Category Archives: Facts Tips & Advice

How To Breastfeed

Breastfeeding is a vital component of raising a healthy and happy newborn. The process allows you to bond with your baby and provides him or her with nutrition unavailable from formula. That being said, nursing newborns isn’t always intuitive and may require some level of guidance to perform properly to ensure your little one gets enough to eat, you don’t hurt yourself, and you make the experience as pleasant for the both of you as possible. Here are a few guidelines to follow that should help you learn how to breastfeed. While you might find variations of these instructions more advantageous to you, it’s best to stick with the tried and true methods at first to ensure you’re doing it right. After that, feel free to experience with different positions and techniques to find the best ones for you and baby. Selecting a Position One of the first things you …

Baby Wedge Pillows and Acid Reflux

On first glance, the baby wedge might seem like a cursory item for a baby. However, if your little one has trouble sleeping, it may be due to acid reflux. And the use of a wedge pillow can come in handy in the management of this condition. What is Acid Reflux? Acid reflux is a condition that causes the acid in the stomach to back up into the esophagus. This can be incredibly painful and cause baby to wake up in the middle of the night bawling. More frequent spitting up is also common with this medical problem. While medications exist to treat it, it has a tendency to wear off, which can make for numerous sleepless nights for the both of you. Instead of dealing with a fussy baby each night and establishing potentially harmful sleeping patterns, you can encourage proper sleep by adjusting his positioning. What Are Wedge …

Baby Sleeping Tips

One of the more well-known challenges of parenthood is getting baby to go to sleep and stay asleep. And while you won’t be able to avoid all of it, there are some ways you can minimize your baby’s discomfort and your own lack of sleep by taking careful, sleep preparedness steps. Not all of these tips will work with every baby, but if you’re dealing with baby sleeping problems or poor sleeping habits, it won’t hurt to give each of these a try. 1. Having a moderate temperature in your baby’s room can work wonders for helping him sleep. Just like grownups, babies tend to like sleeping in rooms that are slightly cool. Adjust the thermostat to about 65 degrees or turn a fan on to keep the air moving and to prevent the space from getting too stuffy. Just make sure your little one is far enough away from …

Nursing a Newborn Baby

For many mothers, the prospect of nursing a newborn baby is just another fact of life after giving birth. Since you’re body is designed to perform this task, it should be easy to do, right? Not necessarily. Even though breastfeeding is a natural process and maternal instincts can account for a lot, it can require some learning to perform correctly. After all, both you and baby are new at things and it might require some trial and error before she learns to latch on right and you learn to hold her right. Even so, there are some things you need to be aware of when nursing your little one to ensure she’s getting enough nutrition. Thankfully, most of these things are as simple as checking a diaper and feeding frequently. Bringing Baby Home In the first week of your baby’s life, he should be nursing very often. Babies typically nurse …

When Will We Be Ready To Wean?

Honestly, by the time my girls were this age, they were almost weaned.  A year, that was it.  However, I think the ‘experts’ were saying a year back then. Now, they say two years. The experts being the American Academy of Pediatrics. Since my son is my last baby, I have been taking things slower with him.  We started table food later than with my girls, things like that.  However, now I am wondering when we will call it quits on breast feeding.  I do not think I can be an extended breast feeder, it’s just not me nor my son.  He is already getting to the point where he bites and gets distracted easily.  However, I don’t see him giving up nursing any time soon.  On one side, I am happy about that.  Let him be a baby longer, let him need his mommy, let us continue our special …

Breast Pump Issues

I have an electric pump now.  My sister got it froma friend of hers.  It’s a heavey duty Medela Pump Style pump.  It’s the kind that comes in it’s own carrying case that looks like a briefcase. I was very impressed when I first got it.  However, I have had very little luck with it.  This is not unusual. A lot of women have problems with electric pumps.  I am taking my oldest on a field trip next week and need to leave my son for the longest I have every left him.  I can not rely on my electric pump to express enough milk for the entire day so I ordered the old manual pump I used to have.  It’s by Avent and the thing that i think that makes it more productive then any other pump I have used is it’s cushion like top.  It has this rubbery …

Nursing a Teething baby

Teething sucks, plain and simple.  Teething a nursing baby can be a really trying time.  Babies can often feel pain trying to nurse while they are teething.  Make sure to have orajel handy.  It seems like with my son, nursing is the only time I need to use the orajel.  When I go to nurse him and he pulls back and cries, I know his gums are hurting. I give him some orajel and a few seconds later he’s tached on and nursing.  However, there are a few occasions where he doesn’t want to nurse.  Keep this in mind, sometimes teething babies seem to go on a nursing strike.  Babies won’t let themselves starve so if your baby just refuses to nurse a few times, don’t be overly concerned.  Your baby will most likely be over the pain and anxious to nurse soon.  You can also try giving your baby …

Selma Hyak Shares Her Milk With African Baby

I never thought much about Selma Hyak before. I don’t think I can name any of her movies off the top of my head. I do enjoy the role she’s had on 30 Rock lately.  However, she has now become one of my personal heroes.  While in Africa, she met a sick baby who needed to be breastfed. So, she did what any good nursing mother should do, she nursed that baby. When talking about her experience, she explains that her great grandmother did something similar and she felt like it was the right thing to do. However, this act of kindness has gotten all sorts of comments.  Some people are actually kind of appalled by this.  Others, ignorant about how breastfeeding works, actually accuse her of stealing milk from her own baby. In my opinion, she is a true hero. She gave that baby some much needed nutrition.  Watching …

Denny’s Breastfeeding Mom Asked To Leave

The story of a  woman breastfeeding in a North Carolina Denny’s who was asked to leave is making headlines all across the country. She was enjoying her brunch when other patrons got upset.  The manager asked her to leave or finish breastfeeding in the bathroom and she refused.  The manager then called the police and learned the woman was not breaking any laws. The first report I read said that other patrons claimed she was very exposed. However, I am not certain how true this is. I have also heard reports that the baby in question was around 2 years old, which might have caused the offensive. When I nurse in public I try to be discrete and I do believe nursing a 2 year old mid morning is a little excessive.  However, why on earth was this woman harassed? She did nothing at all wrong. I have nursed at …

Being Sick and Breastfeeding

It’s that time of year. Everyone is sick. In my house we’ve passed around a cold for about a month now. The good news is, you do not have to stop breastfeeding just because you are sick. My little guy did come down with a cold but it wasn’t too bad. Most newborns who are being nursed have a higher immune system which prevents them from coming down with more serious things such as strep. When you are sick, however, you need to becareful about what medicine you take. Here is a list from babycenter.com regarding what drugs are safe and what aren’t safe. As always, you should consult you doctor before taking anything but here is a general guideline. Stay healthy! Safe to Take in Usual Doses Name of Drug Brand Name Use Acetaminophen Tylenol Used for pain relief Acyclovir Zovirax Antiviral for herpes infections Antacids Maalox, Mylanta Used …