Tag: toddler

Why I Am Still Pumping After Leah’s First Birthday

Pumping After First Birthday
Pumping isn’t fun. But if you’re a working mom who wants to feed her baby breast milk, you just gotta suck it up and do it. (Pun intended a little) And if you’re an exclusively pumping mama, let me just say right now that I think you are a ROCK.STAR!!!! That level of commitment amazes me!!

For lots of pumping mamas, Baby’s first birthday is our ultimate goal. At that point, whole milk can enter the picture, solid food provides a lot of the nutritional needs and we still have mornings, nights and weekends to provide breast milk straight from the tap.

A couple days ago, I was chatting with a coworker via IM and she was teasing me because it had taken me awhile to respond to her initial message. I had been in the Mother’s Room pumping and had told her so. Her response was “You’re still doing that?” and it got me to thinking the generally accepted idea that even if you keep nursing past one year, pumping always ends at the first birthday.

With Brooke, who was always fed a mix of formula and breast milk, I opted to stop pumping shortly after her first birthday. I replaced formula with whole milk and the amount of breast milk I was able to offer just didn’t make a big enough dent to be worth it.

However, when Leah turned 1 in June, I didn’t feel a need to stop pumping. And today, at 15 months and counting, I’m still pumping and don’t really have an ending time in mind. Here’s why:

uneven pumping output
Any guesses which side she’d nursed from that morning? LOL

If It Ain’t Broke Don’t Fix It

This has always somewhat of a mantra for me when it comes to parenting and approaching milestones. Whether it is breastfeeding, potty training, moving out of rear-facing or harnessed car seats, I don’t feel a need to rush it. What we’ve got going right now is working so I don’t see the benefit of changing things.

I’m sure Keith would love to stop washing bottles at night and it would probably be slightly easier for daycare but other than that, there’s no real hardship associated with continued pumping that prompts me to stop.

If I Was Home, She Would Be Getting That Breast Milk

If I wasn’t working, I imagine we’d have one or two nursing sessions during the day in addition to the morning and nighttime ones we currently share. My view is that pumping and sending expressed milk to daycare was a substitute for nursing while we were apart during her first year and nothing fundamentally changed about that after her first birthday. Breast milk is still extremely beneficial for toddlers and I am happy to do what I can to get that nutrition to her every day.

I Kinda Like My Pumping Sessions

I recognize that I’m very blessed to have the pumping situation that I do. My company has designated “Mother’s Rooms” in every location I’ve ever been in. It is equipped with counter, sink, mini-fridge and chair. One of the Houston offices I worked in was super tricked out with a radio, table full of magazines and even a foot warmer/massager. My managers have never batted an eye at my need to be away from my desk to pump.

So that time for me is an opportunity to step away from my computer and enjoy some Mama-Time. I read or watch Hulu on the Kindle, catch up on social media, jot down lists or even just close my eyes and mediate to the lovely hum of the pump.

pumping output
I’m at almost 11 gallons. Wonder what it will be when I’m all done!

I worked very hard to get to this point and still be nursing and pumping at 15 months. When my output rapidly decreased at around the 6 or 7 month mark, I tried everything – adding pumping sessions (up to 5x/day), fenugreek, blessed thistle, oatmeal, more water and when none of those worked, I eventually started taking domperidone which helped immensely. In fact, I am still taking the domperidone to maintain the supply I have now.

So I realize that it’s not always easy to “just keep going” and hope that any mamas who have the desire to keep going are able for as long as they wish.

Did you pump breast milk for your child(ren)? When did you stop? What was your experience like?


Car Seat Safety is my Passion

When I look back at the pictures of Brooke on our ride home from the hospital, I cringe at how badly we had her in her car seat.

Not so good car seat use

We didn’t know any better. Like I think most parents, we thought car seats were pretty self-explanatory.

Luckily for Brooke, I’m a curious mom. I read lots of articles, join lots of forums and basically soak in information on anything I can. Through those forums, I began to learn more about child passenger safety. I realized how much I was doing wrong and how to make it right. I also found out I could become certified Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST) and perform seat inspections and educate parents on the best way to keep kids safe.

So I spent 4 days, half of that time in a classroom, half crawling around the backseats of cars in blazing Texas heat, so that I could earn the title of CPST. I’ve only had the opportunity to work one check-up event but it was so fulfilling to see car after car of children leave my station, safer than they’d arrived.

