liked that, she liked the bits of soft rice better.

I also just started to add some puréed green beans to the brown rice and it's going great! She is back to eating some veggies, along with the brown rice cereal. So happy to be feeding her such healthy food. And of course, always give them some water to wash the food down when they're done, so they don't get constipated. This also helped with that. When I do manage to get her to eat the three meals of solids a day, I try to make sure she drinks 2 ounces of water that day. This I noticed helps her to not get constipated and have an adequate poopy diaper. Who would've ever thought we'd be monitoring poopies right. Lol! Welcome to motherhood :-D

So you're having a baby...

Hi everyone, today's post is in response to a writing prompt at SocialMoms.com asking "What two pieces of important advice would you share with first-time or soon-to-be-parents?"

Well I'm a first-time mom myself and still new at this, at 6 1/2 months deep. But I will share some advice, based on what I've learned so far. The main thing for me: what was I going to feed my baby. That became the main focus. So my first advice of course, is to BREASTFEED your baby. It has been the best, most rewarding thing I have ever done in my whole entire life...besides having a baby of course, ha ha! :-)  Make that strong commitment to breastfeed your baby for at least six months, before you conceive and/or give birth, that way quitting will not be an option and you will stick with it through both the easy and tough times. Six months are the recommended bare minimum...but why would we only want to do the bare minimum for our babies right?? My epiphany: I did not wait this long to have a baby to half-ass it. That's my philosophy with all things baby-related anyway :-P  My goal was to do it for one year, but now I'm really confident that I will go longer, maybe 1 1/2 years. The benefits of breastfeeding are numerous and I have experienced these benefits first-hand. To give you an example, my baby as I mentioned is 6 1/2 months now and she's never had stomach problems, colic, fever/cold, diaper rash, she sleeps good at night, has gained the proper amount of weight, and our bonding experience has been amazing and beautiful. You can read more about all the wonderful benefits of breastfeeding if you peruse my blog here, or visit my section The Benefits of Breastfeeding.

My second advice, again, has to do with what to feed your baby. I recommend making your own baby food. It's not as hard or time-consuming as it sounds. And babies in the beginning, only eat about 1 tablespoon (if that) of food per sitting. I recently introduced solids when my baby turned six months, which is when it's best to do so. I even wrote a little song about it called the "12 Days of Solids." Up until then, all she ate was breast milk and she is healthy and very active. You will also save so much money since you won't need to buy any formula or baby food jars and boxes. I buy her fresh, organic vegetables, steam them, purée them with a little bit of breast milk instead of water until I get the right consistency and viola! I recently started making her brown rice cereal as well which is super easy and she loved it! I got great advice on introducing solids and some recipes from the fab moms over at SocialMoms.com. You can store the food in the fridge for a couple of days or freeze food in ice-cube trays (one ice-cube of food is about 1 tablespoon, which is all you need per feeding) that will last you for weeks. If you dedicate one day during the weekend maybe, you can make the food and then freeze it so you have it ready during the week. The benefits of making your own baby food, is that you know exactly what is going into your baby's body. No preservatives, no sugar or salt or extra flavorings, just fresh food from the earth. I hope this has been helpful and encourages you to consider getting your baby off to a great, healthy start :-)

The verdict on squash: fuchila!

What's going on in solids land this week? Well, not very eventful. I introduced peas and green beans which bambina ate. She seemed to like the green beans more. But then along came the butternut squash and she was not having it. I think I got through one, maybe two feedings in those four days. I thought she would like it more since it's a bit sweeter but nope. She gave me a fuchi face ha ha. I then introduced carrots on Wed and she just does not want to eat at all now. Not sure what's going on. A nurse told me it may be her teething that's making her uncomfortable and not wanting to eat. I don't know. The carrots I made were pretty good too. Fresh, organic, a good sweet flavor to them, mixed in with a little breast milk and puréed at a good consistency. She is just not interested in eating the solids right now. If this continues, I may try this mesh feeder I read about, that babies can use to feed themselves. I worry though that she won't learn how to eat with a spoon. Ah what to do what to do.

I did notice though, that the few times she has eaten the solids, has already helped with my milk supply. I am able to store more bottles for her in the fridge now, and yesterday I was able to freeze 5 ounces, hurray! Hopefully she will get better and better at wanting to eat her three meals of solids a day. So far I've managed one, maybe two meals per day. Patience, patience, patience.

Another thing I noticed now that she's feeling more discomfort from the teething, is that she's not so quick to take the bottled breastmilk anymore. She wants to be breastfed. I'm thinking that nursing is also soothing for her gums which is fine for me, since I really don't want to have to give her any drugs like Orajel or Tylenol or anything like that. So far I've been using the cold or frozen teething ring, distractions like toys or playtime, a lion crinkle teething toy I have, and nursing her to comfort her. Hopefully that will suffice in the future as well, we'll see. When I nurse her she bites down now though, and she doesn't even have teeth yet and it hurts! I really can't imagine how it's gonna be to try and nurse her when she has teeth in...that sound scary and painful. But, like everything else as a breastfeed new mama these days, nothing I can't handle :-)  And now, I leave you with this link to this cool Hug & Hide Owl Activity Toy I just came across that is on my wish list for bambina.

Adventures in solids

So far so good with the introduction to solids. We started giving bambina peas on Saturday, and she did fine with that. She was able to eventually digest them properly. I did notice she got a little constipated because she hadn't pooped in like three days. And when she finally did, it was pasty. So my husband gave her about 2 ounces of warm water yesterday and that did the trick. It was more of the runny, seedy poop she usually has...but green from the peas, lol! So the key at each feeding, is to feed her one tablespoon of the solids, and then give her about 1 to 2 ounces of water (or however much she wants to drink) right after to wash it down so she doesn't get dehydrated, which can happen after introducing solids. My pediatrician said giving your baby water after 6 months is fine. I've also started to introduce the sippy cup to her. So far that's not as successful but I'm sure it'll take some time.

So now that I've waited the four days per new food, I have moved her on to the next veggie today: green beans! I tried giving her some this morning but she just wasn't in the mood for eating period. It comes and goes right now for her, since it's all so new I guess. I'm gonna try giving her some more in a bit for lunch and see how she does. She usually does better at eating during the afternoon and finishes the entire tablespoon. A tablespoon, if that, is all they need at each serving right now, and you can do three servings a day...if the baby wants though. I would say, go by their cues for right now, until they get used to it. Take it slow and don't try to force feed. This is the time to experiment with various different foods, so it's not about quantity but variety. So far I've only managed to get about 1 1/2 tablespoons per day.

The first two meals I've prepared for her are very basic and easy. For the peas I steamed them, then added a little bit of the magic ingredient, breast milk, instead of water to get that good, runny, puréed consistency. Then I placed them in my Magic Bullet processor and mashed away until I got a nice, smooth, purée consistency. And viola! Easy. I did the same with the organic green beans today. I would say it takes about 30 minutes to prepare baby food that can be frozen and stored for two weeks worth of food. See, anyone can do it! All right, it's off to some adventures in green bean land with bambina. I'll let you know how it goes :-)

"12 Days of Solids: Day 12"

“12 Days of Solids” by Chichi Power
Day 12:
On the twelfth day of solids my baby sent to me,
Successful intro to solids!,
Butternut squash for freezing,
Fresh peas for first food,
Sippy cup for training,
A veggie steamer,
Magic Bullet for mashing,
Homemade purees recipe book,
Fiiiiiiive feeding spoooons.
Booster seat with feeding tray,
Organic peas recipe,
A beer to increase my milk supply,
And drank all the milk in the freezer and fridge.