Will Breastfeeding Make Me Hungry?

This post was written as part of the weekly Breastfeeding Blog Hop hosted by Slacker Mom and cohosted by The Gnome’s Mom and Happiness Redefined. Visit the links below and link up your own story or leave a comment!

Last week's theme was sex and breastfeeding. I didn't write a post because I'm so far removed from that part of my life that it's too much effort to have sex, much less write about it. But there were a lot of great, honest posts about breastfeeding and intimacy. Today's topic is snacks for breastfeeding. 

This subject also made me reluctant to post, because I'm not the norm when it comes to snacking and breastfeeding. Breastfeeding women often  hear that they burn about 500 more calories a day, which makes them hungrier and requires them to eat more. Although that sounds like a great deal, that never happened to me. I have the slowest metabolism on earth, and breastfeeding does not help me burn calories; nor does it help me lose weight. That means that I also am no hungrier than normal when I breastfeed. I'm that mom who can diet without it affecting her supply. It doesn't mean that I'm doing it; it just means that I can.

But most moms do feel hungrier and do need additional calories to maintain their supply. But it can be hard to grab a snack while you're nursing. You quickly learn to hold your baby to the breast with one hand, legs dangling, or rest your baby on the counter, still latched, while you spoon some food into your mouth. But the easiest snacks are those you can eat one-handed.

My top 5 breastfeeding snacks are:

1. Bananas
2. Smoothies
3. Leftovers--eaten cold out of the storage container
4. Cheese and turkey from the deli drawer, just rolled up and chomped on
5. Kale chips--these take some cooking and planning, but once there is a bowl on the counter, I can finish it off in a day.

Soup and Pasta Casserole Recipe

Last week, I made split pea soup and didn't love it. I had made a huge pot, though, and I didn't want to toss it. So I incorporated it into a casserole that everyone in the family ate. You can do this with any kind of pasta and any kind of soup. To make it vegan, substitute non-dairy milk and replace the cheese with nutritional yeast. To make it gluten-free, use rice pasta. The possibilities are endless.


Sorry, I ate it before I could take pictures. But you can click on the image for a printable recipe card of the soup and pasta casserole recipe.

For more delicious recipes, check out:

Menu Plan Monday - Pizza, Pasta, Leftovers, and Homemade Tater Tots

I actually stuck to my menu this week! It was relatively simple. I didn't have to buy anything. Since I'm trying to go through what I have in my pantry, I'm trying not to spend much at the store. I got the staples--eggs, milk, bread. But everything else I already had. I didn't do much cooking ahead of time. I'm going to try to do more of that this week to free up my evenings. This is what I made:

The Plan:
Monday: Homemade Pizza
Tuesday: Pasta with Sausage and Cannelini Beans
Wednesday: Chicken, veggies with cream sauce, rice
Thursday: Leftovers
Saturday: Steak, Homemade Tater Tots

The Method: 
Monday: I still had pizza dough and homemade sauce leftover from a couple of weeks ago. It was borderline...it was 2 weeks old. But I made it anyway. And nobody died.
Tuesday: I had bought sausage the week before and never did anything with it. So I decided to throw it in with some rotini pasta, cannelini beans, and a can of diced tomatoes. I added a couple of ladlefuls of the pasta water back into the pot, and the pasta soaked it up so it wasn't too dry. It was a delicious, easy dinner.
Wednesday: I had visions of making a cheesy chicken and rice dish, so I roasted some cauliflower (bought the week before and never used), cooked some rice, and pan-fried some chicken thighs. By the time I was done, I picked at the veggies, chicken and rice so much that I wasn't hungry for a real dinner.
Saturday: I had a steak in the freezer, which I defrosted and grilled. Easy enough. I also had 3 potatoes that were starting to sprout aliens out of their eyes, so I had to do something with them. My recent copy of Cook's Country magazine had an article for homemade tater tots in it. I'm a sucker for anything with potatoes, and tater tots are awesome. I even like the frozen ones. Not anymore, though! Holy cow. Homemade tater tots are delicious.

Update: Here is the Homemade Tater Tots recipe with a printable recipe card!


For more meal planning obsessiveness inspiration, check out orgjunkie.com!

Reverse Cycling is a Meandering Road

This post was written as part of the weekly Breastfeeding Blog Hop hosted by Slacker Mom and cohosted by The Gnome’s Mom and Happiness Redefined. Visit the links below and link up your own story or leave a comment!

In last week's post, I wrote about tips for breastfeeding a toddler. This week's theme is reverse cycling.