One family with a seven-year-old daughter and 14-month-old son had never had car seats. EVER! We got them hooked up (this particular event was part of a class and if you took the class, you were eligible for a free seat) and when they left the little boy was rear-facing and the girl, while not overly thrilled about it, was in a booster and no longer tucking the seat belt under her arm.

Just one story like that tells me what I’m doing is worthwhile. Below are some of the expired and/or unfit seats we collected during our check-up event.

Expired Seats - edit

I have a deep desire to do more. 8 out of 10 car seats are being used incorrectly. That is WAY too many kids being put at risk. I have yet to figure out how to best tackle this problem. I would really like to get to the root of why parents are so resistant to guidelines and information as well as find a more effective way to get this information in the hands of both parents & pediatricians since they are trusted but can’t be expected to be experts in everything, including car seat safety.

I welcome any input you may have. Please leave me comments with your ideas and thoughts.

Meanwhile, here are my basic tips for safe kids in the car:

Everyone buckles up!

Unrestrained adults can and will most likely become projectiles in the event of a crash. I also recommend strapping in any booster seats that aren’t being used so they aren’t flying around either.

Don’t rush kids into the “next big thing”

Each step up in seat (rear-facing to forward-facing to booster seat to seat belt) isn’t a “milestone”, its a step down in safety. I know I’m dreading the day Brooke outgrows her Radian’s rear-facing limits and we have turn her forward-facing. (*Full disclosure here-Brooke does forward face in Keith’s car because she’s outgrown the rear-facing limits for that seat and we can’t afford another Radian for the little bit she rides in that car.)

The AAP recently updated (improved!) their guidelines for best practices in child passenger safety. One of my favorite car seat advocates, The Car Seat Lady, did an an awesome video explaining these changes.

Harness correctly

Rear-facing seats should have the harness thred through slots that are AT or BELOW the child’s shoulders. The opposite is true for forward-facing seats. The harness slots AT or ABOVE the shoulders should be used. It may seem like a trivial thing but it will affect the way your child’s body responds to the impact of a crash.

Make sure the harness is tight enough. If you go to pinch the harness at the child’s shoulder, your fingers should slip right off and not be able to gather any of the harness. This is hard to explain in words so I’ll keep an eye out for pictures or videos that will make it clearer. Your child may resist at first if you’d been keeping the harness loose before. They will get used to it and kids are smart. Explain to them they are safer that way and you’re doing it because you love them so much!!

Make sure the harness is flat and not twisted. The main goal of child restraints is to spread the force of impact across large areas of the body instead of too much force in one place. A twisted strap reduces the surface area of the harness and will put undue pressure in one place on the body.

Last note on the harness, the chest clip is meant to be where it says. It should be armpit level regardless of seat direction.

Avoid after-market products

If it didn’t come in the box your seat came in, don’t use it. These items will void your manufacturer’s warranty and are not known to be safe. You can’t even trust those that say “crash-tested” because the government has no standards in place for testing these products. Besides the chance of voiding your seat’s warranty many times things like seat covers and strap covers will affect the way the harness lays on your child or is made of a matrial that will compress making it easy for your child to slide out of the harness altogether in the event of a crash.

I didn’t intend to get so long winded but I suppose that happens when you’re passionate about a topic!! I really do value your feedback and ideas on how me can get the message across in a way that its well received. Also if you have questions, I’m always happy to help. I plan to create a page of links, articles and resources soon.

More great resources include:
www.car-seat.org
www.safekids.org
www.seatcheck.org
www.thecarseatlady.com or thecarseatlady.wordpress.com

This post is linked to:
Mama’s Losin’ It

Summer Goals

This weekend was the un-official start to summer. With that in mind, here are my goals for Summer 2011.

Move
boxes photo credit: joebeone

Read 8 books
stack of books, Ballard, Seattle, Washington photo credit: Wonderlane

Work 3 car seat check-ups

A trip or two to the beach!
Sandcastles in the sand 03.06.2011

Move Brooke to a Big Girl Bed!

Have you made any goals for the summer? Share them in the comments or if you’re a blogger, head over to Work Wife Mom…Life! and link up your summer bucket list!

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