Weaning the pump, not the baby

This post would have been published over 2 weeks ago if I hadn’t tried to be geeky while juggling a baby and accidentally killed this website’s database.  By the time I finished cleaning the damage the muse had gone on vacation and I just didn’t feel like writing.  It’s still not my best work but at least it out there now….

I have officially weaned off the pump.  Breastfeeding is still going well and there is no sign of that stopping anytime soon but I am glad that I’m no longer a slave to the pump, I was so over it.  I am tired of stressing over ounces.  I still have it for times when I’m away from Shammy all day but those will be few and far between and it will be used more for my comfort and health than to keep up with a freezer stash.

I don’t get along with the pump anymore, I can’t even stand to clean the parts, it’s such a hassle, as regardless of whether I use the dishwasher or clean by hand I don’t seem to get the nooks and crannies clean enough.  Plus the pump has been part of a recall and I have yet to receive the replacement part, I am so over it! I used to think that Medela pumps were the best but if/when #2 comes I’m definitely getting a different brand.

Update:  the universe has found a way to get a new and better pump for me as I just won a Facebook contest on the Hygeia page where I won professional grade electric pump valued at $320.  My husband asked me if I was going to cash it out on eBay but I said no way, this will come in handy in the future.

In other news, I have started training to be a Breastfeeding Peer Counselor with the Health Department and Shammy gets to come to work with me anytime that I don’t have babysitting available, they’re that cool. I like bringing him to work but it only works out if I’m working for 3 hours, longer than that feels like torture on the poor baby that gets bored and is lacking on proper stimulation.  I have what feels like a thousand hours of training to complete so it may be another month before I see a client but I am enjoying it so far.

 

I can’t believe that Shammy is already 3/4 years old (9 months old), when I dressed him up for Easter he looked like such a big boy/little man.

He is starting to refuse baby purees as he prefers self feeding so I really need to learn more about BLW so he’ll eat more.  Meanwhile spreading purees on wheat toast seems to be working well to use up the massive amounts of food that I have accumulated.

Recently we have experienced a sleep regression, call it teething, growth spurt, separation anxiety or all of the above but he was no longer sleeping through the night and would wake up at midnight exactly and would only fall asleep with my boob in his mouth.  God forbid I tried to move to get comfortable and the nipple came out of his mouth and he would wake up and scream bloody murder.

I asked the doctor if there was anything that I could do about this and he said “let him cry and cry… and cry…”  I just stared at him in disbelief that he would recommend that and then he said  “I wouldn’t do it if I were you, I didn’t do it with mine”.  I like him again.  I much rather get some sleep in an awkward position with a happy baby than not sleep at all and suffer while he screams for hours wondering why we don’t love him anymore.  I can never see myself letting him cry it out.

 

On to the rants for this installment…

I enjoy the sitcom “Raising Hope”, it’s very funny, most times.  Recently they had an episode titled “Sleep Training” on you guessed it, crying it out.  This episode was painful to watch.  Even though they tried to get fun out of this theme I was very disturbed by it, so much so that I felt the need to write about it the next day.  I can understand that CIO is ok for some but don’t feel comfortable with a popular prime time show giving ideas to parents that don’t know better because they don’t seek the information elsewhere and take TV fiction as gospel.

My current peeve is seeing mothers that won’t hold their babies when giving a bottle.  Apparently this is a big enough epidemic that companies make money out of selling “bottle holders” that will prop the bottle so mother doesn’t even have to hold it.  If you’re not going to breastfeed, at least do the bonding by holding your baby close and looking into their eyes while feeding them.  Even on the pre-requisite training that I’m taking for the department of Health in the nutrition module it emphasizes how a person should always hold a baby when giving a bottle.  I feel bad for the baby.