Babies 101

Being a new mommy can be so stressful. Babies don't come with directions. You want to make sure you do everything right. I put together a list of all of my baby posts to help. These posts are to help you prepare for your new addition.




A Custom Made Nursery



What you actually need for a baby and what you don't


The Cure for Diaper Rash


This one is the story of how our princess came into the world.


My Birth story


And, I seem to have the most advise about feeding babies.


Review of Milky Lactation Supplement


Simple Homemade Baby Food


How to Keep up your milk supply


Review of Milkin Cookies

What you ACTUALLY need for a baby and what you don't

There is so much marketing aimed at new mothers these days. Makes you think how new parents (and babies) survived all those years with out the latest swing or gadget. Eight years ago I had twins and thought I needed every baby gadget on the market. Since then my husband and I have had 12 foster children, most of which were babies. When our princess made her appearance, I bought very little. You start to realize that all that stuff just clutters your house.

What you really do NEED

1. A crib. One of two things I would buy new.


2. A car seat. The other thing to buy new. Research which has the best safety rating, I was surprised. Also, buy neutral.


3. Baby clothing. Many people will buy you the tiny stuff, so buy a little bigger.


4. Diapers. When I was home on maternity leave, I used cloth diapers. I still have a huge stash for when life is not so busy. It is remarkably easy to cloth diaper a breast fed baby. Find some one who can teach you!!! I found Mulberry Street Diaper Company in Lancaster. They are wonderful and offer a cloth diapering class.

What you really DON'T NEED

1. Baby towels. Regular towels work just fine and last longer. Although regular towels won't make a cape for your 2 year old!


2. Baby bath tub. This is nice, but not at all needed. After your baby outgrows it, the bathtub takes up tons of space.


3. A bedding set. These are so expensive and the bumper is not recommended anymore. I bought the sheets and made the blanket and dust ruffle. But, you really don't need a dust ruffle.


4. Baby blankets. Ok you need these, but you will receive so many as gifts.


5. Brand new things. The crib and the car seat should probably be new, but for everything else buy used. Try hand me downs, garage sales, craigslist and consignment sales like Just Between Friends.

Things that are nice to have

1. Swing. All my babies like the swing.


2. Car seat and stroller combo. It is nice to not have to wake a sleeping baby to get them out of the car seat.


3. Changing table. When the boys where born, my dad made a changing table. With the princess, I just use a dresser.




4. Bouncer/Walker. They keep a baby entertained and out of trouble, but they are not required.


5. A rocking chair.  This is especially nice when having contractions.

Review of Milkin Cookies

 

Review of Milkin Cookies

At about 8 months my princess was way into baby food and nursed less. When I was away from her I pumped less, but when she was away from me she did not eat less. This created a problem.


At this point I am sick and tired of oatmeal and decided to try Milkin Cookies. I was hoping they would work as well as Milky worked, but at a lower cost.

 

 

I ordered the chocolate chip.At $22, they were less expensive. The cookies arrived quickly. I was surprised to realize that they were 210 calories. Compared to Milky which was 5 calories, this was tons more. Milkin cookies are made from real food ingredients, so the calories were somewhat expected.


The cookies are not overly sweet and tasted really good. They were packaged individually to keep them fresh. It was super easy to pack in my lunch for work.


They say most moms have results when eating one cookie a day. Unfortunately, I did not notice a boost in supply. I considered eating two cookies a day to see if that helped, but decided against the calories. I look forward to trying the other flavor, cranberry almond. Maybe I will have better results with those.

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My Birth Story

 

 

February on this blog is all about babies. I have two jobs and I don't drink the water at one. The reason is because they are all pregnant.  The girls said that they want to know lots of birth stories. I only have two, here is the most recent.




As many of you know, I had twins eight years ago. I had a difficult pregnancy and was on house arrest (also know as bed rest) from 16 weeks. They ended up being delivered at 36 weeks via c section and only one baby needed oxygen for a short time. I only made enough milk for one baby, so I had to supplement early. After getting a bottle at 3 days old, they only wanted a bottle.  That started a cycle of pumping and feeding. It took all of my time and I only lasted a month.  I had set a goal to breastfeed for 6 months, so I was disappointed in my self.







