Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Ten Things I'm never doing again

Planting sweet corn in our garden. We'd be better off eating the kernels from the seed packet than trying to do the impossible and make corn grow in our sand pit we call a garden.



Buying non "all natural" peanut butter. I bought a big thing of jiff this summer for a family adventure and it made me realize how gross that stuff is. Yes, I was raised on Jiff. Yes, I am choosy. No, I will never buy a gallon jug of that assault on subterranean legumes again.



Letting my husband go unaccompanied to the Tractor Supply Company again. Now we have an egg incubator and a new batch of chickens due on labor day. As if 22 hens and one very vocal rooster weren't enough.
Starting a new medical practice. What a pain in the ass. Sorry Karla, Luann and Jen you guys are stuck with me for a while.


Buying an ipad. Seriously, what am I supposed to do when there are no buttons to mash and no control-alt-delete. I find myself shaking the damn thing like an Etch a Sketch.


Drinking a sour mash beer from a certain creative minded brewery downtown. Bleh



Letting my daughter watch Yo Gabba Gabba. I don't care how many celebrity guests visit DJ Lance. That show is an acid trip and her parents are weird enough to grapple with.



Buying running shorts. Not to long ago I bought two running skirts. LOVE THEM. My beef with proper running shorts is the crap between your legs (much like I imagine boys have to deal with) and spandex is, well, spandex. But these skirts are cool. Not to mention cute.


Fooling myself by thinking I can just read the first book in the series. Never happens. No matter how bad the book I always have to finish the whole series. What is it with me? Why do I do that to myself?
Having another baby. We have two perfect happy children who bring us joy on a daily basis. I thank God for them every day. Two I can fit in the back seat of my imaginary convertible. Any more would surely mean a mini-van, my own personal hell on wheels.


Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Breastfeeders Anonymous

One of the things I've been wanting to do more of at our new practice is patient support and education. I'd love to set up an asthma education night or a "healthy lifestyles" night for at risk and overweight patients.



One of the other groups I've been toying with is a breastfeeding support group. I love to talk breastfeeding with new moms and I always wish I had more time to do it. I remember how many questions I had when I started nursing, how hard it really was and how frustrated I got with it. With Adeline, there were lots of tears and feelings of worthlessness at not being able to feed my newborn daughter. Nobody ever told me it could be like that but that it would get better. I'm also kind of sad to say that I didn't get much help from the pediatrician's office.


Obviously it got better and I nursed Adeline for a year. I only quit because I loath the pump. Things went a lot more smoothly with Eliott. He was a natural and latched on right away, my milk came in sooner and I didn't stress at all when he lost almost a whole pound before day 3. I knew he and I would be fine.



Some pediatricians do a good job supporting breast feeding in the first month or so but tend to forget about it once nursing is established. We see a big drop off in nursing after the first month. Lately I've been thinking about why that is. Here are some of my theories.



  • Women go back to work and have a hard time finding the time to pump or can't pump enough.


  • They supplemented too much and their supply dropped off because of lack of demand.


  • They considered it not convenient especially when going out with their baby.


  • Or like me, they found that nursing and pumping especially can be lonely.

It's all of these but especially this last point that I'd like to address. I have no problem nursing in public (with a cover) I've nursed in sports bars, on the beach, in the parking lot and even in the furniture section of Target. But I've found that a lot of time I'm nursing alone. Joel and Adeline don't care and Dela will often curl up next to me and insist I read one of her books over and over. But when we have company or if there are grandparents around, they sometimes seem to avoid me and Eliott. Of course you are never really alone when your nursing and it is wonderful bonding time but after a while...Then there's pumping which is very lonely, uncomfortable and inconvenient.


To take my mind off of it I read while pumping and sometimes while nursing. That results in a lot of pages covered in a day.


That (finally) gets me to my idea for a breast feeding support group in the conference area of our medical office. I was thinking about making it half support group leading off with a short discussion about a breastfeeding subject and maybe some Q&A then an informal book club. It would be open to nursing moms, their infants obviously, expecting moms and anyone else interested in nursing. It might draw in some moms who have snubbed nursing support groups because they felt uncomfortable with the "lactation Nazis" as I have heard them referred too and maybe give moms something to do while pumping and nursing that might encourage them to keep going.



I just don't know if anyone would come. Does/did anyone else out there read while nursing or pumping? Did anyone go to a nursing group and did you get anything out of it? Why and when did you stop nursing? Have any of my pediatrician friends found anything that helps keep that nursing record up after the first few months?