SO sorry the photo is that large. I copied and pasted and moved and grooved...and this is the best I could do.
Basically, one night I was nursing and all seemed fine, and the next morning, Miley WOULD NOT nurse. I did what I do best and after 1.5 hours of "persuasion", she sleepily nursed. She took a nap, then when she woke up, no nursing AGAIN. And profuse loud crying when she saw my breast. This was and is, definitely a "first" for me. All of the children so far have had the following things in common; they hated bottles, pacifiers, and the like and the breast was best. Thankfully, a few things were lined up and ready for me. One, Miley had shown an interest in bottles, so I had gone to Babies R us this last time and purchased a few (WOW! THOSE DUDES ARE EXPENSIVE), and then, I had been feeding chicken broth to her in a bottle just to curb her appetite, water, and silver water...so the stage was sort of set for her to drink milk out of a bottle. Also, I had JUST talked to a friend a couple of days prior about pumping, because, I was thinking I needed to leave at least a bottle or two for sitters in case I did not make it home or she woke up prematurely from a nap or something. We were JUST in Texas, and my pump was there. Every morning I woke up, I felt in my heart to go get my pump out of the closet (my in-laws live in my room right now), and I shook it off.
The stage has been set, but no pump, and I am majorly engorged right about now. SO, now what's a girl to do? I called the local hospital to see if they rented pumps. They stopped renting two weeks ago. Target had electric pumps for $250 (at least the kind that I had back in Texas), and we're on a strict budget right now. So, I went online and looked at the other pumps Target carried. They had a handheld pump by Medela on sale for $33. Not too bad. The thing that interested me about it was all of the positive reviews. I have to admit...I HATE my electric pump. You have to be "plugged" in to a wall, and it's loud, and I never could get the suction "just right", but I have always assumed that was the best way to go. Needless to say, I drove to Target as fast as my car would go, and I bought the handheld Medela pump for $33. On the way home, I jerked up my sweater and started pumping as fast as I could go. By the time I careened into the garage I had four ounces and was in love with a new best friend....the harmony pump by Medela. It says "for occasional use" on the package, but don't let that fool ya'...it's an all time best friend. I stuck it in my purse and pumped in the church bathroom that night, proudly presenting a "warm" bottle to the church ladies in the nursery.
Needless to say, the emotions run high when your baby won't suck your boob. They just do. Especially if you think it's your last. Well, anytime, I think it would be emotional. But, God has awesomely gotten me through this one. I woke up and praised and praised for two mornings in a row and prayed over Miley, and God is SO good. He's just helped me with the whole thing.
My review of the pump is as follows. Easy, comfortable, and the pump/handle part swivels, so you can change hands or positions or whatever you need to do to pump faster or in a different position. I like it better than the electric pump because it's portable, it's small, requires no batteries or electricity, gives my forearm a little workout, is more discreet, is quieter, and is easy to clean.
The next part I need to review are bottles. I have a tendency towards "organic". I will automatically skip playtex or any of those type that you can "smell" the plastic wafting out of the bottle. Read for yourself on plastics, pthalates...hormones going into your baby...anyway, my review is coming from that consumer "position". When I had purchased bottles in Texas, I purchased two different kinds to try. Avent and Born Free. Avent, I had always heard was the "best" bottle. Babies liken it to breastfeeding...yada yada yada....and born free had the cool glass bottle. PLUS, all bottles come with a newborn nipple (what a waste), and I needed the older baby nipple. What to get? Size 2, size 3, size 4???One of each? Then, I had gotten two different brands which took different nipple sizes. Oh brother. This is getting to be a big deal. So, I got the Avent bottle and size 3 or 4 nipple and the Born Free bottle and a size 2 nipple. (I don't even know if she will LIKE a bottle at this point). She DID end up liking the bottle, but the bigger girl nipple seemed to make her feel like she was choking on the flow, so I backed it down and gave her the Born Free glass bottle with a stage 2 nipple. Ahh, she liked that. But, the bottle is a little heavy and I don't want the kids TOUCHING it or feeding her with it.
After ALL of this, I come back to Branson from Texas, and Miley goes on a nursing strike, and thankfully, I already have some bottles, but I bought little 4 ounce bottles, and she is now six months old and she sort of "despairs" at the end of the bottle....like it's not enough food. But, but the time I pour more milk in and warm it up, she feels a little full. THen gets hungry again in 20 minutes or so. SO, I wanted to order one more bottle (to add to my collection, right?) and I found the coddlelife bottle on Amazon.com which came in record time and free shipping. It is AWESOME. I can't say enough about this bottle. I think it's totally new to the market and so you can't find any reviews on it, but it's a super lightweight space-age glass that is harder to break and you can submerge in boiling water without it cracking. The bottle itself is smaller around, so easier for baby to hold. For $4.99 you can buy the silicone cover that is also food grade. The nipple isn't smooth, it has tiny "bumps" on it like your breast has and it's stretchy and more shaped like the breast. The stage 3 nipple (I got that one), has an "air release" system that is super cool....it's silicone. REALLY, these bottles are the bomb! And, they are the same price as an avent or a Born Free. I like the glass on these so much better than the Born Free because it's lighter weight. (the Born Free are kind of cool because they remind me of the old fashioned glass bottles-think gerber baby jar or something), but it's worth it to look into the Coddlelife.
I'm out of words. It's been an interesting few days, but the adjustment happened very quickly. I pump, she drinks, she sleeps longer in the morning. I think it's her teeth. I pinch her when she bites and she got four teeth at once on the top and it's almost as if she doesn't know what to do with them and doesn't want to get pinched. Me either.
No comments:
Post a Comment