Hippie Mom in a Preppy World

Posts Tagged ‘parenting’

Don't you just want to hug this pirate?

“When we trust the makers of baby formula more than we do our own ability to nourish our babies, we lose a chance to claim an aspect of our power as women. Thinking that baby formula is as good as breast milk is believing that thirty years of technology is superior to three million years of nature’s evolution. Countless women have regained trust in their bodies through nursing their children, even if they weren’t sure at first that they could do it. It is an act of female power, and I think of it as feminism in its purest form.” ~ Christine Northrup

The Fox Pirate Family

My previous post seemed to have caused quite the shock in some and since comments were disabled I got some comments privately but I just wanted to clarify a misunderstanding that some people seem to have. Yes, I was disappointed I didn’t have him the way it was planned but I knew that plans are made to be broken and the actual birth experience was not traumatic for me. I do not believe that I had an “unnecesarean.”

Speaking of unnecesareans, in my work I come accross many mothers that have the same surgeon that cut me open as their OB, and I started to notice a pattern where they all had cesareans. It became an alarming pattern so for the past 10 days I’ve been keeping an anonymous count of moms that have “delivered” with that doctor and right now the tally stands at 21 cesareans/0 vaginal births, scary huh?  Given that the pattern has been in place for months before I started counting I feel I can safely rule out coincidence as a factor.   

Moving on… no just because he turned one I am not weaning.  That is the answer that I had to give our pediatrician at Shammy’s 1 year appointment.  I really only go to him because I don’t have private insurance to take him to Dr Punger.  He knew to back off when I spoke his language and said “I work as a breastfeeding couselor for the Health Department”, he then knew that there was no point in pressing the matter.  He forgets that the AAP states breastfeeding for 1 year as a MINIMUM and the World Health Organization recommends a minimum of 2 years.

A lot of people seemed surprised that I didn’t do the ritual turning around of the car seat on July 30th.  “But he’s legal to face forward now” they say.  Just because it is legal, it doesn’t mean that it’s safe.  The American Academy of Pedriatics recommends that children remain rear facing until 2 years old.  He doesn’t know what he is missing and I have more peace of mind.

A few weeks ago Shammy got his first haircut, it was a bittersweet experience.  I loved his long hair but it was hard to keep it looking groomed.  We got him a mohawk and boy did he look cool.  For his first experience we took him to a kids salon and it was worth it, they had tons of toys, Spongebob Squarepants was there and he got his hair cut while sitting in a police car.  At the end he got a certificate with some of his hair, a balloon and a sticker.  Aside from the McDonald’s drive thru toy in the waiting area I was very satisfied with them and would recommend them.  I miss his hair but love his new look.

First Haircut Accomplished!

This post would have been published over 2 weeks ago if I hadn’t tried to be geeky while juggling a baby and accidentally killed this website’s database.  By the time I finished cleaning the damage the muse had gone on vacation and I just didn’t feel like writing.  It’s still not my best work but at least it out there now….

I have officially weaned off the pump.  Breastfeeding is still going well and there is no sign of that stopping anytime soon but I am glad that I’m no longer a slave to the pump, I was so over it.  I am tired of stressing over ounces.  I still have it for times when I’m away from Shammy all day but those will be few and far between and it will be used more for my comfort and health than to keep up with a freezer stash.

I don’t get along with the pump anymore, I can’t even stand to clean the parts, it’s such a hassle, as regardless of whether I use the dishwasher or clean by hand I don’t seem to get the nooks and crannies clean enough.  Plus the pump has been part of a recall and I have yet to receive the replacement part, I am so over it! I used to think that Medela pumps were the best but if/when #2 comes I’m definitely getting a different brand.

Update:  the universe has found a way to get a new and better pump for me as I just won a Facebook contest on the Hygeia page where I won professional grade electric pump valued at $320.  My husband asked me if I was going to cash it out on eBay but I said no way, this will come in handy in the future.

In other news, I have started training to be a Breastfeeding Peer Counselor with the Health Department and Shammy gets to come to work with me anytime that I don’t have babysitting available, they’re that cool. I like bringing him to work but it only works out if I’m working for 3 hours, longer than that feels like torture on the poor baby that gets bored and is lacking on proper stimulation.  I have what feels like a thousand hours of training to complete so it may be another month before I see a client but I am enjoying it so far.

1 cousin MIA but we still had quorum

I can’t believe that Shammy is already 3/4 years old (9 months old), when I dressed him up for Easter he looked like such a big boy/little man.

He is starting to refuse baby purees as he prefers self feeding so I really need to learn more about BLW so he’ll eat more.  Meanwhile spreading purees on wheat toast seems to be working well to use up the massive amounts of food that I have accumulated.

Recently we have experienced a sleep regression, call it teething, growth spurt, separation anxiety or all of the above but he was no longer sleeping through the night and would wake up at midnight exactly and would only fall asleep with my boob in his mouth.  God forbid I tried to move to get comfortable and the nipple came out of his mouth and he would wake up and scream bloody murder.

I asked the doctor if there was anything that I could do about this and he said “let him cry and cry… and cry…”  I just stared at him in disbelief that he would recommend that and then he said  ”I wouldn’t do it if I were you, I didn’t do it with mine”.  I like him again.  I much rather get some sleep in an awkward position with a happy baby than not sleep at all and suffer while he screams for hours wondering why we don’t love him anymore.  I can never see myself letting him cry it out.

best dressed for Easter

On to the rants for this installment…

I enjoy the sitcom “Raising Hope”, it’s very funny, most times.  Recently they had an episode titled “Sleep Training” on you guessed it, crying it out.  This episode was painful to watch.  Even though they tried to get fun out of this theme I was very disturbed by it, so much so that I felt the need to write about it the next day.  I can understand that CIO is ok for some but don’t feel comfortable with a popular prime time show giving ideas to parents that don’t know better because they don’t seek the information elsewhere and take TV fiction as gospel.

My current peeve is seeing mothers that won’t hold their babies when giving a bottle.  Apparently this is a big enough epidemic that companies make money out of selling “bottle holders” that will prop the bottle so mother doesn’t even have to hold it.  If you’re not going to breastfeed, at least do the bonding by holding your baby close and looking into their eyes while feeding them.  Even on the pre-requisite training that I’m taking for the department of Health in the nutrition module it emphasizes how a person should always hold a baby when giving a bottle.  I feel bad for the baby.