After the shock of being pregnant again wore off, I started to plan. I wanted to VBAC, go into labor naturally, and breastfeed like a champ. Pretty most nothing happened as I planned, it never does.  I took the time very early in my pregnancy I did tons of research to find a doctor/midwife group. I wanted a practice that would not immediately label me high risk.  I wanted a group that would let my body do what it is supposed to do as long as possible.  I wanted to VBAC and although Pitocin scared me I was willing to try it before a c section. The plan was to deliver without pain medication.

I had Braxton hick contractions all through my pregnancy and quit working about 37 weeks thinking I would deliver early again.  I lasted until 41 weeks. Then I called and begged to be induced. I had been scheduled the day before was 42 weeks, but they let me come in a little early.  We went to the hospital and checked in at 5pm. My Pitocin was started by 7pm. Then nothing happened. I walked and walked and walked. 




At Midnight, they gave me Benadryl to help me sleep.  A few hours later real labor started. The midwife was right when she said, "you will know the difference."  The pain was totally manageable with the birthing ball. But, try balancing on a ball after taking Benadryl. Princess started to have problems with her heart rate so we had to back off the Pitocin. At a six centimeters, I was exhausted, back in bed and requested an epidural.




Then I finally napped. My husband had given up hours before and had napped off and on. We decided we needed to watch princess closer and decided to place a scalp electrode.  The process broke my water. Then I went back to sleep. At about 6pm, they woke us up.  Princess had an irregular heartbeat (again) and we decided to go to the OR. She was 9 pounds 4 ounces and we knew why she did not come naturally.



In the end, labor did not happen exactly as I had hoped. But I had caregivers I trusted and together we had a great outcome.

Diaper Rash Cure

Diaper Rash Cure

- Because most diaper rashes are fungal, they are difficult to get rid off. My favorite way is to give them a good bath, let them air dry without a diaper and change them frequently. But when that does not work this will. First apply the Lotramin then apply a thick layer of butt paste. They Lotramin treats the rash and the butt paste is a protectant and keeps it in place. Repeat twice daily for several days.


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A Princess Custom Nursery

There are so many cute things out there for babies that are so cute. With Etsy, you can get them just the way you want them. But these custom items come at a price. Even if you buy them from any store, they are still so expensive. When we prepared for the arrival of our princess, I decided to custom make many of the pieces. I used pinterest to find easy tutorials.

The Blanket

The blanket was easy.  Buy I yard of minky (the soft stuff with the bumps) fabric, 1 1/2 of flannel and satin ribbon binding. I cut the flannel to fit the minky. Then I used this sew dang cute blog for a tutorial for the binding. It was easy and quick. See the crib above.

The Dust Ruffle

I wanted to make the dust ruffle because I could not find any that I really liked for sale individually. The recommendation is that you no long use the bumper, so I did not spend the money on a set. This was probably the most difficult, but it turned out great. I used Runs with Spatulas for this tutorial. See photo of crib above.  I think it turned out, but I would have matched the ribbon on the blanket to the ribbon on the dust ruffle.

The Name Above The Crib

This turned out to be my favorite craft.  Turns out painting is really relaxing. I bought these letters at Babys R Us, but they did not hold the paint well. These wooden letters are less expensive and should hold paint better.  As you might have guessed our theme is giraffe. I started by painting a tan background. Then drew in random spots with a pencil. I then painted the spots brown. I used this kind of paint, just regular craft paint.

How to Keep Up Your Milk Supply

Nursing my daughter had been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. But, it is also one of the most difficult as well. I work 3-4 days per week and need to pump enough for her to have on those days. We need about 20 ounces per day, but I don't usually make 20 ounces every day. That means I have to pump on my days off too, which sucks, literally. I have found some tricks to make more milk and help in general.

1. Snuggle, skin to skin contact can help produce more.  The first few weeks all I did was sit on the couch and snuggle!!!

