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Zits never fails to remind me of my little brother:

And a little breastfeeding humor:

When Peanut was two days old we took her to her first doctor visit for a check up. I am breastfeeding so the doctor asked me if my milk had come in. I told her it hadn’t and she responded by telling me that I needed to supplement the baby with formula until my milk came in to make sure that she was getting enough nutrition and then proceeded to give us some cans of formula. And if you know anything about breastfeeding you know what a terrible idea that is. If you want your milk to come in faster you need the baby to nurse as much as possible. And it’s not like the baby is just drinking air until the milk comes in, they are drinking colostrum.

Anyways, Charles and I just looked at each other, said thanks, and left taking the formula with us. We knew that we would never use it but we couldn’t bring ourselves to throw it away (oh and we switched doctors….we can’t have a doctor that knows nothing about breastfeeding!!). So my aunt came up with this pancake recipe!

1 1/2 cups flour

1 3/4 t baking powder

3T sugar

whisk above dry ingredients and them mix seperately:

1 1/4 cup water with 3-4 scoops of formula

1 egg

Melt 3 T butter in the pan you will use to cook the pancakes. Whisk the melted butter into the formula and eggs. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir.

Make your pancakes!

Sweet Pea and I made them this morning and the were yummy!!

Have I told you lately that I am loving our Bradley Birthing Class?!?! It is awesome! This evening the class was all about breastfeeding, which is something I have become very passionate about since having Sweet Pea. During the class our conversation turned to the many uses of breast milk. If your baby has “sleepy eyes” wiping a few drops of breast milk over each eye can clear it right up! If your baby is starting to get a diaper rash wiping a few drops over the rash can help make it go away. Breast milk is amazing!

Another study our instructor told us about was a researcher took a cup of formula and a cup of breast milk. He introduced live staph bacteria to each cup. After four hours the researcher came back and checked the level of staph in each one. In the formula the staph bacteria had started to thrive. In the breast milk, the staph measured at half of what he put in there! After eight hours in the formula the staph was still flourishing. In the breast milk it was gone.

Every new thing I learn about breastfeeding and breast milk is amazing. I know to have a successful breastfeeding relationship with your baby it is important to have a wonderful support group around you. For me, I had a suppportive husband, family, and a great lactation consultant. I hope every new mother has the same opportunity I did. It’s worth it!

You will have to click on the first one to be able to read it:

My son, Sweet Pea, is now thirteen months old. Since he has been born I have had a real love/hate relationship with breastfeeding. I hated the late nights that only I could handle, I hated only being able to go out for two hours at a time, I hated that my husband could be gone the whole day. On the other hand I loved snuggling close to our baby and loving him in a way that no one else could and I loved our relationship the first year and how it was constantly changing.  Quite the contradiction, huh?

Anyways, I figured I would be jumping up and down with joy the day we finally stopping nursing. I would finally be free! So right after a year we started weaning. It felt a little strange to be denying my son the one thing that he wanted the most, but we pressed on and about a week ago he had his last feeding. I was crushed. I cried and was very emotional for a few days. It did not help that I could still feel milk coming in and my only desire was to pick up my son and snuggle in bed to watch him nurse. Day after day I felt myself regretting it. I talked to my husband about it and he reminded me that it wasn’t to late because I was still producing milk and we could just pick right back up if we wanted to. I thought and thought. I knew that if we started again I would be committing myself to another year or two of breastfeeding. Is that what I really wanted?

So this morning I thought to myself why not? Let’s give it a try. He may not even want it after a week. So I grabbed him up and snuggled with him on the bed just like we used to. He seemed a little confused at first and I could tell the wheels were turning in his little head. He knew this position was familiar, but why? All of a sudden he broke into a huge grin and leaned down and started nursing. It felt wonderful. It felt right. I guess our days of nursing are not quite over yet. We shall see. I do not know what will happen because he still only nursed the one time today. I will keep you posted and let you know what tomorrow brings.