Don't Pump and Dump?

Saturday night, we went to a friend's wedding and I had about three drinks. I've always been taught that, as a nursing mother, I had to "Pump and dump" meaning that I could drink as much alcohol as I wanted to but then I'd have to go home and pump all of the milk from my breasts, and dump it down the drain. So that's what I did at one in the morning. Then, on Sunday morning, I decided to research the rules to see if I needed to "Pump and dump" again, just to be safe. To my complete surprise I learned that I didn't even have to dump the TEN OUNCES that I pumped last night! According to several articles I read by reputable sources on the Internet (here, here, and here), it isn't necessary to dump breastmilk unless it is within two to three hours of having an alcoholic beverage when you will be feeding your child or you are still feeling the effects of the alcohol. The alcohol doesn't stay in your milk but instead, gets worked out of your system just like it gets processed out of your blood. Once you sober up, the milk is sober too and no longer a threat to your baby. You only need to pump and dump if you are engorged and need to expel the milk for relief before you have sobered up and your body has had time to process the alcohol from the milk. If only someone would have told me that in the wee hours of the morning. Better to be safe than sorry, and better to be educated about it than not.

Now when my mom asks me what I learned at school today, I'll have a great answer. What? I'm not in school and she doesn't do that anymore? Maybe I had more to drink than I thought... Oh well.

Moral of the story: If you have a few alcoholic drinks, make sure you wait two or three hours, or sober up, before you pump or feed the baby to be sure there isn't any alcohol leftover in your milk. No need to dump.

The Whole Cow

Now that Ada is one, we've made the switch to Whole Milk also known as Whole Cow's Milk and, unbeknownst to me, officially called Vitamin D Milk. Here I am in the store looking for "Whole Milk" to appear on the label and it's nowhere to be found. Rick told me that Vitamin D Milk really is whole milk since it isn't skim, half and half, 1%, 2%, heavy whipping cream or anything else cow related. His logic is sound so I trust him on this one, but secretly, I still wonder if there isn't some magic milk jug somewhere labeled Whole Milk for blondes like me.

The good news is that Ada loves whole milk. The bad news is that right after we made the switch and I weened her off breastmilk and nursing, she got an awful cough/cold/upset stomach bug over the holidays that made her a little mess of a toddler-- oh yeah, she's a "toddler" now. So we spent most of the holidays with her asleep on my chest, not eating or drinking much of anything, and throwing up what she did eat and drink. At one point I came up with this theory that she might be allergic to the Whole Milk and that's what was causing her to vomit. So we would have put her back on formula, but we ran out as we had planned to use it up over the holidays. Silly and frugal me chose a generic formula and also bought it from a local grocery store that we don't have back home. The closest Dominick's was a half hour away and the snowstorms this season were unrelenting, making a trip to neighboring St. Charles unlikely. In my infinite wisdom, we switched her to Soy milk for a day. I sent Rick to the store to get soy milk and he came back with a $5 bottle of Enfamil Soy Baby Formula. He wasn't happy when I told him he clearly didn't understand what I said because I wanted soy milk, not formula. Poor guy got nailed by a torrential downpour as soon as he left to go to the store for it too. Here we are, packing the car, ready to leave Ada with Grandma Ba for 5 days, Ada's sick, she isn't keeping milk of any kind down, the weather is awful, and I'm just trying to get her some soy milk. Luckily, my dad offered to go buy some soy milk while Rick finished packing the car in the nasty rain and I dealt with poor, sad, pathetic, unhappy, sick Ada.

Finally, we tried to soy milk and left her with it for her vacation with Grandma. Grandma decided later that night that it probably wasn't the Vitamin D Whole Milk or the Soy Milk but the fact that she was so congested that any milk would make her spit up. So Ada went off milk for 4 or 5 days. She had some watered down apple juice and bland food. I was sure she wouldn't possibly be able to survive without milk for 5 days, but she did. And she's fine. And on the 5th day, she drank 15 ounces or more. And then about 20 ounces a day ever since. Go figure.

Hopefully next year will be better and cootie-free.

Moral of the story: Whole Milk comes from purple cows in the Amazon rainforest. It's imported through the Panama Pipeline and bottled by little elves who live in a tree house in Jersey. To keep everyone guessing, the elves are paid to re-label the milk jugs as Vitamin D milk and pretend it comes from Cows in Wisconsin. Don't let them fool you.

Everything but the kitchen sink...

Packing for the holidays has never been all that easy, but it's even harder when you have a munchkin in tow. Each time we pack for a weekend or an overnight with Ada, we always end up taking too much of everything, not enough of the things we need, and forgetting the really important stuff -- like a poop filled diaper on the middle of the nursery floor when we expect to be gone for several days. (Huge thanks go to our neighbor Kelly for using our spare keys to eliminate that threat as we remembered it an hour away from home.)

This time was no different. We each had a bag of clothes. Ada had a bag of clothes, a bag of blankets (we have radiators and it's always much warmer here than anywhere else hence all of the blankets), a bag of diapers and wipes, a diaper bag, and probably another bag I'm forgetting. Oh, and her carrier just in case. Then we had all the stuff we had to take with us, things to entertain us in the car -- I didn't find my knitting bag until we returned home so that didn't make the trip--things to eat, things we've made for other people to eat. You get the point. Way too much stuff for a 3 day trip.

