Apr27

Better than Baby Formula

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Better than Baby Formula

ok…let’s be honest. The absolute best thing to feed your baby is breastmilk. Period. End of Story. But, there has been for whatever reasons, people who can not nurse and choose an alternative. The next best thing would be to find a breastmilk bank of some type or to plead from friends who nurse to share if possible. I myself have shared my own expressed milk with two friends in need who could not nurse their babies.

But sometimes that is not an option either and people move on to baby formula. Might I submit to you what I believe to be better option and the next best thing besides breastmilk? Goat milk. I am completely serious. It can be found in a can near the condensed milk, in the fridge next to the soy milk or in powdered form in the Whole Foods store.

It is amazingly the next best thing for several reasons but mainly, it’s the closest milk to resemble a human’s. The poopie of the baby looks the same as that of a breastfed baby: yellow or mustard colored with some seedy looking things that are actually curds of milk…just what breastfed poop looks like :)

So, look into it if the need arises. When my supply is down, that is where I turn in a pinch. Wonderful and weird, isn’t it?

Apr23

The Best Baby Food Ever!

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The Best Baby Food Ever!

So, Kaelan now has four teeth!  Two front on top and bottom.  He hasn’t nipped me quite so much as Miranda did when her teeth came in.  But it has heralded the beginning of baby food.  But not the yucky-in-the-jar-been-on-the-shelf-for-who-knows-how-long stuff.  No; we did not subject Miranda to that either.

We make all  our own baby food by steaming or baking the fruits or vegetables when needed and then running them through the large food processor we have.  More recently we received a Baby Bullet!  It is a combo between a food processor and a blender with the addition of a special blade for milling fresh brown rice and oatmeal flour.  In a word–awesome!  Also efficient, handy or useful.  I would say all describe the Baby Bullet Food System.  If you make batch of baby food every other day for a week, you easily have about month’s worth of baby food ready in the freezer (for beginning to eat).

I am not saying it’s neccessary to have one, just convenient and progressive to a degree.

Also another note I would include is that one should always abide by the four day rule when introducing baby to new foods.  Only give the baby a new food for four consecutive days while observing whether there’s an allergic reaction.  It could mean the difference between a pesky diaper rash (or worse) or the absence of one.

Mar1

Getting in the Greens

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Getting in the Greens

Vegetables.  Man is it hard for me and the fam to get them into us.  In my own life I know it seems to be going so quick  every day that we eat only fast or quick snacks and meals.  We get into these ruts every few months or so and have to kick our butts out of it!

So I obtained a soup recipe.  A green soup.  A detox soup.  With lots and lots of vegetables.  Makes sense since I found it on the site of a gluten free vegetarian.  It took me longer to make it than I anticipated, but it usually does with new recipes.  But it is very tasty and very full of veggies!  So here’s the link:

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2011/01/detox-green-soup-recipe-with-broccoli.html

Now, more about this fabulous site…I also have good friends, with and without children, that are allergic to gluten and so on.  I have looked for recipes that allow us to host dinners and coffee dates with these restrictions and have come across an endearing and rather remarkable blog.   The long and short of it is that this lovely lady was an awesome baker and cook and wrote the cookbooks to prove it!  However she got sick with celiac disease and had to give up gluten and more.  But no worries, she couldn’t stop  baking and cooking just because of silly gluten having to be left out.  I have found delightful recipes on her site from gluten free pumpkin pies to buckwheat chocolate chip cookies to gluten free brownies and on and on and on.

Some people are required to cook and bake this way.  Some choose to do so to have a healthier and more natural lifestyle.  I choose to use her recipes to treat my friends who need to be gluten free so they can have decadent and truly delicious edibles.  And I eat them because they taste extremely awesome!!!

So.  Here’s to this remarkable lady and her remarkable blog!

Feb28

The Tiny Teether

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The Tiny Teether

Our son is teething. He seems to have been teething from the womb! So there’s the red knuckles, the drippy drool, the constant need to chew on anything he can get his little digits on and the pain that accompanies all of this.