2. Nurse or pump more.

3. Set a pumping schedule for work and stick with it!!!

4. Eat foods to increase milk supply. See below.

5. Stay hydrated. You need fluid going in to keep fluid coming out.

6. Eat a healthy balanced diet. The biggest dip in supply I have had was when I was eating bad.

7. Use a hospital grade pump. I have access to one at work and it makes a huge difference.

8. Manage stress. Easier said then done, but very important.


9. Dr. Browns preemie bottles. Princess would guzzle milk, then throw up half of it. Then she was hungry again.  Dr. Brown bottles made her slow down and keep it down. Dr. Browns bottles are also compatible with medulla pumps. But after a few washes, they leak if knocked over. Medelas bottles won't.


10. Paced feeding. Start with 2 ounces of milk, then put her down. Only feed more if she is truly hungry.  Even when older breast fed babies usually only eat 4 ounces.


11. An experienced babysitter. Experienced with breast milk.


12. Fresh milk is better. I only freeze milk if I am not working for 4 or more days.
13. Take a prenatal vitamin.

Foods to increase supply

1. Oatmeal (not the packet kind)
2. Almonds
3. Oatmeal cookies or lactation cookies (mix works)
4. Mothers Milk tea
5. Flaxseed
6. Luna bars (probably because they have oats)
7. Milky


You also might like this post, Simple Homemade Baby Food

Review of Milky Lactation Supplement

My princess is seven months old and I have been back to work for 5 months. When I went back to work I had a freezer full of milk for back up. I thought we were holding our own on milk supply, but I opened the freezer and there were only 5 bags left.

After panicking, I started pumping an extra time a day at home. This helped some, but after feeding princess I would only have a couple of ounces left. She eats 4-5 ounces per feed, so it took several days of extra pumping to add one fed. At this point, I am sick of oatmeal and mothers milk tea.

So I decided to try Milky by Tia and Tamra Mowry. I bought it at Motherhood Maternity. I got a box that would last 6 days for $35. I almost had a heart attack. It is no longer available on their website, which was less expensive. Diapers.com sells it online for $29.99 plus shipping.  


It only comes in one flavor Strawberry. It has a strange herbal flavor only partially covered buy strawberry. Many of the ingredients are organic, maybe that is why it is so expensive. Several of the ingredients that I could not pronounce. The only active ingredient for lactation is fenugreek, but there are several others in the drink.  You only take Milky twice a day. I assumed this would help produce milk all day, but mostly you get a boost a few hours after taking the supplement. I definitely got better results taking it twice a day, I just tried to time them a few hours before pumping,  I went from producing 8-9 ounces in my first morning pumping to 10-12. I pump two more times in my work day and each of those times increased 1/2 ounce.  It was about the same as eating oatmeal, twice a day everyday.

Overall, it was expensive but I made the milk that I needed to fill my freezer!!

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Simple Homemade Baby Food

Eight years ago I had twins. I stayed home with them a while and they ate a ton. They still do. The solution was to make their baby food. It is more simple than it seems and very inexpensive. My boys now are great vegetable eaters and I think it is from the good early start.

 Princess won't be six months old for a little while, but I wanted to feed her local, in season, food. This time I am only cooking for one baby. I have just been using left over food. These apples above are ready to become baby food.

Before you start make sure everything is very clean.  Be careful not to contaminate the baby food.  If your baby has a food allergy, you might not be able to tell what they are allergic too. 

I fill the pan with water to cover the bottom. Then put in sliced up fruit (or veggies). Steam them until soft. Allow to cool.

When the fruit cools put it in a food processer. (I have used a blender in the past, but you need lots of liquid. Include in the food processer the cooking liquid remaining.) The liquid will contain some nutrients. I have put formula in the mixture to add nutrients for foster children in our care. Process until smooth. Smaller babies prefer less texture.  It may take babies longer to get used to homemade food, because it won't be as smooth as store bought. My babies would not eat store bought food.

When complete spoon into ice trays and freeze.  When frozen, place in Ziploc bags for storage.

So far, I have made zucchini, yellow squash, blueberry, blueberry banana, apple, plums (which are not worth the work) and green beans.

A great resource is wholesomebabyfood.com.