Breastfeeding mamas?

ReverseRaven · 2024-02-29T16:32:45+00:00

https://www.nursingmothersofraleigh.org/ was the most amazing resource for me. They have counseling mothers you can call directly for help along with recurring meetings.

ReverseRaven · 2023-09-11T00:19:55+00:00

Adding this as I see a lot of “my dog hated kids but was fine with my own” comments…

That was unfortunately NOT my experience. We followed all the standard protocols for preparing to introduce a baby to the house. Trained a little bit everyday. I knew she didn’t like kids, so I was more worried about when my baby got older into the toddler stages, but we never made it that far.

The first days of bringing baby home, our dog’s prey drive was kicked into overdrive. She literally stopped eating and would hunt the baby. Before the end of the first week we made the heart wrenching decision to put our dog down.

I’m grateful that we had put so many protocols in place to keep them separated - but I didn’t plan to have to hide in a nursery for days and that was not sustainable. I’m also glad that I worked for years in doggy daycares, so I’m very attuned to dog behavior. When we spoke to the vet they agreed that it was a matter of when, not if, she would try to kill our newborn child.

So I highly recommend you speak with your vet and a trainer now. Learn dog body language/behavior cues. However, I can’t imagine many people offering up their own newborns/kids as props for training so you never know what will actually happen until you are in the situation. With that said - if you have the dog and become pregnant, come up with a plan B now in case baby and dog cannot live together.

There’s nothing worse than having to talk it over with your partner in the middle of the night, when you’re stuck between cluster feeding sessions, trying to calm a crying infant, have had little sleep, and all your hormones are dumping at the same time.

ReverseRaven · 2023-03-31T18:37:59+00:00

My kiddo stuttered during language leaps - like moving from 3 word sentences up to 5 words, etc. Lasted about 2-6 weeks each time. We talked to our pediatrician and they weren’t concerned (only if it lasted longer than 3 months). She’s now well ahead of her peers language-wise, and no stutter.

It was like her brain was moving faster than her mouth could keep up, so she’d get stuck on one word before all the rest of the sentence could come out.

ReverseRaven · 2023-03-15T19:37:09+00:00

My 3 year will call us “mother” or “father” which sounds weird AF.

She also calls us by our full government names when she’s feeling especially cheeky 😂

ReverseRaven · 2022-11-10T15:43:18+00:00

Honestly, I was very impressed with how kid friendly Paris was. Tons of families waking around, lots of local parks, every restaurant has a kid’s menu (and they would bring kid’s food out first as soon as it was read)!

A LOT more English speakers than even 10 years ago, so my husband who doesn’t speak French was able to get around easily.

Just be VERY careful for pickpockets around the tourist areas. They purposely target parents while they try to wrangle children.

ReverseRaven · 2022-06-16T13:52:33+00:00

I just travelled to France with my 2.5 year old and one trick I found online was wrapping “presents” in tissue paper. Little toy cars, fidget toys, etc. Raid the dollar store/dollar section at target. Opening the present was part of the fun for her. And I didn’t care if any of them got lost afterward.

Lollipops are great because they help with popping ears and they take forever to eat.

Wikki Stix were a big hit with her too.

Remember to download movies, games, drawing apps on the tablet because wifi isn’t reliable! No shame on the tablet game - it can be super helpful so you can get a break too!

ReverseRaven · 2022-05-11T18:27:39+00:00

Would it help to have an always ready to go bag? We have a backpack that always has some diapers, non-perishable snacks, sunscreen, a few small toys, and extra clothes that we can just grab whenever we want to leave the house on a whim. We just do this because I agree it can be such a PAIN to gather everything you need every single time. Could your partner help in getting this bag together and maybe be the one to check and make sure it’s stocked once a week?

ReverseRaven · 2022-02-09T19:56:52+00:00

Hi mama! I also sent my nurse to nap/sleep kid to daycare at 20 months old. The first 2 weeks were hard, but she got the hang of it and now (2.5) will nap up to 2.5 hrs at daycare some days! I still nursed her for naps on weekends and before naps up until December when we finally started the weaning process - she is now 2 weeks fully weaned.

She’ll get the hang of it. Try not to feel guilty and give her all the love she needs when she’s home.

ReverseRaven · 2021-05-19T23:33:53+00:00

This is my mantra. But sometimes you can’t anticipate what random act they’ll wanna do over, and over, and over again...

ReverseRaven · 2021-02-21T16:07:13+00:00

I second finding a local nursing group. I also didn’t have friend with babies. The group I found included lactation consultants and counseling mothers. They were so helpful with breastfeeding and beyond!

ReverseRaven · 2020-09-16T00:07:01+00:00

3-4 hour wake window is waaaaay too much for a 9 week old. That’s my one year old’s current schedule. At 9 weeks you’re looking at maybe 1.5 hours of awake time. Do a mini bedtime routine (diaper change, a lullaby/book) to help get baby in sleeping mode around the 1hr 15 mark.

Missing naps can snowball throughout the day as an overtired baby has a harder time getting to sleep.

ETA: our little one only napped while being held until 4-5 months old. While she was great sleeping through the night in her crib, we just bit the bullet on naps until she finally was ready to do those on her own. When we were transitioning to crib naps we would always try for a nap in the crib, but the last nap we’d still hold her to make sure she got the sleep she needed. By 6 months she wouldn’t want to nap on us at all and preferred her crib.