So it really isn't surprising when I say that the nanny called me at work at 10 am asking where all of Ada's formula was. Uh... "It's all in the trunk. I packed it. All of it." Yep. I told you I forgot to mention another bag. Ada had a food bag and a carry-on food bag that didn't go in the trunk. Unfortunately, I had packed it all in the trunk before going to work so I wouldn't have to pack with her alone in the house or alone in the car or in the carrier on my back as I schlepped all of the crap out to the car. "I'll be right home." But the nanny offered to hold Ada off and give her water and food until I got home right after lunch to feed her milk. I had a few things to get done at work and, the guilty mom that I am, left at 12 instead of 1:30 so that my baby wouldn't starve to death or be depraved her milk fix for the morning. Bad mommy.

Upon returning home to find Ada crawling around in an obnoxious outfit while barefoot, I was quickly reminded (by the nanny) that I had indeed packed all of her "cool" stuff-- Including her cool shoes, clothes, hats, gloves, bibs... all of it--forcing her to look like a complete dork that morning. She'll get me back someday. I'm pretty sure of it.

And to make things even more interesting... since we had Ada's car seat already installed in our car, WE got to play chauffeur for the 3 hours to our relatives house for thanksgiving in our 4 door honda civic. Normally that would be fine but we got to do it with a baby, all of the baby's stuff, all of our clothes for an overnight at my cousin's house with blankets for us and Ada, all of the food my dad was going to prepare, a pack-n-play for Ada, and 4 adults in the car --3 being men 5'9" and above. Lovely.

Moral of the story: Be sure to give a responsible neighbor your house keys, just in case. And try to pack light. There is only so much room in the trunk of a honda civic.

Successful Formula!

It worked. Believe it or not--I still have trouble believing it--it worked. Ada is now drinking 100% formula. She graduated from the half and half mix to all formula and it rocks. I nurse her whenever I feel like it. She drinks formula whenever I think she didn't get enough breastmilk. She's happy. I'm happy. Life is beautiful.

I don't have to pump anymore--which by the way is AWESOME! It is so much easier to travel with her and I think I'm getting more sleep now that I'm not up 20 minutes extra each night pumping. I feel like I'm washing less bottles but really it's probably more bottles and less pump stuff. What a relief. And, driving with her is easier too as I can easily whip up a bottle whenever we need it. Very nice. No complaints here. I made it over 10 months strictly nursing and it was a huge sacrifice but worth it. And now I feel great with a little bit of both. She'll be on whole cow's milk soon enough.

Too bad she's back to teething again. Poor little thing. She has 4 teeth and this past few days has been awful with her drooling and screaming and not napping and waking up during the night. And Tylenol isn't even helping. Ug. But, like all things thus far, we'll get through it.

Oh, and I'm also so excited since now that Ada is drinking formula, we can send her to grandma's house for the weekend and not have to worry about if she has enough milk. Perfect for the holidays coming up since we have a few parties to attend and really just don't want to dole out a million dollars for babysitters.

Moral of the story: Weaning your child isn't the worst thing on earth as some people might suggest. It's actually quite freeing, and helps you see how much you've dedicated to your child if you did nurse them. Kinda rewarding.

Formula trails take 2

The time came for us to try giving Ada formula again this weekend. Unfortunately, we got into a situation where I went to a wedding and had a good time that included a few chocolate martinis -- for which I needed to pump-n-dump as they say -- and our milk supply dropped to an all-time low. It didn't help that upon returning from the wedding reception and a night out on the town until 2 am like the crazy mom that I am -- in a really short sassy black dress mind you -- I woke up around 5 am to begin a 12 hour bout with the flu and a close relationship praising the porcelain gods. Rick got a head start on the flu during the reception dinner and had to call it an early night. Our house was a sad state Saturday morning and our only saving grace was that my mom had come to stay with us to babysit Ada during the wedding. My poor mom had to listen to Rick and I both get sick, while dealing with a crabby Ada, and exposing herself to all of our cooties. Hopefully she doesn't get the full blown version of the bug we got. It was awful.



So we took every one's advice and mixed Ada's formula 50/50 with breastmilk and it worked like a charm. She guzzled it down the first time. Then this afternoon we tried again and she drank the concoction just fine. Then she had dinner and while lounging on the couch, she started round two of the flu--if you know what we mean. We've become experts in running the couch cushions through the laundry machine at this point.



Moral of the story: 50/50 is the way to go when switching to formula but when buying a couch, make sure the cushions are 100% washable... pretty much the same rule goes for everything you buy if you ever plan to have kids.

The Formula Formula

Ada's 10 months old and we're ready for a little formula. So how does that work?


Well, we don't know.

Rick and I have been talking about introducing a bit of baby formula for weeks now as my milk supply is okay but not bountiful, and we'd like it if I was less tethered to the baby, less stressed about having enough milk supply and just as a fall back plan in case we need it. I have about 9 oz in the freezer, but that's not a whole lot when she's eating more than that each day. I'm still nursing her four times a day when I'm home, two times a day if I work. And I still pump each night before bed and mid-day at work assuming we don't have a lot of milk in the fridge and I'm not on a deadline. But I can make it eight hours without nursing now, if need be, and it is not the end of the world.

So yesterday, we tried a little formula in a bottle. Oh boy.

She hated it!

She had a look as if to say "Wow, what a fun toy you've given me. A bottle with sticky stuff that I can drip all over myself." She tasted it. Then made a funny face and proceeded to play with the bottle and make a mess. We tried a generic soy-based formula to begin with as I'm told it is easier to digest, but I think we're going to have to try something else. We'll give this formula another chance or two since it is only good now for a month and we have a whole container of it, but I'm not confident that she's going to go for it. At least we have less than two months before we can make the switch to whole cow's milk. Hopefully that goes better than this little experiment.

Moral of the story: As a parent, you'll find that you often have no clue what you're doing. That's okay. Just keep researching, trying new things, and asking mom's who have gone before you. We can't all be clueless.