When it comes to breastfeeding issues, if you've taken a class or read a book, you're likely to think that things are either going to go one way or another. Either your baby cluster feeds or he doesn't. Either you schedule your feedings or you don't. Either he nurses at fixed intervals during the day and night or he reverse cycles--he nurses less during the day (especially if you are working) and nurses more at night (especially if you cosleep).

The thing is, babies haven't taken that class or read that book. They do whatever they want to do. And what they do may not follow the textbooks or the general guidelines, which can leave you feeling confused and unsure of what to do.

I went back to work full time three months after giving birth to Baby T. I had an oversupply, so I was pumping 8 ounces at a time. Baby T would take a bottle, but he wasn't a guzzler. In fact, he would often only eat 2 ounces in one sitting. He would nurse well before going to sleep, and he would wake often, but he wasn't nursing all that much at night.

I started to worry that he wasn't getting enough calories. I was building up a huge stockpile in my freezer, I was pumping every three hours at work, but Baby T didn't seem to be eating. I would look at the 8-ounce bottles of breastmilk or formula that the other parents were dropping off for the kids in daycare, and I wondered when Baby T would graduate from his little 4-ounce Nuks. He never did.

Still, Baby T was gaining weight. He was consistently in the 90th percentile for weight. He was chubby and thriving and hitting all of his milestones on time.

I didn't feel like Baby T was attached to the boob when I was home. He didn't seem to be reverse cycling. But he wasn't attached to the bottle when I was away, either. Again, it was a lesson in just going with the flow. Baby T was healthy and thriving, and we were both happy. Even though he didn't eat solids until later than most babies, he still never drank more than 4 ounces of my milk at a time from a bottle. But I trusted that my body was giving him what he needed. Maybe he just nursed very efficiently. Maybe he nursed more during the weekends. I wasn't really sure, but I didn't really mind. Whatever was happening, it worked for us.

Tips for Breastfeeding a Toddler

This post was written as part of the weekly Breastfeeding Blog Hop hosted by Slacker Mom and cohosted by The Gnome’s Mom and Happiness Redefined. Visit the links below and link up your own story or leave a comment!

In last week's post, I wrote about my breastfeeding goals for the new year. This week's theme is Tips and Tricks to Breastfeeding an Older Child or Toddler.

Breastfeeding a toddler can be challenging. You and your baby were on a roll: he snuggled in your arms, nursed to sleep, and nursing was a special quiet time for the two of you. Then, your baby began to crawl and walk. He began to get coordinated, to talk, and to explore. The sweet little sack of potatoes in your arms became a circus tiger, a shark swimming frantic circles around its meal, an octopus with its tentacles everywhere. Your nipples turned into taffy. Or perhaps not, but your toddler certainly thought they did. Nursing to sleep became a thing of the past as your baby popped off every few moments to tell you something.

Nursing a toddler or an older child isn't the calming gratification that is nursing a newborn, but it has its own set of sweet benefits. If you expect it to be the same as it always was, you may get irritated or impatient. Instead--and this is usually my advice for every parenting obstacle, although I often need to be reminded of it myself--throw out all of your expectations and go with the flow.

Tips for Breastfeeding a Toddler or an Older Child:

1. Accept that things are changing - If you don't accept the new patterns or routines, you'll begin to feel like you're forcing your child to do something he or she doesn't want to do. This could make your breastfeeding relationship strained. It is hard to accept change, but doing so is your first step into throwing away your expectations.
2. Be willing to establish new routines - Let's say you could always count on your baby to nurse to sleep. All of a sudden, he nurses next to you in bed, then pops up and pokes your eyes, honks your nose, and tries to crawl off the bed. (Can you tell I've had some experience with this?) It may be time to change up the routine. Instead of nursing in bed, can you nurse in a rocker? What about nursing in a quiet room and then wearing your baby down in a baby carrier before bed? It may not be as easy as lying next to your baby and dozing off, but avoiding a struggle will make both of you happier in the end.
3. Think about your NIP (nursing in public) MO - I am not shy about nursing in public. I've shocked a few people by pulling out my huge nipples wherever and whenever and latching my baby on. Most recently, the nurse in the ER said, "Whoa!" when she walked into the room and saw me nursing Little M. It doesn't bother me. My kids were never able to nurse under a blanket or nursing cover, and they certainly aren't going to start now. I use my hand to cover myself up. When Little M gets distracted and pulls off over and over and over again, I just cover my boob with my hand. I think the trick to being discreet is to be nonchalant about it. Maybe you change positions: let your toddler nurse standing up while you sit on the floor instead of cradling him. That may be easier for him to come and go without it feeling like a struggle.
4. If all else fails and your child won't stop doing acrobatics while nursing, try a distraction - Baby T stretched out all of my camisoles when he was a nursing toddler. He would stick his foot in the strap. Even if I was wearing a shirt, he would stick his foot in the neck and push it out the sleeve. That's what breastfeeding toddlers do. They try to go about their daily life while continuing to nurse. If it's driving you crazy, gently remind them that you don't like it. Toddlers can understand "like" and "dislike" pretty early on. If they continue and you really can't stand it, try moving on to a different activity. Snuggle and read a book together, or have a snack. Sometimes there is nothing you can do...I resigned myself to letting Baby T stick his feet in my shirt, because I'm lazy and prefer to avoid tantrums, but that's just me.