So what has helped has been the baltic amber teething necklace and hurricaine gel. There are differing opinions on both products and their effectiveness. The necklace has succinic acid that is absorbed by the skin and travels through the bloodstream to the pain and helps to ease it along with the drooling. The gel is a form of benzocaine gel that is obvious in its use and is very powerful but effective. It is used on our children with the greatest caution because of it’s strength.

So–these have worked well for both of our children and two teeth have popped through on the bottom of Kaelan’s gums already. Along with all our teething toys and chewing Mommy and Daddy’s fingers, we’re good. :)

Feb11

Foods to Avoid While Breastfeeding

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Foods to Avoid While Breastfeeding

I had no idea that there were foods to avoid while breastfeeding. I have been breastfeeding for almost two years now and nobody ever told me this…of course it is common sense to a certain degree. I mean–I absolutely made sure to learned to avoid the “avoid foods” during pregnancy that is recommended! Ah well, live and learn.

The book “New Mother’s Guide to Breastfeeding” by Joan Younger Meek is a great resource that I relied on and continue to for this season of life, but there is not as much about the foods to avoid while breastfeeding. Some of the allergen foods is mentioned in a few places and they are not elaborated on greatly.

So, you ask, what are the foods to avoid? Here’s the list: Coffee, Chocolate (both for caffeine), Alcohol (c’mon, you don’t want to give your baby a buzz), Broccoli (and other “gassy foods” like beans, couliflower, etc.), Spicy Foods (like jalapenos and so on; incidentally not all babies have a problem so just exclude if fussiness seems to occur), Garlic (also a taste issue for baby possibly), Fish (same as during pregnancy, mercury happens), Citrus (apparently can irritate their new little gastrointestinal system), Peppermint and Parsley (used to halt milk supply so use sparingly), Peanuts/Tree Nuts (high-allergen food passes to baby), Corn (high allergen), Shellfish (high allergen), Egg (possibly egg white allergen), Soy (food allergen), Wheat (especially if mom or dad is allergic), and of course Milk and Dairy (for, you guessed it, food allergen).

Happy Breastfeeding :)

Feb7

Crazy Days!

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Crazy Days!

Wow! It has been several days since my last post–more than a month, even! What can I say. We’ve been having crazy days. And sleep deprived nights. Christmas, New Year’s, birthdays, and did I mention the sleep deprivasion? Well, we are back on track now!

Kaelan’s first tooth seems to be breaking through,we are so excited! He just turned 6 months old the end of January! Miranda is pretending to potty train I think. Not much more than pretty much sitting on the toilet for a few seconds, “wiping” with toilet paper and getting down. But, hey, it’s a start. :)

Dec16

Pumpkin Spice Latte…psych!

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Pumpkin Spice Latte…psych!

OK, so I am definately one of the many that have become crazily addicted to Starbucks and their lattes.  But let’s face it, I know I am not the only one that really can’t afford them.  I mean at all!  And of course there is also the fact that caffeine, sugar and chocolate are not really something you want your children taking in overly in the breast-milk.  To do so right before nap-time is not the brightest idea.

So here is a little idea I had today that brightened my day without costing me $3.50 plus tax (just for a tall).  I have bought the Starbucks Christmas blend in decaf along with National Delight Pumpkin Spice creamer and Redi-Whip.  You just brew your coffee, add the creamer to the sweetness and creaminess you prefer and add a bit of whip on top for an authentic replica of the real deal.  I have had a truly delightful morning enjoying my treat at home with my kids.  :)

You don’t have to buy actual Starbucks brand coffee to brew for such a treat.  Just make sure you are drinking decaf if you can help it and watch your whip intake.  Some people even enjoy the sugar free whip cream.  Most importantly, it’s just making sure that you make your coffee the way you like it.  Don’t be afraid to experiment, though, if you want!

