I’ll miss you! - Going out without baby

That post is part of the breastfeeding blog hop and therefore in English. All other posts of this blog are in German. This Week’s Topic: “First Time Jitters: Leaving Baby in the Care of Someone Else“

Dieser Post ist Teil des breastfeeding blog hop und somit in Englisch. Alle anderen Artikel in meinem Blog sind auf Deutsch verfasst.

 

My 3 weeks old son with his grandmother.

I breastfed my son exclusively for the first six months. Since I am staying home for his first year of life (he is almost nine months old now), I fortunately never had to face the problem of having to leave him with someone else for a long time. In that way, I didn’t need to pump. Luckily! I never really got the hang of it. The first four weeks of his life, we had support from my mother-in-law, who was staying with us. She was a great and invaluable help at that time! She was so supportive. When she noticed that I was really going nuts from staying in the house all the time, she suggested I could just go for a little walk outside with my husband, only for a couple of minutes. My darling boy was about two weeks at that time. So, me and my husband took the chance and left the house for about 30 minutes. I was nervous but also comfortable enough with him staying with his grandmother. Everything went very well. He was sleeping in her arms when we returned. The second time we left him with his grandmother was my husband’s birthday. The little one was three weeks old then. This time, I left him for two and a half hours. Well, during this time, I called like 10 times to see if everything was going well. He was sleeping the whole time. When I returned, he was super happy to see me and nursed immediately. I felt more comfortable over time. The older he got, the more I could leave him with his Daddy or one of his grandparents for some time. The longest time I ever left him with someone else was in December, when he was six and a half month old. It was a work related Christmas party and I left the house at 6pm and returned at 11pm. He was totally fine. His daddy brought him to bed and he slept just fine until I returned. So far, we have never left him with someone outside the family. I am still not really comfortable with it. Maybe after he turns one!?

When did you leave your baby with someone else for the first time?

What has the most calories? Gimme gimme!

That post is part of the breastfeeding blog hop and therefore in English. All other posts of this blog are in German. This Week’s Topic: Top 5 Breastfeeding Snacks

Dieser Post ist Teil des breastfeeding blog hop und somit in Englisch. Alle anderen Artikel in meinem Blog sind auf Deutsch verfasst.

As a breastfeeding mom, you need about 500-600 calories more per day than what is usually recommended for you. “Great”, I thought before starting my breastfeeding career. “Not so great”, I thought when it actually came to the point of me having to find enough food and calories throughout the day. I was constantly hungry in the beginning (and still am) and had a new baby to take care of. I wasn’t used to eat constantly, so I had to train myself and find easy, ready to go snacks. Well, I admit that I did not care so much if the snacks were super healthy, but if they had enough calories. I ate veggies and fruit for my regular meals though. So, here are my five favorite snacks for breastfeeding:
1.    Chocolate bar: sweet and always in the house.
2.    A piece of cake: I just pick it up from the bakery around the corner.
3.    Malzbier: no no, no alcohol in that one. It is brewed like normal beer but without fermentation. It is nice and sweet. Love it! Malzbier is very famous in Germany. The closest American drink with some similarity is root beer. (Read more on Wikipedia)
4.    Chicken soup: A huge pot of it lasts for a couple of days in the fridge. Very hearty meal, also good for a snack in between. Then I just have a little bowl.
5.    Bread: we always have it in the house. Delicious with jam or honey in the afternoon.

I am not eating the bread dry like this, but when it is fresh from the bakery, why not?

What are your favorite breastfeeding snacks?

12 months and beyond

 That post is part of the breastfeeding blog hop and therefore in English. All other posts of this blog are in German. This Week’s Topic: Breastfeeding Goals for the New Year

Dieser Post ist Teil des breastfeeding blog hop und somit in Englisch. Alle anderen Artikel in meinem Blog sind auf Deutsch verfasst.

I did not really make any New Year’s resolutions. But reading this week’s topic in the breastfeeding blog hop, I thought of one: Breastfeeding my baby at least until 12 months! That was my goal from the beginning. But after a couple of months of nursing my darling boy, I enjoyed feeding him so much that I thought: “Maybe I don’t want to stop at 12 months. Maybe he does not want to stop at 12 months either”. I began to read about this topic. Today I can say, “Yes, I would love to breastfeed beyond 12 months!” I am not sure if I want to set this as a goal, just as something that I want to consider if we both still feel like it when the time has come. Then there is no pressure and might work out in the end.

Nursing my boy at 2 month.

Do you have any breastfeeding goals for the new year? 

No breastfeeding rules – make your own!