Having said all that, I never found nursing a toddler particularly terrible. In fact, there were many more benefits to nursing a toddler than their were drawbacks.

Benefits to breastfeeding a toddler:

1. Breastfeeding is an instant tantrum tamer - Your toddler is writhing around on the floor, won't settle down, or is exceptionally needy? A good session of snuggly breastfeeding can stop this behavior in its track, comfort your child, and return him or her to his regular, sweet self.
2. Breastfeeding provides antibodies and nutrients - If you toddler is a picky eater or gets sick, breastfeeding can ease your worries. Even though Baby T would go without eating much of anything for a day or two, I always felt better knowing he was nursing. I knew he was getting a lot of the fat and nutrients he needed, not to mention live antibodies that could help him kick all the boogers he was getting at daycare.
3. Breastfeeding gives you a chance to relax - Even though breastfeeding a toddler isn't quite as relaxing as breastfeeding a baby, it still gives you a chance to sit back and relax. During the whirlwind day that is wrangling a toddler, this was often a welcome break.

I often heard that it was necessary to limit a toddler's nursing sessions. Even my La Leche League leaders talked about limiting sessions in duration, in number of sessions per day, or when nursing in public. What I found in my experience is that limiting a toddler's nursing sessions is only necessary if it's something you need. Nursing a toddler never really bothered me. (It was tandem nursing that got under my skin).It didn't feel right to limit Baby T, but I did because I thought I was supposed to. That ended up being detrimental to our nursing relationship (and to my sanity) in the end.

So I'll leave you with this: When it comes to nursing your toddler, just do what feels right. 

The Breast Resolution Ever

This post was written as part of the weekly Breastfeeding Blog Hop hosted by Slacker Mom and cohosted by The Gnome’s Mom and Happiness Redefined. Visit the links below and link up your own story or leave a comment!

I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry for using that pun. I'm bad at titles, and I just couldn't help myself. Now I'm stuck with it.

Anyway, last week's post for the breastfeeding blog hop was about how the past year of breastfeeding went down. This week's theme is Breastfeeding Goals for the New Year.

Breastfeeding has become such a part of my life that it's almost a non-issue. It's what I do. I couldn't picture my life without it. I've let go of expectations, stereotypes, and challenges. I take each day as it comes (can you believe I accidentally just typoed "as tit comes"? Seriously. What's with me and the puns tonight?).

So when I thought about writing down my breastfeeding goals, my first thought was, I don't have any. I expect that I'll probably nurse Little M throughout 2012. There's a slight chance he might wean because he's a feisty little devil and can be fiercely independent. But there's also a chance that he might nurse well past this year, because he is the snuggliest little mama-lover in the world.

And then I realized: weaning is my challenge. It was my insecurity with Baby T, and was my biggest challenge when it comes to breastfeeding and parenting in general. It is the one part of parenting that I will always wonder whether I did it right. I've posted before about how I lost confidence in my own decisions because I listened to everyone else.

My breastfeeding goal for 2012 is to listen to myself. I'm more confident this time around, but I also care a lot less about what others think. I'm ready to take this year on doing what's right for me. Granted, I can be wishy-washy, and I have had times when I've forgotten exactly what is right for me. But instead of looking for advice first, I'm going to look inside myself.

It's cliche, I know. But the answers are all there.



Be sure to check out the first year of The Breastfeeding Blog Hop archived at Life with Levi!

A Breastfeeding Year in Review

This post is part of the Breastfeeding Blog Hop hosted by Life with Levi, and co-hosted by The Slacker Mom, and Diary of a Devil Dog Wife. Visit the links below and link up your own story or leave a comment!

Last week's theme was about passing the torch. I wrote about my wish that mothers really embrace motherhood and breastfeeding and realize that they can truly accomplish anything in life. This week's theme is about milestones.

