Solid Ground
LM has been asleep for 36 minutes and counting, which means I am seriously tempting fate by starting a blog post. If I want anything done, it needs to be started at the beginning of nap time.
House-hunting continues apace. We have two more to see tomorrow, which we're excited about. Both are in a wonderful neighbourhood. One looks ideal, but it's a little closer to a busy road than we'd like. The other is in a better location, but probably needs more work.
Ahhh. Patience makes perfect. Or something. I'm a big believer in the idea that we'll end up where we're meant to be. The substitute real estate agent (ours in on hols), who is extremely helpful and sweet, was a bit over-excited about one and mentioned how many people were going through it today. Well, if we're meant to be in it, it will wait for us because I don't want to rush over there this afternoon without D.
In other news, I'm interested in how many of my friends and peers are starting their kids on solids early.
I took a prenatal class with a six couples. I absolutely LOVED it. Some of it could be a bit overly granola-crunchy; I think we all found that. But sometimes it helps to get that perspective since we get the other perspective almost everywhere else. We had two sessions on breastfeeding, attended by mums and dads. Of the women in that class, all of them are exclusively breastfeeding, and none are planning on introducing solids early.
I was also part of another mother's group of six. None of them did a prenatal class that focussed on breastfeeding. All of them wanted and planned to exclusively breastfeed, but none have done it without medication for supply issues, or some formula supplementation. Most of them are planning to introduce solids well before six months. Obviously not scientific but it does bolster my theory that lots of "supply" issues are actually caused by misinformation and poor advice. I do add the caveat that one of those mothers could not have breastfed exclusively anyway because of breast reduction surgery, and in that respect she was given quite bad advice from the pro-BF camp, many of whom encouraged her to think that she would be able to do so. It was quite heartbreaking to realise she could not, and a lactation consultant later confessed she had never met a woman who'd undergone that surgery who could. It would have been better (and kinder) to prepare her for the fact that breastfeeding under those circumstances is going to be challenging and formula supplementatin would likely be needed. Instead she had to figure that out in that crazy hormonal immediate post-partum period as her baby failed to thrive.
In any case I will be waiting on solids. I'm sure some babies are genuinely ready before six months, but I don't think LM is one of them - his gas still wakes him crying and I am wary of throwing anything else in the mix. At least, that's what I say to the mothers and relatives who ask "why wait?" I must admit another part of it is just that it looks awfully busy... I can hardly plan meals for myself - planning them for LM just seems a lot of work.
In any case LM is up now (what... you think I actually wrote this whole post with him asleep?) and so we're off as he won't be content to suck on my arm as I type for too many more minutes.
House-hunting continues apace. We have two more to see tomorrow, which we're excited about. Both are in a wonderful neighbourhood. One looks ideal, but it's a little closer to a busy road than we'd like. The other is in a better location, but probably needs more work.
Ahhh. Patience makes perfect. Or something. I'm a big believer in the idea that we'll end up where we're meant to be. The substitute real estate agent (ours in on hols), who is extremely helpful and sweet, was a bit over-excited about one and mentioned how many people were going through it today. Well, if we're meant to be in it, it will wait for us because I don't want to rush over there this afternoon without D.
In other news, I'm interested in how many of my friends and peers are starting their kids on solids early.
I took a prenatal class with a six couples. I absolutely LOVED it. Some of it could be a bit overly granola-crunchy; I think we all found that. But sometimes it helps to get that perspective since we get the other perspective almost everywhere else. We had two sessions on breastfeeding, attended by mums and dads. Of the women in that class, all of them are exclusively breastfeeding, and none are planning on introducing solids early.
I was also part of another mother's group of six. None of them did a prenatal class that focussed on breastfeeding. All of them wanted and planned to exclusively breastfeed, but none have done it without medication for supply issues, or some formula supplementation. Most of them are planning to introduce solids well before six months. Obviously not scientific but it does bolster my theory that lots of "supply" issues are actually caused by misinformation and poor advice. I do add the caveat that one of those mothers could not have breastfed exclusively anyway because of breast reduction surgery, and in that respect she was given quite bad advice from the pro-BF camp, many of whom encouraged her to think that she would be able to do so. It was quite heartbreaking to realise she could not, and a lactation consultant later confessed she had never met a woman who'd undergone that surgery who could. It would have been better (and kinder) to prepare her for the fact that breastfeeding under those circumstances is going to be challenging and formula supplementatin would likely be needed. Instead she had to figure that out in that crazy hormonal immediate post-partum period as her baby failed to thrive.
In any case I will be waiting on solids. I'm sure some babies are genuinely ready before six months, but I don't think LM is one of them - his gas still wakes him crying and I am wary of throwing anything else in the mix. At least, that's what I say to the mothers and relatives who ask "why wait?" I must admit another part of it is just that it looks awfully busy... I can hardly plan meals for myself - planning them for LM just seems a lot of work.
In any case LM is up now (what... you think I actually wrote this whole post with him asleep?) and so we're off as he won't be content to suck on my arm as I type for too many more minutes.
Labels: baby, breastfeeding, money
posted by grass @ 11:05 AM
1 Comments:
At 8:16 AM ,
Kaitlyn said...
Totally agreed that supply issues are often caused my misinformation. Like the woman I saw on Baby Story who wanted to nurse, but "needed to give baby formula until milk came in because otherwise, he would be hungry." Honey, if you don't nurse, the milk won't come. Anyhoo, we started Leila on solids early. She started waking hours earlier than normal, hungry. I think she was four and a half months, Steve claims five. We did rice cereal mixed with water (she didn't like it mixed with milk) (Aside: I almost typed BM for breastmilk but thought better of it), at supper time. She loved the stuff (although: gross). Eventually (closer to 6 m) we gave her it for breakfast, too. We didn't do veggies until she was 6m, and we started with prunes. Luckily, we never had problems with her adjusting to new food, and she stayed on the different levels of cereal until she was a year. Even still, she loves her Cheerios (Ooooo!!!) and milk for breakfast. Anyway, totally a personal choice. Steve was convinced she needed solids earlier than 6m because she was bigger than the average baby her age at the time (she measured off the charts for a while there). I don't know if there's any truth to that, but even from the first bite, she didn't lose much down her chin, so I think she was ready. Despite my hormonal crying that my milk wasn't the only thing nourishing her anymore. Oh yeah, and as far as meals go, it's not that hectic. If you feed him bottled stuff or make your own, it just takes a second to get ready. We didn't start making a point to sit down to a "Family Dinner" until she was close to a year though. We do it now (almost) every night, but when they're not eating the same thing as you and before they can feed themselves, it seemed like more trouble than it was worth. We just ate after she went to sleep, much more relaxing. And so, I'll stop writing becaues this is the longest comment ever.
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