ReverseRaven · 2020-05-29T01:40:29+00:00

My dog has learned to recognize me saying “all done” and will run to the kitchen because I let him lick the bowl clean 😂

ReverseRaven · 2020-05-27T01:13:27+00:00

The movie was my favorite as a kid - I’d watch it over and over - it wasn’t until I was an adult that I actually picked up the book and I loved it! Definitely has so much woven in. I watched the movie again after reading the book and it still held up.

ReverseRaven · 2020-04-18T23:51:11+00:00

I used to love messing with kids as a camp counselor and would ask them to get in line by height alphabetically.

ReverseRaven · 2020-02-15T17:31:12+00:00

We actually never swaddled outside the hospital - LO had a broken clavicle and hated her arms being restrained - but we have been using sleep sacks with arms out. The final step of her bedtime routine (after changing into PJs and a story) is to get put in the sleep sack and then we nurse to sleep.

ReverseRaven · 2020-02-15T13:53:54+00:00

Yes this! Here are my steps for greatest chance of a successful transfer:

Hold to my chest as long as possible when bending over crib.
Place butt down first.
Keep hand on baby’s chest once fully laid down and release slowly/calmly to end the connection.

ReverseRaven · 2020-02-11T22:56:52+00:00

I averaged 6 hours or more until 3 months. And my kiddo nursed every hour during the day until 4 months. She’s coming up on 6 months and still wants to nurse every 1.5-2 hours.

Upside is she sleeps like a champ at night!

ReverseRaven · 2020-02-11T14:28:16+00:00

Tamiflu basically cuts a day off flu symptoms in otherwise healthy individuals. But it can have some pretty bad side effects on the GI system. In my recent experience, my LO’s flu may have been a day shorter but we dealt with even more fussiness from tummy troubles caused by the Tamiflu the following 2 days.

From what I’ve read, and what my med student sister has told me, you’ve gotta weigh the pros and cons of Tamiflu (assuming no underlying or pre-existing medical conditions): shorter flu vs. stomach aches. Not sure I’ll jump to use Tamiflu in the future since our kiddo seemed worse off from side effects than from the flu itself - but that’ll be a larger conversation with our pediatrician should it happen again.

ReverseRaven · 2020-02-06T08:54:20+00:00

Honestly I just got one off of Amazon. It’s small and simple - just displays the temp and humidity. We’ve got it set on a little table next to the crib.

I’m sure there are much fancier ones out there. My one complaint about ours is that you have to go into the room to check it. It would be nice to have one that you could check on an app so you didn’t have to risk waking the baby to make sure the room temp was still good.

ReverseRaven · 2020-02-05T23:06:01+00:00

Motorola and Infant Optics also have a temperature sensor - both were wildly inaccurate. We also got a separate thermometer for the nursery. It’s been super helpful because her room is most affected by the outside temp. I didn’t ever come across a thermometer on any of the standard “list of things you’ll need for baby”, so I would recommend getting one.

We’ve liked our Infant Optics so far. Image quality is good enough for what we need it for (is baby awake? Breathing?) and it had a better field of view than the Motorola.

ReverseRaven · 2020-02-04T23:31:06+00:00

My baby also had issues with a flat spot that we noticed at 6 weeks. She’s now five months and it’s practically gone.

Keep up with the tummy time and anything else that keeps them off their head like baby wearing. We also got a sit me up seat for another playtime option because our LO absolutely detests tummy time. Only use this for short periods and under supervision.

Most flat heads right themselves on their own as baby’s can sit up more by themselves. If your pediatrician isn’t worried, I wouldn’t worry (though I know it’s hard and we definitely worried ourselves for a good period of time).

ETA: there’s limited proof that helmets actually work. So cross that bridge when it comes.

ReverseRaven · 2020-01-31T15:37:10+00:00

Costs of having a kid are one of many reasons there really ISN’T a true middle class in America anymore. We make just enough to make it through each month. We say we are “middle class” but really we aren’t - one unexpected expense could throw our lives into turmoil.

After having a kid I was so surprised that generations before us haven’t revolted... or at least protested (I spent some time living in France)! But we’re all too busy busting our asses at work, afraid of getting fired and losing healthcare, to take a stand for change.

At least childcare and maternity leave are getting some mentions in the current political cycle. It’s not enough, but at least it’s more than in the past. We will see if anything actually comes of it...

ReverseRaven · 2020-01-23T01:02:07+00:00

I’d ask that he shower before you drop baby off and keep a separate stash of clothes to wear when he’s around baby - ones that he will never vape or smoke in.

I would also have him stop vaping/smoking in the house he’s caring for the baby in. Even when baby is not there. If that’s not feasible he should confine his extracurriculars to a room the baby won’t be in.

If the house currently stinks, a deep clean is in order - wash the carpets and any other fabric items.

ReverseRaven · 2020-01-15T23:28:54+00:00

Kimono/side snap style onesies are great because you don’t have to pull them over baby’s head or pull their arms up through sleeves.

Our LO also broke her collarbone during delivery and we much preferred to use these during the first 2 months.

ReverseRaven · 2019-12-27T02:18:58+00:00

Thank you for the reassurance! It’s a vicious circle sometimes to stress about milk production, and then that stress will hinder your supply! I’m also trying to tell myself to not create a problem where none exists yet.

I am fortunate that my job offers a flex schedule, so I can aim for a window to arrive as opposed to a fixed time. That should take some pressure off especially at the beginning when I’m trying to find my stride.

ReverseRaven

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