So many moms set breastfeeding milestones: They will breastfeed for six months, one year, two years... Like most things in life, I didn't have any plans when it came to breastfeeding. I just knew I was going to do it. Because of that, I didn't really have any expectations, either. I guess I expected it to feel natural and be easy. I expected my kids to nurse for about two years. I didn't expect to ever nurse two kids at a time or for breastfeeding to be such an emotional experience.

Nursing and working full time with Baby T was challenging at times. I had an oversupply and a forceful letdown. Baby T had terrible gas. He woke up every 20 minutes to nurse sometimes, and he went through a few nursing strikes when he was sick and teething.I had excess lipase in my breastmilk, and I had to scald all of the milk I pumped before storing it.

But this post isn't about my first year breastfeeding; it's about this past year.

In 2011, I:

• Nursed a brand-new baby--Little M was born!
• Coslept comfortably while nursing, getting much more sleep than I had with Baby T. (Even in the hospital, not cosleeping was never an option. I was just too tired to consider anything else. The nurses kept asking to put him back into his bassinet. They never asked me not to cosleep, but they acted as though it was strange for me not to want him in his bassinet.)
• Tandem nursed a toddler and a newborn.
• Nursed a toddler as much as if he was a newborn.
• Went through weaning my toddler. It was a roller coaster. I often questioned the decision to wean. I never thought that I would want to initiate the weaning process, but nursing a toddler and a newborn was challenging. Not nursing a toddler and nursing a newborn was challenging too.
• Dealt with a forceful letdown but no oversupply issues.
• Worked on improving Little M's poor latch for the first three months of his life. His mouth was small and he had a severe overbite, so he often lost suction when nursing unless I was holding my breast with my hand and squeezing it into a flat shape so it would fit in his mouth better.
• Dealt with (and am still dealing with) a baby biting while nursing. Little M is a little more precocious than Baby T was in that area, and he often bites when he doesn't feel like nursing or when he just wants to be playful. He usually only does it once, because my surprised reaction tends to startle him into stopping.
• Had a few moments when I questioned my supply. I trust my body to make the right amount of milk, and I know it does, but compared with the oversupply I had with Baby T, sometimes I felt like I barely had any milk for Little M. And Little M is much smaller than Baby T was... it's hard not to compare. Whenever I questioned my supply, I would nurse Little M more often.
• Spent a lot of time nursing in a wrap or sling.
• Nursed at a breastfeeding cafe put on by the Port City Breastfeeding Project every month.
• Became a childbirth educator and guided moms through the process of breastfeeding.

Little M will turn one next month, and his nursing is still going strong. He nurses at least five times a day and at least twice during the night. Some nights he latches on for an hour while we both sleep. I don't expect him to stop nursing any time soon, but he is a much more distracted nurser than Baby T ever was, and he eats a lot of solid food, so I am afraid that he will stop nursing sometime during this next year. Maybe I'll be ready for him to stop. I don't think so, but I really don't know.

That's the beauty of breastfeeding--because I never had any expectations, it's the one time in parenting that I'm more or less comfortable going with the flow. If only the coming years of parenting could be so easy.

A Holiday Wish

This post is part of the Breastfeeding Blog Hop hosted by Life with Levi, and co-hosted by The Slacker Mom, and Diary of a Devil Dog Wife. Visit the links below and link up your own story or leave a comment!

Last week's topic was breaking the rules. This week's is about passing the torch. What does passing the torch mean to you when it comes to breastfeeding?

Breastfeeding: Breaking the Rules Responsibly

This post is part of the Breastfeeding Blog Hop hosted by Life with Levi, and co-hosted by The Slacker Mom, and Diary of a Devil Dog Wife. Visit the links below and link up your own story or leave a comment!

Last week's blog hop was about words of encouragement. This week's topic deals with breaking the rules. The question that was posed was: Have you ever had to think outside the box when it comes to breastfeeding?

I'm a firm believer that in order to break the rules, you need to be informed of them. You need to know what you're breaking, right? With breastfeeding, it seems as though there are so many rules, yet at the same time it seems like there are no rules at all. I've been on both ends of the spectrum.

Breastfeeding: All I Want is Empathy

This post is part of the Breastfeeding Blog Hop hosted by Life with Levi, and co-hosted by The Slacker Mom, and Diary of a Devil Dog Wife. Visit the links below and link up your own story or leave a comment!

Last week’s blog hop was about unkind words and comments about breastfeeding. Today’s breastfeeding blog hop deals with encouragement for breastfeeding.