That post is part of the breastfeeding blog hop and therefore in English. All other posts of this blog are in German. This Week’s Topic: Breaking The Rules
Dieser Post ist Teil des breastfeeding blog hop und somit in Englisch. Alle anderen Posts in meinem Blog sind auf Deutsch verfasst.

Every breastfeeding relationship is unique. So, how can there be rules? I would rather call them guidelines, hints, philosophies, and experience of other unique breastfeeding relationships. Without them, it would be hard to get started on breastfeeding and find your own unique way. Later in your breastfeeding “career”, I guess it is actually the rule that you break the guidelines and form your own experience.

I read a lot about breastfeeding before our little one was born. Then in the hospital, I was lucky to get some good advice from the nurses. I was also lucky that my son latched on right away and has never stopped since then. In the first couple weeks, I followed the “rule” to leave at least two hours in between two feedings. That’s what I was told in the hospital. It worked out most of the time, but when it was really hot in the summer, I broke the rule, and just let him nurse whenever he was thirsty. I didn’t return to this rule after that, because I read about feeding on demand, and made this my new rule. It just worked better for us. I was also told by doctors that you should not let your baby sleep in your bed. I followed this rule as well in the first weeks. But when I noticed that night feeding is so much easier and gives us much more sleep when our little darling is sleeping right next to me, I learned about co-sleeping and we made this our new rule. At the beginning, I was also very careful about nursing in public, although it is very common here in Germany. I just felt unsure because everything was new. Now, I am just nursing whenever it is necessary, and my own rule is to refuse to feed in toilets. Who eats their food in toilets anyway? I can think of one unspoken “rule” or rather common code that I am planning to break in the future. When your baby turns one breastfeeding should be over. That’s at least the impression I get around here in Germany. Up to one it is ok to do, but after that it is “weird”. 11 month and 30 days – fine. 12 months – weird! I know that many moms do feed after 12 months, but don’t really talk about it. I am aiming for my new “weird” rule of breastfeeding after 12 months, if my baby wants to.

My point of all this is: It is extremely helpful to start out with some rules and experiences from others.  Everyone though should be free to develop their own set of new rules that suit their unique breastfeeding relationship.

Have you ever had to think “outside the box” when it comes to breastfeeding? Do you think there are certain breastfeeding “rules” that are meant to be broken? Do you fit in the typical nursing mom mold? Share your thoughts here!

Dump my pump

That post is part of the breastfeeding blog hop and therefore in English. All other posts of this blog are in German. This Week’s Topic: Lame Breastfeeding Products – Things that DIDN’T work for you.

Dieser Post ist Teil des breastfeeding blog hop und damit in Englisch. Alle anderen Artikel in meinem Blog sind auf Deutsch.

I had quite a few products that assisted my breastfeeding mission in the beginning: nursing pads, a breastfeeding app on my smart phone, nursing bras, lanolin for my nipples, and a nursing pillow. I used all of these and I was happy to have them. They all worked for me in the beginning let’s say the first 6-8 weeks. Then most of them started not to work out for me as time went by. I tossed the nursing pads, because I got tired of crumbling them in my bra or taking them out while nursing, plus, I didn’t leak so much anymore and if I did, I didn’t care. I stopped using the breastfeeding app after 6 weeks, because it got too complicated to track time and side. I was now comfortable nursing without it. I didn’t need the lanolin anymore because my nipples got used to constant feeding. I still use it once in a while though. I got tired of wearing the nursing bras and their cumbersome technique to open and close it. I use non-underwire bras now that I can just pull down. So much easier! The nursing pillow is now used for shielding the border of the bed, so my little one doesn’t fall down when sleeping in our bed.

I got the inevitable pump about five weeks into breastfeeding. The hubby and I were planning on attending a concert of Ringo Starr in Berlin, so our little one stayed at grandpa’s house. But what if he got hungry? I tried pumping in advance according to my midwife’s advice after each feed. Uhm… I got like 30 ml (1 ounce) once and then 10 ml or less. How long was I supposed to pump for one meal??? I got discouraged and just didn’t pump anymore. Plus, I also hated the feeling of pumping. So, we just were risking it and bought some formula for an absolute emergency during our absence during the concert. But everything went fine and that is where my pumping story already ends. Up until now, I have not been committed enough doing it and the pump is just sitting in the corner catching dust. But now an event is coming up that needs my attendance earlier than the little one’s bedtime. I will collect all my courage and start trying to pump again. I hope it works out a bit and I don’t need to dump my pump yet.

Did you buy a breastfeeding product or accessory that was totally useless? Have trouble with a particular product?