Sunday, September 03, 2006

Things I never thought would be of concern:

  • Too much milk. Yeah, I seem to have a bit of an oversupply problem, which carries with it an overactive letdown (which floods the babies and makes them choke and sputter) and is connected to what we think is a foremilk hindmilk imbalance which is probably to blame for MissM’s green poo. * Maybe now that we recognize the cause we can do something about it. (Most of the recommendations out there for this don’t work for nursing twins, but I got some useful input from a twin-experienced LC who suggested nursing them each on one side for a full 24 hours, rather than switching between feedings. We’ll see if that helps, but I think it’s having an impact.)

  • My MIL is leaving soon. I never thought I’d want her here this long, and while it hasn’t all been perfect, we’ve found a routine and she will be missed. Which is weird, since I’ve certainly had my share of issues with her. Not sure how it happened, but she and I are actually getting along. Plus she takes the babies, and does laundry and grocery shopping and makes sure I have a snack to eat in the middle of the night. I don’t think what I do will be hugely different (though this post is made possible by her taking the fussy-shift), but the impact on J will be huge, since he’ll need to do much much more of the household and support work. Conveniently, I guess, he still doesn’t have a job, so he’ll be around for a while. He’s freelancing some of the time, but not back to a regular work schedule - bad for many reasons, but good for transitioning (since otherwise we’d go from having a grandma in the house, plus J, to me being all alone all of a sudden).

    On the cloth diapering front: When I first expressed interest in trying to CD, my mom and MIL both seemed shocked and concerned - especially since I planned to wash my own (both because it didn’t seem like that big a deal, and because there isn’t wasn’t a diaper service. And then someone started one. And now another. My city went from having no diaper service (which none of us could believe) to having two start up within a summer. Both had the same thought I did - “how is it possible that there’s no diaper service here???” So we signed up with the first one, though they’re still getting it together, and gave the CD thing a try. And so far, I’m not convinced. I still think I want to CD, but the service seems like more trouble than it’s worth, the kids don’t seem comfortable in cloth (because it feels so wet, I think), assembling them is a bit of a pain with two kids in different sizes, and having a week’s worth of diapers for two just sitting around seems like more of a pain than just doing laundry. But I’d ordered a multi-size pocket diaper a while back, and it seems really promising. As do FuzziBunz, though I’ve never used them. So I have an order in for one more of the multi-size (with smaller inserts better suited to smaller babies) and a couple of FB to try. We’ll see how that goes, but I think it’s where we’ll end up. Any other tips on CDing are most welcome, though.

    * Did I forget to mention that Dr. Dismissive suggested that the green poo was the result of bile? Yes, bile. And that it was fine and not related to anything else. Not so much, it seems. So nyah nyah nyah. Someone pointed out to me that the range of “normal” that some pediatricians expect is based on formula-fed babies, and is a completely different conception of “normal” than is found in breastfed babies. Which reminds me - that article about inequalities in terms of continued breastfeeding for working mothers? That’s some serious shit we should be doing something about. Seems more important than having a nurse-in at Vicky’s Secret (not that there isn’t some major irony there, and not that BFing in public should of course be accepted and why do I keep thinking about BFing in my car rather than in public? Oh, right, because there’s no place to do it). Maybe a pump-in?
  • 6 comments:

    1. I read the NYTimes article and wasn't really that surprised. Breastfeeding is just one of the many "perks" those in professional positions enjoy. Albiet a more important one. I just about practical solutions to that issue.
      Sorry to hear about the CD issues. I hope you way to make it less of a pain.

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    2. http://www.gdiapers.com/#

      I found these to be interesting... People I know who've tried them adore them. I haven't got kids yet but thought I'd pass it along...

      xoxo
      anonymousey

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    3. I might have to try that breastfeeding on one side for 24 hours then switch thing. They ate an hour ago and I'm ready to burst already.

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    4. I had a bit of an oversupply problem too, causing lots of coughing/spitting up/green poo, and I think that one-boob-per-baby-for-24-hours thing is a great idea. I switched to giving my singleton one-boob feedings, which meant each boob went about 6 hours between, which helped a lot (though I could still feed the neighborhood).

      If it is any consolation my friend, a mother of 3 (singletons) who breastfed all of them, says she saw poop of "every color of the rainbow coming out, despite the fact that there was only one thing going in."

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    5. I had an oversuply problem too, and did the one-kid per boob thing with good success as well. When N weaned himlf at 14 months, it was so irritating to have to nurse O on both boobs all the time. It was very funny remembering that all singleton moms who nurse have to do that!
      We tried a CD service and just washed our own after a month or 2. We didn't like the huge container they gave us and the detergent residue gave one of our boys a consistent rash. We got our own prefolds and some Bummis, and use Fuzzibunz some too. I think the diapers do start fitting better when the babies grow - they look much more proportional as they get older. I use sposies when we go on long outings and overnight. It might be helpful to remember that as long as you're using CD about 50% of the time or more, you'll still save some money (unless you really go nuts on expensive CD)and you'll certainly make a difference in your contribution to the landfill. It doesn't have to be either/or, and you can sell your covers and even prefolds through Ebay or other auctions wehn you're done.

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    6. I nursed both of my singletons whenever and wherever they were hungry. Having a laminated card in my wallet (with the BF law in our state on one side and a statement saying that breastfeeding is a right regardless of what a law might or might not say) gave me the chutzpah to go for it.

      They nursed in gates at the Atlanta Airport, in the middle of the mall, at about every restaurant in 3 states, at Mass... I only had a couple of comments in 4 years of nursing and I blew them off with, "Do you eat in the bathroom?" I always attributed the lack of comments to the fact that I never appeared concerned/ashamed/apologetic about what we were up to. And I never used a cover up--my kids were too squirmy when I tried.

      If you want to make a card, you can get your law from the La Leche League site.

      We were in FL and we they have an awesome law that reads:

      The breast feeding of a baby is an important and basic act of nurture which must be encouraged in the interests of maternal and child health and family values. A mother may breast feed her baby in any location, public or private, where the mother is otherwise authorized to be, irrespective of whether or not the nipple of the mother's breast is covered during or incidental to the breast feeding. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 383.015
      1993 Fl. ALS 4; 1993 Fla. Laws ch. 4; 1993 Fla. HB 231

      Happy Mothering!!
      Gina ;~}

      ReplyDelete