When I Say "Feed Your Baby," Do You See a Bottle?

This post is part of the Breastfeeding Blog Hop hosted by Life with Levi, and co-hosted by The Slacker Mom, and Diary of a Devil Dog Wife. Visit the links below and link up your own story or leave a comment!

This week’s theme is unkind words or hurtful comments about breastfeeding. In Marah’s post at Diary of a Devil Dog Wife, she asks why can’t breastfeeding just be normal? That’s my gripe with the whole feeding-your-baby thing too. I’ve never really had any hurtful comments, but when I say “feed your baby,” do you picture bottles or do you picture a woman nursing? Honestly, even for me it’s 50/50. I would love to say that as a self-proclaimed lactivist who has breastfed two children, I don’t picture a bottle when someone mentions feeding a baby. But that’s not always the case. Bottles have become a symbol that represents everything baby. How many logos, signs, and ads have you seen for baby products or services that use a bottle?

Nursing the Holidays

When I had Baby T, I was still working full time, and I looked forward to the holidays: They were a time when I could just be with my baby, nurse him whenever I wanted, and stop pumping. Even with all the traveling and hustle and bustle, managing the holidays with a breastfeeding baby was easier than working full time with a breastfeeding baby.

Plane Travel with a Nursing Baby

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: Family pics

This week has been a big one for milestones: Little M is exploding with the things he does. He plays peek-a-boo with me by holding my hands and putting them over my eyes, then peeling them off and peeking in at me. He says "throw!" and throws his toys. (Ok, he actually says something that sounds more like "oh!"--but still. Pretty cute.) His favorite activity lately is putting toys into containers. And he understands what I tell him. If I tell him to do something, he usually does it. The kid is practically walking, and it's not right--newborns aren't supposed to walk!

The 2 Best Breastfeeding Products: Boob #1 and Boob #2

...and believe me, you'll need both, because one will inevitably make more milk than the other or your baby will choose a favorite.

When I had Baby T, I was armed with breastfeeding products: A boppy, nursing bras, nursing pads, nursing tops, a double electric pump and a hand pump, several different types of bottles, a bottle drying rack, a Milkmate storage system for expressed breast milk, quick clean wipes for the pump, a steam-cleaning bag for the pump, breastmilk storage bags, and Lansinoh.

When I had Baby M, I had boob #1 and boob #2.

It's not that I didn't need everything the second time around, it's just that I was too busy to bother.

Breastfeeding Choices the Second Time Around

I have been lucky enough to have breastfed two children without many issues. Baby T was a no-brainer. He just latched on and away we went. Of course, I wondered if his latch was good since he didn't flare out his lips very much, but it wasn't painful, so I didn't really question it. We had issues down the road with nursing strikes and then with weaning, but initially, it was smooth sailing.

Project PINK - Painting the Blog World Pink for a Cure

 

Marilyn of The ArtsyGirl Connection is hosting Project Pink today. It's a day that supports the drive for a cure to breast cancer in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I feel honored to have joined more than 50 blogs in drawing attention to this important cause.

Tandem Nursing: What Got Me Through the Early Days

This post is part of the Breastfeeding Blog Hop. Visit the links below and link up your own story to tell us about breastfeeding with an older child or leave a comment!

When I had Little M last January, Baby T was still nursing. I knew I wasn't going to wean him right away--it seemed cruel to do that right after shaking up his life by bringing home a newborn. But deciding whether to actually nurse them at the same time and scheduling the nursings was a roller coaster. There were pros and cons to tandem nursing, but the pros definitely outweighed the cons.

This is how I made it through the early days of tandem nursing a toddler and newborn.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: You Can't Make This Stuff Up

I'm usually so long winded, so this week, I'll let these pictures (almost) speak for themselves:

Passed out after the Ergo transfer

Weaning a Toddler: It's not Black and White

This post is part of the Breastfeeding Blog Hop. Visit the links below and link up your own story to tell us where you are with breastfeeding or leave a comment!

I've talked about the weaning roller coaster on my blog in the past. And Baby T is still weaned.

But he still asks to nurse. Almost every day.

Breastfeeding Support - And I'm Not Talking About the Boppy

This post is part of the Breastfeeding Blog Hop. Visit the links below and link up your own breastfeeding support story or leave a comment!

I was recently at the grocery store making a WIC purchase. The cashier commented that she notices that some people get baby meats with WIC and others don't. I explained that breastfed babies get meats because they don't get the iron that's supplemented in formula.

Then, the cashier said, "I didn't breastfeed. I was too scared."

Wow.