May make a great Christmas present.  Ask for some great quality coffee for this treat if you are into coffee as much as I am.  Starbucks brand is pricey but worth it in my opinion.  Other quality brands include Seattle’s Best (same company as Starbucks), Latitudes, Green Mountain, and usually local or small coffee companies.  The smaller the company the better the coffee more often.

Tomorrow I will try this with the Peppermint Mocha creamer by National Delight!  It’s going to be sweet…literally!

Dec12

Success!

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Success!

So we started implementing our plan for Kaelan to sleep in his crib.  It has gone well.  We put him through his bedtime ritual of bath, breastfeed and burp.  Then we sing to him and put him in his crib for the night.  He seems to go to sleep just fine!  Most of the time this is before Miranda goes to bed for the night as well.  We start him before or by the time she begins eating her dinner.  She then does her ritual as well; bath, breastfeed and down in the crib with a song.  They have practiced going to sleep at the same time as well.  In fact, she seemed to go to sleep before him on that occasion.

Now he sleeps from about 6 pm to about 3 am.  He is then fed again and I just tried last night putting him in the crib again.  It took a bit of time for him to sleep again, but he did.  He’s been waking up in the mornings some time between 5:30 and 6 am.  So–so far so good!!! :)

Dec2

The Little Co-Sleeper

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The Little Co-Sleeper

Our son, Kaelan, is now 4 months old.  He has slept with us in our bed since he was born.  We had done the exact same thing with his older sister, Miranda, from the time she was born until she was 4 months old.  Then we began to train her to sleep in her crib through the night.  Starting her there in the evenings after her bedtime ritual and bringing her in with us when we would settle for the night was the beginning.  Gradually she went to one feeding a night and I would breastfeed her in the night and return her to her crib.  Went ok and had a bit of a trial with letting her “cry herself to sleep” (only because we had a hard time not going in to her).  But eventually it smoothed into a great arrangement.  Now she has no problems with going down for naps or the night.  Unless she’s overtired which is another subject altogether.

Enter the scene comes Kaelan.  They will have to share a room and we already have his crib placed and ready.  Now will come the tricky part of them learning to sleep in the same room.  It was no problem when Miranda was alone to rise in the night to deal with her.  The issue will be when he starts staying through the night, will she wake up and be unable to return to sleep when we deal with her younger brother?  Will she sleep like a rock and not even stir?  Will she demand to be breastfed as well and keep her brother awake if we refuse her?  We have come up with a starting strategy: start him sleeping in our own room after his bedtime ritual and then breastfeed him when we go to sleep (which is when he wants to feed again anyway).  Then place him his crib for the night.  When he cries in the night for a feeding, we will oblige.  My husband will soothe and deal with big sister while I will breastfeed and change little brother’s diaper.  Hopefully we will be able to send them both back to sleep without any problems….we shall see and I will keep you all updated!

Nov28

Pregnant Again…?

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Pregnant Again…?

Wow…ok so everyone knows–not pregnant!  I’ve skipped a period while I’ve been tandem feeding.  Yes, you read correctly.  I have the words period and tandem feeding in the same sentence and have experienced both at the same time.  Within this post I don’t want to get into too much of the my breastfeeding history.  To read about that go to my breastfeeding page and you will find my background of breastfeeding along with some great info.

But the basic jist of the situation is that, for me, when there is a minimum of 5 hours between feedings I ovulate and start my cycle.  Unbeknownst to me and my hubby, apparently one can start ovulating only to stop again given there’s enough prolactin in the body.  Talk about a scare!  We had no clue.  So basicly I started my period only two months after I had Kaelan because he decided a few times to max his sleep time by about 5 to 6 hours for his brain developement.  Or at least his little body decided to.  So right at my 6 week postpartum visit is when I noticed “it” was starting…fun.  Not.  Then, to my chagrin, October 26th came and went and nothing.  Days turned to weeks to a month and then two and the test sayeth “no”.  So, a bit of digging online and voila!  We found that the prolactin level can stop and start ovulation.

If anyone out there wants to know more, here’s a couple links.

www.babycenter.com

www.cafemom.com