If you're a bird, I'm a bird

When I was at reBlossom, I saw a crazy bottle on the shelf for $4.99. It was upside down and a transluscent white color. The top screwed off, which was actually the bottom. The nipple area was one piece and very soft and squishy. It was branded on the side "adiri". Curious as I am, I did a Google search when I returned home. There are three different color bottles it turns out and the one I saw was Stage 1 for 0-3 months. Lincoln would need the orange one (6 months +) with a faster flow. He uses a bottle once a day when he is at school and if he weren't already 8.5 months, I might would consider getting one to experiement with. Amazon prices them at $13.99 each for the slow flows and $11.99 for the two-pack of fast flow. There is even a life-like breast bottle nurser.   Has anyone ever tried one? 

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding up to the age of 6 months. My frozen milk supply started dwindling in January. Some days I would come home from work after double pumping three times with not quite 12 ounces of milk so we would have to thaw some for the next day. Eventually, there was one bag with 6 ounces left in the freezer. Around this time, Lincoln was turning 4 months. We went to the pediatrician and she said that anytime between 4 -6 months, we could introduce solids. My original plan was to only breastfeed for 6 months. Since frozen supply was low, Joe and I were contemplating supplementing with formula for a couple weeks so I could build up my supply. I couldn't bring myself to open a can of formula. So if I had to choose between solids or formula, I was more comfortable introducing solids early than feeding him formula. We waited until 4 months and 1 week to introduce Lincoln to solids. We purchased an organic rice cereal...

I had a goal of breastfeeding in public sometime soon. The reason BIP is negatively received is because it is not seen enough. Our society views bf as nudity and breasts are only sexual. They are sexual, but were first used for feeding. I usually feed Lincoln before we leave the house, nurse him in the van, or in the nursing room at church. We have been out on weekends and it would have been more convenient to BIP instead of having to leave to go to the van. One weekend we were at the Botanical Gardens on a park bench and another time we were at the Athens Kid's Expo at the Classic Center. Lincoln can go 2-3 hours before he needs to eat so we are not confined to our house as much as we used to. Both times I suggested BIP, Joe wasn't supportive. I'm not sure of his reasoning. I'm not sure if it is his discomfort with me doing something private in public or his fear of other's reaction to it. Well, on Saturday Lincoln and I went to Bishop Park for the afternoon since ...

I read The Breastfeeding Book by Dr. Sears and took a 2.5 hour breastfeeding class at Full Bloom during pregnancy. I knew that breastfeeding would be demanding as I am the sole responsibility for the nutrition of our baby. Breastfeeding is a supply and demand regimen. There is no schedule. When we see the signs of hunger, such at rooting and sucking hands, we know he is hungry. We try to feed him before the signs turn to crying. It could be 30-minutes or three hours after I fed him last. The important thing is to fill him up so the feedings aren't as frequent, but when he is going through a growth spurt, he may want to eat around the clock, which is telling my body I need to make more milk to accommodate his growing appetite. I see why so many women turn to formula either immediately or after a short time after trying. It is emotionally and physically draining most days. Thankfully, milk production isn't an issue I have had to deal with on top of the rigorous demands of feedin...

Now that we are home from the hospital, we are finding that the best things aren't the easiest. When making decisions about how to birth and raise Lincoln, we had choices to make. First, it started off by planning a natural childbirth, free of medications and a loud traumatizing delivery. Laboring for over 24 hours without medication wasn't easy. If I had taken the medication, would things turned out differently? Would it have been easier? While I was in the hospital, a lady next door to me came in at 0 cm and a few hours later I saw a pink ribbon hanging outside the door. I figured she had Pitocin and an epidural and got it done! She sure made it seem easy! We also decided to breastfeed Lincoln. Growing up I wasn't around many breastfeeders. I wasn't breastfeed. I always said I wouldn't breastfeed because of the dependency I saw in the babies that did. I babysat one once and I couldn't soothe her because all she wanted was her mom. Sometime during the pregn...